Innehållsförteckning för July 2022 från Architecture Australia

As one of the youngest to step up to the role of National President, the question I am most often asked is what motivates me to take on such an important role on top of the challenges of practice and a young family. The answer is simple, really. What fuels my every day and what motivates my work with the Institute are one and the same: the relationship between people, place and space. I was raised by parents who never tired of fighting for the rights of others. As children, we learned that if something was truly important to us, then it was worth fighting for. And for me, architecture is just that – something of vital importance, and something worth fighting for. As architects, we are at the coalface…

For a long time, the built environment has followed a linear model of production and consumption. But in the face of severe global environmental challenges, a new approach is imperative. As Nicola Smith explains, the circular economy involves using less and designing for longevity, disassembly and reuse. The results can be both impactful and awe-inspiring. The European Parliament describes the circular economy as “a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products … When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible.”1 This is a departure from the traditional, linear economic model, which is based on a take–make–consume–discard pattern. Circularity requires a shift in thinking that needs to be embedded in…

We’ve been writing about the climate emergency in Architecture Australia for a few years now – but as we all know, we need to turn these words into action. For this reason, we invited three prominent sustainability experts to guest-edit an issue that could be used as a practical guide or resource for architects and designers. Architects alone cannot combat the impact of the built environment on our planet. So, we cast our search for guest editors beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture. Collectively and individually, Stephen Choi, Clare Parry and Amanda Sturgeon have a wealth of knowledge and experience in advising on sustainable development and implementing global environmental assessment methods. Choi and Sturgeon both trained in architecture but now work in adjacent fields, while Parry is a sustainability engineer…

- Site acquisition ended old-growth logging in Southern Tasmania - Actively repairing and regenerating a damaged site - Extensive water-harvesting system (170,000 L of rainwater storage) - Approx. 1,000 m3 of hard surface removed - Estimated 7,000 m3 of waste woodchip removed, composted or incorporated into new landscaping - 25,000+ native plants used in landscaping so far - Partnership with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and Cape Barren community to re-establish cultural burning practices - Elemental construction (the project can be unbolted and relocated or upcycled in future) - Buildings, infrastructure and furniture from the former mill have been repurposed and upcycled - Very small internal footprint (fewer resources used to construct, less heating and cooling required) - No gas used in the building…

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land upon which each ANZ branch stands As we rocket toward a cashless economy, reasons to visit the local bank are changing. Branches are becoming less transactional and more about connection, education and community. ANZ has met this challenge head-on with the appointment of Breathe to design the fitouts of its new branches across Australia. The project is entitled ANZ Breathe, a nod to both the designer and the direction of these new interiors. My first job after completing my interior design qualification in the early nineties was in a large corporate architecture practice in North Sydney. Among the more memorable projects I worked on was the interiors for one of the big four banks. The project largely consisted of the selection of…

In its shift toward a circular economy, the construction industry will increasingly rely on the many sustainable qualities of bio-based materials. Bohemia Hookham describes the options – some of which have been used for thousands of years, others more recently developed, and some we’re likely to see in the near future. Architects are in a unique position today to facilitate a global push toward a circular economy with lower embodied carbon within the construction industry using bio-based materials. For centuries, human beings used natural materials to construct our built environments. Timber, bamboo, earth and straw were all renewable natural materials readily available for use. However, with the advent of the industrial era and the modernization of societies and technology, renewable resources were replaced by other polluting materials such as cement…

The results of an ongoing project that aims to understand staff and student engagement with climate change suggest that architecture schools are potentially a revolutionizing force for the whole profession, but that they need to leave behind some obstructive ideological debates. Are architecture students and academics alarmed about climate change? Of the 637 respondents to the Australasia-wide Climate Literacy and Action in Architecture Education survey released in late 2021, 95 percent of staff and students described “high” or “very high” levels of concern, while the same percentage wanted to see more teaching about climate change in the architecture curriculum (Figure 1).1 The survey respondents were also optimistic: 95 percent either ‘’agreed” or “strongly agreed” that architecture can play a positive role in addressing the climate crisis. And 70 to 80…

The adaptation of existing structures plays a major role in reducing the impacts of climate change. Kai Chen, Anne-Marie Treweeke and Milica Tumbas explain how their multidisciplinary practice, Lovell Chen, unlocks sustainable design in significant heritage buildings. The conservation and restoration of monuments must have recourse to all the sciences and techniques which can contribute to the study and safeguarding of the architectural heritage. — Article 2, ICOMOS Venice Charter 1964 In order to understand the relationship between cultural heritage, climate action and resilience, the idea of heritage must be understood and acted upon in its broadest sense. Physical conservation of selected buildings and artefacts will not realize heritage’s potential to catalyse climate action or promote social cohesion, inclusion or equity, but neither can the promotion of resilience and sustainability…

- 850+ Red List ingredients avoided - All construction materials with the potential to emit VOC were chamber-tested off site - Australia’s first membrane aerated bioreactor (MABR) wastewater treatment plant - 90% of construction waste diverted from landfill - 105% of the building’s power generated on site - Building designed to be disassembled for retrofitting and adaptive reuse - 80+ individual construction products salvaged from the original site/other local sites…

