Architecture

Entries are now open for the 38th Dulux Colour Awards, encouraging architects, interior designers, specifiers and students to submit interior and exterior, residential, commercial and public projects that demonstrate an innovative use of Dulux colour.
The categories for this year’s awards include commercial interior – workplace and retail, commercial interior – public and hospitality, commercial and multi-residential exterior, residential interior, single residential exterior, temporary or installation design, and student – for architecture and interior design students who are currently undertaking or have recently completed a course.
The judging panel comprises founder of Carter Williamson, Shaun Carter; co-founder of Wowowa Architecture, Monique Woodward; director of Pac Studio, Sarosh Mulla; founder of Studio Prineas, Eva-Marie Prineas; and co-founder and director of Technē Architecture and Interior Design, Nick Travers.
Dulux colour and communications manager, Andrea Lucena-Orr said the annual awards provide an opportunity to inspire industry-wide colour ambition in built environments and recognise emerging and established design talent.
“The Dulux Colour Awards celebrates the creativity of design practitioners who use colour to transform spaces. In 2024, we’re excited to further this celebration of colour with the introduction of the new Temporary or Installation Design category, which aims to showcase the use of paint finishes in temporary, installation, exhibition and brand promotional experiences,” Lucena-Orr said.
“The level of sophistication and constraint exercised by architects and designers never fails to impress our panel, and we look forward to seeing how the judges appraise this year’s entrants.”
The winner of each major category will be awarded $1,000 in prize money, while the student category winner will receive $500. Projects must have been completed between 1 September 2022 and 31 December 2023 to be eligible. Entries close on Friday 23 February 2024 with winners announced at the 28th Dulux Colour Awards on Wednesday 29 May 2024.
To find out more, visit the Dulux website. More

A heritage-listed former TAFE campus in Tasmania’s Launceston is set to be transformed into a mixed-use lifestyle facility named Reunion, in a $95 million redevelopment that seeks to increase visitation to the riverside city. The project, designed by DKO Architecture, has received rezoning and development approval. Proposed for the site at 10-16 Wellington Street is […] More

Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary has announced the shortlist for its annual Word of the Year contest, selected from new words added to the dictionary online.
The word of the year often reflect the zeitgeist of the time, with past Words of the Year including “doomscrolling” and “rona” (2020), “strollout” (2021) and “teal” (2022).
The 2023 shortlist includes “hostile architecture” and “YIMBY,” both from the social interest category, Macquarie Dictionary editors told ArchitectureAU.
“While examples of hostile architecture are now encountered by the public on a daily basis, very few of us have been aware of the mostly undisclosed ‘why’ behind the introduction of the measures until recently,” the editors said.
Hostile architecture often takes the form of anti-homelessness spikes in public areas, but it can also include anti-skateboarding fins or even arm rests between seats on public benches.
“The term itself, once confined to discussions within the realms of councils and planning, is now spilling over into general language as more people become aware of the motivation behind it. In many cases, awareness is accompanied by a healthy dose of outrage. We’re now seeing petitions to ban the practice and rid our public spaces of such design features – the resistance not just local, but worldwide.”
YIMBY is a “direction reaction to “NIMBYism,” Macquarie Dictionary editors said. “The use of either term often instigates volatile debate, descending quickly into a free-for-all. The promotion of high- and medium-density housing is a big part of YIMBYism, in response to the current housing shortage and the implications of high cost-of-living figures.
“Both hostile architecture and YIMBY are in the arena of serious social issues such as homelessness, the cost-of-living crisis, and the housing shortage.”
In fact, cost of living features heavily in the 2023 shortlist with its shortened colloquialism “cozzie livs” and “skimpflation” also in contention for Word of the Year.
The words on the shortlist provide a snapshot of the sort of language, practices, fashion and phenomena which have become established enough in Australian English to warrant an entry in the dictionary,” the editors said.
The Macquarie Word of the Year 2023 will be announced on 28 November. More

The City of Melbourne has opened a new three-storey library and family services facility at the Munro precinct, adjacent to the Queen Victoria Market.
Designed by Six Degrees and Bush Projects, the $15.7 million facility accommodates the first ever dedicated children’s library in the City of Melbourne, as well as reading rooms, study areas and computer spaces.
The facility has been named “narrm ngarrgu,” which means Melbourne knowledge in Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung language. It contains a collection of 30,000 new print books, an extensive digital book collection, audiobooks, magazines, music and film.
The library also has a dedicated maker space, with paint and photography stations, sewing and embroidery machines, 3D printers and laser cutters, as well as a sound studio for podcasting and recording.
A 960-square-metre outdoor terrace which overlooks the historic sheds of the Queen Victoria Market. The terrace features native plantings, an outdoor play area and an interactive six-metre-long tunnel in the shape of an eel trap.

