Evelyn Reynolds

Construction of the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport is now complete, establishing it as Sydney’s second airport for both international and domestic flights.
Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) CEO Simon Hickey was joined by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King on site today to celebrate the milestone.
Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture won a 2019 design competition for the project, which attracted more than 40 national and international competitors. 360 Degrees Landscape Architects was engaged for the landscape design of the project. A competitive tender process led to construction company Multiplex being awarded the contract to deliver the project from initial concept through to final design and construction, with Woods Bagot appointed as the lead design and delivery architect on Multiplex’s design and construction team.
The final design was shaped by consultation with Dharug Custodians, in collaboration with First Nations consultant Murrawin, who provided guidance on embedding local narratives into the architecture.

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The new airport terminal features domestic and international departure gates under one roof, a landscaped forecourt and a 3.7 kilometre runway. According to the WSI Airport website, the airport is predicted to service 10 million passengers a year after opening.
A joint communique from Cox Architecture, Zaha Hadid Architects and Woods Bagot stated that the terminal design prioritises sustainability and regenerative design principles through natural ventilation, water recycling and energy-efficient systems. The terminal features more than 6,000 rooftop solar panels to generate renewable energy and reduce environmental impact. Rainwater will be collected and recycled for airport operations such as bathroom facilities, irrigation and cooling towers. The modular design of the terminal also allows for flexible future expansion.

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The statement noted that the design draws inspiration from Western Sydney’s Cumberland Plain, reflected in the terminal’s horizontal form and the undulating interior ceiling. Open sightlines, warm materiality and seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces are key features of the design.
Cristiano Ceccato, a director at Zaha Hadid Architects, stated: “what makes this terminal extraordinary is its blend of human-scaled design and international ambition. It is grounded in its setting – and yet globally competitive,” said Ceccato.

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Principal and design and delivery lead at Woods Bagot Neil Hill emphasised that the design harnesses light as a way to create “a constantly evolving visual experience.”
“The interplay of natural light through strategic openings, soft undulating curves, thoughtful colour selection and varied materials creates a different perspective from every vantage point.”
While major construction of the terminal is complete, the fit-out of the terminal’s retail precinct and airline lounges is ongoing as tenancy agreements continue to be finalised. The airport is on track for domestic, international and air cargo services to commence operation in late 2026. More

The King’s Birthday 2025 Honours have been announced and it includes four architects among the 830 Australians recognised for “distinguished and conspicuous service.”
Corbett Lyon, the founding director of Lyons, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to architecture, to the arts as a benefactor and administrator, and to tertiary education. With more than 30 years experience in the architecture profession, Lyon is recognised as one of Australia’s most decorated design professionals. He is a life member at the Australian Institute of Architects, a trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria, an honorary fellow at Monash University and a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne.
In 2012, Lyon and his wife Yueji established the Lyon Foundation to support and promote contemporary art, with a particular focus on Australian practice.
The following architects were appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM):
John Frederick Held, SA
For significant service to architecture in leadership roles.
George Zillante, SA
For significant service to architectural tertiary education, and to construction and building surveying.
Robert McGauran, Vic
For significant service to urban architectural design, planning and development, and to tertiary education.
Visit the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia website to view the full honours list. More

A state significant development application that proposes the establishment of two residential towers in Chatswood, Sydney, is on public exhibition.
The application proposes the construction of two residential towers, one rising to 33 storeys and the other to 23, at 38–42 Anderson Street, 3 McIntosh Street and 2 Day Street. Collectively, they would accommodate 258 apartments, including 56 allocated to affordable housing.
Carter Williamson Architects with Land and Form landscape architecture studio won an invited design competition for the project in 2024. While the winning scheme has since undergone revisions – most notably a simplification of facade materials – the character of the original design has been maintained through a similar massing and colour palette.
The design concept draws inspiration from a mature angophora tree, around which the development wraps around and from which it takes its name (the Angophora). The exterior colour palette references the tree’s distinctive pink-hued bark.

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According to the plans, the taller of the towers has been strategically located along Anderson Street to optimise city views to the south and extend the existing urban street wall. A non-residential brick podium that connects the towers provides commercial and retail offerings at the base and communal open spaces on top.
Each tower has a dedicated residential entrance, accompanied by a non-residential podium entry on Day Street.
The application is on public exhibition until 19 June 2025. More

