Evelyn Reynolds

The Art Gallery of NSW will restore and revitalize a series of spaces in its existing historic buildings as part of the $344 million Sydney Modern project.
The gallery has appointed Tonkin Zulaikha Greer to undertake the works, which will restore space in the original 19th century building as well as the 20th century additions.
The works will restore original architectural features of the building and enhance visitor experience and sustainable operations. The upgrades will be sympathetic to the existing gallery’s architecture.

“TZG is  excited to be a part of the revitalisation of the Art Gallery of NSW. The Gallery is a vital and vibrant part of the state’s culture, evolving  for more than a century under successive designers to meet an expanding and changing public role,” said Peter Tonkin, a director of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects.
“To support the Sydney Modern Project and the future needs of the Gallery, we are weaving a sequence of new facilities into the existing building, respecting its tradition of significant architectural quality and improving its environmental and functional performance.”

These include restoring the original entrance vestibule in the original building designed by Walter Liberty Vernon and the refurbishment of Vernon’s original grand courts, adding energy-saving LED lighting.

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Historical interior night view into Gallery from the northern sculpture court.
Image: Max Dupain / AGNSW
In the 1970s wing designed by Andrew Andersons, the design proposes to reinstate the internal balconies overlooking a double height atrium which will provide a visual connection between the two levels and create a more dramatic experience of the gallery’s collection of large-scale 20th century Australia art.
The existing large windows on the north-east facade of the wing will also be revealed to provide direct views to the art garden of the new SANAA-designed addition, currently under construction.

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Historical interior view of the new Australian courts.
Image: © Estate of Max Dupain / AGNSW
The Capon Research Library and National Art Archive will be relocated to a larger, fully accessible space on lower level 3. A temporary exhibition space will be relocated from lower level 1 to lower level 2, which will provide more space, higher ceilings and upgraded LED lighting.
There will also be new and upgraded public amenities and new and expanded facilities for the gallery’s members and volunteers.
The original gallery building was designed by NSW government architect Walter Liberty Vernon and constructed between 1896 and 1909, though it remained incomplete. In 1972, a new wing designed by Andrew Andersons was opened. And in 1988, an extension to the east, also designed by Andrew Andersons, doubled the size of the gallery and included more display spaces, a 300-seat theatre and a new expanded gallery for Asian art. Both additions received the Sulman Medal, in 1975 and 1989. In 2003, a new Asian art gallery designed by Richard Johnson was opened.
The refurbishment and restoration works will begin in 2021 and are expected to be completed in 2022 to coincide with the completion of the new building by SANAA. More

The Australian Institute of Architects has called on the federal environment minister Susan Ley to reject a redevelopment proposal for the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The Institute argues that the proposed demolition of the existing Anzac Hall designed by Denton Corker Marshall, completed in 2004, violates legislated heritage protections.
Former national president of the Institute Clare Cousins says the government should heed the advice of heritage experts, including the Australian Heritage Council.

“All of the heritage advice has been consistent in finding that the demolition of Anzac Hall will – unequivocally – have a significant negative impact on the Australian War Memorial’s heritage value,” she said.
“The strength and value of Australia’s legislated environmental and heritage protections would be undermined if such a violation of the Heritage Management Plan for this iconic site were permitted to proceed.”

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) has released final documentation from the assessment of the redevelopment proposal under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Institute is “deeply concerned” at the apparent “numerous inconsistencies and questionable assertions” contained in the documents.

DAWE asked the Memorial to undertake a ‘specific social heritage survey’ in February 2020 following widespread condemnation of the demolition plans.
“The Memorial has relied on the results of this survey to argue that there is ‘Broad support…for all elements of the Project including the replacement of Anzac Hall’. However, the copy of the survey included in the EPBC Act documentation appears to contain no specific questions about the demolition of Anzac Hall,” Cousins said.

