Evelyn Reynolds

On 2 June 1973, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam officially opened the Adelaide Festival Centre, establishing the South Australian capital as a major arts city and marking a “major step forward in modern architecture.”
On that night, the Festival Theatre – the complex’s main building, and the first to be finished – played host to a performance of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Fidelio (Act Two, Scene 1). Fifty years later, the Festival Centre is an established icon of arts and architecture on the banks of the Karrawirra Parri/River Torrens, and it will mark its anniversary with a gala concert.
The Festival Centre was designed by Hassell and Partners and built in three stages from 1970 to 1980. It comprises the multipurpose, 2000-seat Festival Theatre; the drama theatre The Playhouse (now the Dunstan Playhouse); the experimental theatre The Space (now the Space Theatre) and a number of smaller galleries and function spaces.

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Festival Theatre interior. Image:

Peter Bennetts

Leading the design was the late John Morphett, an architectural rebel who brought the lessons of Walter Gropius and other leading modernists to Australia. In his obituary for Morphett, Gordon Kanki Knight relates how the architect prepared for the commission by visiting the world’s best theatres, taking in 42 halls in 42 days.
Following this whirlwind tour, Morphett “designed the building quickly, opting for two white octagonal shells in concrete.”
“I didn’t do many designs for the place,” Knight has Morphett saying. “It was remarkably simple. I went home one night and built a little cardboard model and I thought that it might work. We refined it, but initially it was essentially as it came out.
“The design encloses fairly logically the functions inside,” he explained. “You need an auditorium, you need a stage, so you put a different shell over each one and where they join is critical – the proscenium line is expressed where the volumes meet.”
The design was, for the most part, applauded. In a 1997 Architecture Australia review of the centre, Ian Brown concluded that the centre was designed “in the right place at the right time for a right price.”

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Ian Brown’s review of the Festival Centre in Architecture Australia, November 1977. Image:

Architecture Media

(The entire centre cost $21 million, compared to $102 million for the Sydney Opera House, completed in 1973.)
Brown praised the functional aspects of the three performing spaces, as well as the siting of the centre’s steel-framed “mushroom caps.”
“In fact the setting is so appropriate that the scale of the city-scape seems larger than it is, but complements entirely the proportions of the Centre,” Brown writes. “By which ever way you approach the Centre, from the River Torrens, bank, from the main traffic corridor of King William Street, from the Adelaide Railway Station, the sweep of the plaza provides exciting vistas with a surprise around every corner.”
The centre was added to the SA Heritage Register in 1997. Its heritage listing describes an “unashamedly modern complex notable for its bold structuralist approach to form” whose architecture “may be regarded as progressive while reflecting the period in which the concept was first mooted.”
The most controversial aspect of the centre has been the vast concrete plaza that surrounds it, punctuated by a large-scale environmental sculpture­­­ by West German artist Otto Hajek.
In his review, Ian Brown commented on “the entire bleakness of the Plaza area,” which he said offered no protection from extreme weather.

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Aerial view of Adelaide Festival Centre. Image:

Tom Balfour

Hajek’s sculpture, comprising a series of colourfully painted concrete forms that camouflage the airconditioning vent from the carpark below, was awarded a “brickbat” by the Civic Trust in 1977, while in 1986 its distinctive form was emblazoned on a commemorative stamp­­­. When it was announced that the sculpture would be decommissioned as part of the $90 million redevelopment of the plaza in 2015, some welcomed its removal, while others decried the move as “vandalism.”
The latest redevelopment of the Festival Centre and its plaza has been led by original architect Hassell, with ARM Architecture and landscape architects TCL and Aspect Studios responsible for the outdoor areas.
Of the new works, Hassell described a “restrained approach” that “will enhance the existing fabric and enable the elegant geometry to maintain its presence within an increasingly complex urban precinct.” More

Fender Katsalidis has designed a 23-storey dual-tower build-to-rent development in Brisbane’s Hamilton, which is poised for major development as the site of the 2032 Olympics’ main athletes village. The proposed development, submitted for approval to state government planning authority Economic Development Queensland, would include 560 apartments, including studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units. They […] More

Smart Design Studio is continuing with its experiments in parametric modelling and curled brick facades in Alexandria, Sydney, revealing designs for another sculptural office building next to the firm’s own office on Stokes Avenue.
Dubbed Stokes 18, the new building would house five levels of office space at the transition between Alexandria’s heritage conservation area and the taller North Alexandria Enterprise Area and Green Square City to the southwest. The open-plan offices would be flexible spaces that were designed to be repurposed.
In planning documents before the City of Sydney, Smart Design Studio states that the $26 million project would “raise the architectural bar in Alexandria,” setting a benchmark for quality sustainable design.

