Architecture

The City of Perth has unveiled concept designs for a waterfront precinct on Perth’s Swan river that will transform the area into a “world-class city park.”
Designed by Hassell, the park will combine elements of nature, biodiversity and culture.
“One of Perth’s greatest assets is its natural environment, and we want the stunning Swan River to be a magnificent river park destination for locals and visitors alike,” said Perth lord mayor Basil Zempilas.
The concepts are part of a Riverfront Masterplan announced as part of the City of Perth’s 2024-25 budget.

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Perth’s riverfront has been the subject of more than 200 masterplans since 1883 – many of them never realised. They were the subject of a 2016 exhibition, which coincided with the completion of Elizabeth Quay.
“The Masterplan will build on Elizabeth Quay and see the river’s potential come to life by setting a vision for a world-class city park,” Zempilas said.
The Riverfront Masterplan is one of a number of capital works announced by the council in the budget. Other projects include sustainability improvements to the Supreme Court Gardens, a sports and recreation hub in East Perth, and the revitalisation of Russell Square and an upgrade to James Street.
The city will also fund a new study, titled Towards 2036, which will build on the previous urban design work of Danish architect Jahn Gehl from 1994 to 2009. The new study will make recommendations for further improvements to Perth’s public spaces, particularly in the central city.

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“James Street and the adjacent Russell Square are at the heart of our Northbridge entertainment district but are in need of some upgrades. We’re planning for future improvements to the streetscape along James Street, as well as enhancing Russell Square for further use by the community and outdoor festival-style events,” Zempilas said.“We’re also upgrading Supreme Court Gardens to ensure this prime location can be used for events all year round. Improvements we’re planning will benefit the local community and visitors to our city at all times, not only when the gardens are being used for events.”
The draft masterplan will be presented to the City of Perth in the coming weeks, after which it will be available for public consultation. More

The Adelaide Festival Centre is set to have its theatre interiors updated, the latest in a series of works carried out at the 50-year-old venue and its surrounds.
The South Australian government has committed $35 million to interior theatre works, which will include the installation of new seating in all three threatres, new lighting in foyers and auditoriums and the refurbishment of stage flooring in the Dunstan Playhouse and the Space Theatre.
The plans follow the state government’s announcement in January 2024 that the centre’s Western Plaza would undergo a $35 million transformation designed by Cox Architecture. Other venue upgrades include the Adelaide Festival Centre building renewal by Hassell, and the redesign of Festival Plaza and Station Road by ARM Architecture, in collaboration with TCL and Aspect Studios.
The centre, originally designed by John Morphett of Hassell and Partners, first opened in June 1973. It was the first performing arts theatre to open in Australia, opening three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Adelaide Festival Centre was recently awarded the John Cheesman Award for Enduring Architecture at the 2023 Australian Institute of Architects’ South Australian Chapter awards.
The venue, located on Kind William Road, attracts more than one million visitors to its theatres each year.
The combined upgrades to the interiors and the Western Plaza will necessitate the temporary closure of the Adelaide Festival centre’s three theatres. The Dunstan Playhouse and the Space Theatre will close in July 2025, while the Festival Theatre will close in August 2025. Reopening is scheduled for early 2026. The Western Plaza works will also commence in 2025. More

After a period of consultation, Brimbank City Council in Melbourne’s west has announced it will adopt the Sunshine Energy Park Vision Plan, which will guide the future design and conversion of a former landfill site into a biodiverse urban parkland.
The proposed Sunshine Energy Park would be situated in Sunshine, covering an area of about 74 hectares. The site previously served as a landfill until its closure in 1990 and has since undergone a remediation process.
In the 30-year vision plan, the council stated the park will nurture connections to Country, as well as support community wellbeing, sports and recreation activities, environmental sustainability and biodiversity and educational opportunities.
The plan shows the parkland divided into eight precincts, all linked by cycling and pedestrian networks. The precincts each relate to a diverse range of functions and activities, including a cultural and ecological precinct, a community club precinct, a sustainability precinct, an outdoor sporting precinct, a play precinct, a cycling precinct, a stadium precinct, and a water management area.
Some features of the proposed parkland include a biodiversity corridor, spaces for learning, children’s play areas, art installations, an enclosed dog park, mountain bike tracks, and an all ages and abilities play equipment.
“The design will prioritise inclusivity, employing gender-sensitive planning to ensure a safeand welcoming environment for everyone, celebrating all aspects of human and cultural diversity. With family-friendly amenities scattered throughout, it will address the varied interests and needs of the community,” the council’s vision plan states.
“Collaboration with the Wurundjeri Elders will guide the incorporation of Indigenous values and narratives into the park’s design.”
The site is currently not able to be fully accessed by the general public. It is within close proximity to several key amenities and community centres, including Victoria University St Albans, Victoria University Sunshine, the Sunshine Railway Station, and several medical facilities.
In July 2023, Brimbank City Council released the vision plan for feedback. Early concept work and background investigations for the vision plan were undertaken by McGregor Coxall, with landscape architecture by Brimbank City Council’s Urban Design Team. More

Three Australian projects are among the category winners of the 2024 WAFX Prizes, awarded by organisers of the World Architecture Festival (WAF).
The WAFX Prize recognises projects that best use design and architecture to take major world issues across 11 categories, such as Carbon and Climate, Re-Use, and Ethics and Values.
Eligible projects are selected from finalists of the Future Projects categories of the WAF Awards.
Woods Bagot’s University of Tasmania Forestry Building is a winner of the Building Technology category; the University of Technology Sydney – National First Nations College by Warren and Mahoney in association with Greenaway Architects, Oculus and Finding Infinity received a prize in the Cultural Identity category; and the Greenline Project Master Plan by Aspect Studios, TCL and City of Melbourne was a winner of the Water category.

