Evelyn Reynolds

A design and pre-construction contract for the main works package has been awarded for the $5.75 billion Logan and Gold Coast (LGC) Faster Rail project. As part of the winning team, Hassell has been appointed to lead the design of the train station precincts along the renovated rail line.
According to a release from Hassell, the population of South East Queensland (SEQ) has undergone significant growth over the past two decades and is expected to continue to expand with an extra 1.2 million people living in the region by 2036.
The LGC Project is envisioned to support this growth by doubling the number of rail tracks and upgrading stations along the line. This capacity increase will allow more frequent train services.
The Queensland government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads noted that the project is also a key investment to support the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which includes venues and an athletes’ village at the Gold Coast.
Hassell will lead the design of stations from Kuraby until Beenleigh, including Trinder Park, Woodridge, Kingston, Bethania, Edens Landing and Holmview — with architecture, urban design and landscape architecture forming the customer experience and public realm strategy.
According to the firm’s communique, the project is “a vital artery supporting the future of SEQ and will catalyse sustainable growth opportunities across the region. It will be a significant opportunity to unite people and their communities, while honouring the unique qualities of our environment and region.”
Hassell principal and co-sector leader of urban transport, Keith Allen, said the project will have a transformative impact on the region and will improve how communities connect.
“We know this is a critical opportunity to unlock community and social value along this corridor through thoughtfully activated precincts that are safe and accessible. Our regenerative design approach ensures new stations will be more inclusive than ever before.
“The LGC Project will deliver another step change in patronage growth, with an important shift towards a more sustainable active and public transport network,” said Allen.
The winning alliance, named the Activ Us Alliance, comprises Acciona, CPB Contractors, UGL Engineering, SMEC Australia and WSP Australia. According to Hassell’s media release, the alliance will work in partnership with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Rail to progress design and project planning activities and undertake further site investigations. More

Feedback is being sought on a recently released vision to renew Canberra’s 33-hectare Commonwealth Park located on the north shore of Lake Burley Griffin.
Commonwealth Park was marked as public space in the earliest concept designs for Canberra, developed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin. The park opened in 1964, approximately 50 years after the first plans for the city were drafted.
Prepared by Turf Design Studio at the request of the National Capital Authority (NCA), the Commonwealth Park Vision Concept highlights several existing issues within the park. These include a lack of amenities, poor connections to the city and adjacent precincts, lack of play spaces, inadequate wayfinding and signage, increased maintenance needs and a failure to meet high accessibility standards set by the Disability Discrimination Act.

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The vision emphasises that an enhanced park would more effectively serve Canberra’s expanding population, which “has grown sixfold from 76,000 people in 1964 to close to half a million in 2024.”
The NCA has invited feedback on the vision concept, which proposes:

A new swimming and recreation venue integrated into the park
A new lakeside garden room with endemic plantings and space to represent First Nations culture and connection to Country
Upgrades to the permanent entertainment stage known as Stage 88 and an expanded lawn amphitheatre
A series of new pavilions and facilities to support a broader range of exhibitions, events, displays and cultural offerings
A new light rail station at Commonwealth Park
New footbridge to replace the existing Allara Street pedestrian bridge with a wider and more accessible route that better links the city to the park
New and improved play spaces
Permanent garden beds that will provide year-round floral displays for Floriade, an existing annual flower festival held in Spring
A relocated maintenance depot to create more space for events.

