A contentious redevelopment on an historic north shore office block is back on the cards after state heritage listing on the site was successfully overturned. The Land and Environment Court has ordered the NSW Heritage Council to remove the heritage status of the 1950s MLC office building in North Sydney, permitting developer Investa Property Group […] More
The City of Melbourne has released a new blueprint outlining its vision for the future most populated city in Australia.
Melbourne is forecast to become the most populated city in Australia by 2026. In response to this, the City of Melbourne has developed a Municipal Planning Strategy to make Melbourne a better place to live, work, study and visit by investing in new growth areas.
The Municipal Planning Strategy plots how Melbourne will look over the next ten to 20 years, earmarking areas such as Docklands, Macaulay and Arden to cater for the thousands of new expected residents.
The strategy focuses on issues of climate change, affordable housing, jobs creation and the deliverance of high-quality development and design, in what acting Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece has called “one of the most forward-looking plans since ‘Postcode 3000’”.
Postcode 3000 was a planning initiative launched in the early 1990s, coordinated by the City of Melbourne and championed by then-premier Jeff Kennett, which aimed to boost residential development in the CBD.
“Over the past 30 years, our city has changed at a rapid pace, bringing both amazing opportunities and tough challenges,” said Nicholas. “If we want to retain our place as Australia’s most liveable city then we need to have a clear blueprint.”
The Municipal Planning Strategy underpins the vision for the future city with six goals. These are: creating more jobs for a stronger economy; protecting Melbourne’s distinctive cultural identity; addressing emissions reductions targets to net zero by 2030; reducing economic and social inequality; improving safety and wellbeing; and celebrating First Nations culture, lore, knowledge and heritage.
The strategy has been years in the making, informed by draft strategies like the City Spatial Plan, which outlines place-based strategies for growth across the municipality. The anticipated opening of five new metro stations across Melbourne has also fed into the projections for future living patterns.
The strategy will be considered by councillors at the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on 19 July, prior to being released for public exhibition and consultation. More
A development application has been approved for a Conrad Gargett-designed, 38-storey beachfront apartment complex submitted to council last year.
The Gold Coast high-rise will be located on Garfield Terrace in Surfers Paradise, right on the sands of Northcliffe Beach, and will feature an open podium design that engages with the natural elements.
Conrad Gargett director John Flynn said the building’s soft-edge form combined with organic landscaping will create a sense of “openness” and harmoniously blend with the natural rolling dunes of the site.
“The original landscape of the ocean, beach and dunes, continuing through to the waterways, has been broken over time by buildings,” Flynn explained. “So by lifting the tower up off the ground, we’ve been able to create greater transparency, which has been one of our key design moves.”
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A development application has been approved for a Conrad Gargett-designed, Image:
Conrad Gargett
Inspired by “longshore drift”, or the natural movement of drifting sand and water along the coastline, the building’s form is intended to respond to the ripples and deep recesses that occur in the sand as a result of the tides.
Raw and natural materials, such as concrete, stone and timber finishes, are intended to help the tower to sink into the natural landscape, while also providing a sturdy foundation to withstand the onshore elements.
The tower will feature resort-style amenities, including wellness spaces, a bar and a pool. It will house a mix of one-, two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom apartments, including half- and full-floor apartments with expansive outdoor living spaces. More
The World Architecture Festival WAFX Award celebrates international proposals that embrace “cutting-edge design approaches to address major world issues” ranging from the climate emergency to community resilience.
Twenty exemplary future projects addressing societal and environmental challenges have been selected for the WAFX shortlist, one of which has been designed by Australian practices on local soil.
The North East Link by Warren and Mahoney, BKK Architects and Taylor Cullity Lethlean is a concept for a 25-kilometre corridor on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country that uses First Nations knowledge to minimize impact and assist ecological restoration.
It is the world’s first road project to use the award-winning International Indigenous Design Charter principles, and adopts three Wurundjeri pillars to guide the design: Connection to Country, Caring for Country and Connecting People.
As a major infrastructure project, the North East Link involves smart engineering, architecture, landscaping and urban design, as well as extensive collaboration with First Nations consultants.
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The North East Link has been named in the shortlist for the World Architecture Festival WAFX Award. Image:
Warren and Mahoney, BKK Architects, and Taylor Cullity Lethlean
“This is the story of how a major infrastructure project could heal a city’s nature and biodiversity,” the design team said. “It may also help heal Australia’s relationship with our First Nations people.”
Other shortlisted projects include a cultural venue co-designed with an indigenous prairie community in Canada, a graduation hall in Johannesburg and a mega arena complex in Bristol.
WAF program director Paul Finch said that with today’s momentous environmental and social challenges, we require brave commitments to fresh and experimental ways of thinking.
“These future projects show that architects across the world are responding to complex problems in imaginative ways — with the bonus of some design delight,” said Finch.
WAF returns this year as an in-person event held in Lisbon from 30 November to 2 December 2022. The overall winner will be announced live during the festival, alongside other accolades including World Building of the Year, Landscape of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Interior of the Year.
