Architecture

Madrid is unusual for a European capital city. Historically, it had no port, no cathedral, no university and no palace. Nor does it lie on a major river like other European capitals. Like Canberra, the city was chosen to be the capital because it is the geographic middle of the Iberian Peninsula.
The city developed over the centuries alongside short bursts of population growth – becoming a city with a “mix of contrasting styles,” our guide Werner Durrer tells the 2024 Dulux Study Tour group. The historic radial centre gives way to a modern gridded plan as the city grew along its outbound routes. Neoclassical mixes with influences from Berlin, Vienna and even Chicago. “The city has a huge tradition of ornament over monument,” Durrer said.
“What struck me so much was that every building is so diverse and there’s such a beautiful amenity in so many developments, particularly in central Madrid,” said Simona Falvo, one of five winners of the 2024 Dulux Study Tour.
Flynn Carr added, “One thing I found particularly interesting and engaging was how they’ve prioritised people within the urban landscape. The urban scale has tended to lend itself to having more plazas and open spaces.”

View gallery

City-Park Madrid Rioby West 8, Burgos and Garrido, Porras La Casta, Rubio and Álvarez Sala. Image:

Linda Cheng

An eight-lane highway beside the Manzanares river was buried underground, making way for a six-kilometre-long linear park, designed by Burgos and Garrido, Porras La Casta, Rubio and Álvarez Sala, and West 8, for the residents of surrounding areas. The care and consideration of the city’s public spaces goes hand-in-hand with the utilisation those spaces.
Much of Madrid’s urban fabric has developed in the 20th century – making it a surprisingly young city. Madrid’s population grew from one million just after the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, to a city of more than six million today.
“It’s younger than Sydney, if you look at it from that perspective,” Jamileh Jahangiri said, “but the city didn’t look disconnected, you could see the architecture of the new and old was representing the culture.”
“I think the best examples of contemporary architecture we saw were the museum projects that were engaging with existing building fabric and referencing it or responding to the form and type,” added Emma Chrisp.

View gallery

Museum Caixa Forum by Herzog and De Meuron. Image:

Linda Cheng

“The Caixa Forum, for example, retains that existing masonry heritage building and then does all these gymnastics to lift it up and then the top form of the building references the existing streetscape forms.”
The 2024 Dulux Study Tour winners were also impressed with some of the housing projects they visited in Madrid, particularly the Casa Girasol by Josep Antoni Coderch. The apartment complex built in 1966, “felt so contemporary,” said Chrisp, demonstrating the enduring relevance of good design.

View gallery

Casa Girasol by J.A. Coderch. Image:

Linda Cheng

On the final full day to Valladolid, past the fields of poppies, wildflowers and wind turbines. The group visited along the way a number of community projects by Óscar Miguel Ares of Contextos de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. In towns that were struggling to retain their young people, Ares’s projects, funded partly by the revenue from the turbines, combine multiple functions in one building while also creating places that the community proudly embraces.
The Ayuntamiento en Valverde De Campos combines municipal offices, council chambers, a café, and medical facilities on the same site, while the Piscinas Muncipales En Castromonte swimming pool is both a place of recreation and a meeting place with the kiosk able to open to the pool during the day and serve as a bar for the community at night.

View gallery

Piscinas Muncipales En Castromonte by Contextos de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Image:

Linda Cheng

“The buildings seem to be buoyed by the other aspects of life taking place around them, rather than being these icebergs in public space or icebergs floating out in urbanity,” said Flynn Carr.
Ares said, “You may only get the opportunity to design one building for a particular place so it ought to do as much as it can to support that community.” He also said that architecture should be built for the people, rather than for images to be circulated on social media.
In reflecting on their time in Spain, the Dulux Study Tour winners found that the most successful architectural projects are culture-led, rather than design-led, as Mike Sneyd observed.
“The urban fabric is a product of the culture not the other way around,” he said. “Anything that is not embraced by the culture and the population is never effective.”
Jamileh Jahangiri added, “Sometimes we as designers want to force elements of community, but if we understand what really is the life of the city, then maybe what we can design becomes better.”
Linda Cheng is travelling with the 2024 Dulux Study Tour. Follow #2024DuluxStudyTour on social media and the blog. More

