Architecture

The Sydney Fish Market has reached construction completion, with market proprietors now set to complete final fit-outs ahead of its 2026 opening.
Designed by Danish-born, international architecture practice 3XN with Australian practices BVN and Aspect Studios, the project relocates the existing fish market in Blackwattle Bay to an adjacent site. The milestone marks the culmination of nearly a decade of planning, design and construction, with designers first sought in 2016 and development approval granted in 2020.
The new Sydney Fish Market is the largest public market hall in the southern hemisphere and is expected to attract over six million domestic and international visitors each year.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the “milestone is an opportunity to reflect on all the hard work that has gone into completing this magnificent building on Sydney’s harbour foreshore.”

View gallery

The new market is supported by 481 marine piles and 6,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement. It comprises more than 400 roof cassettes and 594 glulam timber beams, which were transported by barge from Glebe Island. Beneath the building, seawall tiles, coral panels and hanging fish habitats have been installed to support marine life in Blackwattle Bay.
The defining feature of the project is its distinctive 230-metre-long roof, with panels patterned to resemble fish scales. Designed to harness climatic conditions, the roof collects rainwater for recycling, generates energy through photovoltaic panels and includes skylights that draw natural light through the market. The roof can also be illuminated for special occasions via multi-coloured LED lighting.

View gallery

Another notable feature is a glass facade around the building, designed to enable visitors to observe the market in action, including live fish auctions.
According to a NSW government communique, the site accommodates more than 6,000 square metres of public space, and includes five art installations in the Civic Plaza intended to celebrate First Nations heritage and the area’s industrial history.

View gallery

Retail space in the new market will be double the capacity of the current market, featuring a mix of local seafood vendors, specialty food shops,and a range of dining options, from casual takeaway to premium waterfront restaurants.
The new Sydney Fish Market is anticipated to open on 19 January 2026, while the existing fish market site is earmarked for a redevelopment that will deliver more than 1,500 homes. More

The winners of the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards have been announced, recognising excellence, ingenuity and innovation across the state’s design community with seven category winners and a student design award.
Taking out the top prize in the Architectural Design category was Woodleigh Futures Studio, a zero-waste building by McIldowie Partners, Joost Bakker and Woodleigh School, which is an independent school on the Mornington Peninsula.
The Northern Memorial Park Depot by Searle x Waldron Architecture, The Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, Oculus, OPS Engineers, Buro North and Lucid was highly commended in this category.

View gallery

The other finalists in the Architectural Design category included:

Assemble, 15 Thompson Street, Kensington – Hayball, Assemble, Hacer Group, Oculus and Atelier Ten
Auburn High School Senior Centre – Wowowa Architecture
Canopi Valley Lake – Niddrie Quarry Housing – Bird de la Coeur Architects, CDA Design Group, RedC and MAB
ECHO.1 – C Street Projects, Neil Architecture, Speckel, Detail Green, Ascot Consulting Engineers and Structplan
Eva and Marc Besen Centre – Kerstin Thompson Architects and Tarrawarra Museum of Art
Gargarro Botanic Garden – TCL, Gargarro Botanic Garden and Brandrick Architects
Kangan Institute Health and Community Centre of Excellence – Architectus and Bendigo Kangan Institute
Melbourne Place – Kennedy Nolan Architects, Longriver, Tracy Atherton (hotel consultant) and ADCO Constructions (builder)
Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence – ARM Architecture, Munarra Limited, Department of Premier and Cabinet, First Peoples State Relations, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian School Building Authority
Pakenham Station – Genton, North Western Programme Alliance, John Holland, Metro Trains Melbourne, KBR and Level Crossing Removal Project
Pascoe Vale Primary School Gymnasium and Performance Centre – Kosloff Architecture, GLAS Landscape Architects and Kent Morris (artist)
Quiet Studio – Studiobird, Autex Acoustics and Universal Practice
Templeton Primary School – Kosloff Architecture and GLAS Landscape Architects
Terrain – Terrain
Truganina Community Centre – Wyndham City Council (client), Jasmax (architect), CICG (contractor), Outlines (landscape architect), Lisa Waup (artist) and Lucid Consulting (ESD).