More than 40 Australian projects have been named in the shortlist for the 2022 World Architecture Festival Awards.
Click here to view the full shortlist for this year’s WAFX projects. More
Open House Melbourne offers an impactful program of public lectures, workshops and exhibitions leading critical discourse on the value of place and design. Following our release of seven stand-out homes and seven tours of Melbourne’s newest buildings ahead of the 2022 Open House, we’ve compiled a list of events, screenings and programs to see over the weekend of 30 to 31 July.
Modern Melbourne premiere
Open House Melbourne’s Modern Melbourne documentary series makes a grand return with celebrated architect and 2017 Gold Medallist Peter Elliott. This premiere screening at ACMI will be followed by a panel conversation moderated by Heritage Council of Victoria’s Chair Professor Phillip Goad with special guests including Dimity Reed, Katelin Butler and Jon Clements. Read more.
This is Public: Built/Unbuilt
In this speaker series hosted at The Capitol, RMIT, architects, designers and creative practitioners are invited to respond to the 2022 theme “Built/Unbuilt” with a series of short presentations and conversations. Speakers include Kerstin Thompson with Jayne Josem (Melbourne Holocaust Museum), Amy Muir and Mark Jacques (Family Violence Memorial), N’arweet Carolyn Briggs and Jefa Greenaway with Christine Phillips and Jock Gilbert (Building on Country) with Caitlyn Parry (Cloud Studies) joined virtually by Samaneh Moafi. Read more.
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The Built/Unbuilt speaker series will be hosted in The Capitol, RMIT. Image:
John Gollings
Future Heritage: 2022 heritage address with Katrina Sedgwick
Newly appointed chief executive of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation Katrina Sedgwick will deliver the Heritage Council of Victoria’s annual Heritage Address at Federation Square. Sedgwick will reflect on her experience shaping Melbourne’s cultural landscape and consider the concept of “future heritage” in a free public lecture followed by a conversation facilitated by Open House board president Stuart Harrison. Read more.
Take Hold of the Clouds
Co-produced by Monash University and supported by the Victorian government, Take Hold of the Clouds is a curated exhibition featuring two key works by renowned international contributors – Forensic Architecture’s Cloud Studies (2021) and Cauleen Smith’s Sojourner (2018) – along with six newly commissioned, responsive works from local and national creative practitioners. Rather than in traditional galleries, these works will be embedded within some of Melbourne’s most significant buildings and urban spaces. Read more.
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Take Hold of the Clouds: a curated exhibition. Image:
Courtesy of Open House Melbourne
Australian Tapestry Workshop
Visitors will have special access to the tapestry workshop studio floor in a unique National Trust and heritage-listed building in South Melbourne first established in 1976. Explore the intersection between materiality, technology, geography and storytelling through traditional textile-based media alongside technological interventions and e-textiles. Read more.
Old Customs House – Unbuild and Re-imagine
Multidisciplinary artist Jenna Lee explores her own diverse cultural background through art. Working across sculpture, installation and body adornment, as well as moving image and digital, Lee – a Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman and KarraJarri Saltwater woman – uses form to direct her Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Anglo-Australian ancestry. Held in Old Customs House, Lee will host a hands-on workshop where participants will be invited to repurpose colonial paper media to create a collective flower intervention within the Immigration Museum. Read more.
Click here to view the full program. More
Over one week in June, Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) members across the country participated in the 2022 Super Studio national conceptual design competition.
The student body of the Australian Institute of Architects, SONA’s competition followed the theme of sustainable and regenerative design, posing the challenge to designers to envision a future beyond sustainability, where design has the capacity to reverse the damage inflicted on the planet.
Designers were asked to select a familiar place to propose a design response that has the capacity to positively impact its community. More than 60 submissions were made, including presentations to local juries in each state and territory, after which a shortlist of designers progressed to national judging.
Submissions were judged on how well they responded to the brief; their design approach; the uniqueness and innovation of the submission; the concept’s promotion of sustainability and regenerative design; and the communication and expression of the submission components.
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The national prize was awarded to “The Rinse Cycle” by Caleb Lee and Nithya Ranasinghe. Image:
Courtesy of the Australian Institute of Architects
The national prize went to Caleb Lee and Nithya Ranasinghe (masters students, RMIT) for their proposal “The Rinse Cycle”: a concept for the reclamation of gas stations as laundromats with innovative greywater solutions for decontaminating the soil on the site.
In a two-pronged approach, the communal laundromat is envisioned to address social disconnection, while the water from the initial rinse cycle of the machines will be used in the process of “soil washing” to flush contaminants from the soil.
“The Rinse Cycle is an exemplary response to this year’s Super Studio brief,” the national Super Studio jury said. “The approach to the challenge is subtle, subversive, and powerful, providing not only a clever integration of regenerative design principles, but also a commentary on our social rituals, and current and future living arrangements.”
For their winning concept design, Lee and Ranasinghe received $3,000.
This year’s Super Studio state winners included a combination of systems, installations and policies that used architecture to generate better social and environmental outcomes.
