Headlines: Architecture Australia, November 1998

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Bligh Voller Nield are working on a new Anzac Hall to house vintage war planes behind the Australian War Memorial >> Artist-led teams (involving architects) have been selected by the National Capital Authority to design two war memorials on opposites sides of Anzac Parade. Melbourne’s Les Kossatz (working with RMIT’s Professor Sand Helsel and others) has been allocated the memorial for Korean veterans, while Sydney’s Robin Moorhouse, with Warren Langley and architect Michael Biddulph plus others, has the memorial to military nurses >> There’s some trepidation about the impacts on property values of the new energy-efficiency rating scheme for ACT houses, due to start on Christmas Eve >> ACT Coroner Shane Madden’s inquiry into the fatal implosion of the old Canberra Hospital has taken a surprising turn, with key organisers of the demolition excused from giving evidence in case they might incriminate themselves.

NEW SOUTH WALES
Urban Affairs Minister Craig Knowles has taken planning control of 38 key development sites around the harbour, from Homebush Bay to Manly Wharf. Key bureaucrats advising him will be Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority chairman Gerry Gleeson and Department of Urban Affairs & Planning director Sue Holliday >> In the lead-up to elections for the state government (March) and city council (September), the Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) has been stalling various development proposals. One is a Cox Richardson/Crone scheme (masterplanned by Jackson Teece Chesterman Willis) for hotel, apartment, retail and charter boat facilities at Wharves 9 and 10 on the east side of Darling Harbour. Another is a 48-level tower proposed for the currently low-rise cinema strip on George Street. Also resisted was a Lindsay and Kerry Clare design to tidy up commercial uses around central Circular Quay (this concept is now being considered by the Foreshore Authority >> NSW Government Architect Chris Johnson has taken three months leave from the CSPC and other bodies to write books. Assistant GAs Peter Mould,Walter Koll and Doug Anderson are filling in >> Sydney’s vigorous debate over the fate of colonial road and drain fragments unearthed near the expanding Conservatorium of Music has been resolved by Heritage Council of NSW judgements to remove, retain or reinstate each relic. One ‘reinstated’ drain will now appear in an aerial locale: suspended diagonally across the grand atrium (an excavated space with a glass roof) of the Jackson-Dyke/DPWS building planned to be built beside the old Francis Greenway Stables (which are being stripped of their post-war accretions) >> At a Venice/Sydney planning seminar at Tusculum, Richard Leplastrier and Rod Simpson urged a go-slow policy on developing Sydney’s foreshores—suggesting that quick ideas in a climate of urgency could produce disastrous outcomes >> The Sydney Morning Herald’s David Marr has written an extensive article on Neville Gruzman’s four decades of litigation against clients: noting “about 30 cases … from which he seems to have won more than $1 million” >> SMH architecture writer Anne Susskind, a driver of campaigns against the East Circular Quay and Walsh Bay schemes, has departed after losing her role to heritage writer Geraldine O’Brien in a round of staff cuts >> Prime Minister John Howard has announced the creation of a Sydney Harbour Federation Trust to buy 163 ha of harbourside defence sites (North Head, Middle Head, Georges Heights, Woolwich and Cockatoo Island) for public parks >> After eons in the doldrums, UniSydney’s Faculty of Architecture is on the rise under Dean Gary Moore. The six-year combined BArch(Sci)/B Arch degree is being streamlined to five years, with an overhaul of the first phase, by Associate Dean Kristine Sodersten, to include design computing, urban design and planning. The second phase, coordinated by Anna Rubbo, will offer ‘vertical’ design studios. A new Professor of Architecture and two adjunct professors are to be appointed, a postgraduate degree in public art has been launched and Boral Timber has sponsored a foyer ‘gallery’ >>Anton James has won (from 120 entries) the Re:public Park ideas competition for the Homebush Bay brickpit (organised by Christopher Walsh for the AILA and UNSW landscape students). James’ scheme leads visitors through a Cumberland Plain forest to descend stairs emphasising the site’s geological layers. Other winners were Greg Burgin, 2nd and Chris Elliott,3rd. Commendation payments were later given to three of 33 RMIT entries which embarrassingly went missing until a day after the judging >> Forty houses are seriously threatened by erosion of the coast at Collaroy Beach >>Richard Johnson of Denton Corker Marshall has been formally unveiled as the architect for renovations (mainly internal) to the Sydney Opera House >> A draft regional environmental plan, identifying six distinct precincts, has been produced for Parramatta: a historic Sydney satellite which lost many of its early colonial buildings over the last 20 years and now is the focus of an office tower upswing. The REP was produced by the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, the NSW Heritage Office and the Parramatta City Council >> The developers of the Eastern Distributor tollway, from Sydney airport to the city, have already made a $68 million profit on their deal with the state government—18 months before the road opens.

