Architecture

The Queensland government has axed the $2.7 billion proposal to demolish and rebuild Gabba stadium for the 2023 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Instead, it will undertake “a more modest enhancement of the existing facility in consultation with AFL, Cricket Australia, and other stakeholders.”
The proposed relocation of East Brisbane State School will also not proceed.
The government had been under intense pressure to cancel the demolition and rebuild project, with many in the community, withdrawing support for the plan, including the International Olympic Committee vice-president John Coates.
In January 2024, the Queensland premier ordered an independent review of the Olympic venue facilities, led by former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk.
The review made 30 recommendations, 27 of which the government has accepted.
Contrary to community sentiment, the review recommended that the Gabba should be demolished in favour of constructing a new stadium at Victoria Park. However, the government has rejected both recommendations. Instead, it will explore upgrades to the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (which the review recommended not to be used as an Olympic venue) and Suncorp Stadium.
Queensland premier Steven Miles said the demise of the Gabba was “something we couldn’t accept for such a beloved venue.
“And while the concept of a new stadium at Victoria Park has merit, the uncertainty around final cost means it is unfortunately not an option,” he continued.
State development minister Grace Grace added, “Victoria Park is highly-valued by the community, and we have no plans to spend billions of dollars to encroach into that green space.”
Brisbane City Council currently has a draft masterplan to transform Victoria Park Barrambin, a former golf course, into an inner city green space.
The proposed Brisbane Arena will go head as planned, however the proposed Breakfast Creek Indoor Sports Precinct will not proceed, with the review recommending an indoor facility in Zillmere or Boondall. Upgrades to Toowoomba Sports Ground will also be axed, as per the review’s recommendation.
“With the review completed, we’ll be wasting no time with getting on with the job with a range of venues proceeding through to the next stage of delivery,” Grace said.
“Venues at the Sunshine Coast – the Indoor Sports Centre, Stadium Upgrade and Mountain Bike Facility, as well as the Chandler precinct projects can now progress to procurement with others following soon after.” More

Lyons Architects has been selected by the City of Monash to design the Glen Waverley Civic Precinct, following a competitive tender process.
The vision for the Glen Waverley Civic Precinct project is to establish a lively and contemporary community hub at 281 Springvale Road, adjacent to the Harry Seidler-designed Waverley Civic Centre. The proposal includes the redevelopment of the existing library along with the introduction of new community facilities.
Mayor Nicky Luo said the council is thrilled to have Lyons Architects on board for this project. “Lyons Architects is a renowned architectural firm with a strong track record in delivering award winning public spaces across Australia,” she said. “With their focus on creating quality public spaces, sustainability and community engagement, Lyons Architects will work with council and our community to bring this exciting project to life.”

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A schematic design for Glenn Waverley Civic Precinct by ARM Architecture. Image:

Courtesy City of Monash

Lyons Architects will build on the work that ARM Architecture delivered to prepare a schematic design that went to community consultation in 2023. These preliminary designs proposed an expansion of the existing library building to three levels – two floors to house the library and a third to accommodate office spaces. Flexible, multipurpose community spaces for events and meetings were proposed for the ground level.
A direct connection to the council’s Civic Centre was also included within initial plans. Proposed for the external area surrounding the civic hub are landscaped gardens, and an open and activated plaza where community can gather.
According to the Monash council website, the proposed library will be four times the current size of the library and will comprise quiet areas, a children’s zone with an activity space, a parents’ room and a youth area.
“Council thanks the ARM Architecture team for their work on this project which enabled us to present an engaging and exciting concept to our community last year,” Luo said. “The ARM team have positioned the project for success, and we look forward to delivering on this vision.”
The detailed design phase will now commence with a review of the community feedback submissions that were received and collated in 2023. More

Construction has begun on a new 24-hour student hub at Swinburne University of Technology’s Hawthorn campus in Melbourne’s east.
Designed by Kosloff Architecture, the “Latelab” will refurbish an existing building at 27 John Street to create new secure-access study spaces, a kitchen and a rooftop terrace.
“As an adaptive re-use project, we will be working with existing materials to reduce negative impacts on the environment and promote the health and comfort of our students in a way that improves building performance and amenity,” said Nancy Collins, chief operations officer at Swinburne.
The project has been co-designed with input from students, conducted through workshops, surveys, polls and on-site pop-ups. The students identified light, sound and layout as their top priorities for the project.

