Architecture

The adult and children’s hospitals at the Westmead Health Precinct in western Sydney are connected for the first time with the stage one completion of a more than $1 billion transformation.
HDR is the architect of the completed stage one project, having provided design work from the masterplanning stages and designing concept plans (then as HDR Rice Daubney) with MSJ Architects in 2015.
An overall masterplan for the Westmead Hospital Precinct was prepared by MAAP.
The centrepiece of the project is a new 14-storey Central Acute Services Building, which physically links the children’s and adult hospitals. It is designed to provide timely access to “world-class” clinical services and advanced research and development, with a theatre floor with advanced interventional and MRI capabilities shared between the adult and children’s services.

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Westmead Health Precinct state one development by HDR. Image:

Brett Boardman

HDR national director of health Ronald Hicks said the project was a demonstation of the transformative effect architecture can have in health care contexts.
“When it was conceived 10 years ago, the level of integration we proposed was ahead of its time, almost unfathomable for stakeholders, but they supported the vision and the outcome has been incredibly positive.”
Along with the integration between the exiting hospitals, the acute services building also integrates research and education with health care provision.

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Westmead Health Precinct state one development by HDR. Image:

Brett Boardman

It includes education, training and research facilities on each floor as well as dedicated floors for the University of Sydney. There are also two new emergency departments (one for adults, one for children); 25 digital operating theatres; expanded imaging; pharmacy and logistics; more than 300 patient rooms and dedicated carer zones.
HDR said the design had a pronounced focus on wellbeing with natural light brought into the hospital and views extendng to the Sydney CBD.
Also completed is the six-level innovation centre, which is designed to support education and development of the latest clinical technologies and research and has the capacity for future development of biomedical services.
It includes an exhibition space, large meeting environments, social spaces and a flexible work environment on the top floor.

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Westmead Health Precinct state one development by HDR. Image:

Brett Boardman

HDR director Alan Boswell said the projet “develops a significant identity for Westmead Hospital as a pre-eminent teaching hospital at the cutting edge of science and technology. It has reinvigorated the urban fabric of the precinct, and it has re-engaged the community through good quality public space and connections.” More

A design competition will be held in 2021 to find the architect for the redevelopment of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney’s Ultimo, with between $480 and $500 million to be allocated to the project in the NSW budget.
The state’s arts minister Don Harwin and Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences CEO Lisa Havila made the announcement today, telling media that along with the $1.1 billion committed to Powerhouse Parramatta the spending represented the largest cultural infrastructure investment in the state since the Sydney Opera House was built.
The Ultimo museum had been earmarked for closure, before the state government backflipped on its decision to sell the site, to fund its relocation to Parramatta, and announced it would be retained in July 2020.
The redevelopment will deliver renewed and expanded exhibition and public space, connecting the museum to the city by re-orienting it to the Goods Line and connecting to adjacent precincts.
The renewed museum will focus on design and fashion, showing off the museum’s significant collections and hosting exclusive international exhibitions and programs, while the Parramatta museum will focus on science and technology.
The development of a “creative industries precinct” will also deliver subsidized studio and workspaces at Ultimo for creative industries, while “more than 5,000 regional and remote students from across NSW will further their design and fashion education through immersive experiences at The Academy, which will provide residential accommodation within the museum precinct.”
The $480-500 million in the budget will cover the cost of the design competition and approval processes.
“When the Ultimo project is finished we will not only have a new museum but a great new day and night precinct that will continue the activation of the Southern CBD,” said Harwin, Arts Hub reports. “This area is focused on technology and design but it will also keep a nod to the past.”
Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah said, “The renewal of our institution will deliver two world-class museums – with a design and fashion focus at Powerhouse Ultimo and our flagship museum focused on science and technology museum, Powerhouse Parramatta.
“This visionary investment will see the expansion of our exhibition spaces as well as renewal of our historic exhibition spaces. We will create a vibrant public square beside the Goods Line, and creative industries workspaces that will become home for Australian designers.”
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will hand down the budget on 22 June.
The budget is also expected to include more than $1 billion for the development of the Aerotropolis, now known as Bradfield, around Western Sydney Airport. More

