Architecture

The NSW Land and Environment Court has approved a proposal for a five-storey apartment building designed by Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects after a dispute over its bulk and scale.
To be built at 351– 53 New South Head Road in Double Bay, Sydney, the building will replace two large detached houses and deliver 15 apartments, including 20 percent affordable apartments.
Hill Thalis notes in planning documents that the building will join a “heterogeneous mix” of buildings in the area, including a number of taller buildings nearby, and that the design represents an appropriate transition between the commercial area immediately to the east and the less built-up residential area to the west.
“The architectural expression is united by a palette of materials and balanced asymmetrical forms that should make it an exemplar of such an apartment building type,” the firm notes. “Well-scaled concrete blade walls set the outboard corners, framing projecting concrete slabs. The body of the building is a white face brick, with lightweight cladding on the angled projecting bays which provide modelling and well-proportioned articulation to the side elevations.”

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351– 53 New South Head Road, Double Bay by Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects.

However, since the proposal was first revealed in mid-2019 it has attracted criticism from residents concerned about its size and potential impact on views, overshadowing and vegetation, with some 57 submissions made over a number of notification periods.
Woollahra Municipal Council approved the development application in December 2020, subject to a number of conditions, including that “apartment 17” and the easternroof terrace on the top storey be deleted “in order to reduce the height, bulk and scale of the proposed development and to achieve the desired future character of the Wallaroy Precinct.”
The project’s developer Kingsford Property Developments appealed to the Land and Environment Court to strike out this condition, along with conditions related to construction hours. Hill Thalis amended the plans as part of the appeal, maintaining the fifth-storey apartment, but reducing the scale of that level and the building as a whole.
During the court’s hearing, Woollahra Council said it no longer opposed the fifth-storey apartment, but proposed some further amendments to improve the compatibility of the development with the character of the local area.
However, presiding commissioner Michael Chilcott found that the council’s proposed amendments would “provide only modest improvements to the view” and that the resultant reduction in available floor space for affordable housing would not serve the public interest.
The court upheld the developer’s appeal and approved the development application. More

A 10-storey residential development accommodating 315 apartments across multiple building forms would be built within the Belconnen Town Centre in Canberra under a development application before the ACT planning department. Designed by Cox Architecture, the development would occupy Block 20 Section 32 Belconnen, at the intersection of Belconnen Way and Benjamin Way. It would include […] More

Sydney architect George El Khouri was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for service to architecture and the community. El Khouri is the director of George El Khouri Architects and has been a member of the Australian Institute of Architects since 1978. He is also a […] More

Melbourne Design Week returns in 2022 with an 11-day program exhibitions, talks, films, tours and workshops across the city and parts of regional Victoria. The 2022 theme “Design the world you want” is divided into two pillars – civic good and making good – encouraging participants to think beyond the individual and as well as […] More

Bates Smart has updated its design for a tower in Sydney’s Green Square town centre, originally approved in 2019.
An application to modify the mixed-use development submitted to the City of Sydney calls for a reduction in the number of apartments, from 104 to 81, with the average apartment size to increase from 70 to 90 square metres.
The development has been in the works for a long time, with Bates Smart appointed as the architect in early 2016 through a design competition. Submission of the development application was then deferred until the completion of the tower at site 17, designed by Tzannes and Mirvac Design, which the development is to share a basement with.
In planning documents, Bates Smart explains that Green Square has undergone radical change in the intervening years, as major public domain and community infrastructure projects such as the Green Square Library and Plaza and Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre have reached completion.

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Site 18 Green Square by Bates Smart.

“This changing context has seen a shift in the market from investor product to larger owner-occupied dwellings which has underpinned the re-thinking of the design of Site 18,” the firm notes.
The new bigger apartments will enjoy improved solar access and ventilation as well increased floor-to-floor heights.
The built form and scale of the tower, meanwhile, remains largely unchanged. The ground level has been designed with pedestrians in mind, with retail activation to all frontages.
“The base of the building is designed as a stone plinth with punctured window openings,” Bates Smart states. “The corners are defined by solid stone walls and are read in the round, ‘grounding’ the building with a heavy masonry base.
“The lobby is expressed as a crystalline glass box that hangs off the heavy masonry frame defining the edges of the building.
“The stepped building form results in the Neilson Square setback being more open to the sky and the ground plane is treated as an extension of the Square. A glass canopy provides a sheltered pedestrian thoroughfare along the Ebsworth Street and Neilson Square frontages.”
A key change made to the performance of the building is the integration of operable shading to the northwest and southwest facades.
“Operable rotating vertical louvers are proposed in front of windows and fixed vision glass to provide excellent shading in warmer months and adequate sunlight in cooler months,” state the architects.
The modification application is on exhibit until 28 January. More

