The Architect - WA Community Edition 2022

The Architect WA Community Edition 2022

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Project: QANTAS Founders Museum by NRA Collaborative / Photography: John Elliot

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Rock Around The Block Using Midland Brick masonry blocks, leading WA architect Andrew Hagemann’s latest design Filter House has achieved a 7.1 NatHERS Star rating. With a brief strong on environmental performance, thermal mass is employed using concrete masonry walls to create a robust and life fulfilling environment. Breeze Blocks are used to filter the harsh eastern and western sunlight through flanking filigree blade walls.

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The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for architecture in Australia representing over 11,500 members globally, committed to raising design standards and positively shaping the places where we live, work and meet. ʻThe Architectʼ is the official publication of the Australian Institute of Architects – WA Chapter. This edition focuses on the idea of Community, featuring a broad range of West Australian public and commercial architecture projects.

Kedela wer kalyakoorl ngalak Wadjak boodjak yaak.

Today and always, we stand on the traditional land of the Whadjuk Noongar people.

IN THIS ISSUE

REZEN STUDIO

MATTHEW CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS

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HAMES SHARLEY NEW PERTH STUDIO HAMES SHARLEY

PARMELIA HILTON COX ARCHITECTURE

SILVER LINING STUDIO ORIGAMI ARCHITECTURE

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SHELTER BREWING CO PAUL BURNHAM

BELMONT COMMUNITY HUB BOLLIG DESIGN GROUP

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CENTRAL PARK LOBBY WOODS BAGOT

STRAWBERRY HILL/BARMUP VISITOR ORIENTATION HUB PTX ARCHITECTS

BILYA MARLEE KERRY HILL ARCHITECTS

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THE WARDERS HOTEL & EMILY TAYLOR MATTHEW CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS

BILYA KOORT BOODJA IREDALE PEDERSEN HOOK

KARINGAL GREEN HEALTH & AGED CARE COMMUNITY HASSELL

FOREWORD 07

FROM THE EDITOR 10

CONTRIBUTORS 12

PROJECTS

FORREST PLACE WORKPLACE REZEN STUDIO

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CONTENTS

PTX ARCHITECTS

KAUNITZ AND YEUNG

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IN THIS ISSUE

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COMMUNITY / GLOBAL

OPINION

RETROSPECTIVE

Ongoing deliberate moves will make Perth sassy and somewhat unpredictable year-round / By Marion Fulker

Margaret Pitt Morison

Climate change and the architectural profession /

By Ross Donaldson 2022 The Year of Design for Health / By Warren Kerr

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COMMUNITY / NATIONAL Advocacy Update /

By Beata Davey

Cast into the shadows, not cast in bronze: The forgotten women in Perth’s built landscape / By Toni Church and Jessie Moore Women and architecture: Thoughts of an emerging architect / By Louise Ward

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PRODUCT PROFILE Lifecyle by Living Edge

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PRACTICE PROFILE

OUT OF THE ORDINARY

Kaunitz and Yeung Architecture

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FOREWORD

From Peter Hobbs Immediate Past President Australian Institute of Architects

I welcome you to this Community Edition of The Architect, in my last official duty as President of the WA Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, the reins now firmly in the hands of Sandy Anghie, editor of this magazine.

Sandy will undoubtedly bring a fresh energy to her new role.

After two years we are now making tentative steps out of the pandemic. Although, truthfully, many of us have had it pretty easy in Western Australia. It has given us time to pause and reflect on the way we work and function, and in some ways, this has been beneficial. We have been isolated and as we re-engage with the world at large, it’s time for Perth and our city to grow and thrive, and to respond a changing world.

I for one have never really liked the idea of a cultural centre – to think that there might be a single place where all the culture of Perth resides. It is now time for us to expand so that the entire City of Perth becomes a centre for culture. I hope that projects like the WA Museum Boola Bardip and the re-vamped Art Gallery of Western Australia are just the start of a cultural boom.

It’s time for a renewal of the Concert Hall and its forecourt, and to remove the carpark that occupies one of the best pieces of real estate in our city. It’s time to engage and act meaningfully with Caring for Country practices, including architecture and place shaping, as recognised in our professional constitution. It’s also time to pull down the down the fences of Government House, to de-colonise it and make it a park for the people.

In writing this piece I checked the population of the City of Perth.

Currently there are around 30000 people living in 2000 hectares – that’s about 15 people per hectare. I’ve seen denser sheep stations.

It’s now time for us to continue to push for greater housing density in our city, to add to the business of the central business district, to make it simply the city centre. And, most importantly, it’s time for us to address the issues of homelessness and people sleeping rough. A society needs to be measured not just by the sparkle of its jewels, but also how it cares for its less advantaged.

All of these ideas are within the realm of our profession. We are the visionaries, the advocates, the facilitators, the doers – and the work within the pages of this magazine demonstrate what an incredible contribution so many of Western Australia’s architects make to our world – to our community.

Peter Hobbs

FOREWORD

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FROM THE EDITOR

The past two years have been unprecedented. The global pandemic has changed how we live and work – possibly forever. While homes have become places of work for many, some offices are starting to look more like homes, as organisations work hard to entice people out of the suburbs and back to our deserted cities. Our cover story on the new Hames Sharley studio in the Hay Street Mall is a great example here. It is also a great example of upper-level activation, illustrating perhaps what a loft apartment could look like in the heart of Perth’s CBD as our city, like others, struggles to reinvent itself.

Our annual WA Community Edition of The Architect celebrates the breadth of architecture, and its clients, in Western Australia.

The diverse projects we cover – from city hotels and offices to community centres in our suburbs and across the state – all have one thing in common. They bring people together, they create community.

The far-reaching impacts of the pandemic have been recognised by the International Union of Architects declaring 2022 as the Year of Design for Health. In his opinion piece in this edition Warren Kerr AM outlines the objectives of this initiative and calls on others in our WA architecture community to get involved. But in our focus on the implications of the pandemic we cannot for a moment lose focus on the impacts of climate change, and so Ross Donaldson reminds us of what is necessary to avoid catastrophic changes to the environment.

Two other issues we cannot lose focus on are the recognition of First Nations People in our work, and the role of women in our profession. Much work has been done on both fronts but there is still a long way to go.

In projects featured in this edition, including Bilya Marlee, Bilya Koort Boodja and the Strawberry Hill/Barmup Visitor Orientation Hub, we see genuine engagement – designing with, not for, Aboriginal communities. We also profile the practice of Kaunitz and Yeung, who have proposed a different approach to working with remote communities in the beautiful, yet harsh, desert environment.

Also in this edition we hear from the 2021 recipient of the WA Emerging Architect Prize and gender equity advocate, Louise Ward, we remember our very first West Australian woman architect Margaret Pitt Morison, and we take a look at the built form within our city asking, “where are the women?”

As is the tradition with The Architect, the stories in this magazine have been written by volunteers, architects and others kindly giving their time and talent to promote West Australian architects and architecture. A huge thank you to all of our volunteers.

We hope this WA Community Edition of The Architect provides you with inspiration and that you enjoy our stories, with their varied styles and points of view.

Let us know what you think.

Write to me editor@thearchitectwa.com Sandy Anghie

FROM THE EDITOR

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CREDITS Editorial Director Sandy Anghie

Managing Editor Emma Adams Editorial Panel Sandy Anghie Beata Davey Felicity McDonald Cassandra Simpson Dion Robeson Assistant Editor Cassandra Simpson Plans + Drawing Preparation Lee Yang Yang Magazine Design Felicity McDonald – Public Creative Masthead Design Studio Field Printing Advance Press

Supporting Patrons Living Edge Midland Brick Publisher Institute of Architects WA Chapter 33 Broadway Nedlands WA 6009 T: (08) 6324 3100 architecture.com.au @architects_wa

Advertising Enquiries wa@architecture.com.au editor@thearchitectwa.com Editorial Enquiries editor@thearchitectwa.com Cover Image Hames Sharley New Perth Studio

by Hames Sharley Photograph: Dion Robeson

Warranty: Persons and/or organisations and their servants and agents or assigns upon lodging with the publisher for publication or authorising or approving the publication of any advertising material indemnify the publisher, the editor, its servants and agents against all liability for, and costs of, any claims or proceedings whatsoever arising from such publication. Persons and/or organisations and their servants and agents and assigns warrant that the advertising material lodged, authorised or approved for publication complies with all relevant laws and regulations and that its publication will not give rise to any rights or liabilities against the publisher, the editor, or its servants and agents under common and/ or statute law and without limiting the generality of the foregoing further warrant that nothing in the material is misleading or deceptive or otherwise in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

Important Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Australian Institute of Architects. Material should also be seen as general comment and not intended as advice on any particular matter.

No reader should act or fail to act on the basis of any material contained herein. Readers should consult professional advisors. The Australian Institute of Architects, its officers, the editor and authors expressly disclaim all and any liability to any persons whatsoever in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by any such persons in reliance whether in whole or in part upon any of the contents of this publication. All photographs are by the respective contributor unless otherwise noted.

ISSN: 2653-1445

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CONTRIBUTORS

Emma Adams

Emma is the editorial and publishing lead at the Australian Institute of Architects. She is a contributing editor, architectural writer, and researcher with experience in literary archives.

Felicity McDonald

Felicity is a Graphic Designer and co-manages Public Creative with her husband Peter. Together they have been managing the design and production of The Architect magazine since 2013.

Cassandra Simpson Cassandra is currently completing her Masters of Architecture at the University of Western Australia.

Lee Yang Yang

Dion Robeson

An architecture and interior photographer, Dion works with award-winning clients from large multi nationals to leading edge architectural and interior design practices.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Yang Yang is a Senior Architect at Philip Stejskal Architecture. He is also an artist, EmAGN subcommittee co-chair, and often teaches at Curtin University.

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Andrew Boyne

Toni Church

Beata Davey

Ross Donaldson

Marion Fulker AM

Millie Gillespie

Warren Kerr AM

Jessie Moore

Reinette Roux

Pip Smith

Jonathan Speer

John Taylor

Domenic Trimboli

Louise Ward

Trevor Wong

Andrew is an architect at Andrew T Boyne Architect.

Having studied at the University of Western Australia and Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Millie currently works at spaceagency architects and writes for an Italian architecture and design publication based in Milan.

Having first enjoyed a career as an actor and a writer in both Australia and the UK, Jonathan retrained as an architect. He now works with the team at MJA Studio.

Toni is a historian, who specialises in Western Australian and women’s history.

Warren is a director and national portfolio leader for health at Hames Sharley.

He is former president of the AIA.

One of the few architects in Australia to possess formal training and qualifications for heritage work, John founded his practice in 1990.

An experienced architect and superintendent of large-scale projects, Beata is currently a National Policy and Advocacy Manager at the AIA.

Jessie is an urban and regional planner, specialising in active transport, working in Boorloo, on Whadjuck Noongar Boodja.

Domenic is a registered architect, and a PhD student and academic in the areas of architecture and urban planning at The University of Melbourne.

CONTRIBUTORS

Formerly group managing director and chairman of Woods Bagot from 2006 to 2016, Ross now consults on strategy.

Reinette is a Graduate of Architecture at Hames Sharley. She is passionate about the future of architecture, as seen through the lens of the current emerging architects, and what this might mean in working towards a sustainable world.

A registered architect with experience in delivering a broad range of projects, Louise is a member of the AIA’s National Committee for Gender Equity.

Marion is the CEO of Committee for Perth and serves on a number of boards, including Infrastucture Australia.

Pip is a Perth-based architect who has practised throughout WA for over 10 years. She is passionate about unifying all design professionals for exceptional built environment outcomes.

Trevor is a Graduate of Architecture at Hames Sharley, and a writer and contributor for the COarchitecture platform.

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HAMES SHARLEY NEW PERTH STUDIO HAMES SHARLEY

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WORDS: SANDY ANGHIE PHOTOGRAPHY: DION ROBESON

The Hames Sharley New Perth Studio in the Hay Street Mall has been designed by Hames Sharley to reflect and support its organisational culture and positively impact future business success. The new studio has also had a positive impact on our city, providing a beautiful precedent for activation of our city’s forgotten upper-level spaces.

Offices represent a major business cost, but their real power is in increasing productivity in the people that occupy them, helping to reinforce positive behaviours, support specific business operations and foster engagement that will impact bottom line organisational performance. In today’s environment, a great office space also serves to encourage people to go to work, with the current trend of working from home.

Hames Sharley has taken a scientific approach for the design of their new space – an approach they conducted on themselves, with all staff in all locations. “Through vision exercises we challenged who we are and what we want to be,” says Hames Sharley Principal Stephen Moorcroft. “That included words like focussed, creative, empowerment, wonder, clarity and my favourite quote, ‘holy shit, that’s awesome’.” This language and the accompanying images were referenced throughout the project.

Having worked through their aspirations, and committing to some key drivers, Hames Sharley wanted to build their culture of knowledge sharing and remove any barriers between front and back of house. “We were seeking greater transparency, more collaboration, space for training and space to welcome visitors to work with us”, says Stephen.

HAMES SHARLEY NEW PERTH STUDIO / HAMES SHARLEY

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The company’s utilisation studies gave them data that suggested some agile occupancy. As a result, in Perth they have adopted an activity-based working hybrid with 50% of their people assigned to workstations and 50% agile. “This hybrid approach is a work in progress,”says Stephen. “We will revisit it shortly to check that the staff response to an agile opportunity is delivering the results we hoped for. We can then fine tune the model if required.”

The architecture is beautiful. Intentionally gentle and timeless. The

Hames Sharley conducted workshops in every state to consider the future tasks they wanted to support, to build the range and ratio of space types that’s uniquely right for them and their work.

“We now have the Hames Sharley menu of settings ready to deploy for any new studio”, says Stephen. “This is exactly the process and business specific outcome we offer to our clients. Here you’ll see 14 different work settings and each one is here with defined purpose, supporting 26 tasks that we identified as important to our future.”

The internal spaces are zoned so that views are shared. The Juliette

The new studio space is without a doubt a great success. But even more so when you consider the context. The space now occupied

by Hames Sharley was a forgotten space, vacant for some 40 years.

“It was over two separated levels, with limited access, low ceilings, small windows and many, many layers of dust”, says Hames Sharley Senior Associate Jessika Hames. “But the location and views are exceptional and with the support of our visionary landlord Randal Humich, and our patient builder ADCO we have been able to craft a space that genuinely represents who we are.”

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bay window folds outwards aligning with due south, announcing a new presence on the Hay Street Mall with a curved corner gesture that speaks to the curved towers of their neighbours at Gleddon, Piccadilly and Carillon. It also gives shade and protection to the terrace below and leaves a space for a tree – a native paperbark that symbolises what once was.

balcony to the west can be opened on sunny days, offering the opportunity to connect to the environment. A stair, meeting and maker space are at the centre forming a connected and active heart and intentional ‘bump’ space. Downstairs is more focused with a smaller floor plate and less work‐points. But it is also about fun with future proofed workspace currently providing a Friday night games area opening onto the terrace.

“Our new studio is deliberate in its effort to make us more social, enabling us to engage and facilitate better connections and to be more present within our community”, says Jessika. “This studio represents our collective ideas and spirit of our people," adds Hames Sharley Senior Interior Designer Isabel Tascon-Guillaume.