Six people have been recognized for services to architecture in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Among them are Charles Justin, founding director of both Plus Architecture and SJB Architects; Epaminondas (Nonda) Katsalidis, founding partner of Fender Katsalidis; Lolita Mohyla, architect, lawyer and author; Shelley Penn, architect, academic and government advisor; Dominic Charles Richards, architect, educator and LGBTQI activist; and Roger William Poole, former director and chairman of Bates Smart.
Charles Justin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the museums sector, arts administration and architecture. He was a founding director of Plus Architecture (1997) and SJB Architects (1980s) and has been the planning and project advisor for the Caulfield Hebrew Congregation since 2013. He is a life fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and was president of the Institute’s Victorian chapter from 1986 to 1988. He was president of the Jewish Museum of Australia from 2004 to 2009 and is the founder and director of the Justin Art House Museum.

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Nonda Katsalidis.

Nonda Katsalidis also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, for significant service to architecture and sustainable construction innovations. He was the co-founding partner of Nation Fender Katsalidis , (1996-2001) and, later, Fender Katsalidis (since 2001). His citation notes that his is a “leader in the integration of art into architecture” with notable buildings including the Melbourne Terrace Apartment, Republic Tower and Eureka Tower.
Lolita Mohyla was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant services to architecture and construction law. She is the author of Construction in Australia: Law and Project Delivery (1996) and has been senior counsellor for the Australian Institute of Architects’ South Australian chapter since 2002. She is also a commissioner for the Environment, Resources and Development Court of South Australia and is managing partner of Mohyla Architects Interior Designers.

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Shelley Penn.

Shelley Penn was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for architecture and design in the public realm, and to professional institutes. She is an associate professor in architecture at the Melbourne School of Design and has been the principal architect and owner of Shelley Penn Architect since 1993. She was president of the Australian Institute of Architects from 2012 to 2013, associate Victorian government architect from 2006-2010 and has sat on numerous government advisory boards in Victoria, NSW and the ACT.
Elsewhere in the honours, Dominic Richards was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to architecture and the community. He is the co-founder and chief executive of Our Place, London and a director of Architekton. He is also chairman and co-founder of Prosper Education, Sydney and RoyalABC and was previously chairman of LGBT London and co-founder of Queercompany.
Roger Poole was also awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to architecture and the community. He was a director of Bates Smart from 1981 to 1997 and chairman from 1998 to 2015. He has been director of Roger Poole Architects from 2015 and has sat on various committees and boards for the Property Council of Australia and Committee for Melbourne.
Interior designer Sue Carr was also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to interior design, to education, and to women in business. The founder of Carr Design Group is also a member of Women Chiefs of Enterprise in Australia. She has been inducted into the Australian Businesswomen’s Hall of Fame and the Design Institute of Australia’s Hall of Fame, and was named one of 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review in 2016. More

The community of Drysdale, east of Geelong on the Bellarine Peninsula, will soon have a new public library. Designed by Melbourne firms Antarctica Architects and Architecture Associates, the two-storey library will be circular in form and will “stitch together” surrounding parkland and the town centre. The design incorporates a planted roofscape and an amphitheatre and […] More

