Architecture

Australia’s first dedicated heart hospital has opened at Monash University’s Clayton campus.
Designed by Conrad Gargett and Wardle (formerly John Wardle Architects), the $564 million facility operated by Monash Health accommodates 196 beds, seven catheterisation laboratories and a whole floor dedicated to heart research.
The hospital’s incorporates principles of biophilia as well as salutogenic design principles, which aim to create environments that stimulate the mind.
The design team also toured cardiac hospitals in Singapore, Canada, United States and United Kingdom to gain insights on their success and shortcomings.

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The circular courtyard is the centrepiece of Victorian Heart Hospital by Conrad Gargett and Wardle. Image:

Peter Bennetts

“Experiencing other heart hospitals really allowed us to challenge the norm of traditional hospital design and how to do things according to Australasian Health Facility Guidelines in the pursuit of innovation,” said Paul Emmett, principal at Conrad Gargett and clinical planning lead for the project.
The project team began with a workshop facilitated by former Harvard professor Sarah Williams Goldhagen who authored of Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives.
“Scientific research well documents that providing a connection with nature within healthcare facilities significantly improves patient outcomes, including their experience and recovery rate,” Emmett said.
Meaghan Dwyer, partner at Wardle and the project’s architecture director added, “Armed with this knowledge, we designed the Victorian Heart Hospital with a large central courtyard – the ‘gravitational heart’ – and have maximised opportunities for engagement with the outdoors and surrounding landscape.”

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A circular courtyard of Victorian Heart Hospital by Conrad Gargett and Wardle acts as a focal point for wayfinding. Image:

Peter Bennetts

The circular courtyard is the centrepiece of the hospital acts as a focal point for wayfinding and a place for recuperating outdoors that is physically and visually connected with the building.
“The hospital’s design needed to allow the working day’s activities to be seamless, and its organisation to be clear and legible. Equally important are the spatial, material, and ambient qualities which define the hospital’s character,”Emmett said. “It’s these aspects that will strongly influence the mindset of its occupants and ultimately the type of healing environment that has been created.”
Public spaces within the hospital radiate out from the central courtyard with the corridors framing views to the courtyard, neighbouring sports fields on the Monash University campus, and the Dandenong ranges beyond, which enhance the building’s connections to nature and daylight.
The hospital has been designed to alleviate stress levels of patients and their families.
“Upon arrival at the Victorian Heart Hospital, there is a sense of openness, with large voids and a central café, creating a feeling of a civic place rather than a hospital,” said Stefan Mee, principal of Wardle, who also led the architectural design. “The progressive journey through the building gradually increases a sense of tranquillity in the clinical spaces, creating an atmosphere of safety and comfort for patients.”
Internally, the building uses natural timbers and earthy tones, inspired by the colours and textures of surrounding landscape, including a more than 400 year old River Red Gum located at the entrance to the hospital.
A facade made from perforated weathered steel diffuses natural light entering the building, which reduces the heat load and minimises glare, Mee said. More

Houses magazine has announced the jury for its 2023 Houses Awards. Comprising industry professionals in the field of architecture and design, this group of jurors has an expert understanding of the measures of quality in the built environment.
Architect Mel Bright is the owner and founding director of Studio Bright, a Melbourne-based practice that has gathered a collection of diverse and highly acclaimed built work. Studio Bright value innovative design thinking, thoughtful material explorations, respect for heritage, deference to civic context and rigorous acknowledgement of environmental influences.
Sioux Clark is an interior designer and co-director of design-based architecturepractice Multiplicity. Working in conjunction with partner architect Tim O’Sullivan and a (shifting over time) family of exceptional architects, Multiplicity have garnered awards across genres in recognition of the detailed and personal approach they bring to the practice of architecture.
Kieron Gait is the founder and co-director of Kieron Gait Architects. Established in 2010, the studio specializes in residential architecture and strives to make poetic and meaningful connections to place, craft and memory. Born and raised in the UK and with over 20 years of professional experience working across large and small practice, Kieron has been continually exploring and learning what it means to live and build in Australia.
Also joining this year’s jury, architect Anthony Gill established Surry Hills-based practice Anthony Gill Architects in 2007. Working mainly on single-residential and commercial projects, Anthony’s work is typically led by existing conditions on site, where limitations are clearly set and require re-working to suit a new type of inhabitation.
Chairing of the jury is Alexa Kempton, who is the editor of Houses magazine with more than 15 years’ experience writing and editing in the architecture and design sphere. Previously, Kempton was the editor of ArchitectureAU and managing editor of Architecture Australia at Architecture Media. She is also the former editor of Inside magazine and the Australian Design Review.
Simone Bliss, creative director of SBLA Studio will be this year’s garden and landscape advisor. Clare Parry from Development Victoria will be sustainability advisor to the jury, and Helen Lardner, director of HLCD, will be heritage advisor.
The shortlist for the 2023 Houses Awards will be revealed on 5 May 2023.
Houses Awards is organized by Architecture Media and supported by Cult, Artedomus, the Australian Institute of Horticulture, Blum, Brickworks, the Heritage Council of Victoria, James Hardie, Sussex, Taubmans, and Latitude. More

