Architecture

Newcastle firm Derive Architecture and Design has drawn up plans for a tourist destination and outdoor amphitheatre in the New South Wales wine region of the Hunter Valley.
The $107 million proposal calls for a 100-bed hotel, specialist food and beverage offerings, multiple cellar doors, a wine museum and a 22,000-person concert venue.
It would sit on a 105-acre site in Pokolbin on the corner of Broke and McDonalds roads, adjacent to the Roche Estate food and beverage precinct and next to the Hope Estate winery.
The developer behind the project is the newly formed Cedar Mill Group, a subsidiary of Winarch Capital, which is also behind the $235 million redevelopment of Morisset Golf Course. That development will include a 30,000-person concert venue and “Australia’s largest aquatic play park.”
Cedar Mill says the Pokolbin venue will be capable of hosting events, conferences and functions, and will attract tourists seeking “high-end visitor experiences.”
The site will play host to “local growers and operators providing boutique goods and dining experiences inspired by the local agricultural heritage and, of course, winemaking, distilling and brewing.”

View gallery

Cedar Mill Hunter Valley by Derive Architecture and Design.

The developer is proecting the project will bring 68,045 additional visitors to the region each year. Cedar Mill Group general manager Kyle McKendry said Pokolbin was the only remaining premium development site in the Hunter Valley wine region.
“It is 105 acres right in the centre of Hunter Valley wine country and had been held by the previous owners for over 30 years,” he said.
“Cedar Mill Hunter Valley and Cedar Mill Lake Macquarie are purpose-built, the first in Australia on this scale. Our aim is to provide an unparalleled visitor experience in the heart of the region, offering a gateway for tourists to connect with everything that makes the Hunter Valley a world-class visitor destination and event hub.”
Development plans for Cedar Mill Hunter Valley will be lodged in the coming months and the developer expects it will be open by 2023. More

The transformation of the world’s oldest surf club is a step closer to fruition now the development application has been submitted to council. Lockhart-Krause Architects’ design for the restoration and redevelopment of the historic Bondi Surf Life Saving Club was first revealed to the community in August 2020. The architect has since been working with […] More

Overlooking Victoria Park in Herston, Brisbane, the recently completed Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service building by Hassell avoids the sterile, clinical environments often associated with healthcare environments, instead offering a welcoming setting immersed in the natural environment.
It’s the first building to be completed as part of the wider redevelopment of Herston Quarter – an expansive health and wellbeing precinct masterplanned and designed by Hassell.
The nine-storey 35,000-sqaure-metre building, delivered as a public-private partnership for clients Australian Unity with Metro North Hospital and Health Service, delivers 182 patient beds, 100 specialist rehabilitation beds and 56 surgical inpatient beds.

View gallery

Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service facility by Hassell. Image:

Scott Burrows

Project leader Kevin Lloyd explained that the masterplan for the precinct responds to existing heritage buildings at the core of the site, including the Robin Smith Dods-designed Lady Lamington Nurses’ Home, constructed over three stages between 1896 and 1931, the late Victorian-era Lady Norman building, the 1920s Edith Cavell building and, and the Spanish Mission-style Lady Lamington towers, constructed between 1936 and 1939.
“We had this collection of really lovely building that were all underutilized and our thinking was about how we could bring life back into the heart of the campus, by activating the heritage core and bringing new users into the site,” said Lloyd.

View gallery

Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service facility by Hassell. Image:

Scott Burrows

Around the edges of the site, the masterplan calls for a series of new buildings. The STARS building sits on the south-eastern corner, addressing Herston Road and mediating between the street level and the upper-level heritage core, a level change of around 25 metres.
A series of subtle level changes and pedestrian throughfares running through the building offer direct access to landscaped outdoor areas and form connections to the heritage buildings and future buildings planned to the west of STARS. Sitting between the STARS building and the future buildings, a staircase integrated with the landscape, known as the Spanish Steps, will lead from street level to the heritage core.
“It’s a kind of transitional movement, where you move through the landscape up towards the higher points,” said Lloyd. “The stair connection is in line with Herston Station, so you can come out of that station and go directly into the STARS building off Herston Road, or you can continue up the staircase and it takes you either into the Heritage core, or you can move into a transitional level that heads into the main body of the hospital.”
High traffic areas such as outpatient clinics and the day surgery are located on the building’s lower levels for ease of mobility, while inpatient areas are on higher floors with direct access to the landscaped outdoor decks.