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“This year’s winners show how major challenges affecting people and environments generate responses which address functional and social problems, while lifting the spirits of those who will benefit from creative architecture and design,” said Paul Finch, director of World Architecture Festival. “We look forward to seeing these ideas presented at our Festival in Singapore this November.”
In all, 33 future projects are recognised in the WAFX Prizes. An overall winner will be announced at WAF in Singapore between 6 and 8 November, along with the winners of the WAF Awards.
See all the WAFX winners here. More

The Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority has appointed Antarctica Architects as head consultant for the Apollo Bay Harbour Redevelopment precinct plan, following a competitive tender process.
The $12.61 million project will improve the visitor experience at the popular Victorian tourist destination, as well as deliver expanded commercial and recreational opportunities for the harbour precinct.
Proposed works include an extension of the Apollo Bay Fishermen’s Cooperative building to accommodate an approved commercial premises, relocating the Port Operations Depot to Mother’s Beach car park, constructing a waterfront promenade and improving pedestrian and transport connections around the harbour precinct.
“We want to create quality commercial, tourism and recreation opportunities in the precinct, in line with planning and environmental controls,” said Cath Olive, acting CEO of the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority.
“This major initiative is gathering momentum, and we are building towards releasing plans to the public. The Community Reference Group will help to inform the draft precinct plan, with the wider community then invited to provide input into it.”
The architects, in conjunction with the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority, will work closely with the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation to respect the cultural values of the land, as well as the Apollo Bay Fishermen’s Cooperative to deliver improvements to the port.
The project is funded by the federal government through the $500 million Geelong City Deal.
“Apollo Bay is one of the most sought after tourist destinations in Victoria, which is why we want to capitalise on everything that it has to offer,” said regional development minister Kristy McBain. More

The City of Gold Coast has released early designs for a new Lyric Theatre in the Home of the Arts (HOTA) precinct.
Designed by ARM Architecture, the new theatre will accommodate major theatrical productions including musicals, ballet, opera, comedy and live music.
The theatre will be of similar scale to major theatres in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with an 1,800-seat audience capacity, and ability to host 200 performances annually. The building will also include generous foyers, food and beverage facilities, studio spaces, urban design upgrades and interfaces.

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“HOTA is already known as an icon for South East Queensland. It is a destination for visitors and a place that’s much loved by locals. And the Theatre is much the same,” said ARM director Jesse Judd.
“The building is the new front door to the precinct, and extends to a welcome plaza out the front and through the landscape, and connect up to the existing gallery and outdoor stage. So it’s the new identity for the precinct but extending the character of the much loved landscape that frames it.”

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ARM Architecture and German landscape architecture practice Topotek 1 won a design competition for the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct Masterplan in 2013. Since then three key projects of the masterplan have been completed: an outdoor stage, a green bridge and HOTA Gallery, all designed by ARM Architecture.
In 2023, the council undertook a review of the masterplan, which reaffirmed the need for a new lyric theatre, particular given ageing condition and limited capacity of the existing performing arts theatre.
The City of Gold Coast is seeking feedback on the early designs until 15 July.
The City plans to have the project shovel ready by 2025, open in time for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. More

An amended proposal for a boutique hotel on a prominent corner site in Darlinghurst has been submitted after initial plans were refused by the City of Sydney in 2023.
The revised application proposes a mixed-use development, designed by Neeson Murcutt Neille Architects, be established at 191–201 Oxford Street in Taylor Square. Plans detail the project would involve the adaptive reuse and consolidation of three existing historical buildings, as well as an expansion to the existing building fabrics. The tallest point of the building structure would be a roof canopy that sits at about six storeys high.
The initial proposal was filed with the City of Sydney in 2022, with the application rejected for for not complying with building height limits, failing “to respect the existing pattern of stepped heights” along Oxford and Flinders Streets and insufficient evidence to support the claim that “no significant view loss is anticipated.”

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The amended application was re-exhibited as part of the reassessment process of an appeal that was lodged with the Land and Environment Court.
The proposed building accommodates gallery spaces, guest suites, a gallery store, hotel terraces, lobbies, and hospitality offerings at street level.
The landscape architecture design report, prepared by Openwork in association with Neeson Murcutt Neille, shows a green rooftop bar as being a key space for social interaction. This space would be located on level five of the brick extension under a sculpted roof canopy. The bar terrace features glazed screens to shelter patrons from wind and reduce climbing risks.
To find out more about the proposal, visit the development application portal. More

The finalists for the 2024 Inside Festival of Interiors Awards have been announced, with six Australian projects having made the shortlist from a total of 88 shortlisted. Inside is the sister festival of the World Architecture Festival (WAF), the world’s biggest live architectural awards program. Both Inside and WAF finalists will present their projects to a panel of judges live at the international festival in Singapore from 6-8 November.
The shortlisted Australian projects are:

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Education
UQ Brisbane City – BVN
Workplace (Large)
70 George, Cox Sydney Studio – Cox Architecture
CSL Global Headquarters and Centre for Research & Development – Cox Architecture
Workplace (Small)
The Hub, GHD Brisbane – GHD Design

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Public Buildings
Embassy of Australia, Washington D.C. – Bates Smart
Residential
Back to Front House – Ian Moore Architects
See the full shortlist here.
The 2024 INSIDE World Festival of Interiors runs concurrently with the 2024 World Festival of Architecture (WAF). More