Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Architecture Australia

Chairing the National Awards jury at the end of your term as National President of the Australian Institute of Architects has become more than just a time-honoured tradition. The responsibility of considering all projects awarded by their respective chapter programs through a national lens presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the remarkable work of one’s peers. While some query the environmental cost of visiting projects across the country, others struggle with the idea of making decisions without experiencing each project. There is no single answer to this quandary, but I can now attest to the immense honour of being trusted to be part of the jury, and to take this journey on behalf of the Institute and its members. I was joined on the 2023 National Awards jury by Shaneen…

(COUNTRY) Boonwurrung (LOCATION) Elsternwick, Victoria (JURY CITATION) A holocaust museum’s content is sensitive, and the building’s design must be approached in the right way. Here, the method is one of absolute consistency, from the strong cohesive urban form to the exhibition spaces and their connecting circulation areas. The street facade is made from glass and clay bricks woven together, expressing the functions within and culminating in a large lantern. The new building is cast snugly over the existing heritage facade, and the two elements work beautifully together. Their combination yields a building that has gravitas and humanity, and it represents an innovative approach to the integration of heritage fabric. Courtyards, terraces and skylights bring light into the building’s depths. These gestures skilfully integrate opportunities for landscape and sculpture throughout. Internally,…

(COUNTRY) Whadjuk (LOCATION) Murdoch, Western Australia (JURY CITATION) Boola Katitjin is a bold and transformative addition to Murdoch University’s Perth campus on Noongar Country. Its name – in Noongar language, Boola Katitjin means “many facets and many levels of learning” – aptly captures the layering and flexibility that this building offers. The project is a successful collaboration between Lyons and Silver Thomas Hanley, Officer Woods, The Fulcrum Agency and Aspect Studios. It is no easy feat to bring together many design minds and achieve a clear solution, but Boola Katitjin is an exemplar. The structure is a 180-metre-long bridge that traverses 13 metres in height over three levels, from the campus’s well-loved Bush Court to the north down to the adjacent Harry Butler Institute and southern carpark. It forms a…

(COUNTRY) Ngunnawal and Ngambri (LOCATION) Acton, Australian Capital Territory (JURY CITATION) The Research School of Physics Stage 1 Building by Hassell is an exciting and extremely well-executed celebration of science at the Australian National University. It balances a complex technical brief with an innovative structural, servicing and formal solution to create laboratories that are on display to scholars and visitors (the “ballroom concept”); and work and teaching spaces that are light-filled, inviting and collaborative. The formal organization and alignment of the building is well considered within the context of the ANU campus. The building is broken down lengthways into three long fingers to reduce its scale and to respect the existing figure-ground of the Cockcroft and Oliphant buildings. A love of physics is evident throughout the building, from the waves…

Commercial Architecture(NATIONAL AWARD) (COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) Richmond, Victoria (JURY CITATION) This site in inner-suburban Melbourne, slated for redevelopment, has been given a new lease of life. On an extraordinarily low budget, the existing warehouse has been adapted to create an architect’s dream studio that complements its urban context. The glass facade and integrated corner cafe engage with the busy street and draw the public into the building. To the rear lane, galvanized steel cladding, steel universal beams and slim timber-framed windows lend a sense of international-style modernism. On the garage doors below, local graffiti tags have been embraced, embedding the building even further into its gritty setting. Design for reuse and disassembly is highly considered. Raw materials – including galvanized sheeting, plywood, linoleum and unfinished LVL beams (proudly stamped with…

(COUNTRY) Gadigal (LOCATION) Sydney, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Overhauling the interior of the World-Heritage-listed Sydney Opera House Concert Hall might be considered one of the most daunting briefs of an architect’s career. It’s no secret that the hall has faced acoustic challenges ever since it opened, and the vastly increased variety of performances has presented significant additional challenges for the delivery of world-class acoustics within a timeframe that is sustainable for the Opera House program. Additionally, equitable access (for both patrons and performers) has always been problematic, with the harbour-facing spaces only accessible via long staircases, and toilet access often requiring assistance. Now, bronzed tunnels, sliced through the grand side stairs with absolute precision, lead to new glass elevators that enable equitable access to the iconic northern foyer for…

