Architecture

Peter Elliott Architecture and Urban Design have been appointed to design the refurbishment of the historic South Melbourne Town Hall into a performance venue for the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
The $65 million project will create a new 150-seat theatre, a 350-seat main hall, new foyer bar and lounge, commercial kitchen and a public terrace. The revitalised town hall will be able to host events such as stand-up comedy, string quartets, local school concerts, speech nights, weddings and special occasions.

View gallery

The proposed revitalisation of South Melbourne Town Hall by Peter Elliott Architecture and Urban Design. Image:

Tilt Projects and Pause Paradiso

“ANAM’s reoccupation of the South Melbourne Town Hall is a rare legacy project: the building has great presence, character and historic significance. It can become a special place for ANAM – a home for making music and engaging with a wide audience. It will also be a destination venue and engine room for creative activity that will enrich the life of the local community and of Victoria,” said architect Peter Elliott.
“We are working closely with Aunty Gail and Aunty Julieanne of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation to acknowledge the importance of First Nations history of the site in our design. The stories and cultural knowledge shared by the Aunties, have informed our way of envisioning how audiences might gather together in intimate surroundings, to enjoy music, dance and culture, as well as in more conventional formats.”

View gallery

The proposed revitalisation of South Melbourne Town Hall by Peter Elliott Architecture and Urban Design. Image:

Tilt Projects and Pause Paradiso

South Melbourne Town Hall originally opened in 1879, and was designed by architect Charles Webb after winning an architectural competition. The design was inspired by Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral, the Windsor Hotel and Royal Arcade.
ANAM first became a tenant of the hall in 1997, following council amalgamations in the mid 1990s, that made South Melbourne Town Hall redundant. In 2020, the building was declared unsafe, leading to evacuation of all tenants.
In 2021 ANAM developed a proposal to revitalise the hall, which the City of Port Phillip endorsed. The academy will contribute $50 million in government and philanthropic funding to the project, with the council contributing $15 million.
ANAM has received funding from the Commonwealth government and is discussions with the Victorian government and philanthropic community.
The project is anticipated to be complete in 2026. More

A disability support services organisation in Sydney’s north-west has received council approval for the $35 million redevelopment of its community hub, designed by Plus Architecture.
The proposal will incorporate three heritage buildings on the site of McCall Gardens Community Foundation in Box Hill, and create an inclusive, accessible and wellbeing focused centre.
A redevelopment proposal was first submitted in 2021, before an amended proposal was submitted to Hills Shire Council in 2023.
Plus Architecture said its updated design will become a “community beacon.”

View gallery

The proposed new McCall Community Hub by Plus Architecture. Image: Atchain

“The backbone of the updated DA is about creating a new way forward of providing care for people with special needs, through better integration with the local community and finding ways to overcome stigma through design,” said Plus Architecture principal Gabriel Duque.
“We went through the process of essentially re-establishing the aspirational and the functional briefing requirements of the Hub, trying to ensure that we stayed within the original footprint of the original DA while celebrating the site assets and fine-tuning the design to be more accessible, and inserting more opportunities where people are able to come together.”

View gallery

The proposed new McCall Community Hub by Plus Architecture. Image: Atchain

McCall Gardens was established in the early 1950s after parents of children with disabilities joined together to create a place to live. When the facility opened in 1958, it was the first of its kind in New South Wales.
The revitalised community hub will include a sensory garden, user-friendly landscaping, a cafe, multipurpose rooms for community use, play facilities for families and children, and a swimming pool.
The design will incorporate textures, sounds, tactile features, improved wayfinding, curved walls and sensitive lighting design.
“With over 1.3 million people living with disability in NSW, it is critical that services and facilities provided across our communities afford all people the dignity, respect and inclusivity they deserve. At McCall, we recognise the inherent value and potential of all people. We understand that ‘people with disabilities’ are ‘disabled’ not by their impairments, but by the barriers and limitations put forward by society,” said McCall CEO Belinda Colombrita.
“The McCall Community Hub is part of our fight for greater inclusivity and equity. It aims to bring the community together and celebrate a sense of place. It turns what was a very ‘inward’ community environment into an ‘outward’ and inviting gesture – ensuring that the McCall Community Hub can enjoy an enduring legacy and serve the community for many years to come,” Colombrita said.
Construction set to begin in May 2024 and is anticipated to be complete in October 2025. More

The City of Melville Council in south Perth has endorsed plans for a new Library and Cultural Centre designed by Christou Design Group.
The $60-million project will be the largest and most significant cultural development for the municipality.
The 5,080-square-metres facility will be a vibrant and innovative hub of arts, culture, literature, learning, housing the city’s main library, gallery and exhibition spaces, a municipal museum, museum collections, an outdoor civic space, dedicated creative learning spaces, community meeting rooms, basement parking, and other core services. It is designed to be a six-star rated building.

