Architecture

A multidisciplinary team led by Kerstin Thompson Architects has been appointed to develop a masterplan and design framework for the redevelopment of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The team, which also includes PPP, Umow Lai, Veris, Andy Fergus and Bryce Raworth, has been tasked with developing scenarios to demonstrate how the court’s heritage buildings in Melbourne’s CBD could be modernized, expanded and adapted to support the court’s future needs and balance urban design, heritage, architecture, workplace and jurisprudential requirements.

The masterplan will encompass six sites in Melbourne legal precinct, which includes the Supreme Court of Victoria on the corner of William and Lonsdale streets, and the adjacent Court of Appeals and Old High Court buildings.
The Supreme Court is part of a complex of buildings collectively known as the Melbourne Law Courts. The building’s design is the result of a competition conducted by the Public Works Department in 1873, which caused a scandal among the architectural fraternity when architect A. L. Smith and A. E. Johnson won the competition, when Johnson was on the judging panel. Detailed drawings of the building were conducted by J. J. Clark and P. Kerr.

The building took 10 years to construct and the first sitting was held in February 1884. The building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
“The Law Courts are architecturally significant as an example of the Renaissance Revival style on a very grand and imposing scale, with a severity befitting its function. The boldness of planning and massing and the mannerist details are highly characteristic of the work of the architect AE Johnson,” its statement of significance reads.

“The Law Courts are architecturally significant for the excellence of the carving of the Tasmanian freestone and the Malmsbury bluestone base. Additionally significant internally are the very elaborate moulded plasterwork on walls and ceilings, and the robust detailing of the benches, Judges’ canopies, and cedar panelling.

“The Law Courts are the largest court buildings in Australia to be built to a single design, and the planning solutions for the separation of different groups of courts was unprecedented.“The Law Courts are […] significant for its origins in a design competition in 1873 that scandalized the architectural profession, due to the close professional relationship between one of the assessors, George Johnson and the winner Alfred Smith.

“It was the largest single building project in the country at the time and one of the last public building projects before the depression of the 1890s halted most building works across the State until the turn of the century.”

The building is square shaped in plan, with each street facade measuring 85 metres. It has one court at each corner and four more courts along the north and south wings as well as administrative offices and judges’ chambers, all enclosing a circular courtyard. The Supreme Court Library sits at the centre of the courtyard.

According to the heritage statement of significance, “The design is reputed to be based on the design of James Gandon’s Four Courts building in Dublin, following a suggestion to Smith and Johnson by Chief Justice Sir William Stawell.”
A Strategic Asset Plan 2016–2031 developed by Court Services Victoria found that the “Supreme Court infrastructure is no longer fit-for-purpose with insufficient and inadequate facilities resulting in significant issues including safety and security, demand, functionality, condition, compliance and risk of failure.”

It also identified opportunities to “Develop and construct a new purpose-built Supreme Court within the precinct, ending the campus model of Supreme Court infrastructure [and] develop alternative uses by the Supreme Court and related institutions within the precinct (educational, support, professions) for the existing Supreme Court historic buildings.”
Kerstin Thompson, design director of Kerstin Thompson Architects said, “We appreciate the civic importance and heritage significance the Supreme Court of Victoria represents – within its sites but also within the legal precinct and within the city of Melbourne as a keystone of civic infrastructure and as an interconnected campus.”
Kerstin Thompson Architects’ team also includes director of projects Kelley Mackay, senior associate Toby Pond, and associate Michael Blancato. More

Australia’s largest natural marine observatory will take the form of a whale and will be built two kilometres out to sea at the end of the Busselton Jetty, located 200 kilometres south of Perth.
The cetacean-inspired design for the Australian Underwater Discovery Centre has been conceived by British firm Baca Architects, who won an international design competition for the project. It was selected over two other design options, The Rock, which mimicked the shape and colour of WA’s Castle Rock and the, Voyage, based on the silhouette of a ship moored against the pier.

The $30 million observatory will include an “underwater trail” as well as underwater dining.
It’s being delivered by marine contractor Subcon: Blue Solutions, which specialize in building offshore windfarms and artificial reefs. Also involved is Core Marine Engineering, which worked on Snøetta’s Under restaurant in Norway, Europe’s first underwater restaurant.

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Concept drawings for Australian Underwater Discovery Centre by Baca Architects.