(COUNTRY) Yuin (LOCATION) Mossy Point, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Mossy Point House is a bold offering within the much-loved enclave on the New South Wales South Coast. Nestled among the eucalypts, the house provides a strong form to the street, allowing for both privacy within, and opportunities for connection with passers-by. The geometry of the internal spaces is a delightful surprise – but more than this, it creates a strong program for the modest dwelling. Relationships between the inhabitants and the neighbours have been strongly interrogated to avoid overlooking, and the use of retreat and outlook is masterful. The interior palette is warm and encourages a slower pace of life appropriate to the clients’ intention for the house to be a place to retire. The design makes the most…

(COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) Brunswick, Victoria (JURY CITATION) Nightingale Village is a testament to the power of collaboration. Working with a community-focused approach, an alliance of architects set about creating a new village precinct within an established suburb and former industrial zone. Their intent was to create a fossil-fuel-free development in a central location, providing long-term homes for a diverse community. The result is a playful, lively and clearly much-loved series of buildings, each with its own character but sharing a common vision. Six buildings house 203 homes and eight commercial tenancies, allowing for residents to mix and for community and village culture to grow. A reductionist approach was employed from the outset, with all homes having only the essential spaces. Functions that can be shared are used as opportunities to…

(COUNTRY) Gadigal (LOCATION) Sydney, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) In its fiftieth-anniversary year, the Sydney Opera House is arguably one of Australia’s most recognizable pieces of architecture and our only modern building on the UNESCO World Heritage List. To undertake a major renovation and update of its world-famous Concert Hall was no small endeavour. ARM Architecture has completed this seminal work with a confident and considered hand. The combination of painstakingly recrafted timbers and new fuchsia colouring, which nods to the original interiors designed by Peter Hall, is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The design team spared no time or effort in their exploration of the right method for every surface. Working extensively through onsite exploration, and with exhaustive modelling to trial, test and retest, they have given the Concert Hall…

(COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) Parkville, Victoria (JURY CITATION) University of Melbourne Student Precinct brings clarity, connection, fun and inclusion to a previously congested area of the Parkville campus. Through its diversity of architecture, activation across many levels, material playfulness and co-creation with First Nations peoples and the student community, it acts as a vehicle for collaboration and reconciliation. The precinct encompasses six new and refurbished buildings within a landscape that has been returned to its original datum. The removal of the elevated concrete plaza covering the central area enables an accessible ground plane across the site and a network of gathering spaces that signify reconnection with Country – including the water and eel narratives that run through the precinct. Speakers from 45 First Nations language groups were consulted on this project,…

(COUNTRY) Ngunnawal (LOCATION) Fyshwick, Australian Capital Territory (JURY CITATION) Dairy Road is the first stage of an ambitious reimagining of an industrial precinct – the first of its kind in Canberra. An adaptive reuse of existing buildings, the development aims to create a new community and commercial heart. In time, this heart will be a bridge to a new residential estate to the south of the site. The edges of the development have been designed collaboratively by Oculus and Pezo von Ellrichshausen to remove existing carparks and asphalt, and to integrate native landscape, shade, seating areas and undefined non-commercial public spaces for exploration and contemplation. The relationship between the commercial uses and the outdoor spaces creates an active and playful precinct edge that successfully reinterprets what an industrial estate might…

Steel Architecture(NATIONAL COLORBOND® AWARD) (COUNTRY) Wadawurrung (LOCATION) Barwon Heads, Victoria (JURY CITATION) In recent years, the backstreets of Barwon Heads on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula have become something of a proving ground for adventurous architecture. Beach houses often provide the right mix of freedom and ambition to allow relatively modest budgets to shine. They need to be robust enough to deal with sun, wind, sand and salt, but they also need to be adaptable enough to accommodate guests, with spaces that enable people to come together as well as to retreat. A perfect example, AB House achieves this with the addition of a guest “wing” at the rear, connected via an inset central deck. Striking a wonderful balance between embracing the honest use of simple materials and providing modern amenity, this…

When David Chipperfield was awarded the Pritzker Prize earlier this year, Katie Wagner observed that significant awards have the potential to change architectural discourse. Here, I reflect, through six fundamental questions, on how my practice may have impacted on Australian architecture, both as a built legacy and as a way of practising. What home? Consider two homes. First: House at Hanging Rock. An architect-designed, bespoke home, an aggregate of a family’s choices, reflecting their aspirations, preferences, needs. The occupants exercised choice of home and architecture. Second: my cousin’s office in Frankfurt, Germany. Also architect-designed, and now a makeshift home for Ukrainian families. What was once a desk is now a kitchen, of sorts, for here the occupants have been allocated a home, making do with a given architecture and relying…

