Architecture

The Hobart City Council has approved a development application that proposes the redevelopment of the disused University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music building on Sandy Bay Road into short-stay accommodation.
The Conservatorium of Music building, located at 5–7 Sandy Bay Road, has remained unoccupied for several years after being acquired by the Fragrance Group from the University of Tasmania in 2017. Before the university took over, the building served as studios for television and radio broadcaster, ABC.
The redevelopment application for 5–7 and 1–3 Sandy Bay Road and 2A Heathfield Avenue was approved at a Planning Authority Committee Meeting held on 23 April. According to a communique published by the council, the project will involve the demolition of parts of the former Conservatorium of Music building, a steel microwave transmission tower, a brick warehouse on Wilmot Street and a dwelling on Heathfield Avenue.
The project, designed by Scanlan Architects, consists of two “blocks” – one providing short-stay accommodation and the other supplying permanent residences. Block A, comprising a retained portion of the former Conservatorium of Music building and a new six-storey extension, will collectively accommodate 75 short-stay apartments and a ground-floor cafe. Block B will accommodate 12 residential townhouses. In total, 23 car parking spaces have been designated at the rear of the site for the use of short-term apartment users and cafe patrons, while 25 basement parking spaces have been allocated to townhouse occupants.
According to an architectural statement prepared by Scanlan Architects, the extension to the former Conservatorium of Music building has been designed to respect the scale and proportions of the original structure. “The new building design reflects a contemporary aesthetic while paying homage to the existing structure,” their statement reads. “By embracing the principles of adaptive reuse, our design sensitively merges old and new, creating a transition between the two architectural styles.”
A blue-green colour palette was selected for the vertical elements on the facade of Block A, paying homage to a heritage-listed mural created by George Davis in 1960 that faces Sandy Bay Road and will be retained.
The construction timeline for the project has not yet been announced. More

Monash Architecture has announced a new partnership with Jackson Clements Burrows (JCB) Architects to investigate the future of AI in the architectural profession. According to a release from Monash University, the research project draws on a collaborative approach between industry and academia to better understand the opportunities and challenges around integrating AI in practice.
Led by associate professor Duncan Maxwell, director of the Future Building Initiative, and Dr Camilo Cruz, the project will involve a PhD researcher working with the JCB team to identify the skills required to introduce emerging AI technologies. The researcher will observe JCB’s current workflows across the entire lifespan of the firm’s building projects, and will then prototype and test digital tools within the practice environment.
According to dean of Monash Art, Design and Architecture professor Mel Dodd, “Design-led applied research, where academia collaborates with industry, offers immense value in exploring issues that are directly relevant to architectural practice.” Maxwell agreed that practicing architects should have an active role in guiding AI’s development in the industry.
“It is crucial that these emerging technologies improve, rather than compromise, architecture’s human-centered approach,” Maxwell said. “AI has an important role in Australian architectural practice and the broader construction sector, particularly in addressing unprecedented challenges to decarbonise while responding to the housing crisis in a resource-constrained world.”
Cruz said the Future Building Initiative is currently conducting three projects that explore AI methods for different applications, including design coordination using traditional optimisation methods, spatial planning using novel machine learning techniques and an architectural design automation tool that uses a combination of parametric and AI methods.
In Cruz’s view, the preliminary findings show that AI has the potential to transform the architectural profession by streamlining design processes, making them more efficient, and enabling deeper analysis of spatial, environmental and material factors.
“However, the research also highlights that without a strong understanding of architectural principles in developing AI tools, there is a risk of oversimplifying complex design challenges,” Cruz said. “This could lead to overlooking the profession’s human-centred needs, and neglecting critical social, cultural and ethical dimensions.”
Director of JCB Jon Clements observed that there is a huge shift in AI being introduced in the sector. “There is obviously great potential in the technology, however, we are also keen to understand the role of design in the future and the way in which AI might support or potentially compromise creative processes.”
“We are hoping to establish a better understanding of the potential advantages for architecture through AI technologies and how we can support practices to improve their workflows and efficiency through the use of AI,” Clements said.
The project is set to begin in May 2025. More