In the Design Strategy category, Plan for Victoria – a youth-led transport and planning design initiative by Y Lab and the Department of Transport and Planning – was named the winner.
Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks commented, “These awards showcase the creativity, ingenuity and technical expertise that make our state Australia’s design capital, and demonstrate how design can drive business growth and social change.”
The Victorian Premier’s Design Awards are managed by Good Design Australia on behalf of the Victorian government, with the full list of winners accessible online. More

La Trobe University has unveiled the latest update in a $5 billion masterplan to transform its 225-hectare Bundoora campus in Melbourne’s north, with their aim to provide housing for 15,000 people, including 15 percent affordable housing, and facilities for 40,000 students – a 45 percent increase on current student numbers.
The “University City” project has been ongoing for some time, with a proposal to accommodate 12,000 staff and students, along with a mix of commercial, retail and cultural facilities, in 2018.
Parts of this plan have since been realised, including Jackson Clements Burrows Architects’ design for a pair of student accommodation buildings housing 624 beds in total, and the La Trobe Sports Park – described in a media communique from the university as a “world-class sports precinct for teaching, research, community participation and elite sport” – designed by Warren and Mahoney.

View gallery

The updated 30-year vision, as detailed in the media statement, includes three distinct villages and the growth of the campus’s city centre, which is intended to transform the Bundoora site into “a dynamic centre of innovation, knowledge and sustainability.” The project has been developed through consultation with stakeholders, community and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation.
Located adjacent to existing homes, the campus’s north village will have a residential focus, while the east village, the closest to Macleod Train Station, will be a mixed-use neighbourhood built on student accommodation, and the south village will have a research, innovation and commercial focus. At the campus’s core, the existing city centre will grow westward with new commercial, retail and academic developments.
The plans also encompass more than 1 million square metres of “regenerative, climate-resilient open space,” including the enhancement and protection of the Nangak Tamboree eco-corridor, as a way to “[connect] the city to the wider environment and bringing its inhabitants closer to nature.”
An improved transport network with expanded pedestrian and cycling links, new streets, laneways and roads, alongside a proposed Suburban Rail Loop train station, is also part of the masterplan.

View gallery

Chancellor John Brumby said University City reimagined La Trobe’s place in the broader community.
“University City could boost Gross Regional Product (GRP) in Melbourne’s north-east by an estimated $440 million each year by the completion of the project, while additional interstate and international students could spend around $202 million per annum in the Victorian economy,” he said.
“La Trobe University City will not only transform our campus, it will create a thriving community that drives innovation and economic prosperity.”
La Trobe vice-chancellor professor Theo Farrell added that the initiative would enhance the quality of life for students and staff, and contribute significantly to the social fabric of Melbourne’s north.
“University City is a bold, purpose-built innovation city where education drives everything – and sparks so much more,” he said, describing the proposal as “a connected ecosystem of industry, health, housing, culture, sport and green space,” and “a new model of how knowledge, place and imagination [can] come together.”
Construction is currently underway on the campus’s $82 million University Health Clinic, designed by Woods Bagot. The building is expected to be complete by mid-2026. More

Houses, buildings and spaces can now be registered to be featured in the Open House Melbourne 2026 line-up, taking place from Friday 24 July to Sunday 26 July 2026.
The theme for the 2026 program, “Generous City,” invites submissions that explore how generosity and a culture of openness can be reflected in design. This may be demonstrated in multigenerational homes, community gardens, cultural hubs, inclusive and accessible environments and other shared or community-focused spaces.
In a statement, Open House Melbourne said: “We’re looking for submissions that consider how design decisions shape the way generosity is expressed in architecture that prioritises inclusion, in infrastructure that supports care and in public projects that strengthen community.”
The 2025 program featured an assortment of residential projects, including Naples Street House by Edition Office, which earned the Australian Institute of Architects 2024 Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New); Echo.1 by C Street Projects with Neil Architecture; No Rezzavations House by Sarah Lake Architects; the Merri House by EME Design; Northcote House by LLDS Architects; and Bills Street Social and Affordable Housing by Hayball in collaboration with Tract Landscape Architects.
Other program highlights included Kangan Institute’s Health and Community Centre of Excellence by Architectus and a tour of Balam Balam Place by Kennedy Nolan, Openwork and Finding Infinity.
The online Expressions of Interest portal will close 22 February 2026. All applications will be reviewed by the Open House Melbourne Building Council together with the programming team. More