NATIONAL
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has again decided to award minimum pay rates to architecture employees, despite an employers’ appeal. So RAIA president Graham Humphries has urged the government to review its competition and selection policies so that practices can earn fair fees to allow them to pay fair wages >> Despite smallish attendances for daytime lectures—“the delegates have all gone snorkelling on the Reef!”—this year’s RAIA Cairns convention attracted hundreds to the evening functions; particularly the Awards (MC Vince Sorrenti milked much more amusement than usual) and Gabriel Poole’s Gold Medal dinner in an oil tank. Key speakers were Nicholas Grimshaw, showing British technical mastery, and Kerry Hill promoting “exactitude and authenticity” >> The RAIA has management consultants reviewing its staff structure and a group considering how to improve communications >> In the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects’ National Awards, multiple winners were Tract,Taylor & Cullity, Hassell and Denton Corker Marshall >> More than 12,000 building products are now listed in the Architectural Product Selector, available either on CD-Rom or the Internet (www.selector.com.au) as a service from AA’s publisher, Architecture Media, with the Home Ideas Centres >> The federal government plans to amend the Copyright Act to introduce ‘moral rights’ for creators (including architects). Details are in the RAIA ‘Briefings’ circular No. 51 >> The RAIA National Council has declined to expand its membership to other disciplines but is in favour of a non-Royal name.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The state government’s urban design advisory panel, chaired by Rob Cheesman, may be jettisoned to help trim a plethora of groups apparently confusing Ministers with contradictory opinions. But the RAIA has urged Planning and Arts Minister Di Laidlaw to keep this committee as an antidote to developer pressures >>Hassell and Woodhead have co-opted American landscape architect Peter Walker and Norman Foster’s office to enhance their proposals for the Torrens riverside.

INTERNATIONAL
Three Australians—Glenn Murcutt, Richard Leplastrier and Germany-based Peter Wilson—were among 25 architects nominated for this year’s triennial Carlsberg Prize (the world’s richest), presented in Denmark in October to Switzerland’s Peter Zumthor >> In Bangkok, the Cox-designed stadium and aquatic centre are ready for November’s Asian Games.

QUEENSLAND
More resorts are planned for the growing tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas. Also, the Cairns Convention Centre is adding its previously delayed exhibition halls >>Devine Erby Mazlin, with Buchanans as heritage consultants, is continuing to adapt old buildings on UQ’s campus at Ipswich >> Crone’s Queensland office has formed a “strategic alliance” with McKerrell Lynch, which has bases in Asia and the Middle East >> After Peter Gargett’s retirement, Bruce Wolfe heads Conrad & Gargett >>Desmond Brookes is designing the world’s first Hotel Versace—a six-star super-palazzo furnished with the Italian fashion house’s homewares —planned for the Gold Coast >> Some senior RAIA members are concerned about the abrupt departure, after 12 years, of state manager Mark Tucker-Evans. This is one of a couple of shakeups of Queensland staff recently >>Multiplex is building an IMAX Theatre and underground car park at South Bank, and Thiess plans a 10-storey office block next door >> The Donovan Hill/Davenport Campbell-designed State Office Block on William Street is nearing completion; the forecourt will boast reflection pools, trees and a Barbara Heath sculpture.

TASMANIA
Despite opposition among its readers to the size of the Oceanport cruise ship commercial centre proposed for Hobart’s Sullivans Cove, The Mercury has tentatively supported its potential to lift the state’s economy and employment. In a letter to the editor, council candidate/architect Jamieson Allom urged the architects reviewing Oceanport’s draft impact statement to make sure the intensity of detail did not blind them to the basic problem: “should a development of this type and magnitude be allowed on this site?” (He argued no.) >>Hobart City Council has applied for Federation funds to develop its Civic Square site near the waterfront.

