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Feature article
Across the NSW Chapter
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CONTENTS
- Broken Hill Town Hall visualisation: Allen Jack+Cottier, GAO and Electrolight.
PATRONS NEWS
Allen Jack+Cottier
Like many architecture firms, AJ+C has been very fortunate in enjoying a long, ongoing association with the NSW Government Architect’s Office. We would like to think this history and exchange of knowledge and learnings, continues to be mutually beneficial – certainly from our perspective, that’s unquestionably so.
It’s impossible to measure the value and benefit to NSW of twenty-three Government Architects employed over the past 200 years to create a city for the future and a State to be proud of. From our first appointed Civil Architect Francis Greenway to our current incumbent Peter Poulet, each of these men (yes, sadly, we’re still waiting for our first female appointee) has made an invaluable contribution to NSW. Each of them, to quote the latter, has endeavoured to provide ‘a greater public good than just the sum of individual buildings’.
These contributions, again from those of our earliest representatives to the present day, have come despite often challenging environments, diminished roles and responsibilities. At all times, it’s incumbent upon all of us as members of the profession to support this vital role for the people of NSW. We applaud the Government Architect’s Office for their ongoing work and celebrate with them their proud bicentenary.
Bates Smart
Bates Smart recently won a City of Sydney design excellence competition for Site 18, Green Square – a joint venture between Mirvac Green Square and UrbanGrowth. The twenty-level residential building occupies a prominent location at the intersection of Green Square Plaza and Zetland Avenue.
The team’s design approach steps the building form to open up the view corridor between the Library Plaza and the Drying Green, which are the two principal public open spaces at Green Square. The ground plane is treated as an extension of Neilson Square and will provide a high-quality pedestrian environment with retail on all frontages.
Cox
In continuing to position the practice for the future, Cox Richardson – the Sydney studio of Cox Architecture – has appointed Lachlan Abercrombie, Mark Davey, Bill Luders, Alex Small as Senior Associates and Shirin Adorbehi, Leesa Bennett, Chris Collignon, Sophie Coulier, Belinda Lee, Sydney Ma and Claudio Aravena-Mesías as Associates. We have broadened our associates creating a senior team that is collectively diverse in its contribution and strengthens the studio’s ability to achieve design excellence.
In January 2015, Cox committed to participate in the CareerTrackers 10×10 initiative. CareerTrackers is a non-profit organisation that seeks to increase the participation of indigenous Australians in professional private sector employment. Cox in partnership with SJB has teamed up with nine other organisations to make a ten-year commitment to supporting indigenous university students. Cox currently employs interns under this program in architecture, planning and interior design in our Sydney, Brisbane and Perth studios.
Mirvac
Voyager is Mirvac Design’s latest project at Yarra’s Edge at the Docklands precinct in Melbourne. The forty-three storey project consists of 315 residences in a tower podium configuration. Voyager is the tallest tower to date at Yarra’s Edge and will form a gateway marker when coming into the city over the Bolte Bridge from the north. The project will be the second tower to be constructed in the Wharf’s Entrance precinct.
Organic in form, it differs from the previous stages and continues the curved, fluid language of Wharf’s Entrance. The warm reflective glass facade of Voyager contrasts with the cooler tones used in Forge, the first tower in the precinct and currently under construction. This will give the building a distinct identity while creating a dialogue of geometries. The tower is necked-in at the first two levels creating a transition at the tower podium interface. The podium facade consists of a precast skin wrapping around the building, with the glass of the tower continuing through linking the two elements.
The upper level of the tower has been reserved for resident amenity consisting of a lounge, dining room, multipurpose room and sky garden. The outdoor landscaped space is fully enclosed by a seven-metre high glass screen, open to the sky with views north to the city. It will provide a protected environment for the enjoyment of residents and finishes the building with an iconic roof feature.
Tanner Kibble Denton Architects
Masterplan and stage one Learning Hub for Redlands Cremorne by Tanner Kibble Denton Architects was approved by the Department of Planning on 30 April. The design of the new four-level building includes collaborative learning spaces, a music centre and new landscaped podium, providing a significant increase to outdoor space for both passive recreation and learning.
TKD have also joined with EWB Connect to undertake the design, design development and construction phase services for a crisis and respite housing project in Chatswood. EWB Connect is the newest program from Engineers Without Borders, facilitating the provision of pro bono services to community organisations.
Supporting not-for-profit disability support association, The Housing Connection project aims to provide designs and approvals for approximately 120 sqm of additional flexible accommodation to an existing facility, and will house and meet the specific needs of people with a disability and/or their families in crisis or needing respite.
This project follows TKD’s ongoing assistance to Make a Difference, a charity supporting children and young people living in challenging circumstances, to develop ‘permanent camping’ accommodation for their retreat programme.
