Architecture

Conrad Gargett has been appointed to design the Misk Foundation Headquarters in Saudi Arabia, intended as the centrepiece for the world’s first purportedly “nonprofit city”. The city was announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November 2021 to help achieve the objectives of his eponymous foundation, known as Misk. The foundation was established in […] More

Cumulus Studio has partnered with Housing Choices Tasmania and the Department of Communities to deliver a new social housing initiative in West Ulverstone on Tasmania’s north-west coast.
The Oak Rise Housing development is made up of two- and three-bedroom homes and uses contemporary design, locally sourced materials, and a naturalistic palette to reflect the surrounding vegetation.
The community of 48 courtyard-style homes, overlooking Bass Strait in an established natural landscape, strives to foster a sense of locality and belonging.
Cumulus architect and project lead Tim Blakeway said the team wanted to create a close sense of community through thoughtful design and activated communal areas.

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Shared driveways and slow pedestrian areas create a vibrant sense of community. Image:

Cumulus Architects

“We focused on the idea of creating a vibrant community through simple elements such as shared driveways and slow pedestrian areas, but also through a considered reduction of unused outdoor spaces that normally exist between each residence,” said Blakeway.
The homes have been designed with north-facing courtyards at the front of each residence, to fill the internal rooms with warm light, and create a natural extension for the living areas.
“The rooms wrap around the courtyards to give residents a sense of enclosure and privacy, but they are also spaces that can easily open up to the street, connecting each home to the rest of the community,” added Blakeway.
The architect said it prioritised visual diversity “by dotting the collection of houses with several design variations, including different brick patterns for the facades”. According to associate architect Edwina Brisbane, the variations provide moments of individuality, and the palettes are inspired by the changing seasonal hues of the mature elms and oaks that punctuate the development.
Cumulus was careful to ensure that establish vegetation was retained and celebrated on site.
The Oak Rise Housing development is scheduled for completion for mid-2023. More

Two of the best houses in South Australia were revealed on 16 June at the Australian Institute of Architects’ state chapter awards.
Parkside Residence by Ashley Halliday Architects has received the John S. Chappel Award for best new residential home, while Medindie House by Architects Ink received the John Schenk Award for best alteration and addition.
Parkside Residence
Parkside Residence by Ashley Halliday Architects uses a contemporary palette of complementary materials and finishes. But despite its modern air, the house is sympathetic to its surroundings, taking cues form its adjacent 1880s villas in formal language and profile.
The home’s form is defined by two gabled pavilions that sit perpendicular to one another, “separated and inflected to create interstitial spaces between,” the architect said. It is a creative adaptation of the traditional rooflines of the neighbourhood, keeping in harmony with the streetscape while creating a private slice of introverted bliss.
A traditional, understated facade gives way to an open and transparent space at the rear. Floor-to-ceiling glazed windows create a light, capacious space where indoors seamlessly bleed into garden. The owners said the open design has “increased our sense of connection to the outside, allowing us to experience changes in weather and even to stargaze from inside the house.”
They added, “The subtle zoning within the main pavilion enables us to pursue our separate activities and to find quiet moments, even when we are all at home.” Warm, textured oak battens on the high ceilings give rhythm and repetition to the space and gently draw the occupant into the textured heart of the home.

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Medindie House by Architects Ink received the top award for residential architecture – alterations and additions. Image:

Sam Noonan

Medindie House
Medindie House by Architects Ink is a two-storey addition to an old sandstone villa. In the brief, the owners sought a contemporary home with a strong connection to the north-facing backyard, and space to accomodate their growing family.
Architects Ink selected inset concrete for the walls, floors and roof – the solidity of which is balanced with the warm, natural materials throughout the addition. Windows, skylights and voids are strategically positioned for a radiant play of light and air throughout the building, capturing the sun, breeze and garden views.
The addition is “minimal, yet warm and functional with an understated luxury,” the architect said. It is intended to be contemporary, yet enduring, and a harmonious counterweight to the grand sandstone villa.
“The living area is the centrepiece where the bold and strong architectural elements interact with the gardens, which have been designed to complement,” the client said. “It is in this place we are taken to our own oasis – a wonderful escape from the outside world.”
See all the winners of 2022 South Australian Architecture Awards. More

Construction is poised to begin on stage one of the $658 million redevelopment of Sydney Children’s Hospital and Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Randwick.
Designed by Billard Leece Partnership, the redeveloped paediatric hospital will deliver dedicated care for some of the state’s most unwell children. Initial concept designs for the hospital, which will be based within the existing Randwick Health and Innovation Precinct, were released in May 2021. BLP has now completed the design development stage of the project.
Managing director Tara Veldman said the design of the new hospital is intended to feel like a “home away from home” for recovering children.
“We know the recovery process is intrinsically linked to minimizing a child’s stress and anxiety,” Veldman explained. “It is designed as a holistic place of healing, for children, their families, carers, hospital and research staff while seamlessly incorporating the latest technology.”

