Architecture

A $600 million, 100,000 square metre healthcare precinct is in the works for Geelong and another healthcare facility in Richmond could be expanded after a deal between two health care companies. Victoria’s Epworth Healthcare, which runs existing facilities in Geelong and Richmond, announced it had reached a property sale and leaseback agreement with Canadian company […] More

Adelaide’s Wilderness School has lodged plans for a number of new structures as well as alterations and additions to existing buildings with designs by local firm Grieve Gillett Andersen. The private girls’ school sits between Hawkers Road and Northcote Terrace in the suburb of Medindie, in Adelaide’s inner north. Plans before South Australia’s State Commission […] More

Woods Bagot has completed a new learning and teaching building for Deakin University’s Burwood campus in Melbourne’s east, which will house the university’s law school.
Designed to be “intentionally non-institutional,” the building will house five levels of flexible, active learning spaces.
“The building’s arresting geometry arose from the innovative blend of learning spaces held within,” said Woods Bagot principal Sarah Ball. “Each space addresses a different emerging methodology of teaching, doing away with the traditional lecture theatre in the process.”
Instead of traditional lecture theatres, the building has three large, tiered presentation spaces known as Premier Learning Spaces, which can also be used for collaborative private study. Large group working spaces can also operate as informal study spaces.
The Premier Learning Spaces are housed in zinc-clad curved, extruded forms, which are juxtaposed against the rectilinear teaching wing of the building.

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Deakin Law School building by Woods Bagot. Image:

Peter Bennetts

“It’s an orchestrated contrast of masses,” said principal and project design lead Bruno Mendes.
A circulation tower in the west building has a sculpted form with fluted curved concrete panels, which capture light and shadows throughout the day.
The building also has two levels of student health and wellbeing services, as well as a Wellness Garden located between the building and Gardeners Creek Reserve. The garden features native plants stones, a deconstructed creek and tiered seating.
The building is sited at the north-west edge of the campus, which is separated from the rest of the campus by a waterway. As a result, a new bridge connects the building to the rest campus.
“With an understanding of the proposed bridge design, we saw this constraint as an opportunity for the building to form a mediation role within the campus, an organizational framework for the public realm, and the existing campus infrastructure,” Mendes said.
“The building’s striking form and glinting materiality serves as a form of wayfinding, ushering students across the link bridge and creating campus traversability that has never existed before.”
The law school is the first large learning and teaching facility to be built at the campus in a decade. More

Cottee Parker has designed an 11-storey timber office tower with three residential dwellings perched on top of it for Newstead in Brisbane. The cross-laminated timber tower at 12 Kyabra Street would provide office space for small businesses, with the strata-titled office tenancies ranging from 50 to 250 square metres. Clearly defined by their warehouse-inspired gabled […] More

Ace Hotel’s long-awaited Sydney premises will open to guests in May 2022. Designed by Flack Studio, the 264-room hotel is inspired by the “renegade” history of the surrounding inner-city suburb of Surry Hills.
“Surry Hills has been home to so many culturally important movements and people, and has always been a home for creatives and migrating cultures,” said Flack Studio founder and director David Flack. The area was the centre of the razor gang wars and underground liquor trade of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the modernist art boon of the 1960s and the Gay Solidarity Group protests of the 1970s.

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Ace Hotel Sydney by Flack Studio. Image:

Anson Smart

“We wanted to preserve the creative, slightly renegade energy of the space since its origins as one of Australia’s early brickworks,” Flack continued. “We were committed to creating a warm space that brought together Australia’s cultural history with Ace’s unique, community cultivating approach to hospitality.”
The hotel will be housed in the history Tyne House brick factory, which was the site of one of Australia’s first ceramic kilns. Flack Studio’s design for the hotel invokes the warm “cinematic” colour palette of the Australian landscape and uses organic materials, such as textured straw acoustic panels, to honour its rich history.
The design also features high craftsmanship – the furniture, joinery and lighting in the guest rooms are all custom designed by Flack Studio.

