Architecture

The National Gallery of Victoria has announced that the city-wide exhibition Melbourne Now will return in 2023, ten years after its inaugural exhibition.
Melbourne Now will again focus on the intersection of architecture, art, design and culture in Melbourne today, exploring how these practices shaping the city’s cultural landscape.
The NGV has allocated an initial $1.5 million to acquire, commission and present new works by local Victorian artists, designers and architects for the exhibition.

“The NGV is delighted to be able to support our local creative community with the second iteration of Melbourne Now,” said NGV director Tony Ellwood. “We know new and significant works will be created by Victorian artists and designers for this exhibition, which will celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of our creative sector.”
The 2013 exhibition was lauded as the first time NGV has placed local design and architecture practices in the context of a wider survey of contemporary art.

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Sampling the City 2013.
Image: NGV
It included architecture-focused exhibitions such as Sampling the City, curated by Fleur Watson, which was centred around a four-wall cinematic presentation capturing the work and words of Melbourne’s architectural community, and a series of ideograms by Leon van Schaik.
Reviewing the exhibition for Architecture Australia at the time, Maitiú Ward described it as “a raucously diverse celebration of Melbourne’s arts culture.”
Melbourne Now was the first of the NGV’s now-familiar “summer blockbuster” exhibitions. More than 753,000 visitors attended the exhibition, representing a 32 percent increase in attendance figures compared to the same period in the previous year.

“Embraced by Victorians and visitors alike, the original 2013 Melbourne Now exhibition was a landmark presentation of the most exciting art and design being made in one of the world’s most creative cities,” said Victoria’s creative industries minister, Martin Foley. “Ten years on, Melbourne Now 2023 is set to be an equally momentous event, while playing an important role in the post-COVID recovery of our creative sector.”
The 2023 exhibition will be displayed throughout all levels of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, including in the permanent collection galleries. It will include new works and commissions by emerging, mid-career and senior practitioners as well as local collectives.
It will cover a wide range of contemporary disciplines including architecture, ceramics, fashion and jewellery, painting, sculpture, video, performance, printmaking and publishing.
Entry will be free, as it was in 2013. More

A proposed performing arts centre at a Canberra school has been designed in the language of the school’s existing red brick buildings.
Daramalan College is located in Dickson, Canberra, on the land of the Ngunnawal people, the school invited selected architects to prepare initial concept ideas for the new building in July 2020 and selected Stewart Architecture in mid-August.
Stewart Architecture’s design for the two-storey building includes a “performative” brick facade with colonnades and bleacher seating to the north. The building will accommodate a black box theatre with more than 150 seats, a drama studio, music teaching rooms and sound-insulated practice studios.

The design also intends to better connect the school with a nearby waterway. “Daramalan College has a northern boundary facing the Sullivan’s Creek drain of nearly half a kilometre,” said Stewart Architecture director Felicity Stewart. “There is an opportunity to transform the Dickson drain into a pedestrian and bicycle parkland, linking the new Dickson and Lyneham Wetlands. The new Performing Arts Centre has the potential to face onto this area, activating the public realm both day and night.”

The performing arts centre is expected to be complete in late 2022, in time for the school’s 60th anniversary.

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Melbourne Design Week will be back in 2021 with the theme “Design the world you want” and the organizers are now seeking expressions of interest for talks, tours, workshops, launches and exhibitions.
The 11-day program showing off local and international design will run from Friday 26 March to Monday 5 April 2021 and will include events across Victoria.
Participants are being asked to consider “how the design community can work together to create a better, healthier future for the planet and its inhabitants.”

Expressions of are open to a wide range of practitioners, including designers, architects, galleries and educators.
“Melbourne Design Week has earned its reputation as an internationally renowned platform for Australian design and innovation,” said National Gallery of Victoria director Tony Ellwood. “This initiative is a celebration of our thriving industry, but also an opportunity for practitioners and visitors alike to encounter and discuss work at the vanguard of design practice world-wide.”

Launched in 2017, Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government delivered by the National Gallery of Victoria.
For the 2021 program, the organizers are working alongside Open House Melbourne to put on a satellite program in regional Victoria, building on the previous success of the regional program in Geelong, which led to the establishmemt of Geelong Design Week.

During Melbourne Design Week, some of the world’s leading architects, designers and thinkers will present keynote talks and conversations.