View gallery

The proposed City of Melville Library and Cultural Centre, designed by Christou Design Group. Image:

Courtesy City of Melville Council

“From music and poetry to art and theatre, the people of Melville and beyond are heavily invested in our city as a cultural hub,” said mayor of Melville Katy Mair. “This once-in-a-generation project will see central Melville transformed into a vibrant civic and community hub – a place where people can connect, learn, enjoy, and celebrate their identity.”
The council described the project as “substantial reimagining that will anchor the heart of Melville.” The project will replace the existing Civic Square Library, and will be situated adjacent to the the proposed the $792-million redevelopment of Westfield Booragoon.
““The City also boasts the state’s second-highest library visitation with over 500,000 users interacting annually,” Mair continued. “The endorsement of the Library and Cultural Centre is incredibly significant for Melville and one that addresses an important community need.”
Th Library and Cultural Centre is expected to begin construction in 2025. More

The Victorian government has released maps of 10 established suburbs that have been identified as having potential to accommodate more homes.
The proposed 10 new Activity Centres in Broadmeadows, Camberwell Junction, Chadstone, Epping, Frankston, Moorabbin, Niddrie (Keilor Road), North Essendon, Preston (High Street), and Ringwood, can deliver an estimated 60,000 homes through a review of building heights and design requirements, and changes to existing rules.
In a communique, the government stated, “These initial 10 suburban centres were chosen for their potential to accommodate more homes while ensuring access to vital amenities such as train stations, tram services, town centres, job opportunities, and public services.”
“Building more homes up, not just out, in established suburbs is one of many initiatives outlined in the Housing Statement, which is creating the conditions needed for 800,000 new homes to be built over the next decade to improve housing and rental affordability.”
The Victorian Housing Statement includes a target for 70 percent of new homes to be built in established suburbs.
The government seeking feedback on its suburban housing plan which will also guide investment in community facilities, public spaces and parks.
“We want to hear from communities on how best we can accommodate more housing choice, while ensuring their suburbs maintain their liveability,” said planning minister Sonya Kilkenny. More

Construction has begun on a new aquatic centre in Adelaide designed by JPE Design Studio, Warren and Mahoney and Yellaka (Karl Winda Telfer).
The $135 million project will be located the Adelaide City northern Park Lands at Pardipardinyilla / Denise Norton Park (Park 2).
According to the South Australian Department of Infrastructure and Transport, “The design approach has been centred around creating high quality spaces that use warm and natural tones to reflect the local landscape. There has also been a strong focus on ensuring the spaces are welcoming for all people of all abilities, cultures and ages.”

View gallery

An indoor splash zone in the proposed Adelaide Aquatic Centre. Image:

SA Department of Infrastructure and Transport

The facility will include a 50-metre, 10-lane indoor pool, a 25-metre, an 8-lane outdoor pool, a dedicated indoor rehabilitation pool, a dedicated learn to swim pool, an outdoor lagoon pool, diving facilities, indoor and outdoor water play areas, spa, sauna and steam room facilities, gym and fitness facilities, cafe, barbecue, and lawned areas, and inclusive amenities and change rooms.
The new Adelaide Aquatic Centre will replace existing centre, which is due to close on 1 August. The redevelopment will allow 1,000 square metres of land to be returned to Adelaide Park Lands.
“We’re delivering a sustainably designed swimming centre that will be built responsibly using locally-sourced, low carbon materials wherever possible,” said South Australian infrastructure minister Tom Koutsantonis. “This work is creating an iconic structure that will meet the needs of the community for many years to come.”
The new centre is due to open in the summer of 2025-26. More

The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning has approved a $1.7 billion project to create three towers adjacent to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market.
To be known as Gurrowa Place, the project is part of the largest urban renewal project undertaken by the City of Melbourne, which will revitalise a 3.2-hectare site south of the heritage market.
Designed by NH Architecture, Kerstin Thompson Architects, 3XN Australia, Searle × Waldron Architecture, Openwork, McGregor Coxall, Lovell Chen and Urbis, Gurrowa Place will comprise three towers, a Market Square, a cultural and civic building, new car parking and the restoration of the Franklin Street Stores.
The three towers will comprise a 125-metre-tall commercial office building, a 162-metre-tall residential building with 15 percent of the net floor space allocated to affordable housing, and a 183 metre-metre-tall student accommodation building.

View gallery

City of Melbourne councillors have unanimously supported the development plan for Gurrowa Place. Image:

NH Architecture, Kerstin Thompson Architects, 3XN Australia, and Searle × Waldron Architecture.

