Evelyn Reynolds

Five Australian houses have been shortlisted in the Inside World Festival of Interiors, while another homegrown abode has made the shortlist at the World Architecture Festival.
Shortlisted in Inside’s single dwelling category is 123 House by Neil Cownie Architect, a Perth project that takes inspiration from the Ampol petrol station once owned by the clients on the same site. Detailed concrete projections and laser cut cantilevered shelving reference the Ampol logo, while coloured glass references the colours of petrol and engine oil. “The design seeks to make the interior sit comfortably in the suburb as though this building has been born from its surroundings, overlaid with the client’s connection to the site and their own heritage,” a design statement reads.
Also on the shortlist is 19 Waterloo Street by SJB, which is in contention in Australia’s National Architecture Awards as well. Designed as lead architect Adam Haddow’s own home, 19 Waterloo Street has a footprint of only 30 square metres. It features a playful “Jacques Tati-esque” facade of recycled and broken brick.

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19 Waterloo Street by SJB. Image:

Anson Smart

“Ultimately, it’s about sustainability, doing more with less, reusing a site, reusing materials, and better using an existing connected place,” state the architects.
Sydney firm Carter Williamson Architects has two houses on the shortlist: Rosso Verde in the inner-Sydney suburb of Camperdown, and Wurrungwuri, on a steep waterfront site in Birchgrove.
Within the shell of an old warehouse, Rosso Verde trades interior space for a courtyard, which gives the house its clearly defined, rational plan. “Rosso Verde does not follow the typical industrial precedent set for warehouse conversions, often leaning into cold industrial aesthetics,” the architects state. “Instead, we opted for an interior narrative that used a combination of earthy tones and textural materials to create warmth while celebrating the warehouse bones of the building in a sophisticated and elevated way.”

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Rosso Verde by Carter Williamson Architects. Image:

Pablo Veiga

With Wurrungwuri, Carter Williamson has delivered a crafted addition that respects the heritage of the existing colonial sandstone cottage while embracing the harbour site. “Rather than sitting boundary to boundary, Wurrungwuri gives back to community with a view to the harbour beyond from the street, restoring the connection to place,” the architects state.
Finally, Inside Three Spring Residential Gallery by KGA Architecture also made the shortlist. The architects describe “dense and highly detailed” interiors, designed to accommodate the client’s extensive art and personal memorabilia.
The sole Australian project shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival’s House and Villa category is Concrete Curtain by FGR Architects. Defined by a folded, pleated curtain motif, the house references Japanese modernism while striking the balance between lookout and fortress. “Rather than the hermetically sealed envelope, the design offers permeability and porosity-borrowing from the idea of the veil,” the architects state. “The house opens itself to borrowed vistas, especially east and north with a dramatic, full-height operable double-glazing program throughout that delivers flexibility and deep sound-proofing.”

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Concrete Curtain by FGR Architects. Image:

Peter Bennetts

More than 30 Australian projects are shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival across several categories, while more than a dozen are shortlisted across the Inside awards.
The twin festivals will take place at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 29 November to 1 December. More

The Koorie Heritage Trust’s gift shop has moved into a temporary home in the Crossbar building at Federation Square as works begin to transform the Yarra Building into a dedicated First Nations arts and culture centre. Studio Peter King has designed the pop-up Shop Koorie, which is open from 20 July. Described as a “fresh […] More

Bates Smart has unveiled designs for a five-building student accommodation precinct across the road from the University of New South Wales’ Kensington campus, Sydney.
Developed by student accommodation provider Iglu, the “Iglu at UNSW” project on Anzac Parade will house 1,066 beds. The tallest building will reach 23-storeys and house 542 beds, followed by a 19-storey building with 382 beds, a seven-storey building with 63 beds and two four-storey buildings with 39 and 40 beds each.
At ground level, Bates Smart is proposing a set of social and relaxation spaces, along with retail tenancies. These spaces include a civic lawn, a courtyard, an “eat street” and a sensory garden.
The buildings will sit on the western edge of the UNSW campus, a major entry gateway, and the design acknowledges this by creating strong physical and visual connections with the campus.

