Architecture

The dates for the 2024 Australian Architecture Conference have been revealed, with the national event returning to share fresh insights into the value of architecture, as well as the opportunities and obstacles that lie ahead for the industry.
Following a successful conference in Canberra in October 2023, this year’s national event is scheduled to take place in Melbourne from 8 to 11 May, with Hamer Hall – designed by Roy Grounds with a later redevelopment designed by ARM Architecture – confirmed as one of the conference venues.
The program will feature a suite of panel discussions, symposiums and networking opportunities. Some of the international speakers set to take the stage during the conference include the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medallist, Yasmeen Lari; Paul Monaghan, the executive director at Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, and Barbara Bestor, the principal of Bestor Architecture.
One program highlight to be presented on 8 and 9 May is the Wellbeing of Architects Symposium hosted by the Wellbeing of Architects: Culture, Identity and Practice, an interdisciplinary consortium comprising researchers at RMIT and Monash University’s Department of Architecture and Department of Management.
The 2024 Australian Architecture Conference steering committee comprises Cameron Bruhn (CEO of the Institute), Stuart Tanner (national president), Kerstin Thompson (2023 Gold Medallist), Julie Eizenberg (2019 Gold Medallist), Samantha Rouche, Jessica Spresser, Levi Birks, Owen Kelly, Ilion George, Jamileh Jahangiri, Alvin Zhu, and Kate Concannon.
Registrations for the 2024 Australian Architecture Conference will open on 29 February, with a limited number of early bird tickets to go on sale at a discounted price. More

Brisbane architect Russell Hall has been appointed new president of the Australian Institute of Architects’ Queensland chapter. Hall is the architect behind the iconic Carpenter Hall House in Wilston, notable for its dodecagon shape, which is listed on the Institute’s register of Nationally Significant Architecture. “Well-designed homes and buildings use less energy, are healthier and […] More

The program for the second Perth Design Week (PDW) has been announced. The annual public festival showcases good design and celebrates the local design community and its leaders.
The 2024 program comprises more than 80 events, including exhibitions, films, talks and experiences.
Organizers for Perth design week have also announced a new collaboration with global architecture practice OMA and Italian furniture brand Unifor who have created a bespoke installation for Cathedral Square titled “Principles Square.”
The installation will host a public screening of Point of Origin – a film that documents the OMA founder Rem Koolhaas’s process designing a house on an impossibly steep and narrow plot of land in Austria.
“Many of the successful Design Weeks around the world attract and engage not only local but international audiences, we are aiming high. PDW is an impactful event for Perth, allowing the city to proudly present and showcase our local design talent and their work,” said co-creators of Perth Design Week, architect Sandy Anghie and designer David Smith.
“Significantly, PDW was chosen as the first location after Milan, to host the highly innovative, interactive and inclusive installation.”
Other highlights of the festival include WA Homes – S, M, L exhibition, which explores a range of housing types in Western Australia, from small houses, medium-density developments, and multi-unit apartment blocks.
There will also be a number of panel discussions covering topics such as the new Medium Density Code, artificial intelligence in design, the future of the suburbs, and 20 years of the government architects office in WA.
New host Lawson Flats will be home to a panel discussion with Perth architect Nic Brunsdon and a design dinner, as well as the closing party.
Perth Design Week will also include architecture tours of Perth Arena, Boola Katitjin and a sketching and networking event laced with gin.
Perth Design Week runs from 14 to 21 March 2024. See the full program here. More

Plans to redevelop an arthouse cinema in Sydney’s Paddington have been released, with the charming movie theatre set to be redeveloped into an eight-storey, mixed-use building. Located on a 1,138-square-metre corner block at 17 Oxford Street, the building is brimming with history. Originally constructed in 1946 as an industrial facility, the premises was obtained by […] More

City of Melbourne councillors have voted unanimously in support of the development plan for a $1.7 billion precinct at the southern end of Queen Victoria 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 and revitalization of the Franklin Street Stores.
Tower One will be a 125-metre-tall commercial office tower with a stepped design that mimics the approved design for the neighbouring building at 388 Williams Street. Tower two will be a 162-metre-tall residential building with 15 percent of the net floor space allocated to affordable housing. Finally tower three will rise to 183 metres and will accommodate student housing.

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Under the plans, three towers would be constructed providing a mix of student accommodation, residential apartments, and work spaces. Image:

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

Addressing a meeting of the City of Melbourne’s Future Melbourne Committee, NH Architecture director Nick Bourns said the project is about “bringing the city into the market, rather than [the existing] road system of car parks and roundabouts, all of which are a huge heat island problem.”
He also said the proposed Market Square would be “a more respectful use of the land that used to be cemetery” and that the development would be an exemplar of how large developments can integrate parkland with living and working environments.
In supporting the development plan, acting lord mayor Nicholas Reece said it was a “significant step forward on this project.”
“It will be one of the biggest [developments in Melbourne’s history,” he said. “It’s been nearly 30 years since we’ve seen a project of this scale on a single site in Melbourne.”
Reece also commented on the “exciting” architectural team working on the project.
“This needs to be world class and with a team like that coming together on the project, I feel very confident that it will be.”

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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.

Councillor Rohan Leppert said the development plan was “an extraordinary response to a constrained site with really intricate heritage constraints.”
He added that the plan had been through five separate sessions of the Office of Victorian Government Architect’s design review to ensure that the design strategies and principles for the project would “ensure that what is designed in this place meets the expectations that a design city would have for a very, very high quality outcome.”
The City of Melbourne endorsed Lendlease as the preferred development partner for the Queen Victoria Market Southern Precinct in 2023.
In December 2023, Heritage Victoria issued a heritage permit for the development.
The City of Melbourne resolved to advise the Victorian Department of Transport of Planning that it supports the development application. The Minister for Planning will make the final decision on the application.
If approved, the project will be delivered in seven stages, beginning with the basement construction below towers one and two, the restoration and revitalization of Franklin Street stores, followed by the construction of tower three, tower one and tower two in succession, with Market Square and the Queens Corner Building making up the final stages respectively.
Construction is expected to begin in 2024 and with the stages to be completed over the next five years. More

BVN has won the City of Sydney Council’s Design Excellence Competition for Buildings G and H of the Erskineville Village project. The buildings form part of a wider proposal for a $1.5 billion mixed-use precinct with 1,000 build-to-rent residences at 155 Mitchell Road, Erskineville. The announcement follows Bate Smart being awarded the design of Buildings […] More

The National Capital Authority has approved designs to transform the Lake Burley Griffin waterfront at Acton into a people-focused urban park by a consortium led by Aspect Studios. To be named Ngamawari after the Ngunnawal word meaning “cave place,” the park’s design will raise the visibility of the territory’s First Nations history. The name was […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects has urged the federal government to accelerate the progress of First Nations housing development by investing more funds into social housing. In a pre-budget submission to the federal government regarding the 2024 Australian Government Budget, the Institute proposed an additional $4 billion should be allocated to the Housing Australia Future […] More