Architecture

In a bid to decarbonize buildings, the federal government has allocated $100,000 in funding to support a new training program for architects, to be delivered by the Australian Institute of Architects.
The program intends to “equip architects with the tools to tackle the complex challenge of reducing embodied carbon in buildings,” the communiqué reads.
Aimed at lowering emissions before the construction phase starts, the initiative seeks to provide insight on how to decrease embodied carbon emissions produced through processes such as material extraction, production and transportation of building products, as well as construction, maintenance, repairs and renovations.
Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister said clever approaches to design could assist Australia in achieving its target of net zero emissions by 2050.
“Architects can dramatically reduce emissions from our built environment before one brick is even laid, just by making different design choices,” said McAllister. “Rethinking opportunities and making smarter choices in building design will help decarbonise the industry, but also save costs. Cost effective solutions already exist, we want to help bring these solutions to more architects across Australia.
“Clever design strategies, like repurposing an existing structure in the Quay Quarter Tower, saved 12,000 tonnes of embodied carbon. This is equivalent to taking 2,600 cars off the road.
“We want to help our architects design for a net zero future. This new training program will do just that.”
According to a statement released by the federal government, current market solutions suggest a 5 to 18 percent reduction in embodied carbon could be accomplished while a 0.4 to 3 percent decrease in material costs for typical building and infrastructure projects could be achieved.
“As the electricity grid decarbonizes and energy efficiency is embraced by homes and businesses, embodied carbon will overtake operational emissions, growing from 16 percent of a building’s total emissions in 2019 to 85 percent by 2050.”
The program will comprise a roadmap and toolkit developed by industry experts, to be delivered in person and online via the Australian Institute of Architects. More

Recipient of the 2023 National Award for Public Architecture, the much-anticipated Melbourne Holocaust Museum will reopen its doors to the public on Sunday 12 November.
The Kerstin Thompson Architects-designed museum adaptively reuses the original building on the site, constructed in the 1920s and purchased by the museum in 1984.
A significant site for memorializing and preserving history, the form visually and physically interacts with the street through its facade and internal views to the surrounding neighbourhood. The frontage of the building prompts passersby to pause, reflect and remember.

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The facade uses a combination of clay and transparent glass bricks woven together, enabling light to be drawn through the clear bricks. Image:

Derek Swalwell

The concept of light was central to the design, with light not only being a symbol of knowledge, but also a beacon of hope. The facade uses a combination of clay and transparent glass bricks woven together, enabling the light to be drawn through the clear bricks, and again creating a relationship with the street. Soft natural light fills the interior, while complementary timber features offer a subdued yet visually pleasing aesthetic.

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Timber features offer a subdued yet visually pleasing aesthetic. Image:

Derek Swalwell

The project has garned significant praise from those within the architecture profession. The 2023 National Architecture Awards jury observed in their citation “the details are rigorous and pared back, granting a calm order and elegance. From outside to within, this building is perfectly positioned as a sophisticated and appropriate place to tell the stories of the Jewish community.
“This simple, warm space is a comforting adjunct to the immersive exhibition spaces which are at times confronting.”
Similarly, the 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards jury said the realization of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum is simultaneously sensitive and powerfully symbolic. “A humane architectural language and materiality define the museum’s centralised circulation.
“Moments of vertical connection evoke reverence and the clever manipulation of natural light through openings and reflective surfaces provide relief from the museum’s exhibits, as well as facilitating opportunities for contemplation and contextualisation. The museum is successful in its balance of the pragmatic, poetic and sustainable.”
The museum, comprises three exhibition spaces, as well as learning, memorial and research facilities. With the launch of the museum marks the debut of its permanent exhibition Everybody Had a Name, a tragic and moving retelling of survivor stories, accompanied with photographs and artefacts. Melbourne Holocaust Museum opens on 12 November 2023. To find out more about current exhibitions visit the Melbourne Holocaust Museum website. More