A round-up of innovative and resource efficient products designed with longevity and responsibility front of mind.
Oriented Strand Board from Forest One
Manufactured from de-barked pine from wellmanaged forests, oriented strand board panels are a strong and sustainable product for walls and cabinetry. Most of the energy used in production is recovered from the plant’s waste heat, reducing the product’s carbon footprint. Visit website
Drop-arm awnings from Shade Factor

View gallery

Drop-arm awnings from Shade Factor. Image: Supplied

Warema drop-arm awnings provide external protection from direct sun, while retaining diffuse daylight. Gas struts provide tension for wind resistance, while stainless marine-grade components ensure longevity. An extensive range of fabric colours and types is available. Visit website
Aura sofa from King Living

View gallery

Aura sofa from King Living. Image: Supplied

Meticulously crafted, the Aura sofa is designed for longevity with a steel suspension system that protects and extends the life of interior components. Aura’s organic curved shapes reimagine modular sofa design. Optional storage, concealed inside the base, is available. Visit website
Iglu louvres from Breezway

View gallery

Iglu louvres from Breezway. Image: Supplied

Developed in response to updated energy efficiency requirements, Altair’s Iglu system combines the performance of double glazing with the ventilation properties of louvres. It has been tested for wind and water resistance, fire retardance and acoustic performance. Visit website
Hamptons carpet from Fyber

View gallery

Hamptons carpet from Fyber. Image: Supplied

Durable and easy to maintain, the Hamptons carpet comprises fibres made from recycled PET from plastic bottles. The flatweave textile is a resourceful use of waste material, yet also offers a soft and textured surface that can be used indoors or outdoors. Visit website
Touchwood panels from Britton Timbers

View gallery

Touchwood panels from Britton Timbers. Image: Supplied

Touchwood is a tongue and groove panelling product available in blackwood or Tasmanian oak. Quick and easy to install, it is made using Tasmanian timber veneers from PEFC certified forests. Touchwood can be left natural or finished with stain, wax or varnish. Visit website More

ArchitectureAU: Kahn, your arrival as trade manager at King Living coincides with the relaunch of King’s trade and commercial program. What exactly is KingTrade?
Kahn Morkaya: That’s right. We’re taking a whole new approach to working with trade and commercial partners, to make it as easy as possible for designers to integrate King Living into commercial projects. We’ve taken it down two avenues: one is to make our pricing as advantageous as possible, and the other is to give designers the flexibility to customise our products to work with the spaces they’re creating.

View gallery

Kahn Morkaya, trade manager at King Living. Image: Supplied

AAU: Let’s talk about pricing. Are you offering a flat discounted price or is it more structured than that?
KM: Firstly, we’re offering one low price all year round for our trade partners. That’s not just a token thing – the trade price is always the best price. But we’ve also introduced a tiered pricing structure that gives our partners additional loyalty discounts based on their level of spend per calendar year.
AAU: You also mentioned the ability to customise the product.
KM: Well, we know that Australian designers and architects love to use fabrics and leathers from other companies. So because we have an Australian manufacturing facility here in Sydney, we’re offering exclusive use of that to our trade partners to be able to select an out-of-house fabric or leather and have it used on our product, with a larger discount than what we’ve ever offered before. That’s not available to retail customers – it’s an exclusive benefit to our trade partners.
AAU: So a designer can specify a King Living product and match its colour and texture to a bespoke interior?
KM: Exactly. We have a team who specialise in recovering King Living furniture so we thought, why not take advantage of that and support our designers to create something different to what you see in a showroom. They can now take the classic silhouette of a Jasper sofa, for example, and customise it to their preferred upholstery to create a completely unique sofa.
Our product designs can be modified too, depending on order volumes. Being a vertically integrated company, it allows us to have full control from design through to manufacturing, and delivery.

