Tabla de contenidos para September 2023 en Architecture Australia

The spring season is traditionally a time to look forward with anticipation. This year, as we do so, we must also reflect on the tragic heatwave that affected so many areas of Europe, North America and Asia during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer – yet another sign of the urgent action required to slow climate change. Over the past two months, the Institute’s awards program has taken place in every state and territory. The projects entered represent a wide spectrum of design principles and building typologies, demonstrating the depth of expertise within our profession. It is important to remind ourselves that what we see represented in these carefully curated entries is the culmination of, typically, a multi-year process involving intricate decision-making, navigation of complex planning processes, cost management and sophisticated construction…

As we contemplated the question of who designs our cities and how urban practice is evolving, further questions arose: Whose voice is loudest? Who has, or should have, a seat at the table? How do we ensure a representative and inclusive process that reflects the extraordinary diversity of city dwellers? Should the design of our cities be a cautious, restrictive exercise in protecting what we have, or should it be an expansive, creative opportunity to define the places we haven’t yet made? Australia’s metropolitan regions are experiencing extraordinary growth, with our eight major cities growing faster than many developed cities overseas. How can we concurrently reverse environmental degradation, reduce our consumption of resources, and provide new human habitats that are safe and resilient to the environmental shocks of the coming…

(DESIGN TEAM) Dairy Road Masterplan (COUNTRY) Ngunnawal More than 20 years ago, property developer Molonglo bought Dairy Road, a unique 14-hectare plot on the outskirts of Canberra between the industrial suburb of Fyshwick and the Jerrabomberra Wetlands. Consisting of carparks, some light industrial sheds that had been used for government storage and a mound made from the tailings dump from the construction of Parliament House, the site would have held little appeal for most developers. But Molonglo began carrying out planning work, research reports and impact assessment studies. In 2017, undaunted, the developer began contemplating the site’s future – not by drafting a masterplan, but by exploring the best way to adapt and re-use the existing buildings. Initially working with Craig Tan Architects and Oculus, Molonglo began a sophisticated series…

New South Wales Public Sulman Medal (1) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Modern Building by SANAA (lead consultant) with Architectus (executive architect) Award (2) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Library and Members Lounge by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects (3) Bondi Pavilion Restoration and Conservation by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects (4) St George Sailing Club, Sans Souci by Jon Jacka Architects Commendation PHIVE – Community, Cultural and Civic Hub by Design Inc Sydney, Lacoste and Stevenson, and Manuelle Gautrand Architecture Commercial Sir Arthur G Stephenson Award (5) Poly Centre 210 George Street by Grimshaw Award (6) Easy Street Commercial by DFJ Architects (7) Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN with BVN (executive architect) (8) Sub Station No. 164 by FJC Studio (formerly FJMT Studio) (9) Yirranma Place by SJB…

Our theme for this issue is “Masterplan/microplan,” in response to the shift toward the design of whole “precincts” rather than individual buildings. To achieve long-lasting success on these complex projects, with their multiple buildings and larger physical footprints, the designer needs to continuously oscillate between the urban scale and the human scale. When the masterplan is not considered at the micro scale – or vice versa – the precinct is likely to fail. Even for smaller projects or single buildings, we have a responsibility to think about the broader context into which they are stitched. Urban design work, which is often the invisible part of a project, needs to be undertaken in an anticipatory manner. City-making is also a collaborative exercise and it is inevitably difficult to meet the needs…

Adam Gibson Photographer Adam Gibson’s work reflects a life spent roaming in and beyond the wild Tasmanian landscape, responding to diverse creative briefs and making rare moments accessible to a new audience. (PHOTOGRAPHER, PAGE 14) Christine Phillips Christine Phillips is an Eastern Kulin-based non-Indigenous architect, writer and senior lecturer at RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Urban Design. (WRITER, PAGE 62) Lee Hillam Lee Hillam is a director of Dunn and Hillam Architects, a practice founded with Ashley Dunn. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney and has worked with the Government Architect NSW as a design advisor. (WRITER, PAGE 30) Simon Pendal Simon Pendal is principal of Simon Pendal Architect and co-lead of the Studio program at the Fremantle School of Architecture at the…

ALANNA KING For me, the central design issues of our time relate to urban and climate challenges. Do you think architects have agency here? RODERICK SIMPSON In my view, climate change and other environmental challenges are best addressed through top-down policies and regulations; the “crises” in Australian cities now need bottom-up initiatives. Crises occur when the system isn’t working – business-as-usual is not enough, business-as-usual is what got us into the mess. So, for architecture, the question becomes “How should practice change?” rather than “What can architecture do?” Both climate and urban crises are political issues, not design problems. And when I say political, I mean that for architects to be effective, we need to change the operating conditions we work in – and that is a political task. AK…

(COUNTRY) Whadjuk and Binjareb Noongar peoples “Boola” is the Whadjuk Noongar word for “plenty/lots/many,” while “katitjin” (sometimes transcribed “kaadatjin” or “kaatajin”) means “learn/think/teach/listen.”1 This naming protocol supports the slow maturation of middle Australia’s awareness of its precolonial past, joining WA Museum Boola Bardip/Many Stories (Hassell and OMA), Walyalup Civic Centre (Kerry Hill Architects) and other recent major projects in Perth. The move to codesigned, Indigenous-led projects that emphasize empowerment and Country is evolving across the landmass: fully established in some situations, emergent in others. In keeping with the theme of this issue, the following review takes a big-picture approach to Boola Katitjin and considers its place within the extant masterplan of Murdoch University. Boola Katitjin is lead architect Lyons’ fourth major commission completed in Perth, following Northbridge Central TAFE (2010),…

Without question, the late John Andrews is one of Australia’s most accomplished and successful architects, and yet our knowledge of and appreciation for the breadth of his work have become increasingly clouded in recent years. Too many books on the work of architects are hagiographies. In contrast, John Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense (Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2023) offers a thorough, thoughtful account of Andrews’s work in the United States, Canada and Australia. It is encyclopaedic in its documentation of all stages of his career, and of the nature and impact of his architecture and design advocacy. The author, Paul Walker, keeps the focus on the many strands of design and wider activity that impelled the development of Andrews’s architecture. He has been judicious in selecting the work to…

Climate change. Fire. Flood. Earthquakes. Inequality. Political instability. Conflict. What is the role of architects in this ever-changing world? Design for Fragility: 13 Stories of Humanitarian Architects, edited by Esther Charlesworth and John Fien, interviews architects who use design, new models of practice and innovative education programs to develop resilience in the face of global challenges. Following Charlesworth’s Humanitarian Architecture: 15 Stories of Architects Working After Disaster (Routledge, 2014), Design for Fragility (Routledge, 2022) broadens the definition of humanitarian architecture to acknowledge that we are all experiencing – and must respond to – the impacts of global crises and climate emergency, albeit in different ways. Stories of 13 projects speak to the concept of “fragile state,” in which countries experience increasing exposure to risks without the capacity to manage or…