"It reflects the honesty and integrity of our company. It is the result of a strategic design process with a united architectural vision and above all, a place that supports human creativity.” ■

HAMES SHARLEY NEW PERTH STUDIO / HAMES SHARLEY

LEVEL 3 PLAN

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LEVEL 2 PLAN

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HAMES SHARLEY NEW PERTH STUDIO HAMES SHARLEY PHOTOGRAPHER Dion Robeson ARCHITECT www.hamessharley.com.au Email: marketing@hamessharley.com.au @hames_sharley DESIGN TEAM Jessika Hames (Design Architect), Stephen Moorcroft (Workplace Strategy), Jonathon Peake (Architectural Documentation), Dean Symington (Project Director), Isabel TasconGuillaume (Lead Interior Design), Brook McGowan (Client)

KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Fergusons, Cathedral, Forbo, World Wide Timber Traders, Artedomus | Floors: Concept Flooring, RC+D, Woodpecker Flooring | Lighting: Modular, Unios | Bathrooms: Aqualoo, Metz Tiles, Bobrick, Metlam, Reece, Assa Abloy, Caroma | Appliances: Miele, Harvey Norman Commercial, Reece, Billi | Furniture: Zenith Cult, District, Living Edge, Wiklhahn, Stylecraft, Jardan | Windows and Doors: Reliance, Criterion | Exterior cladding: Penguin Facades | Other: Austral Bricks, Regency Plaster Finishes, Autex, Neylor, Kvadrat Maharam.

KEY CONSULTANTS Structural Engineering: Forth | ESD: Arup Landscape: The Artisan Co. | Acoustic Engineer: Gabriels Hearne Farrell | Mechanical Engineer: Centigrade | Fire, Hydraulic, Electrical Engineer: Arup BUILDER ADCO / Completion date: July 2021 SITE Level 3/712 Hay Street Mall, Perth WA 6000 Sqm build: 1,100

HAMES SHARLEY NEW PERTH STUDIO / HAMES SHARLEY

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FORREST PLACE WORKPLACE REZEN STUDIO PROJECT TYPE

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WORDS: SANDY ANGHIE PHOTOGRAPHY: JACK LOVEL

Located in a refurbished inner city heritage building, this unique speculative fit-out by Rezen Studio at 1 Forrest Place was designed to appeal to a creative tenant.

While physical interface was minimised with the space’s existing features, the placement and design of the new items enhances the building’s heritage fabric. Long library-style whitewashed ply workstations, with feature task lighting, sit alongside a dramatic curtain that forms a textured backdrop while hiding storage and providing acoustic attenuation. The kitchen is made a private space by the strategic location of a meeting room, while utilitarian steel shelving modules create further spatial demarcation and

“The building is home to a number of creatives already, so the idea was to create a space attractive to other creatives”, says Rezen’s Zenifa Bowring. “We wanted to create something that felt different to the usual corporate fit-out, many of which can tend to look similar.”

Executed within a relatively modest budget, new built elements are differentiated from the heritage features and fabric whilst being complementary and deferential. “The building is beautiful and for us it was the original architecture which suggested the response,” says Zenifa. “We didn’t want to touch the edges, so we clustered built form in the middle of the space.”

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work to balance the design’s feminine features. Soft, subtle tones and textures sit calmly within the heritage space, with natural stone providing a tactile touch point in both the reception and breakout areas.

Organic forms in lighting and loose furniture punctuate the space as a series of informal mediations, while custom designed furniture lends a bespoke feel. “The custom pieces by Hamilton Hill based design and production studio Remington Matters are not only affordable but also locally made,” says Zenifa. “Sustainability is important to us, and we work with suppliers and products that are natural, sustainable and locally sourced.”

FORREST PLACE WORKPLACE / REZEN STUDIO

Zenifa also points out another benefit of buying local in the current environment is timeliness. In the past 18 months many of us have experienced considerably longer, and often delayed, import times due to the impacts of COVID-19. “For this project we not only had a modest budget but also tight timeframes,” says Zenifa. “Being locally made meant we received our furniture on time.”

Overall, the project adeptly meets its brief, creating a beautiful and unique creative space, enhancing one of our city’s significant heritage buildings. ■

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REZEN REZEN REZEN

FORREST PLACE WORKPLACE REZEN STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHER Jack Lovel @jack.lovel ARCHITECT www.rezen.com.au Email: zenifa@rezen.com.au Instagram: @rezenstudio DESIGN TEAM Team members: Zenifa Bowring, Yvette Petit, Chelsey Harrison CONSULTANTS Sylist: Amy Collins-Walker | Engineers: Alphazeta BUILDER Opra Projects / Completion date: 2021 SITE Level 4, 1 Forrest Place, Perth / Sqm site: 300 sqm KEY SUPPLIERS Custom Furniture: Remington Matters | Furniture: District, Cult, Innerspace & UCI FORREST PLACE WORKPLACE / REZEN STUDIO

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CENTRAL PARK LOBBY PROJECT TYPE

WOODS BAGOT

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KARINGAL GREEN HEALTH & AGED CARE COMMUNITY / Hassell

WORDS: PIP SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY: DION ROBESON

Central Park has been a business icon in Perth since its introduction to the Terrace in the early 1990s.

As one of the tallest buildings, and the only public green space in the heart of the CBD, it has long been an attractor of people. After winning the masterplan design competition for the area, Woods Bagot led the team that transformed Central Park’s public ground-floor space.

Although the project focuses on bringing new life to the lobby, the revitalisation extends to an impressively bold new street facade, strengthening the visual and pedestrian connection between the park and terrace, and drawing the community around the park into the lobby.

Woods Bagot’s multifaceted design approach has created an elegant and welcoming atmosphere centered on user experience.

While the previous fit-out was a formal transitional space experienced en route, the new foyer is strategically layered inviting people to stay, use, and connect.

Functionally the floor plan offers a variety of spaces encouraging activation, from open business lounges, reservable pods and meeting rooms, function spaces, galleries, and the energetic Hemingway Cafe.

The reservable meeting space pods are intimate but accessible, scooped out from the surrounding monolithic walls. As user experience is key, the pods are not only beautifully designed but free and easy to use. Simple controls customise the pod lighting

CENTRAL PARK LOBBY / WOODS BAGOT

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for adaptability, and the furniture and finishes work together for superior acoustics and spatial comfort.

The business lounge areas that open onto the foyer are carefully curated. The furniture selection includes pieces which are intentionally ample in size, to envelop the user with a sense of shelter inside the vast open space. Wireless charging is also integrated into many of the furniture settings, further encouraging you to stay.

It was identified early in the design process that the inclusion of a cafe would be key to drive renewed use. The Hemingway fit-out is an extension of the lobby – large enough to have its own mood but very much in the same tone. With a variety of spaces, Hemingway serves as both a meeting point and place to socialise, and easily adapts into a function space for tenants.

The warm, natural material palette and subtle lighting scheme create an ambience of sophisticated comfort in the lobby. Light, natural materials with matte or textured finishes absorb light, rather than reflect it. Working in harmony with the matte finishes are what lead designer Melanie Porrins describes as “moments of reflectivity” – polished stainless steel clads the curtain wall mullions, load-bearing pillar bases, lift car insets, and is scattered

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sparingly throughout the furniture. The window mullions add a delightful mirror effect, bouncing the park greenery back into the lobby as you move through it.

Some elements of the redesign echo the warm, approachable mood of a hotel foyer: a wide concierge desk set against a semitranslucent curtained backdrop; temperate, low lighting within the lift cars; slightly curved walls inviting exploration around corners; and, even a signature scent for the building which lingers into the lifts and accompanies you to your floor.

As well as refreshing the building, the original lobby artwork – several immensely sized pieces by local artist Brian McKay – have also been given an updated backdrop. The new walls that house the art have been seemingly sized and arranged to suit the pieces, not the other way round. Carefully retained and reinstalled, the preservation of these beautiful historic murals adds to the redesign being thoughtful and respectful of what was there before.

There are so many layers to this impressive refurbishment working cohesively to achieve a simple yet elegant outcome: the next chapter for the Central Park Lobby is here, and it welcomes you not just to pass through, but to stay, use, and connect. ■

CENTRAL PARK LOBBY / WOODS BAGOT

CENTRAL PARK LOBBY WOODS BAGOT PHOTOGRAPHER Dion Robeson @dionrobeson ARCHITECT www.woodsbagot.com Email: melanie.porrins@woodsbagot.com.au Instagram: @woodsbagot DESIGN TEAM Melanie Porrins, Rowan Gilbert, Sara Giunco, Csilla Csabai KEY CONSULTANTS Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulic and Fire: Stantec | Electrical Consultant: Michael Lister | Hydraulic Consultant: Celeste Lim | Mechanical Consultant: Michael Foster | Specialist Lighting: Point of View | Landscape Architects: Place Lab Project Manager: NS Projects BUILDER Built / Completion date: July 2020 SITE 152-158 St Georges Tce / Sqm site: 66,500 sqm (tower) Sqm build: 3,400sqm

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KEY SUPPLIERS Stone Supplier: Bernini Stone | Cabinet Makers: Handwerk (Lobby), Optima Interiors (Café Counter) | Lighting: Lighting Options, Inlite | Custom Floor Rugs: Temple Fine Rugs| Furniture: Design Farm, Living Edge, Mobilia | Sylist: Anna Flanders | Café Counter Material: Corian Australia | Timber Veneer: Elton Group (Eveneer) | Wall Paints: Porters Paints | Fabrics: Kvadrat Maharam | Curtains: Neylor

CENTRAL PARK LOBBY / WOODS BAGOT

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THE WARDERS HOTEL & EMILY TAYLOR MATTHEW CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS

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WORDS: REINNETE ROUX PHOTOGRAPHY: DION ROBESON

Just north of the Fremantle markets sits the Warders Hotel, guarded by the shadow of the prison after which its image was shaped. As a national heritagelisted building, the project brief tied in very well with architect Matthew Crawford’s view that heritage should be adaptively reused, not changed.

The original entry borders the Fremantle markets, remaining within the constraints of the heritage site as new wall openings are difficult to enforce. Once inside, the warm welcome of the reception is like that of a cabin within a ship – low-height ceilings, existing Jarrah timber sourced from what was before, and a wall adorned with the names of prison wardens over the years. In contrast, the rich austral dream marble slab that encases the reception desk speaks to its local heritage, while elevating the space and introducing the notion of a luxury hotel.

If you were a passer-by on the day, you would also be welcomed as adjacent to the hotel entrance you can find the wine bar ‘Gimlet’, so named after the drink containing citrus, served to the officers who thought themselves above the scurvy rations of the wardens. Gimlet is of course also a great starting point for hotel guests looking to start their evening (or afternoon), perhaps before heading to the conveniently located Emily Taylor’s restaurant tucked in behind the hotel.

The hotel is nothing short of exquisite in its clever reuse of the heritage site and the restoration thereof. With a feel much like that of the French navy, the cabin-esque interiors of the hotel

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THE WARDERS HOTEL / MATTHEW CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS

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are elevated with a slightly warm royal blue, not a heritage colour but one that was taken from paint samples of the existing window frames. It plays on the maritime feeling that has been introduced throughout and gives the sense of being at sea.

The use of existing stairways connecting the ground floor with the upper level, now not fit-for-purpose, as a manner of concealing services while retaining the architecture of a bygone era is one of the many examples of the architect’s reuse of the space. The small barn-like doors of the previous cottages have been removed from their hinges and placed instead on adjacent walls as a viewing piece, part of the architecture. In other instances, they act as a trick door concealing the newly installed (compliant) doors as an exit onto the market street.

For Matthew it was important to temper the environment and maintain sound attenuation, with acoustic separation from the busy public streets outside achieved through insulated ceilings and double-glazed windows, to further reinforce the luxury-stay status of the rooms. Inside, bunkbeds are concealed behind large pivoting panels, adding to the maritime look and feel as well as creating a sense of adventure for those who stay, both adults and children.

Further to this, a clever play on a private reading light enables the bunk-dwellers to not encroach on each other’s sleeping time.

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In each bedroom, a brass-plated intercom can be found in lieu of a phone, tying in with the brass light fittings and hardware throughout. The interior colour palette was deliberately soft and harmonious, and chosen to enhance any light coming into the space, as a limited amount of natural light was a constraint that had to be considered.

The project represents a clever juxtaposition between classic and contemporary design. Matthew Crawford Architects has captured the essence of Fremantle and the history associated with the prison and its wardens, highlighting the rich background to the suburb and our city, and the role architecture plays in capturing this. ■

THE WARDERS HOTEL / MATTHEW CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS

THE WARDERS HOTEL & EMILY TAYLOR MATTHEW CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS PHOTOGRAPHER Dion Robeson @dionrobeson ARCHITECT www.mcarchitects.com.au Email: contact@mcarchitects.com.au Instagram @matthewcrawford_architects DESIGN TEAM Team members: Matthew Crawford, Jake Gethin, Chelsea Walker, Rosie Burton, Michael Loubser KEY CONSULTANTS Structural Engineering: Peritas Group | ESD: CADDS | Landscape: TDL | Branding: Studiofield | Certifier: Taycon | Heritage: Griffiths Architects BUILDER McCorkell Constructions WA / Completion date: November 2020 SITE 19 to 31 Henderson Street, Fremantle, Western Australia 0

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KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Optima Interiors | Lighting: Alti, Beacon, Emotion | Specialist Metalwork: Taylored Steel Fabrications | Exterior cladding: Mortlock Timber Cladding

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PARMELIA HILTON

COX ARCHITECTURE

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WORDS: MILLIE GILLESPIE PHOTOGRAPHY: RYAN NORTH & ROBERT FRITH

The iconic Parmelia Hilton hotel has undergone a series of minor renovations since its opening in the 1960s. However, in late 2017 COX Architecture, along with their client, Hawaiian, considered how the hotel could be re-imagined – both physically and more broadly in the contemporary urban fabric in which it is located.

While staying empathetic to the hotel’s brutalist origins and cultural heritage, the renovation process has not only created engaging public spaces within the hotel, but also greater engagement with the city’s urban fabric via increased permeability and additional connections to surrounding locations.

In particular, the hotel now connects not only to Mill Street and St Georges Terrace, but also a previously unknown rear laneway, which is now home to the Hawaiian offices and a community coffee shop. Direct connections have also been created to Brookfield Place and surrounding office towers, where many of the hotel’s guests do business – opening and connecting an entire city block behind the scenes. As architect Bret White says, “the project now contributes to the city’s urban fabric beyond the building itself, with emphasis on pedestrian movement, and new pathways in our city”.

Inside the hotel, upon entering the calming foyer, visitors are presented with a place to pause, sit down and catch their breath.

The reception is positioned to one side to create a less intimidating arrival and a grounding circular entry statement welcomes visitors while responding to the geometry of the building. A comfortable

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PARMELIA HILTON / COX ARCHITECTURE

seating area with lowered ceilings invites guests to sit and admire the local artwork inspired by the bold landscape of Western Australia.

Continuing the theme, cool tones reflect the costal landscape, with the blue hue of the reception desk glowing as light from a series of bronze pendants cascades onto its surface and an additional strip light highlights it from below. This clever use of lighting provides a wayfinder for visitors, as light has not only been used to create ambience but also to reduce the need for physical signage.

