KNOX INNOVATION OPPORTUNITY AND SUSTAINABILITY CENTRE BY WOODS BAGOT

KIOSC, Knox Innovation Opportunity and Sustainability Centre, has established a centre of excellence training hub for the delivery of green education and training, focusing on environmental sustainability and responsible management.

The centre presents an exciting opportunity to combine both sustainable practice in building design along with secondary and TAFE (Technical and Further Education) curriculum.  Engaging with seven different schools, the building will also be used by Swinburne University TAFE students.

The design of the building reflects its purpose of operation - sustainability, inclusion and innovation. It includes sustainable materials, energy efficiency through correct building orientation and integration of siting and building fabric with engineering services.

The design comprises a two story building with the main functional areas grouped and separated on each floor. The lower ground floor incorporates five VET/TAFE labs, while the first floor (and main entry point) accommodates the Discovery Centre. The Discovery Centre has been conceived as an immersive environment for students in years 7 to 12, engaging them with the concept of sustainability utilising technology and innovation. 

The circulation space at the upper level includes displays such as interactive models, climatic experiences, and touch screens, showcasing sustainable technologies and developments. The main simulation/presentation space is central to the design of the KIOSC Discovery Centre. It accommodates 100 students for a variety of teaching and learning modes, enriched by multiple touch screens – conceived for use in groups of four students – and an immersive curved projection wall.

Custom designed games and programs have been developed especially for the curriculum. Movable informal furniture enables the space to change with ease for different educational modes. A smaller simulation space features an interactive floor surface and a ceiling-mounted screen to encourage students to move around and engage with technology in different way.

Two discovery labs have been designed to enable the delivery of a science curriculum, including chemistry and physics. They are flexible in design, allowing for different table configurations. Glazing to adjacent spaces has been utilised to showcase the teaching and learning taking place. An external terrace provides a thermal buffer to the eastern-most discovery lab. The terrace has a sustainable landscape which can be used as an external ‘classroom’, further contributing to the sustainable theme of the building.

Glazing has been optimised to the building’s north and south elevations to maximise the potential for natural lighting and to minimise artificial lighting. Solar shading has been provided to glazed walls, minimising direct solar loads and reducing glare. East and west facing glazing has been minimised and where necessary is protected by deep reveals or building overhangs.

Natural ventilation is optimised by the use of operable windows to a minimum of 5% of the building floor area, while the majority of external walls are heavily insulated to minimise heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter.

The themes of ‘reflection’ and ‘refraction’ have informed the design of the northern elevation of the building. A series of cranked vertical sun-blades provide an active overlay to north facing glazing, providing an ever-changing composition to passers-by.

 

 

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architects: Woods Bagot

Principal In Charge: Sarah Ball

Design Architect: Bruno Mendes

Project Architect: David Ley

Project Team: Matt Si, Richard Galloway, Claire Gardiner

Collaborators: Swinburne University and Schools Consortium

Engineer/Consultant: Meinhardt Group

Builder: Harris HMC

Area: 1,800 sqm

Year: 2012

Client: Swinburne University of Technology & KIOSC Schools Consortium 

Photographs: Peter Bennetts

NEW CONVENTION, EXHIBITION AND ENTERTAINMENT PRECINCT BY HASSELL + POPULOUS

Joint venture partners, HASSELL + Populous have won the architectural contract for the design of Sydney’s new integrated convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct  at Darling Harbour, due for completion in 2016. HASSELL + Populous are design consultants to  Destination Sydney consortium, which has been selected by the New South Wales Government as preferred developer and contractor of the AUD $1 billion facility.

The consortium comprises of developer Lend Lease, its infrastructure development business Capella Capital, leading venue managers and operators AEG Ogden, and Spotless, which will deliver Facility Management Services. Populous has designed both the London and Sydney Olympic stadiums in addition to 45 Convention and Exhibition centres around the world.

The firm’s senior principal and project leader, Richard Breslin, says Sydney will have a state-of-the-art venue that will showcase the city to the world and revitalise Darling Harbour, both economically and culturally. Ken Maher, HASSELL design leader on the project, said the firm was delighted to take on the challenge of transforming a key Sydney precinct through the design of three major public buildings and the unifying public realm.

“The re-making of Darling Harbour is a rare opportunity to design a significant new quarter within the central city,” he said. “It extends the urban fabric and re-connects the city to Ultimo and Pyrmont with more permeable networks of streets and lanes. Importantly it can bring a new level of public amenity for visitors and citizens alike through extended public parkland that is identifiably ‘Sydney’ in character.

“It will be a fusion of architecture and landscape, of indoors and outdoors, of engagement, education, living, creative working and entertainment. The project demonstrates the imperative of responsive design to sustain urban life at this critical time for our cities and communities,” he said. Populous’ Richard Breslin added that the project presents a great opportunity for Sydney as a major international destination.

“This precinct will reflect the dynamism of Sydney’s cityscape, redefine Darling Harbour, and respect the precinct’s parkland setting. “The landmark Convention Centre, deliberately clad in materials which reflect its spectacular harbour outlook, will be complimented by the rest of the precinct which looks onto parkland.

Here, the building’s boundaries  are set back, designed so the landscape becomes part of the building, with circulation and meeting spaces open  to the park, terraces functioning   as meeting spaces, and a huge 5000 sqm  open deck on top of the building providing a  platform to be used for major events,” said Breslin.