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Swinburne Latelab was co-designed with input from students, who identified light, sound and layout as their top priorities. Image:

Kosloff Architecture

“The prominence of the new development is a physical representation of the central role that the student voice will play in the future of university decision making at Swinburne,” said Laura-Anne Bull, deputy vice-chancellor, education, experience and employability.
The Latelab is part of the university’s Next Gen Campus transformation project, which also includes a new campus heart to be designed by Architectus, and the newly completed Indigenous Learning Circles designed by Greenaway Architects.
Across the campus transformation projects, almost half the student cohort, 9,000 students, participated in the co-design process.
The Latelab is expected to be complete in time for the first semester of 2025. More

Plans for an art and environment precinct featuring a national centre for environmental art in Halls Gap, Victoria, have been revealed. The vision for the Where Art Meets Nature (WAMA) precinct is to create a space that celebrates the intersection between art, science and nature. The precinct will house a new climate controlled art gallery, […] More

Renewal SA has released initial plans for a new 12-storey mixed-use building in Bowden, Adelaide, with designs by ARM Architecture.
The development – proposed for Third Street – features 84 apartments, 94 percent of which will be affordable rentals and four of which will be warehouse lofts available for purchase. The building will accommodate a new public multideck car park with 221 parking spots, four commercial or retail tenancy spaces, an open air function area and a seventh floor garden terrace for residents of the building.

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The open-air upper level of the car park has the capacity to be converted into a public activation space. Image:

ARM Architecture

The multideck car park will be constructed on the lower levels of the 12-storey building. The car park’s adaptable design allows for the potential ability to retrofit some parking levels into housing should future demand require. The car park has been designed to be a point of interest, with sections of the walls and an open roof deck to display art – in reference to Bowden’s mural culture. The open-air upper level of the car park can be converted into a public activation space.
Philippe Naudin, principal at ARM Architecture, said, the building envelope was inspired by Bowden’s history as an industrial area. “Our architecture translates aspects of this rich narrative through icons and recognisable motifs – house symbols, distinctive sawtooth roofs, repetitive truss patterns, even subtle nods to the iconic Clipsal fittings – creating a playful design language that’s both contextual and distinctive, paying homage to past stories and familiar forms,” Naudin said.
“We are looking forward to these stories being discovered, lived in and further enriched by the community that inhabits them.
“We hope our architecture will contribute to a true sense of pride of place, creating not just a place to live, but providing a place that residents can truly be proud to call home.”

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The proposal includes the reconstruction of Field Lane to create improved pedestrian links. Image:

ARM Architecture

The proposal also includes the reconstruction of Field Lane to connect Third and Second streets and create a critical pedestrian route between Plant 3 and 4 and the Bowden Train Station.
Chief executive of Renewal SA Chris Menz said the building will help to alleviate housing supply issues and provide a much-needed parking solution for the Bowden community.
Early works and site preparation will commence in 2024, with the first residents anticipated to move in at the beginning of 2026. More

Powerhouse Parramatta and the Cité Internationale des Arts have revealed the recipients of the 2024 galang residency program, which provides First Nations creative practitioners with the opportunity to undertake two intensive three-month residencies in Paris.
Sydney-based Worimi and Biripi guri architect Jack Gillmer and multidisciplinary Yuggera and Biri artist from Brisbane, Jody Rallah, have been selected to participate in the 2024 program.
The galang residency selection panel consisted of Powerhouse Associate, Wiradjuri artist writer and curator Brook Garru Andrew, head of the residency department at the Cité internationale des arts Vincent Gonzalvez, and Powerhouse associate director First Nations Beau James. They commended Gillmer and Rallah’s proposed projects, commenting that they would “inspire conversations about restitution and accessibility in the cultural sector.”
Gillmer, an architect at SJB, will travel to Paris in July. He has long been a proponent of including Country and First Nations voices in architectural and design practice.

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Jack Gillmer was a part of the team that designed the installation titled Eucalyptusdom which was displayed at Powerhouse. Project completed by SJB in collaboration with Rick Leplastrier and Vania Contreras. Image:

Zan Wimberley, courtesy of Powerhouse

During his residency, Gillmer will investigate the display and treatment of Indigenous artefacts and collections, reckoning with the colonial history of museology and the future of acquiring and exhibiting cultural materials. He will also study the concept of a “Global off-Country Keeping Place” for cultural materials undergoing repatriation or lacking an on-Country Keeping Place.
The program will assist him in initiating conversations with institutions about restitution. Furthermore, it will seek to support him with his objective of “decolonising” museology through the introduction of a framework or set of design principles that empower First Nations communities to reshape historical and colonial narratives.
Gillmer said it feels surreal to have been chosen. “I’m ecstatic, encouraged, and positively assertive. The residency provides support to continue the exploration of my personal and professional drivers, giving agency, opportunity and voice to Traditional Custodians in areas that are inherently colonial,” he said.
“Using architecture as a medium of investigation, I’m excited to see the potential this will have on defining an approach to architecture and museology to Indigenise practices.”
Rallah will commence her residency in May 2024. She will develop work that reflects her research into the application of Braille and other tactile language systems to intimate and collaborative haptic artmaking approaches. Beyond her investigation of tactile communication methods, she aims to broaden her knowledge of how the built environment, architecture, and curated recreational spaces can be used for cultural preservation.
For more information about the 2024 galang residency program, visit the Powerhouse website. More