A five-tower mixed complex has been proposed for the centre of Adelaide, which will accommodate a 220-room hotel and 600 residential apartments, as well retail, wellness and recreation facilities.
Designed by Elenberg Fraser with landscape architecture by TCL, the $1.25 billion project is proposed for the former Australia Post site on the corner of Grote and Gouger Streets.
The site is, incidentally, one of three Australian Institute of Architects’ alternative suggestions for the proposed Women’s and Children’s hospital.
The towers will range between 15 to 28 storeys high. Tower 1, housing a hotel and facing Grote Street, will be 17 storey, and its design will retain the existing Walton’s Biscuit Factory facade.
The remaining four towers will accommodate residential apartments, with 90 units reserved for affordable housing, thanks to an affordable housing overlay on the site that allows the developer, Gurner, to exceed the height limits for the area. The affordable housing units will be dispersed among towers 2, 4, and 5. Tower 3, the tallest of the five towers at 28 storeys, will occupy the prominent corner of Blenheim and Gouger Streets.

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Tower 3 in the proposed Grote and Gouger designed by Elenberg Fraser and TCL. Image:

Elenberg Fraser and TCL

The proponents say the project is “aiming to achieve the most significant carbon-neutral project in the city.”
“The design of the project draws inspiration from the rich architectural heritage of Adelaide, specifically emphasizing the principles of order, symmetry, and the repetition of elemental and local materials,” said the architects in the projects planning application. “Influenced by the city’s historic buildings, the design seeks to create a harmonious and visually appealing environment. By carefully analyzing the architectural language of the heritage structures, the project incorporates similar design elements to evoke a sense of continuity and connection to the past. The use of locally sourced materials not only pays homage to the region’s heritage but also contributes to the sustainability and authenticity of the design.
“The design of the towers takes inspiration from classic modernism buildings. Drawing from modernist houses, the tower design seamlessly integrating lush greenery and terraces that blur the boundaries between the built environment and the natural world.”
The towers will be connected a private network of laneways and gardens as well as a “cenote” at the centre of the site that will form a plaza.
The application will be considered by the State Commission Assessment Panel on 8 November. The planning report recommends consent be granted. More

The South Australian government has unveiled designs for a $74 million upgrade to Noarlunga Hospital in Adelaide’s southern suburbs. The government first announced the redevelopment project in January 2023. Wiltshire Swain Architects and GHD Woodhead were appointed by SA Health and Department for Infrastructure and Transport to design the upgrade in consultation with clinical teams […] More

The ACT government has announced a new six-storey office complex will be built adjacent to the existing Constitution Place in the centre of Canberra. Designed by Bates Smart, the $150 million development will be situated on the corner of Vernon Circle and Constitution Avenue, adjacent to the existing Constitution Place, also designed by Bates Smart, […] More

The University of Sydney’s Fisher Library celebrates 60th anniversary on 6 November 2023.
Designed by NSW Government Architects Office (architect: Ted Farmer, designers: Ken Woolley and Tom O’Mahoney), Fisher Library broke the mold of traditional academic libraries.
“The new library marked a transition from an older conception of the institute as a privileged enclave of scholarship and elite networking towards a modern, knowledge-centred public resource,” wrote Cameron Logan in Australia Modern (Hannah Lewi and Philip Goad (eds), Thames and Hudson).
Fisher Library was constructed in two stages. The first, a five-storey column-and-slab structure housed the undergraduate library. It had an open terrace on the top floor which, to mark the 60th anniversary, will reopen for the first time in 30 years.

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The roof terrace on the top floor of the undergraduate library will be reopened for the first time in 30 years. Image:

Courtesy University of Sydney

At the completion of the first stage in 1962, the building received the Sulman Medal (the highest award for public architecture in New South Wales), and a Bronze Medal from the Royal institute of British Architects.
The second stage comprised an eight-storey book-stack building, which was linked to the earlier building via a vestibule.
At the time of its construction, Fisher Library was the first building in Australia to use reverse cycle air-conditioning.
Fisher Library was a place for students to meet and collaborate. It had telephone booths, lounges, a music listening area.

