Architecture

Paving the way for sustainability in construction and design, Brickworks has achieved a new and important Climate Active Product Certification. An industry first and an immensely exciting feat for the Brickworks team, this opt-in program allows customers to specify and procure any clay brick or paver made in the Brickworks’ Australian facilities as a carbon neutral product.
Offering “in-built sustainability,” this initiative ensures that developers, designers, and builders can work alongside Brickworks to integrate sustainability and conscious construction into their projects. This initiative was made possible due to a comprehensive carbon audit, verified by environmental consultancy agency Energetics. To decipher the embodied energy of their products, Brickworks undertook a life cycle assessment (LCA), that has been built into Brickworks’ carbon calculator.
The process covers cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis, and within this service, the sourcing, manufacturing, delivery, and longevity of each product has been factored into the offset, ensuring an accurate and fair reading of carbon emissions. From here, Brickworks uses pre-purchased carbon credits to offset any footprint, allowing full design flexibility for consumers and designers.
Climate Active is a unique, government-backed program that enables businesses, governments, and consumers to reduce their carbon emissions. Brickworks have been working with Climate Active to examine the sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery of their products. Climate Active certifications are awarded to Australian businesses that have met rigorous requirements to achieve net zero emissions. This requires a business to certify their reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and further offset any remaining or additional emissions by purchasing carbon offsets.
Brett Ward, general manager of international marketing at Brickworks said of the new initiative, “Brickworks’ ethos is to create beautiful products that last forever. This philosophy is centred around the premise of sustainability and environmentally conscious design. Our Climate Active certification will ensure that our customers and construction partners can lower their carbon footprint in a seamless and straightforward way. This initiative is a first for Brickworks and for the construction industry in general.”
Sustainability is at the core of the Brickworks’ business, and alongside the Carbon Neutral Initiative, Brickworks have an array of sustainable practices that shape their operations. In 2020, Brickworks launched its new sustainability strategy, “Build of Living: Towards 2025.” The strategy sets a clear pathway with measurable commitments to ensure that Brickworks will continue to have a positive environmental and social impact. In terms of carbon neutrality, longevity is key. Backed by a 100-year guarantee, the durability of Brickworks’ products reduces embodied energy by minimizing the need to replace and repair products.
As a part of the Carbon Neutral initiative, Brickworks have partnered with three main organizations. The first is the Tasmanian Native Forest, which protects Tasmanian native forests from logging and agricultural clearing. The second initiative is the Paroo River North Environmental Project, which establishes permanent native forests through assistedregeneration. The third initiative is the Northern Savanna, which is aimed at reducing dry season wildfires. Headed by the Alka Bawar (Kalpowar) Aboriginal Corporation, this organization undertakes strategic burning, with the long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by large-scale bushfires.
Setting the tone for the future of sustainable building and a greener Australian skyline, Brickworks’ Carbon Offsetting program marks the movement towards a more consciously considered construction future, without compromising on quality and style. More

Dubbo Regional Council has awarded the design tender for the proposed Wiradjuri Tourism Centre to Peter Stutchbury Architecture. The centre will be a display and interpretation facility for sacred Aboriginal carved trees. The council sought expressions of interest from architects, who were asked to demonstrate previous experience in the construction of Indigenous cultural centres and/or […] More

The owners of Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s west have released a development plan for the transformation of the shopping centre and surrounding precinct over the next 30 years. Prepared by Urbis for the GPT Group, the Highpoint Urban Village plan seeks approval for a mixture of residential and commercial uses, community facilities, green open […] More

Woods Bagot has prepared a concept design for a 23-storey tower at 378-390 Pacific Highway in Sydney’s Crows Nest. The tower would neighbour the three-tower over-station development at Crows Nest Metro currently under construction, which is also designed by Woods Bagot as part of the Crows Nest Design Consortium. A planning proposal submitted to North […] More

Glenn Murcutt has become the first Australian to be named a Praemium Imperiale Laureate of architecture by the Japan Art Association.
The annual global prize recognizes individuals or groups from all over the world “that make outstanding contributions to the development, promotion and progress of the arts,” across five categories of painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theatre/film.
The selection committee described Murcutt as “an architect ahead of his time – an architect who has spent his career creating modest, environmentally responsible buildings rooted in the climate and tradition of his native Australia.”
“[Murcutt’s] architecture has a poetic beauty and lightness, in harmony with nature while at the same time, allowing the rationality of modernist architecture and ecological wisdom to shine through.”
“Murcutt uses simple materials such as local timber, corrugated steel, stone, glass and concrete and advocates an architecture based on a process of observation and discovery – one that utilizes and works with the characteristics of the land, light and materials.”

