The WA government is planning to demolish Stirling Towers, the former public housing precinct on Smith Street in Perth’s Highgate, and replace it with a build-to-rent development offering social, affordable and market-price rental apartments. Built in 1970, Stirling Towers comprises one 12-storey tower and one three-storey tower, which together hold more than 90 apartments. The […] More
Billard Leece Partnership has been appointed as the architect for the $384.2 million redevelopment of Warrnambool Base Hospital in rural Victoria, the Victorian Health Building Authority has announced. The firm will lead design work for the redevelopment alongside building services engineering consultants AECOM Australia. The development will include a new four-level clinical tower accommodating a […] More
The Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority has release new concept designs for the redevelopment of the Point Grey precinct in Lorne, after the previous design raised a slew of concerns from the local community.
The redevelopment project will include a new building for the Lorne Aquatic and Angling club, a commercial restaurant with options for coffee, takeaway and alfresco dining, and increased public amenities.
The new concept design by project architects Baldasso Cortese proposes a simple form comprising three primary parts: a large wing housing bar, commercial kitchen, take-away area and multi-purpose space; a restaurant dining and alfresco area; third area which includes toilets, storage and other support functions. The design also includes outdoor space to east looking towards water.
The new structure will be made from materials that are robust, bushfire resistant and sustainable, including recycled bricks and timber trusses salvaged from the existing fishing co-op building building on the site, and metal cladding or cement sheeting for external walls.
The new concept design was created following a community co-design process. The co-design group included 12 members with representatives from Committee for Lorne, Lorne Angling and Aquatic Club, Lorne Historical Society, Friends of Lorne, the Lorne Business and Tourism Association as well as individual community members. Four community architects were also part of the co-design group and worked closely with project architects Baldasso Cortese to realise the design.
In 2017, an architectural design competition was initiated for the project. Searle Waldron Architecture, Edwards Moore and Bush Projects won the competition with a proposal that included a sculptural roof that provided shelter over a group of smaller structures.
A planning permit was granted issued in 2020, however, an objector launched appeal in Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which is still ongoing.
The co-design group was formed due to community concerns for previous design.
The new concept design is now on exhibition for public feedback. More
The consortium behind the Queen’s Wharf casino development in Brisbane has revealed renders of the precinct’s tallest tower, designed by Cottee Parker Architects, lead designer for the wider precinct. Known as Queen’s Wharf Tower, the 71-storey tower will accommodate 800 apartments and reach a height of more than 250 metres. It will be the fifth […] More
Plus Architecture has won a design competition for a two-tower development at 711 Hunter Street in Newcastle’s West End, which will become the city’s tallest.
Standing at 90 metres high, the development will accommodate up to 250 dwellings and 1,500 square metres of commercial floor space.
The competition for the significant development site was held by the City of Newcastle together with property developers St Hilliers and The Spotlight Property Group, with the winner selected via an independent jury process under the governance of the City of Newcastle and the NSW Government Architect’s Office. The jury praised the design’s “meeting place” concept, which positions the ground plane of the development as a public domain to facilitate and encourage people to meet. The jury also supported the visual link between National Park Street and the Army Drill Hall, as well as the warm tonal palette and horizontal staked layers.
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711 Hunter Street by Plus Architecture.
Plus Architecture director Sumedh Kataria said the project had the potential to change the face of the city.
“Our vision for this project is about creating a place that reflects the heart and soul of the city – past, future,” he said. “Plus Architecture’s winning design concept is intended to deliver a development that celebrates its connection with place and country, adds to the richness of the urban fabric within which it sits and embraces its role as a key contributor to the city’s future identity.”
St Hilliers Property project director Paul Smith said, “The quality of architectural design presented by Plus Architecture is really impressive and we look forward to further refining the design by incorporating the jury’s recommendations before proceeding to the next phase.”
“With a development of this significance, we will work closely with Plus Architecture to set sustainability targets and quality design outcomes during the more detailed development application phase, including a focus on thermal comfort, energy, waste and water.”
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711 Hunter Street by Plus Architecture.
Newcastle’s West End is currently undergoing something of a development boom, with some major private developments in the works, and both state and local government agencies relocating their offices the area. Newscastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes lent her support to the development.
“Newcastle’s city skyline is set to be further transformed when this significant redevelopment in the West End comes to life,” she said.
The developers expect to lodge a development application mid-2022. More
The architects of the under-construction Powerhouse Parramatta have updated their design for the rooftop pavilion on the museum’s eastern building and finalized plans for the adaptive re-use of the heritage St George’s Terrace.
Moreau Kusunoki, Genton and landscape architect McGregor Coxall have submitted a design statement for the proposed changes as a part of a modification application before the NSW planning department.
Both the rooftop pavilion and the retained St George’s Terrace were late additions to the project, added after an outcry over the proposed demolition of both St George’s Terrace and Willow Grove saw the museum’s footprint reduced.
