NSW Chapter President, Shaun Carter. Photo by Brett Boardman
5 December, 2016
In addition to wishing all members a safe and enjoyable holiday break, this final message for 2016 is an opportunity to review the highlights of my second year as your President.
I am particularly pleased to see further strong progress on the gender equity issue, which is one of the highest priorities during my term. The Champions of Change program was established 18 months ago and is a key factor in achieving change that is positive, real and lasting.
Our Champions are making great progress in making their workplaces and the profession more broadly gender equal. The process is a rigorous long term one, where we are addressing inherent conscious and unconscious bias woven into our language and social fabric and setting about reconstructing it to be gender neutral and balanced.
The Chapter Council on the road initiative has enabled councillors and me to connect directly with many more members. These were listening and learning tours. I am grateful to so many of you for taking this opportunity to let us know of your concerns. Your participation in these sessions reveals the widespread passion held by our members for your professional organisation. We are also looking forward to our first member forum, to be held in the new year.
Another fine group of projects received recognition in the NSW Architecture Awards ceremony held at Australian Technology Park in July. We set out to make this year’s awards not only a celebration of the collective skill and excellence of our profession, but also a celebration of our friendships, our relationships and our shared stories. I will continue to work on the NSW Awards to help elevate them to be the best in the Country. Victoria, you are in our sights!
The awards are an annual reminder of the high quality of our members’ work and its beneficial effect on the whole community.
Advocacy on two key issues – the Barangaroo casino and the Sirius building – has occupied much of my time and energy this year. We are waiting to hear the judgment from last month’s Land & Environment Court hearing on the casino. Following a very successful rally and crowd funding campaign the Sirius hearing has been scheduled for April next year. I am grateful for the support of so many members for these important campaigns.
Advocacy for and on behalf of our members, our profession and for the public interest elevates the Institute as your peak body that has a strong and principled voice. Our motto is to be the critical friend of government and business. We are uniquely qualified to understand and interpret the built environment and act as its conscience. We should never be afraid to praise a good project, and equally we should never be afraid to criticise, and even protect and lobby if we believe it is not in architects’, architecture’s or the public interest. If we continue to operate this way we win respect of our peers, our business leaders and our governments.
The Government Architect’s Office celebrated its first 200 years and completed its move to the planning cluster of agencies under Minister Stokes’s able leadership. While the office’s strategic role advising government on design excellence is welcome, this ambition can only be realised if it has the staff numbers and expertise to fulfil these demands.
I applauded the release of the government’s draft architecture and design policyand medium density design guide two months ago. They confirm the emphasis on design quality as the re-development of our urban environment gathers pace.
Although it seemed like a backward step to participants at the time, the government’s decision to reject all 13 bids to develop the 10 hectare White Bay site in the Bays Precinct was actually good news for effective urban planning. UrbanGrowth NSW is developing a master plan and designing the precinct; smaller lots will be made available for tender to the private sector. We continue to work with and also be a critical friend of this process in the quest for an exemplar of good city making.
The first appointments to the Greater Sydney Commission were made only a year ago, yet already its six district plans have been released for comment. This is a major achievement for such a new agency, particularly if, as promised, the new Transport for NSW long-term master plan to be released next year is fully aligned with the Commission’s forecasts and targets. The Institute has high hopes for the Commission. However there is still much to do, and turbulent political waters to navigate. We encourage the Government to stay the course and also to expect the highest possible standards.
It has been a great pleasure work for and on your behalf of you all this year. It truly is the great joy of this role, and what makes the long hours worth the effort. I wish you all season’s greetings and a prosperous and productive new year.
