Architecture

Macarthur Anglican School, a prestige high school in Sydney’s south-west, engaged Mayoh Architects to design a new Integrated Studies Centre. The project came with a brief that specified the materials needed to be tough and as maintenance-free as possible.
The curved, split-level design centres around a landscaped garden, allowing for cross-discipline study so students can interact with one another through the co-location of labs, workshops, classrooms and breakout spaces. One of the highlights of the new building is the seminar room, which includes tiered seating.
The ceiling of the seminar room is Gyprock Rigitone Matrix 8 mm Round. This edge-to-edge product provides excellent acoustic properties, which helps to contain noise between the different learning areas. The tiered seating is bookended by walls clad with Cemintel Barestone complemented by acoustic tiles. The use of Barestone for selected elements of the interior means that the seminar is visually connected with the striking exterior, which also features Barestone (along with Cemintel Surround Blackish), to create a cohesive design.
The project architect, Mayoh’s Jonathan Henley, says there were a lot of acoustic challenges in this building to consider during the design process. “We have timber workshops and metal workshops underneath classrooms, which is great for collaboration between disciplines and staff, but difficult for acoustics,” he says. “You might be having exams or quiet study in one room and then you’d have workshop activity at the same time.”
Acoustic management is always a challenge in a school, especially for STEAM subjects, so Henley relied on CSR products to assist with the acoustics in the new building. With many noisy events occurring throughout the building during the average school day, including the use of industrial machinery, it was important to keep noise transfer to a minimum.
Bradford Insulation was specified for the walls and roof for acoustic and thermal comfort, while Gyprock Ceilings Rigitone Matrix 8 mm Round was chosen to minimize sound transfer between the two levels of the building. The ceilings’ plasterwork was configured around the rooms’ curves, while maintaining acoustic integrity.
Additional acoustic management included Bradford SoundScreen and Acoustigard products behind the Gyprock walls. “We researched the different products and the wall types so we could achieve higher levels of acoustic separation between the different areas,” says Henley.
With air quality a big issue for schools, especially post-COVID, Henley says the design of the new building included provision for cross-ventilation. External louvres can be operated remotely, allowing teachers to open up classrooms to capitalize on external breezes, or close them for heating or cooling via air-conditioning.
Gyprock Ceilings Rigitone was also specified in the classrooms, which is manufactured with Activ’Air technology and has an enduring impact on indoor air quality. Activ’Air was developed by worldwide plasterboard specialist Saint-Gobain. It converts VOCs, particularly formaldehyde, into non-harmful inert compounds that are permanently locked in the board and cannot be released back into the air.
The school is situated on 85 acres, including a working farm for the agricultural students, so Henley says that it was important to specify materials that complemented the surrounding open spaces. “I think that the mix of the dark Surround, the Barestone, and the timber was the aesthetic that we were going for, surrounded by greenery on the inside and the outside, which made the greenery pop,” he says.
CSR Gyprock More

A former medical centre in the Canberra suburb of Belconnen designed by Ken Woolley is facing demolition under an ACT government plan to replace it with a mixed-use development.
The former Kippax Health Centre was the first health centre for west Belconnen. Residents are opposing the demolition as part of the expansion over Holt District Playing Field, which is intended to accommodate retail expansion and make way for a new mixed-use development. The block earmarked to supersede the health centre could see the development of 80 new dwellings.

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Sketch perspective of the proposed Kippax Health Centre, 1974. Image:

Courtesy of the Department of Health

Dissident residents have said that while they are not opposed to the development of the Kippax centre, they have objected to the appropriateness of this particular proposal, which would see the demolition of the revered health building and local playing fields.
“Of course we need community housing but not at the group centre, putting the health centre and playing fields at risk,” said local resident and chair of the Save Kippax Playing Fields Christopher Watson.
Watson has also suggested that the health centre, which operated as a public clinic from 1975 to 2005 before it shut for private practice, be reopened to the public on the grounds that nearby medical facilities do not provide enough access to crucial mental health services.
The ACT Heritage Council declined to list the Woolley building back in February 2022 on the grounds that it was not eligible for provisional registration, thereby paving the way for the rezoning and expansion.
“The Heritage Council is not satisfied on reasonable grounds that the Place is likely to have heritage significance as defined by section 10 of the Heritage Act 2004,” the decision read.
The ACT government then lodged an application for the demolition of the centre as part of a masterplan for the Kippax group centre.
According to the ACT government, community engagement on the Kippax Group Centre Draft Masterplan in early 2016 indicated strong support for the proposed recommendations that included the establishment of a new central hub with new community facilities and a retail expansion for the centre.
Watson has suggested that any submission against the proposed demolition will assist their cause, “no matter how small.” Written and online submissions must be received by the authority by close of business 18 May. More

The Elwood Home, designed by Fieldwork Architects, is one of four townhouses along the Elster canal, built on the traditional lands of the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan. The homeowners looked to Melbourne studio Kett to fully furnish the home. Kett is headed up by designer Justin Hutchinson, and creates unique furniture collections that are honest in […] More

HEY house was designed by owners Pia and Richie Willemsen of Willemsen Architecture. The duo wanted a home for their young family, and the project took its name from the initials of their three children. Richie Willemsen said of the project, “I chose to owner-build because we wanted to push the boundaries of architecture, but […] More

