Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 170 i Architectural Review Asia Pacific

I feel as if every editor writes the ‘procrastination editorial’ at some point, so apologies for the lack of originality. But anecdotally it does seem as if more of us than ever are suffering from it at the moment. The word I hear most often is ‘overwhelmed’. I am one of those socially challenged types who loved every lockdown and revelled in the curfews, restrictions and externally imposed inability to do much at all of anything. And yet, perhaps I have also been affected by the last couple of years in hitherto unsuspected ways. For the list of housekeeping and life tasks I should be completing grows ever longer, but instead of knuckling down and quietly ticking them off one by one, I shut the door and choose to spend…

FOOI-LING KHOO. DIRECTOR OOF! ARCHITECTS. When did you first join ArchiTeam and how did you hear about it? Why did you become involved? I’ve been a member for a long time now. It was a word of mouth thing. When you first start your own practice or start talking about doing that, people say, “You’ll need to get insurance and you’ll need to do this and that.” And ArchiTeam was recommended by other architects, including Blair Gardiner (now a lecturer in construction at Melbourne University). I think a lot of people, particularly for insurance, start there, and then end up staying because they actually discover all the other stuff that the co-op does, which you may not have known to begin with. So quite often it’s a process of discovery…

When it comes to making decisions on which projects to accept, working out the appropriate fee isn’t the only consideration. There are a few other factors that will help determine whether a practice should accept a commission or not. Architects are traditionally not good at saying no to projects, irrespective of the risk… Ask any architect what topics are top of mind, however, and invariably fee discounting will be up there. It’s an ever present and ever evolving issue. Once a practice has worked out its break-even point (AR169), there are several other stages that need to be worked through. Once these are addressed, settling on an appropriate fee to charge clients should be much more considered and empirical. The ACA Time Cost Calculator requires each practice to individually consider…

What were the top five elements that were most important for the finished building to have integrated into the design. - preserving the history of 180 Flinders Street, while anticipating the needs of our future customers - capitalising on the unique features of the property, including the location, views, local amenity and restoring the historic façade and existing Heritage offices - maintaining a functional car park - providing a customer-focused product with flexible floorplates, and adding value to the building’s common areas, and - leveraging the central location by providing greater access to the outstanding views across Melbourne’s iconic landmarks, including the MCG and Federation Square. How was SJB chosen for the project? Following an open market selection, it was clear that SJB understood our aspirations for 180 Flinders Street.…

Tongue n Groove Massivo Inspired by its love of oak, and in response to market demand, Tongue n Groove has taken timber flooring to a whole new level, offering wider and longer board formats than anyone else on the market, all without compromising structure and stability or its Group 3 fire rating. New to the collection, Tongue n Groove Massivo boards are now available in greater widths (300, 360 and 400mm) and greater lengths (up to five metres) than standard boards, opening up a range of design possibilities. The wider format board helps to minimise lines and joins throughout a space, delivering a clean finish that brings a sense of flow and cohesion to a space. Neolith. Touch, Feel, Live. Sintered stone Taking sintered stone to new heights, Neolith is…

AR168 included a feature about JAHM, the Art House Museum started by SJB founder Charles Justin, along with his wife Leah, following his retirement from the practice in 2012. Co-founder Alan Synman also retired from the practice and now sits on numerous boards and committees. But what of the third letter in the acronym? That would be Michael Bialek, who’s still very much at the helm. And he’s not planning to change that anytime soon… Bialek always wanted to be an architect, he says. He wasn’t one of those children who loved to build things out of LEGO or Meccano, but he did find joy in the world around him. “I was always visually stimulated by nature or built things,” he says. ”I started at an early age and I…

“In 2017, Dino’s yiayia sadly lost her home to a fire,” explains Sara Horstmann, founder and co-director of Das Studio. “It was a surreal day for a number of reasons: it was 11 November – Remembrance Day – and that spring we had those particularly bad storms in South Australia,” adds co-director Dino Vrynios. “It was unseasonably hot when the storm front came through. The heat and wind fanned the fire through the house very quickly, before golf ball-sized pieces of hail fell from the sky.” Out of this disaster of biblical proportions, the pair saw an opportunity arise from the ashes. Vrynios was put in charge of assisting his grandmother in managing her affairs, while he and Horstmann also entertained the idea of helping the family to do something…