The University of Queensland (UQ), alongside architecture practice Buchan, has established a new architecture scholarship to support Indigenous students through their university degrees. The Buchan Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Architecture Scholarship is the first of its kind offered by UQ, with inaugural placement set to commence in 2023. Similar scholarships are already offered at […] More

The Victorian government is delivering a dedicated children’s emergency department within the University Hospital Geelong, with new designs revealing the planned facade and treatment spaces. The $20-million facility will be designed by health architecture specialists Silver Thomas Hanley as a “child-friendly environment” with “calming, soft colours and decor,” the Victorian Health Building Authority said. The […] More

A new lookout has been completed in Barcaldine, outback Queensland, connecting existing tourist buildings the Tree of Knowledge memorial (2009) and The Globe Hotel (2016).
Designed by M3 Architecture and Brian Hooper Architect for Barcaldine Regional Council, the Globe Lookout is the third and final project of the 15-year Barcaldine masterplan, completing the region’s “tourism trifecta”.
The Tree of Knowledge site is said to be the birthplace of the labour movement in Australia. It was formerly home to a heritage-listed tree, a 200-year-old ghost gum, that was allegedly poisoned and killed in 2006. Located in front of the Barcaldine train station, the tree provided a meeting place for the workers of the 1891 Shearer’s Strike, becoming an icon of the Labor Party and Trade Unions.
The Tree of Knowledge Memorial, by M3 Architecture and Brian Hooper, was officially opened in May 2009, and pays tribute to the history of Barcaldine. The trunk and root ball of the deceased ghost gum remains enclosed within the memorial structure.
The second stage of the masterplan, the Globe Hotel, completed in 2016, transformed a 1910 pub into a contemporary outback tourism hub, with an information centre, history room, and a commercial tenancy. The project received a National Award for Public Architecture at the 2017 National Architecture Awards.

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The Globe Lookout, in the outback Queensland town of Barcaldine, is the third in a series of tourist attractions built for local council. Image:

Christopher Frederick Jones

Finally, the recently-completed Globe Lookout offers visitors an observation post over the Central Queensland landscape. “These three projects share a layered design approach that uses space, framing, and materials to reference and reinterpret the region’s vernacular architectural heritage,” a spokesperson for M3 Architects said.
According to M3 Architecture director Michael Lavery, Barcaldine is known as “the garden town of the west”, due to its location over two artesian wells, providing an oasis in the arid landscape. The architecture of the lookout borrows its form from elevated, rural water tanks, incorporating oversized lattice detailing and a raised walkway connecting to the hotel’s first-floor veranda.
Lavery said the materials for the lookout hold low embodied carbon, comprising mostly steel and timber with very little concrete. Materials were selected so the structure could be built by local tradespeople, reducing contractor mileage and supporting the local economy and community.
The renewal of Main Street Barcaldine – which included the long-term redevelopment of the Tree of Knowledge and Globe Hotel – received the Queensland Minister’s Award for Urban Design in 2019. More

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have produced a free online guide to help architects, engineers and planners create a net-zero carbon built environment by 2040.
Race to net zero carbon: A climate emergency guide for new and existing buildings in Australia is a national reference guide that details critical information about best practice materials and construction for whole-of-life net zero carbon buildings.
“Historically, most professionals have only focused on reducing the operational carbon footprints of buildings,” said professor Deo Prasad, lead researcher of the guide. “Operational carbon refers to what is required for the building to run once it is built, like energy use in heating or cooling.
“There are significant amounts of emissions embedded in the materials and construction of the building itself and these need to be addressed and offset in order for our built environment to be truly net zero.”
The guide is the first of its kind to detail a holistic approach to achieving zero carbon buildings.
“Our guide goes deeper than just operational offsetting. It illustrates a ‘whole of life’ approach to buildings – considering where building material comes from, how they are transported to the construction site, and so on,” Prasad said.
The guide advocates for retrofitting existing buildings and reducing the use of new material as the best way to minimise embodied carbon. However, when that is not possible, the guide provides a roadmap for low-carbon materials such as green steel and concrete.
It also details how materials could be reused after a building has been demolished in a circular economy. “Timber, aluminium and glass can be reused or recycled somehow into new products,” Prasad said.
“It’s [also] possible to avoid demolishing old or undesirable buildings as their concrete structures can stay put and the building can be refurbished.”
Prasad said he hopes the guide will help the building industry move towards net zero construction as a norm, rather than the exception.
Globally, the built environment accounts for 37 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and in Australian the built environment is responsible for 21 percent of the country’s emissions.
“While the global community is aiming for net zero by 2050, the building sector has much greater potential and opportunity to reach net-zero operational emissions by 2030 and a 60 percent reduction in embodied carbon by 2030,” Prasad said. “These are the goals our guide aims to achieve.”
He added that, “Governments should mandate net-zero construction codes, which will push for best performance to achieve net zero. They should lead by example and ensure all public buildings are net zero carbon and provide subsidies and rebates to incentivise change.
“It’s not only about eliminating worst practices. It’s about adopting best practices, which, policy-wise, is also economically the right thing to do.
“Our guide has all the knowledge the industry needs to achieve net zero – a roadmap that shows it can be done and, most importantly, the type of conversation clients can have with designers or government.
“It’s essential that the industry – be it clients, government or designers – start speeding up the race to net zero carbon before it becomes too late in the climate emergency.”
The guide is available for free on the UNSW Sydney website. More

