Evelyn Reynolds

UK-based architecture practice Hugh Broughton Architects has been appointed to deliver architectural designs for “critical infrastructure works” to revitalise Australia’s Antarctic research stations over the next decade.
A media release from Hugh Broughton Architects notes that the Antarctic Infrastructure Renewal Program (AIRP), which is an initiative of the federal government’s Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), marks the most significant investment in the renewal of Australia’s Antarctic infrastructure since the 1980s.
As part of the AIRP, the UK practice will work with an alliance of contractors and design consultants, including Bouygues Construction, Mott MacDonald and Stantec. Hugh Broughton Architects’ involvement in the project builds on their prior experience delivering infrastructure for the British Antarctic Survey, such as the Halley VI research station and the modernisation of Rothera Research Station.
Director Hugh Broughton said that the AIRP “demonstrates Australia’s commitment to Antarctic science through an innovative and sustainable approach which will provide a benchmark for efficient, modular construction,” and that he was “look[ing] forward to a highly collaborative process to meet the challenges of the most extreme environment on the planet.”

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The first project in the AIRP includes a $251 million works package at Davis Station, Australia’s most southerly Antarctic station, established approximately 20 kilometres inland from the edge of the continental ice sheet in East Antarctica in 1957.
A major focus of the project is the design of a new utility building containing a vehicle workshop, main powerhouse trades workshops, engineering offices, stores and associated plant.
According to Hugh Broughton Architects’ communique, their “aerodynamic design has been developed with a ‘kit-of-parts’ approach, enabling future buildings to utilise similar components in a drive to increase efficiency, simplify construction and ease maintenance.”
Additional upgrades across the site include removal of asbestos from the existing trades workshop, replacement of water production systems and overhaul of reticulated services, and the decommissioning and removal of legacy infrastructure.
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Hugh Broughton Architects began working with AAD in 2020, starting with the development of a staged masterplan for Davis Station and studies for the renewal of aviation facilities at Wilkins Aerodrome, Davis Plateau and Casey Station. The practice is also developing masterplans for Casey and Mawson Stations.
The AAD’s director of infrastructure delivery Matt Wuersching commented, “It’s been great to see the work developed in the masterplan – that Hugh Broughton Architects has been part of – be the basis for this initial package of works under the alliance agreement.
“The Antarctic environment brings many unique challenges to everything that we do. We’re looking forward to getting started on the delivery of this critical work.”
Works at Davis Station are slated to commence on site at the end of next year, with works due for completion by 2032. More

Industrial designer Olson Hamilton-Smith has been named the winner of the prestigious Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator for his groundbreaking project, Foldee, Australia’s first locally designed and manufactured folding cargo bike. The award was announced at the opening of Sydney Design Week 2025 on 19 September.
Presented by the Powerhouse and supported by a bequest from Carl and Judy Nielsen, the Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator is an annual program that recognises emerging Australian designers working in sustainable industrial design. The nine-month residency provides the recipient with the opportunity to develop their product under the mentorship of industry leaders, including Ed Ko, industrial designer and founder of IDX SYD.

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Chosen by a panel of experts comprising Ko, Powerhouse curator Angelique Hutchison and Nielsen Design Associates director Adam Laws, Hamilton-Smith stood out for his innovative response to two major urban challenges: limited storage space and sustainable transport.
Foldee is designed and built in Melbourne and reimagines the traditional cargo bike with a compact, highly portable structure. The bike incorporates a unique double-hinge folding mechanism, allowing it to collapse to a fraction of its size for easy transport and storage — without sacrificing load capacity. In line with its sustainability mission, Foldee is constructed entirely from 100% recyclable steel.
Nielsen Design Associates director Adam Laws said, “Olson’s project is in a relatively small but growing area of a highly competitive market. Its time is now with low impact environmental solutions being encouraged and sought after. The Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator adds to Olsen’s momentum by assisting with the commercial optimisation of the FOLDEE lightweight folding cargo bicycle.”
The Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator not only provides financial and institutional support to designers but also serves as a launching pad for products that address Australia’s pressing design challenges. This year’s program will see Hamilton-Smith collaborate with mentors, curators, and fabricators over a nine-month residency, culminating in a public showcase at the Powerhouse. More