The University of Wollongong has lodged a revised development application for its planned Health and Wellbeing Precinct, which will bring together health research and teaching with health facilities and independent housing for over 55s.
The $250 million development will cover a 3.5-hectare area at the southern end of the university’s Innovation Campus in North Wollongong. It will aim to “promote intergenerational living, life-long learning and improve health outcomes for people across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region,” according to the university.
Prepared by PTW Architects, Scape Design and Six Degrees Urban, the phase 1 masterplan for the project was originally submitted to Wollongong City Council in January 2021.
In response to comments from the council and the independent Design Review Panel, the design team tweaked the proposal, reducing the scale of the residential buildings, removing some vehicle access to prioritize pedestrians and reconfiguring the open space.

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The University of Wollongong Health and Wellbeing Precinct, looking south to the central green space from the pedestrian spine.

The revised concept masterplan calls for:

A new larger, green open space, situated at the heart of the precinct and open to the whole community;
a primary community heath centre that will combine community health services with a significant focus on teaching and research activities;
an independent living retirement complex operated by the developer Lendlease that will feature quality facilities for residents and up to 240 apartments;

residential aged care facility with up to 144 beds;
childcare centre with approximately 80-100 places;
Community facilities including a wellness centre, café and community hub;
Neighbourhood retail to service the precinct;
Sustainability features such as solar energy and water-sensitive urban design.

UOW vice-chancellor Patricia Davidson said, “The Health and Wellbeing Precinct is underpinned by a social mandate to support the health outcomes for the region. UOW seeks to build on our strengths and reputation for leading health research, particularly in aged care, dementia and mental health. Our ageing population creates a number of complex challenges and opportunities for our community, which go beyond the absence of disease.
“This is a terrific opportunity to shape the future economy of the city and capitalise on the demographic challenge facing the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast.”
Lendlease Retirement Living managing director Nathan Cockerill said the independent retirement accommodation would offer residents the benefits of intergenerational living.
“Future residents will have the opportunity to interact with people of all ages who visit the precinct, and also enjoy the benefits of living in a green environment that supports a healthy active lifestyle, close to beaches, recreational reserves and cycleways,” he said. More

An evocative temporary installation has opened in the main square of Albury on the Victoria-New South Wales border. See the Forest by Akimbo Architecture is the latest pavilion in the City of Albury’s Summer Place series. The semi-circular form contains within it a “forest” of live-edge timber slabs, which are representative of the trees along […] More

Health Infrastructure NSW has submitted a development application for the second stage redevelopment of Nepean Hospital in Penrith, designed by BVN.
Stage two will deliver a seven-storey building to the west of the 14-storey Stage one tower, due to open this year. The second tower will deliver “significantly enhanced acute services,” as well as a new campus main entry and drop-off area.
In a design statement, BVN notes that pedestrian connections withing the existing campus were “not necessarily intuitive” and that the new buildings offered a chance to redress this.
“The integration of public space will establish a sense of entry and facilitate the development and appropriate identity for the hospital within the local community as it becomes a fundamental connector for pedestrians,” the statement reads.
The existing hospital campus is an amalgamation of diverse buildings of different scales and ages, with multiple arrival points spread across north, east, south and west blocks. BVN notes that this detracts from the perception of campus as a “unified whole,” particularly for the first-time or infrequent visitor.

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Stage 2 redevelopment of Nepean Hospital, designed by BVN.

“Combining a number of functions into a single Acute Services building, the Stage 1&2 Buildings will significantly alter the way people use and access the Hospital, and aims to become the first point of arrival for many visitors to the campus,” the firm notes. “As such, it presents an exciting opportunity to create a unique, easily identifiable and memorable ‘front door’ – a landmark building, which becomes synonymous within the Nepean and Blue Mountains Health District.”
The massing strategy for the building has been developed to closely tie into the building form and mass of the stage one tower, with the general strategy being to divide and breakdown long elevations and large masses with the use of deep recesses.
The stage two building will contain: front of house, including retail; education and training centre; transit lounge; medical imaging; interventional radiology; intensive care unit and close observation unit; in-centre dialysis and renal inpatient unit; paediatric in-patient unit; plant areas; clinical support areas; and kitchen.
The landscape architect for the project is Arcadia. More