Architecture

In August 2021 Vola launched the RS11 hands-free sanitizer and soap dispenser for commercial spaces. The classic cylinder makes its debut in reception spaces around the world.
The offer of hand sanitizer on arrival at offices, retail and hospitality venues is now a global norm. With the Vola RS11, this experience has been given a stylish new enhancement, featuring Vola’s distinctive aesthetic and discrete elegance.
The starting point for the design was a simple but challenging question, according to architect and designer Torben Madsen, who is also design manager at Link Arkitecktur. “The question we asked ourselves was how do you make a hand sanitizer as invitingly delicious as, say, a bunch of delicately fragrant roses or a crisp bouquet of tulips?”
The RS11 is available in three configurations – freestanding, wall-mounted and table-mounted – to suit any environment, including reception areas, offices and bathrooms. It is adaptable for dispensing hand sanitizer gel and foam soap, and each configuration uses the same sized, well-proportioned cylinder with a one-litre capacity. In line with the Vola design philosophy, all mechanisms are hidden, to give a seamlessly subtle design; wall fixtures are also discrete, to create the slimmest possible cylindrical form.
Explaining the mechanism itself, Torben Madsen points out: “We compressed Vola’s classic, cylindrical shape into as slim and light a design as possible. That allows the cylinder to contain the mechanism that dispenses the contents in atomized form. It also means that it can contain at least one litre, so it doesn’t have to be refilled as often.”
The reservoir references the Vola round-head shower and is designed with the same commitment to durability and continuity, and produced with the same high quality materials. It is easy to clean and refill, helping to prevent accidential damage, and the extruded aluminium cylinder, available in black or white, is resistant to finger marks.
Each configuration of the RS11 is available in the full range of 27 Vola colours, including the eight special finishes from the Exclusive Colour and is powered by four AAA rechargeable batteries. Parts are easy to replace if necessary as they are held in stock by Vola to ensure many years of use. More

Bates Smart’s expressionist design for an office tower in Sydney’s Green Square has been submitted for planning assessment.
Proposed for the intersection of Botany Road and O’Riordan Street, the 17-storey building will become a key focal point of the urban renewal area with its striking form offering a contemporary reinterpretation of the area’s industrial saw-tooth geometry.
The tower will sit atop a solid masonry base with arched openings, recalling the brick arches of industrial buildings. The building form will be split down the middle to create a covered north-south link between Transport Place and the Green Square Railway Station and a pocket park to the south. Retail tenancies and corner cafes will help to activate this link and the surrounding public domain.
Bates Smart describes in planning documents how a “naturally ventilated social heart” constructed of timber will sit between the two distinct workplace volumes, visually suspended above the through-site link.
For the facade of the tower proper, vertical and horizontal shading fins in striking red oxide again recall the area’s industrial past.

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Green Square office tower by Bates Smart.

“We have reinterpreted the masonry [of the old factory buildings] into a contemporary masonry material, GRC,” state the architects. “The glazing is protected from solar gain by a brise soleil of 600 mm horizontal and vertical members at 1.8m centres. Their regular repetition visually links to the utilitarian character of the industrial buildings, without resorting to mimicking the form and details.”
Landscaped roof terraces from level 10 to 16 will create biophilic connections to nature for the office workers. The project’s landscape architect Turf Design Studio notes that the proposed planting incorporates a strong cascading theme that will soften the top corner edges of the building.
“Flashes of red are incorporated to reflect the microclimatic condition of hotter drier conditions toward the top of the building,” the landscape architecture firm notes. “Grey green / glaucas foliage is also utilised to further reflect microclimatic conditions.”
Bates Smart won a City of Sydney Design Excellence competition for the project earlier in the year.

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A model of the Bates Smart’s Green Square office tower.

The practice’s director Philip Vivian noted at the time the potential of the project to become a landmark in a changing suburb.
“The city fringe location, alongside the connection to Green Square’s train station, provides a unique opportunity to create a fringe precinct that invigorates its context and sets the precedent for the workplace of the future,” he said.
Developed by Toga Group, the $141 million project will deliver 28,751 square metres of office and retail space, along with end-of-trip facilities. The development application is on public exhibit until 17 Septemebr. More

The Victorian Health Building Authority has released designs for a new $59.5 million day rehabilitation facility at Bendigo Hospital. Designed by Clarke Hopkins Clarke, the Bendigo Hospital Rehabilitation Centre will include a hydrotherapy pool and bring together outpatient rehabilitation, allied health, dental, mental health, renal dialysis, breast screening and diabetes education services. Bendigo Hospital Rehabilitation […] More

The Western Australian government has announced it will invest $875 million to create thousands of social housing homes across the state. The government will establish a new $750 million Social Housing Investment Fund which includes $228 million allocated to short-term projects and $522 million to deliver new homes in 2022-23. As well, the government plans […] More

i2C Architects has been appointed to design a two-level community hub in the Western Sydney suburb of Vineyard. Located on the corner of McGrath and Windsor roads, the hub will include a childcare centre, a community playground, a gym, a car park, two food and beverage outlets with an oversized alfresco area, and a range […] More

Townsville City Council has approved Conrad Gargett’s design for a new home for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the first stage of the wider Hive development.
To be built opposite the Reef HQ aquarium in central Townsville, the five-storey office building will have a gross floor area of 6,472 square metres and incorporate a mixture of office space, retail and service industries, with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority as the main tenant.
A shared pedestrian and vehicular laneway will also be constructed, providing access from The Strand through to Flinders Street.
Townsville deputy mayor Mark Molachino said the development would be a welcome addition to the eastern end of Flinders Street.