The design team envisions an immersive experience for visitors from the moment of arrival.
“This is as authentic as it gets, because people are in the tank and the fish are looking in,” said Bustleton Jetty chairman Barry House. “By adding underwater dining, underwater sculptures, marine art and other features, this project will enhance Busselton Jetty’s 155-year-old experience.”
Busselton Jetty is the longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and is run by a not-for-profit organization. In 2017, the organization initiated feasibility studies and market research to determine the best way to grow and meet environmental goals, which led to the proposed new observatory.
An existing observatory at the jetty, which opened in 2003 at a cost of $3.6 million, will become a marine research centre featuring “public interaction with world-class research and laboratory to educate people about ocean climate change.” More

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne has struggled to establish a strong identity for itself over its two decades at Federation Square, according to the architect behind a major overhaul of the museum unveiled on 10 February.
The centre never had a purpose-built home, and instead was spread out over four levels in the Alfred Deakin Building originally earmarked for a shopping centre.
“Despite the great successes that ACMI has had, this has continued to present a lot of challenges for the way the institution functions and the way that visitors find their way in,” said Tim Black, principal of BKK Architects, the firm behind the $40 million renewal.

Working with US experience design studio Publicis Sapient/Second Story, who designed the museum’s new centrepiece exhibition The Story of the Moving Image, BKK has reshuffled the various functions of the centre to make for a more cohesive experience. The key design move was to establish a new laneway running though the centre, along with a “living stair” that encourages visitors to dwell.

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New signage at ACMI.
Image: Shannon McGrath
The idea was to encourage new groups of visitors to engage with the centre, while also allowing for cross-pollination between the different demographics that are already attracted to the centre, such as the generally older crowd who go the ACMI cinema and the young families and children who frequent the Screen Worlds permanent exhibition.
“Our proposition was thoroughly an urban one insofar as we looked to leverage the very best of the Alfred Deakin Building, which is that fabulous Atrium space, and reimagine it as a laneway that not only leads pedestrians from Flinders Street up to Federation Square but actually starts to stitch back together all of those different offerings that ACMI has always had available to them,” said Black.

This move was informed by Lab Architecture Studio’s original vision for Federation Square, which promised improved connections between the city and the river which were not realized. In terms of the architectural language and materials of the new additions, BKK has attempted to differentiate ACMI from the rest of Federation Square, so that it reads as a separate institution.
“While there’s an acknowledgement that these assertions are new, there are subtle homages back to the existing architecture,” said Deb Adams, senior associate at BKK Architects.

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The Story of the Moving Image exhibition by Publicis Sapient/Second Story.
Image: Shannon McGrath
“We use perforated metals because that’s quite prolific [throughout Federation Square] but we use them in a different manner, making them translucent for instance on the living stair. We have coffered ceilings, which are again an ACMI reinterpretation of the original Lab Architecture scheme, but ours are circular, not fractal and rectilinear.
“We’ve tried to pay a nod to the original architecture, which is much loved by Melbourne and which we love as well, but also to impart ACMI’s identity into the building, which is something they’ve grappled with for so long, to really say ‘this is our space’.”

A wayfinding and signage scheme designed by Melbourne design firm Büro North adds to the unique identity.
Visitors will also experience the museum in a whole different way thanks to an array of interactive, digital experiences powered by a new ACMI-developed experience operating system (XOS).
ACMI director Katrina Sedgwick said, “After five years of preparation, design and hard work, I’m delighted to reveal the new ACMI to the world. Our redevelopment is not only visually stunning, it reimagines what a museum experience can be. From our relaxing dwell spaces to our state-of-the-art galleries and education labs, we can’t wait to welcome visitors back.” More

The Central Coast council in NSW will soon submit a development application for its first regional library in Gosford, designed by Lahznimmo Architects.
Billed as an “iconic” building that will be located in the centre of Gosford CBD, the project will contribute to the identity of the town centre.
It will house a dedicated library, customer service centre, administration, meeting rooms, flexible function spaces, maker/creator spaces, as well as collaboration and innovation space for the community.

It will create a “sense of public meeting room with a view” as it overlooks the adjacent Kibble Park.
The project was first considered by the previous Gosford council as part of a larger Gosford Cultural Precinct that would have also included a performing arts and function centre as part of a $171 million tower.
That plan was later scrapped and the council resolved to continue with the development of a regional library. The project will be the first regional library in Gosford.

The project is funded by a $7 million grant from federal government, a special levy raised by the former Gosford City Council, developer contributions and proceeds from the sale of the Kibbleplax building at 136-146 Donnison Street, which will make way for a three-tower mixed-use development by DKO.
The existing Parkside building will be demolished in April or May 2021 and completion of the new library is expected by 2023.

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A North Sydney modernist office tower has been recommended for heritage protection after architects and heritage advocates pushed back against plans to demolish it.
The Heritage Council of NSW announced it was considering listing North Sydney MLC Building in September 2020, and has made its recommendation following a period of community engagement.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the council has made the recommendation because the building’s owner, Investa, had not demonstrated that they would suffer undue financial hardship should the building be listed.

