Architecture

Architecture Media has announced the jury for the 2023 Australian Interior Design Awards.
Established in 2004, the awards recognise and celebrate interior design excellence, backed by the peak body representing designers, the Design Institute of Australia.
The jury comprises eminent designers working with a convenor appointed by the Institute.
Jurors for the 2023 Australian Interior design Awards are: Melissa Bright (Studio Bright); Jeremy Bull (Alexander and Co); Maria Danos (Maria Danos Architecture); Brian Donovan (BVN); Stuart Krelle (Luchetti Krelle); Rosie Morley (Fender Katsalidis); Georgie Shepherd (Georgie Shepherd Interior Design); Aaron Wooster (Smart Design Studio) and Geraldine Maher (chair, Maher Design). The sustainability advisor is John Gertsakis (Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence).
The program includes seven primary entry categories: retail design, hospitality design, workplace design, public design, installation design, residential design, and residential decoration. Entrants also have the option to submit for the emerging interior design practice category and the award for sustainability advancement.
Category winners will also be considered for the top prize, the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design.
Any Australian-based design professional is invited to enter into the awards (including interior designers, interior decorators, interior architects, architects and all other design professionals) and projects can be located anywhere in the world. Entries are encouraged from individuals, groups, partnerships and those working in larger practices.
Projects must have been completed between 1 September 2021 and 31 December 2022 and may not have been previously entered into this awards program.
Entries to the Australian Interior Design Awards 2023 are open now and close on 17 February 2023. The shortlist will be published online on 22 March 2023. Awards and commendations will be revealed at the gala presentation dinner on 2 June at Melbourne’s Plaza ballroom.
The Australian Interior Design Awards is presented by Design Institute of Australia (DIA) and Architecture Media’s Artichoke magazine. The 2023 awards are supported by Dulux, Space, Subzero and Wolf, Laminex, Elton Group, and Roca.
Click here to enter. More

The City of Melbourne will transform an under-utilised section of road in Melbourne’s Arts Precinct into a “sustainable and resilient” green space.
Between Grant Street and Southbank Boulevard, the Dodds Street Linear Park is an opportunity to introduce a new green zone into the densely populated inner-city precinct, providing space for locals and visitors to sit and relax in a sanctuary of native plantings.
The project, estimated to cost $6.5 million, will create 3,200 square metres of open space, introducing native grasslands, wildflowers, trees, paved bluestone pathways, and community gathering spaces.
Environmental portfolio lead Rohan Leppert said city greening is “essential” to support urban forests, increasing canopy cover and keeping the city cool in a warming climate. Inbuilt rain gardens and remediated soil will help to encourage biodiversity and ensure the park’s sustainability.

View gallery

The Dodds Street Linear Park is an opportunity to introduce a new green zone into the densely populated inner-city precinct. Image:

Courtesy of the City of Melbourne

“[The park] has been designed with accessibility in mind to ensure people of all abilities feel welcome to explore the city’s world-renowned creative offerings,” a spokesperson for the City of Melbourne said.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Dodds Street Linear Park will “breathe new life into this under-explored part of the city – increasing foot traffic in the area, while providing locals and visitors alike a place to dwell while visiting our spectacular Arts Precinct.”
Capp added the park’s design will reflect the precinct’s significance on an artistic stage, and public artwork has been commissioned for the space.
Dodds Street Linear Park is part of stage two of the Southbank Boulevard transformation, creating five new public spaces and neighbourhood parks, along with new tree plantings and bike lanes.
Works will commence early January and are anticipated to take 12 months. More

Woods Bagot and Ralph Wheeler Architects have been appointed to redevelop the Caulfield Racecourse grandstand as the “cornerstone” of the wider Caulfield masterplan announced 2019. Works on the grandstand form part of the wider $570-million masterplan at Caulfield Racecourse, as the most significant upgrade in the club’s 150-year history. The new grandstand will serve as […] More