A research project into inclusive public toilet design has been awarded more than $700,000 in Australian Research Council (ARC) funding.
The project, led by professor Nicole Kalms from Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) in collaboration with professor Emily Potter from Deakin University, was awarded a 2026 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project Grant valued at $712,282.
Titled Designing Dignity: Civic equity through public bathroom architecture, the project will examine how Australia’s public toilets can be reimagined as inclusive, multipurpose spaces that meet the needs of diverse communities. The study will consider accessibility, sanitation, and the needs of parents, carers and people experiencing homelessness, as well as cultural, faith-based and transit-related requirements.
The project summary highlights that public toilets in Australia, “once a celebrated public health initiative that promoted civility and mobility, is in disrepair and rapid decline,” with toilets increasingly located only in shopping centres, cafes and other commercial spaces. The summary adds that limited access to public restrooms negatively impacts the health and wellbeing of vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness and people with mobility challenges.
Kalms said the research project will take a place-based, co-designed approach across cities, suburbs and regions. “The project findings will serve as a blueprint for individuals, communities, practitioners and governments to ensure that public bathrooms are valued civic assets which promote diverse and equitable communities,” she said.
Kalms is the associate dean (Research) and founding director of the XYX Lab at Monash University, which leads national and international research in gender and place. She is also the 2025 recipient of the Paula Whitman Leadership in Gender Equity Prize.
Potter is professor of Literary Studies, with a portfolio of work exploring climate change, place-making, urban design, the biopolitics of water and consumption, and settler colonial environments. More

Australia’s peak architecture, planning, and landscape institutes have met with the Parliamentary Friends for Australian Urban Design at Parliament House in Canberra to promote the value of good design and planning, and present shared priorities for national policy action.
The Parliamentary Friends of Australian Urban Design – a bipartisan group of federal parliamentarians that advocates for the value of good design in shaping Australia’s cities and regions – first launched at the 2024 Australian Urban Design Awards ceremony held at Parliament House.
On 5 November 2025, the Parliamentary Friends for Australian Urban Design co-chairs – Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP, Cameron Caldwell MP and Lisa Chesters MP – met with the Speaker of the House Milton Dick and the presidents of Australia’s three peak design and planning bodies: Adam Haddow of the Australian Institute of Architects; Heath Gledhill of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects; and Emma Riley of the Planning Institute of Australia.
The event was an opportunity for the three bodies to discuss their shared priorities for federal action, identifying areas where national leadership could drive meaningful change. According to a communique from the Australian Institute of Architects, these include:

“A stronger national urban policy: championing a coordinated, spatially informed national vision for cities, regions and communities
Leadership in ‘Density Done Well’: supporting more diverse, affordable and sustainable housing through design excellence
Investment in sustainable, well-designed communities: driving federal leadership and place-based investment to create climate-resilient, liveable communities.”

The Parliamentary Friends of Australian Urban Design will reconvene at the Australian Urban Design Awards on 24 March 2026, for which entries are now open until 30 January 2026.
The group has also committed to hosting a mid-year forum that explores case studies on “Density Done Well,” and a November event that will examine design-led responses to climate change, and pathways to net zero across precincts, housing and infrastructure. More