There was a great roll-up to the National Awards ceremony held in Sydney last week. This is the Institute’s annual opportunity to demonstrate the excellence of the work of its members to the Australian community. A big round of applause to the NSW winners:
Commercial Architecture
The Harry Seidler Award – AHL Headquarters – 478 George Street by Candalepas Associates
National Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration
Educational Architecture
National Commendation – UNSW Materials Science & Engineering Building by Grimshaw
Heritage
National Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration
Public Architecture
National Award – St Andrews House by Candalepas Associates
National Commendation – Kempsey Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club by Neeson Murcutt Architects Pty Ltd
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
National Award – Darlinghurst Rooftop by CO-AP (Architects)
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
The Robin Boyd Award – Indigo Slam by Smart Design Studio
Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing
National Award – 10 Wylde Street by SJB
Sustainable Architecture
National Award – Northern Beaches Christian School by WMK Architecture
Urban Design
National Award – Lennox Bridge Portals by Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects
People’s Choice Award
Winner – Deepwater by Tobias Partners
Barangaroo casino court case
Many eyes will be watching proceedings in the Land & Environment Court next week as the Environmental Defenders Office challenges the Planning Assessment Commission’s decision in June to approve the Crown casino project. The basis of the case brought by Millers Point Fund Incorporated is that the Commission erred by accepting a 2013 amendment to the Casino Control Act agreeing to locate the casino on the harbour foreshore. The case rests on whether that act can take precedence over the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act, which governs the decision-making process of consent authorities such as the Commission.
Saving the Sirius
There’s been quite a bit of action on the Sirius front as well. Last week I spoke at a media conference with Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development Anthony Albanese, NSW Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, NSW ALP shadow ministers Tania Mihailuk (Family & Community Services) and Penny Sharpe (Heritage) and Green Bans hero Jack Mundey announcing court action challenging the legality of the decision not to list Sirius on the State Heritage Register. The conference was preceded by articles in the Fairfax press. We are now awaiting a call-over at the Land & Environment Court to determine the hearing date, probably early next year.
The Sirius building is a fine example of Australian brutalist architecture. It’s also a highly innovative design that is sensitive to its historic context and to the needs of its social housing tenants.
On top of all that, it’s a building that owes its very existence to the Green Bans movement. That struggle challenged the Askin government’s attempts to disperse low income families from The Rocks and Millers Point and resulted in the Wran government’s introduction of heritage legislation in 1977.
How ironic that we are now fighting the same battle over the same issues more than three decades later in defence of a building that embodies that very struggle! As George Santayana said: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.
If the state won’t look after our cultural treasures, we will.
Design at the forefront of government policy
Two initiatives in recent weeks by NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes deserve our congratulations. Better Placed, prepared by the Office of the Government Architect, is a comprehensive design policy that lays the foundation for a design-led planning strategy and guidelines supporting better architecture and urban design. It establishes a NSW State Design Advisory Panel to consider key state significant projects.
The Minister has also released a new draft policy to encourage the design and construction of terraces, manor houses and other forms of medium density housing. The code will enable some forms of medium density housing – side by side dwellings, manor houses and terraces – to be assessed as complying development. The code is accompanied by a design guide that provides minimum standards for this kind of development, based on the same design quality principles as those in SEPP 65.
The Minister has also announced that the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 will be amended to include a new object promoting good design in the built environment.
A new draft architecture and design policy for NSW prepared by the Office of the Government Architect was launched by Planning Minister Rob Stokes at the Sydney Opera House ten days ago.
The policy lays the foundation for a design-led planning strategy to support good built environment design outcomes. It also introduces new initiatives, such as the establishment of a NSW State Design Advisory Panel to consider key state significant projects. The consideration of good design will inform the development of these projects from the outset and throughout the design and assessment process.
“Focusing on design will help maximise benefits from the billions of dollars the NSW Government is spending on infrastructure, so we can build an even better future for our city and state,” the Minister said.
“Good design is critical to creating liveable, productive, sustainable and resilient communities, and we want to champion good design through a new policy and give it weight through legislative changes,” Mr Stokes said.
In a media release welcoming the new policy the Institute’s NSW President, Shaun Carter, said it will inform a new era of design-led planning that has the potential to make the state’s towns and cities more individual and interesting.
‘It will give them a better sense of place reflecting the values and interests of their communities’, he said.
The Minister also announced that amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 to be released for consultation later this year will include a new object promoting good design in the built environment.
