The Hooker Building (demolished) at 47 Mitchell Street in Darwin was designed by Peter Dermoudy in association with Oldham, Boas, Ednie-Brown & Partners of Perth.
Dermoudy was known locally for inventive modern projects such as his UFO House and Silo House, and the Hooker Building likewise expresses a distinctive response to the Territory’s tropical climate.
Its most striking feature is the network of large, steeply pitched sun shades, which were incorporated not as pure ornament but as integral climate-responsive elements that reduce heat gain and lower the need for mechanical cooling.
This emphasis on passive thermal performance is a clear illustration of modernist design thinking adapted for Darwin’s intense sun and heat.
The building was a visible part of the central Darwin skyline since the mid-1970s and is often visible in photographic records of Mitchell Street’s evolving commercial core, rising among other high-rise forms that came to define the city’s built identity.
Heritage Status: Not Listed (demolished).
Dermoudy was known locally for inventive modern projects such as his UFO House and Silo House, and the Hooker Building likewise expresses a distinctive response to the Territory’s tropical climate.
Its most striking feature is the network of large, steeply pitched sun shades, which were incorporated not as pure ornament but as integral climate-responsive elements that reduce heat gain and lower the need for mechanical cooling.
This emphasis on passive thermal performance is a clear illustration of modernist design thinking adapted for Darwin’s intense sun and heat.
The building was a visible part of the central Darwin skyline since the mid-1970s and is often visible in photographic records of Mitchell Street’s evolving commercial core, rising among other high-rise forms that came to define the city’s built identity.
Heritage Status: Not Listed (demolished).