Architecture

A major Aboriginal cultural centre planned for the Darwin waterfront is a step closer, with an EOI call put out for architects to complete the detailed design.
The centre is the result of a 20-year vision for the Larrakia, the Traditional Owners of Darwin to have their own place to showcase their art, history and culture.
“The location and footprint of the Cultural Centre is found in a Native Title related agreement, dating back to 1998,” said Nigel Browne, CEO of Larrakia Development Corporation. “That agreement related to the extinguishment of some of our rights.This development will allow us to protect our future, preserve our past and help build our Territory economy.”

The centre will operate near Stokes Hill Wharf and will include a variety of educational facilities, a museum and art gallery, an outdoor auditorium, a café/restaurant, art studios, artefact storage, retail shops and dedicated interpretive centre.

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A concept image for Larrakia cultural centre.
Image: LDC
As part of the Darwin City Deal, the federal government has committed $2 million over two years for the Larrakia Development Corporation to undertake detailed design and planning for centre
“The Larrakia Cultural Centre will protect and promote Larrakia language and history and will be a key element in the Darwin City Deal to revitalize the city centre and to make it an attractive place to live, work, study and do business,” said Indigenous minister Ken Wyatt.

“Schools and tourists will have the opportunity to learn and interact with the Traditional Owners and the Centre will serve as hub for Indigenous businesses such as tourist operators.”
Architecture and engineering design teams from the Northern Territory, Australia and internationally can submit expressions of interest before 30 August. The successful EOI applicants will progress to a formal request for tender, with the detailed design to commence before December 2020. More

Sydney’s Waverley Council has released concept designs for the redevelopment of the home of the world’s first surf lifesaving club.
Bondi Surf Bathers and Life Saving Club was formed in 1907. Its clubhouse was originally built in 1934 and designed by Ross and Rowe, who also designed the Government Savings Bank of NSW building at 50 Martin Place, now headquarters of Macquarie Bank. The clubhouse is located on the land of the Bidjigal and Gadigal people.
The redevelopment project, designed by Lockhart-Krause Architects, will address functional deficiencies of the existing building, by increasing spaces for training and educational programs, and storage spaces for contemporary life saving equipment, as well as facilities for the club’s female members, who now make up 40 percent. The women’s facilities will double in size and be equal to the men’s.

The concept design proposes to remove “mock heritage” and intrusive additions to the original building, while simultaneous preserving and restoring the original club house. New lightweight additions are intended to highlight the building’s heritage.

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A new publicly accessible courtyard will be created in the proposed redevelopment of the Bondi Surf Bathers and Life Saving Club by Lockhart-Krause Architects.
Image: Courtesy Lockhart-Krause Architects
The addition to the north (rear) of the original building will be removed and replaced with a new addition connected via a courtyard space. The architects say the courtyard references “Bondi’s unique pattern of courtyard buildings including the Bondi Beach Public School, and the Bondi Pavilion” immediately adjacent to the club building.
The courtyard space will create visual separation between the clubhouse and historic Bondi Pavilion, which will allow each to be experienced in the round, and improve access to the beach. Bondi Pavilion itself is also undergoing restoration and redevelopment to a design by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer.

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The existing hall of the Bondi Surf Bathers and Life Saving Club will be transformed into a surf museum dedicated to the birthplace of surf life saving.
Image: Courtesy Lockhart-Krause Architects
The main hall of the clubhouse will become a publicly accessible surf history museum dedicated to the birthplace of the surf lifesaving movement.
The design will also open up the clubhouse to the public, encouraging greater interaction and allowing the club to expand its community programs.
Waverley Council is seeking feedback on the concept designs until 17 September. More

Italian furniture maker Pedrali introduces its New Ideas 2020 collections, which includes collaborations with designers Sebastian Herkner and Robin Rizzini.
Sebastian Herkner was named Maison et Objet’s 2019 Designer of the Year. He has created the Blume collection for Pedrali, inspired by concepts of elegance and sophistication. The collection includes a chair, lounge chair and a set of coffee tables, which feature flower-shaped extruded aluminium profiles.
The chairs are characterised by their soft, rounded shapes with the steel structural element placed under the seat to strengthen the chair and secure removable legs.

The coffee table set is avilable in a range three different heights and various sizes, table tops and finishes.
Robin Rizzini’s design for Pedrali, the Toa table, is a lightweight and minimalist, made from a solid die-cast aluminium frame. The legs are tapered towards the base and the table’s stability is achieved through two steel ars connecting the legs to the top. The table is available in a range of widths and depths and a variety of finishes.

