Architecture

The design of Edith Cowan University’s proposed Perth city campus, unveiled on Sunday 15 August, will “completely defy traditional expectations,” said the university’s vice-chancellor Steve Chapman.
Designed by Lyons, Silver Thomas Hanley, and UK firm Haworth Tompkins, the campus will be located across two sites opposite Yagan Square, spanning Karak Walk.
“We have a clear vision and ambition for Western Australia’s first comprehensive city campus, and that is to deliver a remarkable university as well as a landmark for Perth’s CBD,” Chapman said.
The campus will integrate the studies of creative industries, business and technology with the university’s Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). It will an 11-storey building with stacked performance spaces, studios and digital labs.

View gallery

Edith Cowan University city campus designed by Lyons, Silver Thomas Hanley, and Haworth Tompkins. Image:

Courtesy ECU

“The campus will be purposefully embedded with industry and connect the commercial, cultural and entertainment precincts of Perth, and is designed to project life, energy, and opportunity into the heart of our city. Its proximity to industry is a game-changer for engagement and partnership with business,” Chapman said.
The campus will be open to William Street Mall and Yagan Square with an immersive entry that envelops the Perth Busport. A digital media façade will create vibrancy along with activated streetscapes and laneways that connect to the Roe, Queen and Wellington Streets.
“Students, staff and visitors will be treated to a sensory experience from the moment they step in. It will be like nothing they have ever known,” Chapman said.
“ECU City’s design, both physically and symbolically, reaches outwards, with a strong visual connection to its surrounds. It will be a university on show – inviting people to connect and be involved with what is occurring within.”
The ECU city campus is the centrepiece of the $1.5 billion Perth City Deal. The $695 million project is funded with $245 million from federal government, $150 million state government and $300 million from ECU.
“This is part of a once-in-a-lifetime transformation of our city centre, and will grow Perth’s reputation as an innovative and vibrant city,” said WA premier Mark McGowan.
Federal minister for cities Paul Fletcher added, “The economic impact of the development will also be significant, with the project supporting over 3,000 jobs during construction and providing an estimated $1.5 billion boost to the WA economy over the next four years.”
A development application for will be submitted in August with early works to start later in 2021. The campus is expected to accommodate more than 9,000 students when it opens in 2025. More

“I’m very interested in observing how people dwell, play and work,” says architect Maria Danos, principal of Maria Danos Architecture. “If this [pandemic] year has taught us anything, it’s that there are a lot of convergences in those different aspects of our lives.” Ideas about convergence and adaptability underpin this project – a pair of compact but refined houses in Melbourne’s inner south-east.
The concept for the project drew on the area’s residential history. Housing stock in the surrounding streets, as in many of Melbourne’s inner suburbs, has been shaped by successive waves of migration. “I love these communities where you can see layers of different demographics – it’s quite revelatory, observing all the layers of postwar migration. There is no uniform voice,” Maria explains. “That’s community – it really excites me to see how much people can do with a small space and how much joy they bring to it. We don’t need to live large; we can live thoughtfully and well in a small space.”

View gallery

Curved lines and custom joinery create a flowing transition between the kitchen and the living room. Artworks (L–R): Bobby Clark, Derek Swalwell. Image:

Derek Swalwell

The brief was shaped equally by the client’s professional experience in hospitality and construction management and by the desire to squeeze maximum value from the site while delivering an enviable standard of amenity. The resulting houses are like siblings – recognizably similar but not identical. They employ the same vocabulary, but with distinctly individual expression. Facing the street, for example, the bold, portal-framed balconies that characterize the houses’ exteriors are tweaked and customized – the eastern one is wider, thanks to a splayed balcony wall, while its western counterpart is taller and boxier. The balconies push out from the angled walls of the houses’ upper level. “Angling the walls funnels light into the house’s centre,” Maria says. A strong datum references the verandah heights of the neighbouring properties.
The differences in the two houses are evident in plan, too. While most of the floor plate is mirrored along the central party wall, the houses’ north-facing entry experiences are unique. “The northern orientation meant that the ground-floor spaces couldn’t just be given over to entry; they needed to work hard,” Maria explains. In the eastern house, this means a single-car garage with a narrow home office running alongside. The front door to the western house is set back further, opening to a small study that steps through to a larger studio space, which could comfortably accommodate a small team of professionals. A large picture window gazes out to the front garden. “It’s about finding that sweet spot between visual permeability and privacy,” says Maria.

