The Australian Institute of Architects has voiced its support for Sydney Opera House chief executive Louise Herron in upholding the policy of her organisation and opposing the use of the sails of the World Heritage listed Opera House in a manner contrary to that policy.

‘The management of the Opera House has a duty to the people of New South Wales to protect the Opera House from exploitation. We are disappointed that the NSW Government has intervened and instructed them, against their policy, to allow its sails to be lit up with commercially driven material,’ NSW Chapter President Andrew Nimmo said today.

‘The Sydney Opera House is Australia’s greatest building and recognised around the world as perhaps the greatest building of the 20th century. That is why it has World Heritage listing. With that listing comes a responsibility to treat the building with respect and dignity. It is not an advertising billboard.

‘The commercial benefit of projecting onto the Opera House is undeniable, and we understand that as a major tourist icon, the Opera House will be expected to lend its prestige in the support of tourism from time to time,’ Mr Nimmo continued. ‘However, this must be done with the utmost care to ensure that community expectations are met, and the integrity of the Opera House as a cultural icon is maintained and not trashed.

‘It seems we are continually seeing the commercialisation of major public spaces for the benefit of private commercial gain. We fear that a new precedent has been set where exclusive commercial interests have been supported by government over public benefit.’

 

In the news:

Sydney Morning Herald, 8/10/18 

The New Daily, 8/10/18 

ArchitectureAU, 8/10/18 

Architecture & Design 9/10/18 

 

Follow the conversation:

Twitter – @NSWChapterPres and @architectureNSW

 

For media enquiries and interviews contact:

Kate Concannon

NSW Advocacy & Communications Lead

Australian Institute of Architects

m +61 (0) 406 306 447

e kate.concannon@architecture.com.au

VIEW 2018 WINNERS LIST    DOWNLOAD THE CATALOGUE

A cellar door built for a boutique winery in Orange, Montoro Wines, has taken out the top prize at this year’s prestigious Australian Institute of Architects’ NSW Country Division Awards, the James Barnet Award. Designed by Orange-based practice Source Architects, the building was conceived as a broad platform where inside and outside bleed together to form a continuous space that encourages patrons to linger on the terrace and be a part of the stunning landscape that provides the building’s context and vistas.

The jury of experts, led by Dunn & Hillam Architects’ Ashley Dunn, also awarded the project the gong for Commercial Architecture, noting that: ‘The design is simple and elegant. Small yet robust, it sits neatly in its setting of native grasses and open fields, providing a vantage point to survey the surrounding landscape. [It is] an intelligent, exacting and considered building that responds cleverly to its context, constraints and setting.’

Dominic Finlay Jones Architects took out no less than five awards and three commendations. These honours included the award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing presented for the Habitat Live Work project, which provides a new building prototype featuring basic, good-quality, lower-cost housing with articulated home-office workspaces and is set within a sustainable development encouraging collective creativity.

The jury said: ‘This is an excellent prototype development, which is imaginatively conceived and beautifully executed, and deserving of a multiple housing award.’

Aspect Architecture’s Elanora House, a flexible beach home suitable for multi-generational living, was crowned winner of the Residential Architecture – Houses (New) category, with the jury noting the project ‘does a number of small but significant things very well’. Virginia Wong-See of architecture@altitude took out the Small Project Award and Termimesh Timber Award for her ‘small and perfectly formed’ Armidale – Refuge/Prospect garden pavilion.

The award for Urban Design went to Coffs Harbour’s Jetty4Shores Revitalisation project by Fisher Design and Architecture with Mackenzie Pronk Architects and Coffs Harbour City Council. ‘The project effectively communicates the spirit of place and the genuine community affection for this site,’ the jury noted. ‘The cultural and environmental meanings of the site have been enshrined within the design.’

In addition to the nine awards and two prizes, the jury awarded 13 commendations.

The final award in the program, the People’s Choice Award, was also announced at the Awards presentation night, held at the NSW Regional Architecture Conference on Thursday 4 October. This year the honour went to a project in the newly introduced Interior category: the Byron Shire Council Foyer, Mullumbimby, by SPACEstudio.

Mr Dunn said: ‘This year’s Awards entries ranged from finely crafted small scale projects to large, complex commercial and public buildings. This highlighted the range of thoughtful work that is being done outside of the major cities in NSW. The Jury had a tough but enjoyable challenge deliberating over the many high calibre entries.’

NSW Chapter President, Andrew Nimmo, congratulated all of this year’s award winners and noted the important contribution the profession as a whole was making to deliver more sustainable, cohesive communities.

‘Architects apply design thinking to everything they do in order to do more with less and help clients realise opportunities that they did not know existed,’ said Mr Nimmo. ‘This is just part of the value we describe when we speak of the design dividend, and each year we see the bar raised when it comes to the innovative design solutions and practices architects are implementing across regional NSW.’