VICTORIA
The federal government is donating $50 million to an Australian Centre for the Moving Image at Federation Square >> The Victorian branch of the National Trust says its scarce resources are preventing it from successfully challenging developments which threaten classified buildings. And a new tendency by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal to award costs against unsuccessful appellants has implications for the trust’s current policy of automatically objecting to all heritage-sensitive developments >> The Kennett government plans to donate $20 million to a major upgrade of Melbourne’s Showgrounds; its first serious facelift since the 1930s >>Peter Corrigan has designed sets for another Barrie Kosky production: King Lear, now touring nationally with the Bell Shakespeare Company >>The City of Stonnington Council has published a new plan which subdivides its realm into six demographically different villages: labelled Vitality (Prahran, South Yarra and Windsor), Enterprise (East Prahran and Armadale), Prestige (Toorak), Opportunity (Malvern and Kooyong), Garden (East Malvern and Glen Iris) and Kindred (Malvern) >> The Docklands Authority is planning a walkway from the stadium to the river; to be animated by sculptures and restaurants >>RMIT Professor John Andrews is designing a penthouse/studio/ gallery for noted London art patron Doris Lockhart-Saatchi >>Mirvac is rapidly expanding its Beacon Cove suburb at Port Melbourne, with over-the-water apartments and a marina at historic Princess Pier, and towers overlooking Hobson’s Bay >>Denton Corker Marshall’s Tullamarine gateway to Melbourne—falling concrete barriers and pylons in yellow and red—is amazing motorists >> Geelong is spending $12 million to improve its city centre >> The Heritage Council’s chair, Christine Heggen, has criticised indiscriminate use of heritage protection legislation to fight town planning issues in certain developments. She says there’s confusion between ‘urban heritage’ and ‘urban character’ >> The Kennett government is now hoping to recycle, rather than demolish, two historic city monuments: the former Births, Deaths and Marriages building and the old Royal Mint >> Architects have joined Premier Jeff Kennett in rubbishing a developer’s idea to build a tourist village of scaled-down Roman monuments at the Docklands >> The federal government is providing $22.5 million to revive dormant proposals for a technology park at the Docklands >> Claiming a crisis in state planning, the Labor Opposition has revealed a policy which would return to local governments control over building approvals, clarify ministerial powers, protect green belts, review the appeals system and revise the Good Design Guide’s provisions about setbacks, overshadowing and noise >>UniMelbourne is setting up a private campus at Carlton, marked by a 25-storey tower >> BHP House, a 1969 glass tower on Bourke and William Streets, has been heritage listed, 30 years after it replaced the 1872 Menzies Hotel >>Delfin Properties is producing a new town at Craigeburn, north of the city >> In a “disaster for planning”, private building surveyors are now usurping councils on development and demolition approvals, according to Michelle Quigley, a planning barrister and prominent member of the Save our Suburbs action group >>The Docklands Authority is offering Spencer Street Station to developers for potential as a “mini-city and transport hub” that could reduce use of Flinders Street Station >> The state government has released figures showing a 25% rise in development over the past year.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
WA Planning Minister Graham Kierath has told a RAPI conference that the state government needs to clarify Perth’s role in the new global economy—as a transport hub, tourist centre or focus of technological excellence—so planners can plan >> Cottesloe Mayor John Hammond is leading a campaign against a four-lane western highway which will split his beach suburb to assist trucking between ports at Fremantle and Cockburn Sound and the northern suburbs of Osborne Park and Joondalup >>Ralph Drexel and Geoffrey London, architects for a 1980s apartment conversion of a Fremantle soap factory, have become third-party defendants in a damages case related to the collapse of a second-floor balcony during a 1996 New Year’s Eve party. (Drexel’s son and daughter-in-law were among the revellers injured in the fall) >> The WA government is considering building a soccer stadium (for Perth Glory as head tenants) beside a convention and exhibition centre proposed next to the Perth Entertainment Centre. This idea has raised alarm about mixing serious conference delegates with uninhibited soccer fans >> The City of Gosnells Council has introduced a ‘Safe City’ initiative which uses a British computer-analysis method called ‘space syntax’ to study the way people use public spaces; with concern for design strategies to limit crime. This syntax system, developed by Professor Bill Hillier of London’s Bartlett College and used on projects by Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, is described in Hillier’s book Space is the Machine.