Architecture

Darwin’s Larrakia Cultural Centre is taking shape, with local Northern Territory firms Rossi Architecture and Susan Dugdale and Associates unveiling their design for the centre.
The architects said the building form will represent an ancestral bird flying over the land, protecting Country and its people.
“A bird-shaped roof hovers over the site with generous eaves providing deep shade,” they said in a statement. “Feather-like screens protect the walls and glazing from the harsh tropical sun while creating interesting shadow pattern and allowing natural breezes to flow through.”
A solar array will contribute to the bird form by creating a feathered texture from the aerial perspective.
The centre will be located on the Stokes Hill Wharf waterfront, adjacent to a sacred site of the Larrakia people, the traditional owners of Darwin and surrounds. A long-held ambition of the Indigenous-led Larrakia Development Corporation, the centre is intended to showcase Larrakia culture and history, and enable Larrakia people to continue caring for the land and sea.

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Larrakia Cultural Centre by Rossi Architecture, Susan Dugdale and Associates and the Larrakia Working Group.

At its heart will be an exhibition space featuring interactive displays and housing artifacts repatriated from museums across the country and the globe. The centre will be both a museum and art gallery, and will also incorporate classrooms to be used for language and culture classes for the Larrakia and the visiting public. There will also be a specialized Larrakia restaurant, retail spaces and leasable office space.
The building form will be broken down into a northern and southern wing, with a central double-height breezeway strengthening the experience between sacred site and the sea.
The all-important landscape design features the three main habitat types found within Larrakia Country: monsoon rainforest and waterfall, savannah and coastal. Each of the habitats will incorporate educational play spaces, with mist sprays, salt and freshwater ponds and a waterfall providing cooling play elements and natural water for cultural maintenance and ceremony.
Rossi Architecture and Susan Dugdale and Associates were announced as the architects of the centre in February. They are working alongside the Larrakia Working Group, which is made up of members of the Larrakia community, including Mark Motlop, Bill Risk, June Mills, Helen Secretary, Kelvin Costello, Chrissy Jenner, Joe Raymond and Nadine Lee. Larrakia artists will also be engaged, and their art and designs will become part of the fabric of the building and landscape.
GHD developed the functional brief for the centre with input from the GHD Woodhead architectural team.
Larrakia Development Corporation said in a statement that the detailed design had reached the 30 percent completion milestone, and that it should reach completion over the second half of the year. More

The fifth and final stage of the redevelopment of the Kardinia Park oval redevelopment in Geelong is set to get underway once the AFL season ends in September. Replacing the aging Gary Ablett Terrace and the Ford Stand, the final stage will see the development of a 14,000-capacity, two-tier northern stand that will increase the […] More

A proposed commercial building in Sydney’s Alexandria will be an interconnected “place of gathering,” according to its architect. Designed by Hassell, the four-storey development at 22 O’Riordan Street is being touted as a “walk up workplace” where tenants can reach their offices without the use of a lift. The building’s form is strategically stepped to […] More

You would have heard about greenhouse gases and discussions on how to reduce the amount of carbon that we produce as a species. But what does it all mean, and why are we only focusing on carbon dioxide?
What is carbon dioxide?
Activities such as energy provision, transport, manufacturing, construction, farming, and more generate and emit carbon into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases absorb infrared heat from the sun and trap that heat within the atmosphere. The more carbon emitted, the higher the temperature gets. Further, the sea absorbs carbon and turns it into carbonic acidic which will ultimately kill off marine life.
As the human population continues to grow, so does the amount of carbon generated, so what can we do?
How concerns around carbon emissions impacts building product manufacturers
Worldwide, building and construction is responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions. This includes construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings, as well as the production of materials.
Since the start of the industrial revolution, when mass manufacturing began, carbon emissions in the atmosphere have rocketed from a manageable five billion tonnes of CO2 per year to almost 40 billion tonnes per year. This number is currently increasing year on year.
Given the manufacturing of traditional steel, concrete and aluminium produce high levels of carbon dioxide, cutting these levels is a priority in Australia construction.
In NSW, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment are working with the building industry to encourage the voluntary use of low emission building materials after setting the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
This means that outside of your moral obligations as a manufacturer, your clients will now be demanding details of your sustainable measures.
The benefits of environmental sustainability for building product manufacturers
There are many opportunities for manufacturers willing to embrace development. Here are a few examples:
1) Gain more specifications
Specifiers’ and contractors’ demand for sustainably sourced and efficient products is on the rise. Eventually, it will become a mandatory requirement, not just a ‘nice-to-have’ feature.
As a manufacturer, embracing this opportunity and making changes will present an edge over your competition. This could be as simple as being open about your own energy use, for example, mapping out how you consume energy and identifying where you minimise use, or going deeper and looking into more sustainably sourced materials.
NBS Australia is on a mission to help both the specifier and the manufacturer make more sustainable decisions. For manufacturers, NBS Source can help you to list sustainability credentials within your product data and make that visible in a uniform way to the specifier through NBS Chorus.
2) Reduce operational costs
From focusing on your buildings’ passive measures (how a building can naturally reduce energy consumption) to switching to low-energy-consuming appliances and systems, you can lower your annual operational spend whilst increasing your sustainable credentials. LED lighting, better insulation, renewable energy – there are an abundance of easy wins that you can make.
You could go one step further and look at your fleet. There are numerous incentives available for switching cars to low or zero-emission vehicles. Calculating your embodied carbon from transport and energy use is a pretty straightforward thing to do, and from there it is easy to identify where the hotspots are, and where you can make the most impact with any planned changes.
3) Increased marketing activity
When you have mapped out your changes (or if you have already adopted measures), you can market the fact that you are doing so. Being seen to be making these changes by clients can help to boost your brand awareness and make you more desirable as a prospect.
Through integrated marketing campaigns, you can get this positive message out there: either indirectly promoting your products or giving you a new angle to get your products in front of specifiers.
4) Product innovation
Through the introduction of new products (or by reviewing existing ones) – making small or even large changes to how a product is manufactured and performs – can be a huge benefit if considered sustainably.
Low energy consumption is at the forefront of net zero building design, but there are also factors like water consumption to consider. Can efficiencies be made in production to reduce energy and waste? Can materials be sourced more locally and ethically? Simple things like using recycled material can help. The result will be a better, more specifiable products and (again) lead to better marketing opportunities.
5) Third-party certification
Nothing demonstrates a manufacturer’s desire to be best in class more than allowing their products to be independently certified. Any performance or manufacturing claims can then be better trusted by specifiers if a third party has accredited those claims through independent testing.
When designing with safety in mind, third-party certification is a must. Sustainability is going the same way. Providing certificates relating to your products helps specifiers make decisions. Crucially though, you need to present these alongside your product data and listings to make them as easily accessible as possible. NBS Source provides a uniform process for manufacturers to do this.
Getting your sustainable building products specified
Now is the time to make positive changes to the way you work, and the way your products and brand are perceived in the industry. With small steps and a clear roadmap, you can make big improvements, not only to your profit potential but also to the environment.
For further information, head here. More