High resolution images are available for download from Google Drive at https://nationalarchitecture.awardsplatform.com/register/NpVKBVjQ

Images are provided only for use in articles relating to the NSW Country Division Architecture Awards program run by the Australian Institute of Architects. Use in any other context is strictly prohibited without written permission from the submitting architect. All images must credit the architect, photographer and the Australian Institute of Architects.

For media enquiries contact:

Kate Concannon
Advocacy & Communications, NSW
Australian Institute of Architects
M. +61 (0) 406 306 447
kate.concannon@architecture.com.au

Full list of winning projects by award category below:

James Barnet Award

Winner – Montoro Cellar Door, Orange, by Source Architects

Public Architecture

Commendation – Lismore Regional Gallery, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Educational Architecture

Commendation – CSU Barraameilinga Indigenous Student Centre, Dubbo, by Havenhand and Mather Architects

Residential Architecture – Houses (New)

Winner – Elanora House, Pottsville, by Aspect Architecture

Commendation – Great Granny House, Coopers Shoot, by Cocks Carmichael with Harley Graham Architects

Commendation – Natural Lane House, Broken Head, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Commendation – The Eclipse House, Casuarina Beach, by Create Architecture

Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations & Additions)

Commendation – Southern House, Orange, by Source Architects

Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing

Winner – Habitat Live Work, Byron Arts + Industry Estate, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Commendation – two@twoseventwo, Coopers Shoot, by SPACEstudio

Residential Architecture – Affordable Housing (under $350,000)

Commendation – William Street Lane House, Bellingen, by Tricia Helyar Architect

Commercial Architecture Award

Winner – Habitat Commercial, Byron Arts + Industry Estate, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Winner – Montoro Cellar Door, Orange, by Source Architects

Heritage

Winner – Lismore Regional Gallery, by Dominic Finlay Architects

Interior Architecture

Winner – Barrio, Byron Bay, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Commendation – Byron Shire Council Foyer, Mullumbimby, by SPACEstudio

Commendation – DUK, Byron Bay, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Urban Design

Winner – Jetty4Shores Revitalisation Project, Coffs Harbour Jetty, by Fisher Design and Architecture with Mackenzie Pronk Architects and Coffs Harbour City Council

Small Projects

Winner – Armidale – Refuge/Prospect, Armidale, by Virginia Wong See architecture@altitude

Commendation – Habitat Recreation, Byron Arts + Industry Estate, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

Commendation – Jetty4Shores Stage, Coffs Harbour Jetty, by Fisher Design and Architecture with Mackenzie Pronk Architects

Commendation – Marvell Studio, Byron Bay, by Harley Graham Architects

Termimesh Timber Award

Winner – Armidale Refuge/Prospect, Armidale, by Virginia Wong See architecture@altitude

Vision Award

Award – C.A.L.M, Byron Bay, by Dominic Finlay Jones Architects

People’s Choice Award

Winner – Byron Shire Council Foyer, Mullumbimby, by SPACEstudio

The Australian Institute of Architects has thrown its support behind a new report that underscores the urgency to better plan and design for Australia’s future growth and help ensure prosperity, sustainability and liveability.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Building Up and Moving Out report articulates the need for Australia’s cities and regions to be better planned, better connected, more diverse and more sustainable over the next 50 years.

It highlights the profound changes Australian communities are – and will continue – to experience because of population growth, urbanisation, an ageing population and an evolving economy, providing 37 recommendations aimed at setting the national agenda to connect, reinvigorate and integrate cities and regions.

‘Australia needs a national strategy to guide future growth, otherwise we risk losing the amenity and liveability that sets our nation apart,’ said the Institute’s National President Clare Cousins.

‘We are strongly in favour of the concept of a national vision for our cities and regions and a national plan of settlement for the next 50 years.

‘We don’t need a population policy, it’s not the size of the population that matters, but we do need a settlement strategy as it’s the characteristics and distribution of the population that is important.

‘The Institute welcomes the Building Up and Moving Out report and endorses a number of its key recommendations.

‘The development of master plans, the appointment of a senior Minister for Housing and a Cabinet Minister for Cities and National Settlement together with the creation of a statutory Office of a National Chief Planner and Cities & Regional Development NGO Roundtable are critical measures and should be complemented by the appointment of a Federal Government Architect.

‘Focusing on and supporting best practice design and planning is the only way for governments to assuage legitimate community concerns around congestion, meaningfully improve housing affordability and meet the challenges of inevitable population growth.

‘Importantly, the Committee recommended that the Australian Government re-endorse Creating Places for People: An Urban Design Protocol for Australian Cities and provide financial support for the purposes of maintaining and promoting these design principles.

‘Fundamentally, the report highlights the need for a national approach to ensuring Australia continues to prosper.