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Hive stage 1, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority office by Conrad Gargett.

“There’s no doubt that this end of Flinders Street has been ready for development for some time and I am delighted that this project is coming to fruition,” he said.
“Council’s planning team have undertaken a thorough assessment of the application and given it the green light, subject to a number of conditions covering issues such as landscaping, car parking and footpath upgrades.”
With masterplanning by Conrad Gargett, the Hive development is a multi-stage “placemaking” project covering around 18,000 square metres.
Future stages may include a concert hall and convention centre; renovation of the state heritage-listed Queen’s Hotel; a new hotel; residential apartments; office space; facilities for tertiary education, marine and tropical science research, tourism, and medical and allied health; and an Indigenous art gallery.
The developer behind the project, Gleeson Group, will tender for a builder for the project in the coming months, with construction expected to begin in mid-2022. More

Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art has lodged plans to build an exposed-sandstone tunnel running from the ferry drop-off point to the museum’s entry. Designed by Nonda Katsalidis Architects, the proposed tunnel follows the earlier subterranean Siloam expansion, which delivered a network of gallery spaces and chambers connected by tunnels. The museum is also […] More

The architecture industry is suffering from a “collective COVID hangover,” even as the effects of the pandemic and ongoing lockdowns continue to be felt, new research released by the Australian Institute of Architects reveals.
The survey of Institute members found that firms in all states and territories were largely in recovery mode after the initial shock of the pandemic, while there continued to be changes in the type of opportunities available to architects and a consolidation in remote working.
A similar survey undertaken in July 2020 revealed a substantial slowdown in projects as well as cutbacks in employment and wages. This year’s survey found that 55% of respondents had retained and grown their client base, while a further 7% had retained and sustained; 35% had lost and replaced their client base, with only 3% losing and not replacing clients.
There has been a significant shift in the type of project opportunities available to architects, however. One-off residential opportunities have increased, while there has been a marked decrease across some sectors, including commercial (–30%), multistorey residential (–29%), retail (–21%) and culture and entertainment (–21%).
The findings also underscore the importance of face-to-face contact with new clients. While only 10% of respondents reported that their relationships with existing clients had been negatively impacted by the shift to exclusively virtual interactions, 29% reported a negative impact on relationships with new clients. One respondent remarked, “Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting.”
The pandemic has had a lasting impact on practices’ remote working policies, with 36% reporting that they had now introduced a flexible approach to work, with time both in the office and working from home. This is on top of the 26% who already had a flexible work policy in place and in contrast to the 25% who expect their team to eventually return to full-time work in the office.
Views diverged on whether working from home impeded creativity, with one-third of respondents (33%) believing it did while the majority (60%) said creativity was unchanged.
An overwhelming number of respondents thought design outcomes were unaffected by remote working. On questions of communication, productivity and collaboration, the results were mixed, with respondents more or less evenly split on whether working from home has had a positive or negative impact.
Institute CEO Julia Cambage said the survey results were encouraging. “As we have learnt over the last year and a half, the world can change overnight,” she said. “While the pandemic continues to affect the operation of architectural practices around the nation, this survey shows that members are responding well with agility to changing market dynamics.”
Some of the key findings of the survey were:

76% of firms said their relationships with existing clients remained unchanged as a result of forced online networking and meetings.
The negative impact of solely connecting with clients online jumps from 10% with existing clients to 29% with new clients.
55% of respondents reported that they had retained and grown their client base, with only 3% losing and not replacing clients.
78% of respondents are now networking with clients through a new COVID-19 norm (a combination of online and face-to-face engagements), with 17% returning to face-to-face only and 5% remaining online only.
The percentage of practice participation among respondents has dropped across all sectors other than one-off residential projects.
The sectors where respondents identified the largest decrease in project opportunities over the last 1.5 years included commercial (30%), multistorey residential (29%), retail (21%) and culture and entertainment (21%).
27% of respondents said that they have explored new services to sell to clients over the last 1.5 years.
70% of practices reported that the change to remote working had not impacted design outcomes.
36% of practices surveyed now offer a flexible approach to work, with time both in the office and working from home.
As at July 2021, 48% of practices surveyed reported observing somewhat of a decline in mental health within their practice due to COVID-19.

The data within the report was collected in July 2021 and represents the views of more than 135 practices around the country that collectively employ approximately 4,700 architects. Download the report here. More