The rooftop pavilion is intended as a flexible space connecting to the external landscaped terrace and hosting exhibitions, events and workshops. Whereas the original proposal was for a relatively small structure on the western edge of the rooftop, the revised design calls for a continuous roof connecting the main pavilion to a secondary volume on the eastern edge. This will provide improved weather protection and connect the different activity zones of the rooftop.
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St George’s Terrace and Phillip Street Forecourt in front of the main Powerhouse building. Image:
Moreau Kusunoki, Genton, McGregor Coxall
The architects have aimed for a distinct language for the pavilion and rooftop that complements the architecture of the overall building.
“Lightness, transparency and a unified rooftop experience which seamlessly connects the external landscape terrace and the interior spaces, are at the core of the evolved design,” state the design team.
“The architectural expression of this canopy is discrete and minimal, almost floating over the East Building of the new Powerhouse. A large opening over the central garden creates a connection to the sky and sun, and provides a moment of vertical release for the planting.”
The museum says the pavilion will contribute programs that engage communities with Indigenous and agricultural science, climate change and local food production
St George’s Terrace, a row of seven two-storey terrace houses built in 1881, sits on the south-eastern corner of the Powerhouse Parramatta site.
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The revised rooftop pavilion design. Image:
Moreau Kusunoki, Genton, McGregor Coxall
The plan is for the building to become a flexible pavilion space that will be integral to Powerhouse programming.
Internal walls will be removed to open up a large, adaptable, double-height room across six of the terraces, while the easternmost terrace will house a service and back-of-house area.
The space will be used for education and group bookings, exhibition and event support, school group gathering and orientation, workshops and more.
Heritage elements will be retained, but the alteration will also remove later additions and introduce a similar material palette to the main building.
The space will connect to the surrounding public domain through doorways to the west, onto Phillip Street Plaza, and via extensive areas of glazing on the northern façade, which will open onto a laneway running betwen the terrace and the main building.
Each of the terrace’s four facades will be unique, in contrast to the monumental homogeneity of the main building’s exoskeleton. “Smaller windows along the southern facade reflect the original heritage fenestration pattern and provide light and opportunity for a controlled connection to the Philip Street environment,” the design team notes. “This is in contrast to the northern facade which is defined by a double storey expanse of full height glazing which maximises the visual connection to the lane and exoskeleton beyond. This unifies the internal experience of being within the terrace and within the Powerhouse precinct.”
Powerhouse Parramatta is scheduled to open in 2025. More
The federal government has unveiled the chosen design for the National Memorial for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, to be built in Canberra.
The winning proposal, “Transparency and Truth” by architects Jessica Spresser and Peter Besley, comprises a series of catenary arches made of glass blocks with a meandering path encircling a meadow of perennial grasses and wildflowers.
“The memorial design seeks to hold in balance an acknowledgement of strength and vitality on the one hand, and recognition of trauma and loss on the other,” said the architects. “The individual pieces of cast glass carry immense loads yet together create forms of exceptional grace and lightness, representing both fragility and great resilience.”
A national memorial for victims of child sexual abuse was one of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which handed down its final report in 2017.
The competition jury, chaired by the royal commission chairperson Peter McClellan, also included four representatives of victims and survivors, as well as five experts including architect Peter Tonkin and artist Yhonnie Scarce.
The jury unanimously agreed the proposal by Spresser and Besley was a “beautiful and sensitive response to the brief.”
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‘Transparency and Truth,’ the winning design for the National Memorial for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse by Jessica Spresser and Peter Besley. Image:
Courtesy National Capital Authority
They especially lauded the design for its absence of hidden chamber, walls or dark corners. They found the glass catenary arches, signifying load and strength “resonated with the jury as a place of substance imbued with hope.” The garden of wildflowers and grasses had “significant potential for a child or children to be represented sympathetically with the entire work.”
The jury believe that the proposal “will make a significant contribution toward the healing for those who have suffered and provide a place that people would likely visit more than once, with each visit deepening their personal understanding.”
“The National Memorial will provide both a beautiful place for quiet reflection and an opportunity for deepening community understanding of the tragic consequences of abuse,” said Peter McClellan.
Minister for families and social services Anne Ruston added, “The National Memorial would stand as a place of truth and reflection for people with lived experience and their families and supporters, as well as an enduring reminder of the responsibility to create a safer world for our children.”
The jury also commended two other schemes: “Converging Voices” by Paul Saywer, Ben Juckes and Kieran Ward and “Remembrances, Reflection, Healing and Hope” by Morq.
The memorial will be built on Acton Peninsula overlooking Lake Burley Griffin. Construction is due to begin later in 2022. More
The Australian Institute of Architects has welcomed a Victorian government policy aimed at building women’s participation in the construction industry, and called on other states and territories to bring in similar plans. Victoria’s Building Equality Policy, launched at the beginning of 2022, implements onsite and apprentice-trainee quotas and requires suppliers to develop Gender Equality Action […] More