View gallery

Henry Street Townhouses by Maria Danos Architecture. Artwork: Bobby Clark. Image:

Derek Swalwell

Beyond these entry zones, a curvilinear stair breaks up the regularity of the scheme. “When you’re dealing with narrow footprints, a rolled wall is far more forgiving than a rectilinear wall. It creates sculptural elements. It helps with spatial flow and makes those spaces less restrictive,” Maria says. A void connects the upper and lower floors and floods the interior with light. Up top, the stair steps out to a compact roof terrace that looks back toward the CBD.
There is a richness in the houses’ materiality that comfortably bridges the elegant and the dynamic. Maria steered her client away from light timbers, opting instead for a richer, mid-tone Tasmanian oak. “I wanted it to look clean and crisp, to wear well. I didn’t want the interior to feel like a hospitality venue; I wanted it to feel like a home.”
The practice’s deft touch for flexible and cohesive interiors is evident throughout, from the inbuilt desks in the upstairs bedrooms and on the landing to the thoughtfully composed joinery in the kitchen, which flows through into a plinth running the length of the living room. The materials palette is pared back, matching that warm oak with variegated grey dolomite surfaces, coir and timber flooring, and understated light fittings.

View gallery

Inbuilt desks nestle beneath the upstairs bedrooms’ angled walls. Image:

Derek Swalwell

Central to the brief was the clients’ desire to create as much garden as possible on the site. “We wanted the side setbacks to have as much life as the front and the rear,” Maria explains. At the rear of the ground floor, a pair of cavity sliders retracts to connect the open living and dining zone to the courtyard garden. With the sliders open, a slender white post defines the corner of the room – a nod to modernist tradition. “All of a sudden you’re blurring the threshold,” Maria says. “There is something beautiful about expressing structure.”
You can’t help thinking that in designing this project, Maria was keeping one eye on the future. At its heart is an implicit acknowledgement that the way we live – the configuration of households, the functions we demand from our dwellings – is changing. “Communities are not made up of just nuclear families. Especially after the last year, we’ve been constantly exploring how we can plan spaces to anticipate all of the activities people might one day require from what was previously just a home,” she says. More

International design blog Dezeen has announced the longlist for its 2021 Dezeen Awards with dozens of Australian projects among them.
The awards received more than 4,700 entries from 87 countries. Austrlaian projects fared particularly well in the residential design categories across both architecture and interiors.
Judges for the awards include Australian architects Andrew Burges, Julie Eizenberg, Aaron Roberts, and Liam Young.
The awards’ shortlist is set to be announced in September and winners will be announced in November.
On the longlist are:
Architecture
Urban House
Canning Street – Foomann
Fitzroy Bridge House – Matt Gibson Architecture and Design
Garden House – Austin Maynard Architects
Hat Factory – Welsh and Major
Kyneton House – Edition Office
Limestone House – John Wardle Architects
Three House – John Ellway Architect
Rural House
Baker Boys Beach House – Refresh Design
Canopy House – Powell and Glenn
Federal House – Edition Office
Highlands House – Other Architects
Mt Coot-Tha House – Nielsen Jenkins
Ourhousewandal – Design and Architecture
Housing Project
Jolimont Infill – Matt Gibson Architecture and Design
La Trobe University Student Accommodation – Jackson Clements Burrows Architects
Residential Rebirth Project
Fitzroy Bridge House – Matt Gibson Architecture and Design
Mosman Minka – Downie North
Newport House – Brewer Architects
Open Shut House – Wala
Pony – Wowowa
Terracotta House – Austin Maynard Architects
Civic Building
Deakin Law Building – Woods Bagot
Small Building
Solar Pavilion – John Wardle Architects
Sustainable Building
Citizen.MDW – Zwei Interiors Architecture
Monash Woodside Building for Technology and Design – Grimshaw
Welcome to the Jungle House – C Plus C Architectural Workshop
Interiors
House Interior
Budge Over Dover – YSG
Divided House – Jackson Clements Burrows Architects
Fitzroy Bridge House – Matt Gibson Architecture and Design
Mosman Minka ­­– Downie North
SRG House – Fox Johnston
Whale Beach House – Fox Johnston
Apartment Interior
Roseneath Street – Studio Goss
Restaurant and Bar Interior
Cucina Porto – Tom Mark Henry
ITL – Genesin Studio
The Budapest Café – Biasol Studio
Large Workplace Interior
Transurban Workplace – Cox Architecture
Small Workplace Interior
Aje Headquarters – Those Architects
Johnson Partners – YSG
Large Retail Interior
Sculptform Showroom – Woods Bagot
Small Retail Interior
Camilla and Marc – Akin Atelier
Sarah and Sebastian – Russell and George
Leisure and Wellness
Aesthetik Skin and Laser Clinic – Joanne Motee
Sense of Self Bathhouse and Spa – Setsquare Studio, Chamberlain Architects and Hearth Studio
Civic and Culture Interior
Brighton Street Early Learning – Danielle Brustman
Sustainable Interior
ANZ ‘Open House’ – Foolscap Studio
Design
Seating Design
August Lounges – Gibson Karlo for Design By Them
MPavilion 2020 Stool Dolly – Board Grove Architects
Lighting Design
Indre – Rakumba
Homeware Design
Drift – Tom Fereday Design
Graphic Design
PGH Bricks Style Guide Campaign – Nexus Designs
Exhibition Design
Ngalang Koort Boodja Wirn, Reflections, Origins, Connections and Innovations – Thylacine
No Show – Youssofzay and Hart
Penguin Parade Visitor Centre – Thylacine More

