Architecture

Michael Bryce.
Image: Office of the Governor of Queensland
The Australian Institute of Architects has paid tribute to architect and designer Michael Bryce, who died on 16 January 2021 after a long illness.
Bryce was born in Brisbane in 1938 and undertook architectural studies at the University of Queensland. In 1966, he and his wife Quentin (who later became Australia’s first female Governor General) moved to London where Michael worked as an architectural illustrator. He returned to Brisbane in 1968 and established an architectural practice as well as a graphic design and signage business.

“Bryce won multiple awards for graphic and environmental design, including the Institute’s own Civic Design Award (Qld), the House of the Year Award, and the President’s Award,” said Institute president Alice Hampson.
In 1981, his practice turned its attention away from designing buildings. In the following decades, his practice worked with institutions such as the National Trust, the Australian War Memorial and the Commonwealth Games. He designed logos for the Wallabies rugby union team, the Australian Dolphins swimming team and Sydney’s 2000 Olympic bid, which led to his appointment as principal design adviser to the 2000 Sydney Games.

“More than anyone else, Michael Bryce recognized that architecture, urban design, environmental design, graphic design and industrial design are all aspects of a professional continuum devoted to design as an intellectual and aesthetic pursuit,” Hampson said.

“More than anyone else, he promoted design professionals from the backroom to the boardroom, and placed them at the forefront in the culture of political and business decision-making. He was a powerful advocate for the value of design not only with clients, but also with government, business and industry.

“He was a luminary who, after a long and distinguished career, leaves behind a design and placemaking, the benefits of which will continue to be felt long into the future.”
Bryce was a Life fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and in 2006 he was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia’s hall of fame. In the same year, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. He was also made a Knight of Justice in the Order of St John of Jerusalem (KStJ) and awarded the Air Efficiency Award (AE) for his service with the Royal Australian Airforce Reserve.

He was the inaugural patron of Good Design Australia, and has been a member of the boards of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Orchestra and a trustee of Queensland Art Gallery.
Bryce was also awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Queensland and Canberra. In 2020, he received the Australia Design Prize, the country’s highest design accolade.
“He once said that ‘Architecture is the fulcrum of our national design identity and this highly visible art form leads the way in so many other design endeavours, from furniture design, automotive design and urban design through interior, graphic and fashion design,’” Hampson said.
“Our profession and our nation are poorer after the loss of such a great talent and steadfast supporter.
“Our thoughts at this time are with his wife, Australia’s former Governor-General Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, his five children, his grandchildren, his wider family, and his extensive network of colleagues, friends and admirers.” More

The University of Sydney and the NSW government have reached a framework agreement to build a new multi-disciplinary campus in western Sydney at Parramatta-Westmead.
To be located within the Westmead Health and Innovation District, the campus is expected to attract 25,000 students and 2,500 staff by 2055.
The campus will include teaching infrastructure and research along with community facilities and services. It will build on the district’s role as one of the largest health, education, research and training precincts in Australia.

The agreement comes more than two years after the state government and university begun negotiations in in November 2018.
University of Sydney’s outgoing vice-chancellor Michael Spence said the agreement was a major step in expanding the university’s presence in Western Sydney over coming decades.
“This once-in-a-century opportunity in Western Sydney would build on our 40-year history at Westmead and create a genuinely multidisciplinary major campus that enables new partnership and innovation opportunities for all of Sydney,” he said.

“We are committed to offering students in Western Sydney more opportunity to study and pursue research with our incredible academics to help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems.”
The state’s Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said, “A globally recognized University campus in the Central River City at the core of the Westmead Health and Innovation District will drive innovation and catalyse future growth, ensuring we become a world leader in lifelong education and research partnerships that save lives and cure diseases.”

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The NSW government has approved plans to build three towers of 21, 17 and nine storeys above Crows Nest metro station as part of the latest major “over-station development” for Sydney.
The design of the metro station and integrated development is being overseen by Woods Bagot and the Crows Nest Design Consortium, which is led by SMEC also includes Robert Bird, NDY and landscape architect Oculus.
In September 2020, Sydney Metro submitted an amended concept application reducing the biggest tower from its original 27 storeys to 21 storeys. The tower will also be changed from residential to commercial, and will now house 40,300 square metres of office space.

The 17-storey tower will include 13,000 for residential uses with the hotel proposed in earlier plans dropped.
The changes were made after a period of public exhibition attracted some 655 submissions from the public, the vast majority of which objected to the proposal, with the size and bulk of the proposal a major concern. North Sydney Council objected to the original proposal, citing excessive overshadowing of Ernest Place and Willoughby Road and the visual impact of the development which “has a high propensity to be quite overbearing and potentially inconsistent with the highly valued character of Crows Nest.” The council also suggested that affordable housing should be included in the residential component. The amended proposal includes an allocation of 5 percent affordable housing, to be managed by a community housing provider.