Built on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation Completed in 2006, Council House 2 (CH2) on Little Collins Street, Melbourne still finds its way onto architects’ precedent boards as one of Australia’s most progressive commercial buildings. A pilot project for the City of Melbourne’s Zero Net Emissions by 2020 strategy, it was the first commercial project awarded a 6-star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council of Australia. As far as “green buildings” go, CH2 could be considered a bit of a celebrity. This retrospective involved a walk-through with Rob Adams, who oversaw the process as the City of Melbourne’s director of city design and projects, as we tried to uncover how CH2 has fared over the past 16 years, examine changes that have taken…

Flooding, bushfires and drought: we are seeing the impacts of climate change rapidly increase in Australia, where mandates for reducing carbon emissions fall far short of what is required to realize a decarbonized economy and protect biodiversity. Accounting for almost 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,1 the building and construction sector is a significant part of the problem. But could it be part of the solution instead? Architects have a pivotal role to play in bringing to the table systems-thinking-based solutions that are ambitious enough to challenge the status quo. We’ve already made some progress – in less than three years, the Architects Declare Australia movement has provided a platform for architects to commit to acting collaboratively and with transparency. This issue of Architecture Australia builds on that momentum…

Built on the land of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation The Woodside Building for Technology and Design by Grimshaw in collaboration with Monash University is a landmark building for the university’s Clayton campus. Following the completion of the new Suburban Rail Loop, it will also become a gateway to the university. At first glance, the Woodside Building appears as a refined, shed-like structure set within a native bush landscape. Its rectangular form is clad in a filigree of louvres to echo the colours and light of the surrounding river red gums. While actively demonstrating a multitude of energy-efficient design strategies, the project also represents the latest thinking in educational design. The building rethinks the tertiary education building type with a new kind of spatial organization that allows a…

Economically driven development has left Australians with broken ecosystems, devastated biodiversity and reduced resilience to the impacts of climate change. Amanda Sturgeon explores how urban and regional rewilding projects can help our natural systems recover. Over the past 200 years, Australia has lost 75 percent of its rainforests1 and chalked up the world’s worst record of mammal extinctions.2 As long as it is more economically beneficial to destroy nature rather than preserve it, this trend will continue. Cities are a major part of the problem: land is cleared to make way for their development, and resources are mined and manufactured for their inhabitants to consume. As Australia’s major cities become denser, it is imperative that we address the impacts of the built environment on biodiversity. While preserving more biodiverse land…

The Australian Institute of Architects has set up various platforms to bring the profession together in the net zero carbon quest. Helen Lochhead, chair of the Institute’s Climate Action and Sustainability Taskforce, outlines these opportunities and suggests some online tools architects can use to assess a design’s environmental performance. Even before the devastating 2019 bushfires that swept the east coast of Australia, architects were widely engaged with the challenges presented by the climate crisis. Importantly, they have the skills to find solutions that can make a positive difference through more sustainable, low carbon design. Knowing that we can do much more collectively than individually, the Australian Institute of Architects is working across multiple fronts to reach net zero carbon emissions in the built environment by 2030. In 2019, acknowledging that…

Sustainability is not a dirty word, nor is it a static state to be achieved. For practices struggling to thread sustainability through their work, Clare Parry suggests that sharing resources with other organizations and focusing on the high-impact areas is crucial. “Sustainability” is a much-maligned word. At the point at which a modicum of performance (read: any insulation at all) entered the building code, “sustainability” was construed to equal “compliance.” The spectrum of potential that a better built environment can deliver was even undermined by many efforts to simplify it, looking at additive approaches that complicated policy the world over. This approach to harm minimization can be completely underwhelming, especially as we veer toward climate catastrophe. Even over the course of my relatively short career, I’ve flipped from deciding never…

Glenn Murcutt’s dictum to “touch the earth lightly”1 is arguably the most memorable idea to emerge from Australian architecture so far. The image of a delicate pavilion, raised up on stilts, hovering over the landscape, has come to represent our nation’s architectural culture, and earned its author a Pritzker Prize, the profession’s highest accolade. It suggests an architecture that respects its site – one of minimal disturbance, that allows nature to flow easily around and underneath, at once of the landscape and apart from it. But what does it really mean to touch the earth lightly? Can a building made out of steel – a material violently extracted, smelted and forged, at great environmental cost – ever be said to be light on the earth? (Not to mention the fact…

Amanda Sturgeon (AS): My first questions are about you, and the key trend you would pick to address the climate change and biodiversity crises. Kaylee Salvatore (KS): My name is Kaylee Salvatore. I am a Yuin Budawang woman and director of COLA Studio (Country Oriented Landscape Architecture). I want to extend my respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians from the different countries we’re on today. My key trend is to be centring Country in design. That includes amplifying the voices of Traditional Custodians throughout design projects and including them in decision-making. If we did see an at-large adoption of Country-centred design, I think we would start seeing outcomes that are in line with the regenerative and sustainable ethos. Alex Lawlor (AL): Hi, I’m Alex Lawlor…