The vision is open for consultation until 20 June 2025. More

A new Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) has received approval for construction in Bradfield City Centre, making it the second building to be developed in the city.
The approval follows the completion of the first building in Bradfield City Centre, an Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility, designed by Hassell. These two facilities will be situated adjacent to each other, separated by an open space called AMRF Park.
The now-approved facility, named Second Building, will accommodate spaces for research and prototype development in manufactured products. Planning documents indicated that the three-storey building will house a high-bay advanced manufacturing hall, a research laboratory with two open-plan cleanrooms, and seminar and collaboration spaces. It will also contain spaces for “industry-aligned” commercial tenants.
Designed by Architectus, Aileen Sage Architects and Jacobs, the form of Second Building wraps around a central courtyard. The design team collaborated with First Nations spatial design practice Bangawarra on building form, spatial arrangement and material selections that make meaningful connections to Country.
Plans indicated that the facade, which incorporates a multi-layered and transparent quality to exterior shading, is inspired by woven Aboriginal dilly bags. The design report notes that this transparency allows the public to glimpse inside and observe the internal workings and occupation of the building. “These framed views celebrate both the inner workings of the facility and mark key entry points to the site with open and glazed portals connecting to both the internal landscaped courtyard and key networks beyond,” states the report.
Tyrell Studio was engaged to handle the landscape design component of the Second Building project. The design report notes that the landscape design comprises a total of 1,160 square metres of publicly accessible greenspace, 645 square metres of soft landscape and 515 square metres of hard landscape.
Bradfield City Centre is part of an approved masterplan that proposes 114 hectares of land near the forthcoming Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport be developed into a new city with a residential component, a retail and commercial precinct, open spaces, as well as new and improved streets and roads. The Bradfield City Centre project has recently been in the media spotlight after the first building in the city was announced complete in February 2025. The following month, a two-hectare park named Bradfield Central Park was approved for development within the city. More

A state significant development application for the establishment of an $845.85 million data facility in Sydney’s Artarmon has been approved.
The proposed Lanceley Place Data Centre, designed by HDR, was greenlit for development across five individual allotments at 2–8 Lanceley Place and 14 Campbell Street, comprising a total site area of 14,024 square metres. Several vacant 2–3 storey buildings currently exist on the site, which were previously occupied by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s film and television studios until the site was sold in 2021.
Planning documents indicate that the new data facility will house the hardware and infrastructure needed for storing and processing digital data.
The large-scale facility will reach up to ten storeys at a maximum building height of 51.479 metres and a total gross floor area of 26,769 square metres. The architectural design report noted that the mass of the building has been broken down into three “blocks.” These include a data block, which accommodates five levels of data halls along with supporting facilities; a generator block that houses backup generators, and an office block that features a lobby, office spaces and a rooftop garden.

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Each of these “blocks” are characterised by a stepped form that gradually descends from west to east across the site. According to the design report, the stepped massing was a response to the surrounding built context – which is of greater scale to the west and of a lower scale to the east – and the natural topographical fall across the site, which also declines from west to east.
The facade draws inspiration from both the historical and contemporary context of the area. Each block is supported by a continuous masonry brick base, while the top portions of every block feature a distinct expression. The use of brick pays homage to the area’s industrial heritage, specifically its history of brick manufacturing. The data and generator blocks instead feature metallic elements that reflect themes of technology and machinery, aligning with the intended use of the facility and the site’s location within a growing technology infrastructure hub.
According to the design report, the building envelope is set back 27 metres from its primary frontage on Campbell Street and 14 metres from Lanceley Place. Plans state that these increased setbacks “provide numerous benefits with respect to the urban design outcome, including reducing the perceived height and scale of the development from the adjoining public realm and streetscapes, as well as minimising overshadowing and other environmental impacts to these same locations.”
The increased setbacks have additionally allowed for new and improved landscaped edges surrounding the building, “introduced to provide public amenity and to soften and enhance the quality of adjoining streetscapes,” the report states. The landscape architecture practice appointed to the project is Cola Studios. More

A development application has been lodged for a new tower adjacent to the site of St Stephen’s Cathedral, at 131 Edward Street in Brisbane. The project, titled Brisbane Place, was designed by Blight Rayner Architecture with landscape design by Wild Studio.
Proposed by developer JGL Properties, the submitted development seeks to deliver 28 floors of commercial and retail office space, totalling approximately 43,500 square metres of floor area, alongside reused heritage places, which include the Stock Exchange Hotel, Penola Place and the F. H. Faulding Warehouse.
According to the urban context report prepared by Blight Rayner, “the development aims to rejuvenate underutilised heritage structures while creating new public connections and modern workplace environments.”