We would be wise to watch these jumpy artists as closely as budgerigars were watched down a coalmine. When they topple from the perch, it may already be too late to run for the lift-shaft. The sky will be transformed into an uncontained cloud of intelligence … the unimaginable imagined … These are the first seismic whispers. Soon it will be everywhere, overheard conversations with no human source. Soon we will all think it. And then it will happen. —Iain Sinclair1 Planetary Redesign at the National Gallery of Victoria, the first major Australian solo exhibition of filmmaker and speculative designer Liam Young, invites us to imagine the unimaginable, to collectively explore challenging possible futures, and to ask whether they are extreme – or simply pragmatic. The show also reveals that…

(COUNTRY) Darumbal (LOCATION) Rockhampton, Queensland (JURY CITATION) The Rockhampton Museum of Art is founded on principles of sustainability, public engagement, respect for heritage and international-standard gallery spaces. It’s a true public building, giving back to Rockhampton much more than might be expected from a gallery. A three-storey verandah links the riverfront Quay Street to the rear laneways, revealing views to the gracious neighbouring Customs House. Parallel to this new, tall and covered laneway is the building’s glazed gallery spine and foyer, which connects all floors of the museum and becomes the main circulation element, orientating the visitor. It is punctuated by a ground-floor cafe that informally invites people into the gallery, unlike a more intimidating traditional gallery or museum model. This planning move creates a porous ground plane that provides…

(COUNTRY) Big River Nation (LOCATION) Cradle Mountain, Tasmania (JURY CITATION) Dove Lake Viewing Shelter is confident and deliberate. Erupting from the earth like a glacial formation, its canted, textured concrete soffits and walls are embedded in its rocky, mossy landscape. The procession toward the lake is dramatic and pared-back, providing the essential level of amenity and information to the visitor. This elimination of superfluous services and creature comforts is the building’s great success, and it culminates in a palpable sense of joy upon arrival at the dramatic window overlooking Dove Lake. Seen from the lake, the building appears beautifully nestled into its landscape; low and subdued, it exhibits a true sense of belonging in this extraordinary location. Architect Cumulus Studio; Project team Peter Walker, Luke Waldron, Edwina Brisbane, Chi Chee…

Educational Architecture(NATIONAL AWARD) (COUNTRY) Gadigal (LOCATION) Bellevue Hill, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Cranbrook School’s Bellevue Hill campus redevelopment by Architectus cleverly offers spaces and services back to the public while integrating new buildings into the existing oval and historic terraces of the site. The large expanse of Hordern Oval overlooks Rose Bay and simultaneously conceals the new Murray Rose Aquatic and Fitness Centre and extensive carparking beneath the playing field. Hugging the road with a bold curve, the aquatic centre is open to external club use and offers an exciting entry from South Head Road in a form reminiscent of a sandstone cliff. The new building is tucked into the hillside and integrates the site across several levels from the oval to the beautifully detailed timber chapel at the…

(COUNTRY) Turrbal and Jagera (LOCATION) Cannon Hill, Queensland (JURY CITATION) Cannon Hill Anglican College D-Block by Reddog Architects in association with Blueline Architecture is a smaller contender in the education category, but its joy, connection to site, delight in form and detailing, and student experience shone through. The development of D-block provides a critical link in the school’s masterplan, joining the senior and middle schools while also creating a striking entry. The project exhibits beautiful materiality in its light, sinuous brickwork and its colour palette, creating a series of exciting spatial experiences for students and staff. The dining hall, undercroft and circulation spaces connect seamlessly with the outdoor areas and existing bush setting, fulfilling a key priority for the client. The result is a long, two-storey building synonymous with Queensland…

Interior Architecture (NATIONAL AWARD) (COUNTRY) Boonwurrung (LOCATION) Bass Coast, Victoria (JURY CITATION) A clifftop on the Bass Coast is a challenging environment; when the wind howls down this way, you want to nestle in out of the weather. Bass Coast Farmhouse unashamedly braces itself against its surroundings, with the interior providing a delightfully warming and welcoming counterpoint. The front door opens into a deep, coir-mat-floored mudroom complete with handbasin. At this point, what seems from the outside to be a simple, modern interpretation of an Australian shed reveals itself as a complex courtyard house, with the courtyard dropping away alongside the natural slope of the terrain. A glazed and shuttered cloister takes you (right) to the bedroom wing, or (left) to the kitchen, dining and lounge, which cantilever off the…

