Architecture

Architeam Cooperative has announced the finalists of its 2020 Architeam Awards for small practices. More

A major two-tower development proposed for Lots 5 and 6 of Elizabeth Quay in Perth, on the lands of the Noongar people, has been granted approval.
Designed by New York practice Rex (design architect) and Hassell (executive architect), the $367 million development will include one tower of 58 storeys and another of 21 storeys.
Together they will house 52,000 square metres of office space, 1,800 square metres of dining and retail space, 237 apartments and 84 hotel rooms.

The development was originally known as “Perth+” for its distinctive cross-shaped insertion in the centre of the vertical volume of the taller tower, but this element has since been removed from the design.
“The tall tower stands as an icon in the city and on the Quay, an elegant, lean volume interrupted by the dynamic amenities zone, itself a beacon visible from afar as a symbol of the lively activity down on the Quay day and night,” write the architects in a design statement.

“The lack of clear differentiation between the three uses inside the towers conveys a unified simplicity and humility that is heightened by the internal, visible animation of the amenities zone while the massing and the long fins of the façade emphasize verticality.”
The project’s developer Brookfield Properties is also behind two adjacent towers, the $360 million Chevron tower, designed by Hassell, and the $300 million EQ West tower, designed by Kerry Hill Architects, both of which are currently under construction.

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Elizabeth Quay Lots 5 and 6 by Rex Architecture and Hassell.
Image: Courtesy Rex
WA planning minister Rita Saffioti said the latest approved project promised to be a landmark development for the city.
“These new towers will become another iconic view along our Swan River and encourage more people into the Perth CBD, providing a boost to the economy and supporting and creating local jobs,” she said.
Lands minster Ben Wyatt said, “The 2,500 construction jobs created by this project will add to the employment opportunities already delivered through ongoing construction at Elizabeth Quay, and the 10,000 jobs expected from the recently announced $1.5 billion Perth City Deal.” More

Adelaide’s Studio Nine Architects has designed a prototype for modular, transportable tiny houses that could be used to alleviate homelessness.
Dubbed Calyx, the project is inspired by the protective layer around a flower bud. It comprises a 16-square-metre unit that accommodates a sleeping area, an ensuite, a small kitchen and storage spaces.
Studio Nine undertook consultations, surveys and interviews with the intended end users to understand how they would use the spaces before arriving at a design.

The design minimizes circulation spaces within the unit while at the same time maximizing natural light penetration through the use of large windows, doors and skylights.
The interior is designed with natural materials and provides connection to the outdoors. The units are affordable, modular, transportable and energy efficient.

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The Calyx Project designed by Studio Nine Architects.
Image: Courtesy Studio Nine Architects
They are designed to be installed in a cluster with a communal pod that would provide spaces for washing facilities, a large communal kitchen and serve as a space for events such as skills based workshops, financial training, cooking demonstrations, gardening workshops and barista courses.

The communal pod would also include an office and live-in facilities for a case worker or counsellor.
The project is the brainchild Forage Built, which aims to provide housing for people experiencing homelessness. The design is being pitched to organizations in the homelessness sector and the team are looking for land holders and developers that could provide a site for temporary medium term use.
The construction of a prototype and a pilot program are both underway.

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Open House Hobart is returning for the eighth time in mid-November, opening up Hobart’s architectural gems to the public through a mix of face-to-face and virtual events.
Among the buildings open over the weekend beginning Saturday 14 November will be Signalman’s Quarters in Battery Point, a home designed in 2016 by 1+2 Architecture around a stone cottage constructed in 1853 to house the signalman of Mulgrave Battery; Dock on the Bay, a mid-century building in Berridale designed by influential Tasmanian architect Ray Heffernan; and Mariners Cottages – believed to be the oldest remaining buildings on the site of the ship building yards in Napoleon Street in Battery Point.

The Hobart Fire Brigade’s 1911 Head Station, still operational, but also home to the Tasmanian Fire Museum will also be open for tours as will the Supreme Court of Tasmania, by Peter Partridge.
Another highlight of the program is “one of the great modern houses of Australia”, the 1978-built Dorney House at Fort Nelson, designed by Esmond Dorney. The modernist house will be open for virtual tours, and on the Saturday night it will host Runaway Belles with Emily Sanzaro, Brian Ritchie and Esmond Dorney, part of the Sheltering music series which “invites you to experience a synchronicity of sound, music and design.” Another Sheltering music event will be held at Dock on the Bay on the Sunday.