The shortlist for the 2025 National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards has been revealed, showcasing excellence in the conservation, protection and interpretation of natural, cultural and built heritage across the state.
CEO of the National Trust (NSW) Debbie Mills commented, “The response to the 31st annual Heritage Awards has been remarkable. The effort to promote and conserve heritage right across the state is very inspiring to see.”
The 2025 jury comprised Matthew Devine (chair), Ann Toy, Barrina South, David Burdon, Caitlin Allen, Libby Gallagher, Kathryn Pitkin, Peter John Cantrill and Sophie Canaris. Devine reflected that “this year’s entries sparked lively discussions among the judges.”
The finalists include:
Architecture
Back to Front House, Potts Point – entered by Ian Moore Architects
Fig Tree House, Marrickville – entered by Potter and Wilson Architects
Former Workmen’s Dwellings Lower Fort Street, Dawes Point – entered by Neeson Murcutt Neille
Gleebooks, Glebe – entered by AN+A
Pumphouse Maker Space and Artist Workshop, Albury – entered by AlburyCity
Reimagining Sydney’s First Skyscraper, Sydney – entered by Urbis
Rosebery Engine Yards, Rosebery – entered by Goodman Group

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Built Conservation
Frazer Mausoleum Restoration, Rookwood – entered by Metropolitan Memorial Parks
Heathcote Hall – entered by Tasman Storey Architects and Pariter
Hornby Lighthouse Restoration, Sydney – entered by Port Authority of NSW
Malachi Gilmore Hall, Oberon – entered by Lucy and Johnny East
Old Bega Hospital, Bega – entered by Design 5 Architects, Old Bega Hospital Reserve Land Manager, NSW Public Works, Leser Build
Old Menangle School Site, Menangle – entered by Wollondilly Shire Council, Civille, G3 Architecture, Sue Rosen Associates, Growth Civil Landscapes
Pissoir Restoration, Dawes Point – entered by Marine and Civil Maintenance
S.H. Ervin Gallery Facade Conservation, Sydney – entered by Property and Development NSW
Silchester – Juliet Balcony, Bellevue Hill – entered by Cracknell and Lonergan Architects
Tathra Wharf, Tathra – entered by Bega Valley Shire Council
Interiors and Objects
Conservation of the Barangaroo Boat, Sydney – entered by Sydney Metro with Silentworld Foundation and York Archaeological Trust
Parliament of NSW Rum Hospital Project, Sydney – entered by Department of Parliamentary Services
The Garrison Church Historic Bell Restoration, Dawes Point – entered by Anglican Parish of Church Hill
The Great Synagogue – Relocation of Bimah, Sydney – entered by The Great Synagogue
Landscape
Fernleigh Awabakal Shared Track, Lake Macquarie – entered by Lake Macquarie City Council
Glowworm Tunnel Pathway Construction, Wollemi National Park – entered by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Nepean River Trail, Camden – entered by Camden Council
Nielsen Park Seawall, Vaucluse – entered by Oculus with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Middle Head Gubbuh Gubbuh to Georges Head Walking Track, Mosman – entered by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
See the full shortlist for the National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards on the National Trust’s website.
The winners will be announced at the National Trust Heritage Awards ceremony on 16 May at Doltone House in Pyrmont.
This year, the National Trust has introduced a People’s Choice Award, with public voting open online until 11.59pm on Sunday 4 May. More

A design and pre-construction contract for the main works package has been awarded for the $5.75 billion Logan and Gold Coast (LGC) Faster Rail project. As part of the winning team, Hassell has been appointed to lead the design of the train station precincts along the renovated rail line.
According to a release from Hassell, the population of South East Queensland (SEQ) has undergone significant growth over the past two decades and is expected to continue to expand with an extra 1.2 million people living in the region by 2036.
The LGC Project is envisioned to support this growth by doubling the number of rail tracks and upgrading stations along the line. This capacity increase will allow more frequent train services.
The Queensland government’s Department of Transport and Main Roads noted that the project is also a key investment to support the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which includes venues and an athletes’ village at the Gold Coast.
Hassell will lead the design of stations from Kuraby until Beenleigh, including Trinder Park, Woodridge, Kingston, Bethania, Edens Landing and Holmview — with architecture, urban design and landscape architecture forming the customer experience and public realm strategy.
According to the firm’s communique, the project is “a vital artery supporting the future of SEQ and will catalyse sustainable growth opportunities across the region. It will be a significant opportunity to unite people and their communities, while honouring the unique qualities of our environment and region.”
Hassell principal and co-sector leader of urban transport, Keith Allen, said the project will have a transformative impact on the region and will improve how communities connect.
“We know this is a critical opportunity to unlock community and social value along this corridor through thoughtfully activated precincts that are safe and accessible. Our regenerative design approach ensures new stations will be more inclusive than ever before.
“The LGC Project will deliver another step change in patronage growth, with an important shift towards a more sustainable active and public transport network,” said Allen.
The winning alliance, named the Activ Us Alliance, comprises Acciona, CPB Contractors, UGL Engineering, SMEC Australia and WSP Australia. According to Hassell’s media release, the alliance will work in partnership with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Rail to progress design and project planning activities and undertake further site investigations. More