A delicate leaf frit pattern on the central skylight creates dappled light that filters onto the marble floor. Air vents are meticulously encased, and hidden light sources decorate the bronze mirrors that line the entrance columns.

In stark contrast, off to one side of the lobby, in-house restaurant Samuel’s is designed in dark tones of timber, bronze and concrete, accentuated by diffused light creating an intimate ambiance while glazing provides natural light and a view out on to the leafy Mill Street beyond.

Back to the foyer, bronze mirrors on the lobby columns create golden light, adding warmth and elongating the space, while the perimeter of the columns has been used as an opportunity for relaxed seating. Adjacent to the columns an intimate workspace, mainly constructed from local timber and other warm tones mimic the earthy landscape thereby creating a private space to catch up on emails or prepare for the day’s meetings.

A subtle ramp guides visitors towards the executive lounge which invites guests to stay longer, with its warm colour pallet and material choices. Sandy leather couches invite you to melt into them, the diffused warm toned lighting offers an intimate and relaxed ambience, while a series of open dividers allow for privacy and allocates spaces for small groups.

In this project, architecture and detailing is applied to create beautiful interior spaces for people to linger. While beyond the hotel’s doors it’s all about connection, engaging the visitor in the city’s broader urban landscape. ■

PARMELIA HILTON / COX ARCHITECTURE

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PARMELIA HILTON / COX ARCHITECTURE

PARMELIA HILTON REFURBISHMENT OF GROUND + RESTAURANT COX ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHER Robert Frith @robfrith ARCHITECT www.coxarchitecture.com.au Email: perth@cox.com.au Instagram: @coxarchitecture DESIGN TEAM Steve Woodland, Bret White, Amanda Ainslie, Mark Hainsworth, Dominique Tiller, Hesti Nienaber, Chris Foy, Mario Celik KEY CONSULTANTS Project Management: NS Projects | Quantity Surveyor: Altus Group | Planning: Element | Structure: Stantec | Electrical/ Fire/Hydraulic: Stantec | Comms/Security: Stantec | Acoustics: Stantec | Mechanical: Link Engineering | Compliance: JMG + TESG | Way Finding: Turner Design BUILDER Ground Floor: ADCO Constructions, Completion date: December 2020 Samuels Restaurant: HOSKINS Contracting, Completion date: December 2020

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SITE 14 Mill Street, Perth, Western Australia Sqm site: approx 3,000 sqm Sqm build: 1,700 sqm KEY SUPPLIERS Exterior cladding: HEBEL, Granotex | Glazing Systems: Penguin | Cabinetwork: Ferguson, Fremantle Furniture Factory | Stone: Bernini Stone and Tile, CDK | Door Furniture: Dorma, Lockwood | Timber: Navlam | Wallpaper: Vescom | Curtains: Kriskadecor | Carpets: Shaw Contract | Lighting: Modular, Rakumba, UNIOS | Furniture: Mobilia, Living Edge, Stylecraft | Facades: Penguin Facades

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SHELTER BREWING CO PAUL BURNHAM

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WORDS: JONATHAN SPEER PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBERT FRITH

Over the past ten years, under the Busselton Foreshore Masterplan, Busselton has undergone a remarkable transformation. Within this context, architect Paul Burnham has delivered Shelter Brewing Co, a commercial brewery, cafe, bar, restaurant and function centre.

Stage 3 of the Busselton Foreshore Masterplan, sited on Wardandi Country and centred on the restored, iconic Busselton Jetty, has been an ambitious program to reinvigorate the foreshore for locals and tourists. The plan introduces a coherent landscaping strategy within the precinct tying together a 4.5 star hotel, an amphitheatre, improved local club facilities, improved jetty facilities, a nautical themed adventure playground and toddlers’ play space, a skate park, a surf lifesaving club and, soon to be added, a new underwater discovery centre. As Alannah MacTiernan once said, this is all in an effort to “draw additional tourists and investors to the region, and provide economic benefits to the State.”

With plans for a brewery on the site first mooted in 2014, it has taken enormous self-belief and perseverance from the Credaro and Packard-Hair families, who have both lived and worked in the area for four generations, to make this idea a reality.

The 1,881 square metre site with its northern aspect overlooking the magnificent Geographe Bay, and serving as a prominent entry statement to the jetty, was made available by the City of Busselton with the stipulation that it should be a family friendly venue.

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With the building accessible and visually prominent from each side, there is no opportunity to hide the servicing of the building.

However, Paul saw this as a key design driver to celebrate the industrial aesthetic of the business of brewing.

Given the building is primarily about brewing beer, Paul has created a utilitarian shed which celebrates working buildings and is evocative of agricultural architecture in its robust authenticity.

The southern approach to the building is dominated by large twin gables, clad in Corten steel, to create soaring double-height volumes housing all the accoutrements of brewing, including a 25-hectolitre brew kit; a cellar with four 100-hectolitre and four 50-hectolitres tanks and six 25-hectolitre serving tanks.

This gleaming array of stainless steel serves as a beautiful backdrop to the main hospitality space as the gabled form extends the full length of the building and frames the views beyond.

The careful curation of spaces, along with the warmth of timber accents and furnishings and a clever lighting design, divides and refines the larger space of the brewery and provides a sense of intimacy for the patrons.

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Shelter employs some excellent environmentally sustainable design strategies with a series of passive and active design features providing year-round low energy consuming comfort. Specifically, the admittance of the hot summer sun through the large expanse of north-facing glazing is mediated by the high-level tubular sun screens and the deep external awnings. The large doors and fullheight windows open to fully vent the space with the sea breeze and, when required, the 6.3 metre diameter high-volume low-speed fans provide air movement within the brewery.

In winter, the lower winter sun penetrates deep within the building where the large mass of concrete flooring serves as a passive heat store while active in-slab hydronic heating maintains a comfortable temperature. Additionally, as the business of making beer is energy hungry, the large array of roof mounted photovoltaics provides up to 80% of the energy required for the brewing process.

Since opening in November 2020, Shelter Brewing Co has proved a popular spot for locals and tourists of all ages, delivering a community hub to this reinvigorated precinct. And with the building’s prominent gable form becoming a key part of the Shelter branding, Paul should be congratulated for delivering far more than just a building. ■

SHELTER BREWING CO / PAUL BURNHAM

SHELTER BREWING CO PAUL BURNHAM PHOTOGRAPHER Robert Frith @robfrith ARCHITECT www.paulburnham.com.au Email: burnham@westnet.com.au Instagram: @paulburnhamarchitect DESIGN TEAM Team members: Paul Burnham, Karl Woolfitt KEY CONSULTANTS Structural Engineering: Burdett & Goodison | Hydraulics: Ionic Design Australia | Building Surveyors: BuildingLines | Fire Safety: Helmut Schwanke | Energy Assessment: The Study Group | Electrical: Datum 101 | Brewery: Flying Foam | Landscape: UDLA BUILDER G Construction / Completion date: September 2000 SITE 11 Foreshore Parade, Busselton, Western Australia Sqm site: 1,880 sqm | Sqm build: 1418 sqm KEY SUPPLIERS Structural Steel: Hotweld | Windows and Doors: Busselton Aluminium Windows | Exterior cladding: Corrugated Coreten | Sunscreens: Geographe Glass Co | Specialist steelwork: Naturaliste Fabrication & Customs | Hydronic heating: Euroheat Australia

SHELTER BREWING CO / PAUL BURNHAM

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STRAWBERRY HILL/BARMUP VISITOR ORIENTATION HUB PTX ARCHITECTS

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WORDS: SANDY ANGHIE PHOTOGRAPHY: BO WONG

With our borders closed for the past two years, many of us have taken the opportunity to explore Western Australia – learning about our own state and its history and finding many hidden gems along the way.

The Visitor Orientation Hub at Strawberry Hill Barmup by PTX Architects is one of those gems.

The Visitor Orientation Hub provides a new entry point for this locally significant and nationally important place. Historically, the site was home to an Aboriginal campground on an important travelling route. Then, in 1826, it became the first european farm site in Western Australia. The site is now a registered Aboriginal site and is on the State Heritage Register under the care of the National Trust, the client for this project.

David Gibson and Melanie Hoessle from PTX Architects worked closely with the National Trust and local Menang Elders on the project. “Our first step in the design process was to meet with the Elders,” says David. “Initial discussions uncovered many interesting stories.” In particular, David explains how Albany was known as the friendly frontier, where Aboriginal leader Mokare built a friendship with the first government resident of Albany Alexander Collie which mitigated conflict. “Albany is very proud of this history,” says David.

The original workers’ quarters on the site dates back to 1833. The brief required an addition which would be universally accessible and provide greater amenity for volunteers, and flexibility to welcome more visitors to the site. The architects’ response was a new building which sits to the south of the original workers’ quarters. “It’s a new component”, says David. “We didn’t want to intrude on the heritage fabric.”

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STRAWBERRY HILL / PTX ARCHITECTS

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PTXGIBSON GIBSON PTX The new building, which mirrors the original in scale and form, was inspired by both Mia shelters and a Wardian Case. “The idea was the harmonious bridging of two cultures,” says David. “The building is clad in timber battens that reference local Indigenous Mia shelters, while the glasshouse elements allude to an 19th century Wardian Case, used to transport European plants to the colony by ship.”

The theme of bridging cultures continues inside the building. “The two sides of the building tell different stories,” says Melanie. “One side of the building the Indigenous stories and the other European.”

In this way, the architecture becomes a part of the storytelling process.

The project contributes to the long-term sustainability of this significant place – enhancing the visitor experience for tourists and locals alike. National Trust CEO Julian Donaldson said, “PTX Architects responded brilliantly to the brief. We are delighted with the really positive contribution the hub is making to how visitors understand the layered story at Strawberry Hill/Barmup.”

Stop by, enjoy the architecture and learn about our state’s history next time you are travelling in our Great Southern region. ■

STRAWBERRY HILL / BARMUP VISITOR ORIENTATION HUB PTX ARCHITECTS PHOTOGRAPHER Bo Wong @B_O_W_O_N_G ARCHITECT www.ptxarchitects.com.au Email: info@ptxarchitects.com.au Instagram: @ptxarchitects DESIGN TEAM Melanie Hoessle, David Gibson KEY CONSULTANTS Archaeology: Applied Archaeology International | Building Surveyor: Statewide Building Certification | Electrical: ESC Engineering | ESD: Sustainable Built Environments | Heritage: National Trust of WA | Land Surveyor: Denmark Survey and Mapping | Structural Engineering: Ausmac Structural Engineers | Quantity Surveyor: Chris O’keefe Cost Consultant BUILDER Kbuilt Construction / Completion date: October 2020 SITE 13 Beauchamp Street, Albany, Western Australia Sqm site: 5357 sqm | Sqm build: New 70 sqm, Refurb 12 sqm, Decking & Walkways 100 sqm, KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Laminex | Floors: James Hardie Fibre Cement & Local Hardwood | Lighting: Brightgreen | Windows and Doors: AWS & Alspec | Exterior cladding: Colorbond Steel & Local Hardwood Cladding, ShadowPly Interior Lining, Autex Acoustic Panels, Verosol Blinds

STRAWBERRY HILL/BARMUP VISITOR ORIENTATION HUB / PTX ARCHITECTS

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BILYA KOORT BOODJA

IREDALE PEDERSEN HOOK PROJECT TYPE

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WORDS: CASSANDRA SIMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER BENNETTS

Standing proudly on Ballardong Nyoongar land, Iredale Pedersen Hook’s Bilya Koort Boodja (meaning “river, heart, land”) recognises the importance of country while acknowledging that this recognition has not always been given.

Bilya Koort Boodja Centre for Nyoongar Culture and Environmental Knowledge is located at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock rivers in the town of Northam. The centre provides an immersive and interactive education experience recognising Aboriginal history, heritage and culture in the Nyoongar Ballardong region and beyond.

Northam and the Avon Valley have a chequered history in the context of the local Nyoongar people. The Ballardong Nyoongar people occupied the region long before European settlement

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and their custodianship is embedded in Country. Since European settlement in the region almost 200 years ago, the Ballardong Nyoongar people have faced many challenges and changes. In 1933, the entirety of the Northam district’s Nyoongar population was forcibly removed to the Moore River Native Settlement. The Ballardong Nyoongar have in turn resisted and adapted but the commissioning and construction of Bilya Koort Boodja shows that their culture has survived.

Aboriginal culture is site specific, meaning that culture cannot be appropriated from another site or area. Consultation with, and consent from, the people of the Country to which the language, culture and design relates is required. In their design of Bilya Koort Boodja, Iredale Pedersen Hook in consultation with the Ballardong Nyoongar community has created a built form which is both imbued with a strong sense of place and through the siting of windows and other openings, provides links to culture beyond the Ballardong Nyoongar Country on which it sits.

Historically in Northam, buildings between the town centre and the river were sited towards the main road rather than the river. A driver of this project was the desire to flip the orientation of the buildings to address the river, highlighting its cultural significance – the water being known to the Ballardong Nyoongar people as the Gogulgar.

BILYA KOORT BOODJA / IREDALE PEDERSEN HOOK

Accordingly, Bilya Koort Boodja stretches and opens towards the river, welcoming both visitors and the surrounding Country with an open arm gesture. It stretches the experience and embeds its form in the landscape. It reaches towards the suspension bridge which spans the river, and Bilya Koort Boodja becomes the link between housing on the western side of the river and the town centre itself.

The community was clear in its brief that it didn’t want a European looking building and Iredale Pedersen Hook met this brief. In his recently published book, Sandtalk, Aboriginal scholar Tyson Yunkaporta noted: “We don’t have a word for non-linear in our languages because no one would consider travelling, thinking or talking in a straight line in the first place. The winding path is just how a path is and therefore it needs no name.”

This concept is reflected in the design of Bilya Koort Boodja, which stands out from its surrounds as two darkly clad curvilinear shapes.

Internally, this is reflected in a series of carefully planned spaces in which stories are embedded in a manner which allows visitors and community members to journey through both the built form and the region’s history and engage and interpret the local culture in their own way. This is a visual manifestation of the cultural safety and respect which guided Iredale Pedersen Hook’s design and the centre’s layout and use of space has created an immersive experience which both carefully guides visitors and warns them of content before it is seen.

Iredale Pedersen Hook has used common materials in different ways to express the region’s environment. The sinuous timberslatted screen, created from recycled jarrah, on the western side reflects the contours of the river it faces and gives the impression, when inside, of looking through trees towards the river. From outside, the timber battens create a similar impression of looking into a wooded area which, prior to European settlement, would have lined the river. Creating an effect of light and shadow, the timber screening complements the polycarbonate sheeting which, when backlit at night, creates performance in itself by creating silhouettes as people move beyond. The screens also express the relationship between inside and out, creating transitional zones.

Bilya Koort Boodja’s architecture is intended to be ephemeral.

Its built form is secondary to the natural environment and is deliberately in contrast to the traditional buildings of Northam.