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Iglu at UNSW by Bates Smart. Image:

Bates Smart

“This is an architecture that is not a heroic architectural gesture, but rather one that considers its place and its relationship with its context,” a design statement from Bates Smart reads.
“The composition of buildings is intended to read as a collective, whilst allowing each building to have their own character and identity through a diverse built form and facade expression.
“Towers are set back behind lower, human scaled podium forms to reduce their visual and environmental impact.
“Centred on natural tones, the materiality has been selected to work in harmony with its context.”
Arcadia is the landscape architect for the project, which is envisioned as a “village campus”, with open spaces weaved through the precinct.
The developer Iglu secured a 99-year lease on the site from the university after winning a competitive tender process, the Australian Financial Review reports.
A development application for the project is on exhibit on Randwick City Council’s website. More

More than a dozen Australian projects have been shortlisted in the 2023 Inside World Festival of Interiors Awards.
The shortlist celebrates the best completed interiors across 11 categories, from single residential to bars and restaurants, workplaces and temporary installations. Shortlisted practices will have the opportunity to present in front of a live jury at the Inside World Festival of Interiors.
The festival is co-located with the World Architecture Festival, which will return to Singapore for the first time since 2015. The shortlisted projects will be judged live in front of various panels of judges. The festival program will also include keynote talks and social events.
The 2023 Inside World Festival of Interiors will take place at Marina Bay Sands from 29 November to 1 December.
The shortlisted Australian projects are:
Bars and Restaurants
Delatite Cellar Door – Lucy Clemenger Architects
Education
Library and Innovation Centre, Abbotsleigh Junior School – AJC Architects
Health and Fitness
Dental Boutique Sydney – Jesse Ant Architects
Murrenda Residential Aged Care Home – STH
Hotels
Capella Sydney – Make Architects, Bar Studio
InterContinental Hotel Sydney – Woods Bagot
The Continental Sorrento – Woods Bagot
Residential (single dwelling)
123 House – Neil Cownie Architect
19 Waterloo Street – SJB
Inside Three Spring Residential Gallery – KGA Architecture
Rosso Verde – Carter Williamson Architects
Wurrungwuri – Carter Williamson Architects
Temporary/Mealwhile Uses
Eucalyptusdom – SJB in collaboration with Richard Leplastrier AO and Vania Contreras
Garden Pavilion – KGA Architecture
Workplace (Large)
Dexus Place 80 Collins – Warren and Mahoney
M and C Saatchi – Woods Bagot More

Brimbank City Council in Melbourne’s west is seeking feedback on its vision plan for a 54-hectare site in Sunshine.
The proposed Sunshine Energy Park will transform a former landfill into an urban parkland with a biodiversity corridor and opportunities for sport, leisure, energy production, connection to Country, and regenerative ecologies.
Originally an open grassland on the basalt plains of Wurundjeri Country, the site became a quarry in the late ninteenth century before it was used for landfill.
The landfill closed in 1990 and has since undergone a process of remediation. In 2019, the council engaged GHD to undertake a feasibility study of future options for the site.

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Vision plan for Sunshine Energy Park. Image:

Brimbank City Council

The 30-year vision includes broad ambitions to harness circular economy principles, partner with community groups and enterprises, facilitate recycling, and establish food resources and education and community hubs.
The park will be divided into interconnecting zones: sports fields, mountain bike trails, a wetland, a solar farm, a hilltop lookout, a sustainability hub, a playground and an indoor stadium.
Early concept work and background investigations for the vision plan were undertaken by McGregor Coxall with landscape architecture by Brimbank City Council’s Urban Design Team, which also worked with Weston Williamson on the concept design for the indoor stadium.
“The Sunshine Energy Park Vision Plan represents the aspirations and possibilities for this new community space,” the council said.
The site will also connect with the nearby Albion Station precinct, which is due to be redeveloped by the state government. More

A team comprising Perth-based architect Nic Brunsdon in collaboration with art and technology studio Eness has won an invited design competition for the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2023 Architecture Commission.
The proposal, (This is) Air, calls for a 14-metre-tall inflatable sphere to be installed in the rear garden of the gallery. The dynamic structure will expand and contract throughout the day.
“The idea for this project was conceived by the architect during the global pandemic, when the air we breathed was suddenly at the forefront of everyone’s mind,” said Ewan McEoin, NGV senior curator of contemporary art, design and architecture. “Taking the form of a giant inflatable sphere, this living structure inhales and exhales before our eyes, giving presence to that omnipresent yet invisible element that connects us all.”