(COUNTRY) Whadjuk (LOCATION) North Perth, Western Australia (JURY CITATION) North Perth House is a display of quiet whimsy; the addition boasts a delightful array of playful elements, creating interest in the everyday, seemingly mundane characteristics of the domicile. Tapered columns circuit a deep verandah, their asymmetrical shape establishing a dynamic interplay between garden and deck; rounded window scribes take on a new expression as they abruptly terminate; subtle curves in the kitchen serve to soften and blend with the hardworking ancillary rooms. The resourcefulness and ingenuity in detail nimbly fly above the limitations of a tight budget. The outcome is a series of responses and careful moves that coalesce on the site to produce a meaningful space for a growing family. — North Perth House was reviewed by Leonie Matthews…

(COUNTRY) Whadjuk (LOCATION) Crawley, Western Australia (JURY CITATION) Occupying a prime spot on the edge of the University of Western Australia’s college precinct and sitting on a bend of Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River), Forest Hall provides short- to medium-term accommodation for visiting postdoctoral students, researchers and academics. Designed to support the university’s goal of being in the top 50 research universities in the world by 2050, the accommodation is broken into two blocks. The first block provides studios and one- and two-bedroom accommodation for singles and young families, while the second provides short-stay accommodation for visiting academics in a hotel style that is cleverly cross-funded, with members of the public able to book available rooms to ensure efficient usage. The street presence is a stone-clad delight, alternating between open corridors…

(COUNTRY) Whadjuk (LOCATION) Murdoch, Western Australia (JURY CITATION) Housing general teaching and study areas, Boola Katitjin sets out to create a new face for Murdoch University. In addition to providing a much-needed connection between the newly established southern arrival point and the spiritual heart of the campus, Bush Court, the building also aims to create an equitable path of travel across the 13 vertical metres between them. With sustainability front and centre of the design, this building straddles the two levels with the feel of an oversized timber warehouse for learning. Designed to embrace the often-harsh Perth climate and also protect from it, Boola Katitjin offers a generous covered space for open-air ceremonial events that were not possible before now. On the building’s inviting northern facade, modular bays are clearly…

(COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) Parkville, Victoria (JURY CITATION) The University of Melbourne Student Precinct, with its array of heritage elements, has been transformed into a bubbling hub catering for its transient student community. The key activation strategy was to create a seamless ground plane by removing the elevated plaza (a later incongruous addition to the tertiary urban fabric). This process has revealed defunct basement levels and unearthed opportunities for a new interface with the university’s internal streets. The revitalized ground plane is anchored not only by the physical connectivity of the new and refurbished buildings and their respective levels, but also by a poetically ingrained, Indigenous-led conception of place. Embedded in the meandering pathways and newly found vistas lies the site’s story of water. Each building weaves and traces new desire…

(COUNTRY) Turrbal and Jagera (LOCATION) Herston, Queensland (JURY CITATION) Herston Quarter Redevelopment Stage 1 and 2 by Hassell successfully navigates a steep, complex site that contains heritage buildings and the remnants of an old quarry – and is entangled with busy roads to the east and south. The project maximizes the site’s best qualities and draws the public into the precinct and heritage centre via a grand gesture: the “Spanish Steps” and glass lift, which link the train station and Victoria Park to the south with the crown of the hill and the site’s north. The redevelopment carefully stitches together a mix of health facilities (existing and new), student accommodation and facilities, health research institutes, commercial space and green public space in a way that is elegant, comfortable and appropriate…

(LOCATION) Paris, France (JURY CITATION) Paris Apartment is the respectful yet extraordinary restoration of a seventeenth-century apartment originally owned by prominent French architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who designed the Grand Trianon at the Palace of Versailles. For Wood Marsh and Paris Apartment’s client, this was an opportunity to showcase their appreciation of history, contemporary art and modern architecture. Before the restoration, the apartment bore little resemblance to its original design. However, through careful historic research, analysis of a neighbouring apartment in the building and extensive engagement with French authorities, Wood Marsh was able to determine key original elements and details and navigate a design solution that respected its historical significance. The original wall panelling and delicate in-situ artwork were carefully repaired, and modern services were cleverly concealed behind traditional mouldings. These…

