Architecture

Bates Smart has designed a new commercial tower at Sydney’s Chifley Square in the CBD.
The proposed building will be a companion to the existing Chifley tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and Travis Partners and built in 1992.
The project will create 50,000 square metres of office space, with a reimagined podium that connects to the surrounding public realm.
“Our design challenge is to create an urban ensemble with Chifley North that simultaneously complements and respects it, while being clearly of the 21st century in terms of people amenity and environmental performance,” Bates Smart said in the development application for the project.

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The proposed Chifley South tower by Bates Smart. Image:

Bates Smart

The existing podium will be partially demolished and refurbished to create more public spaces. An existing shopping mall will be replaced with a double-height arcade that connects Hunter and Bent Streets. An urban room will create a meeting place in the middle of the arcade.
“The new Chifley verandah creates a more open and inviting entry to the Chifley precinct. Its transparent and operable facade engages with the public space while its masonry frame is consistent with the existing podium.”
Bates Smart won a design excellence competition for the project. Its scheme was unanimously chosen over rival proposals by Architectus and Kohn Pederson Fox, FJMT, Grimshaw, Koichi Takada and Tzannes.

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The proposed Chifley South tower by Bates Smart. Image:

Bates Smart

The jury found the scheme “achieved the objectives and principles of the Brief with interesting and rigorous design thinking without directly mimicking the existing Chifley North tower.”
“The scheme by Bates Smart was praised for balancing the objective for a sympathetic response to Chifley North with a modern interpretation of the existing building that results in a contemporary building for this iconic location in the Sydney skyline,” said the jury.
“The scheme through its form and selection of materials achieves sophistication and sits harmoniously as an urban ensemble with Chifley North and in its context, whilst representing a modern building of its era. The scheme also achieves the important objectives of optimising activation to contribute to a vibrant public domain, including a welcoming through-site link which has the potential to energise the precinct.”
“This development is set to re-energize the iconic Chifley precinct and contribute to the vibrancy of the Sydney CBD,” said David Harrison, managing director and group CEO of Charter Hall, which owns the site. “Chifley South will deliver the highest standard for environmental and social sustainability, security, smart technology, and wellbeing.” More

The Victorian government has unveiled the design for the largest infectious disease centre in the Southern Hemisphere.
The proposed Australian Institute for Infectious Disease (AIID) is designed by Wardle with Wilson Architects, international workplace specialist Studio O+A, and laboratory specialist Perkins and Will.
It will be built next to the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne Biomedical Precinct and will be the largest centre for infectious disease expertise in Australia.
Early concept designs depict a singular tower form with horizontal striations that demarcate the building’s various parts and a facade that will be made from natural, low-carbon materials.

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The proposed Australian Institute for Infectious Disease by Wardle, Wilson Architects, Studio O+A and Perkins and Will. Image:

Courtesy Wardle

The new institute will be a partnership between the University of Melbourne, Doherty Institute and Burnet Institute, which will relocate its headquarters to the new building.
“The relocation of Burnet Institute to the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct as a foundation partner of the AIID is an exciting opportunity that will strengthen collaborations across laboratory-based research and public and global health, and build our capacity to respond to significant global health challenges,” said Margaret Hellard, deputy director of Burnet Institute.
The building will house high-containment facilities, robotic bio-banking, vaccine development facilities, dry laboratories, interview rooms and spaces for community engagement and co-design work.
The ground floor will accommodate collaborative work settings while the floors above will house north-facing laboratories and south-facing work spaces. The building will also be physically connected across multiple levels to the neighbouring Doherty Institute, designed by Grimshaw and Billard Leece Partnership. Public outreach spaces and an external roof garden will be located at the top habitable level of the building, and collaborative working spaces will be scattered throughout.

