Friday, April 6, 2012
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Making a splash: JOH Architects’ concept images of how the wind-powered Sea Dragon would appear on Geelong’s waterfront.
Dragon our Icon A WIND-POWERED water feature has won a competition to design a landmark for Geelong, organisers have announced. Icon for Geelong competition founder Andrew Senia revealed JOH Architects’ “Sea Dragon” as the winner this week. Mr Senia’s law firm, Senia Lawyers, handed over $10,000 to the winners. “With pleasure I announce JOH Architects the winner of the Icon for Geelong competition and have handed them the prize money,” Mr Senia said. “Their thoughtful and inspirational design is a tribute to our city and will be enjoyed by both the people of Geelong and our visitors for generations to come. “I look forward to working closely with JOH Architects on the second stage of the project to have the Sea Dragon constructed.” The winning design features five wind turbines powering a floating corkscrew-like structure driving an undulating wave adjacent to Steampacket Gardens. The designers said Sea Dragon would require little maintenance and could be easily towed to other sites around the bay. JOH Architects’ Christian
O’Halloran said his small firm was “ecstatic”. “It’s the first competition we’ve won,” he said. “We’d never wanted to enter competitions until we had a worthwhile concept but when we reviewed the Icon for Geelong we thought we had something that works for this space.” Mr O’Halloran said JOH’s design took its name from the weedy sea dragon, a marine animal endemic to the Port Phillip and Corio bays area. Mr Senia also paid tribute to the other 80-plus submitters for their entries and ideas. “I thank all the other entrants for their designs and encourage them to continue their creative endeavours. “Many thanks to Senia Lawyers’ co-sponsors, the Geelong Independent and Deakin University, for all their efforts. The support that they, and others, have given me is deeply appreciated.” The Icon for Geelong competition called for a unique design to help promote Geelong around the world. The competition drew praise from Geelong Mayor John Mitchell and Premier Ted Baillieu.
LOCAL GUILD ‘IN A SPIN’ PAGE 13
Enter the Dragon: Andrew Senia awards first prize to JOH Architects’ Christian O’Halloran, David McDonald and Michelle Jacobson. Picture: Tommy Ritchie 79649
FINALLY IT’S GOOD FRIDAY PAGE 19
Deakin’s $94m in projects promising Geelong jobs BY JOHN VAN KLAVEREN TWO DEAKIN University projects worth $94 million are set to create up to 200 jobs in Geelong. Deakin this week announced a $55 million “state-of-the-art” engineering facility and approved its $39 million campus relocation strategy. Vice Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander said the engineering facility construction phase alone would generate up to 187
jobs. Council modelling indicated the project would generate economic activity of around $160 million and with 13 ongoing jobs, she said. The university’s 1200 Faculty of Business and Law students will relocate from Waurn Ponds to the Waterfront campus, boosting central Geelong. Prof den Hollander said Deakin was seeking $21 million in federal funding for the Centre for
Advanced Design in Engineering Training (CADET). Deakin would contribute $30 million to the Waurn Ponds project in partnership with Gordon Institute of TAFE. “The facility will address Australia’s critical skills shortage in engineering,” Prof den Hollander said. Deakin’s funding submission was short-listed to the final round of an Education Investment Fund last month, she said.
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secondary schools as a vital resource for their maths and science programs. “The new facility has been designed to attract a new cohort of secondary school students to engineering, particularly young women who are under-represented in the profession.” Prof den Hollander said both CADET and the accommodation relocation strategy would bring “substantial benefits” to the community.
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“Deakin is understood to be the only Victorian university to make it through to the second round.” “CADET will emphasise product design and development through virtual and physical modelling, simulation and prototyping, all skills that are critical to address 21st Century engineering challenges. “The facility will offer programs for young people right from Year 8 through to PhD level and is expected to be valued by
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