Two weeks ago the NSW Minister for Heritage, Mark Speakman, issued a media release announcing he had decided not to accept the Heritage Council’s recommendation to list the Sirius Apartments building in The Rocks on the State Heritage Register.
The Heritage Act requires the Minister to make a decision on the Heritage Council’s listing recommendations within two weeks of receiving them. In the case of Sirius, Minister Speakman took seven months.
I have been chair of the Save our Sirius group since November last year. We have consistently argued that the Sirius building is:
fit for purpose as residential accommodation for low-income residents of the Millers Point / The Rocks precinct;
an exemplary work of brutalist architecture that has been recognised by the pre-eminent expert on Australian architecture, Professor Philip Goad of the University of Melbourne; and
significant as a physical manifestation of the Green Bans movement that achieved the conservation of the Millers Point / The Rocks and the re-housing of long-term residents threatened with displacement from the area.
We also endorsed the Heritage Council’s decision to recommend the listing of Sirius on the State Heritage Register.
Sirius is listed on the Chapter’s Register of Significant Architecture and the National Trust Register. It was described in the magazine Concrete (Issue 11) as ‘a bold and exceptional experiment in low-income public housing’. It was a conscious attempt to reduce the monolithic nature of most high-rise residential developments of the time, such as those in Redfern and Waterloo. The four wooden sculptures in the public areas of the building have aesthetic and technical significance and are rare surviving works by architect Tao Gofers.
Exemplar buildings that are recommended for heritage listing need to be protected. This is a fight we have to have.
In his letter advising me of his decision Minister Speakman noted that ‘there are conflicting views as to whether as an example of Brutalist architecture it is of such merit as to be of State heritage significance’. If there is such a conflict I would be prepared to take the word of Philip Goad any day.
He also noted ‘that it is not the only example of the late Brutalist architectural style in social housing by its architect’, presumably referring to Gofers’ building in Sans Souci, which has recently been refurbished. Is this supposed to mean that a building not owned by the government takes precedence over a government-owned building in a high value precinct when heritage listings are considered? The primary consideration for listing a building is surely whether or not it meets the threshold for State heritage significance.
But the clincher is his argument that ‘whatever the heritage significance of the Building, even at its highest (including even if it reached a threshold for State heritage significance), this is outweighed by the undue financial hardship its listing would cause to its owners, by diminishing what would otherwise be its sale value (possibly by in the order of $70 million), which would potentially represent foregone funds for additional social housing’.
In making its recommendations for listing the Heritage Council must take into account whether the conservation of the item – that is, the process of looking after it – would cause undue hardship for the owner.
In this case the government has not claimed that keeping the building would cause financial hardship. Instead, it has rejected the advice of its heritage experts on the grounds that the government itself would potentially not earn as much from the sale of the building as it would like. It has looked beyond the heritage significance of Sirius to the development value of its site. In other words, it is a conflict of interest.
By this reasoning, government-owned buildings have only monetary value. Their continued existence as part of the social and architectural fabric of the city is ephemeral. It’s just as well so much of the 200 year legacy of the Colonial and Government Architects is already listed on the State Heritage Register. Let’s hope this will prevent their demolition. But perhaps this government’s arguments for de-listing them will be equally as creative as its treatment of Sirius.
This will be my last message through the NSW e-news. Some of you may already have heard I am leaving my post as NSW Chapter Manager in mid-August. In my brief (yet sweet) time in this role, I have enjoyed meeting many of you at our events and other activities in the last year and sincerely thank those who have given up their time and knowledge to assist the Chapter.
This week, we have a busy agenda. We kick off with a Tuesdays @ Tusculum talk– Antecedence, followed by Wednesday’s Gold Medal Tour talk at Tusculum with ARM founders Ian Mcdougall, Howard Raggatt. Stephen Ashton was the third founding member of ARM who recently passed and our sincere condolences go to his family, friends and colleagues. An EmAGN breakfast will be held the following morning and we urge you to come along and hear these interesting speakers. For our regional members, don’t forget to register and support the upcoming ArchiMEET in Bowral – Keeping it Real on Friday 5 August. Details for all these events can be found in this edition of the eNews to register for all events.