A Victorian architect has been awarded an eight-week residency in Italy to pursue interdisciplinary research, develop their practice and build international connections.
Lisa Garner has been awarded the 2025–26 Alastair Swayn Foundation–RMIT Architecture Affiliated Fellowship. As part of the fellowship, Garner will engage in interdisciplinary research at the American Academy, an American institution in Rome that accommodates independent studies and advanced research in fine arts and humanities.
Garner is an architect and director of Lian, an emerging architecture practice focused on rethinking how housing can be more sustainable, adaptable and community centred. Garner and Andrej Vodstrcil co-founded the practice following the success of their winning entry in the Victorian Government’s Future Homes competition in 2020. Since then, she has led a range of projects, including a series of pattern book apartment designs for the state government, an eight-storey Nightingale Housing development, and various residential renovations and small-scale commercial projects.
Over the course of the eight-week fellowship, Garner will undertake a research project titled Abitare insieme – Living together – Learning from Italy: Multigenerational Housing for Australia. Her project will explore Italy’s multigenerational housing traditions through, both historical and contemporary. The research will primarily focus on spatial configurations, adaptive reuse and incremental expansion strategies that enable homes to evolve over generations, as well as the policy and economic models that support these housing typologies.
The research findings will help inform how similar design approaches might be adapted for use in an Australian context.
“This fellowship is an exciting chance to learn from housing traditions in Italy that place family, adaptability, and care at their core. I look forward to exploring how these ideas might inform more flexible and supportive housing in Australia,” Garner said.
The Alastair Swayn Foundation and RMIT University, the 2025–26 Alastair Swayn Foundation-RMIT Architecture Affiliated Fellowship is offered to one successful applicant each year. Early and mid-career architects, landscape architects and design professionals from across Australia are eligible for the fellowship. More

Two Australian architects have been announced as recipients of the 2025 Marten Bequest Scholarship, a program that supports young artists to undertake research in their field of expertise through interstate and international travel.
Architects Nicole Larkin from New South Wales and Lauren Crockett from Victoria, along with five professionals from other creative disciplines, have been awarded travelling scholarships worth $50,000 each.
Larkin is a registered architect and principal of Nicole Larkin Coastal Architecture and Design in the Illawarra on Dharawal land. Best known for her research project, The Wild Edge: A Survey of Ocean Pools in NSW, Nicole is an awarded and published architect with a practice focusing on Coastal Design and Planning in Australia.
Crockett is an architect, educator and researcher whose practice centres on materiality, sensory design and spatial culture. She has contributed to civic, educational and public space projects as an associate at Sibling Architecture, as well as taught design studios at RMIT University focusing on material literacy, sensory engagement and low-carbon futures.
With the support of the grant, Larkin will undertake travel-based research to investigate the challenges facing Australia’s coastline and explore innovative international projects that grapple with sea level rise.
“The pull of the ocean has a strong effect on Australians. More than 80 percent of us live on the edge of the continent. The fellowship is a chance to be at the forefront of adaptive design and development for our coast in the face of sea live rise – and, in the case of NSW, east coast lows,” said Larkin.

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The Marten Bequest Scholarship will take Crockett across Europe to undertake an intensive period of research and professional development. Her project will explore how architecture can transition from extractive, disposable models toward regenerative practices that prioritise material life cycles, stewardship and collective care.
“Receiving the Marten Bequest has given me a rare chance to pause and reflect on the kind of architect I want to be, and the future I hope to contribute to. This project allows me to work more closely with materials, communities, and construction itself, to better understand how we might build in ways that are able to endure over time. I’m deeply grateful to Creative Australia for this opportunity,” said Crockett.
The Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarships is a charitable trust established through the will of the late John Chisholm Marten (1908–1966). Marten, a passionate advocate of the arts, established the scholarships to provide financial assistance to young Australian artists for travel-based research, enabling them to deepen their practice and advance their careers.
In 2025, the Marten Bequest Scholarships provided financial support to creative professionals in the fields of architecture, ballet, prose, sculpture and singing. In 2026, the scholarships will support professionals in acting, instrumental music, painting and poetry disciplines. More

The future of the concrete-walled MPavilion 10, designed by Japanese architect and 1995 Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando and executed by Australian Sean Godsell, remains unclear. A community-led “Preserve the Pavilion” campaign advocating for the temporary pavilion to remain in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens beyond its slated removal at the end of June 2025 has received over 2,000 signatures, including those of Pritzker Prize laureates and acclaimed Australian and international architects.
An initiative of the Naomi Milgrim Foundation (NMF) with support from the City of Melbourne and Victorian government, the annual MPavilion is described by the foundation as “Australia’s leading design commission.” Each year, the foundation tasks “an outstanding architect to design a temporary pavilion,” which, following its five-month summer program, is “gifted to the state of Victoria,” the foundation notes.

