Architecture

The School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle will create five new full-time Indigenous-only teaching positions.
The positions range from senior lecturer to lecturer and will cover the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, construction management, disaster management and environmental management.
The announcement of the new positions coincides with the 2021 NAIDOC week and follows the introduction of new national competency standards for architects, which prioritize engagement with Indigenous peoples, and sustainability
The University of Newcastle has the largest cohort of Indigenous students of any Australian university, at 4.6 percent of the student body, as well as the highest number of Indigenous academics. However, head of architecture Sam Spurr said participation in the field of architecture had lagged behind other disciplines.
“This demonstrates the commitment of the school to embed and develop Indigenous knowledge into the teaching of architecture and construction,” she said. “It recognizes the prevailing settler colonial assumptions of space and place in our curriculum and the extraordinary and unique opportunities that Indigenous thinking and practice brings to the making our of future built environment.

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Sam Spurr, head of architecture at the School of Architecture and Built Environment. Image:

Daniel Boud.

“We hope with these positions to create a respectful, meaningful and purposeful engagement with Indigenous knowledge – [an engagement] that is Indigenous-led and Indigenous-designed in collaboration with the passion and support of our current staff body.”
The positions are expected to be advertised on 9 July.
In March 2021, on Close the Gap day, the university launched an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Research Framework, bringing together a range of plans and policies aimed at making the university a “culturally responsive place of excellence” for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and research.
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Indigenous Strategy and Leadership Nathan Towney said at the time that the framework placed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, staff and communities at its heart.
“We are determined to be a place where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and knowledge is woven into each aspect of the university – our relationships with communities, the way we teach, learn and research and how we foster reconciliation in our regions,” he said.
The announcement of the new positions has also comes at a time when cut-backs and redundancies are rife at universities around Australia. The University of Newcastle has itself made several rounds of cuts and revealed in July it would cut a further 150 full-time equivalent academic positions from the colleges of Engineering, Science and Environment (which includes the school of architecture); Health, Medicine and Wellbeing; and Human and Social Futures.
However, Spurr said the School of Architecture and Built Environment had suffered from understaffing in recent years and that university management was supportive of bolstering staff levels and encouraging greater Indigenous engagement. The positions are entirely new, with no current roles to be replaced. More

Themed “Reconnect,” this year’s Open House Melbourne program invites us to get back in touch with the city through its more than 150 buildings, tours and events. “The theme of ‘reconnect’ really speaks to our collective desire to re-engage with our city, our suburbs, and a future […] after experiences of pandemic, lockdown and isolation,” […] More

The University of Queensland is taking its second CBD campus to the bank, unveiling plans to adaptively re-use the state heritage-listed National Australia Bank at 308 Queen Street. In a planning proposal before the City of Brisbane, the university is proposing to refurbish both the bank building, and an existing contemporary office building at the […] More

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Poor quality “featureless glass boxes” and towers that are effectively “spreadsheets in the sky” are in the firing line as City of Melbourne councillors consider an overhaul of the city’s design assessment protocols.
On 6 July, the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee will considering the establishment of two new bodies that would aim to improve architectural and design quality in new developments.
Both proposed to commence this year, the Melbourne Design Review Panel and Design Excellence Advisory Committee are two key components from the city’s draft Design Excellence program, which was endorsed by council in November 2019.
The design review panel would be an expert advisory group comprising experts from the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. It would include five experts at any one time, sourced from a pool of eight, who would provide formal design advice on development applications and on council-led projects.
The advisory committee, meanwhile, would be a looser grouping, offering a “platform for community, industry and academia to informally engage on a range of design challenges and opportunities within the City of Melbourne.” It would include eight technical experts, including one representative of the Office of Victoria Government Architect, up to four community members and a chair and deputy chair from the council’s planning department.
Deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece is a vocal advocate of the changes. “We want to support designers and developers to do what they do well. That means working in partnership to improve design quality so private developments add to our city’s character and liveability,” he said.
“Melbourne has produced some brilliant home-grown local architects and has a distinctive design culture, without the reliance on global ‘starchitects’ we’ve seen in some other cities.”
“Eureka Tower, the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Federation Square and the new Parliament House Annexe are all examples of local designers creating amazing buildings that we should celebrate.

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Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre by STHDI and MCR (Silver Thomas Hanley, DesignInc and McBride Charles Ryan).

“But the painful truth is that Melbourne has suffered from far too many poor developments. Featureless glass boxes that could be in any city in the world. Tall towers that set out to be seen from afar, but offer nothing to the pedestrians walking the streets of the city.
“Too many new towers are nothing more than spreadsheets in the sky, leaving the city poorer because of bad design and low-quality materials, particularly at street level. If we do not take a stand and lift standards then our world-famous liveability and appeal are at risk.
“This is about setting in place expectations and processes to shape Melbourne’s streets, buildings and skyline for decades to come.”
If Melbourne councillors endorse the establishment of the two bodies, applications will be sought for up to four community members for the advisory committee, and up to eight architecture, urban design and landscape architecture experts for the Melbourne Design Review Panel. The review panel will initially be set up as a 12-month pilot program.
In May, Perth’s deputy lord mayor Sandy Anghie, a registered architect, also initiated a motion for the city’s CEO to investigate the establishment of a City Architecture and Design Advisory Group to review council-led “significant” projects. Council supported the motion seven to two. More

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