The precinct will include:

• A convention facility capable of holding three separate concurrent events of up to 2,500 delegates
• Total exhibition capacity of 40,000 square metres
• An external event deck of 5,000 square metres featuring spectacular city views
• A plenary hall which can be converted to an entertainment theatre with a seated capacity of 8,000
• A grand ballroom with banqueting space for up to 2,000

FLINDERS STREET STATION BY ANDREW BURNS ARCHITECTS

The competition submission for Flinders Street Station reinterpreted the original winning scheme of 1899 by Fawcett and Ashworth, which incorporated a flowing roof, unbuilt due to cost overrun.

The proposal transforms the original gesture by running the vaulted form in an east west direction along the Yarra, creating a flowing form that responds to the river.

The vaults decrease in length and width, compressing towards the narrow western end of the site. A major commercial development is located above the railyards at the western end of the site containing 50,000m2 of market hall, restaurants and entertainment facilities.

The materiality of the proposal references the original structure; harcourt granite masonry base, light steel framed roof structure and copper roof sheeting.

A 'catenary' lighting system hangs from the arches, mirroring the roof form and doubling the spatial complexity.

View from the Cathedral, the new roof is set lower than the parapet of the administration building, preserving the integrity of the original structure.

 

A grand station roof viewed from the eastern concourse.
  

The new western concourse, creating ease of movement down to the platforms on the left, up to the market hall to the right and to the Yarra beyond.

The upper level market hall, a place of fresh produce in the heart of the city, a 21st century interpretation of the various markets of that grace Melbourne.

The granite base is folded at large staircases that connect to the river frontage.

 

 

 

 

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architect: AndrewBurns Architects

Project Team: Andrew Burns, Casey Bryant

Year: 2012

PERRY PARK BY HASSELL

As part of a limited competition for the City of Sydney, HASSELL undertook the challenge to rejuvenate Perry Park in the inner-Sydney suburb of Alexandria. Taking the themes of sport and ecology, our response provides for a range of passive and active recreational activities within a park and wetland setting.

Our goal was to create a destination for both individuals and groups; a place where sport and ecology mix seamlessly, support and complement one another in a balanced environment. Our proposal encompasses the design of several new buildings to house six indoor basketball courts and associated facilities, a synthetic outdoor hockey field and the surrounding landscape.

The design visually enhances the park by breaking the large mass of the typical ‘mega-barn’ sports hall structure into specialised halls, reflective of the program, and creating areas of green refuge which allow the landscape to flow in and around the building.

This approach created the opportunity to set the building within a regenerated wetland of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub, once endemic to the site. The development of green networks and links throughout the site build on the city’s pedestrian and bicycle arteries.

To help facilitate a shift away from private car ownership toward more sustainable transport, safe storage for bicycles and changing facilities are provided. Free Wi-Fi and power incorporated into park furniture was explored, along with digital wayfinding options and an informatics system that delivers real-time data to help individuals and groups monitor their health and sports performance goals.

The Perry Park design seeks to become an exemplar for future development and assist the City of Sydney in attaining its ‘2030 Vision’ sustainability objectives.

In designing a park that embraces both sport and ecological imperatives, the desire has been to create buildings using ‘low embodied energy’ materials and techniques, that respect the principles of good passive design, and therefore minimise energy use.

Location: Alexandria, Australia

Architect: Hassell

Collaboration: Taylor Thomson Whitting / Northrop / Arup

Client: City of Sydney

Year: 2012

Status: Invited competition – unrealised

Award: World Architecture Festival 2012 – Shortlisted

BEACHED HOUSE BY BKK ARCHITECTS

“Entering this home begins with the decision to leave the city. The recurring ritual that plays out in the journey to the holiday home is integral to the conception of this house: the car and its contained interior; the stop off for provisions in the last town before arrival; getting out and unchaining the entry gate before driving onto the site; the wall that confronts them, the view denied; the welcoming gesture of the front portal wedge; and the final release to the view as one enters the main living spaces.

Beached House continues BKK Architects interest in the curation of the domestic as a sequence of unfolding spaces that deny, and then release views. The journey through the house is through a series of subtly shifting spaces that alter one’s orientation to climate and terrain.

Beached House has been conceived formally as an exercise in volumetric origami; folding of spaces over and upon each other. In this way the house resembles a small village or informal site occupation that has aggregated over time.

There are a number of these folded spatial sequences within the house that allow for playful discovery and encounter as well as opportunities for varying connections between spaces.

Carefully sited in response to prevailing conditions and site, there is a sense that the home has been washed ashore and then embedded into the terrain, anchored against the elements.

The external spaces are located, nestled, between these elements and are orientated according to the shift in the wind and sun patterns throughout the day. The location of these external spaces offers alternatives for occupation and shelter depending on the prevailing weather and time.

The large masonry wall forms an organisational spine to the house whilst also anchoring the various elements firmly into the landscape. This investigation of the wall as a mark on the landscape and the exploration of site occupation are ongoing areas of investigation for BKK Architects.

Builders will always have ‘smoko’ in the most sheltered spot they can find and it was interesting to watch them occupy imaginary deck spaces before they were built. These casual occupations confirmed the climate analysis we had done to determine the most appropriate spaces for outdoor recreation.

This home offers various readings and differing options for occupation to the owners. It is intended that living in the house will be an unfolding series of moments, linked closely to climate and site that will continually delight and surprise.” Description of BKK Architects.

Architect: Tim Black, Simon Knott, Julian Kosloff , BKK Architects
Location: Western Port Vic Australia
Completion Date: January 2010
Photographer: Peter Bennetts Photographer