A project to create a next-generation thermal comfort index that recognises individual differences and supports fairer workplaces has been launched by the University of Sydney in partnership with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Waseda University in Japan and the Technical University of Denmark.
According to a media release from the University of Sydney, “The collaboration will combine large-scale field studies, human-subject experiments, and advanced data modelling to move beyond the outdated ‘average person’ model that underpins today’s comfort standards. The goal: a modern, inclusive index that reflects how people feel in real offices, [aimed at] improving comfort, wellbeing and productivity while cutting energy waste.”
“For forty years, buildings have been tuned to suit an average person who doesn’t really exist,” said professor emeritus Richard de Dear from the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. “This collaboration is about measuring real people, in real workplaces, and building an index that recognises individual differences. It’s good for people and good for the planet.”
The communique notes that the new index is intended to provide an evidence-based standard that champions fairness among diverse individuals, integrating physical conditions, such as temperature, humidity and airflow, with personal factors, including clothing, activity and physiology, to predict how individuals behave in a space.
Research lead at the University of Sydney’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Lab Dr Thomas Parkinson said that rather than hard-coding separate temperature targets for men and women, the team is striving for an inclusive system.
“Our goal is a single, adaptive index that learns from context – what the person is doing, what the room is doing – and predicts how they’ll feel. That’s how we make comfort fairer and smarter at scale,” he said.
The result is intended to promote personal environmental control through fittings such as desk fans, foot-warmers, task chairs with local conditioning and small radiant panels, as well as smart zoning to create cooler and warmer micro-areas, and flexible clothing norms.
The project aims to deliver a globally consistent model, with shared criteria for multinational organisations; clear rules for certification and compliance; and energy efficiency, with less wasted energy. The index is intended to be adopted by designers, engineers and regulators worldwide.
Over time, feedback data is intended to refine predictions to enhance comfort and efficiency. According to the communique, the research period will be extended annually as required by the study design and international standards process. More

Plans for a $1.6 billion redevelopment the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre (PCEC) have been shelved by the Western Australian government, who have instead decided to divert $1.5 billion into a new Building Hospitals Fund.
The current PCEC building, designed by Cox Architecture, dates from 2004. A concept proposal for the redevelopment, which planned to expand the building’s event capacity and open it up to the Swan River, was lodged by the property’s leaseholders, Wyllie Group and Brookfield Properties, in January last year.
At that time, Premier Roger Cook commented that the “proposal would deliver an iconic new precinct that opens up major tourism and hospitality opportunities for WA, helping to diversify our economy and create local jobs.”
“Our city deserves better than a shed on the river,” he said.

View gallery

Now, the state government has said that “the significant investment decision cannot be justified at this time.” They have reasoned that more than $500 million in road and rail infrastructure works would be needed before construction on the building redevelopment could commence, and that the total project cost would come in higher than the anticipated $1.6 billion, “with the state government likely to carry the entire cost on its balance sheet.”
They also cited the “negative impact [that would result from] the disruption of [the PCEC’s future] events” as a contributor to the decision. In a media statement, Cook commented, “We want to expand our major conference capacity, but it needs to occur in a way that delivers value for taxpayers and doesn’t interrupt the impressive forward program of business events activity,” he said.
The government has so far invested $35 million in design, engineering, geotechnical and business case works. According to their media communique, “The results of this work will be available to the government into the future, as it looks to work with both the leaseholders and the broader business events and tourism sectors on a new path forward.”

View gallery

Cook commented, “Our existing business events and tourism program is an important part of our government’s strategy to diversify the economy and ensure it remains the strongest in the nation. This is an important focus for my government; however, I refuse to compromise on major projects that will deliver better health outcomes for Western Australians.”
The $1.5 billion Building Hospitals Fund newly pledged by the WA government is in addition to $3.2 billion already committed under the state’s existing health infrastructure program.
Development approval has been recently granted to two projects benefiting from this fund: a six-storey new building at Royal Perth Hospital, and a new hospital on a greenfield site, replacing the Peel Health Campus adjacent. The WA government has also newly purchased the St John of God Mount Lawley hospital, with future plans to expand the hospital and aged care facilities.
Construction is also currently underway on the $1.8 billion Women and Babies Hospital, designed by Hassell, and the $471.5 million Bunbury Health Campus redevelopment, managed by Multiplex and Perkins. More