The Western Sydney Airport corporation has unveiled the final design for the international airport passenger terminal at Badgerys Creek.
Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture together won a competition for the concept design in 2019. Following a competitive tender process, construction company Multiplex was awarded the contract to take the initial concepts through to final design and construction with Woods Bagot as part of the Multiplex team. Woods Bagot had also submitted a concept design in the 2019 competition, together with RSHP with Aspect Studios.
The final design seeks to respond to Australia’s natural beauty and the region’s Aboriginal heritage, while adopting strong sustainability principles.
Western Sydney Airport CEO Simon Hickey said the design would offer passengers and airlines an experience unrivalled among Australian airports.
“Flying from Western Sydney International will be fast, easy and seamless,” he said.
“For airlines, our terminal will be all about operational efficiency and reliability, providing an environment where passengers arrive at the aircraft feeling relaxed and ready to fly.”
He also noted the importance of the consultation with Aboriginal communities throughout the design process.
“A connection to Country will be reflected across both the departures and arrivals, ensuring the terminal has an authentic sense of place in Dharug country,” he said.
The terminal will draw on passive design principles, embracing natural light and airflow to provide energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
“A climate responsive façade with ample shading and high-performance glass will ensure less energy is needed to keep the terminal at a comfortable temperature all year round,” he said.
Western Sydney Airport describe the final design as an “evolution” from the initial concepts by Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture.
“While key design principles have been retained, the final design delivers the best customer outcomes in the context of a strong regional identity that is unmistakably at home in Western Sydney.”
Terminal construction is due to begin at the end of 2021, with international and domestic passenger services and air cargo operations expected to commence in late 2026. More

A proposal to build a cycling ramp at the northern end of Sydney Harbour Bridge has been slammed as “an outright assault on North Sydney’s open space” by the local council.
Transport for NSW has developed a linear and looped design options for the cycleway ramp, which it says is necessary to serve cyclists who make around 2,000 trips across the bridge each day.
As it stands cyclists have to carry or push their bikes through safety barriers and up or down 55 steps at Bradfield Park. The department estimates that removing the bottleneck of the stairs would “more than double” capacity on the cycleway, which runs along the western edge of the bridge, helping to meet growth in cycling demand over the next 15 to 20 years.
But North Sydney councillors are staunchly against the proposal, voting unanimously at an extraordinary meeting on 7 June to spend up to $15,000 on a “grassroots” campaign opposing the ramp. The council adopted a dramatically worded mayoral minute penned by mayor Jilly Gibson that likened the ramp proposal, along with the state government’s plan to increase the number of workers and residents in the area, to a “campaign of war.”

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The loop option for the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway northern access ramp.

“The two options on the table are wrong on many levels,” the mayor’s statement reads. “Both options have a detrimental effect on the beauty and heritage of the Harbour Bridge, an asset that belongs to all of Sydney.
“Both options cut into our open space. It’s not just the footprint of the ramps that is at issue, it is how the park will feel when the ramp is installed. The sunny, open parkland of Bradfield Park North, for example, will have an entirely different feel with massive support pillars and a cycle way stretching above it.”
For its part, Transport for NSW concedes that both the linear and looped ramps would have some effect on views and surrounding public spaces, but says the ramp is needed to improve safety and increase capacity for the only cross-harbour bike route in eastern Sydney.
The department said the while the proposed designs were still in their early development, they had been conceived in consultation with “leading urban design, architectural and heritage experts.”

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The linear option for the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway northern access ramp.

The linear option is a gently curving ramp running above the Milsons Point Station Plaza, weaving between the palm trees at the Station Plaza and stopping short of the tree canopy in Bradfield Park North.
“The gentle curve would set the ramp back from the entrance of Milsons Point Station, reducing the view impact from Alfred Street and avoiding the need to remove trees,” a department said in a document describing the proposal.
“The linear option provides better rideability compared to the loop and is a smaller structure that has a stronger artistic form and design.
“However, the linear ramp would run over the much-loved Station Plaza, affecting views from Bradfield Park North to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and from Alfred Street to the heritage entrance of Milsons Point Station. In addition, this option would have some impact on Bradfield Park North.”
The looped option, on the other hand, would be located at the southern bowling green in Bradfield Park Central, with the double loop structure minimizing land coverage and avoiding the northern bowling green completely.
“It would be located well away from the Station Plaza and Bradfield Park North and allows for a future pedestrian connection between Burton Street and Fitzroy Street.
“However, the loop is a larger structure compared to the linear option and would be clearly visible when viewing the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the eastern side of Bradfield Park. It would require the removal of the old bowling club building and a frangipani tree on Fitzroy Street and could affect active recreation on the southern bowling green.”
Mayor Gibson said such a trade-off was not worth it, since the ramp would link to a “narrow substandard cycleway that is unfit for any real growth in commuter and recreational cycling.”
The two options are open for public feedback until June 27. More