In today’s episode, editor of InteriorsAu Cassie Hansen speaks with interior designer Brahman Perera about mixing styles, textures and price points to craft interiors that are unique, dynamic and accessible.
Brahman’s portfolio includes fitouts for fashion labels Christian Kimber and Henne, alongside hospitality venues like Entrecôte, Hopper Joint and Ursula’s Paddington. He was a speaker for the 2025 Design Speaks Night School series, titled “Balancing Act: The art of high-low design,” where he reflected on the value of blending the refined with the humble to create layered, balanced interiors. In this episode, he continues that conversation.
For Brahman, high–low design goes beyond mixing expensive and inexpensive objects. While cost is often the most visible factor, he sees the concept as one rooted in context, personal values and individual perception. For one client, high-low might mean incorporating sentimental items passed down through family; for another it could mean including salvaged or found objects. In some cases, new items represent a fresh start – a way to reset. As a designer, Brahman sees his role as a translator – someone who helps clients navigate these preferences.
Design Speaks Weekly is presented in partnership with the Australian Institute of Architects and with support from Lysaght. A fresh episode will be delivered every Tuesday. You can listen to it on major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Pocket Casts. More

The first building in Western Sydney’s Bradfield City Centre has received the 2025 Holdmark Innovation Award, an annual accolade that recognises innovation and excellence in the built environment.
Architecture firm Hassell have received the award for its design of First Building, which houses the first stage of an Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF). A design for an adjacent research facility was approved in April as part of the masterplan for Bradfield City Centre, which will see 114 hectares of land tranformed with parks, housing, shops and workplaces near the forthcoming Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport.
Conceived by Hassell as a modular kit of parts, the First Building can be disassembled, expanded or relocated as the city continues to evolve. The facility accommodates offices, a multipurpose space for events, a rooftop viewing platform and green roof, as well as an advanced manufacturing hall used to test prototypes and new technologies.

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Kevin Nassif, chief operating officer of Holdmark Property Group, said First Building reflects a commitment to Country-centred design, sustainability and innovation.
“It demonstrates a circular, low-carbon path that creates skilled jobs and new enterprise in Western Sydney. […] Holdmark is proud that this year’s recipient recognises real-world innovations that build stronger, more connected communities.”
The jury for the 2025 award included co-director of Youssofzay Hart Belqis Youssofzay, Powerhouse senior exhibition curator Keinton Butler, Holdmark Property Group chief operating officer Kevin Nassif, Government Architect NSW director of design excellence Olivia Hyde and Professor Greg Morrison of Western Sydney University.
Upon receiving the award, Hassell managing director Liz Westgarth said, “As architects, designing the first building in a new city is both a profound responsibility and a rare opportunity to leave a lasting legacy. We are proud to have created a building that directly responds to the challenges of our climate and our urban environment. The First Building provides more than a place for people to work and innovate – it sets a benchmark. It demonstrates that new cities can be imagined and built differently: with sustainability, adaptability and community at their core. Most importantly, it sets out a vision for the kind of future we want to create.”

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The award is presented to one exemplary Australian-designed project that demonstrates forward-thinking solutions to challenges faced by Australia’s urban environments. A prize of $10,000 is awarded to the winning project. Previously awarded projects include Wilam Ngarrang Retrofit by Kennedy Nolan with Finding Infinity, which received the award in 2024, and Phive in Parramatta Square by Design Inc. with Lacoste and Stevenson, and Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, which was the inaugural recipient in 2023.
The Holdmark Innovation Award program is presented by Powerhouse in partnership with Sydney Design Week principal partner Holdmark Property Group. More

Charles Darwin University (CDU) has previewed its newly completed health teaching and training facility, designed by Arch (formerly DWP Australia) and Ashford Lamaya Architects (formerly Ashford Group Architects).
The $30.8 million Centre for Better Health Futures is located at CDU’s Casuarina campus, north of Darwin’s city centre.
A media release from CDU notes that the centre, which is home to the university’s first School of Medicine, “is designed to equip the next generation of health professionals with world-class, practical training.”
Spanning three storeys, the 3,684-square-metre facility includes modern teaching facilities, laboratories and advanced research infrastructure.
Within the new centre, a simulated emergency department and a 12-bed hospital ward are intended to provide students with hands-on clinical experience. The building also houses preclinical and clinical simulation environments equipped with virtual reality and mobile technologies that extend learning opportunities to students at remote CDU campuses in Nhulunbuy, Katherine and Alice Springs.
CDU vice chancellor and president professor Scott Bowman said the centre will play a crucial role in building the Northern Territory’s health workforce.
“This centre represents a significant leap forward in health training for the NT,” he said. “Our students can now experience the closest possible preparation to working in hospitals, remote clinics and emergency settings – ensuring they graduate ready to meet the territory’s unique health challenges.”
CDU pro vice chancellor (Faculty of Health) professor Dominic Upton added, “This new facility provides our staff and students with opportunities that are rarely available outside major metropolitan centres. By bringing education, research and innovation together under one roof, we’re ensuring CDU plays a central role in shaping the future of healthcare in northern Australia.”
Construction on the centre began in 2023, with $15.8 million invested by CDU and $15 million provided by the federal government alongside a grant to establish the medical program.
About this time last year, CDU opened their new $250 million Education and Community Precinct, named Danala, in Darwin CBD. The project was designed by local practice Mode Architects.
The Centre for Better Health Futures will officially open to students in the first quarter of 2026. More