View gallery

Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service facility by Hassell. Image:

Scott Burrows

Therapy gyms and recovery areas are integrated with the 100 rehabilitation beds and positioned along the Herston Road facade to maximize views and light and support patients through their rehabilitation.
As well as connecting to the heritage buildings through subtle spatial planning, the STARS building references design features of the historic buildings in its built form.
“The expression of the base of the elevation relates back to some of the modelling within the Lamington Tower buildings,” said Lloyd. “It’s obviously a new building but there’s a reference back to the past.”
A landscape courtyard sits at the heart of the STARS building and every part of building has been designed to have some connection to landscape.
“As you move around the edge of the building you’re constantly referencing back to the landscape,” said Lloyd “When you’re within the building, you can orientate yourself by your position and your relationship back to the courtyard.”
“That feeds into the psychological effects of connecting with landscape and the importance of that connection to patients’ recuperation. That whole thinking process is really, really important and that’s going to be present not just in the STARS building, but all future aspects of the masterplan.”
The $340 million STARS facility opened to patients in March. More

Detailed designs of Hope Island train station on the Gold Coast have been released for public comment. The station is one of three planned on the Gold Coast as part of the Cross River Rail project, all designed by architecture firm GHD Woodhead with its parent engineering company, GHD. The Hope Island station was previously […] More

Sydney firm Brewster Hjorth will lead the detailed design for the new $20 million home for the Orange Regional Conservatorium, the local council has announced. The proposed facility will include a 250-seat auditorium (with capacity built in for an additional 48 seats or additional stage), a 74-seat planetarium auditorium, 40 practice studios and rehearsal spaces […] More

A new survey of clients of architecture firms released by the Australian Institute of Architects reveals what clients look for in an architect.
The Stronger Insights for Stronger Practices – 2021 Client Feedback Report is a collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects, and follows a similar report released in the UK in 2016.
Institute CEO Julia Cambage said the report would provide architects with a valuable resource, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively impact practice.
“Growth comes from the ability to foster a culture of continual improvement; however, practices are reporting hesitancy from clients in providing robust feedback within a one-on-one setting,” she said. “By facilitating this body of work on behalf of the profession we are able to bypass this concern.”
Among the findings of the survey were that three-quarters of clients think architectural services represent good value, and 61 percent of clients believed that a fixed price agreement was the preferred form of fee structure.
Effective communication was the most sought-after quality in an architecture firm, with almost 80 percent of respondents calling communication “extremely important.”
Next on the list of desirable attributes, extremely important to around 70 percent of clients, was the ability to “respond well to my needs, anticipate well, and pre-empt problems well (including outside of their immediate brief and scope).”
Also highly valued were architects that were “strong team players” with effective budget, program and risk management skills, who are “innovative and bring new ideas to the table.”
Sixty percent of survey respondents said that they expect, and value architects that act ethically and challenge them if a project’s objectives are not maintained.
The survey also asked about factors influencing a client’s decision to invest in sustainable design. Affordability and operational efficiency were found to be the most important factors, with reputation benefits, PR opportunities and alignment with company philosophy seen as less important.
“The framework and questions within the report could also be used as a guide for practices who would like to do a deeper dive on key areas with their own client database,” said Cambage. “It is pleasing to see such positive feedback about the profession identified within this report. The report identifies opportunities for business development improvement, new service provision and for the first time data which can be used by architectural practices to help ensure sustainable design becomes built form.”
Find the report here. More

Guymer Bailey Architects has been appointed to lead the detailed design of a major upgrade of forensic mental health services at the Thomas Embling Hospital in Melbourne’s Fairfield. The $349.6 million expansion will deliver a dedicated 34-bed women’s precinct, a 48-bed medium security men’s facility and clinical administration facilities. The Victorian Health Building Authority said […] More

Blackened timber salvaged from the Black Summer bushfires will be used in the third Summer Place architecture pavilion in Albury on the New South Wales-Victoria border, which will be designed, for the first time, by a local practice.
To be built on Wiradjuri Country, the pavilion by Akimbo Architecture, titled See the Forest, will “bridge the divide” between QEII Square in the centre of Albury and the surrounding river landscape.
Akimbo Architecture director Carly Martin said the blackened timber design will reflect on the significance of the Murray River and specifically the riverside trees and the shade they provide.
“Along the river, trees may be anywhere up to 1,000 years old, linking an ancient Indigenous landscape to the present,” she said.
“These mighty trees have given wood for campfires, bark to craft canoes, and burls and roots for shaping water vessels.”
The blackened timber slabs on the exterior the pavilion will be sourced from firegrounds near Corryong, 120 kilometres east of Albury-Wodonga. They will be positioned vertically, “maintaining their connection to the forest from which they came.”

View gallery

See the Forest, the 2021 Summer Place pavilion by Akimbo Architecture.

They will be supported by a steel structure recycled from the previous Summer Place pavilion, designed by Chrofi.
“The black curved form is sited askew to the orthogonal geometry of QEII, disrupting and creating a point of gravity within the space,” Martin said.
“The dynamic yet enigmatic exterior rewards curiosity, and as the viewer approaches the warm tones of the vertical timber slabs are revealed.
“Within the pavilion, each timber slab is unique, inviting close examination of these natural artworks. For a moment, the viewer is transported away from QEII, and the only experiences are that of the tall ‘forest’ of timbers – the smell and the touch.”
The pavilion aims to create discussions around the local environment, sustainability and the “meaning of summer” in the region.
Martin founded Akimbo Architecture in Albury in 2019, having worked over the previous decade at Casey Brown Architecture in Sydney. She is one of five winners of the 2021 Australian Institute of Architects’ Dulux Study Tour.
The Summer Place pavilion series is organized by the City of Albury. The inaugural pavilion was designed by Raffaello Rosselli Architect in 2018. More