Architecture

Construction has begun on the refurbishment of Arts Centre Melbourne’s Theatres Building, part of the Victorian government’s $1.7 billion transformation of Melbourne Arts Precinct.
The Theatres Building, originally designed Roy Grounds, is home to the State Theatre, Playhouse and Fairfax Studio, renowned for its illuminated spire.
NH Architecture and Snøhetta has designed the refurbishment of the arts spaces, adding new scenery lifts, a loading dock, green room, stage door, studio and function space, and a new western entrance to 18,000 square metres of added public parkland.

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Reimagining of the Theatres Building. Image:

NH Architecture

Arts Centre Melbourne Reimagining project director Chris King said the Theatres Building has “great bones” but deteriorating assets that no longer reflect the requirements of its users.
Respecting the original heritage architecture of Roy Grounds and interiors by John Truscott, the design will retain the heritage-listed design features while improving lighting, acoustics, accessibility, circulation and digital streaming technology.
The State Theatre will have dedicated wheelchair positions for the first time in the theatre’s history, serviced by two DDA-compliant lifts for greater accessibility. There will also be 68 new enhanced amenity seats with wider row and seat options.
Chair of the Arts Centre Melbourne Andrew Myer said that reimagining the Arts Centre is a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity. The transformation will be carried out in phases, with works on the Theatres Building expected to be completed by early 2023, preparing for major works to deliver the broader Melbourne Arts Precinct transformation.
The Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation is the largest cultural infrastructure project undertaken in the country, and will also include a new contemporary art gallery for the National Gallery of Victoria.
The State Theatre will close for auditorium and stage house refurbishment in 2024 and reopen in December 2026. More

The draft plans for Hornsby Town Centre, in the Upper North Shore Sydney region, are now on public exhibition, designed to address future housing shortages and reduce urban sprawl. Prepared by Cox Architecture, the masterplan reveals a proposed revitalization of the town centre to make it greener, more liveable, and more accessible for the community. […] More

Glenn Murcutt’s self-proclaimed “most significant” project has been added to the NSW State Heritage Register. Simpson-Lee House II has been recognized as historically significant in the development of Australian modernist architecture in the latter half of the 20th century. Heritage NSW executive director Sam Kidman described the project as a home that signalled an important […] More

Entries have opened for the 2022 Circle Awards, which recognizes businesses, organizations, projects and people leaving positive impact on the environment and society. Opened on 20 July, this awards program accepts entrants from 14 categories including architecture and construction, as well as transport, local government, fashion, food and wellbeing within Australia and New Zealand. The […] More

Designs have been released for a $24 million redevelopment of the Neutral Bay Public School campus, which proposes to increase its core facilities and outdoor play space. A masterplan by Desinginc was submitted to North Sydney Council in July and includes designs for seven new high-tech learning spaces, a new library, canteen and staffroom, with […] More

Dean Norton established his eponymous studio with the desire to have freedom in his design work. To have full creative expression and control, to design functional pieces that are artistic statements and stories, and to not be limited by a client brief or budget.
British-born and Melbourne-based, Dean studied graphic design and interior design at the University of the Arts London, after which he worked on retail and commercial projects, including custom furniture and fixtures for high-end clients. “I loved designing custom pieces because we didn’t have a limited budget and the brief was to stand out, so I could express myself creatively,” he says. He decided furniture design provided the creative freedom he was seeking and launched his own studio in 2017, debuting the Moodlum collection in 2018. “The idea of Moodlum was for each piece to merge with a space and complement the room’s style and atmosphere,” Dean says.
Moodlum established a minimalist language that is consistent throughout Dean’s work: well-resolved geometric shapes, continuous curves and no visible fixings. With this foundation, Dean focuses on form and experiments with materials, before considering construction and production. “It’s more freeing, because I’m not limiting myself creatively with the complexities of construction,” he explains.
The original Mood tables are powdercoated in white or black, with a tabletop in smoke-grey mirror or back-painted frosted glass. He has since expanded the range of finishes, imbuing the minimalist table and its environment with a different aesthetic, feeling and effect. The Mood coffee and side tables in zinc, for example, reflect the colours and tones of their surroundings, while the wood and resin finish emphasizes the table’s natural timber grain. Dean also develops custom pieces and finishes for interior design commissions, including a chrome side table for Aesop’s Karrinyup store.
Dean has designed several pieces as thematic responses to exhibitions, and emotive reactions to Melbourne lockdowns. Containa 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. He entered Daylight and the Float glass tables into the VIVID 2021 Emerging Designer Awards, for which he won the Judges’ Choice Award.
The National Gallery of Victoria’s acquisition of Dean’s graphic illusion Concave Convex Mirror in 2021 affirms his approach to design and creative expression: “[Having my design] in an art gallery is a dream come true as I see my work as artistic statements. They are creative pieces and I want them to have an ongoing creative story.”

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The Association of Consulting Architects is conducting its sixth survey of the Australian architectural profession in a longitudinal study of how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the industry. Released on 18 July, the latest survey hopes to find out what has changed for architectural businesses, document the challenges and identify opportunities for the future. Past […] More

Chrofi and Tyrrell Studio have designed an urban park and cultural centre for Burwood, in Sydney’s inner west.
The project, to be located on the site of the existing Burwood Library carpark, also aims to bring open space and tree canopy to the suburb’s town centre, as well as deliver a new arts and cultural centre that includes a new café, a community lounge, studio spaces, multipurpose halls, a 200-seat theatre, and other public amenities.
Chrofi and Tyrrell Studio were appointed the design team following a competition held by the local council in 2020.
Chrofi initially designed a city-wide masterplan for Burwood in 2019 after it was comissioned by council to respond to the city centre’s rapid transition from a low-scale suburban centre to a high-rise strategic centre.

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Rendered concept imagery for the Burwood Urban Park and Cultural Centre. Image:

Chrofi with Tyrrell Studio

In response to Burwood’s inadequate public domain, prevalence of overshadowing and poor scale transitions, Chrofi identified the site as an ideal park location that could increase amenity in the city due to its “sunny location and proximity to existing civic and heritage asset,” the architect said.
“Burwood is a rapidly densifying centre with limited opportunities for new public space, so any development of public land needs to work hard to satisfy the diverse needs of the growing population,” said Chrofi director Tai Ropiha.
The cultural centre has been designed as a wedge-shaped form that appears to emerge out of the ground with an open space on top. “The idea to have a community building under the open space maximises the potential of the site to respond to community needs,” the architects said.
According to the concept designs, the geometry of the park has been conceived to articulate three landscaped spaces that enable pedestrian connections between surrounding destinations, like the Burwood train station, the public library, and the Hornsey Street precinct.
The design team proposes to engage with the history of Burwood’s heritage buildings by taking inspiration from the terracotta of the federation homes and the fine-grain brickwork of Burwood Public School. Engaging with these existing material conditions, the proposal uses terracotta screens, recycled brick pavements and cladding to create a sense of place and continuity. More