Three Australian projects have been shortlisted in the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Asia Pacific Awards 2025.
John McAslan and Partners (JMP) earned recognition for two projects on the shortlist. The Sydney Metro Central Station Upgrade, designed with Woods Bagot, was shortlisted in three categories: Adaptive Reuse, RIBA Member and Sustainability and Resilience. The Waterloo Metro Station in Sydney, also designed by JMP, was shortlisted in the Urban Regeneration category.
In shortlisting the Waterloo Metro Station, the jury noted that its design was informed by consultation with Indigenous advisor Yerrabingin, whose input helped shaped the station’s connection to place and history. “Unified by locally inspired materials, colours and textures, it [the station] creates a safe, accessible and inclusive public hub that signals a bright future for inner-city Waterloo,” they commented.

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Melbourne’s Northcote House by LLDS was shortlisted in the AI Powered Design category. According to a communique from RIBA, the project reimagines the Victorian terrace in response to its urban context, “combining sustainable design with local character and merging ecological sensitivity with architectural innovation.” The project involved the use of advanced robotic fabrication processes, with most components locally pre-fabricated within five kilometres of site.
The shortlist represents projects from 13 countries.
“The shortlisted projects reflect architecture that is deeply embedded in the distinctive cultures and character of the Asia Pacific. As a region on the frontline of complex challenges from climate change to rapid urbanisation, the projects demonstrate how the region is responding, introducing innovative new approaches to living and highlighting how architecture can make a meaningful difference to people’s lives,” the communique states.
The winners of the Asia Pacific Awards will be announced at the RIBA Architecture Festival Asia on 17 December 2025. More

The 2025 Rigg Design Prize has been awarded to Adelaide-based Aranda artist Alfred Lowe, whose striking ceramic installation, You and me, us never part, took out the $40,000 prize in what is widely regarded as Australia’s most prestigious accolade for contemporary design. The announcement was made as the tenth edition of the triennial prize opened on 18 September.
This year’s prize focused on Australian designers under 35 working across diverse disciplines including ceramics, glass, lighting, furniture, metalwork, jewellery, and textiles. Each of the 35 invited participants debuted new and ambitious work in the exhibition, offering insight into the ideas and processes shaping the future of Australian design.
Lowe’s work, comprising two large-scale figurative vessels over one metre tall, combines rugged clay with soft raffia elements. The work explores the tensions between love and hate, pain and joy, and the enduring ties of community and Country.

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“We, the jury, are inspired by the ambitious scale and emotional resonance of Alfred’s large, figurative ceramic vessels,” the jury stated. “While grounded in ceramic traditions, Alfred’s work pushes decisively into contemporary territory – expressing his Aranda culture and identity in forms that enliven the storied history of design in this country.”
Lowe was unanimously selected by a jury of leading design professionals and past Rigg Prize winners including jewellery designer Marian Hosking; industrial designer Adam Goodrum; designers Paul Hecker and Hamish Guthrie of Hecker Guthrie; and Simone LeAmon, curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture at NGV.