Feedback is being sought on a recently released vision to renew Canberra’s 33-hectare Commonwealth Park located on the north shore of Lake Burley Griffin.
Commonwealth Park was marked as public space in the earliest concept designs for Canberra, developed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin. The park opened in 1964, approximately 50 years after the first plans for the city were drafted.
Prepared by Turf Design Studio at the request of the National Capital Authority (NCA), the Commonwealth Park Vision Concept highlights several existing issues within the park. These include a lack of amenities, poor connections to the city and adjacent precincts, lack of play spaces, inadequate wayfinding and signage, increased maintenance needs and a failure to meet high accessibility standards set by the Disability Discrimination Act.

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The vision emphasises that an enhanced park would more effectively serve Canberra’s expanding population, which “has grown sixfold from 76,000 people in 1964 to close to half a million in 2024.”
The NCA has invited feedback on the vision concept, which proposes:

A new swimming and recreation venue integrated into the park
A new lakeside garden room with endemic plantings and space to represent First Nations culture and connection to Country
Upgrades to the permanent entertainment stage known as Stage 88 and an expanded lawn amphitheatre
A series of new pavilions and facilities to support a broader range of exhibitions, events, displays and cultural offerings
A new light rail station at Commonwealth Park
New footbridge to replace the existing Allara Street pedestrian bridge with a wider and more accessible route that better links the city to the park
New and improved play spaces
Permanent garden beds that will provide year-round floral displays for Floriade, an existing annual flower festival held in Spring
A relocated maintenance depot to create more space for events.

The vision is open for consultation until 20 June 2025. More

A new Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) has received approval for construction in Bradfield City Centre, making it the second building to be developed in the city.
The approval follows the completion of the first building in Bradfield City Centre, an Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility, designed by Hassell. These two facilities will be situated adjacent to each other, separated by an open space called AMRF Park.
The now-approved facility, named Second Building, will accommodate spaces for research and prototype development in manufactured products. Planning documents indicated that the three-storey building will house a high-bay advanced manufacturing hall, a research laboratory with two open-plan cleanrooms, and seminar and collaboration spaces. It will also contain spaces for “industry-aligned” commercial tenants.
Designed by Architectus, Aileen Sage Architects and Jacobs, the form of Second Building wraps around a central courtyard. The design team collaborated with First Nations spatial design practice Bangawarra on building form, spatial arrangement and material selections that make meaningful connections to Country.
Plans indicated that the facade, which incorporates a multi-layered and transparent quality to exterior shading, is inspired by woven Aboriginal dilly bags. The design report notes that this transparency allows the public to glimpse inside and observe the internal workings and occupation of the building. “These framed views celebrate both the inner workings of the facility and mark key entry points to the site with open and glazed portals connecting to both the internal landscaped courtyard and key networks beyond,” states the report.
Tyrell Studio was engaged to handle the landscape design component of the Second Building project. The design report notes that the landscape design comprises a total of 1,160 square metres of publicly accessible greenspace, 645 square metres of soft landscape and 515 square metres of hard landscape.
Bradfield City Centre is part of an approved masterplan that proposes 114 hectares of land near the forthcoming Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport be developed into a new city with a residential component, a retail and commercial precinct, open spaces, as well as new and improved streets and roads. The Bradfield City Centre project has recently been in the media spotlight after the first building in the city was announced complete in February 2025. The following month, a two-hectare park named Bradfield Central Park was approved for development within the city. More

A state significant development application for the establishment of an $845.85 million data facility in Sydney’s Artarmon has been approved.
The proposed Lanceley Place Data Centre, designed by HDR, was greenlit for development across five individual allotments at 2–8 Lanceley Place and 14 Campbell Street, comprising a total site area of 14,024 square metres. Several vacant 2–3 storey buildings currently exist on the site, which were previously occupied by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s film and television studios until the site was sold in 2021.
Planning documents indicate that the new data facility will house the hardware and infrastructure needed for storing and processing digital data.
The large-scale facility will reach up to ten storeys at a maximum building height of 51.479 metres and a total gross floor area of 26,769 square metres. The architectural design report noted that the mass of the building has been broken down into three “blocks.” These include a data block, which accommodates five levels of data halls along with supporting facilities; a generator block that houses backup generators, and an office block that features a lobby, office spaces and a rooftop garden.