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The proposed Australian Institute for Infectious Disease by Wardle, Wilson Architects, Studio O+A and Perkins and Will. Image:

Courtesy Wardle

“Despite its vast scale the AIID building will provide warm and empathetic spaces to support human endeavour, for it is human endeavor that will unlock the challenges we face,” said Wardle founding partner John Wardle.
The proposed centre will enable faster, more effective diagnostic tests, treatments, vaccines and public health interventions. It will be home to more than 1,000 scientists, academics, students and public health experts.
Meaghan Dwyer, project director and partner at Wardle, said the co-location of the founding partners will help protect Australia and the region from infectious diseases and future pandemics.

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The proposed Australian Institute for Infectious Disease by Wardle, Wilson Architects, Studio O+A and Perkins and Will. Image:

Courtesy Wardle

“Interdisciplinarity is essential for groundbreaking research. This building will provide a home for the three foundation partners while supporting collaboration between them and their many precinct and industry partners. This vast collective intelligence will advance Australia’s capability for detecting, preventing, and responding to pandemics and infectious diseases,” she said.
The $650 million project is funded by the Victorian government to the tune of $400 million, while the remaining $250 million will be funded by the founding partners.
“Victoria has long been the medical research capital of Australia – this world-class centre for research and innovation will ensure medical research breakthroughs keep happening right here in Victoria,” said Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Construction is due to begin in 2025, and the building is expected to be complete in 2027. More

The Australian Institute of Architects has announced Denise Scott Brown as the first keynote speaker for its 2023 Australian Architecture Conference, themed “precedent.” Scott Brown and the late Robert Venturi are among the most influential architects of the twentieth century because of their work and theoretical texts. With Venturi and Steve Izenour, Scott Brown co-authored […] More

Entries are now open for the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards, the annual program celebrating home-grown design in all its forms. Now in their 27th year, the awards are open to designers, architects, design studios and businesses across eight categories: architectural design; communications design; design strategy; digital design; fashion design; product design; service design; and student […] More

Architectus, Aurecon, McGregor Coxall and Greenshoot Consulting have unveiled their design for the biggest public cemetery in Melbourne in 100 years.
The team won an international design competition for the project in 2021.
Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust has appointed the consortium to design the first stage of the 128-hectare greenfield site in Melbourne’s western fringes, adjacent to Gilgai Woodlands Nature Conservation Reserve at Harkness.
The design has been informed by Wurundjeri culture and champions cultural awareness, knowledge exchange and understanding, the team said in a statement.
Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust also hopes to “reimagine” the public cemetery, transforming it from a “memorial park” to a place of multiple uses: grief and bereavement support, diverse communities’ events, exercise and recreation activities, and local habitat and ecology conservation.

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Arnold’s creek in Architectus, Aurecon, McGregor Coxall and Greenshoot Consulting’s design for a Harkness cemetery Image:

Architectus, Aurecon, McGregor Coxall and Greenshoot Consulting

“Cemeteries are one of the few places in urban areas that bring so many communities, histories, belief systems and lives together in harmony, to respectfully reflect and meaningfully celebrate what is important to them,” said Andrew Eriksen, CEO of Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (GMCT).
“GMCT’s cemetery project at Harkness is firmly rooted in our values of compassion, respect, integrity, and sustainability. It will provide the communities in that region the same social value as all our sites – a place dedicated in perpetuity to remembrance, thoughtfully designed and supported by dedicated staff.”

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A proposed smoking ceremony space in Architectus, Aurecon, McGregor Coxall and Greenshoot Consulting’s design for a Harkness cemetery. Image:

Architectus, Aurecon, McGregor Coxall and Greenshoot Consulting

The design team said, “The reimagined cemetery will be a place that repairs Country, connects Country to people to and people to one another. A place that adapts and reflects our changing society.”
“The design comprises three axes – ecological, cultural, and community. The Cultural Line presents a dramatic threshold that contrasts and amplifies the vastness of Melbourne’s West. The Natural Axis, Arnolds Creek, is a demonstration of the commitment to Caring for Country and a sustainable future. The centrepiece of the cemetery is the Core, which is positioned at the confluence of the three axes and celebrates Country and elevates the beauty of the landscape.
“The reimagined cemetery will embody fundamentals of Circular Economy – Regeneration, Resilience, Sustainability. The new cemetery aspires to be off grid, utilizing on-site sources for energy and water. A site-wide integrated water management plan will be created to capture, cleanse, infiltrate and detain water on site for reuse.” More