View gallery

Marie Short House (1974) by Glenn Murcutt. Image:

Anthony Browell

His citation notes his celebrated works including the Marie Short House (1974), the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre (1999), designed with architects, Wendy Lewin and Reginald Lark, and the Australian Islamic Centre (2016), designed in collaboration with Elevli Plus Architects.
In receiving his prize, Murcutt said:

For me architecture is not a creative process. I have always said for every great building, or any building that’s going to be a wonderful building, it is already there, but to be discovered. It is not created, it is discovered.
Discovery is very important to me. Discovery takes out the elitism. Discovery is something we can all do. That is very, very important to me.
I have eschewed the computer for discovery. I think the computer has taken away the rapidity of hand drawing and eye-hand thinking. One can discover so rapidly the alternatives. One doesn’t have to set up a whole set of parameters to arrive at a solution. That has to be consciously done. But with the pencil, you can arrive at a solution and not even know how it came. In other words, you arrive at a solution before the conscious can understand it. It is the subconscious that has led you to that solution, not the conscious.
The landscape is critical to me. I want to minimize the damage to that landscape. It’s very important to work with the landscape, not against it. So you work with things, not against them. You live with my buildings, not in my buildings, because my buildings live within the environment – bringing the light in, the sun, the wind, all those elements are all about environmental issues – that the buildings perform to a very great level by themselves, no air conditioning.
There’s been an Aboriginal expression that was given to me – the Aboriginal people said, we’ve touched the land lightly. Now, touching the land lightly isn’t a question of showing a building sitting lightly on the land, it’s about where the materials come from, it’s about how a building operates in that landscape, it’s about minimizing energy consumption, its about how it can be without all the artificial factors that make it comfortable. Touching the land lightly is not simply an expression that is without complexity.
I think the best of architecture has a presence. That presence embodies a strength and a delicacy and a quietness. I’m not interested in architecture that is loud, that speaks of showing off, I’m interested in architecture that is without novelty. I’m not interested in novelty, I just want it to be excellent.

Murcutt is the 32nd Praemium Imperiale architecture laureate. Past laureates include I.M. Pei, Kenzo Tange, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Zumthor and Zaha Hadid.
The other 2021 laureates are James Turrell for sculpture, Sebastião Salgado for painting, and Yo Yo Ma for music. No recipient was named for theatre/film as many of the candidates were unable to fulfil the requirements for the award due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More

Adelaide practice Studio Nine Architects and steel manufacturer Revolution Roofing have teamed up to bring to market a new wall cladding series, NINELINE. Born out of a mixture of curiosity and frustration, the series came out of a sports project Studio Nine was working on. “Sports architecture is typically clad in a single, cost effective, […] More

The WA government has unveiled the design of a second station along the proposed Morley-Ellenbrook Line in Perth’s north-east.
Woods Bagot is leading design for the project with architects Taylor Robinson Chaney Broderick and landscape architects TCL and UDLA, as part of the Melconnx Consortium led by Laing O’Rourke Australia.
The Morley-Ellenbrook Line is the most significant upgrade to the city’s transport infrastructure in more than a decade.
Five new stations and station precincts are planned at Morley, Noranda, Malaga, Whiteman Park and Ellenbrook. The project aims to address missing transport links in Perth’s north-eastern suburbs.
Malaga station, the second in the network to be unveiled, is designed to be “a station in a park,” drawing influences from the nearby Whiteman Park, Lightning Park and surrounding banksia bushlands. It will be the first building in a future town centre and will include shaded meeting points within an urban landscape setting and intuitive wayfinding. The station will also have open, verandah-style entrance.
“The overall architectural design, form, scale and presence of Malaga Station is unique to its location while still in keeping with the line wide narrative and design approach,” said Woods Bagot’s Perth studio chair Kukame McPierzie.
“The station architecture expresses a clear hierarchy of forms. The main triangulated roof is reminiscent of the local banksia bushland leaves, with a simple hipped geometry that ‘floats’ above the station, providing natural light and cross ventilation.”

View gallery

Ellenbrook station design by Woods Bagot, Taylor Robinson Chaney Broderick, TCL and UDLA.

Earlier in July the government released the design of Ellenbrook station, which draws inspiration from the colours and patterns of the Swan Coastal Plain, including the local sunsets, soil, bush and waterways. The station will include a kiosk, public restrooms, universal access, a bush exchange, bike shelters and parking for 500 cars.
“We’re committed to using exceptional, integrated design work to create a passenger-centered experience with access to amenity that people enjoy — green space, clear routes to platforms and an easy journey in and out,” McPierzie continued.
“Railway stations are important civic places. These will be distinctive, safe and inviting settings for the gathering and movement of people. Our team will create precincts that are sensitive to the local culture and environment—commuters will be able to find their way easily and enjoy being in the space.” More

Two towers of 30 and 21 storeys designed by Fender Katsalidis have been approved for Melbounre’s inner-city suburb of South Yarra. Described as “the largest build-to-rent development ever to receive a permit in Australia,” the $500 million project will deliver 625 units and 2,400 square metres of office and retail space. The larger tower on […] More