View gallery

KingTrade members can specify products like this Kato lounge upholstered in any fabric or leather. Image: Supplied

AAU: This resonates with current conversations about sustainability and the circular economy, the idea of changing the look of furniture over time rather than buying more.
KM: Well, durability is a key aspect of sustainability, and our steel frames really lend themselves to the commercial world because they’re just so robust. We need to move away from this idea of throwing everything out every few years and starting again. Updating the look and feel of an existing product is a great way to achieve that.
In addition to that, our KingCare service allows you to replace any part of a product, whenever you like. So if you just need to replace a leg or a cover or a seat cushion you can do that, and you’re not throwing away a whole product.
AAU: Where in the commercial design world are you seeing King Living products being specified?
KM: Oh, all kinds of projects. We’ve had a huge response to our outdoor category, especially for hotels. We understand the needs of hoteliers and the like with what the requirements are and as such can offer a level of product customisations on our designs to ensure the end product is fit for purpose.
In office environments, our armchairs and sofas have been very popular. Post-Covid there’s a real theme of designing workplaces that feel less corporate and more comfortable, more home-like, so we can offer a full suite of products there. And then dining categories, which play a role in everything from hospitality and hotels to workplaces.
Presented by King Living. You can find out more about King Trade and apply for membership here. More

The British Museum has initiated an international competition to find a design team to assist with the reimagining of more than a third of the museum’s gallery spaces in London.
The British Museum Western Range Architectural Competition seeks to identify a design consortium led by an architect that can work alongside the museum and its curators on an ongoing basis to transform the galleries on its western side for contemporary occupation. This part of the museum currently houses collections from Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Ancient Assyria and the Middle East.
Russell Torrance, director of estates and capital projects at the British Museum, explained that the competition is unique: “Rather than seeking a fixed outcome in the form of a concept design, the competition is structured around exercises that will assess the working methods and approach of the design teams: the competition format allows us to engage with shortlisted teams over an extended period of time and as such we’ve sought to make our requirements accessible and interesting. We want to meet the team with the vision and skill to collaborate with the British Museum on an ongoing basis as we embark on a hugely significant programme of work for our historic buildings and the collections they house, as well as our users – visitors and staff.”
Stage one of the competition will invite teams to submit a standard questionnaire, alongside documents, images, drawings, diagrams and references to explain the team’s understanding of how a contemporary museum should look and feel.
In addition, teams are requested to submit documents outlining their approach to design, heritage and context, technical and logistical challenges, sustainability and innovation within budgetary constraints.
Entries will be judged by a panel comprising George Osborne (jury chair), Yvonne Farrell, Meneesha Kellay, Mahrukh Tarapor, Sarah Younger, Mark Jones and Nicholas Cullinan, alongside representatives from the British Museum’s Board of Trustees: Tracey Emin, Charlie Mayfield and Alejandro Santo Domingo.
The competition marks a further step in the delivery of the museum’s masterplan, which will also see the new Archaeological Research Centre in Reading opening in 2024.
Chair of the British Museum George Osborne said that the museum is one of London’s most-visited landmarks: “… Like the city itself, it feels timeless as a space because it constantly evolves. Each generation makes its own contribution: two hundred years ago, our forebears commissioned the great classical facade; a hundred years ago, it was the King Edward VI building; a quarter of a century ago, it was the Great Court,” he said.
“Now our generation is calling out across the world, and across Britain, for an architectural practice with the imagination, the sympathy and the vision to help us rebuild and restore the most famous galleries of the museum, where our sculptures from Ancient Greece, Rome and Mesopotamia are displayed. In this home to the history of humanity, come help us – quite literally – build the future.”
The British Museum Western Range Architectural Competition is open for entries until 21 June 2024. Full details are available here and the competition tender documents can be accessed here. More