Developer Lendlease also announced it has executed contracts between the City of Melbourne and student housing provider Scape.
Across the development there will be approximately 560 build-to-rent apartments, 80 affordable homes, and 1,100 student residences.
Lendlease and the City of Melbourne will also collaborate on a 1.8 hectare public park on the site.
“Gurrowa Place will become home to thousands of new residents, attract more market customers and boost business for traders – while unlocking one of the largest open spaces in the CBD,” said lord mayor Sally Capp.
“We’re one step closer to starting work to enhance the traditional market experience Melburnians and visitors know and love.”
Lendlease CEO Tom Lombardo added, “The $1.7b Gurrowa Place project represents an enormous opportunity to revitalise one of Melbourne’s most-loved precincts with new public space, retail, office and housing.”
The project is expected to be completed in the 2028 financial year. More

Brimbank City Council in Melbourne’s north west has agreed to sell a parcel of land to the Vietnamese Museum of Australia, paving the way for the construction of a nationally significant cultural museum.
In December 2023, the council entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vietnamese Museum Australia for the sale of a council-owned car park site near Sunshine station, for the establishment of the cultural building.
Following a period of community consultation, the council has now confirmed the sale.
A pre-existing design for the museum by Konzepte Melbourne incorporates elements from both Vietnamese and Australian culture, with a wave-like facade representing the journey overseas, and bamboo exterior details symbolising the use of bamboo as a main construction material in Vietnam. A warm and earthy colour palette has been proposed to reference Australia’s red-coloured soil.

View gallery

Vietnamese Museum Australia (VMA), designed by Konzepte Melbourne. Image:

Konzepte Melbourne

Once constructed, it will become one of six cultural museums in the Multicultural Museums Victoria Network.
Residents with Vietnamese ancestry make up 17 percent of the population of Brimbank, make it the largest cultural cohort in the area.
Brimbank City Council said it will create a “welcome plaza” on council land adjacent to the proposed museum site that will celebrate all refugee and multicultural communities in its municipality.
“Brimbank prides itself on its diversity. We’re one of Victoria’s most culturally diverse municipalities and this museum will be a significant drawcard for our city,” said Brimbank mayor Ranka Rasic. “As mayor of a council with one of the largest Vietnamese communities in Victoria, I look forward to the construction of this significant cultural centre in the very heart of our diverse community.”
The proposed museum will add to the transformation of Sunshine, with a number of project, including the airport rail, and a 90-bed hotel, in the pipeline.
“It’s time for the Melbourne Airport Rail, including Sunshine and Albion Station works committed to by State and Federal Governments, to start. We need this infrastructure to support large numbers of people who will want to come, visit and stay in Sunshine if we are going to make the most of this exciting opportunity.” More

The City of Bankstown-Canterbury has unveiled the winning design to transform an under-utilised park in Bankstown.
Collins and Turner, Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture and WSP Indigenous Specialist Services won the municipality’s first-ever design competition which generated more than 100 submissions, and four shortlisted teams.
The project will create a large, multi-purpose hall for up to 200 people and kitchen facilities, a meeting room for 40 people with a kitchenette, external covered spaces, and internal and external toilets, as well as upgrades to the surrounding green space with a rain garden, playful spaces and new footpaths.
“Griffith Park knits into Bankstown centre’s framework of streets and places to host diverse activities and opportunities – cultural and commercial, bringing the life of the street through the precinct,” said the design team.
“A series of rills, pools and wetlands structure the park, linking it to past connections to Salt Pan Creek and a strong First Nations heritage and identity.
“The community centre forms a soft welcoming southern edge. Spaces for movement, gatherings, meetings and learning are unified beneath a dramatic sweeping roof.
“A contemporary veranda conceived as a richly coloured three-dimension tapestry, a celebration of one of Western Sydney’s most vibrant and multicultural communities.”

View gallery

Winning design for Griffith Park Precinct by Collins and Turner, Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture and WSP Indigenous Specialist Services. Image:

Bankstown Canterbury City Council

The competition was judged by a jury comprising Andy Sharp (director planning CB City), Annabel Lahz (director Lahznimmo Architects), Laura Harding (director, Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects), Oi Choong (consultant landscape architect) and Simeon King (director, Turf Design Studio).
“Some of our most iconic landmarks around Sydney were designed in architectural competitions like this, and I have no doubt Griffith Park will be a talking point destination for our City,” said Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Bilal El-Hayek.
“Choosing a winner was no easy feat and I would like to thank all the competitors for their thoughtful and inspiring entries. This competition has certainly lifted the bar of design in our City.”
The council is seeking feedback on the winning design, which will also be on display at Bankstown Library and Knowledge Centre from 2 to 8 April and Bankstown Customer Service Centre from 9 to 12 April. More