The Northern Territory government has filed a development application for the proposed National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Mparntwe/Alice Springs.
The cultural institution, to be located at 7 Wills Terrace, will be dedicated to the display of works created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The design team includes BVN, Susan Dugdale and Associates (SDA), and landscape architects Aspect Studios and Clarsen and Clarsen. The key themes prioritised during the design process were “Designing with Country, habitable gardens, identifiable presence, rooms with a view and logical planning.”
The main building is a five-storey gallery that consists of retail and cafe spaces at ground level, event spaces on the fourth floor, workshop spaces and a central spine atrium. The gallery envelope was inspired by a woven basket, which is reflected through the open weave of diagrid glazing and strategic apertures on the facade. A separate services building will also be established on the western side of the main gallery building.
Proposed external features include a publicly accessible open-air ampitheatre that overlooks the Todd River, a cultural space and landscape remediation area, on-site parking, a water play area named Kwatye Play and a main pedestrian thoroughfare called the Track, which will feature shade structures, seating and an offshoot network of smaller tracks.
An outdoor public amenities area has been proposed to serve users of the ampitheatre and Kwatye play area. The public amenities area takes the form of three disconnected pods under a floating canopy roof, with the separation of the pods providing greater visual permeability across the site.

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Shaded public amenities area. Image:

Courtesy Northern Territory government

Plans state that the National Aboriginal Art Gallery (NAAG) will empower and support the advancement of First Nations people as it will be governed, managed, curated and staffed by Indigenous Australians.
According to the December 2023 design report, the facility “will be an example of architectural excellence for national cultural institutions; a landmark building synonymous with Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and First Nations art, both nationally and internationally.
“The site includes a number of sacred sites. In addition, the surrounding landscape is culturally inscribed. Measures to protect the sacred sites and, where culturally appropriate, share stories will be incorporated into the design and landscaping.”
The development application is on exhibition until 5 April 2024. If approved, construction is expected to begin in late 2027 and the gallery is anticipated to open in early 2028. More

An exhibition displaying student designs and a symposium featuring architects who completed recent projects in Blacktown will soon be held in Sydney, as part of Western Sydney University and Powerhouse Parramatta’s Urban Transformation Summer School.
Now in its second year, the annual summer school is offered to Western Sydney University (WSU) Masters students studying architecture and industrial design. The two-week program supports students aspiring to become urban designers by offering them practical industry experience and guidance from established academics and practitioners on both a national and international scale.
Each year, the program engages a council from Western Sydney to develop a real-world design challenge for students to solve, using the local urban area as a model.
In 2024, 21 summer school students collaborated with Blacktown City Council to take on a design challenge focused on a pedestrian thoroughfare in Mount Druitt — from Mount Druitt train station to Mount Druitt Hospital. Students evaluated the walking route and proposed interventions that could improve the spatial, environmental, and practical amenity of the thoroughfare, while designing in spaces for rest, engagement and environmental protection.
Western Sydney University professor Michael Chapman said the Masters students were required to develop micro-architectures that have potential to optimise the landscape. “They were given a limit of 10 square metres for the footprint, but could site their project anywhere across the CBD. As these architectures became more resolved and considered, they reinforced the power of small things to make a meaningful distance,” Chapman said.
The designs will be presented in an exhibition between 20 March and 8 April 2024 at the WSU Engineering Innovation Hub in Parramatta.

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Woodcroft Neighbourhood Centre by Carter Williamson Architects. Image:

Brett Boardman

On the same day at 2 pm, a symposium titled Becoming Blacktown will be held at the university. The symposium will focus diverse architectural and design approaches to Blacktown’s built form, with presentations from practices responsible for recent projects, such as McGregor Coxall on Warrick Lane Plaza, Sam Crawford on Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre, Chrofi and JMD on Mount Druitt Town Centre, ARM and Architectus on Blacktown Exercise Sport and Technology Hub, Lahznimmo on the Disability Sport Centre of Excellence, Eoghan Lewis on Kings Langley Cricket Pavilion, and Carter Williamson on Woodcroft Community Centre.
For more information about the summer school program, visit the website. More