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The Ando-designed tenth iteration of the pavilion opened in November 2023 and has remained beyond the program’s customary summer period thanks to a City of Melbourne approval that extended its life until 30 June 2025. The April 2024 motion, put forward by the NMF to the Future Melbourne Committee, received unanimous support from council members.
“It’s the only piece of [Ando’s] architecture that’s in Australia, so that in itself is remarkable and deserving of extension of its presence in our city,” then-lord mayor Sally Capp commented at the time.
Now, as the extended removal date approaches, the initiative Preserve the Pavilion is calling for Ando’s work to remain in Queen Victoria Gardens. The group’s website claims that the pavilion’s concrete construction means it “is not possible” for it to be relocated, and that removal will “result in the demolition of the structure.”
The initiative’s open letter has gained support from Pritzker Prize winning architects Álvaro Siza (1992 laureate), Jean Nouvel (2008 laureate), Eduardo Souto de Moura (2011 laureate), and Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA (2010 laureates), as well internationally acclaimed architects John Pawson, Kengo Kuma, Manuel Aires Mateus and Patrik Schumacher, among others.
In a personal letter of support, Siza commented, “As it happens with all projects by Tadao Ando, this project shows a quality that cannot be erased.”
MPavilion comissioner Naomi Milgrom also supports retaining the pavilion. “In keeping with the project’s decade-long legacy – and as Tadao Ando’s only work in the Southern Hemisphere – we hope this pavilion can remain for an extended period as a gift to all Melburnians,” she said.
Architects of past MPavilions David Gianotten of OMA (MPavilion 4, 2017) and Rachaporn Choochuey of All Zone (MPavilion 9, 2022), as well as Australian Institute of Architects gold medallists Peter Stutchbury and John Denton, have signed the campaign’s open letter. A communique from the campaign’s organisers also notes that the NMF has received many letters in support of the pavilion remaining in place for longer, including from Institute CEO Cameron Bruhn, and current Victorian chapter president and national president-elect David Wagner.

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Questions remain about whether the current site will be found appropriate for the pavilion, which was intended to be disassembled and relocated to a permanent home. Despite recommending support for the pavilion’s extension at the time of the 2024 approval, a report by City of Melbourne general manager of infrastructure and amenity Rick Kwasek raised concerns around the safety, security, maintenance and accessibility of the building. It noted that the design is not consistent with best-practice gender equity place principles, that it is susceptible to graffiti, and that the walled nature of the pavilion “precludes through views and movements across the site,” presenting “potential risks to the structure [and] public safety.”
It also claimed that Queen Victoria Gardens is “a fragile environment, not designed to accommodate permanent structures and regular activation for events or large gatherings” and that granting “the extension could be viewed as opening the door for further advocacy on permanent retention.” Despite this, it was noted at the Future Melbourne Committee’s approval meeting that the “NMF have confirmed that the request applies to one year only.”
The NMF, which is accountable for the dismantling and repurposing of the pavilion at the end of its life, has also been responsible for the maintenance and security of the pavilion during the one-year extension.
Architectural critic Paul Walker’s December 2023 review of the pavilion for ArchitectureAu expressed some doubts about the project’s eco-credibility. He observed that “at the press launch of the new pavilion, when asked about this issue [of sustainability], Godsell reasonably responded that the concrete used in the building was as ‘green’ as could be.” On the issue of recycalbility, Walker pointed out that the walls “could be crushed to be used as aggregate in … more concrete.”

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The City of Melbourne is set to convene to decide the pavilion’s future, though the date of the meeting is yet to be confirmed.
The open letter can be accessed online. More

The 2025 Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Bangladeshi architect and educator Marina Tabassum and her firm Marina Tabassum Architects, opens to the public on 6 June.
The pavilion, titled A Capsule in Time, is located at the Serpentine South Gallery in London. Inspired by an arched garden canopy, the pavilion’s form resembles a capsule with its mass divided into four portions and an open-air courtyard positioned at the centre. One of the sections is kinetic and can slide to connect or disconnect with the neighbouring elements, effectively transforming the pavilion into a different space.
According to a communique published by Serpentine, the design harnesses light as a way to enhance the qualities of the space. A timber and translucent facade gently diffuses natural light throughout the pavilion. “Tabassum’s Pavilion, like much of Tabassum’s previous projects, considers the threshold between inside and outside, the tactility of material, lightness and darkness, height and volume.”

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In the courtyard stands a semi-mature ginkgo tree, around which the pavilion has been built. Serpentine stated that the ginkgo was selected because the species is “showing tolerance to climate change and contributes to a diverse treescape in Kensington Gardens.” Serpentine confirmed that the tree will be replanted in the park after the Pavilion’s exhibition.
Tabassum’s pavilion marks the 25th year of the Serpentine Pavilion commission.
The pavilion will be open to the public from 6 June 2025 until 26 October 2025. More