(COUNTRY) Whadjuk (LOCATION) Mount Lawley, Western Australia (JURY CITATION) Tucked at the end of a battleaxe block in Perth sits a wholly unexpected little pavilion. The traditional driveway access has been given over to planting and the block amenity is significantly enhanced by the lack of a carport and turning circle. The natural watercourse flowing beneath the gully has been harnessed via a free-flowing natural spring, transforming a damp “problem site” into a verdant slice of bushland that is brimming with native wildlife and generous to its neighbours. Judicious use of steel has allowed an almost column-free, glazed “verandah in a garden” on a very modest budget. The roof structure, including operable lights, is much like a tent; this innovative structural design has allowed the whole structure to be erected…

Parallax is the divergent view of an object when it is seen from two different points in space.1 Philosophically, this divergence challenges individuals to see concepts from an unfamiliar perspective. At the entrance to Purpose Built at the State Library of Queensland, visitors are greeted with two options for viewing the exhibition. One appears as a traditional exhibition entrance: a wall inscribed with introductory text. The other presents a full-size segment of a humble, detached dwelling with a hipped roof and an inviting door, left ajar. This dual entry might suggest that there are two distinct paths, one that moves forward and the other backward. But what sometimes appears to be moving back-and-forth may, in fact, be moving in a closed loop – like a two-stroke engine. This exhibition presents…

Public Architecture(NATIONAL AWARD) (COUNTRY) Gadigal (LOCATION) Sydney, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Sydney Modern at the Art Gallery of NSW is both simple and complex. From afar, it reads as a series of canted and warped pavilions that overlap and cascade from the original Walter Liberty Vernon sandstone monument down the hill toward the harbour. These simple rectangular forms complement the original building and its various additions, reframing the site as a campus of buildings connected by its garden setting and newly formed courtyard spaces. As you move into and through the building, its spatial complexity and unconventionality become evident. Floors and ceilings swoop and fall, revealing views to the park and the harbour as well as other parts of the building. The journey is non-linear and invites the visitor…

(COUNTRY) Dja Dja Wurrung (LOCATION) Bendigo, Victoria (JURY CITATION) This building rethinks the cornerstone of society that is the law court. Externally, it is simultaneously welcoming and formidable. Internally, it delicately balances the seriousness of its purpose with a sense of familiarity and comfort. Views to Bendigo permeate through the public areas and natural light floods into the circulation areas and court rooms alike, bringing dignity to spaces that are commonly heavy and intimidating. These connections to landscape, alongside a connection to Country, are embedded in all parts of the project and were clearly integral to the design process. Local artwork, materials and craft deepen the building’s links to site visually and through the stories told. It’s an exemplar judicial building that could only be in Bendigo. Architect Wardle; Project…

(COUNTRY) Stoney Creek Nation (LOCATION) Inveresk, Tasmania (JURY CITATION) Inveresk Library is an engaging and playful addition to the University of Tasmania’s campus in Launceston by Wardle. The library’s bold aluminium exterior illuminates, creating a veil-like effect that is both enticing and enigmatic. The manipulation of the shed forms in plan and section cleverly respects the industrial heritage of the area, with the south-facing sawtooth roofs capturing consistent light for the library’s interior. The location of the building within the precinct establishes a pedestrian/cycle link and sightlines back to Launceston city centre, connecting the library to both the city and the university. Set over three levels, the library has a dynamic glulam timber structure with inset acoustic panels. It offers warm and welcoming quiet study spaces, meeting spaces and classrooms,…

(COUNTRY) Gadigal (LOCATION) Darlinghurst, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) In Yirranma Place, the architect has sensitively woven a fitout for the Paul Ramsay Foundation into the heritage-listed former First Church of Christ Scientist building in Darlinghurst. The distinction between new and old is clear, and the language for the new works is diverse yet coherent. Vaulted forms, rich textures and bold colours successfully transform the interwar Beaux Arts interiors into joyous spaces befitting of the charitable organization they now house. Integrating lifts, fire stairs and a basement carpark into this heritage structure was no doubt a challenging project. But designing for disassembly and holding the new structures off existing walls has resulted in many beautiful moments and surprises. This “loose fit” allows the building’s original volume to be read distinctly…

(COUNTRY) Boonwurrung (LOCATION) Merricks, Victoria (JURY CITATION) Merricks Farmhouse offers a different take on the rural shed vernacular. It may share its concrete-block walls and metal roof with the cow sheds down the road … but that’s where it ends. Nestling into the slope, the house’s long, low glazing is almost invisible beneath the deep eaves. Extending out into the garden, the concrete walls topped in succulents are reminiscent of a moss-covered ruin. The entry sequence takes you into a large, sheltered courtyard, but rather than a rectangle of manicured garden, you find a pond with giant stepping stones leading you through superb native plantings. The surrounding rooms all take great advantage of this supremely calm space: four beautifully modest bedrooms at the rear, the main bedroom suite on the…