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Dorney House at Fort Nelson, designed by Esmond Dorney.
Image: Ray Joyce
Then there’s a number of walking tours and a “Sunday drive” taking in buildings outside of Hobart, including Bozen’s Cottage by Taylor and Hinds Architects in historical Oatlands.
Numbers will be limited for building tours, with pre-booking essential.
“We have been working closely with the City of Hobart to provide a COVID-19-safe event that adheres to the government’s guidelines, but one which will allow Tasmanians to experience and learn about the value of architecture and our built environment,” said Open House Hobart producer, Jennifer Nichols, who is also executive director of the Australian Institute of Architects Tasmanian chapter, which organizes and runs Open House Hobart.

“We want to keep our community safe, and for those who don’t feel comfortable to be there in person, we will be running a number of virtual tours across the weekend, along with events either side of this. This will also allow people from across the world the opportunity to tune in a see a little bit of Hobart and its surrounds.”
After the Open House weekend will be a number of livestreamed speaker events. On Tuesday 17 November architect Mat Hinds, of Taylor and Hinds Architects, will discuss Bozen’s Cottage with owners Alison and Doug Bridge, and on Wednesday Rodney Eggleston of March Studio will discuss Kingborough Community Hub, and Neil Bourne of Denton Corker Marshall will present Bridge of Remembrance.
See the full program here. More

FJMT’s revised designs for the $1.8 billion redevelopment of the Harbourside Shopping Centre in Darling Harbour has been put on exhibition for public feedback.
The major development is a project of Mirvac, who bought the site in 2013. Opened in 1988 as part of the Bicentennial Program, Harbourside played a key role to the success of Darling Harbour but is now “outdated and in decline,” according to the developer.
The proposed redevelopment will include the demolition of the shopping centre, along with the removal of the pedestrian bridge link across Darling Drive and obsolete monorail infrastructure. In its place, the development would include a mixture of non-residential and residential uses, including retail and restaurants, residential apartments, and open space.

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FJMT’s concept for the Harbourside Shopping Centre redevelopment.

It would incorporate a civic square, a widened waterfront boulevard and a footbridge link to Pyrmont, makig up a total of 8,000 square metres of public space.

Mirvac engaged Los Angeles firm Jerde Partnership to prepare an initial concept scheme for the retail component of the development and these initial concepts have been integrated into the holistic proposal by FJMT.
Planning documents note that the project would support the realization of the NSW government’s vision for an expanded “cultural ribbon” spanning from Barangaroo, around to Darling Harbour and Pyrmont.

A residential tower was considered a better option than offices because of the 24-hour activation and the reduced floorplate requirments.
FJMT states that to mitigate against view impacts, “the tower adopts an elongated plan, with the narrow facade oriented to the east and west, with wider facades to the north and south.”
“The narrow waterfront tower facade coupled with the current podium form and set back will provide opportunity for a high level of amenity at ground plane with consideration of wind,” state the architects.
The project is classified as a state-significant development, which means it will go through a staged development application process assessed by the state government. The first application is for concept approval for the entire site. More

The Victorian government has approved another round of major projects as part of its push to fast-track planning approvals to boost the economy.
Planning minister Richard Wynne announced approvals for projects worth a total of $625 million across metropolitan, rural and regional Victoria. Most of the projects are office buildings.
At 462-482 Swan Street in Richmond, a $130 million, 13-storey office building designed by Architectus will be built. In planning documents, Architectus states that the building’s design draws on the high street facade typology prevalent along Swan Street. “The layered hierarchy of detail sets a legible rhythm along the street with the interplay of depth diluting the mass of the large street wall frontage,” state the architects.

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36-52 Wellington Street by Jackson Clements Burrows.

In Collingwood, a 15-storey, 5-green star commercial development designed by Jackson Clements Burrows has been approved. Costing $85 million, the 36-52 Wellington Street building responds to the industrial context.

“Referencing surrounding warehouse building typologies, a rhythmic and visually cohesive brick facade to the ground and podium levels and upper levels to the east,” state the architects in planning documents.
And in Frankston, a $116 million, 8-storey office building will be built at Bayside Shopping Centre, 12 Balmoral Walk. To be known as the Balmoral Building, it is designed by Lyons with landscape architect Openwork. Planning documents describe an “urban, porous, and site-specific ground plane” that will become an “exemplar for future privately owned public spaces in the city.”

The other projects approved include a $24.2 million mixed-use development at 69-75 Mortlake Road, Warrnambool; two four-storey apartment complexes including 53 social housing units in Reservoir valued at $74 million; and a 72-megawatt solar farm on Wangaratta-Kilfeera Road in Laceby, valued at $93 million.
“We know how important the building and development sector is to our economic recovery and we’re continuing to support the industry with a pipeline of shovel ready projects,” said Wynne. More

The Association of Consulting Architects’ final “pulse check” survey of 2020 has found around $10 billion worth of work has been cancelled or delayed and architects don’t expect the federal budget to help.
The survey generated responses from 511 practice that represent 5,600 full time equivalent technical staff.
The practices reported a total of $4 billion in cancelled work and $6 billion in delayed work. However, 43 percent of respondents have had projects restart and another 17 percent anticipate projects to restart soon. One-third of practices have had no cancellations.

