 | |  | HONG KONG: OHEL LEAH SYNAGOGUE
Hassell’s Hong Kong office has completed Burra Charter conservation work and improvements to the Ohel Leah Synagogue, built in 1901 to serve the island’s Jewish population. The project involved repairing structural damage, removing ‘ad-hoc’ additions accumulated over the last century, restoring original furniture and leadlights and altering the interior to introduce new services. Also added was a function terrace and adjacent kitchen | |
| | |  GEELONG: DEAKIN UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL FIBRE CENTRE
Almost built at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus is a new research and production complex intended to foster rejuvenation of Australia’s wool and textile industries. Designed by a Hamish Lyon-led team at the Victorian Building Services Agency, the International Fibre Centre combines a large, open-plan production shed and a smaller research/education centre. The architecture of the production wing distorts the traditional form of a gable-end shed; the research area is denoted by a taller, multi-faceted and also distorted structure. The shed is clad with silver and white metallic panels; the entrance and research arm are constructed with off-form precast concrete and the windows are fitted with both clear glass and mirror. Large sculptural cuts in the facades are delineated with intensely bright hues |
| | |  | | WESTERN SYDNEY: R3 DEPO
Colin Browne of Arena Design has conceived
for the Western Sydney Waste Board a ‘flagship’ community depot for waste disposal, recycling and ESD education. The R3DEPO facility (the name alludes to three classic ESD tenets: recycle, reuse and reduce) has been designed for a prominent highway site in Sydney’s western suburbs. It has two steel-framed pavilions—one a shop for recycled
goods and the other a large, open-sided shelter for rubbish disposal. These are linked by a road circuit providing access to a variety of bins and dump areas, a salvage facility, offices, display areas and seminar rooms |
| | | SYDNEY: CENTENNIAL PARK &
MOORE PARK EQUESTRIAN CENTRE
The old stables at the former RAS Showground in Moore Park have been refurbished as part of an equestrian centre equipped with a 400-seat, Olympic-size (40 by 75 metre) roofed arena. Designed by Mark Willett of McConnel Smith & Johnson, the new venue relates to equestrian grounds at Centennial Park and will provide international dressage facilities. The $10.5 million project also provides two practice arenas, a lunging yard, wash bays, sand rolls, a veterinary surgery and farrier—with plans for offices, a shop and a café |  |  | |  | BRISBANE: BANK OF QUEENSLAND
The “tired” ground floor of the Bank of Queensland’s Elizabeth Street building has been significantly upgraded by Woods Bagot—improvements dramatically signalled to the street by an inverted cone of glass which serves as a transition zone between the footpath and the upgraded entrance/lift foyer. A bolder, higher entry canopy was also introduced |
YORKE PENINSULA: WHEAL HUGHES
MINE VISITOR CENTRE
South Australia’s Copper Coast has a new visitor centre, at Moonta on Yorke Peninsula, designed and built by second and third year students of the School of Architecture and Design at UniSA. After an approach from the Copper Coast District Council, the school held a design competition for the centre; won by Tom Vinall and David Saunders with a multi-skillion pavilion of steel and timber which incorporates an exhibition wall, a stage and amenities.The design studio and student construction phase were supervised by lecturers David Morris and Nick Opie | |  |
| | |  | | SYDNEY: WHITEMAN SURF AGENCY
Sydney architects John Cockings & Associates have fitted out a north shore warehouse for a wholesaler of surfwear and boards. The scheme extends an existing mezzanine floor, moves a staircase, introduces a bridge and establishes two showrooms (reached by separate paths) and generous office space. Existing concrete floors and new plasterboard walls were painted white to highlight the merchandise. This background is enlivened by super-size wall graphics and bright colours lining the projecting frames of internal windows |
| | |  BENDIGO: ART GALLERY EXTENSIONS
Victoria’s Bendigo Art Gallery, founded in 1887, is being rejuvenated in both culture and architecture—most obviously with recent alterations conceived by Karl Fender of Nation Fender Katsalidis in Melbourne. His $5.2 million redevelopment involved demolishing a 1960s block which obscured the original Victorian facade, and delivering a new entrance (inspired by 19th century horse carriageways), a reception area, shop and five large viewing rooms. The most distinguished of the new galleries is a glazed conservatory which allows 19th century marble statues to be seen in splendour from the gardens around the building |
|
|
