Architecture

Three shortlisted designs have been unveiled for the bicycle ramp at the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s northern end, with the state government inviting feedback.
Each of the designs is for a linear ramp, since a public vote supported the linear option over a looped design.
The selected design teams include architecture and landscape architecture firms, along with Indigenous design consultants and engineers. They are:

Aspect Studios, with Collins and Turner Architects, Yerrabingin, Eckersley O’Callaghan Engineers, JMT Consulting and Design 5 Architects
Realm Studios, with Djinjama, Aileen Sage, Lucas Stapleton Johnson, Dr. Mike Harris, PMI Engineers and Nick Schliepe
Civille, with Ney and Partners, HNS Landscape Architects, Djinjama and Sue Rosen Associates.

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The Sydney Harbour cycleway by Aspect Studios, with Collins and Turner Architects, Yerrabingin, Eckersley O’Callaghan Engineers, JMT Consulting and Design 5 Architects.

The Aspect Studios-led proposal strives for the “lightest touch… with a form that dissolves into air whilst leaving the much loved park largely untouched.” Whereas the other two designs jut out from the bridge over Bradfield Park, Aspect’s design hugs the alignment of the viaduct, “such that infrastructure and movement are combined in a more simple, complementary and intuitive manner leaving the park open and uncluttered.”

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The Sydney Harbour cycleway by Realm Studios, with Djinjama, Aileen Sage, Lucas Stapleton Johnson, Dr. Mike Harris, PMI Engineers and Nick Schliepe.

The Realm Studios proposal also aims to touch the earth as lightly as it can, and deviates from the alignment of the reference design, which ran directly through Bradfield Park. “Our alignment swings further towards Alfred Street, opening up a much larger space between the Bridge and the Cycleway – that illuminated gap between Mother and Child,” the design report reads. “Our steel structural solution allows us to support the cycleway on a series of ultra-fine steel columns, that start from a single discrete point, and spread up to hold the Cycleway.”

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The Sydney Harbour cycleway by Civille, with Ney and Partners, H+N+S Landscape Architects, Djinjama and Sue Rosen Associates.

The Civille design also swings out towards Alfred Steet, creating maximum breathing space between Milsons Point Station and the ramp. The design takes inspiration from the Nawi(bark canoes) once used for crossing the harbour in terms of colour and form and is clearly differentiated from the design aesthetic of the bridge. “Its form speaks to the language and structure of Bradfield Park and its radial organisation,” state the design team. “The mass of the existing Sydney Harbour Bridge concrete wall is counter-balanced by a light and metallic cycle ramp structure.”
The Transport for NSW project is intended to make it easier for cyclists who currently have to carry their bikes up or down 55 steps at Bradfield Park. North Sydney Council has previously lambasted the proposal as “an assault” on open space in the area. Feedback on the proposals is open until 16 January 2022. More

Woods Bagot has produced new designs for the redevelopment of the now-heritage listed Indiana Teahouse at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach. Built in the mid-1990s in a mock colonial style, but based on the Centenary Pavilion, which occupied the site from 1929 to 1983, the building has become a famous feature of the Perth beach, sometimes mistaken […] More

A 42-storey tower designed by Bates Smart is the latest building proposed for Sydney’s “Tech Central” precinct by Central Station.
To be located at the intersection of George, Pitt and Lee streets, the office tower will cantilever over the former Parcel Post Office heritage building and sit next to the now-approved Atlassian tower designed by Shop Architects and BVN, as well as the proposed Central Place Sydney designed by Fender Katsalidis, SOM and Aspect Studios
The tower, referred to as Toga Central, is being proposed by Sydney developer Toga. The developer says the building will cater to the “rapidly growing tech community at the southern end of Sydney’s CBD.”
Bates Smart’s design for the building, selected via a design competition, seeks to celebrate the heritage post office building while adding a slim, contemporary tower to the Sydney skyline. The heritage building will be refurbished, uncovering its original internal proportions, and will be occupied by restaurants, retail, co-working, conference and business club facilities, as well as a rooftop terrace bar. The existing plaza will also be spruced up, enhancing pedestrian connections from Central Station through to Railway Square and UTS.

