Architecture

The New South Wales government has marked a date to open doors to the Art Gallery of New South Wales expansion project, also known as the Sydney Modern.
Premier Dominic Perrottet announced on 26 April that after several years in the pipeline, an official opening has been scheduled to take place on 3 December 2022.
“This is a major investment in art, artists and culture, and sends a strong signal of confidence for a vibrant and exciting future,” Premier Perrottet said of the $344 million expansion.
Pritzker Prize laureates Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, of Japanese practice SANAA, were announced the winners of the international design competition for the expansion in 2015. Architectus is the executive architect for the project.
Construction began on the expansion in November 2019 that would double the exhibition footprint of the gallery and make use of the space to the north of the original building.
“A new standalone building, public art garden and revitalized historic building will bring together art, architecture and landscape in spectacular new ways, with dynamic galleries, site-specific works by leading Australian and international artists, and extensive outdoor spaces for everyone to enjoy,” said the Art Gallery of NSW.
Sejima and Nishizawa designed the modern wing as a lightweight matrix of pavilion-like structures that respond to the site’s natural topography.
The interlocking steel-framed pavilions sink into the landscape and integrate the land bridge over the freeway below and the subterranean heritage structures.
The Sydney Modern wing will be home to a permanent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gallery, and museum curators have already commissioned nine original artworks of which more than half are by female artists and three by Indigenous artists.

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A decommissioned World War II naval fuel bunker will be repurposed as an immersive underground art space for special commissions and performances, designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Image:

Art Gallery of New South Wales

A decommissioned World War II naval fuel bunker will be repurposed and reimagined as an immersive underground art space for special commissions and performances.
Alongside the new building by SANAA and Architectus, local architecture practice Tonkin Zulaikha Greer has been engaged to restore and revitalize a series of spaces in the 150-year-old gallery as part of the project.
The Sydney Modern is poised to be one of the most ambitious cultural landmarks since the opening of the Sydney Operah House almost 50 years ago. More

A comprehensive review of unprotected heritage buildings across Melbourne’s CBD has been adopted, securing the future of 126 buildings and spaces within the Hoddle Grid. The Hoddle Grid Heritage Review was prepared for the City of Melbourne in 2020, recommending the protection of 137 buildings and five precincts built throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. […] More

Studio Nine Architects has been engaged to design a $50 million visitors centre, microbrewery and whisky distillery for Coopers Brewery in Adelaide.
The new development will be an addition to the existing facility in Regency Park. Studio Nine will strive to create a continuous narrative on the site, to “bridge hospitality and industry through history,” the architects said.
The new development will include a restaurant and bar, tasting facilities, outdoor plaza, microbrewery, whisky distillery, and underground stillage for whisky maturation.
A 50-metre glazed bridge will connect the new development with the main brewery facility. The visitor centre will house an interactive history display, telling the story of Australia’s largest independent, family-owned brewery.

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A processional, tree-lined promenade will extend from a new entry from Regency Road leading to the new facility. Image:

Studio Nine Architects

“The circular plan is inspired by the vessels of the brewery and the rondel of the famous Coopers label,” said Studio Nine. The distinctive, elevated form will be visible from flightpaths, the architect said.
It will also providing an infrastructure link to the main operations building, leveraging off the efficient water heating and cooling processes of the factory to service the new distillery.
“The idea of connecting the brewing operations with the future of Coopers via a bridge […] became a fundamental driver for the design,” said Studio Nine’s project lead Simon Tothill.
“It quickly developed an essential link to their whole operation; not just transferring people and infrastructure but elevating the whole experience of the brewery.”
The new microbrewery will allow Coopers to develop more craft-style beers to supplement its existing portfolio.
Studio-Gram will oversee the interior design, which will feature a restrained palette of natural and locally sourced materials.
Construction is expected to commence mid-2022 for completion by the end of 2023. More

The Australian Institute of Architects has issued a statement declaring that Australia should have a national construction supply chain strategy to increase sovereign capacity and ensure the availability of high-quality, low-carbon construction materials. As the impacts of the global pandemic have demonstrated, relying on international sources for essential building supplies puts Australia’s construction sector in […] More

Woods Bagot, in a joint venture with the City of Adelaide, has completed designs for what could be Adelaide’s greenest office building.
Located within the commercial portion of the city’s $400 million Central Market Arcade redevelopment, the tower will be a 15,000 square-metre, all-electric office building targeting a six-star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council Australia (GBCA).
To achieve this level of accreditation, a building must be “fossil fuel-free, powered by renewables, highly efficient, built with low carbon materials and offset with nature,” according to the GBCA.
Woods Bagot said it wanted to focus on long-term sustainability solutions to help address looming global challenges. Plans for the Market Square tower reveal the building would use locally sourced recovered and recycled materials wherever possible.
Developer ICD Property said the building will feature other “unique earth-friendly initiatives” including rooftop solar, rainwater capture for irrigation, and a targeted minimum of 90 percent diversion of waste from landfill.

