Architecture

The Development WA board has decided not to proceed with a $218 million proposal to redevelop the East Perth Power Station. The proposal from the Koomba Kalark Joint Venture included a concept design from Kerry Hill Architects, and a later design by Woods Bagot, to transform the heritage-listed former power station into a residential, commercial, […] More

Construction has begun on Brisbane’s new Olympic-standard cycling venue – the Murarrie Recreation Reserve International Cycle Park project. Designs for the $35-million recreational upgrade project were released in 2022 and include an international-standard cycling track designed by Bligh Tanner, as well as a 500-metre speed skating track and a multi-purpose clubhouse by Cox Architecture. The […] More

Minister for Creative Industries Steve Dimopulous revealed the 2022 winners of the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards on 16 March, recognizing innovation across the state’s design community.
The annual awards celebrate local design excellence and promote the role of design in making products, spaces and experiences feel more functional, communal, safe, efficient, and sustainable. Dimopoulos said these awards showcase the “remarkable work of Victorian designers” who create spaces and objects that better the way we live. “Our design industry continues to be among the best in the world and that’s why we are celebrating our talent that is based right here in Victoria,” Dimopulous said.
This year’s top prize – the Victorian Premier’s Design Award of the Year – went to the Victorian Pride Centre in St Kilda, designed by Brearley Architects and Urbanists, Grant Amon Architects, WSP and Peter Felicetti, which also Best in Category for Architectural Design. The Victorian Pride Centre is the first purpose-built centre of its type in Australia. The judges praised the facility for its “deep sense of place and historical connection to St Kilda’s LGBTIQ+ communities.”

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Grampians Peak Trail (Gariwerd) Stage Two by McGregor Coxall with Noxon Giffen, Parks Victoria, OPS Engineers, Barengi Gadjin Land Council, Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation and Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. Image:

Shannon McGrath

Highly commended in the Architectural Design category was Grampians Peak Trail (Gariwerd) Stage Two by McGregor Coxall with Noxon Giffen, Parks Victoria, OPS Engineers, Barengi Gadjin Land Council, Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation and Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.
The annual awards program acknowledged outstanding design across eight categories: architectural, communication, digital, product, fashion, service, student and design strategy. This year’s winners were selected from a shortlist of 93 finalists and more than 240 entries.
The Victorian Premier’s Design Awards are managed by Good Design Australia on behalf of the Victorian Government. View the full list of winners on the Premier’s Design Awards website. More

Organizers of the inaugural Perth Design Week have revealed the flagship program for the city-wide event, which will take place from 23 to 30 March, showcasing the design highlights of Boorloo (Perth) and surrounding suburbs.
Taking place over seven days, the program offers a diverse selection of events, including design talks, exhibitions, walking tours, workshops, and discussions. The inaugural Perth Design Week has been delivered by co-curators architect Sandy Anghie and designer David Smith, following the format of design weeks in other cities such as Melbourne and London.
The event creates an opportunity for Perth to recognize its design community across the disciplines of architecture, interior design, landscaping, planning, fashion, graphic design and product design.
Anghie describes the event as a “coalition of the willing,” acknowledging the tireless efforts of organizers to bring together the flagship program. “We believe Perth will whole heartedly welcome and embrace the festival,” she said. “Whether you’re a design professional, design student, or just design-curious, there’s an abundance to explore.”
The program covers a variety of topics, including sustainability, authentic Aboriginal engagement in design and planning, women in architecture, and the value of good design.
Program highlights include the Perth Unbuilt exhibition at WA Museum Boola Bardip, looking at a series of unrealised designs by Perth architecture studios; the Women in Architecture and Film conversation presented in collaboration with the Office of the Government Architect; and the Regenerative Design Round Table.
For more information, visit the Perth Design Week website. More

Scott Carver has unveiled a design for the redevelopment of the former Balmain Leagues Club in Rozelle, inner-west Sydney.
Plans for the disused site include a mixed-use precinct organized around a central village square, comprising a series of laneways and a major retail hub with apartments above.
The architect said the project is a “true mixed-use precinct,” comprising high-end residential apartments, alongside a supermarket, commercial and community spaces, a central plaza, and a new West Ashfield Leagues Club.
Situated on a corner site bordered by Victoria Road, Darling Street and Waterloo Street, the former club site has been closed for more than 12 years and was devastated by a fire in 2022.