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Stokes 18 by Smart Design Studio. Image:

Smart Design Studio

Echoing the earlier Stokes 14 development, the design takes inspiration from the industrial character of the local conservation area, incorporating standard building materials and brick facades that curl out to collect water and provide shade.
“On entering the building, you are greeted with a dramatic five-storey void, 21 metres in height and full of natural light,” a design statement reads. “A sculptural stair connects all five office levels and includes curved detailing that continues the external curved language internally, however in concrete. The entire space uses one material to create a monolithic form, which has peeling curves that allow light to enter the space.”
The office floors will each feature generous 3.7-metre ceilings.
“Robust materials are used to create dramatic office interiors, including octagonal columns, sand-blasted concrete, and sculptural ceilings with integrated lighting and industrial ceiling fans,” the design statement reads.

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Stokes 18 by Smart Design Studio. Image:

Smart Design Studio

The project includes a number of sustainability measures, including a large-scale solar array that would make the building’s operations “energy positive”, hydronic heating and “massive” fans to cut down on airconditioning needs, and end-of-trip facilities to encourage cycling.
Council requires that the development leaves 1,270 metres of land to be dedicated for the future extension of Stokes Avenue, and Smart Design Studio has proposed that the space be used for a lawn in the interim. The landscape design is by Fieldwork.
The project would require the demolition of an existing warehouse.
Planning documents are on exhibition until 5 June. More

Finland considers itself a “young” country. It only emancipated itself from centuries of Swedish and Russian rule in 1917, and for most of the twentieth century, the country’s efforts in nation-building and expressing its national identity have been palpable through its arts, culture, architecture and urbanity.
Helsinki Central Railway Station by Eliel Saarinen was completed just two years after Finland declared independence. Its monolithic granite structure and vivid copper roofs epitomize Finnish materiality. Commissioned in 1904 through a design competition, the station was set against a backdrop of Finnish nationalism and opposition to Russian rule among the country’s cultural circles. Paintings protesting restrictions on autonomy were popular, and Sibelius’s rousing tone poem “Finlandia” was composed to add voice to the national uprising.

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Helsinki Central Railway Station by Eliel Saarinen. Image:

Linda Cheng

Red granite can be found everywhere across Helsinki, from boulders to cobblestoned streets to buildings. They call it “helsingite” here because it is unique. Copper too is abundant, thanks to the Finnish mining industry, as is the spruce that fills the forests surrounding the city.
“I think that’s really clear in Helsinki, and they have a really strong material identity. It’s very textural and very grounded in the materials they have,” observed Bradley Kerr, one of five winners of the Australian Institute of Architects’ Dulux Study Tour.
“The strongest identifier in Helsinki on all of the architecture was the consistency of the very textured red granite and copper, and the way that they use those materials in so many different ways on buildings over the last 100 years just tells a really nice story of that place.”
Ellen Buttrose added, “We didn’t see any plasterboard, we didn’t see any composite materials – we saw materials that were very specific to this place, and I think that has naturally generated a particular language. And it’s been used in so many different ways.”

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Temppeliaukio Church by Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen. Image:

Linda Cheng

Post-war building in Helsinki has also accelerated a distinct feel to the city. Sarah Lebner remarked that “the periods of austerity [post-war] and needing to be frugal [have] taught the Finnish how to use pattern, repetition and layout of really simple materials very well, which has seeded part of their design culture.”
“You see a lot of brick, but it’s often a different bond to standard, so it’s the same material but used differently,” Lebner said.
“There’s a lot of national pride in the way they have developed identity through public buildings,” Tiffany Liew added.
The group’s Helsinki tour guide, Marianna Heikinheimo, estimated that approximately 60 percent of architects’ work comes from the public sector, the majority of which is awarded through design competitions. Museums, galleries, concert halls and public libraries have all been procured through design competition.