We have had some challenges this year, including the closure of the Newcastle regional office, however I believe we are in a strong place now to move ahead and build a stronger, focused and more influential Institute.
I would like to wish members the very best and thank you again for your support and friendship over this past year. I also wish to thank our NSW Chapter President, Shaun Carter for his wonderful drive and enthusiasm and of course the fabulous NSW Chapter team who have all worked very hard to deliver our member services.
Architects are proud of the role we play in modifying our built environment so that it continues to meet the needs of present and future generations. Our annual awards ceremony celebrates the positive achievements that the profession considers our peers have made in fulfilling that role in the community.
It was great to see so many friends and colleagues at Australian Technology Park two weeks ago. The vibe was very positive and upbeat. We were delighted that dignitaries such as Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore were able to join us for our ‘night of nights’. We certainly appreciate the public statements they have both made advocating the critical role of design in the future amenity and value of our denser urban environment.
Design thinking is the key to developing great projects and great places. We can look to the very best parts of our cities and towns to see this is true.
Architects have strategic and creative thinking ability.
Architects are the great generalists. And we claim this title with pride.
Architects are boundary‐spanners. We are the people that connect disparate professional disciplines and departments into a functioning, beautiful and cohesive whole.
Creativity and design thinking should be the bedrock of any process that is involved in planning for the future, whether it be buildings, streets, footpaths, street furniture and street art, public domain or planning and public policy.
I want to encourage governments at all levels – local, state and federal – to make better use of our skills.
They need to move architects up the value chain of decision-making to inject design thinking into the discussions and decisions that decide the future of our built environment.
That is why I have presented the President’s Prize in the two years of my tenure – Helen Lochhead in 2015 and Graham Jahn and Bridget Smyth this year – in recognition of people who have made substantial and excellent contributions to public life and the built environment. They are well qualified architects in their own right – but they have given up the individual pursuit of their talents to have a greater impact on the profession and on the quality of the built environment.
These recipients of the President’s Prize have achieved all of this as generalists and boundary-spanners, both within their organisations and in their dealings with people outside it. They have provided long-term outstanding service to the community.
Last Friday, the NSW Chapter hosted the NSW 2016 Architecture Awards at Australian Technology Park, an amazingly successful evening. For those of you reading this who attended, we trust you enjoyed the changed format to a Friday evening and formal sit down dinner. From what we observed, it seemed like everyone enjoyed the awards ceremony, our MC Judith Lucy who kept us laughing and on time, and overall it was a wonderful celebration of architecture in NSW. The final count was 605 attendees, well up by over 100 people on last year’s event and we thank everyone who participated, purchased tables and generally helped us achieve our goal of greater outreach to the profession. Thank you as well to the hard work put in by the NSW Chapter team, in particular our Events Manager Hannah Burgess and our Events Co-ordinator Rosanna Scarcella who worked tirelessly to deliver a seamless event. Here’s to next year’s Awards even bigger and better!
This week, we will have the second Chapter Council on the Road for 2106 in Newcastle, hosted by the Newcastle Division. We invite members in the area to attend and share with us their thoughts and feedback. It has been a challenging 6 months since the closure of the Newcastle office, but we remain committed and focussed to delivery of service and events in the Newcastle region for members.
The winners of the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2016 NSW Architecture Awards were announced in Sydney tonight.
The state’s longest standing honour, the Sulman Medal which was introduced in 1932, is given to a public building of exceptional merit and in 2016 it has been awarded to the ‘quintessentially Australian’ Kempsey Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club by Neeson Murcutt Architects.
‘This project is completely engaged with the environment and the culture of coastal NSW. The execution and detailing is beautifully refined and resolved, but still tough and robust to suit the extreme, corrosive environment and the demands of a “club” client,’ the jury noted.
PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE Sulman Medal – Kempsey Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club by Neeson Murcutt Architects. Photo by Brett Boardman.
Major inner-city works balancing the demands of commercial, public and urban interests were lauded by the jury for their contributions to the city landscape.
