Evelyn Reynolds

With so much activity happening around today’s kitchens it stands to reason that many people prefer not to close off this communal space, but to keep it open and integrated with the rest of their living zones. Keeping in mind the design aesthetic, an open plan setting that accommodates entertaining, family time, homework and cooking requires exceptional ventilation to prevent steam, heat and vapour permeating the area.
Assisting this need, Gaggenau, the luxury professional-grade kitchen appliance manufacturer, has released its new table ventilation 200 series. Bringing professional technology to the private kitchen, the model is minimalist in design and blends perfectly into any kitchen architecture, sitting discreetly along the top edge of your cooktop. Functioning with the utmost discretion, it is completely transparent when emerged as it works to reduce cooking vapours and odours quietly and efficiently. The model can also enhance the aesthetic with an ambient lighting function that ensures optimum cooktop illumination and a cosy atmosphere.
The high performing product utilizes guided air technology – additional air flow behind the screen that captures more vapour in front of the screen. This innovation increases the air extraction from pans anywhere on the cooktop, so vapours and odours are extracted directly from the source. This is an ideal solution for kitchen islands and open spaces. Available in a 90 cm width, it is flush-mounted and complements the Gaggenau 400 series full surface induction cooktops as well as the 200 series framed induction cooktops.
The fully retractable table ventilation 200 series forms part of the wider Gaggenau ventilation 200 series, which includes the integrated rangehoods in stainless steel and glass, the island hood in stainless steel, the wall-mounted hood in stainless steel, the Vario downdraft ventilation in black and the slide out rangehoods in the 200 series.
Additionally, the product is Home Connect enabled; controllable via the cooktop, it can be set to automatically detect and remove vapour, even after cooking. The Home Connect app allows you to communicate intuitively with your Gaggenau appliances digitally, remotely and whenever you want.
Gaggenau Australia has also released its updated downdraft ventilation from the 400 series. Quietly efficient, it fits flush into any of the Vario 400 series cooktop arrangements and offers effective odour and vapour removal at the source. Complementing the aesthetic of the cooktops, it utilizes the same stainless steel controls and has been updated to incorporate a classic black interior. More

A mid-rise office building planned for Alexandria in Sydney will feature a stack of meeting rooms in the form of a “tree house” looking out over a central courtyard. With detailed design by John Wardle Architects, the mixed-use development at the corner of Bourke Road and Bowden Street will feature food and drink premises, shops, […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects and the Green Building Council of Australia have joined the more than two dozen global built environment peak bodies and 60 of the world’s largest building industry firms to call for a faster transition to net-zero emissions in the lead up to the COP26 climate change conference.
In their 1.5oC COP26 Communiqué, the organizations “call on all sovereign governments to ramp up their Nationally Determined Contributions, and 2030 emissions reduction targets, to limit planetary warming in line with the remaining global 1.5ºC carbon budget.”
The signatories say they are each taking specific steps towards reducing emissions and they demand that governments do the same.
Spearheaded by US-based non-profit Architecture 2030, the group includes the American, British and Canadian institutes of architects together with big architecture firms such as Grimshaw, SOM, Studio Gang and Perkins and Will and engineering and building companies.
Collectively these organisations represent more than one million building industry professionals worldwide and are responsible for over US$300 billion in global annual construction.
Australian Institute of Architects national president Tony Giannone said the United Nations conference known as COP 26 represented an important moment.
“Globally, governments, companies, communities and individuals must all start responding to the climate crisis with the urgency that is so clearly required,” he said.
“The latest IPCC report was more than a wake-up call; it was an ultimatum to act now. Architects have the capacity, and we believe the responsibility to be at the forefront of this action.
“The Institute is championing a transition to net-zero emissions in Australia’s built environment by 2030.
“The products, materials and design expertise exist to make the shift; what we need now is the will and determination to achieve it.
“It is imperative that Australia is not only represented at COP26 by our Prime Minister but that we embrace more ambitious emissions reductions targets as a nation.”
COP 26 is happening in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November and will be attended by world leaders including Joe Biden and Boris Johnson. Scott Morrison has been cagey about his plans for the conference, and is yet to confirm attendance.
At the Youth4Climate summit held in Milan in late September, prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg denounced world leaders for their lack of action and empty words. “Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah,” she said. “This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have not led to action.” More

Sunshine Coast Council has appointed Brisbane firm Wilson Architects to complete the detailed designs for the Caloundra District Library. The project will transform the aging council chambers at 1 Omrah Avenue into a three-level contemporary library with community meeting space and council administration offices. It will replace the existing Caloundra Library, just across the block, […] More

Designs by Genton have been unveiled for two train stations in Melbourne, to be delivered as part of the state government’s ongoing level crossing removal project. Along with the delivery of new stations at Pakenham and East Pakenham, the project will see level crossings removed at McGregor Road, Main Street and Racecourse Road in Pakenham, […] More

