Evelyn Reynolds

Timberlink Australia unveiled the new brand for their forthcoming engineered wood products building solutions range – NeXTimber by Timberlink.
NeXTimber by Timberlink will manufacture cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT) products, providing an Australian-made renewable and carbon-positive timber building solution for commercial, residential, and public projects.
Backed by a $63 million capital investment, the NeXTimber range will be manufactured on Australia’s first combined world-scale softwoods CLT and GLT manufacturing line, within a purpose-built manufacturing plant being constructed adjacent to Timberlink’s state-of-the-art timber manufacturing facility in Tarpeena, South Australia. Production will begin in 2023.
Timberlink chief executive officer Ian Tyson said, “NeXTimber by Timberlink places us at the forefront of integrated forestry and softwood processing in Australia. The NeXTimber range will be manufactured on Timberlink’s Tarpeena site from Timberlink timber, sourced from local certified pine plantations. The plantations, like Timberlink, are under the ownership of funds managed by New Forests. This connection from seed to structure will give NeXTimber customers a unique level of supply certainty.”
Ian Tyson continued, “Currently around half of all of Australia’s engineered timber is being imported and the demand for this is expected to rapidly grow in the next decade, so building the sovereign capacity of locally made CLT and GLT is great news for Australian manufacturing and local regional employment.”
A total of 27 full-time permanent jobs will be created when the facility opens in 2023, rising to 50 at full output. A significant number of additional jobs are also being created during the construction phase.
Engineered timber products are increasingly being used in Australia and globally, particularly in mid-rise buildings, due to a combination of factors, including cost-effectiveness, livability, and ease and efficiency of construction. Timber products also satisfy the increasing demand for energy efficient, sustainable, and carbon-positive building materials.
Timberlink CEO Ian Tyson concluded by saying, “Timberlink is looking forward to growing the NeXTimber brand and supporting more specifiers and builders in using Australian-made mass timber that stores carbon because as our brand says, NeXTimber: It’s what better tomorrows are built on.”
To support the launch of the NeXTimber brand, Timberlink has released a new video.
NeXTimber More

Palettes of warm neutrals and greens feature in many interior trends forecasts for 2022, as well as texture in all its iterations: sculpted wall linings, plush velvets, raw linens, and wall finishes referencing sand and crushed stone. “Our desire to connect with nature, within our homes, blurs the line even further between indoors/outdoors as we […] More

A pink pond installation designed by Taylor Knights and James Carey has opened in the garden of the National Gallery of Victoria. Pond[er], the winning design for the 2021 NGV Architecture Commission, comprises a rectilinear shallow pond surrounded by a garden bed of wildflowers that will bloom at different times during the installation. The design […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects has awarded the 2021 NSW Chapter Prizes, recognizing those that have made “extensive and enduring contributions” to architecture, along with students and emerging architects who have made a mark with socially and environmentally conscious work.
The 2021 NSW President’s Prize was awarded to Kathlyn Loseby, who is CEO of the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia and a past president of the Institute’s NSW chapter.
The jury noted the role Loseby has played in deepening the profession’s influence in NSW.
“Kathlyn presided over a period of immense regulatory change in NSW and through extraordinary service, personal commitment and sheer determination managed to advocate on behalf of the profession in parliamentary and government circles thereby elevating the profession as a trusted advisor desirous of high quality-built environment outcomes,” the jury said.
Loseby was also awarded a life fellowship alongside five other NSW architects, Olivia Hyde, Peter Kemp, Rachel Neeson, Alex Popov and Agi Stirling.
Fellowships were also awarded to Jenna Rowe, Belinda Goh, Steven Donaghey, Guy Luscombe, Angus Kell, Abdullah Lftekhar, Robert Graham and William Smart.
Kevin O’Brien from BVN Architecture won the 2021 NSW Reconciliation Prize for the Kimberwalli Centre for Excellence. The jury said the project “has been designed and delivered with self-determination and pride in culture front of mind”.
Commendations in this prize category were awarded to the Burri Gummin Housing Studio, a collaboration between the Yarrabah Community and the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, and to Luk, a pendant light and artwork created by Ngardang Girri KalatMimini (NGKM) in collaboration with Koskela, engaged by Gensler on the refurbishment of Ernst and Young (EY) offices.
Kirsten Orr received the Marion Mahony Griffin Prize, which recognizes a distinctive body of work by a woman architect.
Architect Hugo Chan won the research-based 2021 David Lindner Prize for his submission “Architecture and Belonging: An Exploration into Designing for Cultural Diversity”. His research will explore “the connections between architecture, culture, belonging and memory and the role that the built environment plays in defining, shaping, and perpetuating self-identity and belonging of migrant communities in urban contexts.”
Emerging architect Nicole Larkin will have the opportunity for research-based travel or study to enrich her professional development after winning the 2021 Christopher Procter Prize for her proposal “The Wild Edge”, which aims to “consolidate a holistic approach to best practice for the management, conservation and future design of ocean pools.”
Architecture student Ryan Dingle won the 2021 Brian Patrick Keirnan Prize for his project repurposing a disused railway tunnel underneath Hyde Park that takes visitors from the city to the botanic gardens, while fellow students Lucy Sharman and Chloe Goldsmith received commendations.
President’s Prize
Kathlyn Loseby
Reconciliation Prize
Winner
Kevin O’Brien
Commendations
Burri Gummin Housing StudioLuk
Marion Mahony Griffin Prize
Kirsten Orr
David Lindner Prize
Hugo Chan
Christopher Procter Prize
Nicole Larkin
Brian Patrick Keirnan Prize
Winner
Ryan Dingle
Commendation
Lucy Sharman Chloe Goldsmith
Life Fellows
Olivia Hyde Peter KempLife Fellows Kathlyn Loseby Rachel Neeson Alex Popov Agi Stirling
Fellows
Jenna Rowe Belinda Goh Steven Donaghey Guy Luscombe Angus Kell Abdullah Lftekhar Robert Graham William Smart More