5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration, a winner in the Commercial, Heritage and Urban Design categories, is a ‘masterful example of strategic, design-led planning’.
‘The built project not only executes the intent of the strategic planning piece as a powerful and deliberate architectural work, it also breathes new life into Martin Place, Pitt Street and perhaps most surprisingly, the previously uninhabited service laneway network,’ the jury said.
Liberty Place by francis-jones morehen thorp received honours for Commercial, Sustainable and Urban Design along with the City of Sydney Lord Mayor’s Prize for the creation of a new public space for the city and a revitalised precinct for workers and visitors between ANZ Tower and Legion House.
‘The heritage listed Legion House has been refurbished as a fully zero carbon building, an Australian first for a refurbished building, creating its own renewable electricity generation,’ Lord Mayor Clover Moore noted in awarding the prize.
An extraordinary house that adds to the reinvention of Chippendale as one of Sydney’s artistic and cultural hubs through an ‘extravagant sculptural exercise’, has been awarded the Wilkinson Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New).
Built for an art collector, the true mastery of Indigo Slam by Smart Design Studio lies within, through the internal manipulation of light, scale and materials in a ‘deft choreography that creates an experience of calmness and serenity, an almost monastic quality’, the jury said.
NSW President, Shaun Carter congratulated all the winners.
‘The winning work from this year’s Awards showcases the exemplary skill and creativity of architects who make extraordinary architecture and public spaces that are the cornerstone of great city and place making.
‘Creativity and design thinking should be a bedrock of any process that is involved in planning the built environment. Whether they be buildings, streets, footpaths, public domain, transport or infrastructure projects there is significantly better value to be gained with architects at the table.
‘I encourage everyone everywhere, but particularly business and governments at all levels – local, state and federal – to make better use of our skills,’ Mr Carter said.
Sixty projects from across the state were acknowledged from a shortlist of 79 and a total entry pool of 179.
Projects that received a Named Award or Award are now in the running for the National Architecture Awards, to be announced in November.
Full list of winners:
COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE
Sir Arthur G Stephenson Award – Novartis building by HDR | Rice Daubney Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration Award – AHL Headquarters – 478 George Street by Candalepas Associates Commendation – 70 Castlereagh Street, Sydney by Bates Smart Commendation – Liberty Place by francis-jones morehen thorp
COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE – Sir Arthur G Stephenson Award – Novartis building by HDR | Rice Daubney. Photo by Tyrone Branigan.
EDUCATIONAL ARCHITECTURE
William E Kemp Award – Abbotsleigh Multi-purpose Assembly and Sports Hall and Sports Field by AJ+C Award – St Columba’s Catholic Primary School by Neeson Murcutt Architects Award – UNSW Materials Science & Engineering Building by Grimshaw Award – UNSW, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering by Bates Smart Commendation – Faculty of Engineering + Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney by Denton Corker Marshall Commendation – Our Lady of the Assumption Primary School Stage 1 by BVN Commendation – Sydney Nanoscience Hub by Architectus
HERITAGE
Greenway Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration Award – Lennox Bridge Portals by Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects and Design 5 Architects Award – The Old Clare Hotel by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Commendation – 155 Clarence Street, Sydney by Bates Smart with Design 5 Architects Commendation – House. Elysium by Architect Prineas Commendation – Primus Hotel by Woods Bagot & GBA Heritage
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
John Verge Award – Minter Ellison by BVN Award – Bennelong by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Award – Paramount by The Office Space by Woods Bagot Commendation – Apartment. Finger Wharf by Architect Prineas Commendation – Faculty of Engineering + Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney by Denton Corker Marshall Commendation – UTS Tower by Lahznimmo Architects
PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
Sulman Medal – Kempsey Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club by Neeson Murcutt Architects Award – Australian Museum Crystal Hall by Neeson Murcutt Architects / Joseph Grech Architects Award – Marks Park Amenities by Sam Crawford Architects Award – St Andrews House by Candalepas Associates Commendation – Netball Central by Scott Carver Commendation – Overseas Passenger Terminal Upgrade by JPW Commendation – South East Regional Hospital by BVN Commendation – The Waterfront Pavilion, Australian National Museum by francis-jones morehen thorp
Hugh and Eva Buhrich Award – Darlinghurst Rooftop by CO-AP (Architects) Award – Double Life House by Breathe Architecture Award – Unfurled House by Christopher Polly Architect Commendation – Llewellyn House by studioplusthree Commendation – W House by MCK Architects
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE – HOUSES (ALTERATIONS & ADDITIONS) – Hugh and Eva Buhrich Award – Darlinghurst Rooftop by CO-AP (Architects). Photo by Ross Honeysett.