A small number of practices have had a “worryingly high proportion of projects cancelled or delayed” and 20 percent of respondents face immediate work shortages.
The pattern of delays and cancellations in Victoria is similar to nationwide trends: the private residential, commercial and multi-residential sectors have had high proportions of delayed or cancelled work.

More than two-thirds of practices have experienced losses in revenue, with some experiencing as much as a 60 percent decline. In Melbourne, 80 percent of practices have experienced losses in revenue.

The survey also found that 529 employees have had hours reduced, 109 have been stood down and 97 employees have been made redundant. Of contract workers, 82 have been stood down or had their hours reduced.

More than 80 percent of practices reported that Job Keeper had prevented staff redundancies and stand downs.
However, respondents also expressed concern that some firms may be using Job Keeper to undercut the fees of others.
“One wonders if JobKeeper has artificially allowed architects to reduce fees to win jobs with extremely low quotes. If so architects have cut each others necks,” one responded.

Another said, “We have heard that some practices are deliberately not billing to make sure they are under 30 percent compared to previous year’s income to stay on JobKeeper. We have also heard that these practices are factoring JobKeeper when submitting fees and significantly undercutting their fees to win work. A dangerous practice that will lower client expectations of our value in the long term. We have lost several jobs recently where the winning architect was less than half the fee of the other architects. It looks like JobKeeper has created an uneven playing field to the detriment of the profession.”

The survey also questioned practices on whether they would take advantage of measures announced in the federal budget, including the instant asset write-off, the temporary loss carry-back scheme, and the JobMaker Hiring Credit Scheme.
“Few respondents envisage definitely taking advantage of the initiatives in the budget,” the survey found. “It is clear that the JobMaker Hiring Credit scheme will not offset the impact of reduced JobKeeper and will be of little benefit to architectural practices or the people they employ.” More