(COUNTRY) Wangal (LOCATION) Balmain, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Balmain House is an example of a carefully considered residential extension to a tired existing dwelling. Pushing back on the initial client brief for a full demolition, Saha has reused the existing cottage and dovetailed it into the new addition with impeccable clarity. The house is reorientated by augmenting existing window openings, taking advantage of the warming properties of the sun. This desirable aspect, thwarted in the original layout, is now unfurled; the existing “concrete garden” is replaced by formal and informal landscaping that interfaces with the addition. Sliding doors peel back to expose and blur boundaries between interior and exterior, further distinguishing the garden as a central feature of the space. Old and new are integrated through a series of…

(COUNTRY) Turrbal and Jagera (LOCATION) Kingston, Queensland (JURY CITATION) Habitat on Juers is an innovative, human-centred solution to social and affordable housing on a deep site in the southern Brisbane city of Logan. The project incorporates 16 accessible and adaptable dwellings, conceived as a village-like development close to public transport, schools and shops. The clever spatial planning keeps the cars to the side of the site, separate from the units. This enables generous and activated shared courtyards with barbecue areas and play equipment, without disregarding the need for private entries and drying courts. The language of the architecture is engaging, while the scale and character remain sympathetic to the context. Slightly offset, the staggered units are constructed from black and white lightweight mass timber and anchored by brick fire walls…

(COUNTRY) Turrbal and Jagera (LOCATION) West End, Queensland (JURY CITATION) At the Queensland Ballet’s Thomas Dixon Centre, Conrad Gargett has demonstrated commendable skill to fuse an existing heritage entity to its contemporary division. These two masses act as a caliper to a heritage bunker, serving to funnel visitors into the reclaimed space between the buildings. This procession through seemingly liminal territory is activated by a series of framed windows that reveal the inner workings of the ballet tradition, generating a bustling atmosphere upon arrival. A playful yet highly considered assimilation of materiality speaks to the Queensland Ballet and its ideals, while the programmatic efficiency of the spaces sets the stage for an ever-evolving conversation with the centre’s inhabitants and users, visitors and volunteers. Architect, landscape consultant Conrad Gargett; Project team…

(COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) Brunswick, Victoria (JURY CITATION) The success of Nightingale Village in the urban design category is a result of the innovation embedded in the model, which has created a fossil-fuel-free precinct in a central location that provides long-term homes for a diverse community. However, it is also reliant on a few key moves: shared basements for cars and shared services that support the entire site; a vegetated buffer to the bike track and train line along the western side; the closure of Duckett Street to cars, giving it back to the public and the landscape; and buildings that allow for passive surveillance, incidental encounter and natural ventilation to the street. At street level, Nightingale Village has produced an urban environment that is car-free and pedestrian friendly, that offers…

(COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) East Melbourne, Victoria (JURY CITATION) Victorian Family Violence Memorial is a gentle gesture in solidarity. It straddles two fulcrums: it is a place for the individual or for a group to gather in support, grief or remembrance. This duality in function takes shape as a moulding of the earth, guiding visitors into the heart and then out again. Splitting the ground plane, the level changes create an inconspicuous amphitheatre, and a place to sit in reflection under the canopy of an existing tree. The monument holds the earth as if to bear the weight of the subject matter, delicately balanced in a moment in time. Steel buttresses appear to vanish into a point of darkness, their pared-back filigree personifying the immeasurable number of victims. A poetic expression…

(COUNTRY) Wonnarua (LOCATION) Broke, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) As construction costs surge to an all-time high, leaving much of Australia feeling defeated, architects are charged with the task of providing cost-effective solutions that still manage to achieve a level of design detail and whimsy. In Dimensions X / Farmstay, Peter Stutchbury Architecture showcases the possibilities of prefabrication for small-footprint construction, complete with formidable environmental credentials and running costs of next to nothing. Working hard yet sitting beautifully within its context and not scrimping on quality, this project is a sustainable and economical corrective to the current state of the building industry. — Dimensions X / Farm Stay was discussed by Tobias Horrocks in Houses 155. Architect Peter Stutchbury Architecture; Project team Alejo de Achaval, Peter Stutchbury, Emilie Winter; Builder…