A new app by an existing materials consultancy, launching on 15 December, aims to create a trading market place for construction materials destined for landfill.
Created by Revival Projects, the app will empower the design and construction communities to afford their unwanted construction materials a second life.
The practice received the best event award at Melbourne Design Week 2022 for its Zero Footprint Repurposing Hub in Collingwood – a free storage space for the design and construction communities to keep salvaged construction materials before repositing them back into new projects.
The app, “Revival Cooperative”, is the next phase of the company’s mission, providing a platform for users to explore construction materials commonly deemed as “waste”, and finding them a new home.
Revival Projects founder Robbie Neville said his ambition for the app is to “introduce some cohesion among the industry and community to adopt a more sustainable approach to the materials we don’t need.” The app will be free to use and available nationally for domestic and commercial users.

View gallery

Revival Projects recently deconstructed two fire-damaged sculptures in Docklands. Every last stick from the sculptures has been salvaged. Image: Supplied

Revival Cooperative will be similar in function to Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace; however, no commercial exchange will take place on the app. “Nothing is bought or sold on the platform,” said Neville. “Its purpose is purely with the hopes of building a community of people that are motivated to avoid landfill.”
Items listed will have one of three possible statuses: “proposed”, “ongoing”, and “ready for collection”, and anyone who expresses an interest in an item – be it pallets, cladding, timber, tin roofing – will receive updates on the item’s status. Browsers will receive automatic notifications based on their searched items, alerting users to when an item is uploaded with a keyword that meets their checklist.
Revival Cooperative will be applicable on a domestic scale, disrupting the “hard rubbish” culture of leaving materials on the curb side. On a more ambitious level, “It’ll provide a mechanism for the broader design community to take accountability for the volume of material that they send to landfill,” said Neville. “I hope it will change the juncture at which we determine something as waste.”
Neville has also suggested renaming demolition plans to “existing material management” or “existing resources management plans” to reimagine the way demolition by-products are conceived.
“The app is the tool to help us benefit from the amazing variety, diversity and creativity that’s in our communities and our industries. The community’s hungry for sustainable alternatives,” he said. “You don’t decide what’s waste; your community does.”
The Revival Cooperative app will be free to download form the Revival Projects website from 15 December. More

Construction has begun on a vibrant new pavilion and public domain for a Western Sydney community. Designed by Chrofi and JMD Design, the project will be the first in a series of neighbourhood spaces for the Mount Druitt and Blacktown area, providing much needed community infrastructure. The Mount Druitt town centre was the first entirely […] More

The winning architectural design has been revealed for the Powerhouse Ultimo renewal after it was unanimously selected from a national design competition launched earlier this year.
The design team – comprising Architectus, Durbach Block Jaggers Architects, Tyrrell Studio, Youssofzay and Hart, Akira Isogawa, Yerrabingin, Finding Infinity and Arup – was selected from a shortlist of five finalists to deliver the $500-million transformation.
The design includes an improved urban domain on the 2.4-hectare site, expanded museum exhibition spaces, rooftop gardens and a multistorey annex along Harris Street. A new urban space will link the museum with the city by reorienting it to the elevated walkway The Goods Line, and connecting to adjacent precincts, creating a major public square to support outdoor programs.
The new Powerhouse Academy will provide a rooftop “camp” for secondary and tertiary students as an “immersive learning experience in the heart of the city,” arts minister Ben Franklin said.
Director First Nations at Powerhouse Emily McDaniel said the design is a “bold, defined approach to Country-centred design that is sensitive to the heritage of the site, and inspired by the memory of local sandstone escarpment.”

