Subterms
A $1.5 billion, four-tower proposal in Brisbane, designed by architects Cottee Parker, has been submitted to Brisbane City Council for assessment. The application proposes to transform a 9,361-square-metre site at 79 Logan Road in Woolloongabba into a tourism hub in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. Dubbed the Gabba Heart Precinct, the project includes plans […] More
Designs by Liminal Architecture for the $20 million redevelopment of Cosgrove High School in Glenorchy, Tasmania has been released for public review.
The redevelopment of Cosgrove High School seeks to deliver modern learning and support facilities including a student hub, social area, cultural gathering spaces, flexible outdoor learning spaces, a catering kitchen, health and fitness facilities, as well as a new administration centre, upgraded accessibility across the site and to Main Road and increased parking options.
Designs for the school, submitted as part of a development application to Glenorchy City Council, call for the partial demolition of existing facilites to make way for a new three-storey building.
A 2022 master plan has been reviewed by the Community Reference Group, a body made up of members of local government, tertiary institutions, non-government agencies, the community and sporting organisations, and has now been released for community feedback.
The masterplan took into consideration the steady climbing of student enrollments at the school, addressed the need for a future proofed design and highlights the school’s desire to focus on the wellbeing of students and staff through the delivery of new spaces.
A spokesperson for Cosgrove High School said it is a very exciting time for their students, staff and the wider community, who have all been part of the planning process through extensive consultation since 2019.
“The project will provide a high-quality mix of new facilities for our Years seven to 12 students. These works will see us in a better position to support contemporary teaching and learning for our current learners, as well as future generations of Cosgrove students,” the spokesperson said.
“Demolition of some of the existing infrastructure is required in readiness for construction works to begin on the site in early 2024. It is expected that these works will commence in October 2023.”
The development application can be viewed on the Glenorchy City Council website until 29 August. More
Foreground Architecture, Clarke Hopkins Clarke and Baldasso Cortese have been appointed by the Victorian government to design nine new kindergartens in a bid to increase family access to early childhood education. The early learning centres are set to open in 2025, with Foreground Architecture appointed for the design of kindergartens at Mildura South Primary School, […] More
The final design of the 200-metre-long Sydney Harbour Bridge Cycleway has been unveiled with construction expected to be carried out over 18 months, commencing in early 2024.
The announcement of the timeline of the project comes after a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) and a comprehensive period of community consultation.
Landscape architects Aspect Studios are working alongside Collins and Turner, Yerrabingin, Design 5 Architects, Eckersley O’Callaghan, JMT Consulting and Electrolight on the project.
The three-metre-wide bike ramp will extend from Bradfield Park North, connecting with the Sydney Harbour Bridge Cycleway via an upgraded cycle route that links Middlemiss Street to the existing bicycle network. A new zebra crossing will also be established on Alfred Street South for pedestrians and cyclists to cross.
The elevated cycleway will feature a large-scale Aboriginal artwork depicting interconnected eels, as well as Indigenous names to honour the Gadigal and Cammeraygal people. The illustration, designed by Aboriginal artists Jason Wing and Maddison Gibbs as part of a design competition, shows two different coloured eels on their journey between freshwater and saltwater, highlighting the lifecycle of the eels as well as the physical transition. The eels signify the past and present resilience of Aboriginal people in overcoming barriers, adapting to new landscapes and seascapes and surviving social changes.
New South Wales Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty David Harris said projects that incorporate First Nations elements facilitate the sharing of culture. “Aboriginal culture is a living, dynamic culture and integral to Aboriginal identity. It has the ability to attribute places with meaningful identity and connection to Country. Initiatives such as this bring the oldest living culture in the world to life in meaningful ways, for all of us to share,” Harris said.
Transport minister Jo Haylen said they received more than 1,000 submissions from community members, organizations, schools and councils with input on the design. Following the high volume of community feedback, design refinements have been made to minimise the visual impact of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and improve safety.
“This project will be a game changer for kids, people on e-bikes, or people using cargo bikes. The Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway will finally be accessible for anyone riding a bike,” Haylen said.
“The Minns Labor Government wants to make it easier for anyone who can walk or ride a bike, to walk and ride. It frees up space on the roads and on public transport for others, it’s a lot of fun, and you get to enjoy one of the world’s best views as you zoom along the deck of the Harbour Bridge. I look forward to seeing work begin early next year.” More
The third and final stage of the Geelong Arts Centre redevelopment is now complete, making it the largest dedicated regional performing arts centre in Australia.
Designed by ARM Architecture, the $140 million phase is the third and largest of the more-than-decade-long project to transform the precinct. It follows two refurbishments: the Playhouse Theatre by Studio 101 Architects in 2010, and the Ryrie Street facilities by Hassell in 2019.
The latest stage, Little Malop Street, consists of a 550-seat, multi-format theatre – which can expand to host 850 in live gig mode – and a 250-seat contemporary hybrid theatre that can open out onto Little Malop Street for indoor-outdoor events.