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Sydney Children’s Hospital and Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Image:

Billard Leece Partnership

The design has been co-created with clinicians, researchers, children, families, and carers. It takes a “bench to bedside” approach – a term used to describe the co-location of paediatric healthcare, education and research environments, to accelerate learning discoveries, engage clinical innovation with bedside care, and meet the complex health needs of children.
“By co-locating patients and technical amenities, there are shorter lead times for cancer testing, resulting in better health outcomes,” the architect said. The Sydney Children’s Hospital is the first health facility in Australia to offer this approach to patient management and care.
Veldman said the architects responded to the brief with “head and heart” to create an atmosphere of inclusion and uplift. Biophilic design principles are integrated in the design through natural light, physical and visual contact with green spaces, while nature-filled social spaces and a public courtyard have been designed to promote well-being and “positive distraction”.
On 10 June, the NSW government announced the next stage of the development with the appointment of John Holland as main works contractor.
While construction works are underway, the existing Sydney Children’s Hospital will continue to provide outpatient and allied health services.
Main works are scheduled to commence within the coming months, with the facility expected to open in late 2025. More

ARM Architecture has been appointed to prepare schematic designs for a new civic precinct, to be located adjacent to the Monash Civic Centre, originally designed by Harry Seidler and Associates. ARM completed a feasibility study for the project in 2021, which evaluated the conditions of the site and presented a number of issues to council, […] More

Final concept plans have been released for the a new cycling precinct in Brisbane, ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games. The Murarrie Recreation Reserve International Cycle Park project will include an international-standard cycling track designed by Bligh Tanner, as well as a 500-metre speed skating track and a multi-purpose clubhouse by Cox Architecture. Proposed future […] More

The Milan Furniture Fair celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022, and after years of border closures, there was a plethora of new designs for the Australians who ventured across the globe for the week-long event. We asked Kirsten Stanisich of Richards Stanisich to scope out the top finds.
Lava and Tambor by Habitación 116 for Unno Gallery
Latin American contemporary art and design gallery Unno presented an evocative exhibition in the Brera Design District of Milan. Titled ‘Volume, The Land, and The Maker,’ the exhibition was inspired by a painting by Josef Albers from his Homage to the Square series.
Mexican interior architecture studio Habitación 116 and Chilean artist Abel Cárcaco were invited to create pieces that synthesised the colour, materials and form of Albers’s painting. The Lava chair and Tambor side table are both inspired by El Pedregal neighbourhood of Mexico City and the volcanic landscape that it sits on. The chair takes its colour theory from the five colours of the volcanic rocksm while Tambor is a monolithic piece of volcanic stone that also doubles as a stool.
“I connected with these pieces, which have an incredible elegance with their references to tradition and use of craftsmanship contrasted against a rich contemporary colour palette,” Stanisich said.

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Simoon console table by Patricia Urquiola for Glas Italia.

Simoon by Patricia Urquiola for Glas Italia
Described as “miniature architectures” by its designer Patricia Urquiola, Simoon is a collection of low, high and console tables and a writing desk that take the form of “deliberately simplified geometrics.”
The collection is made from 12mm thick UV bonded glass slabs and has a pleasing, tactile surface thanks to its coat of grounded Murano glass, created from recycled production waste. The tables are available in amethyst, light blue and topaz.
“Glas Italia has always been close to my heart and this year my love for the brand continued,” Stanisich said. “The use of soft colour, texture and geometric shapes is contrasted against Glas Italia’s awe-inspiring technical precision. These pieces are beautiful.”

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Koushi by Kengo Kuma for Salvatori.

Koushi by Kengo Kuma for Salvatori
Koushi is a modular furniture concept based on a series of cubes made from batons and joints that can be assembled in infinite ways.
“This bathroom vanity from Salvatori has taken the clarity of simple concept and combined it with incredibly detailed precision,” Stanisich said.
As well as vanity units, Koushi can also be made up into shelving, cupboard solutions and coffee tables.

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Ottavia by Antonio Citterio for Flexform. Image:

Kirsten Stanisich

Ottavia by Antonio Citterio for Flexform
Ottavia is an elegant outdoor armchair designed by Antonio Citterio that combines a powder coated stainless steel structure with hand woven cord. “The rough texture of the cord contrasts so beautifully against the minimal silhouette of the chair,” Stanisich said. Also available in a small armchair size, the design is versatile for a range of outdoor spaces.

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Signature Kitchen by Nicolas Schuybroek Architects for Obumex

Signature Kitchen by Nicolas Schuybroek Architects for Obumex
“Everyone was obsessing over this pewter kitchen and I’ve joined the queue,” Stanisich said. This monolithic kitchen island designed by Belgian architect Nicolas Schuybroek is made entirely of tin – a unique material in contemporary kitchen designs.
“Nicolas Schuybroek rethought the block-like typology of a kitchen island and transformed it into a dynamic shape, resulting in carefully proportioned shifts between the sculptural blocks,” the designer said. “As tin gains a unique patina, the aesthetics of the kitchen will beautifully evolve over the course of time, resulting in each and every kitchen to be unique.”

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Port Light by Tom Fereday for Rakumba Image:

Kirsten Stanisich

Port Light by Tom Fereday for Rakumba
Created by Australian designer Tom Fereday in collaboration with lighting manufacturer Rakumba, the Port Light is a uniquely reversible table lamp that celebrates the properties of cast crystal glass. Stanisich was drawn to the light’s “soft shapes and internal stepped layers”. The light is reversible simply by flipping the glass body over to create different moods and light interactions. It is housed in a brass base.

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Und Messing by Volker Haug Image:

Pier Carthew

Und Messing by Volker Haug
Australian lighting studio Volker Haug presented a new series of light fitting that explore the various properties of brass in its exhibition Und Messing (and brass).
Each piece is hand made by local craftspeople and explores various ideas from the past two years. Stanisich found the “brass wall fitting from Volker Haug beautifully expresses its handmade origins,” she said. More