Architecture

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

Australian speculative architect, filmmaker and BAFTA-nominated producer Liam Young will stage his first solo Australian exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Young’s work imagines the future of cities through images and animated films that prompt audiences to examine urgent environmental questions.
The exhibition includes the Australian premier of Young’s newest moving image work, The Great Endeavour, which is currently showing at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.
The work depicts construction infrastructure powered by renewable energy sources, which could be substituted for fossil fuels to prevent vast quantities of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.

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A still from Liam Young’s The Great Endeavour depicting a desert solar field. Image:

Liam Young

Another animated short film, Planet City, will also be on display. Originally commissioned for the NGV Triennial in 2020, the film portrays an imagined city that houses the world’s entire population – 10 billion people – while the remainder of the planet is allowed to regenerate, recover and return to wilderness.
NGV director Tony Ellwood said, “Operating in the space between fact and fiction, Young’s work presents extraordinary visions of an imagined future that aim to inspire real collective action in our present. With a practice spanning moving image, installation and performance art, Young draws on his extensive network of collaborators – including choreographers, costume designers and global think-tanks – to create spectacular imagined worlds that are very much based in the realms of possibility.”
The exhibition also features photographic works and costumes for Young’s cinematic worlds by Ane Crabtree, the acclaimed costume designer of The Handmaid’s Tale.
These displays imagine clothing in both the world of The Great Endeavour and the 10-billion-person metropolis of Planet City. The latter’s workwear was designed to conceal workers’ racial and gender identities: an effort to foster cooperation and overcome cultural and social differences.
“Young’s exhibition speculates that addressing the climate emergency is no longer a technological problem – it is now a social, cultural, and political one. It offers hope that through creativity and collective action, we can move together towards ecological balance on earth,” said NGV senior curator of contemporary art, design and architecture Ewan McEoin. More

Deborah Ascher Barnstone has been appointed new head of discipline for architecture at the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Ascher Barnstone was previously head of school of architecture at University of Technology Sydney. She also held academic positions at Washington State University, Ball State University, Fachhochschule Cologne, and the Boston Architectural Center. She […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the shortlist for the 2023 National Architecture Awards and among them are 13 houses that have each received awards in their home states. The national jury will be visiting each of these homes to determine which ones will be most deserving of the Robin Boyd Award for Residential […] More

The City of Port Adelaide Enfield will create a new Aboriginal Culture Centre in the heart of the city.
To be located on a riverbank site formally known as Western Region Park Reserve, the centre will create an open space for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people that directly connects to the Yerta Bulti Country of the Port River.
The centre is designed by Ashley Halliday Architects and Wax Design in collaboration with the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Port Adelaide Enfield Aboriginal Advisory Panel and the local First Nations community.

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City of Port Adelaide Enfield with Ashley Halliday Architects, Wax Design and the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Custodian Group.

The centre will accommodate a range of activities with indoor and outdoor performance spaces, public amenities, offices, meeting rooms and extensive landscaping.
It will also be a culturally safe space to gather, practise, share and record culture and connect with Country.
In August 2022 at a naming ceremony, the centre was given the name Yitpi Yartapuultiku, meaning “soul of Port Adelaide.”
“At the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, we are conscious of our sphere of influence and aspire to be a City that values its diverse community and embraces change through innovation, resilience, and community leadership. This vision can only be fully realized through the strengthening of identity, wellbeing, and sense of belonging for First Nations people in our community,” the council said.
“Our approach to this project over the past two years has allowed for cultural exchange, with Council and Aboriginal Custodians working together to co-design Yitpi Yartapuultiku in a shared and respectful way. It will be a safe and nurturing community place for healing, connection and reconciliation, for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to learn, experience and be immersed in Aboriginal culture.”
The project received the Planning with Country Award from the South Australian chapter of the Planning Institute of Australia in 2022.
A tender for a principal is underway. The project is anticipated to be complete in 2025. More