The Women in Architecture awards (also known as the W Awards) celebrate the “exemplary work” by women and non-binary people, from designing significant new buildings to contributing to the wider architectural culture.
Delivered in partnership with The Architectural Review and the Architects’ Journal, the W Awards promote equity and diversity in the architectural profession, inspiring change through recognition and representation.
Japanese practice SANAA (behind the recently completed Sydney Modern) co-founder Kazuyo Sejima has received the Jane Drew Prize for her commitment to design excellence that has helped raise the profile of women in architecture.
The prize is named after English modernist architect Dame Jane Drew (1911–1996), who was an advocate for and an inspiration to women in a male-dominated profession.
Sejima cofounded SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa in Tokyo in 1995, and her practice received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010, making Sejima the second woman in history to receive the prestigious award after Zaha Hadid.
The Jane Drew Prize is awarded annually as part of the W Awards, with previous recipients including British-Iranian architect Farshid Moussavi, Scottish architect Kate Macintosh, and Pakistan’s first female architect Yasmeen Lari.

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Phyllis Lambert, 1998. Image:

Courtesy of the Canadian Centre for Architecture

Canadian architect, conservationist and critic Phyllis Lambert has received the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture, awarded to individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment.
Now 96, Lambert commissioned Mies van der Rohe to design the Seagram Building in the 1950s and founded the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in 1979. She has written a number of books, including most recent Observation Is a Constant That Underlies All Approaches (2023), and is working on another, How Does Your City Grow, which will be published later this year.
This award takes its name from architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable (1921–2013), who was the first full-time architecture critic at an American newspaper. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1970.
Sejima will give a talk at the W Lunch, taking place on 3 March at Battersea Arts Centre, during which the winners of the Moira Gemmill Prize and MJ Long Prize will be announced. For more information visit the W Programme website. More

Adriano Pupilli Architects and landscape architects Tyrrell Studio have completed the design of a new surf life saving club in Long Reef on behalf of the Northern Beaches Council.
The brief was to design a space with increased amenity for local residents, beach goers and the club members, while maintaining a similar footprint to the existing facility. The new club needed to accommodate the extensive functional requirements of the public, while maintaining a low profile that appeared inconspicuous in the natural landscape. Community consultation called for a building that was “robust and honest”, hardworking, flexible and deferential in palette to its surrounds.
Adriano Pupilli used a quiet architectural response, incorporating a gently raked, kite-shaped roof with a sloping form that nestles the building into the landscape.
The new club replaces the former facility after it was deemed unsuitable to cater for the needs of the club and the community. The club was originally founded in 1950 with just 29 members, where today, membership has reached more than 1,000.

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Landscaping by Tyrrell Studio is designed to be drought tolerant, using native species. Image:

Martin Mischkulnig

The $9.5-million fit-for-purpose building, which was approved for construction in 2020, is designed to be more sustainable than its predecessor, with a more modern and flexible offering that is sympathetic to the local environment.
The redevelopment included the construction of three buildings conceived as pavilion structures, including a two-storey surf club, a club storage facility, and a cafe and locker space.
The series of pavilions is clad in timber rain screens, designed to weather over time with the impact of the elements. Bookended by dunes, these pavilions are arranged around a central courtyard filled with outdoor amenity, including barbecues, furniture, and native landscaping.
Hit-and-miss breeze blocks on the west of the building and timber rain screens allow for passive ventilation and airflow. Skylights in the changing and locker rooms provide natural lighting and ventilation, made from a glass sheet suspended above a concrete collar, allowing breeze and sunlight to filter in to the space.
The main pavilion hosts a function room on the second storey, providing views out over the immediate banksia grove and over North Head beyond.
Officially opened on 11 February, Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan said the facility will provide a “welcoming centre for activity” for the community, and a “long-term base for future generations of volunteers surf life savers”.
Made from locally-sourced timber, the buildings are sustainable by design, featuring water-saving fittings, solar panels for power generation, drought-resistant native plantings, green roofs and permeable paving for natural ventilation. More