Architecture

A new installation at the University of Sydney is telling stories from Gamilaraay Country, revealing the importance of native grasses in food production.
The act of grinding grains with water to make bread can be dated back 30,000 years ago in the lands now known as Australia, with archaeologists finding evidence of grinding stones from that time in Cuddie Springs. This suggests that Aboriginal peoples were the world’s first bakers, pre-dating the ancient Egyptians experiments with bread by around 12,000 years.

This history, and the ongoing importance of native grasses in passing down knowledge relating to Country, are explored in the installation Dhuwarr: a celebration of Gomeroi grasses, grains and placemaking.
The design team behind the project comprises Kuku Yalanji man Michael Mossman, senior lecturer and architect at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning; Worimi and Biripi man Jack Gillmer, a graduate of architecture; and Richard Leplastrier, 1999 Gold Medallist and “national living treasure.” The installation includes growing grasses and a miniture scene depiciting the harvesting of grasses with two utes.

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Michael Mossman said the installation aims to create a bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge systems.

“Sharing these storylines with an audience will facilitate exchange of knowledge in contemporary ways, an act influenced by ancient practices that build connections and engender new knowledge for our future generations,” he said.
The research basis for the installation is work being undertaken at the university’s Planting Breeding Institute in Narrabri led by scientist Angela Pattison, which is focused on the production and commercial viability of native Australian grasses and grains.
“Working with Jack and Richard, we have listened to and embraced the qualities of Country and First Nation cultures to enrich a process and produce an amazing new storyline,” said Mossman.
The installation will be on display in the foyer of the university’s F23 Building until 15 November. More

The design of the Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta has inched closer to being finalized after Infrastructure NSW released the Response to Submission report.
The report outlines design developments to the new museum, by Moreau Kusunoki and Genton, which include improvements to the public domain, a reduction of the proposed buildings’ overall footprint, and the inclusion of a new rooftop pavilion.
The setback from the river increases from 22.1 metres to 28.3 metres, which will allow for a more generous public domain on the north side of the building facing the riverfront.

The setback from Phillip Street (at the southern end of the site) will be increased from 8.6 to 13.2 metres. This will provide more space at the streetfront, allowing for a bus drop off at that location. The height of the eastern building has been reduced by one metre.
As a result of the increased setbacks, public circulation spaces within the museum will be reduced. To compensate for the loss, a rooftop pavilion will be added to the eastern building, which will be used as a multi-functional indoor-outdoor space for education, community and event activities.

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Revised design of Powerhouse Parramatta by Moreau Kusunoki and Genton.
Image: Courtesy Powerhouse Museum
The distinctive steel exoskeleton will also be optimised for better interface with the public realm.
“Our design for Powerhouse Parramatta with its latticed structural exoskeleton will create unprecedented curatorial flexibility for the Museum, with seven column-free exhibition spaces to exhibit the extraordinary Powerhouse Collection,” said the design team.
“The lightness and transparency of the structure, along with the in-between spaces created, will connect the visitors to the surrounding landscape and enhance a unique museum experience.”

The new museum will accommodate more than 18,000 square metres of exhibition area across seven spaces, which will provide greater access to the institution’s collections.

The President of the Museum’s Trust, Barney Glover, said,“Powerhouse Parramatta will be a contemporary world-class museum that will provide extraordinary benefits for the communities of Greater Sydney and NSW.”
“The Museum will contribute to the expansion of the visitor and night-time economies of Parramatta while also being a place that importantly reflects the cultural diversity of Sydney.

“The project will transform the riverfront area into an active public domain with improved pedestrian connections and deliver part of the ‘Civic Link’ which connects the heart of the Parramatta CBD to the river.”
The NSW government’s own brief had called for the demolition of two heritage buildings on the site. However, in response to public submissions, these buildings will now be saved. According to the report, St George’s Terrace will now be retained, and an adaptive reuse strategy will be developed for it to become part of the museum in the form of education facilities, commercial or retail uses.

NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin announced that Willow Grove will be dismantled and rebuilt at a new location within Parramatta North.
“The Powerhouse welcomes the NSW Government’s decision to relocate Willow Grove to a location within Parramatta North. This will not only improve access to this much-loved building, but also deliver it in a much better setting,” said Lisa Havilah, chief executive of Powerhouse Museum.
“Powerhouse Parramatta will be a cultural anchor within the Parramatta arts and culture precinct. I am excited by the progress being made on this extraordinary design.”
The response to submissions is currently being assessed by the NSW planning department. More

The preferred bidder has been named to build the $1.5 billion Footscray Hospital, in what the Victorian government is calling the largest ever health infrastructure investment in the state.
Billard Leece Partnership and Cox Architecture will lead the design of the hospital, with the Plenary Health consortium to deliver the project. The consortium comprises Plenary Group as sponsor and investor, Sojitz Corporation as investor, Multiplex as the builder and Honeywell and Compass as the facilities and maintenance managers. It will now enter exclusive negotiations with the state government.