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A 960-square-metre rooftop terrace at narrm ngarrgu overlooks the historic sheds of the Queen Victoria Gardens. Image:

Courtesy City of Melbourne

The library has a collection of 80 artworks, including newly commissioned works by Aboriginal artist Maree Clarke, a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, Boon Wurrung and Wemba Wemba woman, who created the carpet artwork in the children’s library.
As well as the library, the facility also include family services for child and adult immunisations, family support and counselling, parenting services, and child and maternal health support services.
“narrm ngarrgu is a remarkable new facility which will make it easier than ever for Melburnians to access essential family and health services, books and information,” said lord mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp.
“In the last financial year, our collection of libraries welcomed nearly 1 million visitors – and we’re expecting this patronage to nearly double with the opening of narrm ngarrgu.” More

Nightingale Village is once again being recognized for human-centred, environmentally conscious design after earning the Industry Leader accolade in the Sustainable Places category at the 21st Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards. Designed by six different architecture practices – Architecture Architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball, and Kennedy Nolan – the six buildings constructed […] More

The Parramatta Aquatic Centre, designed by Grimshaw, Andrew Burges Architects and McGregor Coxall opened to the public on 25 September. The 40,000 square metre facility contains a 50-metre, 10-lane heated outdoor pool encircled by a perimeter ring, a 25-metre, 8-lane indoor pool, a learn-to-swim indoor pool, an indoor splash play area, as well as a […] More

Design writer and co-founder of Good Habitat and the Australian Design Unit, Heidi Dokulil has released a new book that investigates the contentious architectural genre of brutalism in Sydney, its migration from Europe to Australia, and its uncertain future.
Sydney Brutalism was inspired by the controversy surrounding the sale and threatened demolition of the Sirius building in Millers Point. Heidi observed that the movement to preserve the building extended beyond the architectural profession and became a topic of conversation in the wider public sphere. Sirius was saved from the wrecking ball but that didn’t end the conversation. The renewed attention revived an interest in Sydney’s forgotten brutalist buildings, resulting in more than ten buildings across Australia being added to state and local heritage lists in the past five years.
The book delves into a range of topics including the Sirius battle, the historical and international influences of the genre, the adaptive reuse of brut buildings and the resurgence of brutalist influence in contemporary culture. It reflects on brutalist forms of architecture that have vanished, while also shining a spotlight on the remaining structures that still stand today.
Featuring interviews with architects such as Glenn Harper, John James, Michael Dysart, Penelope Seidler, Andrew Andersons, Dante Bini, Angelo Candalepas and Tao Gofers, the book discusses the importance of brutalism in a historical context, as well as brutalism’s relevance in the present.

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Binishell, designed by Dante Bini, Ashbury Public School, Ashfield, 1977, image courtesy of Dante Bini, page 122 of Sydney Brutalism. Image:

Max Dupain

It was in researching the Government Architects Branch of the NSW Department of Works that Heidi identified the pioneering force behind Sydney’s experimentation in off-form concrete, with many brutalist buildings of the 1960s and ‘70s created under their purview.
“The department was one of the largest architecture studios in the southern hemisphere at one point, which is quite phenomenal. It was a highly sought-after place for architects to work. It offered incredible opportunities because they needed new buildings, they were open to experimental forms of architecture and they were looking internationally to bring architects over to Australia,” Heidi said.
“The department was responsible for bringing Dante Bini over to Australia. He was singled out as someone who could transform schools across NSW. It was really quite fascinating to see the big thinking and risk-taking that was happening during that time, there was an openness to ideas and innovation, and a willingness to push boundaries.”

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Polish War Memorial Chapel in Marayong, designed by Michael Dysart and Associates, image courtesy of Michael Dysart, page 93 of Sydney Brutalism. Image:

Max Dupain

The department’s eagerness to experiment and make a name for Sydney is exemplified by a story shared by Michael Dysart in the book about designing the 1975 UTS Tower. He recounts having to convince the heads of the department to allow him to incorporate a novel method of engineering. To persuade them, he gathered them into a car and drove two hours southwest of Sydney to show them a bridge that demonstrated the engineering.
Despite a willingness in the ‘60s and ’70s to push the envelope of architectural experimentation, a shift in perceptions slowly began to emerge. A reluctance to heritage list many of the city’s brutalist forms resulted in 20 buildings being either demolished or defaced beyond recognition, since the 1990s.