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“As an early-career practitioner, his work is inventive, accomplished and joyful, and signals a voice in contemporary Australian design with the power to contribute to international conversations on design and making in meaningful and enduring ways,” the jury concluded.
Selected from across Australia, the finalists invited by the NGV to compete for the $40,000 Rigg Design Prize are Patrick Adeney (VIC, Furniture), Kartika Laili Ahmad (WA, Lighting), Ella Badu (VIC, Jewellery), Walter Brooks (NT, Object Design), Dallissa Brown (NT, Ceramics), Andrew Carvolth (SA, Furniture), Nicola Charlesworth and Kim Stanek of Object Density (NSW, Furniture), Samantha Dennis (TAS, Jewellery), Carly Tarkari Dodd (SA, Jewellery), Hamish Donaldson (VIC, Glass), Jack Fearon of Fearon (QLD, Furniture), Olive Gill-Hille (WA, Furniture), Marcel Hoogstad Hay (SA, Glass), Katherine Hubble (VIC, Jewellery), Jay Jermyn (QLD, Lighting), Nicolette Johnson (QLD, Ceramics), Lavinia Ketchell (QLD, Object Design), Claudia Lau (VIC, Ceramics), Nicole Lawrence (VIC, Furniture), Julian Leigh May (VIC, Furniture), Alfred Lowe (SA, Ceramics), Marlo Lyda (NSW, Lighting), Claire Markwick-Smith (SA, Furniture), Simone Namunjdja (NT, Object Design), Nathan Nhan (ACT, Ceramics), Annie Paxton (VIC, Furniture), Douglas Powell of Duzi Objects (WA, Furniture), Amy Seo and Shahar Cohen of Second Edition (NSW, Furniture), Emma Shepherd of Sundance Studio (VIC, Weaving), Shahn Stewart of Alchemy Orange (VIC, Object Design), Dalton Stewart (VIC, Furniture), Georgie Szymanski (VIC, Furniture), Kohl Tyler (VIC, Ceramics), and Isaac Williams (TAS, Furniture).

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The Rigg Design Prize is awarded every three years and comes with a $40,000 non-acquisitive cash prize. Established in 1994, the prize honours the legacy of the late Colin Rigg and has recognised over 100 Australian designers across a wide range of disciplines.
The Rigg Design Prize 2025 will be on display from 19 September 2025 to February 2026 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Fed Square, Melbourne. More

Merri-bek City Council has announced the finalists in its design competition for a new library and piazza in Coburg, in Melbourne’s north.
Launched in May, the two-stage design competition has been coordinated by CityLab. Among the jury are Victorian government architect Jill Garner (chair), Merri-bek City Council director of community Eamonn Fennessy, associate professor at Monash University Maryam Gusheh, director of Jones and Whitehead Ron Jones, and director of Sibling Architecture Qianyi Lim.
The council’s website states, “Coburg Library will be a place of connection, cultural expression and life-long learning … with flexible spaces to read, learn, make and connect.
“The adjacent piazza will welcome all to gather, participate, play and rest. It will reflect and respect Country and contribute to environmental regeneration, resilience and biodiversity.
“Together, the library and piazza will embody Coburg’s unique identity and form the heart of the precinct.”
During the competition’s first-stage expression of interest, entrants were required to assemble a multidisciplinary team with an experienced leading architect. The selected finalists were then tasked with providing a concept design response to the brief.
These teams include:

FJC Studio, TCL and The Indigenuity Lab
Durbach Block Jaggers, Architecture Associates and Openwork
Edition Office, Blaklash, Hassell, Finding Infinity and Kate Rhodes
Studio Bright, Oculus, Board Grove, Blaklash, Five Mile Radius and Barbara Flynn.

Garner commented, “These shortlisted teams are an exciting and diverse mix of experienced and innovative younger practices,” and added that the project is “an exciting proposition for Coburg.”
Mayor of Merri-bek City Council Helen Davidson added, “The library and piazza project is an important first step to revitalising central Coburg, and we are also currently exploring other ideas to better utilise space in the heart of Coburg.
“This design competition challenges creative minds to launch our innovative vision for a new library and piazza. By allowing submissions from many design teams, we want to ensure we have a design which will best capture what is needed for Coburg, including a design which captures Coburg’s neighbourhood character.”

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Situated on a current car park among a collection of churches and retail spaces, the $60 million project is intended to substitute the council’s existing library, which will be sold or leased to partially fund the project.
The proposed library is scoped with 3,000 square metres of floor area for cultural and community uses, which include a cafe, artist studios and exhibition spaces. The new 2,000-square-metre piazza is expected to provide a multifunctional space and increased tree canopy connected to the Upfield rail corridor. Merri-bek City Council has also outlined the possibility of basement car parking.
Following endorsement from the Merri-bek City Council, the winning team is expected to be announced later this year, with the draft concept design presented to the public for feedback in early 2026. More