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In the scheme, each of the site’s three heritage buildings are connected on the ground plane, with new cross-block links and laneways aimed at improving inclusive pedestrian accessibility to the site. Interfacing with St Stephen’s, a new plaza and amphitheatre serve as the centrepiece of the public realm, while on the street side, the project seeks to reinstate the Stock Exchange Hotel as a two-level wine bar as well as locate a new cafe within the warehouse building.
A proposed six-storey podium addition includes two levels of end-of-trip facilities, a gym, a terrace and a swimming pool with two plunge pools above the triple-height lobby. Landscaping along the podium perimeter and rooftop planting atop the gym and terrace would be reflected in the mirrored soffit of the tower’s base.

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Blight Rayner noted that “the architectural response balances high physical porosity” at ground level with a minimum of 14 metres of separation above the existing buildings providing “visual permeability above the heritage buildings [and] creating a distinctive silhouette that integrates seamlessly with its historic surroundings.”
Rising to approximately 160 metres, the proposed tower massing has been conceived with openings at the base, middle and top, also “to enhance visual permeability,” Blight Rayner noted. The base of the tower is raised above a web of trussed circular supports, while at the top, a three-storey “urban room” provides a sheltered external space for occupants and visitors to the building’s commercial and retail spaces.

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Across these porous breakout spaces, the landscape design by Wild Studio is themed in response to the site’s Indigenous and colonial histories, and references creeks that once existed in the area. The proposed ground plane features a “creekbed” garden, while the podium top serves as a “waterhole,” where, according to Wild, “visitors can swim under tree canopy and enjoy a feeling of seclusion in the middle of the CBD.” The tower’s various wintergardens are envisioned as “cloud forests” that will support a cool microclimate “not seen elsewhere in the city.”
According to their report, Blight Rayner has integrated the city’s Subtropical Design Planning Scheme Policy principles in the design of the building’s breakout spaces and articulation of the tower’s envelope. Louvred facades intended to support mixed-mode ventilation are also tailored with horizontal and vertical sun-shading unique to each elevation.

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Blight Rayner contends that, if built, the “project will serve as a landmark addition to Brisbane’s evolving cityscape.”
The development application is on exhibition on the Brisbane City Council website. More

This year’s focus in Milan has been on materials and detail, with outstanding new products inviting the sensation of human touch. Here, I have selected a number of pieces that stood out to me for their originality, including a few by Australian designers. I particularly loved imagining the slippery fingers of Faye Toogood’s Butter prototype (yellow seems to be the colour of the moment), the playfulness of the Gelato lamp, the texture of the Lava tiles, and the huge glass block that is the new Agape basin.
Butter sofa by Faye Toogood
This new super squashy sofa by UK designer Faye Toogood for Tacchini is enough to melt your heart. Originally modelled with slippery fingers from a block of Cornish butter, the form of the sofa and its soft yellow colour evoke an everyday beauty – the quotidian pleasure of butter on bread. Part of the Bread and Butter collection, which also includes a Bread console and side tables in timber, the Butter sofa is made of oversized modular pieces that can be rearranged to your taste. Delicious.
Solace light by Ross Gardam

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Australian Ross Gardam continues his success in lighting with Solace, a new form that is both simple and complex in form, derived from two overlapping geometric spheres. Like some of his other works, this one is made by blowing glass into a mould, but instead of being a rotating mould, it is static, and a faint imprint of the mould can be seen and felt on the surface of the glass. Stunning work.
Study TrulyTruly Big Glow light for Rakumba

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Another Australian lighting design making waves in Milan is the Big Glow light by Studio TrulyTruly for Rakumba. This oversized light is inspired by the designers’ experience living as Australians in Europe and reflecting on the difference in quality of light between the two. The light is made of non-woven wool blended with a plant-based fibre transformed under heat and pressure. They also stack inside each other to reduce shipping volumes. Smart.
Marmelade lounge chair by Rosa Ryhänen