Through respectful and culturally appropriate design propositions, the building celebrates Northam’s cultural past in anticipation of the return of the Ballardong Nyoongar ancestors and encourages the community to protect the region’s land and waters for future generations. ■

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BILYA KOORT BOODJA – CENTRE FOR NYOONGAR CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE IREDALE PEDERSEN HOOK PHOTOGRAPHER Peter Bennetts ARCHITECT www.iredalepedersenhook.com Email: email@iredalepedersenhook.com Instagram: @iredalepedersenhook DESIGN TEAM Finn Pedersen, Adrian Iredale, Martyn Hook, Joel Fuller, Leo Showell, Catherine Dupuy, Mary McAree, Craig Nener, Rebecca Hawkett, Thomas Forbes KEY CONSULTANTS Exhibit Design: Thylacine | Building Landscape: CAPA | Structural and Civil Engineering: Pritchard Francis | Cost Consultant: John Stanger | Mechanical: SMWC | Code: Milestone Certifiers | Electrical: BCA Consultants | ESD: Full Circle | Geotechnical: Galt Geotechnics Pty Ltd BUILDER FIRM Construction / Completion date: April 2018 SITE Minson Avenue, Northam, Western Australia Sqm site: N/A | Sqm build: 1450sqm KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Laminex Commercial Decorative Boards, Worldwide Timber Traders Deco Veneers- Marri, Dupont Corian 12mm Solid Surface Cameo White | Floors: Burnished Concrete with Crommelin Stain Repel | Bathrooms : Original Ceramics | Windows and Doors: Capral 400 and 601 Narrowline, Powdercoat finish | Exterior cladding: Lysaght Colorbond Spandeck; BGC Duratex 9mm Fibre Cement; Ampelite Webglas GC Spandek Profile; Western Australian Recycled Jarrah 45x45, 45x100 and 45x150 | Lighting: Darko, Erco, Iguzzini, Archilux, Pavom, Ivela, Delta

BILYA KOORT BOODJA / IREDALE PEDERSEN HOOK

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SILVER LINING

STUDIO ORIGAMI ARCHITECTS

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WORDS: SANDY ANGHIE PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT BIOCICH

Architects often work long hours to deliver above and beyond what’s required. In this case the name of the project, Silver Lining, reflects this. The project being an illustration of the determination and commitment of the architect, Javi Ayora of Studio Origami Architects, to achieve the best result for his client within a modest budget.

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The client’s brief was simple: to increase the veterinary hospital’s floor area by 80sqm and to use the new build to project a modern and appealing image to the public – all within a modest and strict building budget of around $320,000.

The existing veterinary hospital was a 1950s house and Javi quickly realised that the whole budget could easily be spent just on renovating this. So, Javi’s idea was to propose a new tall facade screen to camouflage the existing building and create a clear division between the old and the new. The screen would not only project the clean and modern image to the public that the client was after but would also help with existing security concerns. It also meant that the veterinary hospital could keep operating during the renovation work.

“The woven screen was designed on the basis that the intersection of the vertical and horizontal straps references the ‘plus symbol’ of a medical centre,” said Javi. “And the use of stainless steel for the screen references medical equipment, while at the same time providing an industrial ambiance to the building.” The plan was that this screen would sit in contrast to an earthy, timber-clad new build to provide the additional space required.

SILVER LINING / STUDIO ORIGAMI

The clients, two doctors, loved Javi’s approach and it was decided that they would proceed on this basis. However, when the builder’s quotes came in the screen proved too costly. It was at this point that Javi stepped in and took on the task of creating the screen himself – an art installation – at half the cost of the original quote.

“Having trained as an architect in Colombia, I am used to exploring different ways of doing things, because in developing countries labour is less costly”, said Javi. “I also have a good knowledge of construction and fabrication, having constructed houses myself in Columbia. So, this was the silver lining of the project. I was able to deliver for my client.”

Another aspect of the project that was important to Javi was the retention of the mature Jacaranda tree on this site. “Pets are very much a part of people’s family. They love them and may be waiting for good or bad news at the vet”, said Javi. “With this in mind, I wanted the reception and waiting areas to dignify that moment.

I have created a series of different spaces where people can wait, including sitting outside under the Jacaranda tree.”

THE SILVER LINING STUDIO ORIGAMI ARCHITECTS PHOTOGRAPHER Matt Biocich @mattbiocich ARCHITECT www.studioorigamiarchitects.com admin@studioorigamiarchitects.com DESIGN TEAM Javi Ayora KEY CONSULTANTS Structural Engineering: Fulcrum Structural | Engineering ESD: Certified Energy Assessment | Building Surveyor: WABCA | Geotechnical: Local Geotechnics | Land Surveyor: FM Surveys BUILDER Akron SITE 1225 sqm, Build: 82 sqm KEY SUPPLIERS Floors: Armstrong | Exterior cladding: Weathertex; Sudio Origami Architects

Javi’s clients were so pleased with their new-look practice that they engaged Javi for another one of their sites. This time a silver lining for Javi. ■

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BELMONT COMMUNITY HUB BOLLIG DESIGN GROUP

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WORDS: CASSANDRA SIMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY: OSPREY CREATIVE

When the City of Belmont engaged Bollig Design Group, the brief was to amalgamate a broad array of community facilities on a single site to create a new community hub. The result is a space that provides a high level of finish and comfort achieves admirable sustainability objectives, and a new architectural direction for the locality.

The diverse program of community facilities housed in the new hub include the city library, new museum, senior citizens centre complete with carpet bowls, hairdresser and pool room, twelve independent tenancies for community service organisations, a crèche, cafe and landscaped public piazza.

Like the program, the site for the project, on the southern corner of Faulkner Park, is defined by its diversity – situated adjacent to a chain of lakes and the green canopy of a park reserve on the one hand, and the service end of the Belmont Forum shopping centre and the 1970s brown brick and tile of suburbia on the other.

At this intersection of incongruous urban forms and scales, and with such an enormous functional program to be accommodated into a comparatively modest site with a high water-table, the Belmont Community Hub by Bollig Design Group breaks forward with its own aesthetic contribution to the area.

The building is characterised externally by varied architectural forms. Planes, hoods, curves, prismatic shapes, bright textured metallic colour and flat grey sheet are arranged distinctly around the building to break up a facade which on its northern side reaches over 15 metres above the street and up to 110 metres in length.

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BELMONT COMMUNITY HUB / BOLLIG DESIGN GROUP

The northern side of the building bends back on itself, using a curved floor plan to cut the perspective and reduce the apparent length of the facade. Between the distinct forms, clear un-tinted glazing is deployed to improve transparency and reduce the mass of the structure. The heart of the building is the library, which sits in the centre of the ground floorplan and is spread over two floors with a mezzanine arrangement that relies on voids to create space between the floors.

In the centre of the library, and at the centre of the building a fullheight golden atrium, spans all three floors up to a glass topped skylight. A prismatic concrete and timber stair leads occupants into the building and ricochets between the library floors. A glass elevator stretches to all levels.

The library, no longer a simple archive of books, is designed to provide a range of community spaces including IT facilities, an audio-visual recording studio, screening room, an 80-person capacity events space, demonstration kitchen, children’s areas, study lounges and a quiet room. Attached to the library on the first floor is a local history museum with impressive permanent and temporary displays. The museum includes a local history research room and associated facilities.

Throughout the interior, the intent has been to provide openness and a casual feel to the building. In the most public spaces such as the library and museum, Bollig have used a pallet of polished concrete floors, exposed sheet-metal ducts and splashes of warm colour. The concrete floors are beautiful and very durable, while the exposed mechanical system ensures ease of access to the most costly part of the building to maintain. But it is the careful acoustic design that gives the interior spaces their calm atmosphere. By controlling reverberation via suspended acoustic panels, the interior spaces have a quiet relaxed quality.

The structure adopts passive solar principles. It deploys sunshades, utilizes automated blinds, high levels of insulation and includes a 100kw rooftop solar array. The building received 6-Star Green Star (Public Building) Design and As Built certification.

The challenge Bollig Design Group faced in developing a community facility with such a vast program was significant. Yet in a suburban fabric that is forever becoming more urbanised, larger and more centralised community facilities such as the Belmont Hub are becoming common. Perhaps in response to these forces the architectural response for community facilities must be less about reflecting the changing suburban fabric, and more about providing a direction for the inevitable development that will occur in the vicinity. ■

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BELMONT COMMUNITY HUB / BOLLIG DESIGN GROUP

BELMONT COMMUNITY HUB BOLLIG DESIGN GROUP PHOTOGRAPHER Osprey Creative Instagram: @ospreycreative ARCHITECT www.bollig.com.au Email: bdg@bollig.com.au Instagram:bolligdesigngroup DESIGN TEAM Edwin Bollig – Design Director and Project Architect | Ray Crocker – Superintendent and Project Architect | Mandy Yau – Project Architect | Kelvin Soong – Senior Documenter | Wynnie Lim – Senior Documenter | Elizabeth Giagtzis – Principal Interior Designer | Marlene Tseu – Contract Administrator Architect | Ranjith Weddikkara – Specifications Manager | Sissil Bollig – Interior Documenter KEY CONSULTANTS Civil and Structural Engineering: BPA Engineering Pty Ltd | Electrical: BCA Consultants Pty Ltd | Hydraulic: Volume Design Group Pty Ltd | Mechanical: DSA Pty Ltd | ESD: Emergen (formerly CADDS Energy) | Geotechnical: Golder Associates Pty Ltd | Landscape: Blake Willis Landscape Architects Pty Ltd | Acoustic: Herring Storer Acoustics | Fire Engineering: Saraceni Fire Engineering Group | Quantity Surveyor: Ralph Beattie Bosworth Pty Ltd | Environmental: Coffey Services Australia Pty Ltd | Building Surveyor: Ian Lush & Associates | Green Star Accreditation Certification: Full Circle Design Services Pty Ltd | Lift Consultant: Elevator Direction | Museum Layout and Design: Mulloway Studio

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BUILDER PACT Construction Pty Ltd / Completion date: 18 May 2020 SITE 213 Wright Street, Cloverdale WA | Sqm site: 3,500 Sqm build: 12,300 KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Top Shelf Carpentry & Joinery | Floors: Forbo Flooring Systems, Interface Carpet Tiles, North Coast Concrete, Planet Timbers | Lighting: H.I. Lighting | Ceiling Acoustic Panels: Autex, Planet Acoustics & Architecture | Wall Panels: Planet Acoustics & Architecture | Windows and Doors: Com-Al Windows | Exterior cladding: Kingspan Insulated Panels Façade Systems, Crown Roofing WA, BlueChip | Lift Supplier: Kone | Tiles: European Ceramic | Library Shelving: Raeco

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BILYA MARLEE

KERRY HILL ARCHITECTS

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WORDS: CASSANDRA SIMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBERT FRITH & NICHOLAS PUTRASIA

The University of Western Australia’s Bilya Marlee designed

by Kerry Hill Architects has been purpose-built to house a School of Indigenous Studies. It is also home to the university’s Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health and the POCHE Centre for Indigenous Health.

The site was selected for its proximity to the river, with the intent that the building would become an anchor point for the university’s southern precinct. The connection to the river was important, both for its cultural significance and as part of a landscape corridor into the heart of the university campus.

Meaning ‘river of swans’, Bilya Marlee is an ode to both the Derbarl Yerrigan (the Swan River) and the landscape that existed prior to colonisation. The Derbarl Yerrigan has been at the centre of Whadjuk Noongar culture for more than 40,000 years and features strongly in their Dreaming stories and the building’s location highlights this importance.

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In its design, the building seeks a transparent connection to the river. Although separated by an often-busy road, the building addresses the river through its orientation and levels. Through clever subtraction of the built mass, and a subtle integration into the landscape, both direct and indirect lines of vision are provided to the river.

As important as bringing the river in, is the protection of a family of marri trees sited in the building envelope. “The cultural importance of these trees was highlighted at the outset of the design process,” says project architect Kate Moore. “Removing them was not an option, nor was separating them.” In fact, the family of trees

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became the anchor point for the building. Every effort was made to ensure that the construction did not negatively impact them, and the building was oriented around the trees to enable them to be seen from as many parts of the building as possible. Their significance is highlighted by their unobstructed view when entering through the building’s main entry.

Some trees needed to be felled during the construction of the building. This was done respectfully and in a way which allows them to continue their journey. A lone jarrah tree was felled and turned into bench seating. Seeds were taken from the felled marri trees and propagated. These trees were planted in the building’s gardens upon completion of construction and the spirits of the original marri trees live on.

The building’s materials palette is simple and raw, chosen for its ability to complement the river and its robustness to withstand the rigours of a tertiary environment. Its colours were determined by the alluvial colours of the Swan River plain. Smoked eucalypt and marri are used throughout the building’s interior, together with off-form concrete and terrazzo floors. Vertical terracotta battens, in five colours and placed at different angles screen the building, create light, shadow and movement with the day’s changing light.

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Acting as a filter to the morning sun and a means of managing the building’s heat load, they still enable views to the river, giving the impression of looking through the woodlands that line parts of the Swan River.

The development of the brief was an iterative process. The expansive program, and the desire for informal outdoor learning spaces led to the creation of a second entry point to the building, connected to the ground plane by an inclined grassed area. “There was a desire to connect as much internal space as possible with the outdoors,” says Kate. “The grassed area serves as both an informal gathering area for students and enabled us to provide more of the functional spaces with a direct link with the outside.”

Kerry Hill Architects were steered through the design phase of the project by respected Whadjuk Noongar elder, Richard Walley OAM and the result is a building proudly anchored on and to Whadjuk Noongar Country. It has been designed with a strong sense of place, both geographically and culturally and offers a warm, yet culturally respectful, welcome to Indigenous students from both Whadjuk Noongar Country and other parts of Western Australia. ■

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BUILDER Badge Construction / Completion date: July 2020

PHOTOGRAPHER Rob Frith, Acorn Photo Agency and Nicholas Putrasia ARCHITECT Kerry Hill Architects DESIGN TEAM Kerry Hill, Patrick Kosky, Seán McGivern, Simon Cundy, Kate Moore, Glenn Russell, Jasmine Pummer, Gertjan Groen, Anna Siefert, Jasmine Bailey, Jacintha Walker, James Campbell, Anna Hii, Levi Phillips, Lee Kheng Teoh

SITE Hackett Drive Street, Crawley, Western Australia Sqm site: 3480sqm | Sqm build: 2500 sqm

KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Timber veneer supply for paneling and cabinetwork by World Wide Timber Traders | Floors: Terrazzo flooring by Bernini | Custom rugs: RC-D | Furniture: Custom designed timber furniture by Ludlow Timber, loose furniture Living Edge and Zenith | Signage: Wilsons Signs

KEY CONSULTANTS Project Manager: Turner & Townsend | Building Certifier / Surveyor: Resolve Group | QS: Wilde and Woollard | Mechanical: Stantec Australia Pty Ltd | Electrical / Lift: BEST Consultants | Hydraulic: PGD Consulting | Structural: Pritchard Francis | Façade Engineer: Inhabit Group | Civil: Pritchard Francis | Fire: Strategic Fire Consulting | Acoustic: Gabriels Hearne Farrell | Landscape: UDLA | Arborist: Arbor Centre | Energy Efficiency: Full Circle Design Services | Geotechnical: Galt Geotechnics | Briefing Consultant: Arina | Art Consultant: Maggie Baxter | Artist: Sharyn Egan | Cultural Advisor: Dr Richard Walley OAM

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KARINGAL GREEN HEALTH & AGED CARE COMMUNITY PROJECT TYPE

HASSELL

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WORDS: DOMENIC TRIMBOLI PHOTOGRAPHY: DOUGLAS MARK BLACK, FABRIZIO LIPARI, ROB FRITH / ACORN PHOTOGRAPHY

Our spatial experience of architecture is not simply shaped by the physical reality that buildings impart on us but also by the past experiences we bring to them. This is why our own memories play such a significant role in predetermining our innate sense of wellbeing and comfort in a new place.