The experts who will sit on the City of Melbourne’s two new design advisory bodies have been revealed.
Councillors endorsed the more than 40 experts and community members of the Design Excellence Advisory Committee and Melbourne Design Review Panel at the Future Melbourne Committee on 5 October.
Providing formal design advice on development applications and on council-led projects, the Melbourne Design Review Panel will include a pool of ten expert members from the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. They include Louise Wright of Baracco and Wright; Vanessa Bird of Bird de la Coeur Architects; Shane Murray, dean of Monash Art Design and Architecture; Simon McPherson of Global South; Mark Jacques of Openwork; Jane Williams (Jane Williams Architects); Simone Bliss, SBLA Studio; Rory Hyde, University of Melbourne; and Monash University’s Shelley Penn. José Alfano Of Alfano Studio will also be invited to give advice for select meetings.
The Design Review Panel also includes a pool of 16 technical experts from fields such as heritage, education and sustainability. They are: Mary Ann Jackson (accessibility); Ricky Ricardo (communications); Tania Davidge (community engagement) Michael Frazzetto (contextual design); Lucinda Hartley (data analytics); Sarah Slattery (development feasibilities); Anna Peters (development feasibilities); Jim Gard’ner (heritage); Kate Gray (heritage); Anne-Marie Pisani (Indigenous engagement); Daniel Soussan (Planning) Johanna Trickett (sustainability); Gavin Ashley (sustainability); Will Fooks (transport planning); Kathy Lazanas (transport planning); Soren Luckins (wayfinding / user experience).
The Design Excellence Advisory Committee, which will have a more informal role in shaping the city’s design, includes five community members, eight technical experts and three “technical advisors,” who will be invited to select meetings.
The technical experts include Victorian government architect Jill Garner; Julie Willis, University of Melbourne; Bill Krotiris or an Australian Institute of Architects nominee; Matthew York or an Australian Institute of Landscape Architects nominee; Danni Hunter, Property Council of Australia; Romilly Madew, Infrastructure Australia; Julie Willis, University of Melbourne; Martyn Hook, RMIT University; and Georgia Birks, Architecture Media (publisher of ArchitectureAU).
The technical advisors are Karl Fender, founder of Fender and Katsalidis, Monique Woodward of Wowowa, and Sarah Lynn Rees, associate and lead Indigenous advisor at Jackson Clements Burrows and a lecturer at Monash.
The community members are Ben Milbourne, Robyn Pollock, Lara Brown, Daniel Ong and Nivedita Ravindran. More

Leading aluminium building products manufacturer Deco Australia has just unveiled its new timber-look aluminium post – DecoPost. Made from solid aluminium and featuring Deco’s iconic timber-look DecoWood finish, DecoPost is a solution to Australia’s current timber shortage and a long-lasting alternative to timber products.
Available in two post sizes – 100 × 100 mm and 150 × 150 mm with a 3 mm wall thickness – DecoPost is a flexible and durable post for use in a variety of applications where timber posts are typically used, including pergolas, fencing, porticos, alfrescos and other landscaping options. With a variety of set lengths available, builders, homeowners and carpenters can build their outdoor structures quicky, easily and with minimal hassle.
DecoWood, the marine grade timber-look finish by Deco Australia, creates a realistic timber appearance that will not peel or rub off over time. And best of all, it is extremely low maintenance and never needs sanding, oiling, painting or staining.
DecoPost is available in four popular DecoWood colours, which replicate popular native timber species. A primer coat finish is also available – for contemporary designs or adding your own wet paint finish – and is stocked and ready for delivery on order. To help choose your finish, colour swatches are available to order from the Deco website.
Deco Australia architectural business manager Simon Pearson said DecoPost will be a handy addition to a large variety of DIY and building projects.
“DecoPost has opened up a whole new world of opportunity for home builders, carpenters, installers and DIY-ers,” he said. “Where timber may be difficult to come by, DecoPost offers that natural timber appearance with the durability of 3 mm thick solid aluminium. Building projects such as fences, gates, porticos and more can be completed quickly and last significantly longer – and the best part is, DecoPost is stocked and ready to go now.”
DecoPost is designed and manufactured in Australia. More

An Australian team has won the installation competition for the 2022 Tallinn Architecture Biennale in Estonia with a proposal that will be made of mushrooms.
Burlasite by Simulaa with Natalie Alima will use 3D printing technology to create a base frame that will over time be taken over by mycelia – the rooting system of the fungus.
With the biennale theme of “Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism” the curators of the 2022 installation competition looked to the slow food movement and challenged competitors to explore how the emerging technologies of fast construction can be slowed to “nourish local craftsmanship, better utilize available materials, respond to environments over long time scales and enhance bespoke design expression.”

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Burlasite by Simulaa with Natalie Alima

The competition sought “proposals that take a long, romantic and human centric view towards construction technology, demonstrating designs and processes that extend and expand learning and mastery, traditional craftsmanship and analogue fabrication, repurposing and reuse of local materials, human invention and improvisation, environmental adaptation and responsiveness, wonderment, and delight.”
The team at Simulaa and Natalie Alima responded with a design based on the archetypal hut. “This project takes the base structure of Martin Heidegger’s abandoned hut as the host form, stripped of its original cladding, leaving only its timber frame, as the armature for both a growth algorithm and a biological system to reconfigure and grow upon,” the designers said.

View gallery

Burlasite by Simulaa with Natalie Alima

The installation will be made from waste material of the local timber industry. Timber off cuts and saw dust will be combined with a biodegradable polymer which will be 3D printed to form the base frame. The structure will be “inoculated” with mushroom fibres, which will eventually consume the frame and harden into its own mycelial structure.
The process is similar to how bio-scaffolds are made in medicine to encourage growth of human tissue over an artificial frame.
“This project curates an uneasy alliance between biological transformations and the performance of a generative algorithm,” the designers said. “Through this measured process, the project seeks to heighten this state of flux, expressed in the object’s material decay that is in tension between emerging and eroding form.”
The 2022 installation competition for Tallin Architecture Biennale is curated by Gwyllim Jahn, Cameron Newnham, Soomeen Hahm Design and Igor Pantic – the winners of the 2019 competition.
The three-member jury included Australian architect Roland Snooks, founder of Kokkugia and associate professor at RMIT University.
Tallin Architecture Biennale opens on 7 September 2022 and the installation will be on display at the front of the Museum of Estonian Architecture until 2024. More