Heritage minster Don Harwin will now make a decision on whether to honour the recommendation and scuttle the plans for a new building on the site or overrule the heritage body.
Designed by Bates, Smart and McCutcheon and completed in 1956, the North Sydney MLC Building was the first high-rise office block in North Sydney and the largest building of its type in Australia at the time of its construction.

Bates Smart is also the architect of the building’s replacement – a sculptural commercial tower reaching 27 storeys. The firm has noted that it had worked with the building’s owners for more than a decade to find a way to refurbish it, but the plan was eventually deemed unviable because of an “unsympathetic relationship to the heritage of MLC [and] overshadowing of [the adjacent] Brett Whiteley Place.”

In announcing its intention to consider heritage listing the tower, the Heritage Council of NSW said the building was likely to be of state heritage significance due to its association with the evolution of high-rise design in Sydney. It was constructed with construction and structural techniques not previously used in Australia, including “the first use of a curtain wall design, the first use of modular units in Australia, fully rigid steel frame structure combined with ‘light weight’ construction of hollow steel floors resulting in reduced construction loads and time.”
Don Harwin’s office did not respond to ArchitectureAU’s requests for comment by publication.

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An at-grade carpark in Penrith is being transformed into a multi-level car park and office tower covered in plants, with Durbach Block Jaggers leading the design.
The Penrith City Council project at Soper Place will deliver an additional 600 carparks over five levels, along with 6,204 square metres of office space over four levels. The building will also feature a multi-use “public room” complete with a basketball court and playground, which is to be used for community-based activities such as markets, functions and concerts.

Durbach Block Jaggers, together with landscape architect Sue Barnsley Design, won a design competition for the project in late 2019. The competition jury said they appreciated the potential of the multi-use space and found the scheme was “at once pragmatic and poetic.”
A development application has now been submitted to council.
The design has been developed significantly from the competition stage, with large brick arches giving way to a green veil on a criss-cross framework, trimmed with terracotta-tinted concrete.

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Soper Place by Durbach Block Jaggers with Sue Barnsley Design.

“Brick is a mass material, suited to weight bearing arches,” the architects explain in planning documents. “The green veil system is angular, fine and woven into triangulated geometry. The new scheme takes its cues from this, becoming sharper, angular with mass concrete trims at key moments in the facade.”
The terracotta trims, which work to emphasise space and form, reflects the colours found naturally in the Blue Mountains Escarpment and the Nepean River.
Sue Barnsley’s landscape design similarly responds the landscape of the area. “The supporting design principle is to connect people to the landscape of the Nepean River and the bounding overbank ecotones, where the Cumberland Plains and the foot slopes of the Blue Mountains meet the riparian edge,” a design statement reads. “[The design is about] abstracting the local ecology of the Penrith landscape to ensure resilient planting, local character and urban habitat.”

The building will include a rooftop garden with extensive planting, in addition to the green facades. An external connecting stair will link all levels of the car park to the roof garden. Open and visible from the public realm, the stair will encourage use of the garden.
A guiding principle for the design is to help cool combat the urban heat island effect. Research shows that urban development directly contributes to the urban heat island effect in western sydney.
“The DA submitted will help reduce urban heat by delivering a living green facade featuring plants from ecologies along the Nepean River, extensive plantings within the public domain and a green rooftop, all of which will contribute to Cooling our City,” said Penrith mayor Karen McKeown.
“The delivery of this sustainable development will not only provide 600 additional car parking spaces for Penrith, but importantly, it will further strengthen Penrith’s position as Western Sydney’s most liveable city.”
The development will be on public exhibition for community feedback until 16 February. More

The Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA)’s board of directors has announced the appointment of Kathlyn Loseby as incoming CEO, effective 8 March.
Loseby was president of the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects from 2019 and has been an assessor of the architectural practice exam for AACA since 2013. She was COO of architecture firm Crone until January of this year.
AACA said in a statement that Loseby brings to the role significant leadership and relationship management expertise developed over her career in architectural practice and business.

“We are delighted that Kathlyn will be joining the AACA as CEO,” said AACA president Catherine Townsend. “Kathlyn is an accomplished leader and brings an excellent skillset to the AACA team ready to lead us in to the future. This year will focus on the implementation of the revised National Standard of Competency and the changing regulatory frameworks in the construction industry”.

Loseby said it was an exciting time to be taking on the role, with broad changes afoot across the profession.
“I feel it has clear synergies with my recent roles in practice, as an assessor, in advocacy and in regulatory development,” she said. “In these roles, I have become ever more aware that the AACA underpins all aspects of the profession and is a fundamental, critical player in the future development of the industry and our profession’s ability to shape this future in a positive way.”
The current CEO, Kate Doyle, is stepping down from the role of CEO on 5 March.

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