Evelyn Reynolds

The Hawthorn Hawks Australian Football League (AFL) team will soon flock to a new home ground, with construction now underway at Kennedy Community Centre in south-east Melbourne’s Dingley Village.
Named in honour of Hawthorn icon, John Kennedy, the centre, designed by Peddle Thorp Architects, will house facilities for both the mens and womens teams. The new facility will serve as a permanent home base for Hawthorn, who have played majority of their home matches in Frankston with additional games in Box Hill and Cairns.

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The new facility will serve as a permanent home base for Hawthorn, who have played majority of their home matches in Frankston with additional games in Box Hill and Cairns. Image:

Peddle Thorp Architects

The 28-hectare site will comprise a AFLW home ground oval with a dedicated match day pavilion with a 500-seat grandstand, team change rooms, umpire change rooms, media facilities, coaches’ boxes and a function space. The centre will also include the Harris Elite Training and Administration Facility for all Hawthorn players, as well as an additional MCG-sized oval, a gymnasium, an indoor training facility and wet and dry recovery facilities.
The Kennedy Community Centre will not just be for present players, but for past players, members, fans and local community members. Hawthorn Football Club president, Andy Gowers, said the new sporting facility would “not only safeguard our football club’s future, but also create a long-term home for the entire Hawthorn family and local community.”

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The Kennedy Community Centre will not just be for current players, but for past players, members, fans and local community members. Image:

Peddle Thorp Architects

Hawthorn will be the only club in the league to own its own facility and the land on which it is situated.
The project was allocated $30 million by the Victorian and federal governments, with additional funding received by Hawthorn Football Club, Kingston City Council and the Australian Football League.
With construction now in progress, the project is expected to be completed in 2025. More

The Western Australian government has announced it will develop a new Urban Green Strategy for Perth and Peel to enhance greening and cooling of backyards, streets, open spaces and neighbourhoods.
The proposed strategy will complement the Western Australian Climate Policy and Climate Adaptation Strategy, as well as a $3.75 million urban greening grants program for local governments in the Perth and Peel areas.
“There are many benefits of green spaces for liveability, health, biodiversity, and climate resilience, and we are creating a strategy that will encourage, facilitate and enhance our urban green environment across all areas of government,” said environment and climate action minister Reece Whitby.
“Not only do trees improve our neighbourhoods, they can help with the cost of living – a tree that provides shade to your home can help to reduce your electricity bills.”
The strategy will explore elements such as measuring and reporting on tree canopy coverage, education and awareness, identifying and mitigating urban heat, and green linkages.
The strategy will also build upon existing policies to incentivize tree retention in the Design WA guidelines and the newly reintroduced medium density code.
The state government will work with local governments and other stakeholders to create urban greening projects.
“Urban greening is part of our strategy to create liveable, healthy communities while attracting viable infill development that balances the need for housing with quality of life and amenity,” said WA planning minister John Carey.
“We understand the impacts of climate change and the importance of green neighbourhoods, however, our ‘Urban Greening Strategy’ must be implemented without compromising the critical delivery of new housing supply that we desperately need.
“The strategy will focus on an incentive-based approach, rather than a punitive approach.”
The state government is inviting community input on the strategy until 7 June 2024. More

Rockhampton Regional Council has announced construction on a new visitor hub at the city’s zoo will soon get underway.
The $7.5 million project, designed by Cox Architecture, will create a new visitor entrance and public amenities block, that will be accessible from within the zoo as well as the broader Rockhampton Botanic Gardens.
Rockhampton Region Parks, Sport and Public Places Councillor Cherie Rutherford said, “The driver behind this project was to formalize the entrance to the zoo and create a central visitor hub that serves not only the zoo, but also the Botanic Gardens, as well as the need for additional restrooms within the zoo precinct, which we know has been very long overdue.”
The new entry will be relocated to the southern end of the zoo. A shared pedestrian and slow vehicle zone will replace some of the existing on-street car parking.
“The design of the new building and its surrounds have been carefully curated to minimize the impact of the well established landscape and to maximize the future opportunities of the zoo,” said Cox Architecture in a design statement.
“The hub is arranged as a simple extruded form on the edge of the zoo and the gardens culminating in a more dramatic entry building.
“The entry establishes a new circulation route through the zoo that supports development of new exhibits, equitable grade pathways, and shade and pause points.”
The new building will also accommodate a series of enclosures for the zoo’s native and exotic reptiles, as well as a gathering space, plaza, and a wildlife viewing verandah, thanks to the deep overhang in the building’s design.
The building will also feature a screen that takes inspiration from the nearby Hugo Lassern Fernery in the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens.
Diversified Building Service was awarded the construction tender in January 2024 and the project is expected to be complete in June. More

HVG Facades has released a new high-density, fibre cement, exterior and interior cladding product called Vetérro. An alternative to paint, the panels feature a concrete-like appearance that subtly evolves in colour and tone with age to add character. Coloured panels have also been introduced as part of the exterior Vetérro range to enable the creation […] More

