Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Architecture Australia

(SIR ZELMAN COWEN AWARD) POWERHOUSE CASTLE HILL LAHZNIMMO ARCHITECTS (COUNTRY) Dharug (LOCATION) Castle Hill, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Powerhouse Castle Hill is an exemplar of architecture as an interface between the public and research, preservation and curation. It forms part of the Museums Discovery Centre, operated in partnership with the Australian Museum and the Museums of History New South Wales. Previous storage was at capacity, given that 95 percent of the Powerhouse Collection is maintained in storage at any one time. The brief called for a 9,000-square-metre facility catering for storage, exhibition, research, events conservation, photography and archives. Powerhouse Castle Hill has looked beyond these pragmatics to elevate its purpose to one of enshrinement. A shimmering skin is glimpsed through eucalypts from the bordering Showground Road, as one approaches…

(EMIL SODERSTEN AWARD) BURNT EARTH BEACH HOUSE WARDLE (COUNTRY) Wadawurrung (LOCATION) Anglesea, Victoria (JURY CITATION) Burnt Earth Beach House is a masterfully composed spatial journey rich in detail and delight. The house emerges from the earth, sheathed in handcrafted clay bricks. These bricks also define the interior spaces, evoking the sense that the spaces are themselves carved out of the terracotta form. This consistent material approach extends to internal walls, floor and joinery, providing the interior with qualities of warmth, texture and tonality. The materials are raw and tactile, and their highly considered, experimental and innovative application delivers an authentic series of interior spaces. The internal spaces converge through a dynamic set of horizontal and vertical connections that link open spaces for social activities and congregation and intimate spaces for…

(WALTER BURLEY GRIFFIN AWARD) PARRAMATTA AQUATIC CENTRE GRIMSHAW AND ANDREW BURGES ARCHITECTS WITH MCGREGOR COXALL (COUNTRY) Dharug (LOCATION) Parramatta, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) With an overt public agenda – creating a local-council-operated aquatic and recreation centre for Parramatta – the urban generosity of this project transforms the reach of a public building. The design effortlessly integrates a large program of pools, a gym, a cafe, change rooms and multipurpose rooms hidden in plain sight with sensitive layering of built and landscaped form. The seamless integration of landscape provides a protected sanctuary for pool users, while the partial burying of the centre gives a restored ecosystem back to the surrounding neighbourhood. Historic sightlines are maintained towards Parramatta River, instilling a renewed sense of place in a previously forgotten site and…

(COLORBOND® AWARD) SPINIFEX HILL PROJECT SPACE OFFICER WOODS ARCHITECTS (COUNTRY) Kariyarra (LOCATION) South Hedland, Western Australia (JURY CITATION) Spinifex Hill Project Space showcases the exemplary use of steel to respond to a challenging climatic and geographic context while also creating a striking and sculptural architectural form. Officer Woods Architects shows innovation in its resolution of complex technical requirements for a cyclone-proof, specific-program art gallery and storage facility. Each element of the building is meticulously considered, reflecting a rigorous efficiency that permeates the entire project. The form of the building is defined by an inclined steel roof. At its highest point this presents a monumental civic scale to the street, while the lower section gently dips down to scale the garden courtyard. This single geometric manoeuvre deftly resolves a multitude of…

(ACKNOWLEDGEMENT) We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. Architects, says 2024 Gold Medallist Philip Thalis, must become seen and heard as champions of our cities. In the abridged version of his A. S. Hook Address (page 94), Thalis reflects on his time in council and on how so much “intersects with architectural and urban practice.” Politics can slow the momentum of change, but, as Thalis has demonstrated, it is in government that architects have an opportunity to act in society’s best interest, advocate for better outcomes and propel solutions to challenges such as affordable housing or the environment. Along with many poignant calls to action, Thalis urges…

(ROBIN BOYD AWARD) NAPLES STREET HOUSE EDITION OFFICE (COUNTRY) Wurundjeri (LOCATION) Box Hill South, Victoria (JURY CITATION) Naples Street House represents a brave departure from suburban conventions, offering a considered rethinking of a family home. A deliberately understated facade prioritises the interior through animation of the inhabitants’ daily lives, creating a quiet address to the under-pedestrianised streetscape that finds belonging through form and scale. The low-peaked brick-slip roof references the brick bungalows of the neighbourhood’s past while rejecting contemporary adaptations of the style. The central courtyard becomes the orienting focus of the home. The symmetrical plan, coupled with the varied section, introduces unexpected interplays of light and space. Public programmed rooms converse with one another through the careful placement of apertures, while bedrooms are discreetly tucked away to the landscaped…