In a first-of-its-kind transformation, ICS Australia has completed building works on a heritage-listed goods shed: the A Shed, located at Fremantle Ports in Western Australia. The 100-year-old warehouse was transformed by the state’s biggest brewer Gage Roads, with the $10 million conversion becoming its flagship microbrewery and an iconic destination in the city’s inner harbour.
Gage Roads Freo opened on January 20 2022 and operates as a brewery, restaurant and family-friendly venue with capacity for 1,500 patrons.
Occupying a total land area of more than 3,000 m², the dockside cargo shed takes full advantage of the building’s heritage features and frontage to the port. Refurbishment was undertaken to plans approved by Fremantle Ports in accordance with its heritage obligations. Fremantle Ports also provided guidance and assistance throughout the planning and build phases.
Industry leader Big River Group was chosen as the supplier of a vast range of formwork and building materials. With an operating history of over 110 years, Big River Group has established itself as a diverse manufacturer and distributor of timber and building products. It was able to offer a solution for the transformation, which included structural repairs to the shed’s timber frame and footings.
“We have supplied the project from the beginning of the build right through to the completion of the building phase in late 2021. We were able to supply cost-effective formwork products to the project through our engineered and dimensionally stable, LVL formwork and hardwearing formply Deckply and Armourform,” says Alex King, operations manager at the Big River Group’s Midland Timber and Prefab branch in Bellevue.
Further products that were supplied to assist in creating the durable skeleton of the redeveloped A Shed include Big River’s structural plywood products, Laminex Trade Essentials particleboard flooring, LVL13 structural beams, both BGC and CSR fibre-cement products, as well as internal pine framing solutions.
To assist in maintaining the original integrity of the 100-year-old structure, Big River Group locally sourced jarrah bushpoles, along with external pine framing and glulam beams. To further support the waterfront aesthetic, James Hardie Linea 180 mm fibre-cement weatherboards were supplied by the building solutions expert. More

The National Building Specification (NATSPEC) has launched its annual competition for 2022, directed at architecture students enrolled in Australian universities who can demonstrate the innovative or sustainable use of materials or systems. The NATSPEC Student Prize challenges students to explore the ways in which architects control and communicate the quality and performance of innovative design […] More

Schematic designs for a new Altona pier have been released to the public, featuring improved access and safety, and a modern Y-shaped design.
Delivered by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, the designs have considered community input following a consultation period in 2020, proposing a space with greater community space and multiple vantage points. Reportedly, more than 60 per cent of respondents selected the angled pier head as the preferred design of the three submitted.
The original timber pier was constructed in the late 19th century with significant rejuvination works carried out in the 1980s. The current structure is nearing the end of its life with signs of structural failure posing a risk to public safety.

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Schematic design of Altona Pier – outer pier and turning bay. Image:

Jackson Clements Burrows Architects

Unlike the existing pier, the new pier will be aligned to an adjacent street, providing what Parks Victoria has called an “improved visual connection to the iconic Altona foreshore.”
It will be delivered in conjunction with the Altona Foreshore Redevelopment – a Hobsons Bay City Council project designed to improve shade, vegetation and coastal habitat at the main beach entry alongside new shower facilities, bike parking and public art.
Parks Victoria said it aims to recycle and reuse as much timber from the existing pier as possible.
“The new Altona Pier design will improve the experience for anglers and pedestrians while also making it safer for all users,” member for Altona Jill Hennessy said.
The Victorian government is funding the transformation through its $24 million Piers and Jetties Stimulus Package, which will also cover the revitalization of the pier precinct and public amenities.
Minister for Ports and Freights Melissa Horne anticipates the revitalization will be a drawcard for Melbourne’s west, creating more vibrant public amenity for a region already popular with anglers and the beach-going community.
After the release of the detailed designs, construction is forecast to commence late 2022, with a finished pier anticipated for late 2023.
Altona is one of several piers around the Port Phillip Bay area being revitalized, with upgrades and rebuilds taking place in Rye, Portarlington and St Kilda. For more information visit the Parks Victoria website. More

The Australian Institute of Architects has issued a statement in which it describes housing as a “basic human right,” urging federal politicians to address the national affordable housing supply ahead of the federal election on 21 May.
The Institute said housing should be supported by a generational plan for affordable and social housing that will provide a national housing policy for 30 years. Institute president Tony Giannone said all parties should appoint a cabinet-level Minister for Housing to regulate and centralize supply.
“Adequate housing should be a right in a country as lucky as Australia, but it’s not,” Giannone said. “We need a national, centralized system to monitor housing supply and establish targets for social and affordable housing for those who need it.”
In its federal election policy statement, A Time For Action, the Institute identifies housing affordability as one of the two most critical issues facing the country at the present time.
“It is estimated that one in five First Nations households living in dwellings that do not meet an acceptable standard, and one in 28 are homeless,” the peak body for architects states in its call-to-action.
According to a survey carried out by the Institute, almost 9 in 10 of its members said the government needed to do more to address Australia’s rising housing stress.
“Despite this, the Institute believe neither of the two major political parties has committed to a plan to increase significantly the availability of social housing during the campaign,” the Institute said in a statement.
While the Australian Labor Party’s Housing Supply and Affordability Council is “headed in the right direction,” according to the Institute, more needs to be done to guarantee supply, quality and affordability on a national level.
The Institute said it approved of the Greens’ “ambitious” policy, targeting one million affordable public and community houses over the next 20 years, but voters still need to be convinced in its implementation plan.
Designing national minimum standards could help to promote planning code changes and regulate acceptable living conditions on a policy level, the Institute suggests.
“A decades-long, funded strategy will help to overcome the challenges of housing stress and unaffordability, and ultimately make Australia a better society where everyone has a home,” Giannone added. More