More than 80 percent of the 167 submissions received were opposed to the replacement of Anzac Hall.
“The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE), as custodian of our national environmental and heritage protection laws, has a responsibility to be a fair and independent arbiter in assessing the redevelopment proposal,” Cousins said.

“The strength and value of Australia’s legislated environmental and heritage protections would be undermined if such a violation of the Heritage Management Plan for this iconic site were permitted to proceed.

“In the face of widespread concern the Memorial’s executive seem to be just digging in their heels and reverse engineering consultation outcomes rather than taking on board legitimate concerns and amending their proposal, we urge the Minister to have the current EPBC referral withdrawn with instructions to pursue alternative solutions that meet both the current and future needs of the Memorial while also preserving its physical and social heritage values.”
A parliamentary committee is also looking into the redevelopment proposal in relation to its purpose and suitability, cost effectiveness and the amount of revenue it would generate. The committee received a record number of submissions, the majority of which oppose the project. More

Perth architect Sandy Anghie, winner of the 2020 WA Emerging Architect Prize, has been elected as the deputy mayor of the City of Perth.
Anghie, who ran for council on a platform that included building an Indigenous Cultural Centre, “energizing” the CBD and connecting it to Kings Park and the Swan River, was voted into the role by five of eight elected members present at a special council meeting on Tuesday 17 October.
She will serve alongside newly elected mayor Basil Zempilas, a sports presenter and commentator who has controversially vowed to maintain his media roles with Seven West Media and The West Australian.

Zempilas won the mayorship on 29.44 percent of the vote, beating former ABC journalist Di Bain by just 284 votes. Anghie, who won 8 percent of the vote in the mayoral race, said her vision for the city aligned with that of Zempilas.
“It’s a real privilege to serve alongside the Lord Mayor as his deputy so I’m really looking forward to that role,” she told reporters.

Having started her career in corporate tax law, Anghie studied architecture at the University of Western Australia from 2006. She has since worked at the Office of Government Architect, Syrinx Environmental and Hassell, and has established her own practice, Sandy Anghie Architect.

She is also the editor of The Architect, the official magazine of the Western Australian chaper of the Australian Institute of Architects, and writes the “Meet the Architect” column for The West Australian.

The jury of The Australian Institute of Architects’ WA 2020 Emerging Architect Prize praised Anghie for her role in founding the non-for-profit Historic Heart of Perth.
“Sandy is recognized as being instrumental in the establishment of the Historic Heart project, seen as a catalyst for the revitalization of the east end of Perth,” the jury stated. “Her leadership and contribution to the project is commendable and has helped promote meaningful community engagement with heritage architecture and its value.”⁠⠀
In her role on council, Anghie has vowed to focus on practical solutions for people experiencing homelessness and to aim for “social, economic and environmental sustainability.”
She says she wants to build the “assets and identities” of the city’s neighbourhoods while supporting business and encouraging entrepreneurship. More

The NSW government has released a draft public spaces charter outlining a series of principles for a state with “more and better” public spaces.
A focus on public spaces has been a feature of the government’s messaging on urban development, with a new ministerial portfolio for public spaces created in 2019.
The proposed charter would be a resource to support the planning, design, management and activation of public spaces across the state.
It has been released for public comment alongside a draft “evaluation tool,” which has been developed with an international peer review panel, and is designed as a simple site survey that anyone can use to identify a public spaces strengths and areas for improvement. The information could be used to inform future planning, design, and investment.

Alex O’Mara, group deputy secretary at the planning and environment department, said the initiatives would help support the government’s priorities for greener spaces, which aims to increase walkable access to quality public space.

“COVID-19 is changing the way we use public space and has shone a light on how vital these places are to support healthy, happy, resilient communities,” she said.
“We want to use everything in our toolbox to consolidate and improve what we have and create more. We’re asking the community to help us design a tool that will allow people to tell us what they like about public spaces and where we can improve.”