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2023 NGV Architecture Commission, (This is) Air, by Nic Brunsdon in collaboration with Eness. Image:

Render courtesy of Nic Brunsdon

The installation will periodically deflate in a gust that produces a cloud-like array, then reinflate. Air is therefore seen, heard and felt, inviting audiences to consider the element’s life-giving nature.
The 2023 NGV Architecture Commission will be a part of the NGV Triennial exhibition, which will be called Magic, Matter and Memory. Ten design teams were invited to submit concepts that responded to this theme.
The winning design responds to Matter and draws together concepts of biology, geology and physics while also prompting audiences to consider humanity’s reliance on natural systems.
“Air can be understood as part of our global economic, social and ecological realities. And yet, the quality of air we breathe varies depend[s] on where and how we live. Air is universal, yet clean air is not,” McEoin said.
The 10 invited competitors were: Five Mile Radius and Julia Watson (Qld); GFA2, Supercontext and Dean Cross (NSW); Nic Brunsdon with Eness (WA); Office Mi—Ji (Vic); Office of Culture, Technology and Architecture (Vic); Spressor and Peter Besley (NSW); Studiobird / Simona (Vic); Supermanoeuvre (NSW/ACT); Taylor and Hinds with Dr Lois Peeler AM (Tas); and Youssofzay Hart with Zena Cumpston (NSW).
“The annual NGV Architecture Commission offers a platform for Australian designers and architects to realize an ambitious new work of ephemeral architecture that pushes their practice into new and surprising frontiers,” said NGV director Tony Ellwood. “Since its inception in 2016, these imaginative structures have created a place for the community to come together, and many of these commissions have gone on to win some of the world’s most prestigious design and architecture awards. This series truly exemplifies the NGV’s commitment to uplifting Australia’s outstanding design and architecture practitioners and showcasing their achievements to a global audience.”
The 2023 NGV Architecture Commission will be on display from 3 December. More

The Western Australian government seeks six new members to appoint to the state’s heritage council. The council makes recommendations to the heritage minster on entries to the state heritage register, determines the state’s heritage strategy and policy, and advises relevant bodies on the management and development of heritage places. The council comprises nine members with […] More

Construction of a landmark tower complex on the Brisbane riverfront will begin in earnest after the existing structure has been dismantled.
The $2.5 billion Waterfront Brisbane project, designed by FJMT (now FJC Studio) and Arkhefield, will occupy the site of the former Eagle Street Pier restaurant complex.
The development comprises two towers of 52 and 44 storeys, a 9,000-square-metre public open space, and a new 280-metre-long riverwalk connecting Waterfront Place and the nearby Riparian Plaza, which was designed by Harry Seidler.
“We want to revitalize the iconic Brisbane River, and Waterfront Brisbane’s strong river connectivity will deliver vibrant retail and public space for locals and visitors alike,” said Brisbane deputy mayor Krista Adams.

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Waterfront Brisbane designed by FJMT (now FJC Studio) and Arkhefield. Image:

Courtesy Dexus

Queensland acting premier Steven Miles added, “Queensland is in a golden decade of opportunity in the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It’s significant developments like this one that will unlock investment, create jobs and put Brisbane on the map as we’re in the global spotlight.”
Brisbane design studio Five Mile Radius has been tasked with repurposing the construction waste cleared from the site. The dismantling of the Eagle Street Pier began in January 2023, and the project team aims to recycle 95 percent of the 7,600 tonnes of material, some of which will be made into new furniture for the precinct using slabs, stainless steel balustrades, and timber decking.

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Future for Waterfront Brisbane by Five Mile Radius made from recycled material from the dismantled Eagle Street Pier complex. Image:

Courtesy Dexus

“Repurposing material from the site was a central part of the project’s sustainability objectives,” said Matt Beasley, project director of developer Dexus. “We have been able to harness leading-edge technology and innovative supply chains to minimize the development’s environmental impact.” More