Darwin’s Larrakia Cultural Centre is taking shape, with local Northern Territory firms Rossi Architecture and Susan Dugdale and Associates unveiling their design for the centre.
The architects said the building form will represent an ancestral bird flying over the land, protecting Country and its people.
“A bird-shaped roof hovers over the site with generous eaves providing deep shade,” they said in a statement. “Feather-like screens protect the walls and glazing from the harsh tropical sun while creating interesting shadow pattern and allowing natural breezes to flow through.”
A solar array will contribute to the bird form by creating a feathered texture from the aerial perspective.
The centre will be located on the Stokes Hill Wharf waterfront, adjacent to a sacred site of the Larrakia people, the traditional owners of Darwin and surrounds. A long-held ambition of the Indigenous-led Larrakia Development Corporation, the centre is intended to showcase Larrakia culture and history, and enable Larrakia people to continue caring for the land and sea.

View gallery

Larrakia Cultural Centre by Rossi Architecture, Susan Dugdale and Associates and the Larrakia Working Group.

At its heart will be an exhibition space featuring interactive displays and housing artifacts repatriated from museums across the country and the globe. The centre will be both a museum and art gallery, and will also incorporate classrooms to be used for language and culture classes for the Larrakia and the visiting public. There will also be a specialized Larrakia restaurant, retail spaces and leasable office space.
The building form will be broken down into a northern and southern wing, with a central double-height breezeway strengthening the experience between sacred site and the sea.
The all-important landscape design features the three main habitat types found within Larrakia Country: monsoon rainforest and waterfall, savannah and coastal. Each of the habitats will incorporate educational play spaces, with mist sprays, salt and freshwater ponds and a waterfall providing cooling play elements and natural water for cultural maintenance and ceremony.
Rossi Architecture and Susan Dugdale and Associates were announced as the architects of the centre in February. They are working alongside the Larrakia Working Group, which is made up of members of the Larrakia community, including Mark Motlop, Bill Risk, June Mills, Helen Secretary, Kelvin Costello, Chrissy Jenner, Joe Raymond and Nadine Lee. Larrakia artists will also be engaged, and their art and designs will become part of the fabric of the building and landscape.
GHD developed the functional brief for the centre with input from the GHD Woodhead architectural team.
Larrakia Development Corporation said in a statement that the detailed design had reached the 30 percent completion milestone, and that it should reach completion over the second half of the year. More

The fifth and final stage of the redevelopment of the Kardinia Park oval redevelopment in Geelong is set to get underway once the AFL season ends in September. Replacing the aging Gary Ablett Terrace and the Ford Stand, the final stage will see the development of a 14,000-capacity, two-tier northern stand that will increase the […] More

A proposed commercial building in Sydney’s Alexandria will be an interconnected “place of gathering,” according to its architect. Designed by Hassell, the four-storey development at 22 O’Riordan Street is being touted as a “walk up workplace” where tenants can reach their offices without the use of a lift. The building’s form is strategically stepped to […] More