Three shortlisted designs have been unveiled for the bicycle ramp at the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s northern end, with the state government inviting feedback.
Each of the designs is for a linear ramp, since a public vote supported the linear option over a looped design.
The selected design teams include architecture and landscape architecture firms, along with Indigenous design consultants and engineers. They are:

Aspect Studios, with Collins and Turner Architects, Yerrabingin, Eckersley O’Callaghan Engineers, JMT Consulting and Design 5 Architects
Realm Studios, with Djinjama, Aileen Sage, Lucas Stapleton Johnson, Dr. Mike Harris, PMI Engineers and Nick Schliepe
Civille, with Ney and Partners, HNS Landscape Architects, Djinjama and Sue Rosen Associates.

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The Sydney Harbour cycleway by Aspect Studios, with Collins and Turner Architects, Yerrabingin, Eckersley O’Callaghan Engineers, JMT Consulting and Design 5 Architects.

The Aspect Studios-led proposal strives for the “lightest touch… with a form that dissolves into air whilst leaving the much loved park largely untouched.” Whereas the other two designs jut out from the bridge over Bradfield Park, Aspect’s design hugs the alignment of the viaduct, “such that infrastructure and movement are combined in a more simple, complementary and intuitive manner leaving the park open and uncluttered.”

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The Sydney Harbour cycleway by Realm Studios, with Djinjama, Aileen Sage, Lucas Stapleton Johnson, Dr. Mike Harris, PMI Engineers and Nick Schliepe.

The Realm Studios proposal also aims to touch the earth as lightly as it can, and deviates from the alignment of the reference design, which ran directly through Bradfield Park. “Our alignment swings further towards Alfred Street, opening up a much larger space between the Bridge and the Cycleway – that illuminated gap between Mother and Child,” the design report reads. “Our steel structural solution allows us to support the cycleway on a series of ultra-fine steel columns, that start from a single discrete point, and spread up to hold the Cycleway.”

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The Sydney Harbour cycleway by Civille, with Ney and Partners, H+N+S Landscape Architects, Djinjama and Sue Rosen Associates.

The Civille design also swings out towards Alfred Steet, creating maximum breathing space between Milsons Point Station and the ramp. The design takes inspiration from the Nawi(bark canoes) once used for crossing the harbour in terms of colour and form and is clearly differentiated from the design aesthetic of the bridge. “Its form speaks to the language and structure of Bradfield Park and its radial organisation,” state the design team. “The mass of the existing Sydney Harbour Bridge concrete wall is counter-balanced by a light and metallic cycle ramp structure.”
The Transport for NSW project is intended to make it easier for cyclists who currently have to carry their bikes up or down 55 steps at Bradfield Park. North Sydney Council has previously lambasted the proposal as “an assault” on open space in the area. Feedback on the proposals is open until 16 January 2022. More

Woods Bagot has produced new designs for the redevelopment of the now-heritage listed Indiana Teahouse at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach. Built in the mid-1990s in a mock colonial style, but based on the Centenary Pavilion, which occupied the site from 1929 to 1983, the building has become a famous feature of the Perth beach, sometimes mistaken […] More

A 42-storey tower designed by Bates Smart is the latest building proposed for Sydney’s “Tech Central” precinct by Central Station.
To be located at the intersection of George, Pitt and Lee streets, the office tower will cantilever over the former Parcel Post Office heritage building and sit next to the now-approved Atlassian tower designed by Shop Architects and BVN, as well as the proposed Central Place Sydney designed by Fender Katsalidis, SOM and Aspect Studios
The tower, referred to as Toga Central, is being proposed by Sydney developer Toga. The developer says the building will cater to the “rapidly growing tech community at the southern end of Sydney’s CBD.”
Bates Smart’s design for the building, selected via a design competition, seeks to celebrate the heritage post office building while adding a slim, contemporary tower to the Sydney skyline. The heritage building will be refurbished, uncovering its original internal proportions, and will be occupied by restaurants, retail, co-working, conference and business club facilities, as well as a rooftop terrace bar. The existing plaza will also be spruced up, enhancing pedestrian connections from Central Station through to Railway Square and UTS.

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Toga Central by Bates Smart.

Office space will fill the top 21-storeys of the tower, with each floor designed with highly flexible layout options.
Allan Vidor, Toga Group managing director, said, “Bates Smart’s winning design pays respect to the heritage of the site while also creating a vibrant new food and beverage precinct that will anchor the precinct and create a world-class destination and connect Surry Hills across Central Station. The new public plaza and tower will become a welcoming destination for people to work, shop, socialise and enjoy.”
Toga says it plans to submit a development application for the project in mid-2022. More

The first MPavilion to be erected in Queen Victoria Gardens since the onset of the pandemic opened on 2 December. Designed by Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel of Venice practice Map Studio, the installation dubbed “The Lightcatcher” is less a shelter and more of an “urban lighthouse,” featuring angled mirrored panels that reflect the surrounding […] More