The ten principles outlined in the charter are: open and welcoming; community-focused; culture and creativity; local character and identity; green and resilient; healthy and active; local business and economies; safe and secure; designed for people; and well-managed. You can read the draft principles here.
The draft public spaces charter and evaluation tool will be on public exhibition until 17 November. All state government agencies will be asked to endorse the final charter and local government and industry will be encouraged to adopt its principles. More

Durbach Block Jaggers and John Wardle Architects’ gallery and performance venue Phoenix Central Park has been voted the best cultural building of 2020 by an international audience.
The Sydney project, the latest ambitious building to be commissioned by arts patron Judith Neilson, was the people’s choice winner in the Dezeen Awards’ cultural category, winning 32 percent support.
Laura Harding, reviewing Phoenix Central Park in the September/October issue of Architecture Australia, describes it as “a Corbusian boîte à miracles – a miracle box – an architectural vessel capable of holding everything you could desire.”

In the Hospitality Building category, Bali hotel the Tiing designed by Australian Nic Brunsdon won with 28 percent of the vote. “The project strives for a local vernacular filtered through architectural references of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and aspires to amplify the sense of place as interpreted and represented by a foreign architect,” wrote Thomas Mckenzie in a review of the project.

Other popular projects in the cultural category were He Art Museum by Tadao Ando Architect and Associates (24 percent), Jiunvfeng Study on Mount Tai by Gad Line + Studio (20 percent), Zhang Yan Cultural Museum by Shenzhen Horizontal Design (15 percent) and The Reach by Steven Holl Architects (9 percent).

A number of other Australian projects also polled well.
Partners Hill’s Daylesford Longhouse, winner of the 2019 Australian House of the Year, won 18 percent of the vote in the rural house category, behind No Footprint House by A-01 (24 percent) The Red Roof by Taa Design (20 percent) and Devon Passivhaus by McLean Quinlan (20 percent).
In the urban house category, Andrew Burges Architects’ Bismarck House in Byron Bay got 16 percent of the vote, behind Thang House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects (48 percent).
The residential rebirth category included Australian projects: Bismark House again on 9 percent and North Bondi House by James Garvan Architecture and Welcome to The Jungle House by CplusC Architectural Workshop, both on 10 percent.
Some 62,447 votes were cast across all categories. To see all the results, head here.
The winners of the professionally judged Dezeen Awards will be announced in November. More

FJMT has prepared designs for the transformation of three heritage buildings along Oxford Street between Oxford Square and Taylor Square in Sydney on the lands of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation.
To be known as The Darlinghurst Collection, the project at 56-76, 82-106, and 110-122 Oxford Street will include a 75-room hotel along with a range of commercial, retail and creative spaces.
“Our concept is to create a carefully crafted interplay between the beautiful turn of the century heritage buildings and a new dynamic series of glass and metal forms that hover above,” said Richard Francis Jones, FJMT design director. “This composed integration of heritage and advanced architectural form will create sustainable and inspiring places to work, while reinvigorating the street life of Oxford Street and the authenticity of its laneways.”

The scheme provides for 2,300 square metres of activated ground plane and laneway retail, 7,600 square metres of commercial floorspace, and 1,600 square metres of cultural and creative spaces.

The commercial buildings will have open, floorspaces and will include a rooftop extension with high ceilings capturing a northerly aspect with views to the CBD and Sydney Harbour. The hotel is will include a rooftop pool and sun deck.
Developers Toga and Ashe Morgan have submitted a development application for the $44 million project with the City of Sydney.

Toga CEO Fabrizio Perilli said, “The Darlinghurst Collection presents an exciting and significant opportunity to help shape the future of one of Sydney’s cultural meccas. Our vision for the site is to create a diverse, and uniquely Darlinghurst precinct, that reflects the values of the local community and the significant heritage of the area.”
Ashe Morgan principal Mendy Moss said, “The sensitive adaption of the buildings will celebrate the history and heritage of the area while ensuring they cater to the requirements of modern workplaces and the wider community.”