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Aerial view of the Market Square precinct. Image:

Woods Bagot

ICD said it would also maximise the use of biophilic design elements like natural light, raw materials and vegetation.
City of Adelaide lord mayor Sandy Verschoor has expressed her support for the proposed project, calling it a “significant green milestone” in the journey towards a renewable economy.
“We all know the journey towards a green economy is not quick, but in Adelaide we are making real progress thanks to commitments like this,” said Verschoor. “We are thrilled that Market Square is enabling us to deliver one of the first all-electric buildings in South Australia.”
Market Square is also on track to achieve a five-and-a-half star rating for the National Australian Built Environment Rating System, as well as Gold WELL accreditation rating from the International WELL Building Institute.
ICD managing director Matt Khoo said the sustainability initiatives were “non-negotiable.” He added that ICD, as a developer, has a responsibility “to influence tangible change in Australia’s landscape by future proofing all our projects with best-in-class sustainable practises.”
“Aside from the obvious benefits to the community and environment, there are also flow-on effects to tenants who will receive significant savings through lower ongoing operational costs,” said Khoo.
Construction of the precinct is earmarked for July and will be built by Multiplex. More

Plans have been submitted to the City of South Perth for a 183-metre-tall hybrid timber tower designed by Fraser and Partners – a research-based design studio borne out of Elenberg Fraser.
If built, it will reportedly be the tallest hybrid timber tower in the world, three metres taller than Atlassian’s hybrid timber tower in Sydney, designed by Shop Architects and BVN, which was approved in October 2021.
Located at 6 Charles Street, South Perth, the development will be named C6, after the chemical element for carbon on the periodic table. It will become the first carbon negative building for Western Australia.
According to plans, the $350 million hybrid timber tower will be constructed using 7,400 square metres of timber.

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Plans for C6 include 300 per cent more communal space per apartment than what current planning requirements specify. Image:

Fraser and Partners

The proposal currently includes provisions for 245 apartments (ranging from one to four bedroom apartments) over 48 levels, and a 500-square-metre rooftop that will feature an edible garden, outdoor dining and entertainment paces, and communal amenities.
The proposal also includes an open-air piazza with a playground, cinema, horticultural zone, food and beverage and entertainment precinct at ground level open to the community.
Fraser and Partners’ design intends to adopt biophilic design principles, demonstrating the tangible benefits of incorporating nature in the built environment. C6 will include almost 3,500 square metres of floral, edible and native gardens as well as onsite energy production and electric vehicle charging stations.

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The $350 million hybrid timber tower will be constructed using 7,400 square metres of timber. Image:

Fraser and Partners

Plans for C6 include 300 percent more communal space per apartment than what current planning requirements specify.
Grange Development founder and director James Dibble said that if successful, C6 will set a new precedent for renewable building developments around the world.
“If we can accelerate a paradigm shift into the use of more renewable building materials such as mass timber in a hybrid nature and see even 10, 15 or 20 percent of future projects use mass timber in their construction in the next few years, we will have succeeded. At the moment, that figure is almost zero,” said Dibble.
“We want to encourage other developers to see what we have delivered with C6 and start to incorporate the methodology across other projects. Steel and concrete are some of the most energy-dense materials in the world to produce, and at the moment, the industry relies on it,” he added.
Plans for Elenburg Fraser’s hybrid timber skyscraper have been submitted to council for planning approval, with building intended to commence next year. More

Plans for a $2.5 billion scheme for Central Barangaroo on Sydney Harbour have been released under a project development agreement between the New South Wales Government and developer Aqualand.
Central Barangaroo will be the final chapter of the the 22-hectare foreshore development. London-based David Chipperfield Architects alongside Australian firms Durbach Block Jaggers, Smart Design Studio and John Wardle Architects were commissioned in August 2021 to design the buildings and surrounding spaces.

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Central Barangaroo will provide a “bridge” between Barangaroo Reserve and the commercial district of Barangaroo South. Image: Aqualand

Plans for the precinct reveal a mid-rise development, with provisions for a tower around 20 storeys above the train station. It includes “campus-style offices” that open onto a waterfront park, as well as a limited number of residential apartments at the northern end of the precinct with views over the harbour.
According to Aqualand project director Rod McCoy, Central Barangaroo will link the Barangaroo Reserve with the commercial district of Barangaroo South.
Accessibility is one of the key tenets informing the Central Barangaroo development, McCoy said, with Central Barangaroo providing a new major stepping-off point for the developed Sydney Metro Station.

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The precinct will include campus-style offices and a new cultural venue. Image: Aqualand

“The delivery of the new metro station, the new ferry wharves on the Barangaroo foreshore, new pedestrian links to Millers Point, Walsh Bay and the Rocks, and the connections back into the city through Wynyard Walk and Gas Lane, will make this precinct one of the most accessible and connected places for workers, residents, and visitors in Australia,” he said.
The development has been a source of friction between the state government, local residents and the City of Sydney council, for the scale of the development and its “privatization” of the public foreshore. The latest plans from Aqualand include improved public amenity.
“Central Barangaroo will feature a new two-hectare waterfront park for visitors and locals to enjoy and delivers on the long-held promise that more than half of the Barangaroo precinct is accessible public open space,” said McCoy. The remaining half will comprise workplaces, apartments, commercial spaces, cultural venues and a metro station.
Plans also include a new lifestyle and cultural precinct at Nawi Cove, which McCoy said will “serve as a lifestyle and cultural gateway that celebrates arrival into the city and into Sydney’s western harbour foreshore”.
McCoy added, “Our goal is to create a truly exceptional precinct that is beautiful, welcoming to all, with a variety of well designed indoor and outdoor public spaces that can be enjoyed at all times of the year.”
Central Barangaroo is being delivered under the massive Barangaroo foreshore redevelopment. Previously a disused shipping container terminal, the development seeks to radically transform the foreshore into a cultural, residential, business and civic hub.
According to Aqualand, the planning application for Central Barangaroo is expected to be placed on public exhibition by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment shortly.
Central Barangaroo developments are due to be completed after the opening of the Barangaroo Sydney Metro station, scheduled to open in 2024. More