The Victorian government has unveiled updated designs for Ardern Station in North Melbourne, part of the Metro Tunnel station project, collaboratively designed by Hassell, Weston Williamson and Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. Updates to the design included in the new Development Plan contain the provision of a series of public grassed areas interspersed with tree […] More

A $172 million mixed-use precinct has been proposed for Castle Hill in Sydney’s north west. The four-tower development designed by Turner will be situated across the road from the recently completed Hill Showgrounds Metro Station. The development will include four residential towers of up to 20 storeys containing 431 units, including 22 affordable units. The […] More

In Sydney’s prosperous post-war years, the city’s head architect, Albert Smillie, and its first head landscape architect, Ilmar Berzins, oversaw a plethora of transformative public projects, including libraries, welfare centres, pools, gardens and parks.
Many of these projects remain a pivotal part of public Sydney, while some, including the Sulman Medal winning Florence Bartley Library in Kings Cross, are no longer.
Now, the City of Sydney’s resident architect councillor Philip Thalis is calling for a renewed recognition of the contribution of these little-known designers, and, at his behest, the council has committed to a heritage study of their projects.
Albert Smillie joined the Sydney Municipal Council as an architectural draftsman in 1924, becoming chief architect in 1949 and principal architect from 1953 to 1969.
Thalis, the author of the recently published work Public Sydney, told council that while the period under Smillie might not have been as distinguished or prolific as those of early twentieth century government architects Robert Brodrick or George McRae, there are nonetheless many works from this period that deserve recognition.
“There are many buildings that we take for granted from this period… it would be worth us understanding their value when we modify or demolish them, or in fact refurbish them,” he said.

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The Arthur McElhone Reserve by Ilmar Berzins, 1964. Image:

City of Sydney archives

Projects completed under Smillie include sports facilities such as Victoria Park Pool, welfare centres, kindergartens, baby health centres, council housing in Pyrmont and Glebe and libraries including Anthony Doherty in Surry Hills and Catherine Sloss in Woolloomooloo. The Florence Bartley Library, demolished in 1997, was the best of the buildings according to Thalis, who described it as a “very beautiful, very calm civic building.” He says there is a risk that other significant public works by Smillie and the landscape architect Ilmar Berzins could be lost if they are not identified.
Berzins was employed the first qualified landscape architect to be employed in local government in Australia and is often credited as the first landscape architect to work in the Sydney, having received his qualification in Germany.
He was employed by the city in 1951 and became director of parks and gardens in 1984. His projects include the Arthur McElhone Reserve in Elizabeth Bay, Sandringham Gardens in Hyde Park, Chessboard Garden in Hyde Park and others which have been demolished, such as Fragrance Garden in Cook and Phillip Park.
At an extraordinary council meeting on 9 August, councillors unanimously passed Thalis’s motion noting the importance of Smillie and Berzins, and requested the city CEO to investigate the commissioning of a heritage study of projects completed under their purview.
Thalis noted that public design from the mid-century period is often maligned and could be at risk of demolition.
“We need to have an understanding of our own repository of good modern design from the post-war period,” he said. “Our aspirations have changed, and perhaps enlarged, since the more municipal works of that time but nonetheless we should stand on the shoulders of our forebears rather than kicking them out of the way.” More