RAC Arena

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RAC Arena is a destination that brings an extra dimension to the events it hosts—a place to eat, drink and enjoy. Its continuing popularity and economic success have depended on thoughtful design for players, performers, spectators and function guests alike.

One of our inspirations for RAC Arena’s form was the 1829 Round House in Fremantle, Western Australia’s oldest building. The 12-sided Round House reminded us of Renaissance visions for the Ideal City, a crystalline reality of mathematical proportions and divine harmony. We brought these ideas together using elements of the Eternity Puzzle, which has 209 irregular-shaped pieces that fit into a 12-sided board.

We arranged a selection of puzzle pieces to create the Arena’s jaunty, angular form and façade character. One of the pieces is shaped like a horse’s head; so is the Arena’s blue front entrance. For us, it also represents Perth’s Trojan horse—an object of desire, dragged into great triumph and allowed to bring its rampage of entertainment with it. Other puzzle pieces on the façade represent Western Australian icons: a sailing boat, a swan, a cockatoo, geographic forms of Rottnest Island and Western Australia, and a drill rig and giant earth-moving truck to reference the mining industry.

The blue canopy outside the horse head entrance is carefully designed so that it has the same outline as the building when you view it from a certain point on the ground. Stand on the triangle tile in the ground, look up and you’ll see the canopy and building line up perfectly.

The interiors, particularly the entrance and great public concourses, best express our vision for the building: a genuinely versatile, multi-functional venue that is easy to walk around and through. There are generous foyer concourses, oversized stairway landings with places to meet and mingle, and ample bars and toilets. Puzzle-piece arrangements, or puzzle fragments, appear in many of the spaces.

RAC Arena has five function rooms, all versatile social and corporate hospitality suites. They feature catering and audio-visual facilities. The American Express Invites Lounge overlooks the main arena, and the other function spaces offer external views of the city and beyond.

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