The aged-care spaces of Karingal Green by Hassell epitomise this understanding.

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Resulting from an approximately decade-long multi-disciplinary collaboration within the Hassell studio, Karingal Green creates an architecture profoundly stimulated by the experiences and positive memories that foster a universally human consciousness of wellbeing.

Instilling a sense of identity and familiarity, Karingal Green is surrounded by a seasonally changing landscape combining the pre-existing lemon-scented gum trees with the likes of purposely evocative plants such as lavender, wisteria and roses.

Coupled with the vertical lines inherent in the architecture, the boundary fencing is barely perceptible amid the landscape – imparting an openness atypical to anything institutional.

The reception is located within proximity to the coffee aroma emanating from an adjacent cafe, and wall-inset memory boxes, which demarcate the identity of each cluster of residential units across the building wings by carefully displaying a memento belonging to each. These wings, or internal neighbourhoods, are augmented by their own communal lounge, dining and private courtyard spaces with custom designed furniture.

It is the combination of these initiatives that create an intuitive feeling of wayfinding and belonging that sets a benchmark for future client projects.

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Compositionally, the building program is skilfully configured around a Donnybrook –stone-clad civic spine. This contains a hair and beauty salon, gymnasium with hydrotherapy pool and suites for allied as well as primary health providers that are all also accessible to the wider community, thereby engaging potential future residents.

Attached to this is the community hall – a voluminous, light-filled space with understated detailing and unimpeded window-to-wall views into a large courtyard garden. The hall is inviting, large and comfortable enough to accommodate a myriad of simultaneous social interactions and moments. At the time of visiting, the two gentlemen conversing by the corner piano, mother and son reading on one of the elegant timber tables, and the event taking place to one side.

Likewise, the garden actively provides multiple opportunities and experiences for use by residents, and encourages play by visiting young children – thus positively shaping their own memories in turn.

allows for both ease of mobility across the various residential wings but also discretely places the basement level parking at the lower end of the site.

The insulated cavity-brick residential suites themselves owe their interior design inspiration more from the likes of luxury apartments, hotel rooms or even wellness centres. Pleasantly, little of these thoughtful qualities are lost in the high-dependency care units to the south, including residents with dementia.

More than anything, then and particularly at a time when aged care has come under immense media attention, there is a deeply inspiring sense of dignity in the architecture and landscape pervading this project. And it is this sense of dignity that not only respects, prides and celebrates the achievements of its residents but diligently brings all of its users and visitors into the fold as well. ■

From the hall, the ground floor building spaces all sit cleverly at the same level, negating the need for ramps or stairs. This not only

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KARINGAL GREEN HEALTH AND AGED CARE COMMUNITY HASSELL PHOTOGRAPHER: Douglas Mark Black @douglasmarkblack Fabrizio Lipari Photography @fabriziolipari_ Rob Frith / Acorn Photography ARCHITECT www.hassellstudio.com Email: perth@hassellstudio.com Instagram: @hassell_studio DESIGN TEAM Hassell Architecture Team members: Jeff Menkens (Principal in Charge), Toni Neck, Mark Keltie, John O’Brien, Kahla Murphy, Gus Purusha | Hassell Interior Design Team members: Jonathan Lake (Principal in Charge), Sonja Taneska, Beatriz Perez, Rachel Jansze | Hassell Landscape Architecture Team members: Natalie Busch (Principal in Charge), Rocelyn Crowe, Jill Turpin KEY CONSULTANTS Project Management and Superintendent: Donald Cant Watts Corke | Quantity Surveyor: Ralph Beattie Bosworth | Structural & Civil Engineer: Pritchard Francis | Mechanical Engineer: Link Engineering Consultants | Electrical & Vertical Transport Engineer: Engineering Technology Consultants | Hydraulic and Wet Fire: Phoenix Hydraulic Design | Food Beverage & Laundry Consultant: Sangster Design Group | Planning: Element | BCA & DDA: Philip Chun | ESD Consultant: Lucid Consulting Australia | Fire Engineering: Xero Fire | Acoustic Consultant: Herring Storer Acoustics | Traffic Consultant: GTA Consultants |

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Bushfire Consultant: RUIC Fire | Waste Management: Bowman and Associates | Aquatic Consultant: Commercial Aquatics Australia | Height Safety Design: Altura | Flora, Vegetation and Fauna Consultant: Ecological Australia BUILDER Broad Construction Pty Ltd / Completion date: March 2020 SITE 53 Hawkevale Road, High Wycombe, Western Australia Sqm site: 18,055 sqm | Sqm build: 19,300 sqm

KEY SUPPLIERS Cabinetwork: Domain Interiors, Frontline Interiors, Furntech (WA) | Floors: Shaw Carpets, RC+D, Tarkett Feature Rugs: Jenny Jones Timber flooring: Planet timbers | Lighting: Feature lighting by Articolo, General Lighting by Unios & Erco | Windows and Doors: Aluminium Windows and Doors by Concept Windows, Timber Doors and Frames by Spence Doors | Exterior cladding: Bricks: Midland Brick, Sandstone Cladding by Rural Stone Company, Sunscreens & Louvres by Arcadia, Prefinished CFC by CSR Cemintel

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COMMUNITY / GLOBAL

Climate change and the architectural profession

By Ross Donaldson Parts of this article are drawn from the Co-ordinated Climate Action Plan (C-Cap) report to National Council of the Australian Institute of Architects by Donaldson, Brogden and McLeod and Holland on behalf of CAST (the Instituteʼs Climate Action and Sustainability Taskforce), recommending the Institute adopt the target of 2030 for decarbonising the Australian Construction Industry.1 This target was endorsed by National Council in November 2020.

One of the key aspects of elevating the conversation from sustainability to climate change is to shift the thinking from what is feasible to what is necessary to avoid catastrophic changes to the environment.

The 2021 IPCC report and COP26 both illustrate that it may soon be too late. Even among past sceptics, there is now widespread admission that climate change is already happening. But there remains an implicit on-going denial of the science which predicted climate change. By not acknowledging that the science is clearly telling us of the immediacy of the crisis – that the focus should be on 2030 for the fundamental shifts necessary rather than the more nebulous target of 2050 – this leads to unfounded optimism that industry will deliver the solution.

We need major reductions in carbon emissions by 2030 and right now the trend has shifted in the wrong direction.

So what are the extreme risks identified by the current science?

Heiss Zeit, German 2018 word of the year, meaning hothouse earth.

In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Global Warming of 1.5°C report, which stated that “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes necessary to limit global warming to 1.5°C.2 Known for its conservative climate change modelling, IPCC projections have been 80

consistently exceeded since the first assessment report in 1990. Based on the most recent predictions from the IPCC, if levels continue to rise at the current rate, 91 scientists and policy experts from 44 countries agreed with high confidence that global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052. In fact, the World Meteorological Organisation has warned that this limit may be temporarily exceeded as early as 2024 due to an El Niño weather pattern (Canadell & Jackson, 2020).3 The questions around climate change no longer centre on whether impacts will be felt, but rather, how extreme those impacts will be. The Global Warming of 1.5°C has an arresting undertone of urgency in the authors’ insistence of real and significant threats faced.

It highlights that – even if we enact immediate change – we face significant disruption.

There is an increasingly compelling body of evidence that the timeline for decarbonising the economy is required in advance of the much-discussed target of 2050 and this was stated with even greater urgency in the 2021 IPCC report. Research published by the Potsdam Institute4 argues the absolute imperative for action to decarbonise the global economy in the next 10 to 20 years (Steffen, 2018). A lesser target cannot be contemplated.

In the last 2.5 to 3 million years (the Pleistocene), when the earth looked roughly like it does now, the earth’s temperature never exceeded that of the pre-industrial period by 2°C, despite all major disruptions over this

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time. The earth has managed to regulate the impact of greenhouse gases naturally within a very narrow band of variance. That is, up until now.

After 150 years we are at risk of destroying that balance permanently. The earth is warming at 170 times faster than in the previous 7000 years of the Holocene interglacial period. The Potsdam work indicates that a 2°C increase (today at 1.2°C) risks being the tipping point with a potential shift from a self-cooling mechanism to an unstoppable and irreversible selfheating system and a pathway to Heiss Zeit (hothouse earth), where the temperature is between 4°C to 8°C higher and oceans are 10 to 60m higher, rendering much of the earth uninhabitable.

Clearly this is a risk we cannot contemplate.

National Construction Code Given the construction industry is responsible for nearly 40% of emissions, it is a prime target for getting on track to a zero carbon economy.

Carbon emissions occur across: • the carbon embodied in the manufacture of the materials used in their construction • the transport of materials to site • the energy used in construction • the energy consumed in the operation of buildings across their lifecycle • the energy and carbon associated with their end of life (and hopefully extending its life through its repurposing rather than demolition).

The urgency requires that the changes cannot be left to individual initiatives to decarbonise. The necessary pace of change requires regulatory assistance. A key part of the regulatory pathway to zero carbon will be the National Construction Code (NCC) moving towards limiting operational and embodied carbon in all buildings. This should address whole of life carbon – all carbon generated across the lifecycle of a building. .

1. This report can be found at https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209841/ 2. IPCC (2018). Global Warming of 1.5°C Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Source: https:// www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ 3. Canadell, P. & Jackson, R. (2020). Earth may temporarily pass dangerous 1.5oC warming limit by 2024, major new report says. Source: https://theconversation.com/earthmay-temporarily-pass-dangerous-1-5-warming-limit-by-2024major-new-report-says-145450 4. Source: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/33/8252 COMMUNITY_GLOBAL / CLIMATE CHANGE – THE ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION

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COMMUNITY / GLOBAL Life Cycle Assessment The construction industry offers the opportunity for moving more rapidly than other elements of the economy. In considering the pathway for managing carbon in the construction industry downwards, measuring the current performance of buildings is crucial. Measuring the whole of life carbon is called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

To capitalise on this opportunity in a feasible and equitable way, we need to make some quick advances in building the practice across the industry for measuring whole of life carbon, including LCA modelling at the design stage.

In the United Kingdom, the Building Regulations (2010) last year released its Part Z, mandating LCA reporting for all buildings other than residential by 1 January 2022 (with residential reporting set for 2023) with the intention of commencing performance targets by 2027, trending to zero over subsequent years.

We need to follow this example and commence measuring the performance of our buildings.

We need to set realistic target benchmarks for performance and begin the process of raising these benchmark targets over a number of years towards the ultimate goal of zero. An example of a draft timeline is provided below.

This means we need all new buildings to be providing LCAs for building designs at Development Approval (DA) stage and subsequently in applying for a building license. To begin, we could involve a number of Local Government Authorities in a pilot process in advance of the procedure being regulated within the NCC. This would initially involve requiring that all new projects submit LCAs as part of their DA packages. In the first instance, this would create an invaluable database across many projects of the current levels of whole of life carbon across all building uses. Collated data would assist in the next step of setting benchmark levels according to building types. Subsequently this could be extended for all major refurbishments.

Conducting a number of these pilots around the country would form a crucial database for moving to mandatory reporting and eventually setting requisite performance targets within the NCC. Once reporting is in place, a direction can be set for a pathway to zero through subsequent reviews of the NCC, sequentially elevating the performance levels towards zero.

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Interestingly there is already one local government requiring LCAs to be submitted with DAs. The City of Vincent has been running this process for a number of years and now requires the achievement of certain benchmark thresholds of CO2/m2 according to building typology.

New Australian Standard Underpinning the proposed new NCC requirements will be the need for a new Australian Standard guiding consistency in measurement and reporting. Much of current LCA practice stands on the European Standard EN15978 and others. The UK Part Z also refers to this standard. It will be important to get a new Australian Standard written in advance of NCC changes and a logical and simple strategy would be a modification of EN15978.

A potential timeline pathway could look something like: 2022

Piloting LCA reporting in a number of leading Local Government Authorities across Australia.

2022

New Australian Standard for LCAs

2023/24 Lobbying the Australian Building Construction Board (ABCB) and state minister and state planning authorities to introduce mandatory reporting into the 2025 review of the NCC for all new building projects nationally 2025

NCC requires all new building license applications to submit LCA reporting

2027

NCC sets benchmark performance thresholds for whole of life carbon across all building types.

Performance thresholds could be elevated incrementally towards zero by: 2030

All new buildings have zero operational energy/carbon and a 50% reduction in embodied carbon

2035

All new buildings have zero whole of life carbon.

(Individual Local Governments Authorities could also of course offer development incentives for achieving zero earlier).

Of course there is nothing stopping individual architects initiating LCAs as part of their practice, getting ahead of the market. Arup have already announced that globally they will be doing LCAs for all their projects. ■

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“Becoming carbon neutral has enhanced unified targets around sustainability, which we’re working towards together” CO-AP Architecture team.

The Australian Institute of Architects is supporting all members in their shift to becoming carbon neutral.

www.architecture.com.au/about/carbonneutral Photographer: Ross Honeysett

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2022 The Year of Design for Health

By Warren Kerr Over the past two years, the global pandemic has changed how we live, travel, and work. It has altered how we use and navigate space, what we expect regarding safety and sanitation, and the way we greet and meet with strangers, friends and family members.

Some of these changes will outlast the pandemic itself, but as we investigate these aspects, the future is ripe for rethinking. What will smart, safe, and healthy design look like in a post-vaccine, post-pandemic world?

How can architects meet these changing demands?

Every crisis provides an opportunity and while none of us would wish for a pandemic, it does provide an opportunity for architects to demonstrate the importance of their knowledge and skills to create design value for our clients and our community in creating a healthier built environment for future generations.

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Research in this field commenced when health architects investigated how they could design hospitals to positively influence beneficial health outcomes in the patients accommodated in these facilities. Since 1957, the UIA Public Health Group has provided the international forum for the world’s architects to share this information and research.

From its foundation, a decisive factor in the work of the International Union of Architects Public Health Work Program, known widely as the Public Health Group (UIA-PHG) has been the continuous dialogue and close collaboration with the leading international

To provide leadership in this quest, the International Union of Architects (UIA) has declared 2022 as the Year of Design for Health. At the World Congress of Architects held in Rio De Janeiro during July last year, the UIA General Assembly (composed of representatives from all 104 UIA member nations), approved a request from the UIA Public Health Group in conjunction with the World Health Organisation to designate 2022 as the Year of Design for Health.

associations representing health and hospital care

The objective of this initiative is to focus the attention of the architectural profession on its role in facilitating a built environment which not only mitigates unhealthy practices but promotes and enhances health through evidence-based design.

administrators and providers, health care

organisations. Further information regarding the UIA Public Health Group and its history is available from its website at https://www.uia-phg.org/ To accomplish its objectives, the UIA-PHG believes that it should share its knowledge and experience not only between the member countries participating in the work of the Group but also with other architects, engineers and consultants, healthcare organizations and government health departments.