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Helsinki Central Library Oodi by ALA Architects. Image:

Linda Cheng

In a high-tax, progressive country such as Finland, public infrastructure on the public purse is to be expected. Nonetheless, “the amount of investment from the public policy side to the point of extreme debt is quite impressive [compared with] a parallel timescale of the past 100 years in Australian public infrastructure and community spaces,” Liew said.
The €100 million Helsinki Central Library Oodi, designed by ALA Architecture, was commissioned to celebrate the centenary of Finnish independence. Facing the Finnish parliament and a public square, the library occupies an important place in Helsinki’s cultural-political precinct.
Again, a competition was held in in 2012, and from more than 500 entries, ALA Architects was chosen as the winner. The project has been celebrated all over the world and draws in millions of visitors a year.
It shows that “there’s a real commitment to the delivery of the detail,” said Edwina Brisbane. “It’s not just if you win the competition, you have to provide a lot of detail. The project gets built, but it also gets delivered with the amount of detail that was intended in the first place.”
The legacy of Aalto looms large over the city, not only in the buildings dotted across the city but also in the zeitgeist of contemporary practise. “My professor in architecture always said Finland is an outdoor museum for modernism,” said Kristiina Kuusiluoma, CEO of Collaboratorio, which the group visited on the tour. She also said the Finnish are brave and like to experiment with new things.

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Collaboratorio developed a concrete alternative made of compacted clay mixed with aggregate made using discarded materials such as marble from Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall refurbishment. Image:

Linda Cheng

Collaboratorio is taking the spirit of bravery and experimentation even further, developing its own materials such as a concrete alternative made of compressed clay (sourced from building site excavations) and aggregates that come from marble discarded during the refurbishment of Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall. In fact, the group was most in awe of the Collaboratorio’s commitment to material exploration.
“I think there’s a new wave happening. We’ve seen a few practices who are moving away from the hyper-rational,” said Buttrose. “Aalto has started to give small gestures of moving away from that, and it’s almost like the current contemporary architects feel like they’re taking that to the next level again but using the same values of light, space and air in a new articulations.”
Linda Cheng is travelling with the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2023 Dulux Study Tour. Follow along on social media and the Institute’s blog. More

Designs for a Western Sydney mental health hospital that will become New South Wales’s largest have been placed on public exhibition.
The $460 million Westmead Integrated Mental Health Complex, announced by the state government in May 2022, will replace the existing mental health facilities at Cumberland Hospital.
Across 10 storeys, the hospital will house acute beds for young people, adolescents, adults, older persons and people living with eating disorders, as well as intensive care and high dependency units. There will also be sub- and non-acute beds, along with ambulatory and outpatient services.

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Westmead Integrated Mental Health Complex by Jacobs Australia. Image:

Jacobs Australia

The centre has been designed by Jacobs Australia to reflect contemporary models of care, connecting to the public realm and public transport to support the de-stigmatization of mental health care, while embracing biophilic design principles to create a therapeutic environment.
Aboriginal storytelling, histories and identities are also reflected in the design, developed in consultation with Traditional Custodians, consultant Cox Inall Ridgeway, and an Aboriginal psychologist.
The design includes graphic representations inspired by the eel and its stories, as well as three surrounding rivers: Parramatta River, Toongabbie Creek and Darling Mills Creek.

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Westmead Integrated Mental Health Complex by Jacobs Australia. Image:

Jacobs Australia

The primary facade is adorned in blue aluminium shingles that represent the “bubbling water” of the river streams, while the walkway between the entry forecourt and the northern landscaped area tells the story of mature eels going out to sea to have babies and younger eels coming back on the currents to fresh water.
Landscaped areas, including those in the courtyards and balconies, will include Aboriginal bush medicine plants such as emu bush, flannel flowers, waratahs and the snake vine. The hospital will sit on the land of the Dharug people.
The project is on public exhibit until 21 June. More

Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) has unveiled designs for an apartment and townhouse development in St Kilda, Melbourne that offers a “new take on the mansion block.”
Together with landscape architect Myles Baldwin Design, the architecture firm has developed a design that maintains a sense of the existing scale of the neighbourhood while offering a greater diversity of housing options. The project at 97 Alma Road will include 21 townhouses and 41 apartments, just across the road from Alma Park.
KTA director and 2023 Gold Medal winner Kerstin Thompson said the project paid tribute to St Kilda’s architectural heritage.
“97 Alma Road offers a graceful return to treasured memories, forging a connection with a valued part of Melbourne’s urban history while offering a new approach to multiple housing,” Thompson said.
The building is characterized by unique details and materials, including the expressive use of stucco, metalwork, textured glass, coloured tiles and ornamental sun screens. Each apartment has its own distinguishing architectural element: a bay window, an arch, a sunroom, an oddly shaped window, or a Juliet balcony.
“We really considered what it means to arrive home, celebrating the ‘homecoming’ with civic-scaled entries to the apartment building and activating differentiated laneways between the townhouses,” said Thompson.

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97 Alma Road by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Image:

Kerstin Thompson Architects

Toby Pond, principal at Kerstin Thompson Architects, said the project represented a unique response to infill development on a brownfield site, providing a variety of housing options. He noted that the design embraces the landscape, with the block divided by landscape pockets, providing garden areas, natural light and ventilation to all apartments.
Outdoor shared spaces include linear gardens with native planting, a garden spine to the east, a barbecue area, an apartment rooftop terrace that supports communal food production, and a courtyard that protects significant existing trees.
The building will incorporate passive design principles to maximize natural light and ventilation and reduce the need for airconditioning – there are no south-facing apartments. It will also feature solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems and high-efficiency appliances.
The project is being developed by Neometro. The developer’s design director, James Tutton, said the project was all about creating a “healthy building.”
“Entries are welcoming, stairs and corridors are imagined as a social and joyful path to everyone’s front door – open-air, light-filled with glimpses to garden, encouraging healthy and incidental engagement with the neighbours,” Tutton said. More

Iredale Pederson Hook Architects has been appointed to design the Aboriginal short-stay facility in the suburb of Cannington, south Perth. To be built on a 7,000-square-metre site on Hamilton Street, the facility will be for Aboriginal people across Western Australia who have travelled to Perth. “Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects will consult with stakeholders across Western […] More

Works are underway on an urban renewal precinct at a disused TAFE site in south Brisbane, where the project will deliver 281 homes that include 75 social and affordable units and a 169-apartment retirement living facility.
Designed by Archipelago, the 3.1-hectare Parkside Yeronga precinct will also include commercial tenancies, small-scale retail, a community centre and more than 4,000 square metres of open space.
Archipelago has designed the commercial building, community centre and whole-of-site master plan, which provides the guiding principles and urban design framework for the development. The firm’s landscape architecture team has designed the public realm.
“It will be a place that is sensitive to its context and respectful to its neighbours, demonstrating diversity done well,” Archipelago says of the project. “The unique combination of proponents permits an abundance of residential offerings – from private luxury residential, to supported retirement living, to social and affordable housing – this will be a neighborhood that is welcome to all.”

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Parkside Yeronga community centre by Archipelago. Image: Archipelago

The site between Park Road and Villa Street in Yeronga was identified as a “Priority Development Area” in 2019, allowing the state government to override council planning processes. But as the Brisbane Times pointed out, the site sat neglected up until this year, with “disintegrating bunting emblazoned with ‘unite and recover’ government messaging and declarations of ‘coming soon.’”
The state government is contributing $40 million to the project, which is being delivered as a public-private consortium led by Economic Development Queensland, alongside JGL Properties, Brisbane Housing Company and Retire Australia.
“This development is [a] great example of the private sector and government working together to deliver a range of housing options including private housing, social housing and retirement living,” said premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Deputy premier Steven Miles added, “Parkside Yeronga is a great example of how we’re activating under-utilized urban land to deliver more homes for Queenslanders.
“Not only will this partnership deliver over 280 new homes, it will also be a great place to live and raise a family with open green space and a community centre.” More