The Annex

INFO

The Australian War Memorial's Annex out at Mitchell, Canberra was designed by Enrico Taglietti and finished in 1978-79. It was the first of the Memorial's buildings in Mitchell, and it sits as a strangely architectural building within its industrial context.

Taglietti trained at the Politecnico di Milano under Gio Ponti, Bruno Zevi and Pier Luigi Nervi, then came to Canberra in the 1950s and never really left. He gave the city some of its best buildings, won the Australian Institute of Architects' Gold Medal in 2007, and died in 2019 aged 93. The Annex is one of his lesser known Brutalist works because of its location featuring monumental scale, deeply articulated concrete elevations, and almost nothing in the way of windows.

Which makes sense once you know what's inside. Only about five per cent of the Memorial's collection is on display at any one time. The rest of it lives here aircraft, vehicles, boats, missiles and guns along with the conservation labs where it all gets patched back together. Once a year in September they open the doors for "Big Things in Store" and let everyone wander through.

This building was fun to shoot. Mostly because ofits quietness, tucked away in a seemingly random spot in Canberra I was able to take my time without the worry of attracting too much attention. Captured in a brief morning visit to the location I mostly focused on the geometric details that arose in the early morning, using long shadows and a crystal clear sky to create a graphic image.

This image, and my personal favourite of the Annex, was captured with a 35mm shift lens equivalent using a 24mm+1.4x converter. It’s a simple shot, but I admire its simplicity, and it manages to capture a great sense of depth and texture in such a simple frame.

The Annex

War Memorial Annex, Mitchell, Canberra