You would have heard about greenhouse gases and discussions on how to reduce the amount of carbon that we produce as a species. But what does it all mean, and why are we only focusing on carbon dioxide?
What is carbon dioxide?
Activities such as energy provision, transport, manufacturing, construction, farming, and more generate and emit carbon into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases absorb infrared heat from the sun and trap that heat within the atmosphere. The more carbon emitted, the higher the temperature gets. Further, the sea absorbs carbon and turns it into carbonic acidic which will ultimately kill off marine life.
As the human population continues to grow, so does the amount of carbon generated, so what can we do?
How concerns around carbon emissions impacts building product manufacturers
Worldwide, building and construction is responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions. This includes construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings, as well as the production of materials.
Since the start of the industrial revolution, when mass manufacturing began, carbon emissions in the atmosphere have rocketed from a manageable five billion tonnes of CO2 per year to almost 40 billion tonnes per year. This number is currently increasing year on year.
Given the manufacturing of traditional steel, concrete and aluminium produce high levels of carbon dioxide, cutting these levels is a priority in Australia construction.
In NSW, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment are working with the building industry to encourage the voluntary use of low emission building materials after setting the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
This means that outside of your moral obligations as a manufacturer, your clients will now be demanding details of your sustainable measures.
The benefits of environmental sustainability for building product manufacturers
There are many opportunities for manufacturers willing to embrace development. Here are a few examples:
1) Gain more specifications
Specifiers’ and contractors’ demand for sustainably sourced and efficient products is on the rise. Eventually, it will become a mandatory requirement, not just a ‘nice-to-have’ feature.
As a manufacturer, embracing this opportunity and making changes will present an edge over your competition. This could be as simple as being open about your own energy use, for example, mapping out how you consume energy and identifying where you minimise use, or going deeper and looking into more sustainably sourced materials.
NBS Australia is on a mission to help both the specifier and the manufacturer make more sustainable decisions. For manufacturers, NBS Source can help you to list sustainability credentials within your product data and make that visible in a uniform way to the specifier through NBS Chorus.
2) Reduce operational costs
From focusing on your buildings’ passive measures (how a building can naturally reduce energy consumption) to switching to low-energy-consuming appliances and systems, you can lower your annual operational spend whilst increasing your sustainable credentials. LED lighting, better insulation, renewable energy – there are an abundance of easy wins that you can make.
You could go one step further and look at your fleet. There are numerous incentives available for switching cars to low or zero-emission vehicles. Calculating your embodied carbon from transport and energy use is a pretty straightforward thing to do, and from there it is easy to identify where the hotspots are, and where you can make the most impact with any planned changes.
3) Increased marketing activity
When you have mapped out your changes (or if you have already adopted measures), you can market the fact that you are doing so. Being seen to be making these changes by clients can help to boost your brand awareness and make you more desirable as a prospect.
Through integrated marketing campaigns, you can get this positive message out there: either indirectly promoting your products or giving you a new angle to get your products in front of specifiers.
4) Product innovation
Through the introduction of new products (or by reviewing existing ones) – making small or even large changes to how a product is manufactured and performs – can be a huge benefit if considered sustainably.
Low energy consumption is at the forefront of net zero building design, but there are also factors like water consumption to consider. Can efficiencies be made in production to reduce energy and waste? Can materials be sourced more locally and ethically? Simple things like using recycled material can help. The result will be a better, more specifiable products and (again) lead to better marketing opportunities.
5) Third-party certification
Nothing demonstrates a manufacturer’s desire to be best in class more than allowing their products to be independently certified. Any performance or manufacturing claims can then be better trusted by specifiers if a third party has accredited those claims through independent testing.
When designing with safety in mind, third-party certification is a must. Sustainability is going the same way. Providing certificates relating to your products helps specifiers make decisions. Crucially though, you need to present these alongside your product data and listings to make them as easily accessible as possible. NBS Source provides a uniform process for manufacturers to do this.
Getting your sustainable building products specified
Now is the time to make positive changes to the way you work, and the way your products and brand are perceived in the industry. With small steps and a clear roadmap, you can make big improvements, not only to your profit potential but also to the environment.
For further information, head here. More