The new Footscray Hospital will be built on the corner of Geelong and Ballarat Roads, opposite Victoria University, on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples of the Kulin Nation. It replaces the current hospital on Gordon Street, which opened in 1953.
The hospital will have at least 504 beds and will deliver more outpatient, palliative care and mental health services. Construction will begin immediately upon contract award and the hospital is expected to be completed in 2025.

The government announced its intention to build the hospital in its 2017 budget.

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Victorian architects will have the opportunity to play a critical role in the post-lockdown re-opening of outdoor dining in Melbourne.
The Australian Institute of Architects is seeking expressions of interest from practices to undertake set-price work for the City of Melbourne in assisting hospitality venues, in various precincts develop a site plans as part of their permit application for outdoor dining.
Outdoor dining will be allowed in Melbourne once the city reaches the third step in the state government’s reopening roadmap, when the average daily number of new COVID-19 cases is less than five. Small and medium businesses can now apply for grants of up to $10,000 to support temporary outdoor dining.

The Institute is aking practices to complete a survey to confirm eligibility. It will provide the information to the City of Melbourne, who will contact practices to undertake procurement of services.

The City of Melbourne is seeking architects/practices who:
Are Pre-Qualified Consultants on the Victorian Government Construction Supplier Register
Have undertaken previous urban design work.
Have undertaken previous hospitality work.
Have undertaken previous work for the City of Melbourne or other local government authorities.
To register an expression of interest, head here.

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A $64 million 18-storey student accommodation development in Redfern designed by Allen Jack and Cottier Architects has been approved, after having its planning assessment fast-tracked by the NSW government.
Weehur Redfern Student Housing, to be built on the land of the on Gadigal people, will provide 488 rooms for students of central Sydney universities.
“This uniquely designed tower will provide high quality housing for students and keep more of our construction workers in jobs, while reflecting Redfern’s indigenous heritage, said planning minister Rob Stokes.

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Weehur Redfern Student Housing by Allen Jack and Cottier Architects.

“The building will include Aboriginal artwork, creative open public spaces, and it’s a just a short hop to Redfern station and many public transport options.”
Allen Jack and Cottier says the building has been designed to be a high-quality managed student residence meeting the need for affordable housing for domestic and international students within the vicinity of the urban campuses of central Sydney.

“The proposal aims to revitalise and enhance the urban and social context of the site to the benefit of both the students and the wider Redfern community acknowledging at all times the importance of Redfern to the Indigenous community,” the architects said in planning documents.
The tower was one of 11 projects to be fast-tracked in the state government’s sixth tranche of fast-tracked projects.

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Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and Australian artist Geoffrey Nees will create an architectural pavilion at the National Gallery of Victoria, as part of the gallery’s second triennial exhibition.
The triennial will include 86 major projects, 34 of which will be major works commissioned by the NGV. The exhibition will feature more than 100 artists, designers and collectives from more than 30 countries.
Kuma and Nees’s timber pavilion will be built using a traditional Japanese technique where interlocking pieces are held together only by tension and gravity.

The interior of the pavilion will feature a tessellated pattern formed of timber pieces harvested from trees that died during the millennium drought at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, some of which pre-dated colonial occupation of Australia.
The pavilion’s design responds to a new acquisition for the gallery, Dialogue by South Korean artist Lee Ufan. It is intended to act as a contemplative, sensorial walkway through which visitors would approach the painting.

The triennial exhibition will be divided into four themes: illumination, reflection, conservation, speculation, and the works will explore issues of isolation, representation and race, and speculation of the future.

“The NGV Triennial offers visitors a significant opportunity to explore how we use art to express ourselves, communicate and consider the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be,” said NGV director Tony Ellwood. “Artists, designers and architects of the twenty-first century perform a vital role in giving form to our collective imagination, fears and aspirations. We are all living in a world in flux: there has never been a more important moment to celebrate human capability than now.”

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Boudoir Babylon by Adam Nathanial Furman and Sibling Architecture.
Image: courtesy of the architects
Other new commissions include the transformation of the NGV Gallery Kitchen by English architect Adam Nathaniel Furman and Australian studio Sibling Architecture. The project will draw on influences from the boudoir, the salon and the nightclub to create a space with “flamboyant scenography and décor.” It is intended to be an inclusive space that is “especially welcoming to those who may not feel comfortable or safe in the public realm.”
A 15-minute animated short film by Australian born architect Liam Young will depict an alternative urban future in which the world’s population lives densely together as an antidote to the climate crisis.