The 23rd Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Korean architect Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies, has now opened to the public in London’s Serpentine South gardens. The pavilion, titled Archipelagic Void, features five structures or “islands” centred around a singular circular void. These islands form a constellation-like arrangement with the natural environment to thrive and […] More

Two “exceptional” Australian projects – both located in New South Wales – have been honoured in the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) International Awards for Excellence 2024, and will now go in the running for the prestigious RIBA International Prize.
In total, 22 projects received an award. Located across 14 countries, they were selected from the entries submitted for the RIBA International Prize 2024. Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge by Kerstin Thompson Architects and Punchbowl Mosque by Angelo Candalepas and Associates were the only Australian projects awarded.
Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge, in Illaroo, southern New South Wales, comprises an underground art gallery and collection store, a 165-metre bridge that accommodates bedrooms, and other indoor and outdoor spaces. The Budanon site and an adjoining property were once home to artists Arthur and Yvonne Boyd. The pair donated both sites and their art collection to the Australian government in 1993, with the vision to create an artistic hub for public enjoyment. Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge is a component of this vision, with the realised project the result of an invited competition.
The jury praised the concept for both preserving and transforming the landscape setting. “The masterplan offers a paradigm shift in the way we think about landscape, from the purely picturesque to an ecological one. Ultimately Bundanon is extraordinary for the manner in which it attunes the visitor to the landscape, and in so doing to nature and climate, place and time.”

View gallery

Punchbowl Mosque by Angelo Candalepas and Associates. Image:

Rory Gardiner

Punchbowl Mosque was lauded by the jury as a “profoundly moving sacred space, magically conjured up in the everyday setting of a Sydney residential suburb.” Taking more than 20 years to deliver, the project demonstrates a meticulously planned use of space. Visual features and interior textures that reflect religious iconography have been carefully integrated.
In its citation, the judging panel wrote: “Entirely modern in its use of material and in its formal and spatial manipulation, the Punchbowl Mosque nevertheless seems to take its place confidently within the tradition of Muslim architecture. And although principally, and manifestly, designed to celebrate and intensify the experience of worship, the mosque also serves the wider community as a venue for meetings, festivals and events, and is already enormously valued locally for its openness and inclusivity.”
Simon Henley, chair of the RIBA Awards Group, said that each of the awarded projects makes a significant contribution to its local context and community, as well as demonstrating “a stimulating architectural response to RIBA’s stringent social, environmental and design values.”
RIBA president Muyiwa Oki said that supporting and working with architects and practices around the globe to promote excellence in architecture is central to RIBA’s purpose. “Now in its fourth iteration as an established part of the RIBA Awards calendar, the International Awards recognise and celebrate ambitious and impactful buildings across the world that create meaningful change.”
The awarded projects will now vie for the RIBA International Prize, with the shortlist and winner to be announced in November 2024. To find out more, visit the RIBA website. More

“Berlin is a city of many cities,” architect Hans Schneider, a partner at the J. Mayer H und Partner, told the winners of the 2024 Australian Institute of Architects Dulux Study Tour on their visit to his studio in the Berlin neighbourhood of Charlottenburg. “There is not one Berlin style.” The city’s architecture stands as a testament to the city’s tumultuous history, reflecting periods of prosperity, division and reunification.
“There’s certainly a lot of contrast,” said Flynn Carr, one of five winners on the study tour “a lot of interesting overlays when it comes to post war occupation, particularly with the Berlin Wall dividing East and West Berlin and the responses to that.”
The impact of the Berlin Wall acts as both a palimpsest in the city, and a marker of time. At the Senate Administration for Urban Development, Construction and Housing, two large-scale models delineate the built work carried out post-reunification, allowing visitors to see just how much of the city has emerged in the past 30 years.