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The interior of the Philip Room in the Sirius building, designed by Tao Gofers and Penny Rosier, page 166 of Sydney Brutalism. Image:

Barton Taylor

“Sirius really alerted the general public to the vulnerability of buildings and reminded people just how at the whim of politics they are,” Heidi said. “It has really reminded people of the need to protect and preserve structures to ensure that we have a diversity of buildings that represent the stories and history of place.
“By heritage-listing and protecting these buildings we’re acknowledging them and we’re giving them the status that Victorian colonial architecture has. I remember talking to Sam Marshall [architect] about this and he said ‘If we don’t protect them, then all we have under protection is colonial architecture and that’s only one piece of the puzzle.’”

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Kuring-gai College in Lindfield, designed by David Turner at the NSW Government Architect’s Branch, page 53 of Sydney Brutalism. Image:

Anthony Basheer

Lauded in the book as promising examples of adaptive reuse are the Lindfield Learning Village, formerly the Kuring-gai UTS University Campus, refurbished by Lacoste and Stevenson Architects and Designinc in 2019; the redevelopment of the Gate Nine Arrival Precinct at the University of NSW Kensington Campus completed by Lahzimmo Architects and Aspect Studios in 2019; and the former Newcastle council chambers, reincarnated as a five-star hotel called Crystalbrook Kingsley, completed by EJE Architecture and Suede Interior Design in 2021.
“The Lindfield Learning Village is a fantastic example of brut architecture being transformed into something that meets contemporary standards, and that building is actually heritage-listed, so they had a tricky framework to work within,” Heidi said.

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Indigo Slam, designed by Smart Design Studio, page 204 of Sydney Brutalism. Image:

Sharrin Rees

The aesthetics of the Brutalist movement continues to play a role in the diverse architectural landscape of Sydney, which Heidi said is demonstrated in projects such as Polly Harbison’s Pearl Beach House, Candelepas and Associates’ Punchbowl Mosque and Smart Design Studio’s Indigo Slam.
While the origins of sculpted and expressive concrete architecture in Australia may have begun with emigre architects, Heidi still holds the belief that brutalism downunder is unlike brutalism anywhere else in the world and that really comes down to Australia’s idiosyncratic landscape. The colours and textures of native bushland combined with the rawness of concrete results in a contextual language that she says is entirely unique. Michael Dysart expresses similar sentiments in the book when he states “all is unified by the use of unpainted concrete which fits in well with the olive green of the surrounding bush.”
Sydney Brutalism offers a tour through time, unveiling the brutalist forms that have endured and those that have not, while also posing the question – what kind of cities would we have without them? The book will hit the shelves on Friday, 1 December. To purchase a copy or find out more, visit the UNSW Press website. More

Seam barstool
The Seam outdoor barstool, designed by Adam Cornish, has a shell that is formed from a single piece of aluminium, creating a “seam” along its spine. The collection includes chairs, barstools and various tables, all with UV-stable powder- coat finishes. Visit website
Tessellated tiles

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Create traditional or contemporary, simple or intricate geometric designs using the Tessellated Tile Factory’s vitrified porcelain tile system. Image: Supplied

Create traditional or contemporary, simple or intricate geometric designs using Tessellated Tile Factory’s vitrified porcelain tile system. Tessellated tiles offer a bespoke outdoor flooring solution, with loose tiles of various sizes, colours and shapes to choose from. Visit website
Frame armchair

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Frame armchair by Paolo Lenti. Image: Supplied

Paola Lenti’s elegantly shaped Frame outdoor armchair pairs a highly durable rope braid textile with a lightweight aluminium frame. Frame is available in multiple configurations and in a selection of the brand’s signature upholstery fabrics. Visit website
Austral Bricks

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The new range of Austral Bricks features a colour palette inspired by neutral tones. Image: Supplied

Crafted using state-of-the-art making techniques, Austral Bricks’ new Pottery Blend range features a colour palette inspired by the tonal profiles of Roman clay sculptures. Earthy and distinctive, the collection will help to define enduring architectural spaces. Visit website
Luxembourg outdoor furniture

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Luxembourg outdoor furniture by Fermob. Image: Supplied

Originally designed in 1923 for the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, this outdoor furniture range by Fermob is synonymous with French elegance. Made of durable yet lightweight aluminium, the stackable collection offers timeless design appeal and versatility. Visit website
Plungie pre-cast pools

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Pre-cast pools by Plungie. Image: Supplied

The Plungie pool is a monolithic precast concrete swimming pool. Available in four sizes, including round and rectangular models, Plungie pools can be installed in-ground, semi-recessed or above-ground, providing versatility in the design of an outdoor space. Visit website
Escea outdoor fireplace

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The Escea outdoor fireplace is ideal for cooler nights. Image: Supplied

Escea’s EW5000 is an outdoor wood-burning fireplace that you can cook on, as well as bask in front of – providing seamless indoor- outdoor flow. The EW5000 outdoor fire can be installed either with a stainless steel frame or without, for a more rustic look. Visit website More