View gallery

Winning design for the Powerhouse Ultimo renewal by Architectus, Durbach Block Jaggers Architects, Tyrrell Studio, Youssofzay and Hart, Akira Isogawa, Yerrabingin, Finding Infinity and Arup. Image:

Courtesy of Powerhouse Museum

The competition jury included architect Wendy Lewin (chair), NSW government architect Abbie Galvin, Central District commissioner Peter Poulet, Walbanga and Wadi Wadi woman and film producer Alison Page, Create NSW chief executive Annette Pitman, and Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah.
According to Havilah, iconic objects from the collection – including the Boulton and Watt steam engine, Locomotive No. 1 and the Catalina flying boat – will be presented in the renewed Powerhouse Ultimo.
Lewin said the jury was “confident” with its decision, which will deliver a “truly exceptional building” that ensures the longevity of the Powerhouse Museum for future generations.
The Powerhouse Ultimo renewal is part of the New South Wales government’s record investment in cultural infrastructure, and marks the first major investment in the museum since 1988. The design competition saw more than 100 registrations of interest received from across Australia.
Following the announcement, the architects will develop their concept plans. A detailed State Significant Development application is expected to go out for public submission in early 2023, with construction anticipated to begin in December 2023. More

The National Gallery of Victoria has opened an exhibition of the architectural schemes submitted for the competition to design Australia’s largest gallery of contemporary art and design. The Fox: NGV Contemporary will be a key part of the Victorian government’s $1.7 billion transformation of Melbourne Arts Precinct. The design competition, held in 2021, was open […] More

Anchor Ceramics
Architect turned ceramicist Bruce Rowe has released a new series of vessels that are made using materials that would have otherwise gone to landfill. The Vas collection comprises 48 pieces that combine fired ceramic with CNC-cut reclaimed timber.
Rowe is founder and director of Anchor Ceramics, a ceramic design studio that also makes lighting, tiles and garden pots.
Read more about Bruce Rowe here.
Marta Figueiredo

View gallery

Marta Figueiredo’s Elementary Abacus is a side table with movable parts invites interaction. Image:

Jonathon Griggs

Portugal-born, Melbourne-based designer Marta Figueiredo is another former architect who has now established a practice of creating objects. Her works are colourful, tactile, anthropomorphic, have a strong sense of narrative and invite interaction from viewers.
The Elementary Abacus, for instance (pictured), is a side table with movable elements, creating a playful and inclusive piece of furniture.
Read more about Marta Figueiredo here.
Elliat Rich

View gallery

Different Thoughts (2020) by Elliat Rich uses colour and form to express interrelationships. Image:

Haydn Cattach

Elliat Rich is an award-winning object designer based in Alice Springs. Her practice seeks to spark connection between things, with a design process that is a “creative translation between materials and culture”. She has three arms to her practice: the first is centred around cultural questioning through objects, the second around service (responding to a brief), and the third, Elbow Workshop, is an enterprise she shares with her partner, shoemaker James B. Young.
Read more about Elliat Rich here.
Five Mile Radius

View gallery

Waste Terrazzo by Five Mile Radius, originally created as a concrete side table, can now be ordered as a custom slab. Image:

Callie Marshall

Inspired by the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi, Brisbane-based architect Clare Kennedy established a studio that rethinks and redefines the process of making. The studio’s ethos is expressed in Waste Terrazzo, a robust and crisply modern concrete side table made entirely from local construction waste. Another product, Telegraph Stool, is a rustic piece made from decommissioned telegraph poles.
Read more about Five Mile Radius here.
Dean Norton

View gallery

Containa by Dean Norton is an encased furniture series that explores the narrative of the vessel and its contents. Image:

Spot Studio

This English-born, Melbourne-based designer creates furniture and objects that connect on an emotional level, with refined detailing and harmonious materials. Originally a graphic designer, Norton pursues a minimalist approach underpinned by strong graphic expression, exploring the creative tension between art and design. Containa, for example (pictured), is one of several pieces designed as emotive reactions Melbourne’s pandemic locksdowns. The piece explores confinement and protection, featuring a wood-turned form encased within a frosted glass shell, while Daylight is a light therapy lamp intended to boost wellbeing and creative energy.
Read more about Dean Norton here. More