Another group of prominent Australians have penned an open letter calling on the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to halt the proposed $498 million redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.The letter comes after the Australian Heritage Council made submissions against the proposal as part of the consultation process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.“We urge the Australian Government not to accept the current proposal. It should be withdrawn and significantly amended, or EPBC Act approval should be refused,” the group said.Signatories to the letter include architects Roger Pegrum, Penelope Seidler and Penleigh Boyd, professor of architecture Don Watson, heritage architect Eric Martin and architectural historian Peter Freeman. Also signing was John Denton, whose practice Denton Corker Marshall designed the under-threat Anzac Hall. Five organizations, including Docomomo Australia and the Australian branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, are also signatories.Many of the signatories are part of a group of 88 prominent Australians who signed an earlier open letter to the government in March 2019, which also called on the government to abandon the redevelopment plans.Despite the growing chorus of critics, the Australian War Memorial continues to defend redevelopment plans, describing the existing Anzac Hall as “no longer fit for purpose.”
The Australian War Memorial development project will have major heritage impacts on the Memorial, a place that has deep meaning for all Australians. The intervention by the Australian Heritage Council, the government’s principal adviser on heritage matters, shows that reconsideration of the project is imperative.
The Council is chaired by the Hon. Dr David Kemp AC, a former Cabinet minister. Its recent submission to the Memorial under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) 1999 concluded thus:
Regrettably the Council cannot support the conclusion that the proposed redevelopment will not have a serious impact on the listed heritage values of the site and recommends that the matters above [set out in the Council’s submission] be given serious attention.
While the signatories to this open letter have multiple perspectives on the many issues raised by the project, we strongly support the Council’s views and are united in our concerns about the heritage impacts. These impacts include:
the proposed demolition of the award-winning Anzac Hall (2001);
the loss of the free-standing form of the Memorial building, to be swamped by a huge glazed addition (that will also be visible down Anzac Parade);
the loss for most visitors of the existing commemorative entry, with entry mostly being via the lower ground level; and
on the overall landscape setting of the Memorial from changes to the Parade Ground in front of the Memorial, the expansion of other buildings on site and the overall hardening of what is currently a respectful balance of built and landscape elements.
The Memorial must be supported to achieve its core functions, but this should (and can) occur without damage to its core commemorative strength – the iconic heritage building and site.
We urge the Australian Government not to accept the current proposal. It should be withdrawn and significantly amended, or EPBC Act approval should be refused.
In view of the importance of this issue, a copy of this letter has been forwarded to the Ministers for the Environment and Veterans’ Affairs, the Acting Chair of the Public Works Committee and Members of the House of Representatives.
Yours faithfully, the following organisations and individuals,
Organisations
Australia ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites): Helen Lardner, President
Australian Historical Association: Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, President
Docomomo Australia: Dr Scott Robertson, Australian President (Docomomo is the international organisation concerned with the documentation and conservation of buildings and areas of modern architecture)
National Trust of Australia (ACT): Gary Kent, President
Walter Burley Griffin Society (Canberra Chapter): Brett Odgers
Individuals
Geoff Ashley, heritage consultant
Blake Ayshford, screen writer
Vicken Babkenian, researcher, Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Paul Barratt AO, former Secretary, Department of Defence
Professor Emerita Joan E Beaumont AM FASSA FAIIA, Australian National University
Dr Margaret Beavis, Vice President, Medical Association for Prevention of War
Professor Diane Bell
Professor Frank Bongiorno AM
Max Bourke AM, founding Director, Australian Heritage Commission (later Council)
Penleigh Boyd, architect
Dr Alison Broinowski AM, former Australian diplomat
Richard Broinowski AO, former Australian diplomat
Bishop George Browning, former Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn
Pamela Burton
Richard Butler AC
Professor Marie Carroll
Dr Peter Cochrane FAHA, historian, Hon. Associate, University of Sydney
Peter G. Corlett OAM, sculptor
Associate Professor Martin Crotty, University of Queensland
Paul Daley, author and journalist; Walkley Award winner
Professor Joy Damousi FASSA, Director, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University
Mark Dawes, former Assistant Director, Branch Head, Corporate Services, Australian War Memorial
Emeritus Professor Phillip Deery, Victoria University
John Denton, architect, Australian Institute of Architects gold medallist
Dr Meredith Edwards AM
Hon. Elizabeth Evatt AC
Dr Romain Fathi, Senior Lecturer in History, Flinders University
Stephen B. Flora, veteran and citizen
Peter Freeman OAM, architectural historian, conservator and writer
Dr Bill Gammage AM FASSA, historian
Dr Rolf Gerritsen, Professorial Research Fellow, Charles Darwin University
Paddy Gourley, former First Assistant Secretary, Department of Defence
Emeritus Professor Tom Griffiths AO FASSA
Major General Steve Gower (Ret’d) AO, AO Mil, Vietnam veteran, former Director, Australian War Memorial
Dr David Headon, historical consultant
Alistair Henchman RPIA, tourism planner
Dr Carolyn Holbrook, ARC Senior Fellow, Deakin University
Dr Douglas Hynd, Adjunct Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
Professor Tracy Ireland, Professor of Cultural Heritage, University of Canberra; editor, Historic Environment
Dr Benjamin T. Jones, Central Queensland University
Brendon Kelson, former Director, Australian War Memorial
Dr Julie Kimber, Senior Lecturer, Politics and History, Swinburne University of Technology
Emeritus Professor Hon. Dr Carmen Lawrence, chair, Australian Heritage Council 2010-18
Richard Llewellyn, former Registrar, Australian War Memorial
Dr Judith McKay, former Curator, Australian War Memorial; former member, Queensland Heritage Council
Professor Mark McKenna, Chair, Department of History, University of Sydney
Dr Michael McKernan, historian; former Deputy Director, Australian War Memorial
Eric Martin AM, heritage architect; former access consultant, Australian War Memorial
John Menadue AO, publisher
Stewart Mitchell, former head of heritage, buildings and services, Australian War Memorial
John Myrtle
Dr Douglas Newton, historian
Brett Odgers, Walter Burley Griffin Society (Canberra Chapter)
Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, Chair of History, Flinders University; President, Australian Historical Society
Roger Pegrum, architect
Margaret Pender
Michael Piggott AM, former Senior Curator, Australian War Memorial
Richard Reid, former Senior Historian, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Professor Henry Reynolds
Professor Noah Riseman, Australian Catholic University
Associate Professor Tilman Ruff AO, Co-President, Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Professor Lyndall Ryan AM
Penelope Seidler AM, architect
Wendy Sharpe, artist and Australian War Memorial official war artist
Professor Peter Stanley FAHA, UNSW Canberra
Dr David Stephens, convener, Heritage Guardians
Professor Alistair Thomson FASSA, Professor of History, Monash University
Shobha Varkey
Dr Sue Wareham OAM, President, Medical Association for Prevention of War
Don Watson, author
Dr Don Watson FAIA, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Queensland
Dr Peter Watts AM, Emeritus Director, Historic Houses Trust of NSW
Ernst Willheim, Visiting Fellow, ANU College of Law
Janet Wilson, retired librarian
JB Windeyer
Professor Angela Woollacott, Manning Clark Professor of History, ANU
Professor Clare Wright, Professorial Research Fellow and Professor of History, La Trobe University More