Houses magazine has appointed the jury for its 2024 Houses Awards. Consisting of industry experts in the architecture and design space, these jurors possess sound knowledge of the standards of excellence and measures of quality in the built environment.
Sophie Bence is a founder and co-director of Bence Mulcahy alongside Shamus Mulcahy. Established in 2014 in Hobart, Bence Mulcahy is interested in practising with generosity, finding the potential in projects regardless of scale and budget. The practice has completed a number of awarded projects across residential, education and heritage spaces.
Adam Haddow is a director of SJB, a multi-disciplinary design practice with studios in Sydney and Melbourne. Heading up the Sydney studio, Adam is a specialist architect in the built environment and is interested in what makes cities vibrant, connected and civic with particular expertise in urban density, and the intersection of public and private space.
Marika Neustupny is a founding director of NMBW Architecture Studio and holds a PhD from the University of Queensland. NMBW’s projects have been widely published and exhibited in local, national and international contexts, and awarded numerous times by the Australian Institute of Architects for residential projects.
Lachlan Nielsen is a director of Brisbane-based architecture studio Nielsen Jenkins. The work of the practice explores landscape, subtraction, connections and materiality in order to achieve client-specific outcomes that are responsive to context and place. These explorations form the basis of all of Neilsen Jenkins’ projects.
Chairing the jury will be Alexa Kempton who is the editor of Houses magazine. She has more than 15 years’ experience in architecture and design media, and has been part of the editorial team at Architecture Media for 10 years. Alexa is a former editor of ArchitectureAU and managing editor of Architecture Australia.
Award-winning landscape architect, Simone Bliss of SBLA Studio will be the jury’s garden and landscape advisor; Pippa Soccio, the senior research scientist in building monitoring at CSIRO, will be the sustainability advisor, and Louise Honman, an architect and built heritage specialist, will be the heritage advisor.
Entries for the 2024 Houses Awards can be submitted until 8 March 2024. To enter, visit the Houses Awards website.
Houses Awards are organized by Architecture Media, supported by Cult, Artedomus, Blum, Brickworks, James Hardie, Sussex, The Heritage Council of Victoria, Roca and Latitude. More

The second stage of a competition to design the redevelopment of Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres in Western Sydney is now underway, following the announcement of five finalist design teams in early January 2024. The teams will now further develop their ideas and incorporate jury feedback from stage one. The brief for stage two crafted in collaboration […] More

Emma Williamson, architect and co-founder of The Fulcrum Agency, has been appointed as WA’s new government architect and chair of the state’s Design Review Panel, replacing Rebecca Moore, who held the position for three years.
Williamson has practised for nearly 30 years and is a member of the West Australian and South Australian State Design Review Panels. Williamson’s practice has been involved in several award-winning projects, such as Boola Katitjin by Lyons with Silver Thomas Hanley, Officer Woods, The Fulcrum Agency and Aspect Studios, which won a 2023 Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture and a 2023 National Award for Sustainable Architecture; and the Groote Archipelago Housing Programme, which was a joint winner of the 2023 ArchitectureAU Award for Social Impact. The practice was also a state adviser on WA Museum Boola Bardip by Hassell and OMA, which won the 2021 George Temple Poole Award.
In 2022, Williamson was named a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects for her valuable contribution to the profession beyond architectural practice. She is committed to educating the next generation of architects through her role as adjunct senior research fellow at Monash University and through her written research, which has been published both nationally and internationally. In 2023, the Institute awarded Williamson the Paula Whitman Leadership in Gender Equity Prize.
Williamson frequently uses the profession as an instrument for highlighting and advocating for social issues that correlate with the field. She has often been invited to symposiums and events to speak on topics such as gender equity, leadership, design and practice management.
The Fulcrum Agency co-founder will supersede government architect Rebecca Moore, who accepted the role in September 2020. Moore was Australia’s first female government architect. She has provided design advice on more than $28 billion worth of state and regional projects. During her tenure, she provided consultation on key projects such as the Metronet station developments, the Causeway Pedestrian and Cyclist Bridge, and the Women and Babies Hospital project.
Moore has taken a leave of absence and will conclude her position officially this February. Architect, Barbara Gdowski has been serving as acting government architect and interim chair of the State Design Review Panel.
The role will entail providing design leadership and advice to improve the quality of the state’s built environment, as well as ensure that good design is prioritized in all development and major project opportunities. It also involves providing independent advice to the Minister for Planning, and the premier on key projects and strategic planning initiatives.
Planning Minister, John Carey, welcomed the appointment, saying Williamson is a “highly credentialled architect.”
“Williamson’s experience in design review will be integral to the position, as she will play a central role in the review and assessment of significant development proposals – through the new permanent assessment pathway – as part of our government’s planning reform agenda to take effect on 1 March 2024,” Carey said.
“I would again like to thank outgoing government architect, Ms Moore, for her contribution to the design of our state, and wish her well in her next endeavours.” More

Kaolin Tiles and Taubmans have launched a collaborative collection, featuring eight large-format porcelain tiles in four different colour schemes. The Equilibrium collection references Taubmans paint with a unique, paint-like finish that mimics textured brushstrokes. Four colour palettes have been released as part of the collection –Euphoric, Grounded, Composure and Centred – each of which were […] More