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The federal government’s own heritage body has weighed in on the controversial redevelopment plans for the Australian War Memorial, arguing that potential alternatives to the expansion have not been adequately considered and that the project would have “a serious impact” on the memorial’s heritage values.
The Australian Heritage Council made a submission on the proposal as part of the latest round of consultations under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

Chair of the council and former Liberal minister David Kemp said in the submission that operational and functional changes should be considered as an alternative to adding more space.
“These include different and technological methods of interpretation and museum display, as well as opportunities to introduce a more sustainable visitation strategy,” he said.
“Both are important aspects of a comprehensive heritage management programme and should be considered as key approaches to improving capacity.

“Physical expansion to support the display of large objects such as submarines and aircraft is not a sustainable intent over the long term and, in the current circumstances, cannot be achieved without significantly impacting listed heritage values.”

The submission calls for a reconsideration of the plans to avoid the impact on heritage, questioning the need to demolish the existing Anzac Hall, designed by Denton Corker Marshall, as well as the expansion of the C.E.W. Bean building.

“Regrettably the council cannot support the conclusion that the proposed redevelopment will not have a serious impact on the listed heritage values of the site and recommends that the matters above be given serious attention,” Kemp states.
Costing $500 million, the plan to expand the war memorial has attracted widespread criticism since it was first proposed. The Australian Institute of Architects released an open letter signed by a number of Gold Medallists slamming the proposal and launched a campaign to fight it, while a separate open letter signed by 83 distinguished Australians said the project would represent an “excessive veneration of the Anzac story.”

The project would consist of a new southern entrance designed by Scott Carver, a new Anzac Hall and glazed link designed by Cox Architecture, as well as the extension to the Bean building.
Much of the criticism has focused on the proposed demolition of Anzac Hall, which received the 2005 Sir Zelman Cowan Award for Public Architecture as well as the 2005 Canberra Medallion.
The heritage impact statement prepared for the memorial by Hector Abrahams Architects concedes that the demolition of the existing hall will represent a “significant loss of value” and have a “substantial negative impact on the heritage significance of the place.”
However, “since the perhaps superior values of historical processes are conserved, this is reasonable.”
Hector Abrahams found that the proposal as a whole is acceptable in heritage terms. More

The NSW government will track the performance of developers, architects and builders via a digital “dashboard” system designed to increase trust in the building industry and make it easier for consumers to avoid dodgy operators.
Eight months out from the implementation of the Design and Building Practitioner’s Act, NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has outlined some of the measures the building regulator is working on to increase oversight of the sector.
He states that by late 2021, the NSW Building Regulator will be able to bring together real-time data on both buildings and practitioners that was previously spread out across 20 “data silos” to provide an immediate picture of any faults or deficiencies. The data will be displayed in digital dashboards in order to inform the market and point to practitioners that “need to lift their game.”

“Some of the least trusted players can now see how out in the cold they will be if they do not start to change now,” he writes. “Once we turn the spotlight on excellence for all to see, there is nowhere to hide.”

The dashboards will be created for developers, designers, constructors, manufacturers, installers and certifiers.
The Design and Building Practitioner’s Act is a much-delayed response to the damning 2018 Shergold Weir report into the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement systems in the industry.

Central to that legislation is the requirement that practitioners must submit a compliance declaration to declare that designs comply with the Building Code of Australia and that the building is built to code.

UNSW Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture Geoff Hanmer has criticized the bill for not implementing a greater inspection regime and allowing developers too much autonomy.
Chandler states that the greater transparency will lead to greater accountability and compliance, however. “It places direct accountability on developers to make good choices in commissioning adequate design to enable functional, trustworthy buildings to be delivered.”
“That accountability flows to the contractors they engage, and right through their supply chains.”
The Design and Building Practitioner Act comes into effect on 1 July 2021. The Office of the Building Commissioner has prepared a set of model clauses to show what will be required in construction contracts under the act. More