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Render of community hub in Rozelle, featuring a retail precinct and high-end apartments. Image:

Scott Carver

The developer recently lodged an amendment to the approved development application, seeking to reduce the number of proposed apartments from 167 to 147, while also increasing the proportion of two- and three-bedroom apartments. The project seeks to transform a “historically significant site [into a] cultural and community-focused place” for locals to live, work and play, Scott Carver said.
The project’s materiality will feature a “contemporary, contextual character,” the architect said, realised through a series of cascading terraced brickwork buildings.
The buildings are organized around a public plaza and village square, and collectively respond to the scale and texture of the urban condition that the site fronts. The podium forms – each between two and three storeys – create a network of pedestrian links through the site, and colonnades will draw visitors through the ground plane into the central plaza.
The articulated tower forms will float above the red brick podiums, containing the residential apartment levels. The buildings will feature expressive facades incorporating vertical and horizontal elements alike, while winter gardens will be incorporated on the Victoria Road front to transition to open balconies that face over the plaza and Waterloo Street.
The development will feature a variety of private and communal garden spaces to enhance user wellbeing and provide visual appeal throughout the precinct.
Construction is expected to commence in mid-2023 with completion slated for 2025. More

Open House Melbourne announced that Tania Davidge has been appointed its new executive director. Davidge is a design advocate, architect, writer, and cofounder of the architectural research practice OoPLA, which delivered Open House Melbourne’s keynote program for 2019, Urban Tactility. In addition, she creates the organisation’s “Making Home” series, which shines a light on the […] More

Robin Boyd’s heritage-listed, midcentury masterpiece, the Boyd Baker House, is for sale.
The modernist house was built between 1964 and 1966 in Long Forest, Bacchus Marsh, on a 35-acre bushland plot. The residence was originally commissioned as a family home for mathematics lecturer Michael Baker, but has most recently been used to host private functions.
Baker graduated from both Eton and Cambridge universities in the UK and decided he would settle in Australia with his wife and four children after accepting a teaching post at the University of Melbourne. His brief to Boyd was for a home that expressed his affection for geometric calculations, leading to a regimented and formal architectural expression.
The house features a square plan, organized around a central courtyard, surrounded by 12 stone cylinders and topped by a shallow pyramid roof. The living spaces, five bedrooms, and four bathrooms are arranged in a symmetrical square around the central courtyard.
The home was made with locally quarried stone for the walls, providing the home a rustic and robust quality that blends seamlessly with its landscape.

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Inside Boyd Baker House. Image:

Cheyne Toomey and Chris Murray for SpaceCraft

The building was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2007 and has remained relatively untouched since its construction.
The property holds a collection of dwellings, including the main house, the Dower House also designed by Boyd, and the library designed by Sir Roy Grounds.
The Dower House was commissioned in 1966 as a smaller guest house for the owner’s mother-in-law and was formerly known as the Elizabeth Strickland House. Made from the same locally sourced stone, the smaller house also follows a square plan, but features a freeform stone wall running throughout.
In 1979, the owners commissioned Roy Grounds to design the onsite library to house Dr. Baker’s extensive collection of books, which complements Boyd’s designs through similar material palette while also contrasting their formal style.
The Boyd Baker House is now widely considered one of Australia’s most significant post-war residential buildings and is on the market for private purchase. Buyers will have the option to purchase the home on its own on 19 acres, or with the Dower House and library, together around 30 acres. The properties have been listed with the hopes of totalling between $3.15 million and $3.46 million together, or $1.9–$2.09 million and $1.25–$1.37 million respectively, if purchased separately.
Expressions of interest for the Boyd Baker and Dower houses closes on Thursday 13 April. For more information or to enquire, visit the Jellis Craig website. More

A $250-million mixed-use development, designed by I2C Architects with international practice Ryder Architecture, has been proposed for Oakleigh South in the Melbourne municipality of Monash. To be known as Fieldworks House, the development will the first build-to-rent project in the Cikty of Monash, comprising 171 apartments, with 12 ground-floor retail spaces, a dedicated co-working space […] More