It also initiates its own research projects where required to contribute to better healthcare buildings and environments.

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Since its inception, the Public Health Group has established a close working relationship with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Hospital Federation (IHF). The UIA PHG has also collaborated with the IHF on specific research projects of interest to both organisations. The most recent was the joint publication of a research paper on reducing hospital cost through better design.

During 2022 the Year of the Design for Health, the UIA Public Health Group wishes to promote an approach to architectural design that considers three fundamental aspects when undertaking any design:

From its traditional, relatively narrow emphasis on healthcare design, over recent years the UIA Public Health Group has focused more broadly on design for health, of which health facility design is an important part, but only a part. In broadening its mandate, the Public Health Group has recognised that every building, fitout, landscape, cityscape, or urban redevelopment, at any scale impacts the health of the people who experience it.

• How does this design DEVELOP better health, (for example ensuring that materials used in residential projects minimise heat gain in summer), and

During the pandemic, the health impacts of building design have become acutely evident, especially for those quarantined in city hotels who contracted Covid-19 from other detainees through inadequate ventilation systems or unsatisfactory alignment of entries to rooms.

In this context, health design becomes a broader concern potentially including every project being done by every architectural design practice. If we recognise that every project design produced by the architectural profession impacts the health of the people who use these buildings and spaces, then we must also accept that we have an ethical responsibility to understand the impact of these design decisions.

One of the key initiatives of the Year of Design for Health is therefore to promote the need for additional research in this area. An American doctor Richard Jackson, MD, MPH, Hon AIA has led the cause for improved research and understands the power of design to impact health. The host of a four-part television series in the USA, “Designing Healthy Communities”, he is fond of challenging his audiences at architectural conferences with this question-andanswer sequence: Q. Do architects realise that they are health professionals?

A. They should … because they are.

• How does this design PROTECT health (for example, by ensuring that hotels and public buildings are safe to use),

• How does this design RESTORE health once it is impaired (for example through the design of hospitals and other health facilities) Research is becoming an indispensable skillset for the contemporary practitioner, and during 2022 design impacting health will be a focus of that research.

Many recognise that the architectural profession is rapidly moving towards a research-driven design model of practice, one not peppered with moments of brilliant discovery, but saturated with widespread streams of rigorous evidence-based insights. It is a transition that is now slowly gaining momentum in all design specialties. The aim of the Year of Design for Health is to “turbo-charge” this movement to create lasting change in the creation of design value for our clients.

This objective will guide the development of the events and programs throughout 2022 overseen by an International Steering Committee comprising members of the UIA Public Health Group. Further information regarding these initiatives is available from both the UIA PHG and the UIA at https://www.uia-architectes.org/ webApi/en/ Through this initiative, the International Union of architects is calling for architects all over the world to acknowledge the power of evidence-based design to promote health in buildings and cities.

In the WA Chapter, a Steering Committee is being formed to coordinate a program of events and activities to further these initiatives during 2022.

Further information is available from Australia’s representative on the UIA Public Health Group, Warren Kerr through Hames Sharley in Perth. ■

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An architect inhabits every home – every room and every space – in their mind, before the finished outcome. We walk every hallway, open every window and stand in every kitchen. We ask ourselves, over and over - do we feel welcome here? Would we enjoy working, living and being here? In doing so, we know that when the building is built and our clients move in, the answer to every important question is already answered.

‘Living Architecture’ showcases the role that architects play in making a difference to their clients’ lives and provides useful insights into the process and experience of working with a design professional.

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The Coombs House | The Mill Design | Photographer: Kasey Funnell

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COMMUNITY / NATIONAL

Advocacy Update

By Beata Davey

National Policy and Advocacy Manager The Western Australian Chapter continued its strong advocacy, cross-industry collaboration, and member engagement throughout 2021.

The event calendar debuted with a first: State Election Breakfast, co-hosted with the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture (AILA), featuring Hon Rita Saffioti (Labor), Hon Tjorn Sibma (Liberal) and Dr Brad Pettitt (Greens), as facilitated by Cr Sandy Anghie, Deputy Mayor, City of Perth. The event was a sell-out success with many questions focused on density, requirement for an updated MRS, transparent and consistent planning system and moving towards zero carbon-built environment.

Further to our successful campaign in 2020, alongside AILA and Engineers Australia, we engaged with Construction Training Fund’s (CTF) Stage 1 consultation of the Statutory Review of the Building and Construction Industry Training Fund and Levey Collection Act 1990, with a focus of ensuring architects, engineers and landscape architects have future access to BCITF funds for training.

We continued our strong collaboration with the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage at various levels of stakeholder engagement and consultation with regards to planning reform. We continued to be a key stakeholder in workshops and focus groups in the formulation of medium density policy, Design Approval Panel reform, and the formation of Planning Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit. This culminated in two key submissions: joint submission with the ACA SPP7.3: Medium Density and Action for Planning Reform Phase 2.

Following the great workshops held the previous year, we also made a submission in response to Foundations a stronger tomorrow – State Infrastructure Strategy.

Our response was focused on themes of co-creation COMMUNITY_NATIONAL / ADVOCACY UPDATE

of WA’s infrastructure with First Nations people, total sustainability outlook towards net zero-carbon built environment, management of urban sprawl, leveraging digital transformation and addressing WA’s affordable housing crisis.

We also continued our collaboration with the Department of Building and Energy, supporting them with the implementation of the Building Confidence Report, and advocating for a competency-based system in response to the proposed implementation of the National Registration Framework for Building Designers.

Our media engagement continued its healthy growth throughout the year, with regular fortnightly President segment on ABC 720 radio, continued press coverage on themes of density, heritage, and the importance of good design in our built environment.

The WA Awards media coverage and social media engagement has also continued its growth trajectory, with increased engagement with general public through the launch of the WA People’s Choice Award, digital exhibition in Yagan Square, dedicated website and social media campaigns.

We were fortunate to have comparably low impact to our events thoughout the year with many successful sell-out events including: International Women’s Day Luncheon at Living Edge showroom, EMAGN 3 Over 4 Under talk series at Hames Sharley offices, the Awards Exhibition Launch at Yagan Square and Celebrating Architecture Party at the Westin.

We acknowledge the support, engagement and guidance of our valued members, and we thank all those who have volunteered on committees and advisory groups throughout the year. We thank the Architect magazine editorial committee who continued with the successful WA Homes Edition. ■ 87

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Ongoing deliberate moves will make Perth sassy and somewhat unpredictable year-round

By Marion Fulker PHOTOGRAPHY: KELLY PILGRIM-BYRNE

Cities are often described by commentators as living organisms, capitals of commerce and the epicentre of culture, to name but a few views. Unilaterally they are labelled as ‘complex’.

During the pandemic, these complex systems where civic spaces, buildings, workplaces, capital, ideas, roads, footpaths, laneways, cars, bikes, buses, trains, retail and hospitality venues intersect, have lacked their essential ingredient – people. It is people who bring life, colour and movement to cities – without them, they lack a beating heart.

As a result, cities have recently become the most talkedabout places on the planet. The oft-asked question is – will they or won’t they go back to their former glory?

And despite more than a year of deliberations, the jury is still out.

In 2008, the Committee for Perth led a process to embed arts and culture into our everyday lives which resulted in the landmark report – A Cultural Compact. At a consultation session, some 250 people put pen to paper and wrote a description of the Perth they wanted to live in. A number were read out and the one that has remained prominent in my mind was ‘I want to live in a Perth that doesn’t make me want to divorce it and marry Melbourne instead’.

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Back then, Melbourne was the hottest city in the country and from 2011 for seven consecutive years, it was recognised as the world’s most liveable. In the past year, it became known as the world’s most locked-down city.

A label I am sure it doesn’t relish but will be recorded in the annuals of time along with its highpoints.

Each city has its own persona such as Paris known as the city of love, Rome as the eternal city and New York as the city that never sleeps. A few words conjure up distinct images and feelings about each place.

At a FACET forum over a decade ago, myself and two other panellists had a go at describing Perth’s persona.

I went first and described Perth as a white middle-aged businessman wearing a suit who was stuck in his ways and resistant to change. The Former Lord Mayor disagreed saying that, to her mind, Perth was a girl on the verge of womanhood with all the promise that brings. Lastly, planning guru, the late Ruth Durack was just as forceful in her view that Perth was a menopausal woman who was in a 40-year marriage to a man she hates.

With many cheers and jeers at our offerings, these three very different points of view show just how varied the opinion of Perth was at that moment in time.

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Since then Perth has been adorned. She has a new stadium that has been recognised as the world’s most beautiful. By sinking the railway, she has been reconnected with Northbridge for the first time in 100 years. Her prized waterfront is being developed. A national centre of Aboriginal Culture is also being planned.

To my mind, Perth is at her very best during summer.

When long hot days end in still warm nights. Festival season brings a critical mass of people which creates a heightened vibrancy. At this time, Perth is sassy and somewhat unpredictable. That’s when she’s my kind of gal.

We must act on the many plans for Perth to ensure she’s that city all year round. It won’t happen by accident and ongoing deliberate moves are necessary to give Perth the swagger she deserves. ■

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Cast into the shadows, not cast in bronze: The forgotten women in Perthʼs built landscape

By Toni Church and Jessie Moore PHOTOGRAPHY: KELLY PILGRIM-BYRNE AND JESSIE MOORE

“A city is a book we read by wandering its streets, a text that favours one version of history and suppresses others, enlarges your identity or reduces it, makes you feel important or disposable depending on who you are and what you are” (Rebecca Solnit, 2017).

Cities are coded masculine. Walk through the central business district of Perth and you will see only four female statues – a feminist, a nun, a naked child and a mother kangaroo. These are not representative of the diversity and impactful legacy of women in our city. Despite a public art strategy that engages and includes the city’s diverse community and commitment to strategically addressing gaps, they remain the only physical representation of women’s contributions to our modern state capital.

Public history and built heritage, and as an extension collective memory and identity, have not evolved alongside our changing cultural landscape. Statues are a small part of our built heritage and public memory, but they are a significant physical representation of our society’s values. These societal values are translated into the very fabric and foresight of the ways our cities are designed and played back to us in subtle but telling inclusions in the state’s collective narrative. What is important is remembered and represented in urban planning, and what is invisible is forgotten.

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A city’s built environment is the combined result of ongoing, dynamic and iterative processes involved in the planning, design and construction of the public realm. Women have been excluded at all levels of these globalised processes, including but not limited to decision-making. There are numerous accounts of how women’s participation in built environment planning and development processes is limited and how urban planning zoning practices impact the gendered experiences of a city (Beebeejaun, Y. 2017; Rebecca Egan, 2017). These missing voices mean that, even now, we live with a built form that reflects and reinforces patriarchal legacies of historical exclusion.

The built environment in which we live has not long benefited from diverse voices in its production.

The result is a city that does not celebrate women and does not effectively communicate a sense of belonging for women. The literal representation of women in statues is one visible example.

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Outnumbered by animals: The state of statues in the City of Perth “In this country, there are more statues of animals than there are of real Australian women”, wrote Tracey Spicer in an editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald in September 2017. Spicer’s editorial targeted the lack of physical representation, including language, used to commemorate non-fictional, non-Royal women who have been publicly cast as statues across Australia. She argued that this “marble ceiling” conveys that women’s contribution to public life is not worthy of recognition.

Nilanjana Roy’s editorial in the Financial Times a few months earlier called out the persistent “statue gap” of the modern era. She further argued that such visual silence in our cities “goes beyond political correctness: what children and teenagers see of the world shapes their view of it, their sense of the place they should occupy. It is not enough to have women’s images reflected only in billboards and advertisements – they must also be part of historical memory”.

It was in this spirit that in August 2021, then Deputy Lord Mayor of Perth Sandy Anghie surveyed statues in Perth’s central business district. She found that along the main arteries of Hay Street and St Georges Terrace, there are 20 statues of men and only one female statue: a kangaroo with two joeys. Further into the CBD, there is a statue of early twentieth-century feminist and social activist Bessie Rischbieth at Elizabeth Quay, Catholic Mother Superior Ursula Frayne at Victoria Square and a naked nine-year-old Judith Fyfe perched on a windowsill in Howard Street. Sandy’s resulting motion to council calling for a considered increase in statues and funding for monuments to significant women in our history was defeated.

Further afield, a study by Toni Church, author of this opinion, of 50 statues and monuments in Kings Park found that only six are dedicated to women. There is the figurative female and child of the Pioneer Women’s Memorial (and fountain) and the inclusion of returned ex-servicewomen at the cenotaph. There is a pavilion for the suffragettes and Bessie Rischbieth received a

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bench and water fountain. There is only one statue of a historical woman in more than 400 hectares of Kings Park – Queen Victoria.

During this centenary year of her admission to parliament as the first woman to represent a constituency (and only the second in the British Empire), it is interesting to note that Edith Cowan is only physically remembered with a clock tower outside the gates to Kings Park. This is believed to be the first civic monument to honour an Australian woman. However, at the time of the monument’s proposal, after Cowan’s death in 1932, her contribution to public life and her community was not deemed nationally significant. So, her memorial did not qualify for inclusion in the park.

It seems today, despite gender parity having been reached in the 2021 Western Australian Parliament, women are still knocking at the gates of public memorialisation.

A Call to Action “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and when, they are created by everybody” (Jane Jacobs, 1961).

Several high-level strategies, considerations and actions have supported improving the representation of women in our city’s public spaces. This article is not intended to denigrate this much-needed action.

Rather, by drawing attention to the lack of physical representation of women in Perth, we hope to stimulate further discussion in the broader community about our city’s values and how these can be meaningfully translated into the built landscape.

There is a role to play for each level of government in developing a more representative built environment in Perth. The City of Perth is responsible for implementing its public art strategy and providing support for local

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action. The state government has a role in ensuring that Perth, as the state capital, accurately reflects the state’s diverse history. The federal Member for Perth, Patrick Gorman, has been campaigning extensively for more statues of prominent women in our capital city.

In particular, Gorman is seeking federal funding for a statue of Dorothy Tangney, Western Australia’s first woman federal Member of Parliament.

Direct community action is also important. Individual community members, particularly in professions that influence public spaces such as architecture, are encouraged to consider how their work can increase the diversity of physical representation in our city streets. Certainly, there is precedent in the art world.

South African artist and activist Sethembile Msezane uses her practice of performance art to confront existing monuments and uses her physical activism to pose important questions related to gender, power, self-representation, history-making and repatriation.

Msezane’s guerrilla performances are unsanctioned, and their value is in her actively turning away from procedural practice and its inherent barriers that block intersectional representation. It is time for the city’s community to take responsibility for how it sees and shapes itself.

There is no single answer to rectify the silencing and erasure of women’s presence in our public history.

Statues are a minor symptom of wider socio-cultural normalcy that we slowly broaden and diversify with each generation. This is a dynamic process with no fixed endpoint. Just as the city is a palimpsest, continually evolving and changing with its citizenry, so too is our public memory and collective identity.

Discussion is progress. We hope that by working together to draw in community engagement with this topic, future city development and evolution can be as exciting and diverse as our beloved city of Perth. ■

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URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNERS TAKE ACTION ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2020-2021, AT ST MARTIN’S PLACE, PERTH.