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Fisher Library originally housed a music listening room. Image:

Courtesy University of Sydney

“Known for its modernist and celebrated architecture, Fisher Library as we know it now was officially opened in 1963 at a time of great social change and investment in education,” said Philip Kent, librarian at the University of Sydney.
Fisher Library is heritage listed in the City of Sydney. Its statement of heritage significance described the building as “a triumph of modernist theory.”
“The horizontality of the Undergraduate Wing is balanced by the vertical emphasis of the Bookstack, resulting in a functional articulation which is the most resolved of the University’s post-war modern buildings,” the statement reads.
“The Fisher Library is one of the buildings at the University of Sydney which makes the university an outstanding architectural precinct.” More

What do painting robot dogs, an eight-metre-long bronze eel trap and Yoko Ono have in common? They are all set to feature at the long-anticipated 2023 NGV Triennial.
Bringing contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue with one another, the upcoming Triennial will showcase nearly 75 projects with more than 25 making their world debut.
The latest Triennial is centred around three thematic pillars: Magic, Matter, and Memory. The theme of Magic will delve into belief systems, allegory, symbolism and human spirituality, while Matter will explore nature, materials and making. Memory will shine a light on the histories of people, places and objects that have contributed to the complex tapestry of contemporary society.
Visitors will encounter an array of art forms and disciplines presented by 100 international artists. Some of the celebrated and emerging creatives on the bill include Sheila Hicks (USA), Tracey Emin (UK), Betty Muffler (Australia), David Shrigley (UK), Maison Schiaparelli (France), Maurizio Cattelan (Italy), Shakuntala Kulkarni (India), Lin Fanglu (China), Ivan Navarro (Chile), Petrit Halilaj (Kosovo), Ihor Okuniev (Ukraine), Ezz Monem (Egypt), Thomas J Price (UK), Iris van Herpen (Netherlands), Jean Jullien (France), Fernando Laposse (Mexico), Azuma Makoto (Japan), Flora Yukhnovich (UK), Yee I-Lann (Malaysia), Farrokh Mahdavi (Iran), Hugh Hayden (USA), Elmgreen and Dragset (Denmark, Norway).

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Basia and Bunny collaborate on their artwork. Image:

Pilat Studios

Highlights include an interactive display by Polish-born, LA-based artist Agnieszka Pilat who has trained Boston Dynamics robot dogs to paint autonomously – a breakthrough in her practice that explores the power of technology in contemporary society. Audiences can witness the three AI-programmed dogs paint large-scale canvases in real time. Pilat imagines that in the distant future these paintings will be revered as the first primitive art of AI-enabled robots.

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Portrait of featured artist Aunty Kim Wandin. Image:

Brett Walker

An eight-metre-long bronze eel trap by Wurundjeri artist Aunty Kim Wandin will be installed in the moat of NGV International. Visible to Melbournians twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, this major new work acknowledges the profound connections between Wurundjeri people and the lands and waterways that they have been custodians of for generations. The sculpture is a tribute to the history of Wurundjeri women, the tradition of weaving, and their relationship with the short-finned eel, known in their language as Iuk.
An exciting selection of recently acquired works by British artist Tracey Emin, whose autobiographical and confessional practice spans film, painting, drawing, installation and sculpture. Featured works include a five-metre-high text-based neon light installation of Emin’s own handwriting, abstract and tactile bronze sculptures, as well as paintings that confront intense emotions such as anguish and elation.

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Azuma Makoto introduces an installation that fills an entire room with beautiful flowers and botanicals frozen into blocks. Image:

Courtesy of Azuma Makoto

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Azuma Makoto botanical display. Image:

Courtesy of Azuma Makoto

Tokyo-based artist Azuma Makoto introduces an installation that fills an entire room with beautiful flowers and botanicals frozen into crystalline acrylic blocks. A homage to the magical beauty and lifeforce of plants, the artist places these jewel-like sculptural elements in dialogue with a beguiling multi-screen film depicting the life and death of flowers. Through the installation, Azuma invites observers to explore the complex and fragile relationship between humans and plants.
David Shrigley, known for his darkly humorous works that consider the absurdity of everyday life, will present his monumental public sculpture, Really Good, 2016. The work was conceived in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. Taking the form of a seven-metre-high thumbs-up, the sculpture is characteristic of the self-conscious irony often found in Shrigley’s work and is intended as both a satirical and sincere gesture.