A consortium comprising Lyons, Silver Thomas Hanley, and UK firm Haworth Tompkins has been appointed to design Perth’s first CBD university campus.
The $695 million campus for Edith Cowan University is the centrepiece of the $1.5 billion city deal for Perth.
It will be built over Perth Busport, adjacent to Yagan Square, and will link the Northbridge dining and entertainment precinct to the Perth Cultural Centre, home to the new WA Museum Boola Bardip.
“Lyons, in partnership with Silver Thomas Hanley and Haworth Tompkins, will bring a combination of local knowledge, design leadership, renowned expertise, and world-leading specialist capabilities that will capture our ambition and ensure the seamless delivery of the project,” said ECU vice-chancellor Steve Chapman.
“We are looking forward to these extraordinary minds not only conceptualizing but delivering this unique project.”
The campus is jointly funded by the federal and state governments and the university. The WA government will provide $150 million and the land, the federal government will contribute $245 million and ECU will contribute $300 million. The existing ECU site will revert back to the state government and a masterplan for the site will be undertaken to determine its future.

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Proposed site of Edith Cowan University’s city campus.

“The new ECU City Campus will not only bring together students, teachers and experts across a range of sectors to foster learning and research, but it will be an important feature in the city’s cultural landscape, create flow on economic benefits for local businesses and improve the city’s vibrancy,” said Paul Fletcher, federal minister for communications, urban infrastructure, cities and the arts.
Due to open by 2025, the campus will accommodate 9,200 students and staff. That number is projected to grow to 11,000 by 2034. It will be home to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
“We anticipate that the campus will bring more than 8,000 students into the city from day one, creating flow on economic benefits for local businesses,” said WA planning minister Rita Saffioti.
“I look forward to seeing the designs of the campus develop and take shape.” More

Melbourne’s Federation Square will become part of the transformation of Melbourne’s arts precinct, which will be overseen by a new governing body, the state government announced.
The establishment of the new entity, the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co), follows heated contestation over the future of the square spawned by a plan to knock down the Yarra Building to make way for a Foster and Partners designed Apple shop. That proposal was scotched after a successful community campaign when the Heritage Victoria rejected Federation Square management’s application.
The state government said the creation of MAP Co responded to the findings of a review into the management of the square in 2020, which called for a “community-driven vision” emphasising Federation Square’s cultural and civic impact along with the need to enliven the space with “captivating experiences.”
Creative industries minister Danny Pearson said the new governance arrangement would see Federation Square reinvigorated as part of the delivery of the $1.4 billion arts precinct redevelopment on St Kilda Road, which will include a new 18,000-square metre immersive public garden.
Tania Davidge, conveyor of the Our City, Our Square campaign, said that under the existing governance of Fed Square Pty Ltd the square’s cultural and civic objectives had been marginalized.
“Propelled by the narrative that the square is losing money, more and more ‘revenue-generating initiatives’ and promotions have been taking place at the site,” she wrote in Landscape Architecture Australia in 2020.
Davidge told ArchitctureAU that while she is not familiar with all the details, she is optimistic about the new arrangement and welcomed the connection between the square and the Melbourne Arts Precinct.
“This is a positive step forward, embedding Federation Square more deeply as part of the civic, cultural and public life of the city,” she said.
“We are optimistic this move will support Federation Square’s continued significance as Melbourne’s most important civic public space. We hope to see stronger connections develop between Federation Square, the city and the new public spaces that will be delivered as part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct transformation.”
The creation of MAP Co will be overseen by an interim board chaired by James MacKenzie, who is chair of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation and a former president of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.
“In addition to ensuring the smooth delivery of Australia’s largest ever cultural infrastructure project, MAP Co will work to draw more Victorians and visitors to the rich and diverse creative offerings across our extraordinary arts precinct – on both sides of the Yarra,” said MacKenzie. More