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Toga Central by Bates Smart.

Office space will fill the top 21-storeys of the tower, with each floor designed with highly flexible layout options.
Allan Vidor, Toga Group managing director, said, “Bates Smart’s winning design pays respect to the heritage of the site while also creating a vibrant new food and beverage precinct that will anchor the precinct and create a world-class destination and connect Surry Hills across Central Station. The new public plaza and tower will become a welcoming destination for people to work, shop, socialise and enjoy.”
Toga says it plans to submit a development application for the project in mid-2022. More

The first MPavilion to be erected in Queen Victoria Gardens since the onset of the pandemic opened on 2 December. Designed by Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel of Venice practice Map Studio, the installation dubbed “The Lightcatcher” is less a shelter and more of an “urban lighthouse,” featuring angled mirrored panels that reflect the surrounding […] More

The best of Australia’s early career designers have been recognized at the presentation of the Vivid Design Awards on 26 November.
The awards program is Australia’s longest running competition for emerging designers, and has unearthed talents such as Adam Markowitz and Lab De Stu.
“2021 set a higher standard than ever before, and many of the finalists and winners are already on the path to long and successful careers,” said Vivid curator Daniel Dalla Riva of Latitude Group.
The Judge’s Dhoice Award went to Dean Norton for a range of entries, including the Float coffee tables. Made entirely from glass, the tables explore transparency, texture and light.

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Float Collection by Dean Norton.

“I loved how well resolved Dean’s work was, and how it had a consistent language across all the pieces,” said Cassie Hansen, Vivid judge and editor of Artichoke magazine. “I can see a bright future for this designer and can’t wait to feature him in the pages of Artichoke soon.”
Winners were also named across categories of furniture, light, object and concepts, as well as for the Colour Award, and Authentic Design Alliance Award of Merit.
Joining Hansen on the jury were: Anne-Maree Sergeant (Authentic Design Alliance), Dalila Yorke (Showroom by Bowens), Rachel Oakley (Laminex), Andrea Lucena-Orr (Dulux), Bernadette Wilson (Design Institute of Australia), Edward Linacre (Copper Design), Georgia Danos (James Richardson Furniture), Adam Markowitz (Markowitz Design) and Filip Bjazevic (Latitude Group).
The winners are:
2021 Vivid Judges Choice Award
Dean Norton
Furniture Design Award
Arc Bench – Samuel Burns
Object Design Award and Colour Award
Optic Candelabra – Isaac Pelchen
Concept Design Award
Poly Chair – Julia Quirk
Light Design Award
Onu Floor Light – Samuel Burns
2021 Authentic Design Alliance (ADA) Award of Merit
Arc Bench – Samuel BurnsOn Hold Wall Hook – Zachary Hanna
The 2021 Vivid Design Awards were presented at Showroom by Bowens, and is supported by Artichoke magazine, Dulux, Design Institute of Australia (DIA), Authentic Design Alliance (ADA) and Houzz, as well as principal partner Laminex.
Winners’ and finalists’ designs are on display until 6 December. More

Australian projects are among the category winners of the 2021 Inside World Festival of Interiors Awards. Smart Design Studio’s own office in Sydney’s Alexandria was named winner of the Workplace (small) category while in the Workplace (large) catetory, CBA Axle South Eveleigh by Woods Bagot was highly commended. Bates Smart’s Gandel Wing at Melbourne’s Cabrini […] More

The central building in the Waterloo Metro Quarter development has been approved, despite objections that the developer has watered down its commitment to providing affordable housing. Designed by Hassell and Aileen Sage Architects, with Aspect Studios as landscape architect, the 23-storey Central Precinct tower is one of four major buildings proposed as part of the […] More

Local Adelaide practices Thomson Rossi and Brown Falconer have designed a new $84.4 million high school for the city’s north-east. Morialta Secondary College will be built on the site of the soon-to-be vacated Norwood Morialta High School Middle Campus, whose aging buildings will be demolished. It will be ready for a year 7 intake in […] More