View gallery

Berlin city models exhibition. Image:

Linda Cheng

“It seems that there is a balance between greenery and the construction, compared to other cities in Europe,” said Jamileh Jahangiri. “We’re seeing a lot of the landscape as well. It’s like a landscape that came out of a ruin.”
Most Berlin has a height limit of 22 metres, and much of its urban fabric is dominated by long blocks with a succession of buildings deep into the site and courtyards in between.
“Berlin, like Tokyo, has this juxtaposition old and new side by side, but within Berlin, it’s like within an overarching order. There’s more consistency of building high and set back and typology,” observed Emma Chrisp. “There’s a beautiful consistency of light quality and environment quality because there are no streets that are being grossly towered over.”
Simona Falvo added, “There is a kind of inherent consistency with the uniformity, within building heights, setbacks, et cetera. But the beauty of Berlin is because of the diversity of the streetscape, and of the varying neighbourhoods, you see that difference being expressed so clearly in the architecture. That’s what makes Berlin so unique and fascinating from an architectural perspective.”

View gallery

David Chipperfield Architects’ campus. Image:

Linda Cheng

We saw Berlin’s unique courtyard urbanism reinterpreted by different architects in their own studio sites. David Chipperfield Architects’ “campus” includes a series of concrete Seitenflügel (side wings) grafted onto the historic building fabric. At Terrassenhaus Berlin / Lobe Block by Brandlhuber plus Emde, Burlon and Muck Petzet Architekten, two staircases flank each side of the building to mimic the cocooning arms around a courtyard.
David Chipperfield Architects’ Leander Bulst explained that these long blocks could have up to seven buildings on the site, with wealthier residential blocks on the street front, and typically buildings at the rear would be industrial. The Chipperfield studio, for example, is located inside a former piano factory.
This history of residential and industrial functions collocated together, is something that Berlin should return to, says architect Martina Bauer of Barkow Leibinger, as a way of reducing distances between home and work, as well as reducing dead zones in the city. She said a new zoning category called “urban” would allow for a healthy mix residential and light commercial, creating a lively, 24/7 city.

View gallery

Wohnregal by FAR Frohn and Rojas. Image:

Linda Cheng

Wohnregal by FAR Frohn and Rojas is a project that does just that in the six-storey building that accommodates housing and work spaces. The project is the brainchild of architect Marc Frohn, who search all over Berlin for empty lots that could be developed. He sent more than 300 letters to owners of vacant properties and received three replies before purchasing the site for Wohnregal. The project also builds on the history of prefabrication in East Germany. A prefabricated construction system was adapted to create essentially six warehouses stacked on top of each other, with each floor accommodating two apartments. The shell of the building was constructed in just six weeks.
Over at Terrassenhaus Berlin, the ziggurat-shaped structure is also intended to the live-work typology. Although currently zoned for commercial use and housing a series of creative ateliers, the project has been designed to be flexible for potential use as housing in the future, should the zoning rules change.
Mike Sneyd said one of his key learnings from Berlin and the city’s architects is how the built environment is mitigating climate change and energy consumption. “The coolest lesson I took out of this – and it reaffirms what I’ve been doing in practice – is to build simply and move away from Passive House. Hans Schneider of J. Mayer H. und Partner explained that the Berlin approach to sustainability emphasises energy saving, requiring most buildings to function without mechanical cooling, instead opting for operable windows to provide ventilation. “It was really interesting to hear that perspective,” Sneyd continued. “It’s actually lower impact if you build simply.”
Linda Cheng is travelling with the 2024 Dulux Study Tour. Follow #2024DuluxStudyTour on social media and the blog. More

When Riken Yamamoto received the 2024 Pritzker Prize, he became the ninth Japanese architect to be awarded architecture’s highest honour. Japan has now produced one-fifth of all recipients in the 45-year history of the prize.
Tokyo, especially, wears its Pritzker associated architecture like jewels adorning the urban fabric of the city. The ultra-luxury shopping street in Omotesando is full of works by Japanese and foreign Pritzker-winning architects. Even the Tokyo Toilet Project includes four works by Japanese laureates.

