AA July/August 2015 preview

Architecture Australia July/August 2015.

Image: John Gollings

This issue of Architecture Australia opens with the highly anticipated new Australian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale’s picturesque Giardini. The Denton Corker Marshall-designed building is a black box that confidently asserts itself in the garden, hovering at the edge of the murky canal on one side and nesting into the landscape of tall trees and gravel paths on the other. The siting is paradoxically brusque and sensitive (but not irreverent or cloying). The detailing of the project is painstakingly muted. The pavilion itself is a stone-clad bunker, with flaps and wings that open to reveal a white-box interior. Our unveiling of the project is through images captured by John Gollings on two visits – one (manoeuvring around the builders) as the project neared completion and another when Fiona Hall’s inaugural exhibition, Wrong Way Time, transformed the gallery into an intriguing cabinet of curiosity set against an inky blackness. In Gollings’ images of the exterior, the directness of the form is almost brutal, then suddenly it melts into the landscape.

Rachel Hurst’s interview with Hall explores Hall’s intentions for the exhibition as she prepared to install it. In his review of the building, Robert Grace, an Australian architect now based in Europe, examines the environment in which it was championed, funded and realized. He talks about the art world’s “suspicion of architecture, [its] concern about the architecture dominating the art.” When a new art gallery building – like the new Australian Pavilion in Venice – subverts (or reconciles) this tension between art and architecture, it captures the very best of both creative endeavours.

The Dossier is devoted to architectural history and is guest edited by Andrew Leach. He and his fellow contributors provide historical contexts of local architecture and explain why architects still need to study history.

This issue has the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania architecture awards in the first instalment of our coverage of the Australian Institute of Architects chapter awards.

The July/August issue also contains the following peer-reviewed projects:

• Bunbury Catholic College. Space, surface and urban structure appear meticulously hand-sewn in Broderick Architects and CODA Studio’s first three buildings for Mercy Campus. Review by Simon Pendal.
• Our Lady of the Southern Cross Chapel. Branch Studio’s chapel forges a new connection between two suburban schools, serving dual purpose as a sacred and a civic space. Review by Jacqui Alexander.
• Adelaide Oval. Balancing function and heritage concerns, Cox Architecture in association with Walter Brooke and Hames Sharley redevelops Adelaide’s iconic sports venue. Review by Stephen Ward.
• Medibank Place. Hassell’s new headquarters for Medibank delivers a vibrant and health-centred workplace while being a hospitable neighbour. Review by Philip Vivian.
• Alice Smith School. A collaboration between MvS Architects and iPartnership puts a dining hall and One Stop Centre at the heart of the school’s campus. Review by Veronica Ng.

Cameron Bruhn, editorial director, Architecture Australia
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