NOTES – Anghie, Sandy (2021) “Notice of Motion – Deputy Lord Mayor Sandy Anghie – Statue(s) honouring women in the City of Perth,” Ordinary Council Meeting Minutes, City of Perth, 31 August 2021, 126-127.

– Beebeejaun, Y. (2017). Gender, urban space, and the right to everyday life.

Journal of Urban Affairs, 39(3), 323–334. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166 .2016.1255526; and including but not limited to: Listerborn, C. (2007). Who speaks? And who listens? The relationship between planners and women’s participation in local planning in a multi-cultural urban environment.

Geojournal, 70(1), 61– 74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41148207; Ortiz Escalante, S., & Gutiérrez Valdivia, B. (2015). Planning from below: Using feminist participatory methods to increase women’s participation in urban planning Gender and Development, 23(1), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/1 3552074.2015.1014206; Sandercock, L. (2003). Cosmopolis II mongrel cities of the 21st century. London: Continuum.

– Cowan, Edith https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/ government---state/display/60988-edith-cowan.

– Egan, Rebecca (2017) “Zoning Practices and the Gendered Experience of Urban Space: A Perth and Vancouver Comparative”, completed as part of an Urban and Regional Planning Master’s degree in 2017.

– Gorman, Patrick (2020) “Tangney Statue Call”, The Perth Voice, 6 November 2020, https://perthvoiceinteractive.com/2020/11/06/tangney-statue-call/.

– Kings Park & Botanic Garden, “Memorials and Statues Map,” Government of Western Australia, https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kings-park/visit/maps-andtransport/memorials-and-statues; “Memorials,” Government of Western Australia, https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kings-park/visit/history/memorials; Monument Australia, “Pioneer Women’s Memorial,”http://monumentaustralia. org.au/display/61018-pioneer-womens-memorial; “Bessie Rischbieth,”http:// monumentaustralia.org.au/display/60971-bessie-rischbieth.

– Msezane, Sethembile (2020) “We don’t need statues - we can preserve our history in more memorable ways,” TED, 17 July 2020, https://ideas.ted.com/ we-dont-need-statues-we-can-preserve-our-history-in-more-memorableways/; Sethembile Msezane, “Living sculptures that stand for history’s truths,” TEDGlobal 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/sethembile_msezane_living_ sculptures_that_stand_for_history_s_truths?language=en.

– Roy, Nilanjana (2017) “Why Aren’t There More Statues of Women?,” Financial Times, 7 June 2017. https://www.ft.com/content/2f9137c6-49ff-11e7-a3f4c742b9791d43 – Solnit, Rebecca (2017) “The Monument Wars,” Harper’s Magazine, January 2017 https://harpers.org/archive/2017/01/the-monument-wars/ – Spicer, Tracey (2017) “Why Aren’t More Women Immortalised in Stone?,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September 2017. https://www.smh.com. au/lifestyle/tracey-spicer-why-arent-more-women-immortalised-in-stone20170928-gyqm59.html

– Jacobs, Jane (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961), 312.

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Women and architecture: Thoughts of an emerging architect

By Louise Ward PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERON ENTWISTLE

Louise is the recipient of the 2021 WA Emerging Architect Award. She is a Project Architect at Hillam Architects, chair of the WA Gender Equity Taskforce, member of the Curtin Architects Advisory Board, Chapter Councillor at the Australian Institute of Architects WA, and member of the National Committee for Gender Equity. She is also an unapologetic feminist and proud woman of colour.

My journey in architecture started from a young age.

My journey in feminism started earlier. In this article I share my personal experiences, opinions, and advice for other young women through a collection of thought snippets. Everyone’s experience is different and so while your experience may differ from mine, I hope by sharing what I have learnt so far that it may help others along their way.

In one of my first interviews for an architectural position, I vividly remember being told architecture is an old man’s profession. I don’t believe there was any malice – it was simply an experienced architect stating a fact, possibly as an attempt to manage my expectations. I’ve thought about this conversation many times.

And for the most part – they were right.

While studying architecture I worked a casual job in a large department store in the lingerie department.

Except for our floor manager, my colleagues were all women. When I started working in an architecture

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practice, it felt as if I had transferred to the men’s section. Where were all the women?

If you’ve been working for a while now, you know there are several answers to that question. But as a graduate it was somewhat overwhelming and disheartening. At university the numbers of men and women were about equal, but in the profession women, and particularly women in senior positions, were noticeably lacking and still are. A lack of role models that look like me, made the path forward seem difficult.

Let’s talk about the facts.

There are currently 1399 registered architects in WA and 340 of them are female according to the Architect’s Board of Western Australia as of October 2021. That’s 24%. The split between men and women in the Australian population is roughly 50/50 and female architecture graduates across Australia make up 47% (Parlour Census Report 2001-2016). So, what is happening between when women graduate from architecture and when they become registered?

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Well, I can say that one contributing factor must be the gender pay gap. While there are equal numbers of men and women working full time in architecture in the 25 to 29 age-bracket, the women are earning 5% less than men. And this gap only increases with age – out to 15% (Parlour Census Report 2001-2016).

Directors, if you think the pay gap does not exist in your practice, can I challenge you to undertake a blind salary audit of your business? I think you will be surprised.

This data is taken from the national census. If you think the pay gap doesn’t exist, then you must also believe that the data in the census is inaccurate. If every single practice could do a blind audit and then adjustment of their salaries, we would be in a much better position.

Instead of being one of the industries dragging behind in the worst state for pay gap inequality, we could be leaders. I think that’s a legacy worth fighting for.

Anecdotally through personal conversations with young graduates, particularly women, I’ve discussed salaries.

I often hear excuses for why they haven’t gotten a pay rise. Don’t make excuses for yourself. Your employer can give reasons not to give you a pay rise. You need to make a case for why you should be given one! And in my experience, it is more often than not the women making the excuses for themselves (or failing to be assertive) whereas men confidently ask for pay rises and far more frequently.

We should all be pushing for a better paid profession.

So, we’ve got a long way to go to improve things in the profession. I’ve touched on some things that studio leaders can do but what about if you’re a young woman (or graduate) making your way?

I’m just at the beginning of my old man’s profession but so far these are the three key things that have helped me to advance my career (and this applies irrespective of gender):

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1. Get a mentor I was fortunate and extremely grateful to be well supported both growing up and early in my career with good mentors within my firm and externally.

These were women and men who helped me to focus on important things like goal setting, identifying my strengths and weaknesses as well as advice on how to approach tricky situations or difficult conversations at work.

Goal setting also helps to clearly visualise the future and what to work towards. When we have difficulty visualising the future, we struggle to find motivation to continue through difficulty and adversity.

I can’t recommend having a mentor enough.

Externalising thoughts and aspirations in a safe space free from judgement is an extremely important process for development and growth.

2. Get involved and say yes to things As a young graduate, I went along to several industry events. It was at one of these events that someone suggested I get involved with the Australian Institute of Architects. From there I stumbled into various roles and said yes to things that pushed me out of my comfort zone such as chairing committees, public speaking and even being asked to write this opinion piece. The times where I have felt completely uncomfortable are the times where I’ve grown the most, both as a person and professionally as a young architect. While work can be all encompassing, there are bigger things at play such as the state of our profession. Being involved in conversations around our state’s planning process, climate change and gender equity have only further informed what I do at work.

Additionally, participating and being involved in professional bodies outside of work has helped me

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to grow my network. We work in a small industry, and it is so much more enriched and enjoyable when you have relationships with people.

3. Get registered “Gaining registration is an important milestone in architecture. Careers research has found that credentials such as registration particularly matter for women in the progression of their careers” (Parlour Census Report 2001-2016).

There is no such thing as too much education and there is no good reason to not get registered. It’s an empowering, awesome feeling to get recognition for all that hard work over many years of study. It was also a really good way to ensure that my career began with diverse experiences.

When I ask friends why they haven’t registered they often say it’s because they feel they haven’t got enough experience in the right areas yet. I am not suggesting that graduates should rush out and get registered straight after university. However, if you are a graduate with five or more years’ experience and you haven’t got the right experience for registration, I suggest you have a frank, robust conversation with your employer and failing that – move to another practice that will give you the opportunity to get the right experience.

In addition to undergoing a variety of experiences, the registration process helped to boost my confidence. It’s an assurance that you’re moving in the right direction and despite what people say, it does improve your reputation and how seriously people take you. It also gives you a thorough understanding of the legal implications and responsibilities of an architect, which in turn encourages more deliberate decision making on the projects that you work on. I just want to clarify that

the emphasis here is on the registration process, and what the certificate represents not the actual piece of paper and registration number. The learning you go through while covering off different experiences during your logbook and while studying for the exam and interview is the most important part.

When I was asked to write this article, I wasn’t sure I had much to say or share. But then I thought about what it was like to start in architecture and if I can be helpful to someone else starting out then it is my responsibility to do what I can. I hope and encourage other architects to do the same.

I am only beginning my journey as an architect and am finding so much joy in the work I’m doing with the team, consultants, and clients. It’s worth pursuing and pushing through the difficulties and adversity because it is such a rewarding profession. Our privilege to design spaces for people to work, live and play, has such an important role for the future and we need young people to be a part of that. For all the young architects out there, don’t give up – it gets better.

One last little share.

Several times while studying architecture, and once while I was working, the phrase “you’ll never be an architect” was thrown at me. I chose not to listen. I chose resilience. I have four choice words from Kate Winslet for those men: “Look at me now”. ■

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Western Australiaʼs first female architect: Margaret Pitt Morison

By John J. Taylor

Margaret Lillian Pitt Morison (1900-1985) was born 3 December 1900 at Morriston, 18 Cecil Street, off Lincoln Street, North Perth, child of George Pitt Morison and Frances Margaret nee Somner, who had married in 1899. The Pitt portion of the name came from George’s mother’s side. George was born in Victoria, but when he first arrived in Western Australia after having studied art in France and Spain, obtained employment as a draftsman at the Lands Department. In line with his vocational aspirations, George was appointed an assistant director at the Art Gallery, Perth in 1906 and from 1915-1942 was curator of the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Margaret’s younger brothers, Donald Somner Morison and Bernard Seton Morison were born in 1903 and 1906 and did not adopt the use of the Pitt portion of their father’s name.

Margaret was educated at the Girls’ High School, overlooking the Swan River at Claremont (the school moved and become St Hilda’s, Mosman Park in 1930) and Perth Modern School. Unable to pursue her early interest in medicine as there was no medical school in Perth, Margaret began working as a secretary for Professor Hubert Whitfeld at the University of Western Australia, until Reginald Summerhayes suggested she consider architecture. She became articled to Reg’s father Edwin, although it took considerable persuasion by her father for Morison to be accepted as a student.

She said, in those days “it wasn’t conceived that a girl would want to take up architecture”.

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In April 1920 Margaret began her articles with Edwin Summerhayes, eventually completing her training with the practice Eales & Cohen. Western Australia’s first female architect, Morison registered in October 1924 (no.102) and in October 1925 left for the eastern states with her parents, “intending to enlarge her architectural experience”. She worked for a number of practices after moving to Melbourne, including Cedric Ballantyne, a reasonably large Melbourne practice. She studied at the University of Melbourne’s Architectural Atelier, “modelled on the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris”, and late in 1926 joined the office of the prominent practice A. & K. Henderson.

Planning to return to Melbourne, when possible, for family reasons Morison returned to her parents’ home at 6 Fraser Street Swanbourne in 1929, telling the West Australian in May of that year that things had improved for women seeking a career in architecture: “She has not so many things to work against, and the old prejudices are gradually disappearing. In Melbourne, at least, it is being recognised that there is a place for a woman in a drawing office, and that she can do a man’s work.” Margaret provided her resignation to the Architects Board in 1926, re-registering in August 1929 (no.129), soon followed by other female architects Nancy Allen (December 1932, no.138), Dorothea Hancock (December 1932, no.139), and Zoie Bennett (December 1933, no.142).

RETROSPECTIVE / WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FEMALE ARCHITECT: MARGARET PITT MORISON

RETROSPECTIVE A GROUP OF STUDENTS DOING THE 12-HOUR EN LOGE PROJECT, MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY ARCHITECTURAL ATELIER 1927. THE WOMEN PICTURED, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ARE ELLISON HARVIE, MARGERY HILL-WILLIS, MARGARET PITT MORISON AND ILSA WILLIAMS (FROM BULLETIN OF THE MUAA, 1928, P.6 – REPRODUCED IN WILLIS & HANNA, WOMEN ARCHITECTS IN AUSTRALIA 1900-1950, P.18).

Leighton lrwin, director of the Atelier, gave Morison a letter of introduction to F.G.B. Hawkins, who had moved from Melbourne to Perth in 1929. For the next two years Margaret was employed by Hawkins, her work including documenting the design of the Atlas Assurance Co Office. During the Depression she was retrenched and worked as a housekeeper for her brother Donald and his family at Doodlakine, while her sister-in-law was undergoing medical treatment. Margaret then joined the Poster Studios, a small commercial art business established by other out-of-work architects Harold Krantz, John Oldham and Colin Ednie-Brown. Despite hard times, the business was successful employing up to twenty architects and artists. In both 1931 and 1933 Margaret won prizes in the Ideal Homes competition, and in 1934 she began to work with Krantz on the design of the Myola Club in Claremont. Over the next few years, she worked predominantly for Oldham, Boas & Ednie-Brown on the Adelphi Hotel, Karrakatta Club and Emu Brewery.

The few female architects in Perth during the 1930s held a very strong bond within the overwhelmingly male-dominated profession of the time, and in July 1936 Morison joined Zoie Bennett and Nancy Allen at a luncheon to welcome visiting Melbourne architect Ellison Harvie, hospital design specialist and a leader in her field. The luncheon was probably instigated by Morison, who had recently holidayed in the eastern

states and had previously known Harvie from her time at the Atelier. By this time Dorothea Hancock had moved to England.

Morison and Harold Krantz as associate architects advertised tenders in May 1938 for a residence on the Esplanade at South Perth. While working with Krantz, Margaret met architect Heimann Jacobsohn (18991986), a Polish-born Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany who came to Australia in 1937. Finding common ideals, about 1938 Morison set up a practice with Jacobsohn and they worked together until 1942, producing designs for speculative builders and private clients, including the Marginata Flats on the north-west corner of Goderich and Hill Streets in Perth. Naturalised in late 1942, Jacobsohn joined Australian forces in the Second World War, then practising and teaching in Brisbane after his discharge in 1944. Among the substantial homes Margaret designed during the war was one for her father and herself at 71 Hobbs Avenue Dalkeith – Frances had died in 1941. From 1942 Margaret worked on war-related projects in the Commonwealth Department of Works and Allied Works Council.

She resigned her government position in protest after an injustice that reduced female salaries, and early in 1945 become Clerk of Works for Melbourne architect H. Vivian Taylor at the Australian Broadcasting Commission project in Perth. The project folded, and

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ABOVE: 4 DECEMBER 1980. MISS MARGARET PITT MORISON, PHOTOGRAPHED AT WORK ON HER 80TH BIRTHDAY AT THE DEPT OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. PICTURE COURTESY OF THE WEST AUSTRALIAN. RIGHT: MARGINATA FLATS ON THE NORTH-WEST CORNER OF GODERICH AND HILL STREETS IN PERTH (GOOGLE 2013).