The project was achieved through a co-design process with Geelong Arts Centre, the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and the wider First Nations community.
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The Moonah forest is represented in the carpet of level one. Image:
Peter Foster
“Geelong Arts Centre had quite a strong Indigenous engagement and Indigenous inclusion policy,” explained Ian McDougall, founding director of ARM Architecture.
The practice was appointed to the project in November 2019, but its work was delayed by pandemic lockdowns: “We abstained from doing a lot of design until we had a discussion with the Wadawurrung in late 2020,” McDougall said.
“Performing arts centres are strongest when they speak of their place, their location. And that requires or demands engaging and continuing the story of Indigenous place – that was a very strong part of the process of designing and creating the building.”
Traditional stories of land, water and sky have been woven into the design. The street level of the building draws on the theme of the ochre Country; the middle floor represents the Moonah forest; the carpet of another level and the walls of the 250-seat theatre evoke the sea. Sky Country and the night sky are represented by Bunjil, whose features can be seen in the carpet of level three.
ARM Architecture also worked with proponents of the project to select four Indigenous artists, all of whom live on Wadawurrung Country, to embed artworks into the spaces’ designs.
Art by Tarryn Love (Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong) was selected for the 550-seat theatre. Her work, which focuses on yoowak (the night), is embedded into the timber wall panels.
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The 550-seat Story House Theatre is lined in timber panels that feature artwork by Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong artist Tarryn Love. Image:
Peter Foster
For the ground-floor restaurant, tattoo artist Gerard Black (Worimi) created a large-scale work inspired by his time growing up on Wadawurrung Country and his experiences of Spring Creek. The artwork represents eels moving through water and ripples forming in their wakes.
Musician Mick Ryan (Ngarrindjeri Gunditjmara) made a soundscape with a range of instruments, tree branches, nesting birds and winds to emulate the environment of the Moonah forest.
Textile artist Kait James’ (Wadawurrung) works reference souvenir Aboriginal tea towels from the 1970s and 1980s. Twenty-three of her “tea towel” artworks have been digitally scaled and printed onto metal panels for the building’s facade.
The Little Malop Street facade features a sculptural form – a calliope – inspired by the travelling circuses of the early twentieth century.
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The “drape” of the Little Malop Street facade is intended to create drama and theatricality on the street. Image:
John Gollings
“Part of the thematic of the building is the history of performance,” McDougall said. The calliope is part of a set of decorated circus wagons, which usually contained music machines.
The design concept “is an amalgam of both post-settlement thematics as well as original and continuing narratives of the place of Geelong.”
Internally, each of the spaces has its own distinct aesthetic identity. A stairway is lined in several colours of stone, and a vivid tunnel connects the building to the adjacent Ryrie Street building. The tunnel is an extrusion of the Little Malop Street entrance’s calliope motif, which is also repeated at the tunnel entrance inside the Ryrie Street building.
“The brief and the ambition for Geelong Arts Centre was to make it a welcoming space and to express the diversity, cultural difference, demographic difference that is the community of Geelong,” McDougall said.
The idea of it being welcoming is that there isn’t one theme. All worlds are possible. It’s an expression of the diversity and also of richness and joy.”
Geelong Arts Centre CEO and creative director Joel McGuiness said, “The Grand Opening Festival marks the culmination of years of dedication, passion, and community collaboration, reaffirming Geelong Arts Centre’s commitment to extraordinary cultural expression for the region, Victoria, and beyond.” More
The Australian Institute of Architects has opened entries for the 2024 Dulux Study Tour, a coveted prize for early-career architects to travel the world and visit some the best international architectural sites and practices. The prize is open to Institute members who are within 10 years of graduation from the AACA Accredited Master of Architecture […] More
Eliminating the need to install several taps, Zip Water has introduced a new all-in-one pull-out tap to their line, offering the convenience of five water types, a unique integrated hose system and a retractable, snag-proof retractable sprayer.The Zip HydroTap Celsius Plus All-In-One Pull-Out utilises uses HydroTap G5 technology to provide instant filtered boiling, chilled and sparkling drinking water, as well as a spray mode. Functionally versatile, the new tap enables users to switch between models and temperatures, at the press of a button. The hose management system, which is compact in size, will be concealed beneath the bench. “With the HydroTap Celsius Plus All-In-One Pull-Out, we’ve gone back to uncover even more consumer insights to see what additional solutions we can offer – and in this case, it’s the guarantee of a snag-proof pull-out sprayer – a significant consumer pain point when it comes to pull-out sprayers,” said Zip Water’s managing director of Australia and New Zealand, Mike Abbott. “Whether you’re preparing food, washing dishes or cleaning up at the end of the day, it effortlessly reaches all angles and corners of the sink, gliding back into place when not needed, all the while making an impressive design statement.”
Zip Water is also launching the Celsius Plus All-In-One, which features a new intuitive touchpad with antimicrobial protection for enhanced hygiene, as well as instant filtered boiling, chilled, sparkling drinking water and unfiltered hot and cold water, from one carefully engineered tap. Both models were released on 14 August, 2023, in seven contemporary finishes and can only be purchased in-store from select specialist retailers.