‘This means better governance arrangements between state, territory and federal governments, an accelerated City Deals program, stronger Commonwealth engagement in master planning at a national level, the formation of city commissions, as well as a national institute for cities research.

‘It also reinforces the need to attract and retain populations outside in our regions. To make this work, we need to implement strategies that ensure we have access to adequate schools, hospitals, housing, employment opportunities, transport and telecommunications.’

On behalf of the Australian Institute of Architects, Acting National President Richard Kirk has offered sincere condolences to family, friends and colleagues of Life Fellow Kerry Hill AO following his passing on Sunday 26 August 2018.

‘The profession will be deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Kerry Hill. Kerry was one of Australia’s most renowned architects and he will be sorely missed by many.

‘Kerry started his practice in 1979 in Singapore and in the following decades we saw the creation of a body of work that has come to define tropical modernism in the region. The significance of the work is that it responds sensitively to place through melding the local craft traditions, and cultural and climatic sensibilities of the east, with the technical precision of the modernist traditions.

‘Kerry has given us an enduring architectural legacy throughout Asia and Australia and as far afield as Europe and China.

‘Kerry received the highest of honours, both professional and civil, throughout his long and active career. In awarding the Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal in 2006 the jury noted Hill “has distinguished himself as an architect of exceptional sensibility and expertise – encouraging a progressive and enquiring regionally sensitive approach to the design and construction of buildings across the Asia-Pacific region”,’ Kirk said.

In 2012, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to architecture, particularly as an ambassador for Australian design in South East Asia, and as an educator and mentor’.

In 2001, Hill received the prestigious international Aga Khan Award for Architecture for his landmark Datai Resort in Langkawi. This is the only time an Australian has received the award since its establishment in 1977 and demonstrates the ability of Hill’s studio to work meaningfully across a great diversity of places and cultures.

‘On a personal note, Kerry was a warm and incredibly generous person. And, as I and many other friends who often travelled through Singapore knew it was never the same unless you included a short visit to their studio in the heart of Singapore’s Chinatown. The studio is located in one of the unassuming shophouses with the only marker to the practice a modestly sized “Kerry Hill Architects” bronze plate. I soon learnt this understatement is more to do with a quiet confidence about the work speaking for itself,’ Kirk added.

 

Public safety and the Australian building industry’s global reputation for quality will be jeopardised if better measures for compliance with the National Construction Code are not adopted promptly by all states and territories.

On Friday 10 August, federal, state and territory ministers met for the Building Ministers’ Forum (BMF) to discuss their collective response to the recommendations made in the Shergold-Weir Building Confidence report.

The Australian Institute of Architect’s Acting National President, Richard Kirk welcomed the BMF’s commitment to engage closely with industry on the critical issues of public safety and confidence in Australia’s construction industry, however, Mr Kirk said that the BMF’s response to the report was disappointing.

‘Ministers have had more than six months to consider the Building Confidence report, which was produced after careful study and provides excellent, considered advice on the future direction building regulation in this country should take,’ Mr Kirk said.

‘There is real urgency surrounding the need for action by governments to address the failings identified in the Shergold-Weir report, driven by very real concerns around public safety as well as economic imperatives.

‘That Ministers haven’t supported and adopted all the report’s recommendations is hard to understand given the significance of the issues it has identified.

‘We back every single one, and it is disappointing to see that the most the BMF could agree on was the production of an implementation plan that focuses on only 6 out of the 24 recommendations.

‘Industry needs certainty to keep operating and doesn’t want risk issues being poorly managed.

‘Best practice regulation and compliance with the National Construction Code is critical or the whole industry’s reputation, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports, will be jeopardised.

‘Globally, “brand Australia” is seen as having an impeccable reputation for producing safe, quality buildings. Why would we risk that?

‘As it stands, there are unregulated people making decisions they are unqualified to make. This is a huge public safety issue and also leaves business, body corporates and government open to liability.’

Mr Kirk said it would come as a surprise to many Australians just how limited the independent inspection regimes have become on building sites.

‘Public confidence in government and industry to deliver a safe built environment is being eroded by a least cost approach.’

Mr Kirk said the need to make changes to compliance and enforcement measures in state and territory legislation and regulatory frameworks was now at a critical juncture and required prompt action.

‘At the end of the day, the people this uncertainty impacts the most is consumers,’ he said.

‘The insurance industry has already moved ahead of government and the building and construction industry is seeing the impacts of this continued uncertainty through rising insurance premiums and risk around coverage.

‘Look out the window at the number of cranes dotting the skyline in many major cities and the amount of construction underway – this is a public safety issue and the time to implement change is now.

‘Our buildings have lifespans of up to a century or more. We simply cannot afford to have continued inaction and delay embed problems that risk people’s safety and incur long-term costs.’