The amended concept proposal attracted 29 submissions, with the bulk of the public submissions again objecting to the proposal.
Speaking to media, planning mister Rob Stokes defended his decision to approve the concept proposal. “While I understand that some current Crows Nest residents won’t be happy about growth, this proposal has improved considerably,” he said
“Residents were concerned about overdevelopment, and for more focus on providing more jobs than more homes. In response, the building envelope has been reduced, jobs capacity doubled and the number of new homes halved.”
The government will now seek interest from the private sector to develop the precinct and progress to detailed design. More

The WA government has appointed architects for two multi-million-dollar school upgrades in the state.
Iredale Pedersen Hook has been selected to design the $22 million upgrade to Karratha Senior High School in the Pilbara region.
The upgrade will comprise a new specialist technologies building which will include nine teaching spaces for engineering, mechatronics, STEM, media, digital design and information technologies, as well as new student services facilities and the refurbishment of the existing food technologies studio.

Meanwhile, With Architecture has been appointed to design the $18.3 million upgrade to Lynwood Senior High School.
The project will include a new classroom building, student services, performing arts centre, sports hall and various refurbishments.
Both projects are part of the government’s recovery plan to upgrade and refurbish public schools in the state.

Construction on both school upgrades is due to start in December 2021.

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Denton Corker Marshall has unveiled designs for a “landmark” new building for Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, overlooking Carlton Gardens.
Under the plans before Yarra City Council, the hospital’s existing 11-storey brick Aikenhead Wing on the corner of Victoria Parade and Nicholson Street would be demolished to make way for a new 11-storey building housing the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD).
Denton Corker Marshall’s design for the building aims to respond to the transitional urban context between the CBD, Carlton Gardens and the wider hospital precinct “by presenting a respectful building mass, and providing high levels of visual connectivity between surrounding context and the functions housed within.”

In a design statement, the practice described how the southern facade references the crystalline structures associated with ACMD biomedical research, while the western façade features abstract vignettes of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens.

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The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery by Denton Corker Marshall.

“The building mass is interrupted along the western elevation with the insertion of a cantilevered block, that signposts the western entry, whilst also providing protection from the elements,” the design statement reads. “A picture window within this block enhances the sense of connection lecture theatre occupants have to the Carlton Gardens. Recessed vision glass cutouts step up the building, further articulating the west and south elevations, enhancing visual connections and facilitating the integration of landscape balconies.”

Part of the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, ACMD will be a translational medical technology research and training hub featuring laboratories, workshop and biofabrication facilities, start-up and industry spaces and education and conference facilities. It will unite eight partner research and academic institutions: St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, The University of Melbourne (UoM), St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Bionics Institute, Australian Catholic University, University of Wollongong, Swinburne University of Technology and RMIT University. The centre will have a focus on finding solutions for complex chronic diseases.

The site sits within a World Heritage Environs Area, set up to stop over-development near the Royal Exhibition Building, which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004. The development has raised concerns it will negatively impact the World Heritage value of the Royal Exhibition Building.
Friends of the Royal Exhibition Building spokesperson Margaret O’Brien told The Age the building “seems intent on dominating and distracting.”
“At 12-storeys of glass, and massing over an entire block, it is as an alien,” she said.

Chair of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria Charles Sowerwine told the paper that the existing building should never have been built in the 1950s and that the new design was “attention-seeking” and at odds with the area. “[It] represents a betrayal of what the Australian government promised UNESCO,” he said.

A heritage assessment report by Lovell Chen submitted in support of the application notes that the new building will have a similar footprint and number of levels to the existing Aikenhead Wing and would have a minor heritage impact only. “The proposal provides an appropriate contextual response to the South Fitzroy Precinct and Royal Eehibition Building [and] Carlton Gardens and supports the ongoing health and community use of the place as an important contributory place within the precinct,” it states.
A heritage building on the site erected in 1889, Brenan Hall, will have its rendered masonry façade with prominent arched gable parapet retained.
Costing $206 million, the building project is funded by the Victorian and federal governments as well as St Vincent’s Hospital and the other research partners. More

Durbach Block Jaggers has unveiled designs for a super-skinny hotel in Sydney’s Haymarket that will be just over six metres wide but soar to 110 metres above its Pitt Street address.
Reminiscent of the new breed of luxury “pencil” skyscrapers popping up in New York, the 410 Pitt Street tower will house 178 hotel rooms along with a three-storey lobby, meeting rooms a roof terrace and a “hammam” with plunge pool, spa and sauna, sundecks and flying balcony on the rooftop.
Its facade will be clad in marble and metallic materials that will provide a soft diffused light.