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My Mommy Is Beautiful by Yoko Ono, 2004/2021 Installation View, Mutter!, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany, 2021. Image:

Heiko Daniels

Counter-culture icon Yoko Ono will present a large-scale text-based work on the façade of NGV International. Boldly declaring “I Love You Earth”, her text works have appeared on billboards and banners across cities and public spaces around the world ahead of its Australian premiere. The NGV Triennial will also feature Ono’s participatory work, My Mommy Is Beautiful, 2010, where visitors are prompted to write or draw reflections about their own mothers or mother-like figures on the NGV gallery walls.
Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj will create a new iteration of his installation, Very Volcanic Over This Green Feather, 2022. The installation is inspired by Halilaj’s childhood sketches that he created in the Kukës II refugee camp in Albania during the Kosovan War. Interspersing depictions of rural landscapes and birds with symbols of death and destruction, the exhibit reveals the slippery relationship between the real and the imagined, personal and collective memory, and recorded history and lived experience.

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Megacities by Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro. Commuters line up waiting for a train at Manggarai Station, South Jakarta, 2023. Image:

Courtesy of Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro

Megacities is a large-scale NGV-commissioned project featuring the work of ten leading street photographers. Invited to capture images of ten global megacities: Cairo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Delhi, São Paulo, Shanghai, Seoul, Lagos, Tokyo and Mexico City, the photographers reveal interesting differences and similarities across each location. The photographed works will be displayed in a dynamic, immersive environment.
NGV director Tony Ellwood said the three-year wait for the latest Triennial is absolutely worth it. “In the three years since the last NGV Triennial, the world has experienced a great many structural shifts, including a global pandemic. Through the work of more than 100 artists, designers, architects and collectives from Australia and around the world, the NGV Triennial offers a powerful insight into the ideas and concerns empowering creative practice in 2023,” he said.
“The artists, designers and architects of our time play an important role in helping us to understand, navigate and relate to the world around us. The 2023 NGV Triennial offers audiences a valuable opportunity to experience new and surprising forms of creative expression from around the globe, which, together, present a compelling snapshot of the world as it is, while also asking how we would like it to be.”
The NGV Triennial is on display between 3 December, 2023 and 7 April, 2024 at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Entry is free. Further information is available via the NGV website. More

The Australian Institute of Architects announced the winners of the 2023 National Architecture Awards on 31 October, in which eight houses were honoured for their ingenuity and imagination.
A “sweet and unassuming house,” Sunday by Architecture Architecture, was lauded by the national jury for its depth and variety of spaces. The house received the Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions).
“With space enough for two, the dwelling offers a delicate intimacy where the rituals of daily life are celebrated. Everywhere you look, there is something to delight,” the jury said. “When the urge to gather presents, the house easily welcomes guests, with spaces showing a delightful ability to adapt and flex.”
In the same category, Balmain House by Saha received a National Award from the jury. “Balmain House is an example of a carefully considered residential extension to a tired existing dwelling,” the jury said.
Harriet’s House by SO Architecture and North Perth House by Simon Pendal Architect both received National Commendations from the jury.

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19 Waterloo by SJB. Image:

Anson Smart

Over in the Houses (New) category, the jury were most impressed by SJB’s 19 Waterloo, honouring it with the Robin Boyd Award. “At a time when our country faces a once-in-a-generation housing crisis, we are in dire need of new approaches,” the jury said, “19 Waterloo Street is a spectacular example of a new approach to urban infill. Constructed on the 30 square metres left between a new mixed-use building (a studio apartment and commercial tenancy) and an existing factory, the home shows how hard architecture can work, even on a small footprint.”
In an entirely contrasting context, two Victorian farmhouses received National Awards. Spring Creek Road Farm House by Architect Brew Koch was lauded for its ” triumph of economy of materials and finishes,” that provided “just enough space, just enough comfort, just enough light,” while Merricks Farmhouse by Michael Lumby with Nielsen Jenkins was praised for its “different take on the rural shed vernacular.”
Mossy Point House by Edition Office received a National Commendation in the Houses (New) category.
See all the winners of the 2023 National Architecture Awards here. More