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Plant City (still) by Liam Young.
Image: Liam Young
And Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola will create her first major furniture installation in Australia, to be located in the NGV’s Great Hall. Recycled Woollen Island will feature a series of large, long ottomans in the form of whimsical giant socks, made with upcycled textile furnishings and handcrafted. The installation is intended to encourage visitors to take their shoes off and lie down to gaze at the famous ceiling in the Great Hall by Leonard French.
The 2020 triennial is the second instalment of the major exhibition. The inaugural edition in 2017 was the most-attended exhibition in the NGV’s history, attracting 1.23 million visitors.
The triennial will be free to visitors and will be open from 19 December 2020 until 18 April 2021. More

An upcoming online exhibition will showcase the Australia–China relationship through a series of architectural pairings.
Living in the City: Australia–China Conversations Through Architecture, curated by the University of Queensland’s School of Architecture and produced by the Swayn Centre for Australian Design at the National Museum of Australia, will include 30 projects from across the two countries, coupled together to highlight issues such as density and amenity, mixed-use urbanity for growing cities, and reprogramming architecture for community benefit.

The exhibition aligns Australian architectural expertise with the increasing investment in public and community project by provincial and municipal governments in China.
“The exhibition is a great example of how knowledge sharing and the innovative approach to architecture in Australia and China create desirable places for people to live and work, designing and building sustainable cities that benefit all in our diverse communities,” said Australia’s ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher.

The exhibition has been commissioned by the Australian Embassy Beijing and Austrade, and builds on a survey of the work Australian architects have done in China, also commissioned by the embassy and Austrade.

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Luxe Lakes Towers by John Wardle Architects.
Image: courtesy of the architect
“Australian architects play a critical role in the shaping of cities across the world,” said Cameron Bruhn, dean and head of the School of Architecture at UQ.
The exhibition shows how Australian architecture helps to support and grow businesses, shape communities, heal, educate, nurture, and deliver government policy.
The projects featured in the exhibition include Australia 108 (Melbourne) by Fender Katsalidis, Ace Hotel (Sydney) by Bates Smart, SAHMRI (Adelaide) by Woods Bagot, Luxe Lakes Towers (Chengdu) by John Wardle Architects, Landsea Green Centre (Shanghai) by Decibel Architecture, and National Speed Skating Oval (Beijing) by Populous.

“The ability of Australian architects to design treasured national projects throughout China, and elsewhere in Asia, provides an opportunity to enhance Australia’s international engagement,” said Paul Henry, founder and managing director of Populous, which was named 2019 Exporter of the Year at the Australian Export Awards.
The exhibition will open in October during China’s 2020 Extraordinary Australia Festival and closes in March 2021 during Brisbane’s Asia Pacific Architecture Festival. More

The biggest-spending budget in modern Australia’s history fails to address critical issues such as social housing and sustainable buildings and may not be enough to stop construction projects drying up, says the Australian Institute of Architects.
The Morrison government’s 2020 federal budget, released on 6 October, lays the groundwork for a private sector-led recovery, leaning heavily on asset write-offs, tax offsets and wage subsidies to encourage businesses to invest.

It includes an additional $7.5 billion for new infrastructure projects – largely roads and other transport infrastructure – but there is little in the way of new funding to directly boost construction in the residential sector.
“Only $0.6 million over four years from 2020-21 has been allocated to boost housing demand and support the residential construction industry in the face of plummeting activity levels,” said Institute CEO Julia Cambage.

Leading economists, community organizations and industry bodies, including the Institute, have all called on the government to spend big on publicly led social housing, but the budget includes no new funding in this area.

However, the budget included an extra $1 billion in low-cost financing to encourage private developers to build more affordable housing and $150 million over three years for the Indigenous Home Ownership Program.
The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme will also be extended to support an additional 10,000 first home buyers in 2020-21.
Cambage said these measures, while welcome, would not be enough to stave off the looming downturn in construction activity and that architects would be the first to feel the pain.

“Our members are at the very start of the construction supply chain,” she said. “Design is the first point from which all the other jobs flow, from engineers and surveyors to brickies, plumbers and painters.”

Multiple surveys of architecture firms have shown that billions of dollars worth of projects have been cancelled or put on hold during the pandemic. The Institute estimates that the architectural sector generates $6.1 billion in revenue and $1.1 billion of profit.
Cambage said an increased focus on large-scale legacy building would help achieve both the immediate stimulus needed for recovery while also delivering lasting benefit.

“Looking at past disasters demonstrates the enormous capacity construction has to rebuild economies and produce enduring public infrastructure,” she said.
“Brisbane’s Story Bridge and Somerset Dam are just two examples born of the Great Depression that are still serving the community to this day.”
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has said were a Labor government in power, it would allocate $500 million to social housing repairs. He will deliver the budget reply speech on 8 October. More