Durbach Block Jaggers won a design excellence competition to deliver the tower, winning out over Scott Carver, Sissons Architects and SJB.

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410 Pitt Street by Durbach Block Jaggers.

The firm’s proposal comprises three detailed sections aimed at demonstrating the “transitional relationship between horizontals and verticals on the façade.”
The competition jury described the design as “powerful, well thought out, creative and enchanting.” They praised the active façade and the opportunity for public interaction and engagement at ground level along with the planning and spatial qualities of the public areas in the scheme.

“[The proposal] exhibited an engaging story and an innovative and unique approach for the constrained site and design brief.”
The tower will replace a boarding house.
Tricon Management Group has submitted a development application for the $35.7 million project, which is on public exhibition until 2 February.

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An underground herbarium and an “indoor pleasure garden” have been proposed for Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in a 20-year masterplan for the Melbourne gardens.
The masterplan, launched in December 2020, create a series of new garden experiences and help “guide the post-COVID recovery of Melbourne” by providing opportunities for residents and visitors to engage with nature.
A key project, the new Sensory Garden by Central Lake designed by Andrew Laidlaw has been completed and was opened to coincide with the launch of the masterplan.

The sensory garden features a series of immersive plant experiences designed to simulate the senses through views, colour, sound, scent, textures and forms of plants.
The premier project outlined in the masterplan is the Nature and Science Precinct, which, along with the Arts and Culture and Sports and Entertainment precincts, is intended to be one of Melbourne’s three major destination by the Birrarung (Yarra river). The precinct will be located at the site of the existing herbarium.

John Wardle Architects along with Laidlaw and Laidlaw Design Landscape Architects were appointed to design the new precinct in May 2019. The masterplan provides details of the design, including the underground herbarium and vault, which will house the 1.5 million plant species in the State Botanical Collection.

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A new underground herbarium and vault in the Nature and Science Precinct of the Royal Botanic Gardens masterplan.

The 1988 extension to the herbarium will be demolished and the original 1934 herbarium building will be refurbished. The precinct will also include a new welcoming public space on Dallas Brooks Drive, which will become the destination meeting point, and connections to Ian Potter Children’s garden.
Other projects include a new entry gate by the Birrarung, between the existing A and H gates. The new gate will become a new major entrance to the gardens and will celebrate Indigenous landscapes, plants, animals, landforms and people.

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A new Birrarung gate in the Royal Botanic Gardens masterplan.

At the corner of Alexandra Avenue and Anderson Street, the A Gate will be redeveloped into a terraced garden with a focus on health and wellbeing.
Huntingfield Lawn, an under-used piece of land between the northern border of Government House and Alexandra Avenue will to be recontoured to create new amphitheatre venue for small theatrical performances.
Hopetoun Lawn will be redeveloped into Wild Wood, a natural bush children’s area and unstructured play space.
The masterplan will be delivered in stages, culminating in the construction of the New Lakeside Conservatory on the existing site of the Terrace Tea Rooms. The masterplan describes the proposed conservatory as an “indoor pleasure garden.”
“Sitting sensitively in the landscape as a grand folly, this structure would become a major new landmark and destination in Melbourne,” the masterplan reads. More

Three Sydney schools will receive upgrades together worth $290 million, after the New South Wales government gave the projects the green light.
The Architectus-designed $250 million overhaul of Chatswood Public School and Chatswood High School will deliver more than 150 new and refurbished teaching spaces along with dedicated performing arts spaces, new sport and recreational facilities and new libraries.
Education minister Sarah Mitchell said the school upgrades would transform the teaching and learning experiences for students and staff.

“Upgrades to Chatswood Public School will include up to 53 classrooms with special programs and support classrooms while Chatswood High School will include up to 123 classrooms with special support classrooms,” she said.
The character for each of the Chatswood schools is distinct. Architectus describes how Chatswood Public School on Pacific Highway will have a fine-grain urban character with brick and sandstone, while Chatswood High School on Centennial Avenue will embrace its natural bush setting.

Meanwhile, the $40 million upgrade to Darlington Public School, designed by FJMT, will deliver 19 teaching spaces, a special programs room, canteen and a library.
FJMT’s design reponds to the existing character of the school, which “sits at the nexus between the fine grain of the Darlington terrace houses and the large scale of the University of Sydney.”
“The urban response to the site is to continue the dominant street alignment of the terrace houses which characterise the surrounding context,” the design report states.
“The rhythm of the existing buildings that characterises the suburb of Darlington has been maintained, where the new development draws reference from the surrounding context and key buildings.”

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