Project description by SJB The Ball and Welch building opened in 1889 as Melbourne’s most prominent department store up until its closure in 1970 and was subsequently renovated a number of times up until the front façade was eventually incorporated into the Flinders gate car park. “The latest adaptation revitalises the building as a new 5-star Green Star co-working space for Dexus to expand its capacity for the recent boom in the growing co-working and flexible workspace industries. The project breathes new life on a historic Melbourne street overlooking Federation Square and adjacent to a range of period buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral, the Forum Theatre and the former Melbourne Gas Company and Masonic buildings. The Heritage façade restores original elements of the early tall-arched Romanesque style, including cement render…

When I talk to architectural teams, there are two camps. The first is the happy-go-lucky one that hasn’t really experienced the effect of lockdowns. Teams have been working together throughout the pandemic making use of the proviso of doing essential work enabling people to work face-to-face. Their biggest issue is the burnout and stress from juggling a lot of projects. Then, there are the other teams that have isolated and have been working separately under pressure. They’re accruing the productivity benefits of working from home, but suffering the emotional toll of feeling disconnected and isolated. We are now at an interesting juncture where you may find your team members are experiencing a range of emotions. The result is they feel stuck and unsure of what to do next, or they…

Australian Architecture: A History is an impressive new release in the architectural landscape. Author Davina Jackson has an extensive résumé having written several books, essays and articles on Australian architecture over the years. She was also editor of the AIA magazine Architecture Australia between 1992 and 2000. From the outset, it is evident that this is a serious survey of Australian architecture from imagining Indigenous structures in the early 1800s through to the skyscrapers and modern buildings of the 21st century. As she says at the beginning, this is “not a coffee table book”. It was written to be used as a reference book for architecture students and academics, but is also a fascinating read for anyone with more than a passing interest in the built world around them. In…

Being an effective leader: You need communication skills, which are really critical for the business but also within the team. And also empathy – to understand that everyone is different and has different needs. Being back in the office: I think in a creative industry like ours, people do fundamentally want to be together, and they want to share their thoughts. Part of the design process is about collaboration and a spark that comes out of a discussion. Growth opportunities : We’ve seen a huge growth in social housing projects, and build-to-rent versus ownership is another model. We also see mixed use developments as having a fascinating coming of age. What he wishes he’d known starting out: I think what you learn along the way creates the confidence that you…

Prior to her appearance at the festival, Rees spoke with AR to expand on the themes of the Blak Aesthetic panel. “There is a long history of Indigenous architecture in Australia, but it has not been carried through in the same way that the stories and depiction of our stories are in art. So, we don’t necessarily have an Indigenous or an Aboriginal aesthetic when it comes to architecture,” says Rees. Of course, there’s much more to it than that. Rees is a Palawa woman who was born and grew up in south-east Tasmania before moving to Melbourne in 2010. She now teaches and advises in a number of different roles. She says the reason she wears so many hats is simply because there aren’t enough Indigenous built environment practitioners.…

Project address: 180 Flinders Street, Melbourne Design team: Tristan Wong, Fiona Coakley, Beaudene Fulwood, Dan Weekes Client: Dexus Builder: John Holland Project start: 2011 (design) Project completion: 2021 Scale: 20,100 square metres Type: Commercial Workplace Heritage Adaptive-Reuse Photographer: Derek Swalwell External finishes: - high-performance curtain wall glazing (grey tint and bronze tint) - aluminium fins with bronze powder-coat - pleated, perforated metal screens with bronze powder-coat - Brightonlite oxide concrete with inlaid bronze powder-coat metalwork detailing - bluestone slabs to ground level columns - bluestone pavers to terraces - cement detailing and Heritage restoration works, and - steel and aluminium street canopies in matte charcoal finish. Internal finishes: - natural slab travertine to entry lobby and café walls - terrazzo floor to entry lobby and café - natural timber to…