The state winners were:
Australian Capital Territory
Community Hill by Jacob White, Ciaran French and Cameron Roxburgh – a “no phone dome” within the apex of Canberra’s federal triangle, intended to encourage connection and foster a sense of community.
New South Wales
Altogether by Kangcheng Zheng and Hongyu Huang – a network of living installations providing habitat for local species.
Northern Territory
Repairment of Community and Environment through Fragments of Paper by Albertina Ugwu – a system for recycling paper that gives back to the community.
Queensland
Textiles to Tectonics by Kaytee Warren, Maddi Whish-Wilson and Lucy Stefanovic – a pavilion for facilitating the exchange of unwanted clothes.
South Australia
Warnpangga Park by Wenxiu Zhang – a regeneration project intended to restore Warnpangga’s ecological integrity.
Tasmania
Re-Alley by Pei Kai Tan and Xing Ting Ng – a three-stage design to rebuild, reunite and regenerate a disused back alley.
Western Australia
The Usefulness of the Useless by Stephanie Alama Chavez – a design for a biodiversity corridor from the Canning River foreshore to Kensington Bush.
For more information visit the Australian Institute of Architects’ website. More
Brisbane City Council has revealed plans for the redevelopment of Crosby Park and the Albion Park Raceway in a vision to create a new sports precinct and centre for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
Designs were prepared by Brisbane City Council in collaboration with consulting architects Neeson Murcutt and Neille, and specialist games venue overlay consultants EKS.
Under the Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct plan, the raceway will be relocated to create the new 29-hectare site and make way for the construction of the Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre.
The indoor sports centre will include facilities for basketball, netball, volleyball, goalball and badminton, as well as dedicated para-sport facilities.
A large green pedestrian spine will run through the centre of the precinct, providing space for community events, and connecting Crosby Road with Breakfast Creek.
The Allan Border Field, which will remain in its existing position, will receive additional seating, while baseball and multi-use sports fields will be constructed, in addition to an off-leash dog area.
The concept plan also includes a new location for the Brothers Rugby Union Club, which will move closer to the Breakfast Creek Hotel and receive a new clubhouse and three new fields.
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Concept designs for the Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct plan. Image:
Brisbane City Council with Neeson Murcutt and Neille, and EKS.
Brisbane City Council said the fields would incorporate an innovative water harvesting and reclamation system by Urban Utilities, making the sporting fields environmentally sustainable and efficient.
As well as providing a venue for the Olympic Games, the new precinct will meet the growing interest in junior and women’s programs, and heightened demand for accessible sporting facilities.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the precinct presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use entirely government-owned land to create “one of the most accessible sporting facilities in the world.”
“Our Breakfast Creek Sports Precinct plan can be part of that legacy by transforming an under-utilized and tired area of our city into a thriving precinct that would stage local, national and international sports events all year round,” said Schrinner.
“This is a really exciting proposal and we’ve already been working closely with the Queensland Government, Brothers Rugby and Queensland Cricket on these plans.”
Alongside the economic benefits of the Olympic Games, Schrinner said he was “confident” the sports and recreation precinct would deliver benefits to the community by helping to increase participation for all.
For more information, visit the Brisbane City Council website. More
A 14-storey boutique office tower has been approved for Sydney’s revitalized George Street precinct, incorporating the adaptive reuse of an existing heritage building.
Designed by Tribe Studio Architects in collaboration with Matthew Pullinger Architect, the tower will cantilever from a two-storey setback over the heritage facades at 319–321 George Street.
“The original 1900s heritage building forms the base of the new development, rising to a deep, two storey setback that is richly detailed in refined natural stone, before returning to the street alignment of the adjacent buildings,” a spokesperson for Tribe Studio said.
The architect has divided the George Street facade into three sections: the ground-level heritage building; the new extension reinforcing the scale of the original building; and a “handsomely detailed” stone level for the new commercial floors.
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Render of 319-321 George Street by Tribe Studio Architects in collaboration with Matthew Pullinger Architect.
The new building channels the grand masonry and traditional architecture of the surrounding buildings, using a considered material palette of stone and bronze to complement the streetscape.
While sympathetic, the facade will be a contemporary interpretation, with sculpted stone parapets and deep recessive windows creating striking angles with sunlight and shadow. Strong masonry architectural expression will contrast with the finer filigree detail in the fenestration.
“While very clearly a contemporary building and relying on present-day machining and technology,” said studio principal Hannah Tribe, “it is also a building in dialogue with its established context and keyed into the historic DNA of Sydney’s retail and commercial heart.”
The George Street building will include new retail spaces linking George Street with Wynyard Lane. In contrast to the George Street facade, the lane’s expression reflects its humbler surrounds and the utilitarian character of Sydney’s service lanes, the architect said.
319–321 George Street will form part of the City of Sydney’s George Street precinct renewal, which strives to transform the traffic-choked street into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard. According to Lord Mayor Clover Moore, 25,000 square metres of road has already been reclaimed for Sydney businesses and residents. More