(JØRN UTZON AWARD) THE EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA, WASHINGTON, DC BATES SMART (LOCATION) Washington, DC, United States (JURY CITATION) A true celebration of the environmental characteristics that make Australia unique, the Embassy of Australia is a joyful celebration of our rich geological textures, flora, fauna, people and light. Rejecting the international style typical of embassy buildings of the past, the building steps proudly with an unexpected transparency and a focus on interior quality and workplace wellbeing. The usual requirements of security and restricted areas are deftly treated to provide an open and welcoming environment that provides for civic-minded spaces. With a large footprint and accommodating a large program, the building carves out its interior to provide a central atrium with a canopy of dappled light. Striations of timber battening replicate a…

(NATIONAL AWARD) C HOUSE DONOVAN HILL (COUNTRY) Turrbal and Jagera (LOCATION) Coorparoo, Queensland (JURY CITATION) This internationally acclaimed house, completed in 1998, is the embryonic work of a practice whose legacy still resonates a quarter of a century later. The commission of C House coincided with the formationof the Donovan Hill partnership, a practice that set a new standard of expectation for Australian architecture. Importantly, the building demonstrated new possibilities for Australian architecture based on, among numerous other ideas, landscape morphology rather than a cultural idea of landscape. It introduced ideas of building as terrain, edited from the site and responding to climatic diagrams and the simple human need for prospect and refuge. The C House is simple and complex, rather than simplistic and complicated. It can be described as a…

Selection for the National Architecture Awards jury, the Institute’s highest level of examination of the profession, is a huge honour. The fortnight-long tour of project visitations is exhausting yet hugely rewarding. As the immediate past national president of the Australian Institute of Architects, it is an immense privilege to be chair of such an esteemed quorum of practitioners. The jury experience is expansive and enriching, the dialogue and deliberations intellectual, rigorous and uplifting. In creating the 2024 National Awards jury, consideration was given to capturing regional span and diversity of academic and practice knowledge – with an emphasis on smaller practice, given smaller-scale practices make up almost 80% of the Institute’s membership. This year I was joined by Naomi Stead (Victoria), Yun Nie Chong (Western Australia), Jemima Retallack (New South…

(ELEANOR CULLIS-HILL AWARD) HIGH STREET LINEBURG WANG (COUNTRY) Turrbal and Jagera (LOCATION) Milton, Queensland (JURY CITATION) Lineburg Wang’s alteration and addition to a pre-1911 timber cottage is bold, innovative and exquisite. The architects’ design approach was to build less in order to provide generosity on a constrained site. With a series of simple but radical strategic moves, Lineburg Wang has created spatial diversity and flexibility while maximising space. The journey from the street through the house is carefully curated. On approach, a small aperture frames a glimpse of a tree beyond, subtly guiding visitors towards the entrance. The entry passage traverses the undercroft of the house, where services and storage are neatly concealed behind meticulously detailed cabinetry, creating a sense of order and calm. Light at the end of this…

(NICHOLAS MURCUTT AWARD) NORTH HEAD VIEWING PLATFORMS CHROFI AND BANGAWARRA WITH NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE (COUNTRY) Gai-mariagal (LOCATION) Manly, New South Wales (JURY CITATION) Situated at the end of North Head Scenic Drive on the sandstone platforms of Car-rang-gel (North Head), the North Head Viewing Platforms rest upon the important ceremonial ground of the Gai-mariagal people. The sandstone promontory offers a place to gather and celebrate stories, playing an important role in establishing songlines and connecting a vast kinship system including D’harawal, Dharug, Gai-mariagal, Gundungurra and Guringai peoples, as well as many others. An exemplary illustration of inclusive public infrastructure design and adaptation, the viewing structures rest among the native vegetation of North Head, connected by a meandering path through the coastal flora. The impetus for the proposal emanated…

The unexpected honour of receiving a Gold Medal from the Australian Institute of Architects has led me to reflect on what I might contribute to an agenda for architecture in our time and place. My agenda draws from my experience, my city and my culture. It drives me to focus on architecture and the city, on public space and housing. It asks me to lead through example and advocacy, through research and teaching, through analysis and design, always conscious of environmental responsibility and social purpose. It forces me to question what it means to be a professional today, on a planet facing environmental crisis, in a nation facing profound ethical and social challenges and capture by the relentless neoliberal economic model. From the start I have found myself pursuing an…