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This strange chair exhibited as part of the Habitare: Materials and Objects exhibition of Finnish works at Alcova is called the Marmelade lounge chair. It is part of Finnish designer Rosa Ryhänen’s series called “Form Follows Intuition” and looks as if it might have been drawn in texta by a child. Rosa says on first sight you might ask yourself: “Is it magic that holds the piece together?”
Squash Mirror by Paul Cocksedge for Magis

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This series of mirrors by UK designer Paul Cocksedge explores the effect of compression on geometric shapes. It started with an experiment taking three-dimensional soft forms and compressing them, then interpreting them into 2D mirrors. In doing so they take on a sense of personality. “They evoke human connections – like friends greeting each other, a parent holding a child, or the warmth of an embrace,” says the designer.
Ranieri Lava tiles

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Ranieri had a large exhibit at Alcova in the ex-SNAI factory, a post-industrial space that has become a ruin over the years. Called “Under the Volcano,” it featured their Void tables and the Reborn chair, plus some volcanic rock carved with robot arms, but it is their tiles that caught my eye, all made from lava stone near Naples.
Gelato lamp by Established and Sons

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The Gelato lamp was originally designed in the 1960s by Italian designer and glass blower Carlo Nason and now has been redeveloped by Established and Sons, retaining and updating its style for a new generation. Originally wired, it is now a portable lamp and is available in an array of mouth-watering colours.
Massicci basin by Agape

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Made from 18 kilograms of solid glass, this basin retains the irregularities of its formation at 1200 degrees, creating textures that interplay with light and water. Designed by Marco Zito for Italian bathroom brand Agape, it is available in clear glass or ochre yellow.
Esmerelda Modular Cabinet by Bottos Design Italia for Artemest

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Artemest is a brand that champions Italian design and craftsmanship around the world, with a finely curated (and top end) selection of designer products. The Esmerelda Modular Cabinet is the perfect example of the brand’s attention to detail, with its spiral wooden design cut with precision into the timber, creating a unique talking piece that is also a functional storage cupboard.
Collette chair by Adam Goodrum

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With Collette chair, Australian designer Adam Goodrum was inspired by an abstract reference to the Vietnamese traditional script. And the shape of its back forms a collar (collette in French) giving it its name. Created in soft ash, the chair is manufactured by Vietnamese brand District Eight. More

Billy Maynard Architects has been announced the winner of a design competition for a new war memorial in Sydney dedicated to honouring the service and sacrifice of recent veterans.
The memorial will be located within the Domain, a large parkland that holds historical significance as the site of Sydney’s first Anzac Day service in 1916. According to a NSW government communique, the memorial is intended to provide a “contemplative” space for contemporary veterans and their loved ones, allowing them to reflect on the contributions and sacrifices of those who served in the Australian Defence Force from 1990 onwards.
The memorial is circular in shape, formed by two crescents that intersect and are partially embedded within the grassy landscape of the park. This simple composition of elements is intended to “symbolise gathering, protection and unbreakable bonds,” stated the communique.

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Billy Maynard Architects’ design was selected from a design ideas competition between small and emerging architectural practices organised by the NSW Office for Veterans Affairs, with support from the Government Architect NSW. Other participants in the competition included Breakspear Architects, Kaunitz Yeung Architecture, Other Architects, Retallack Thompson and Trias.
Architect Billy Maynard said the memorial was envisioned as a place for collective and individual healing. “It fosters remembrance and reflection through simplicity of form combined with finely resolved and caringly crafted detail,” said Maynard.
“The unifying thread through the individual stories of loss in conflict is one of remembrance. This memorial creates an accessible place of gathering and recollection by combining site, seating, artwork and new plantings in a considered ensemble.
“It is a distillation of form to create a singular space, simple and appropriate, which above all honours the service of contemporary veterans and recognises the sacrifice of families. In this process we remember the enduring dialogue and connection that resonates between Australia and the places of service – between people and place.”

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Internationally acclaimed artist Khadim Ali, based in Sydney and belonging to the Hazara ethnic minority of central Afghanistan, also contributed to the design.
The memorial will be located nearby the NSW Police Wall of Rememberance and south of the Art Gallery of NSW. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2026. More