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Each of these “blocks” are characterised by a stepped form that gradually descends from west to east across the site. According to the design report, the stepped massing was a response to the surrounding built context – which is of greater scale to the west and of a lower scale to the east – and the natural topographical fall across the site, which also declines from west to east.
The facade draws inspiration from both the historical and contemporary context of the area. Each block is supported by a continuous masonry brick base, while the top portions of every block feature a distinct expression. The use of brick pays homage to the area’s industrial heritage, specifically its history of brick manufacturing. The data and generator blocks instead feature metallic elements that reflect themes of technology and machinery, aligning with the intended use of the facility and the site’s location within a growing technology infrastructure hub.
According to the design report, the building envelope is set back 27 metres from its primary frontage on Campbell Street and 14 metres from Lanceley Place. Plans state that these increased setbacks “provide numerous benefits with respect to the urban design outcome, including reducing the perceived height and scale of the development from the adjoining public realm and streetscapes, as well as minimising overshadowing and other environmental impacts to these same locations.”
The increased setbacks have additionally allowed for new and improved landscaped edges surrounding the building, “introduced to provide public amenity and to soften and enhance the quality of adjoining streetscapes,” the report states. The landscape architecture practice appointed to the project is Cola Studios. More

A development application has been lodged for a new tower adjacent to the site of St Stephen’s Cathedral, at 131 Edward Street in Brisbane. The project, titled Brisbane Place, was designed by Blight Rayner Architecture with landscape design by Wild Studio.
Proposed by developer JGL Properties, the submitted development seeks to deliver 28 floors of commercial and retail office space, totalling approximately 43,500 square metres of floor area, alongside reused heritage places, which include the Stock Exchange Hotel, Penola Place and the F. H. Faulding Warehouse.
According to the urban context report prepared by Blight Rayner, “the development aims to rejuvenate underutilised heritage structures while creating new public connections and modern workplace environments.”

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In the scheme, each of the site’s three heritage buildings are connected on the ground plane, with new cross-block links and laneways aimed at improving inclusive pedestrian accessibility to the site. Interfacing with St Stephen’s, a new plaza and amphitheatre serve as the centrepiece of the public realm, while on the street side, the project seeks to reinstate the Stock Exchange Hotel as a two-level wine bar as well as locate a new cafe within the warehouse building.
A proposed six-storey podium addition includes two levels of end-of-trip facilities, a gym, a terrace and a swimming pool with two plunge pools above the triple-height lobby. Landscaping along the podium perimeter and rooftop planting atop the gym and terrace would be reflected in the mirrored soffit of the tower’s base.

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Blight Rayner noted that “the architectural response balances high physical porosity” at ground level with a minimum of 14 metres of separation above the existing buildings providing “visual permeability above the heritage buildings [and] creating a distinctive silhouette that integrates seamlessly with its historic surroundings.”
Rising to approximately 160 metres, the proposed tower massing has been conceived with openings at the base, middle and top, also “to enhance visual permeability,” Blight Rayner noted. The base of the tower is raised above a web of trussed circular supports, while at the top, a three-storey “urban room” provides a sheltered external space for occupants and visitors to the building’s commercial and retail spaces.

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Across these porous breakout spaces, the landscape design by Wild Studio is themed in response to the site’s Indigenous and colonial histories, and references creeks that once existed in the area. The proposed ground plane features a “creekbed” garden, while the podium top serves as a “waterhole,” where, according to Wild, “visitors can swim under tree canopy and enjoy a feeling of seclusion in the middle of the CBD.” The tower’s various wintergardens are envisioned as “cloud forests” that will support a cool microclimate “not seen elsewhere in the city.”
According to their report, Blight Rayner has integrated the city’s Subtropical Design Planning Scheme Policy principles in the design of the building’s breakout spaces and articulation of the tower’s envelope. Louvred facades intended to support mixed-mode ventilation are also tailored with horizontal and vertical sun-shading unique to each elevation.

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Blight Rayner contends that, if built, the “project will serve as a landmark addition to Brisbane’s evolving cityscape.”
The development application is on exhibition on the Brisbane City Council website. More