The South Australian government has unveiled concept designs for a new Adelaide Aquatic Centre, which will replace the existing centre in the northern park lands at Pardipardinyilla / Denise Norton Park. In September 2022, JPE Design Studio and Warren and Mahoney were appointed to design the new centre. Concept design for Adelaide Aquatic Centre by […] More

The King’s Birthday 2023 Honours have been announced and it includes four architects among the 1,192 Australians recognized for “meritorious, distinguished and conspicuous services.”
Peter Phillips has been appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to heritage conservation to architecture and to professional organizations.

Peter Phillips. Image: ICOMOS

He’s currently a board member of International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and has been an expert member of International Scientific Committee on Analysis and Restoration of Structures of Architectural Heritage since 2008.
Previously, he was the president of ICOMOS Australia and has worked as a heritage and architecture consultant since 1997.
The following architects were appointed Members (AM) of the Order of Australia:
Lindsay Johnston, NSW

Lindsay Johnston. Image: Ozetecture

For significant service to architectural building and design education. He was the Dean, Faculty of Architecture Building and Design at the University of Newcastle from 2000 to 2002, Chair of National Environment Committee from at Roya Australian Institute of Architects from 2000 to 2002, and Chair of National Education Committee from 1996 to 1999.
He was awarded New South Wales Premier’s Award, Royal Australian Institute of Architects, in 2000, as well as Royal Australian Institute of Architects, National Education Prize, in 2002.
Mary Patricia Marsland PSM, SA
For her significant service to architecture in a range of roles, including Chair, Board of Management of South Australian Housing Trust from 2006 to 2011, President of South Australian Chapter of Royal Australian Institute of Architects from 1992 to 1994, Chair of South Australian Heritage Council from 2005 to 2008.
Previously she worked as an architect from 1973 to 2006.
Simon Chan, NSW
For significant service to multiculturalism to the Indigenous community and to the arts. Chan is the president of Chinese Australian Forum New South Wales since 2022, president of Haymarket Chamber of Commerce from 2014 to 2022, chair of Aboriginal Benefits Foundation from 2015 to 2018. He has been a registered architect in New South Wales since 1976. More

Milligan Group, the developer of a proposed skyscraper over Sydney’s Hunter Street Station, has applied to demolish the site’s current buildings as part of the project’s next phase.
Located on the corner of Pitt and Hunter Streets in central Sydney, the planned 52-storey commercial office tower is set to become the world’s tallest hybrid timber building. It will cover approximately 51,000 square metres and include retail tenancies within its podium. If approved, the project will surpass the under-construction Atlassian headquarters, designed by Shop Architects and BVN.
Initially outlined in 2022, proposals for the site received final endorsement from the Central Sydney Planning Committee in February 2023.
The design of the tower will be selected from a design competition, which started in May 2023, before being presented to the state government for approval.
The proposed tower will rise over the top of the new Hunter Street Station, part of the New South Wales government’s $6.5 billion Sydney Metro West rail line. Currently under construction and due to open in 2030, Hunter Street Station joins eight new stations on the Sydney Metro West line, which will form a 24-kilometre rail link between Westmead and the CBD.
Three of the site’s four existing buildings will be demolished if the City of Sydney approves Milligan Group’s application. A four-storey Victorian Italianate building at 15–17 Hunter Street, formerly known as Pangas House, will be retained due to its heritage status.
Milligan Group described the project as “a legacy building for Central Sydney in the form of a world-class commercial office tower in the commercial core of the CBD.”
A second commercial tower is scheduled to be built over Hunter Street Station, Sydney Metro reported in 2022.
Sydney Metro said the proposal is “consistent with the Central Sydney planning strategy, which allows increased building density and heights in suitable locations while protecting public spaces.”
According to the report, the two towers will differ in height in order to comply with sun access and plane regulations. More