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Ace Hotel Sydney by Flack Studio. Image:

Anson Smart

Ace Hotel Sydney is the first in the Southern Hemisphere for the USA-based hotel chain.
“Though its culture and character are all its own, we’ve always felt a strong affinity with Australia — its intrepid optimism and renegade spirit resonates with Ace’s roots on the Pacific Coast of America,” said Ace Hotel Group president Brad Wilson. “We love the country’s distinctive brand of modernism, particularly in the use of local organic materials, and were lucky enough to find a perfectly modernist partner in Flack Studio. David’s eye for colour and space is completely singular — a dream design collaborator for our first hotel in Australia.”
The hotel will also accommodate a communal lobby with a restaurant, bar and café on the ground floor and a rooftop bar and restaurant. An additional design partner will be appointed for the rooftop food and beverage facilities. More

The NSW government will plant 2,000 trees in one of Sydney’s hottest suburbs as part of a trial project aimed at combatting the urban heat island effect.
Rosemeadow in south-west Sydney has an estimated tree canopy coverage of just 5.63 percent, one of the lowest in greater Sydney. Through the Rosemeadow Demonstration Project, the state’s planning department will explore ways to achieve its 40 percent canopy target by planting trees on public land, including streets, schools, open spaces, and around stormwater overland flow infrastructure.
Western Sydney is particularly vulnerable to the effects of urban heat island – research shows that on days of extreme heat temperatures can rise 10°C higher than in the eastern suburbs, resulting in unsustainable energy use spikes and higher mortality rates.
“Trees are our first line of defence against rising temperatures and the urban heat island effect, particularly in Western Sydney where temperatures in summer can soar to over 50 degrees,” said planning minister Rob Stokes.
“Rosemeadow has some of the lowest tree cover in Greater Sydney and it’s the perfect location to trial new ways to use canopy cover to combat rising temperatures.
“The research shows that we can also improve stormwater management by planting trees in stormwater basins, while also creating habitat for native animals and improving biodiversity.”
In collaboration with landscape architecture firm Realm Studios, E2 Design Lab and Spiire, the government will produce three reports detailing the methodology of the Rosemeadow project, which will be made available to councils looking to replicate the approach.
Member for Camden Peter Sidgreaves said there was substantial open space, and opportunities for planting near schools and on residual land in Rosemeadow.
“Our aim is to create a greener, more pleasant Rosemeadow for the community to use, access and enjoy, while establishing a framework of best practice methodology that can be replicated by councils across the state”, he said.
“More high-quality open spaces across Greater Sydney provide the community with more opportunities to rediscover the joy of outdoor recreation, connect with nature, and improve wellbeing and active lifestyles.”
The NSW government first announced the Rosemeadow project in 2019, but the tree planting has been delayed due to COVID-19. The project will support the government’s wider goal of planting one million trees in Greater Sydney between 2017 and 2022. More

A pair of former navy warehouses in Sydney’s Pyrmont will be transformed into a new workplace for multi-national tech giant Google. The Royal Edward Victualling Yard (REVY) is state heritage listed for its significance as the first navy yard in the Southern Hemisphere. The buildings on the site were all designed by NSW government architect […] More

Construction is underway for a $24.8 million STEM precinct and automotive training facility at Mabel Park State High School in Slacks Creek, south of Brisbane.
Central to the project is a new learning centre designed by Thomson Adsett, which will house science and robotics labs, graphics studios, a staff hub and seven classrooms. It will also include dance studios and a “United Cultural Centre” with prayer and wash facilities for the school’s Muslim students, as well as an all-faith prayer room.
The three-storey building is positioned centrally on the campus and will “establish itself as the heart of the school,” according to the architects. All levels will feature outdoor learning areas.
A $3.96 million automotive facility in the same building will allow students to explore the latest automotive technologies such as electronic scooters and solar powered vehicles.

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Mabel Park State High School learning centre by Thomson Adsett.

Local MP Shannon Fentiman, visiting the construction site, said the project was much needed, since the school had seen student numbers “almost triple” since 2016.
“Mabel Park has already been recognised for its achievements in training with its nationally recognized health hub,” she said.
“And it’s fantastic to see these state-of-the-art facilities will continue to provide valuable hands on, industry relevant skills and training for Mabel Park’s students to get a job and have a successful career.”
Mabel Park principal Michael Hornby said the project would support the school’s ongoing collaboration with the Queensland University of Technology.
“We currently have eight female students being mentored in Engineering at QUT, and this is about to expand to 40 students, so this workshop will be a huge asset to our STEM and automotive technology curriculum.
“We are developing a partnership with QUT Engineering so we can continue to collaborate with the experts in this field locally, nationally and internationally, to take our students on the right path for future study and employment.” More