And the Victorian Design Challenge will also return, offering a share of more than $25,000 in prizes for student and professional designers.
The Victorian government has announced it will renewed its presenting partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria, locking in Melbourne Design Week for a further four years.
Creative industries minister Martin Foley said, “As we look ahead to a post-COVID world, design and creativity will play an important role not just in our recovery but in rethinking the status quo to build a better reality. Melbourne Design Week, the largest event of its kind in Australia, this year invites the design community to ‘design the world you want’ – an important and timely provocation.”
Expressions of interest can be made via the Melbourne Design Week website. More

The Powerhouse Museum is calling for community feedback to help determine the future of its existing facility at Ultimo.
In July 2020, after years of resistance, the NSW government announced the existing Powerhouse Museum would be retained, in addition to a new museum which will be built in Parramatta.
The Powerhouse Museum and Create NSW are jointly developing a business case for the Ultimo facility.
“The Museum’s renewal gives us the opportunity to ask the public what they want to see from a modern museum experience, how we might reimagine our remarkable collection for decades to come, what role technology could play in the visitor experience, and how the Museum will remain a thriving institution within the Ultimo precinct,” said Lisa Havilah, chief executive of Powerhouse Museum.

The state heritage listed Powerhouse dates back to 1899 and was the original electricity generating station which supplied the tram network of Sydney. It was decommissioned in 1963 as the city’s tram network phased out.

The transformation of the former Powerhouse building into a cultural facility, designed by NSW Government Architect Ian Thompson, received the state’s highest honour for public architecture, the Sulman Medal, in 1988.
“Powerhouse Ultimo has a proud history of displaying our world-renowned Collection, and with the NSW Government’s recent decision this will continue to be the case for years to come,” said Barney Glover, president of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences trust.
“The Trust holds the firm belief that public institutions have a responsibility to evolve to meet the ever-changing dynamic of the communities they represent.”
Submissions on the Powerhouse Ultimo Renewal can be made on the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences website.

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A group of locals in South Australia’s Barossa Valley has launched a campaign against a $50 million, 12-storey hotel proposed for Seppeltsfield Winery, which it says is excessively large and out of character for the area. Two neighbours of the winery have also applied to the Environment, Resources and Development Court, calling for a review into the local council’s approval process.
Designed by Adelaide-based practice Intro Architecture, the “Oscar” hotel is intended to reference the history of the winery, established in 1851, with its form inspired by the wine barrels in the Centennial Cellar, built by Oscar Benno Pedro Seppel in 1878. The Barossa Valley lies on the land of the Peramangk, Ngadjuri and Kaurna peoples.

Neighbour Tracy Collins, however, says the design is inappropriate.
“It is purely the magnitude, the height, the fact that it doesn’t sit cohesively within the landscape, it isn’t sensitive to nature,” she told the ABC.

“To be honest, we don’t think it truly reflects Barossa culture.
“People come from the city with big skyscrapers and high-rises and come to the Barossa because they don’t see that.”
Collins is part of the Taming Oscar community action group, which says that while it is not in opposition to development at Seppeltsfield or the wider Barossa area, development should work with the landscape and fit in with the largely low-rise buildings of the winery region.

Preliminary plans for the hotel were submitted to Light Regional Council for consideration in February 2020. Council planning staff assessed the development as a Category 2 tourist accommodation development, which means that only owners or occupiers of adjacent land are entitled to be consulted.
Opponents of the proposal have objected to this classification, arguing that such a significant development should require input from the public at large.
In a consultation period in August, council received 11 representations from the 14 neighbours contacted, with two of the neighbours applying to the Environment, Resources and Development Court for a review of the category 2 classification.

The council has since released a statement, on 27 August, noting that it will postpone any further consideration of the development application until the review proceedings in the ERD Court have been determined.
Ultimately, the development application will be assessed by an independent assessment panel established by the council. South Australia’s planning minister Stephan Knoll advised in May that the council was the appropriate planning authority for the development, despite it holding a contractual relationship with Seppeltsfield through the Bunyip Water Scheme and planning a potential future public-private partnership with the winery.
Should the hotel be approved it will house approximately 70 rooms, a “sky bar,” day spa, restaurant and boardroom.
Seppeltsfield owner Warren Randall said, “We wanted to create a national icon for South Australia – a Sydney Opera House for the Barossa.” More

Student accommodation provider Scape Australia has lodged plans for four separate student housing tower developments designed by four architecture firms around the University of New South Wales, on the Country of the Bidjigal and Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation.
The towers will be located along Anzac Parade in Kensington and Kingsford, where Randwick council’s recently passed the K2K planning framework proposal allows for towers up to 18 storeys. Together, they will house 1,528 boarding rooms.

The largest of the developments, home to 564 boarding rooms and costing $93 million, will be built at 111-125 Anzac Parade, on Todman Square intersection. Designed by SJB, it will comprise a cluster of three towers atop a shared base with community, communal and retail functions. “The base is rich and warm, drawing inspiration from the red brick common to Kensington,” SJB states in planning documents. “It forms a diverse jumble of pedestrian scale forms, encouraging the public into the laneways and plazas which proliferate [on] the ground plane.”

The accommodation towers above, meanwhile, are designed to be simple and restrained with “quieter elements which gracefully land on the brick podium.”