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE – HOUSES (NEW)
Wilkinson Award – Indigo Slam by Smart Design Studio Award – Deepwater by Tobias Partners Award – House Acute by MCK Architects Award – Marrickville Courtyard House by David Boyle Architect Award – Ocean Shores House by A-CH (Atelier Chen Hung) Award – The Farm by Fergus Scott Architects Commendation – Crackenback Stables by Casey Brown Architecture Commendation – Noble Hughes Residence by David Boyle Architect
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE – MULTIPLE HOUSING
Aaron Bolot Award – 10 Wylde Street by SJB Award – 3 Houses Marrickville by David Boyle Architect Award – Bourke St Woolloomooloo by McGregor Westlake Architecture Award – Dunstan Grove by Architectus Award – Nº 17 Danks by SJB Award – Sydney 385 by Smart Design Studio Commendation – Australia Towers by Bates Smart Commendation – GEORGE & ALLEN by TURNER Commendation – North Eveleigh Affordable Housing by Architectus
SMALL PROJECT ARCHITECTURE
Robert Woodward Award – Garden Gallery by panovscott Architects Award – Marks Park Amenities by Sam Crawford Architects Award – Warships Exhibition by studioplusthree Award – Watt Space Gallery by Andrew Donaldson Architecture and Design Commendation – McMahons Point House by Carterwilliamson Architects Commendation – Mini Griffin Theatre by Design King Company
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
Milo Dunphy Award – Northern Beaches Christian School by WMK Architecture Award – Netball Central by Scott Carver Award – Ocean Shores House by A-CH (Atelier Chen Hung) Commendation – 70 Castlereagh Street, Sydney by Bates Smart Commendation – Abbotsleigh Multi-purpose Assembly and Sports Hall and Sports Field by AJ+C Commendation – Liberty Place by francis-jones morehen thorp
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE – Milo Dunphy Award – Northern Beaches Christian School by WMK Architecture. Photo by Brett Boardman.
URBAN DESIGN
Lloyd Rees Award – 5 Martin Place by JPW & TKD architects in collaboration Award – Lennox Bridge Portals by Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects Award – Liberty Place by francis-jones morehen thorp Commendation – City of Sydney Public Domain Furniture by Tzannes
COLORBOND® AWARD FOR STEEL ARCHITECTURE
Award – Crackenback Stables by Casey Brown Architecture Commendation – Australian Museum Crystal Hall by Neeson Murcutt Architects / Joseph Grech Architects
COLORBOND® AWARD FOR STEEL ARCHITECTURE Award – Crackenback Stables by Casey Brown Architecture. Photo by Rhys Holland.
