A look-out pavilion located in Melbourne’s Yarra Park that was originally commissioned to service the adjacent Fairfield Amphitheatre is slated for demolition by Yarra City Council, to be replaced with a storage shed.

The River Pavilion was designed by Dennis Carter and Paul Couch of Carter Couch in the 1980s. Couch worked alongside Robin Boyd for a large portion of his career, and contributed to many of Australia’s significant modernist buildings. In the last 24 hours, local architecture firm Kennedy Nolan has created a campaign to protect the structure, starting a petition to convince Yarra City councillors of the pavilion’s historical significance. The structure has recently been nominated to the Victoria Heritage Registry.

‘Instead of taking up space and blocking views, the architects buried the building into the hillside, creating a sheltered public lookout above,’ explains Kennedy Nolan’s Director of Architecture, Michael Macleod, of the projects continued relevance. ‘We need to learn from this approach, not demolish it for a large shed that will do the opposite.’

Considering the renewed interest in Couch’s architecture (see here for details on an upcoming book about his work!) – it would be devastating to see this important structure demolished due to delayed appreciation of its maker’s genius!

See here to sign the petition and find out more about the campaign. To learn more about the campaign, visit Kennedy Nolan’s site here.