For more information, including where to locate retailers, visit www.zipwater.com/Celsius-Plus More
Emerging architects and recipients of the 2022 Paul Pholeros Architecture Scholarship, Victoria King and Genevieve Quinn have finalized their reports on improving the living conditions of those affected by catastrophic floods in 2022 and a new round of scholars has been announced.
The Paul Pholeros Architecture Scholarship was established in 2022, to honour the spirit of the late Paul Pholeros and his lifelong dedication to bettering Australian living conditions. Sponsored by the Paul Pholeros Foundation (PPF), two $3,000 scholarships are awarded annually to candidates whose proposals explore the social purpose of Australian architecture.
As part of the scholarship, students are required to explore a social or environmental issue in Australia and conceptualize solutions for improving the built environment for impacted communities. Applicants are given 12 months to complete their study and may choose to respond to issues such as social housing, sustainable resources, urban planning, climate change, rural development, First Nations housing or population growth. The outcome of the study has the potential to be applied and put into practice, thus contributing to better living conditions in Australian society.
The 2023 scholars, Isabella Reynolds and Michi Playford, have now commenced their research on their proposals titled ”Soft spaces: designing for pain in the public realm” and ”Cohousing as a solution to improve health and living conditions in Australia,” respectively.
They will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, Victoria King and Genevieve Quinn, who both elected to research the devastating 2022 east-Australian floods, with King’s study focused on Lismore and Quinn’s on Brisbane.
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Victoria King was awarded the Paul Pholeros Architecture Scholarship in 2022. Image:
Courtesy of the Paul Pholeros Foundation.
King’s report analysed opportunities for new housing as well as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The primary solution offered in the report focused on converting shops into shophouses, making homes more flood resilient while also preserving the unique character and heritage of Lismore’s city centre.
“Shophouses have inherent flood-resilient qualities, seen in many vernacular examples around the world. The potential for sensitive integration of shop-top development was also inspired by the characterful and sometimes under-utilized shopfronts that line the main streets of Lismore and many other regional town centres in NSW,” King said.
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Victoria King’s report proposed using shophouses as a flood resilient housing model. Image:
Courtesy of the Paul Pholeros Foundation.
Quinn’s report investigated ways for communities to self-construct small architectural elements that could withstand natural disasters and prevent displacement.
“My research topic looks at the idea of ‘building back better,’ a common phrase heard in the architectural world after a natural disaster such as flooding has occurred. I was interested in how this trend can be exclusive to those who may not own their home, those with disabilities or people who simply cannot afford an architect (around 98 per cent of Australians),” Quinn said.
“This question or curiosity led to diverse studies of temporary architecture, global communities post-disaster, best practices for community engagement, sustainable materials, government aid and protocols for natural disasters. A varied and multi-faceted approach was invaluable to me as an early career practitioner, looking to learn and develop my skills in various aspects of architecture.”
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Genevieve Quinn’s report proposed using temporary shades and screens on unlined studs for privacy, following a flooding event. Image:
Courtesy of Paul Pholeros Foundation.
King and Quinn said the scholarship allowed them both to pursue further work as an extension of their research.
“The scholarship was like a springboard that encouraged me to reach out and engage with community groups, local government and practitioners who are shaping the future of the Northern Rivers Region. Fortunately, it has also led to further work assisting with the Living Lab Northern Rivers, which is facilitating community talks, exhibitions and research from a Lismore shopfront,” King said.
“The experience was incredibly supportive, and it was refreshing to test ideas and discuss research directions with the diverse mix of professionals who are involved with the Foundation. It was also great to have an overlapping research theme with Genevieve, prompting new insights that helped shape my own work.”
For Quinn, the scholarship was the first step towards other explorations and research in greater depth. “Having the flexibility of the scholarship allowed me to explore these many facets without committing to a very particular output or result. In doing this, I feel that the research is more nuanced and prepared for further development.
“The scholarship provided me with the opportunity to gain independent research skills and pursue work that is not typically available to young graduates of architecture. I am committed to social justice in the architectural field, a topic that is often not highly funded or focused on. Being able to research topics surrounding affordability, equity and accessibility equipped me with the knowledge and authority to move forward in my career whilst holding on to my values and ethics.”
The Paul Pholeros Architecture Scholarship provides an opportunity for emerging architects to explore their passions and interests in architecture with the support of the PPF and its wider professional network. Every February, eligible applicants are invited to submit their applications. Following submissions, interviews and final selections, the study period begins sometime between May and June each year.
The PPF is currently planning a presentation event to be held in Sydney in October 2023, where past and present scholars will share their work with the profession and wider community. The event will also highlight PPF’s sanitation improvement programs in Nepal and will introduce the next plumbing/design team heading to Nepal in late 2023.For more information regarding the scholarship, PPF’s programs and upcoming events, visit the Paul Pholeros Foundation website More