Each tower will have its own subtle character, with variations in façade breakup and colouring defining the presence of each form. The tallest of the towers will rise to 19 storeys.
At 182-190 Anzac Parade, another 19-storey tower designed by Plus Architecture will house 381 boarding rooms. Its form will split into two to reduce the overall appearance of bulk, with a central recess that allows space for landscaped balconies.

“The sculpted glass façade will reflect the sky, clouds and sunset in a crystalline manner to add additional interest to the poetic form,” state the architects.
Another 19-storey tower housing 179 boarding rooms will be built at 172-180 Anzac Parade. Designed by BVN, it will rise above existing heritage shop buildings facing Anzac Parade, which are listed as contributory items. BVN’s scheme includes the insertion of a “microplaza” behind these buildings. “The retained elements are able to be read as volumes within the new urban composition (rather than just façades) with the intent to build an authentic layering of place,” state BVN.

The exsiting masonry of the heritage buildings will be maintained, bagged and painted to enable the altered building form to remain a consistent materiality.
Above this, a tower clad in lightweight perforated metal screens will act as a counterpoint to the masonry shop fronts. “The perforations will add depth and dynamic quality as one moves around the building and the sun casts changing light conditions,” state the architects.
Finally, across the street at 391-397 Anzac Parade, PTW Architects has designed an 18-storey tower to include 399 boarding rooms. PTW’s design splits the built form into two distinct elements: the low, open podium and the “highly sculptural and animated” tower above, which cantilevers over the podium.

The four developments together will cost an estimated $281 million. Despite the collapse in international student numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scape executive chairman Craig Carracher said he was optimistic about the student accommodation sector’s future.
“In a post-COVID world, the weight of demand from across Asia, Europe and South America will rise again from students seeking a world-class education in Australia,” he said.
“The opportunity to continue to develop and invest in innovation and academic centres of excellence is a once in a generation opportunity.” More

Bates Smart has re-designed a mixed-use tower planned for 32-44 Flinders Street, Melbourne, changing its use from residential to commercial and reducing the ground floor area.
The original tower planned for the site was designed by SJB for Dexus and approved by the minister for planning in 2016. The new owner of the site, the GPT Group, is now seeking an amendment to the existing permit to change its use and make adjustments to the approved envelope.
Bates Smart’s scheme includes a dedicated pedestrian thru-block, which would be designed to provide a strong visual and physical connection with the surrounding public realm and allow for access to Flinders Street and Flinders Lane.

This link would also allow for views to the eastern boundary wall of the adjacent heritage Ernst and Young Building.

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32-44 Flinders Street by Bates Smart.

Though the form of the tower will remain largely as previously approved, their presentation will alter to reflect their use.

The amendment proposal is going before council’s Future Melbourne Committee on 1 September, with council planners recommending that councillors should not object to the development. The planning minister has final planning authority.
“It is considered that the proposed amendments represent improved built form, urban design and public realm outcomes,” the report to council states. “This includes the provision of a dedicated and more direct through block link between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane. The reduced width of the Flinders Lane podium also allows for a greater appreciation of the three-dimensional form of the adjacent historic Ernst and Young building immediately to the east.”

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The Western Australian government has released early designs for a $50 million pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the Swan River, stretching from Victoria Park to the city via Heirisson Island, on the Country of the Whadjuk Noongar people.
The initial design, which envisions gigantic boomerang-shaped pylons supporting a gently curved bridge, has been prepared by multidisciplinary firm IPV Delft in consultation with a Whadjuk working group.
It takes inspiration from the stories of two key figures associated with Heirisson Island: Noongar Whadjuk woman Fanny Balbuk, who lived during the early days of the Swan River Colony and is remembered for her resistance to colonial expansion; and Noongar man Yagan, famed for his resistance to British colonial settlement in the early nineteenth century.

The bridge stretches out over more than 650 metres, travelling 250 metres over the river on the Victoria Park side and 140 metres on the city side, with a 270-metre path running through Heirisson Island connecting the two river crossings. The pylons in the Swan River will soar to 35 and 40 metres high.

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The Swan river bridge traversing Heirisson Island.
Image: IPV Delft
WA transport minister Rita Saffioti said the bridge wouldnprovide a safer for people walking and riding, taking pressure of the heritage-listed Causeway bridge to the east.
“The Causeway is one of the busiest connections into central Perth, and the current path has long been recognised as too narrow to accommodate demand from people walking, running and riding,” she said.
“The shared path is uneven and becomes congested causing conflict between cyclists and pedestrians, with more than 1,400 cyclists and 1,900 pedestrians using the path daily.”
The new path will be at least 6 metres wide, with dedicated cycle and pedestrian lanes. Final design and planning will continue for the bridge, with tenders to be released in 2021. More