Architecture

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

The overstretched John Hunter hospital precinct in Newcastle’s western suburbs is set for a major overhaul, with BVN preparing designs for a new seven-storey acute services building and the refurbishment of existing buildings.
The John Hunter and John Hunter Children’s hospitals regularly operate at 98 percent occupancy, as major metropolitan hospitals and as the principal tertiary referral hospitals for the Hunter New England Local Health District and Northern NSW. the inpatient bed base, operating theatres and ED treatment spaces are working beyond capacity.
The NSW government has allocated $780 million to upgrade the healthcare services in Newcastle, with the aim of meeting the demand and creating more integrated service delivery.
Designed by BVN, the acute services building will include an expanded emergency department, intensive care services, operating theatres, clinical sterilizing department, women’s services, along with integrated education spaces and a new helipad. The project will also include a new Hospital entry canopy and a link bridge to the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

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John Hunter hospital precinct upgrade by BVN.

The design is characterized by the “carving out” of the form to create “cut outs” in the envelope, the architects explain in planning documents.
A matt metal facade with a granular, textured finish skin forms the protective outer layer of the building, while in the cut-outs smooth metal cladding acts as the “inverse” of the skin.
An elevated garden between the existing John Hunter Hospital and the acute services building will establish interaction between the buildings and act as the primary public space, “offering a space for staff, visitors and patients to enjoy the landscape, natural light and activity from the protection of an internal space.”
“This world-class health precinct will not only significantly enhance capacity for clinical care and collaboration between the health, research and education sectors but be a key driver of economic growth in the region,” said health minister Brad Hazzard.
“The cleverly designed acute services building will house cutting-edge technology, enabling John Hunter’s incredible staff to continue to deliver exemplary health care to the greater Newcastle, Hunter New England and northern NSW regions.”
Works are scheduled to begin in 2022 and are due for completion in 2026.
The plans are on public exhibition until 28 June. More

Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra will be demolished, becoming the first Sir Zelman Cowen Award winner to face that grim fate, after the National Capital Authority cleared the way for early works as part of a $500 million redevelopment of the memorial.
The NCA is the final assessment authority for the proposed redevelopment. It received 601 submission during its consultation process, an overwhelming majority, 590, objected to the proposed works, while only three supported it.
Clare Cousins, former national president of the Australian Institute of Architects and spokesperson for the Hands Off Anzac Hall campaign, said, “Australia’s regulatory framework has failed Australians at every step of this abomination of an ‘assessment’ process. Supposedly ‘independent’ decisionmakers been shown to be nothing more than toothless tigers dancing to the tune of their political masters.”

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The parade ground and proposed new southern entrance designed by Scott Carver. Image: Synthetica

Key issues raised in the submissions included the impacts on heritage values and the demolition of Anzac Hall. Many questioned why the expansion was needed and what its purpose was.
The NCA concluded that “the need for the expansion and the story to be told within the expanded facility are matters for the AWM Council […] the NCA does not have a role in determining the content of exhibitions or the curatorial direction of the AWM.”
The NCA also cited previous approvals in its decision. “The approval by Minister Ley satisfies the heritage conditions of the Plan and guided the NCA’s assessment of this matter.”
“The NCA has been advised that the demolition of Anzac Hall was proposed following an exhaustive consideration of development options by the AWM. These were outlined by the AWM in its submission to the PWC. The Committee determined that despite the relatively recent completion of Anzac Hall, its demolition was necessary to create an acceptable visitor experience and to achieve the flexible display space sought by the AWM.
“Demolition of Anzac Hall was not considered to have an unacceptable impact on heritage values of the AWM.”
Cousins, who won the President’s Prize at the ACT Architecture Awards on 4 June for her efforts in the Hands Off Anzac Hall campaign, added, “The Environment Minister, the Parliamentary Public Works Committee and now the NCA have together created an abysmal precedent that endangers every other piece of public architecture in this country.”
“Expert advice on the significant negative heritage impacts to the AWM from demolishing Anzac Hall, as well as widespread community opposition, have been equally ignored.” More

A new law school building named after jurist and former Macquarie University chancellor Michael Kirby will be built at the heart of the university’s Macquarie Park campus, under a proposal before planning authorities.
The proposal will partially retain a 1980s off-form concrete building that currently sits at the site at 17 Wallaby Walk. The development will aim for maximum flexibility to cater for future changes.
Hassell has designed the four-storey building, which will be based around a full-height central atrium topped by a glazed roof with integrated photovoltaic.
“The adapted reuse of the existing structure extends the life of the building and re-purposes it to ensure it is future proof for years to come,” state the architects.
The new structure will be formed of cross-laminated timber, “further reducing the carbon footprint of the building while creating an environment that is warm, tactile and welcoming.”

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Macquarie Law School Michael Kirby Building by Hassell.

Located at the junction of two primary thoroughfares, University Avenue and Wally’s Walk, the building will be prominent on campus. It fits into the university’s 2014 masterplan,
Which called for Wally’s Walk and the surrounding public domain to be enhanced, and the campus to be made more active and connected.
“The proposed facade design enables passive shading to the interior work space as well as allowing mixed mode for natural ventilation,” states Hassell. The naturally ventilated atrium allows better connection to the external environment to enhance user experience.”
Poking out into the atrium space at various of heights will be a series of “cantilevered atrium boxes,” which, along with a timber circulation stair and “atrium grandstand,” will contribute to an active, connected space.
The building’s ground level will contain teaching facilities and public amenities; levels one and two will comprise the law commons, academic workspaces and supporting spaces, as well as specialist law teaching and learning facilities; and the top levels will house office, event and meeting spaces as well as a terrace.
The development proposal is on public exhibition until 16 June. More

The Victorian Health Building Authority has appointed Lyons as the principal architect for stages two and three of the $541.6 million Ballarat Base Hospital redevelopment. The firm will design the central energy plant building along with the main hospital tower, which will include the new emergency department, women’s and children’s hub, theatre suite and extra […] More