The New Ideas 2020 collections also include designs by Patrick Jouin, CMP Design, Eugeni Quitllet, and Pedrali’s own R&D team.
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Victoria’s Koorie Heritage Trust has launched a four-year program aimed at fostering First Nations design talent and establishing Indigenous-led-and-operated design businesses.
Participants will be mentored in design, production, and small business skills to lay the groundwork for long-term, sustainable design practices.
“We want to work with artists, craftspeople and designers living in Victoria to support their long-term sustainable design practice,” said Tom Mosby, CEO of Koorie Heritage Trust. “This program is an important step in this process by bringing together mentors and industry leaders to work with and nurture talented Indigenous makers.”

The Blak Design program is underpinned by the Indigenous Design Charter and has been developed in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria and RMIT University and is supported by the Ian Potter Foundation.
Each year the program will focus on a different discipline, kicking off in 2020 with jewellery. A spokesperson for Koorie Heritage Trust told ArchitectureAU that the design disciplines to be focused on in the following years will be decided shortly.

The jewellery program will take place over four months, with participants taking part in a series of free hands-on jewellery design and making workshops, as well as small business skills tutorials and visits to jewellery design studios, galleries and stores across Melbourne. Guidance will be provided by cultural mentors, design professionals, jewellers and industry practitioners and experts throughout, and at the end of the program, an additional opportunity will be awarded to up to three participants to be mentored and work towards realizing a jewellery collection for production, launch and sale in 2021.
Applications open on 1 September close on 13 October, 5pm.

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A “colossal” 81-storey tower approved for central Brisbane has been cut down to size, with the original architect Blight Rayner preparing new designs for a much smaller 34-storey office building.
The updated scheme for the development at the corner of George and Queen streets removes the 534 residential units planned for the original tower, approved by Brisbane council in 2017, and instead all levels above the podium will be given over to office space.
Facing outward towards Queen Street Mall and the Brisbane River, the tower will still be visually prominent within the inner-city skyline, with green “sky terraces” set into the building giving it a distinctive look. The site is located on the land of the Yugara/YUgarapul people and Turrbal people.

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60 Queen Street Brisbane by Blight Rayner.

In addition to the office space, the development will include a new arcade connecting Burnett Lane and Queen Street, an active ground level including hospitality and retail tenancies along Queen Steet and through the arcade and an open podium terrace garden for the building’s workers.

“The proposed density and scale of the development capitalises on its unique location, orientating itself toward to the river to take advantage of key views and vistas and linear nature of Queen Street,” Urbis states in planning documents, currently before council. “The location of the site is ideal for a signature piece of sub-tropical architecture and a high-quality commercial office building.”
“The location of the building will act as an arrival marker to the Queen Street Mall. At the ground level, the articulated building facade reflects the surrounding nature of adjacent buildings and forms, whilst still being a prominent and welcoming entrance to the Queen Street Mall.”
The development is a project of Charter Hall and Investa. Plans are on public exhibit here.

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A group of architecture academics are calling on the federal government to increase funding for built environment research to aid Australia’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian Deans of Built Environment and Design (ADBED) made a submission to the federal education minister Dan Tehan and minister for cities Alan Tudge ahead of the proposed bill to change higher education fees going before the parliament on Monday 24 August.
Under the proposed changes, student fees for architecture degrees would decrease by 20 percent. The ADBED welcomed the change but highlighted that research in built environment receives less than 1 percent of Australian Research Council funding.

“As the peak body ADBED, we advocate for increased recognition of our sustained contribution to the development of Australian cities and regional centres,” the group said.
“Australian researchers are world leaders in understanding how the design of healthy cities can encourage walkable neighbourhoods, which can reduce impacts on our health systems and is especially relevant in the context of COVID-19.”

“In parallel we are reconsidering policy for low-rise medium-density housing with generous private and public outdoor space as a development solution for future housing needs. Our construction workplace safety and advanced construction technologies research is also world class.

“The breadth and richness of our research and the capabilities of our graduates justify considerable, sustained investment from government, business and our own universities to support the impact that built environment disciplines bring to the making of our cities.
“Our professionals are the glue that connects engineering with health and wellbeing. Through working together we can bridge the divide between economic drivers and social agendas, we can demonstrate a link between long-term strategies for sustainable growth and immediate benefits, and we can show how the crisis of this pandemic can be turned into an opportunity to transform our cities and towns that enable our people to enjoy an improved quality of life.”

The ADBED executive comprises president Martyn Hook, dean of RMIT School of Architecture and Urban Design; deputy president Kerry London, dean of Western Sydney University School of Built Environment; Helen Lochhead, dean of UNSW Built Environment, and Jane Burry, dean of Swinburne University School of Design.
The groups says, “If we are to have a ‘building the future’-led recovery to our economy we must seek to make the new versions of our cities green, safe and healthy.” More

The City of Melbourne will consider a proposal to create a mixed-use precinct on a large swathe of land on the edge of the Maribyrnong River. More

A house designed by Robin Boyd in Melbourne’s eastern suburb of North Balwyn is at risk of demolition after the property was listed for sale as an opportunity to buy “vacant land.” More