PRIZES
Blacket Prize – Watt Space Gallery by Andrew Donaldson Architecture and Design NSW Premier’s Prize – St Andrews House by Candalepas Associates City of Sydney Lord Mayor’s Prize – Liberty Place by francis-jones morehen thorp City of Sydney Lord Mayor’s Prize Commendation – Nº 17 Danks by SJB City of Sydney Lord Mayor’s Prize Commendation – Australian Museum Crystal Hall by Neeson Murcutt Architects / Joseph Grech Architects NSW President’s Prize – Graham Jahn and Bridget Smyth, City of Sydney Award for Enduring Architecture – Reader’s Digest Building by John James Emerging Architect Prize – panovscott Marion Mahony Griffin Prize – Professor Desley Luscombe Adrian Ashton Prize for Writing and Criticism – The Pool: Architecture, Culture and Identity in Australia by Amelia Holliday and Isabelle Toland (Aileen Sage Architects) and Michelle Tabet Adrian Ashton Prize for Writing and Criticism – Special Jury Award – Public Sydney: Drawing the City by Philip Thalis and Peter John Cantrill David Lindner Prize – Anne Colenbrander, Hancock Architects
The presentation of this year’s awards takes place at the historic Locomotive Workshops at Australian Technology Park on Friday 1 July. This promises to be a memorable night in a wonderfully spacious venue. The seated dinner arrangement should be appealing, plus we have a star attraction in the wild and witty Judith Lucy as MC. I hope to see many NSW members at the architectural ‘night of the year.’
Bays Precinct
The Institute was an enthusiastic supporter of UrbanGrowth NSW’s approach to the re-imagining of this massive site west of the Pyrmont peninsula. They went out of their way to engage with the professions, the experts and the community in preparing for the development of the eight sites in the precinct.
But I had misgivings when late last year three parcels of land, including the White Bay power station, were offered for development proposals to convert the heritage structure into a technology hub adjacent to facilities for the health, education and creative industries.
I asked: ‘Where is the master plan for this site – and how will it connect with the rest of the precinct? How will it integrate into the adjacent suburbs? Where is the commitment to fine grain and multiple players and many authors? How will public transport service this area?’
Ten days ago the government announced that all 13 bids to develop this massive 10 hectare site had been rejected and UrbanGrowth will instead produce a master plan, design the precinct and make smaller lots available for tender to the private sector.
Indeed, Planning Minister Rob Stokes rejected the government’s previous model of handing over public land for the private sector to both plan and develop that has been the target of criticism by the Institute for some years. He said: ‘This will not be an exercise where government hands over large areas of public land and gives away control without ensuring good outcomes for the community’ (Sydney Morning Herald 9/6/16).
This is upsetting for the teams that developed the 13 proposals – but very good news for the public interest and the rational development of public land. As I said to Cameron Jewell in a piece published by The Fifth Estate last week:
‘We’ve always known what good city making is. You make the public domain, make streets, footpaths, separations, set heights, then sell it off to private interest.
This allows diversity and maximises public benefit.
Overwhelmingly, all the cities we like to go to – London, Barcelona, New York, Paris – are fairly fine grain, or mixed grain. There is a mixture of small, medium and large buildings, and no two architects are likely to have designs side-by-side.’
I also believe that the government needs to go further by delivering the infrastructure that will add value to the entire Bays Precinct and attract the best people – things like light rail, ferry stops and public parks.
By putting an end to the bidding process the government has taken an important first step in developing the Bays Precinct in a manner that makes the public interest the first priority.
The NSW Chapter is currently in awards mode and has been our major focus for the last few weeks. The Graduate and Student Awards were held at Tusculum on 27 May, and was an outstanding success. The quality of work and the submissions were very high and demonstrated the high levels of excellence evident in our students and graduates of architecture. A wrap-up of the winners and commendations can be found on our website. Congratulations to all winners and nominees.
On 1 July, the NSW Architecture Awards will be held at Sydney Technology Park. We are very excited about the new, revised format for the evening, which includes a sit-down dinner and other improvements. The night will feature Judith Lucy as MC, and with her acerbic wit and humour will make the Awards an entertaining night. Table of 10 bookings are now open, so please get in quick as tables will fill fast. We look forward to seeing you there, celebrating NSW’s success in architecture with your colleagues and friends.
Members will be aware the new CEO, Jennifer Cunich has commenced with the Institute. Jennifer will also be visiting all state chapters in the coming weeks, including coming to Tusculum this week and attending the NSW Chapter Council Meeting on 7 June.
Upcoming federal election and policy
Please watch out for communication from us with a call to action asking you to contact your local candidates to ask a few questions about their position on issues of importance to the profession. We have created a members-only webpage here with resources and information on our policy.
Audrey Braun
NSW Chapter Manager