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Morrison returned to Melbourne in September 1945 to continue working with Taylor. It appears that her father moved to his home state with Margaret and sadly, George died at South Yarra in September 1946. Postwar Melbourne was not as Morison remembered it, and she became dissatisfied in Taylor’s office. She decided to return to Perth in April 1948 and within months, was appointed as a lecturer within the fledgling architecture course at Perth Technical College (PTC). By 1949, Morison was first year studio master, lecturer in history, civic design and fine arts.

In 1953 Margaret stood as the Labor candidate for Nedlands in the state election, losing to the Liberals’ Charles Court, later the state’s premier. Despite the defeat, it was noted that a feature of the election in the conservative-dominated area was the heavy polling in favour of Morison. She remained at PTC until 1962, when she resigned after a colleague interfered with one of her subjects. From 1967 to 1971 she was assistant research officer in the planning department of the Perth City Council. During that period, Morison wrote a historical preface to a proposed statutory plan for Perth, which led to further historical work. Some brief periods of work during 1970 and 1971 in the School of Architecture at the University of Western Australia (UWA) led to her becoming a research officer on the state’s architectural history at UWA. In 1979, just before her eightieth birthday, she produced Western Towns and Buildings, co-edited with John White, a comprehensive study of nineteenth and twentieth century Western Australian architecture. In the same year Margaret was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

Margaret died at Nedlands on 12 December 1985, aged 85, and her ashes were scattered to the winds at Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park. Margaret’s career spanned 65 years as practitioner, educator and historian. She is remembered with great fondness by UWA students of the 1970s and early 1980s for her kind, steady nature, and her willingness and generosity in sharing knowledge gained from many years of research in WA. Marginata Flats on the north-west corner of Goderich and Hill streets in Perth, designed by Margaret, is currently being assessed by the Heritage Council for inclusion in the state register. ■

References: – ‘Our First Lady Architect’, Sunday Times, 26 October 1924, p.8.

– ‘Miss Margaret Pitt-Morison’, Sunday Times, 2 November 1924, p.3.

– Western Mail, 22 October 1925, p.27.

– ‘Study of Architecture: Miss Pitt-Morison’s Experience’, The West Australian, 17 May 1929, p.6.

– ‘Our Architecture’, The West Australian, 2 April 1931, p.14.

– ‘Ideal Homes – An Interesting Exhibition’, The West Australian, 8 June 1933, p.18.

– ‘Margaret Pitt-Morison’, Western Mail, 9 April 1936, p.28.

– ‘The Social Round’, Daily News, 22 July 1936, p.8.

– ‘Tenders’, The West Australian, 25 May 1938, p.11.

– ‘W.A. Electors Eject the Government from Office’, The West Australian, 16 February 1953, p.1.

– McCardell, Fred, ‘Famous Encounters - Margaret Pitt Morison 1901-1985, Pioneer Woman Architect’, The Architect, RAIA, WA Chapter, Summer 2001, pp.14-15.

– Julie Willis & Bronwyn Hanna, Women Architects in Australia 1900-1950, RAIA, Red Hill ACT, 2001, pp. 26-27.

– Matthews, Leonie, ‘My Brilliant Career’, The Architect, Australian Institute of Architects, WA Chapter, March 2009, pp.15-17.

RETROSPECTIVE / WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FEMALE ARCHITECT: MARGARET PITT MORISON

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Lifecyle by Living Edge

by Sandy Anghie As we seek to be more sustainable in everything we do, we have to look at existing blind spots. One of these is furniture. Current property lease structures and incentives mean itʼs often the case that most of a companyʼs fit-out will end up in landfill at the end of their tenancy – forming part of the estimated 30% of waste that the construction sector contributes to Australiaʼs overall landfill each year.

With this in mind, in 2008 Living Edge created a sustainability program it calls LivingOn. Lifecycle is the latest initiative in this program.

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However, there are some initiatives, trends and conversations in the industry that have the power to influence positive change.

While the concept of linear procurement considers the economic impacts of a purchase, such as the total cost of the product or service including the cost, quality, maintenance and repair costs and replacement parts, sustainable procurement initiatives consider much more. In particular, sustainable procurement involves: • Reviewing your demand and buying only what is needed • Ensuring that sustainability is integrated into all existing procurement practices to maximise sustainable outcomes • Looking at innovative solutions that encourage sustainable procurement practices and prevent myopic behaviour at the start of the procurement process and at the end of a product’s initial useful life • Life cycle costing that considers not only the upfront cost incurred, but also the value for money achieved and the costs and benefits for society, the environment and economy • Considering that a true circular economy can be achieved through long-lasting design that considers the 5Rs at the end of a product’s useful life: • Repair • Re-use • Re-manufacture • Refurbishing • Recycling With the idea of sustainable procurement in mind, Living Edge has been rethinking their supply chain and prioritising quality products, the environment and flexibility to deliver the best sustainable business outcomes. “Our passion for sustainable design now has its own division – Lifecycle. Sustainability has always been about choosing products that will not only last a lifetime but are also designed and manufactured with sustainable materials and the 5Rs in mind,” says Eugene Hooks, National Head of Contract and Manager of Western Australia for Living Edge.

Inspiration for the Lifecycle program by Living Edge has not only been drawn from the global landfill problem and the industry’s typical linear procurement model, but also from major trends such as flexibility, using products rather than owning them and providing a work environment that contributes positively to culture and productivity. “The client journey for furniture procurement should incorporate a more circular approach, where we can prioritise best-in-class products, flexible purchasing options and ensure we minimise waste at the end of a project,” says Eugene.

Using a managed services approach, Living Edge is providing a sustainable procurement model that allows organisations to modify their workplace as the needs of their business change – and, at the same time, ensuring their products have a life beyond a single user and reducing waste. Hopefully they are also encouraging others to look at blind spots in the sustainability conversation.

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WORDS: CASSANDRA SIMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBERT FRITH (BUILDING) AND CONRAD COLEBY (PORTRAIT)

Through a series of projects in the arid environment of Western Australia, predominantly built for Aboriginal communities, Kaunitz and Yeung Architecture has proposed a different approach to working with the beautiful, yet harsh, desert environment.

Designing with, not for, remote Aboriginal communities, Kaunitz and Yeung are changing the narrative of remote regional architecture – creating a new vernacular for Australian desert architecture.

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While one of their most recent projects, the award winning Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service (PAMS) Healthcare Hub, may be the most prominent of Kaunitz and Yeung’s work, some of their earlier Western Desert projects were fundamental in breaking the architectural tradition already present in Australia’s desert areas. The work of Kaunitz and Yeung has been iterative. Starting with the Wanarn Health Clinic in 2015 which, in David Kaunitz’s words, “smashed the mould of verandah buildings” then the Punmu and Parnngurr clinics in 2018, each project has learned from the previous and the design has evolved.

“Typically, Australian desert architecture has been based on colonial tropical architecture,” says David. “Light weight structures perched under a wrap-around verandah have been used. However, the climate in the desert is different. Nowhere else in the world do we see verandah architecture.”

Instead, David has looked to courtyard buildings as a way to appropriately deal with desert conditions. This design proposition is evident in the practice’s earlier Western Desert projects and has been used on a larger scale in Newman. The surrounding landscape is harsh

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and dry, but the new building has been constructed around an

The design reflects the need for more thermally efficient buildings

internal courtyard which provides shade in summer and shelter

in arid climates to reduce energy costs and maintenance difficulties.

from the harsh sun.

A conscious effort was made by Kaunitz and Yeung to utilise the

Having regard to other desert regions, earth architecture also stood out as a potential method of desert construction. “We had wanted to work with rammed earth for a while,” says David. “And, in the end, we realised that the limitations on its use were being imposed by us. Once we had resolved the specification of the rammed earth, it was a simple process.” And the benefits of the rammed earth go far beyond its visual appeal. Due to the significant diurnal temperature range, a simple ventilation concept in combination with the thermal storage capacity of the rammed earth walls

local environment. Simple and technical solutions have been used to harness and maximise the use of onsite resources: people, earth, wind and sun. The building needs very little artificially generated energy, relying instead on natural light, natural ventilation, thermal mass and solar panels. The use of rammed earth has the added benefit of reducing construction waste which is often disposed of in a manner which is detrimental to the environment.

Equally important is the significance of Country and the manner in which the building has been contextualised. Comprised of red soil

provides a comfortable indoor climate.

taken from the site, the walls are imbued with the energy of Country,

The PAMS Healthcare Hub is comprised of a double-skin facade.

Niabali Aboriginal people. The rounded rammed-earth walls of the

providing a sense of security and attachment for the local Martu and

The outer rammed earth walls and completely insulated internal leaf

clinic act like an embrace, reaching out to welcome the community

are separated by an air gap which, at the roof’s maximum height, is

while being subtly integrated into the landscape. The rammed earth’s

considerable. The roof is completely ventilated, and its shape lends

materiality places Country and community at the centre of health

itself to convection, drawing cool air into the courtyard.

delivery to improve health, wellbeing, and social cohesion outcomes.

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Kaunitz and Yeung’s work goes beyond the creation of an aesthetically beautiful structure. The true beauty and intelligence in their work is the desire to create a lasting impact on the community.

Through comprehensive engagement and respect, and overarching humility, Kaunitz and Yeung have produced designs which respect traditional spatial preferences and domestic behaviours based on Aboriginal kinship relationships and connection to place.

The PAMS Healthcare Hub has been the recipient of many awards, including the Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter 2020 Reconciliation Prize, which recognises an individual, organisation or collaboration that responds to traditional custodianship and the cultural practices, knowledge, history and values of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and encourages the training and employment of First Nations people.

While the awards are well deserved, it is apparent that the practice’s sense of pride comes instead from the lasting impact their projects are having on their communities. The communities view these projects with a sense of pride, ownership and responsibility, and presentation rates at all of the practice’s medical clinics, including the PAMS Healthcare Hub, have increased which, in turn, will lead to better health outcomes.

Testament to the practice’s humility and commitment to co-design and immersive architecture, Kaunitz and Yeung co-founders, David

Kaunitz and Ka Wai Yeung, together with their two children, have recently left Sydney and completed the required 14 days quarantine at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory to spend the next five months visiting and getting to know the people of the remote communities. Kaunitz and Yeung have not only recognised that community knowledge and input are important for the longevity of their projects but apply this knowledge and input in practice.

They are hoping to finish their journey in South Hedland, in the Shire of West Pilbara, where they are currently designing another culturally responsive and community centred regional primary healthcare facility, this time for the Wirraka Maya Health Service Aboriginal Corporation. “Funding for this project is still uncertain,” says David, “so we have adopted a two-phase approach to ensure that certain prioritised needs are able to be addressed. As with our other health clinics, our aim is to increase presentation rates and improve preventative health by facilitating the design of the clinic by those who will ultimately be using it. Once again, we propose to use rammed earth as a means of connecting with the community, culture and Country.”

In the meantime, the PAMS Heathcare Hub, and Kaunitz and Yeung’s other Western Desert clinics, being so deeply rooted in Country, will continue to both embrace and be embraced by the community. ■

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WORDS: TREVOR WONG PHOTOGRAPHY: STEPHEN HEATH PHOTOGRAPHY

Through the eyes of a child, one could believe that the Kids’ Bridge (Koolangka Bridge) – funded by Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and original design by Fratelle+BEaM – is a twisting rainbow coloured serpent disappearing into the trees of King’s Park. Despite undergoing several design iterations, industry and market fluctuations, this fundamental idea was a constant for architect and Fratelle Director Kylee Schoonens.

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The idea for the Kids’ Bridge began back in 2013 where it was run as a design competition. The primary purpose was to create a physical connection between the Perth Children’s Hospital and Kings Park.

However, for the project partners including Fratelle, the bridge was always something more – enabling children to leave the confines of the hospital walls and to escape their reality to a place that is fun whilst also providing a purpose to escape the Hospital confines into nature. The vibrancy of the bridge reinforces the notion that crossing the structure is meant to be a playful, memorable experience as opposed to just a way to cross the road.

It is interesting to note the differing experiences between the users of the bridge and those passing under it. From the top, it was a deliberate design decision to include bright colours on the bridge deck. This creates a unique experience that becomes a secret for the kids using it, only allowing small glimpses to passers-by. From the underside, Aboriginal artist Kambarni created an intricate flora and fauna inspired mural where children hunt for their favourite animal – adding to the sense of fun and adventure of the bridge.

KOOLANGKA BRIDGE / FRATELLE+BEaM

“The vibrancy of the bridge reinforces the notion that crossing the structure is meant to be a playful, memorable experience as opposed to just a way to cross the road.”

KOOLANGKA BRIDGE / FRATELLE

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The twisting and winding 217m length of the bridge was the result of numerous design explorations of different layouts however Fratelle+BEam design team ultimately decided that the use of Serpentine switchbacks would result in the unique and engaging form.

Throughout the design process there were various natural and mechanically driven constraints that had to be considered that determined the location and planning of the bridge. The primary factors the design had to accommodate was the hospital’s servicing constraints such as stormwater retention tanks and gas pipelines within the Northern Greenspace. The team also had to consider protection of the native flora and fauna within Kings Park, especially focusing on minimal impact to the protected native tree species in the area which could be disrupted by the construction of the bridge and extensive exploration was undertaken to detail location of every tree and within the area to determine bridge location.

By exploring the connection between the use of colour and colour therapy, it is evident that purposeful design was a driving factor in the outcome of the Bridge. Since opening, Kylee describes the differing ways that the vibrant design has become significant for the children in their road to recovery. “I’ve witnessed children staying in the Hospital who have used the coloured marking on the Bridge to test the distance each time that can reach through their recovery – they say, ‘I’ve gotten to blue today! or I’ve reached red today!!”

Kylee explains.

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In a personal anecdote, Kylee delves into her own experience of staying at the new Hospital as a parent with a sick child after the Bridge was designed, but before it was built. She had a long stay at the Hospital with her son and attempted to walk to Kings Park to give him a break and to understand the experience of crossing busy Winthrop Avenue, especially with a sick child – which was challenging. This further instilled in her the importance of the Bridge for the Hospital and the physical and mental benefit it could provide to all Hospital users.

Kylee describes the opening of the bridge in August 2021 as one of her career highlights. “To see the kids being able to walk across and finally experience the Bridge and the Park was amazing,” she said.

“It’s a positive project for the city and that’s what I love about it.

It’s a happy place that is changing people’s lives”.

It is overwhelmingly clear that this project has had such an immense positive impact for the kids and other patrons of the hospital. The Kids’ Bridge explores complex ideas of escape, recovery, and natural environment. It has achieved this through a rigorous design process that has resulted in not only a stunning piece of architecture, but a meaningful connection that goes beyond the physical and has resulted in something far greater for all users alike.

It’s worth noting that this project would not have been possible without the collaboration of many West Australian organisations – including project partners Main Roads, CIVMEC, QEII Medical Centre, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Botanic Gardens and Park Authority and the City of Perth. ■

KOOLANGKA BRIDGE / FRATELLE+BEaM

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