View gallery

Tokyo Toilet Project by Tadao Ando. Image:

Linda Cheng

The five early-career architects on the 2024 Dulux Study Tour – a prize that they themselves have received – observed high quality of craftsmanship in Japan.
Jamileh Jahangiri said, “What the Japanese do perfectly is they keep what is there and do it in a modern way. You see the celebration of traditional culture but not in an ornamental way. It’s been truly transformed into a new way of living or a new way of understanding the environment.”
What we saw from the projects and practices visited was career-long dedication to the study of one aspect of architecture. Riken Yamamoto stressed the importance of community, particularly his own community of Yokohama in which he’s predominantly worked, so much so that he has a bar nearby, in a building he designed in 1986, where his staff all have lunch together every day. His practice is truly embedded in the community with this space where the architects can mingle with members of the public on a daily basis.

View gallery

The 2024 Dulux Study Tour winners with Pritzker Prize laureate Riken Yamamoto. L–R: Emma Chrisp, Flynn Carr, Riken Yamamoto, Mike Sneyd, Jamileh Jahangiri and Simona Falvo. Image:

Linda Cheng

“I found Yamamoto-san’s practice the most fascinating one,” Jahangiri said. “I heard so many times in the office people talking about community, and you could see it in the office culture. It wasn’t just about doing a project for the community outside but the actual office was a perfect community that you want to be a part of.
Another example is Studio TAB, a small practice in rural Japan whose director Keigo Kawai travelled to Tokyo to meet with the group, presented a series of Super Low-cost Big Houses (SLBH), some created for as little as $21 million yen (or a little over $200,000). All are made from simple and readily available materials and designed to maximise flexibility. In fact, Kawai said he gave the owners of his houses complete freedom in designing the layouts of their houses, he preferred to focus on flexibility.
“I think fundamentally it’s the people who make the project,” Mike Sneyd observed, “particularly for those small-scale ones, it’s the occupants, it’s not the project.”
This scholastic dedication breeds a sense of continuity in the work of many Japanese practices. “While every project is to some degree unique based on site or context, there are underlying elements that you do see repeated and I think there’s such a sophistication to that – seeing an architectural practice’s development through the years – it has been something that’s recurring through all the practices, regardless of the diversity of the work that they’re doing,” Simona Falvo said.

View gallery

Models on display at Kengo Kuma and Associates. Image:

Linda Cheng

Many of the Japanese practices we visited also engaged in model-making, both as a part of their design process as training tool for students entering practice. SANAA, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and Riken Yamamoto all had model making workshops, as well, the Archi-Depot museum has a basement warehouse full of models from Japanese practices.
For the practices that are able to work through physical models, I think it is an integral part of their design process and design practice,” Falvo said. “It’s also a very important part of my own practice and it’s something that I really enjoy doing and I learn so much from it in terms of my own architecture.”
Chrisp added, “It seems like it’s a part of the evolution in terms of what you get to do in the practice. You have a foundational period where you’re working with models. You’re probably learning a lot about how to think, how to put things together, and it’s probably embedding a lot of understanding of sequence.”
Tokyo itself is “a constant juxtaposition,” Chrisp observed. “You get really old buildings alongside really new and big-scale buildings next to tiny quaint entrances.”
Flynn Carr added, “It was really also interesting to see how curated and controlled the environment is here. We were shown images by our tour guide of how barren the landscape was [at the site of Meiji Shrine which is now a dense forest]. It really puts into perspective how much has been done to facilitate a city that has just grown exponentially.”
“There is also an element of people caring about what they care about,” said Sneyd. “When you look at the urban fabric, it’s really obvious what they care about and what they don’t care about, for better or for worse. That was a learning experience for us.”
“I was completely fascinated by the urban fabric of the city and the complexities that are at play there,” Falvo said. “It is a tremendous experience of being in the dizziness of Tokyo.”
Linda Cheng is travelling with the 2024 Dulux Study Tour. Follow #2024DuluxStudyTour on social media and the blog. More