Archinect - News

Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture's new Western Sydney International Airport reaches 75% completion

2024-04-23T19:00:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has updated its progress on the Western Sydney International Airport project with Cox Architecture. Construction is now 75% complete on the approximately 4,200-acre design, which is located in the expanding Parkland City region. The project cost is equal to $4 billion USD, resulting in ZHA's third major airport design after the Beijing Daxing International Airport and Navi Mumbai International Airport in India.

Previously on Archinect: Halfway through for ZHA & Cox Architecture's Western Sydney International Airport project

In the drone video below, the design's terminal structures appear in the first-phase terminal precinct. The project is expected to open in 2026 and serve 10 million travelers per year.

The firm says: "The design incorporates sustainable principles across its architecture & construction, integrating extensive use of daylight, natural ventilation and water recycling in a modular, energy-efficient design."

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Sydney Opera House builders reflect on historic job as the icon turns 50

2023-10-20T16:55:00-04:00

The construction of the Sydney Opera House was a famously fraught saga, but as the city’s landmark turns 50, former workers remember a quite different atmosphere on the site itself.

Trade unionists and other workers were not the only sources of labor disputes on the site, as Jørn Utzon memorably quit midway over a payment dispute on the 14-year construction project that became essentially the Brooklyn Bridge of the Southern Hemisphere when it finally opened on October 20, 1973.

A design known for its engineering breakthroughs, it also was historic in terms of the concessions made to workers, says Solidarity Online. Their execution of Utzon’s complex vision went over schedule and budget by ten years and $95 million dollars. The result, as Frank Gehry said, was “a building that changed the image of an entire country.”

“The work was precise. You can see it in the building today. Everything is perfect,” one worker told The Guardian. The BBC also has a retrospective look back in pictures here.

Construction update: Halfway through for ZHA & Cox Architecture's Western Sydney International Airport project

2023-09-06T18:58:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has announced their team’s reaching the midway point for their ongoing Western Sydney International Airport in the Australian metro’s new Parkland City region.

The project will serve as a catalyst for economic development in Parkland City while supplementing Sydney’s existing Kingsford Smith Airport, which is considered one of the world’s oldest. ZHA is working with Australian firm Cox Architecture to deliver the approximately 4,200-acre design.

Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects + Cox Architecture.

The new airport will have a total capacity for 10 million annual travelers by the time of its initial opening. Plans are for the operation to ramp up progressively to a capacity of 82 million annually by the time the project is fully completed in the year 2060.

Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects + Cox Architecture.

Hopes are for construction to wrap up by 2026. The region’s Aboriginal heritage is said to be a focal point of the design, along with a slate o...

Upcycled skyscraper earns 3XN a spot on Fast Company's 'world’s most innovative companies' list

2023-03-03T10:55:00-05:00

Copenhagen-based 3XN has been included in Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies 2023 list. The 50-company-strong list is described by Fast Company as the “definitive chronicle of the novel ideas transforming business and society,” ranging from ChatGPT creator OpenAI to the art collective Mschf.

Sitting at number 32 on the list, 3XN was included “for upcycling an aging skyscraper into a modern office building,” referencing their recently completed Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia. The 46-story tower has set a high-profile precedent for adaptive reuse and upcycling in tall buildings, with 65% of the original 1976 structure retained including 95% of its core.

Image credit: Phil Noller

“[Quay Quarter Tower] proves that even something as massive as an outdated office tower can be upcycled into something beautiful and relevant,” Fast Company said. “As a growing number of towers age in cities around the world 3XN’s innovative design presents a vision for how to implement a replica...

3XN and GXN offer insights into unique roof design behind Sydney Fish Market

2023-02-09T08:00:00-05:00

With construction underway on the 3XN-designed Sydney Fish Market in Australia, the firm has offered an insight into the design of the scheme’s defining roofscape. When completed, the 700,000-square-foot building will be the largest fish market in the southern hemisphere.

Image credit: 3XN

The building’s undulating roof is described by 3XN as “an integral aspect of the fish market’s iconic design” as well as being key to its overall sustainability strategy. Shaped to respond to the spatial demands of the market below, the roof is designed to harvest rainwater for reuse, protect retail spaces from the sun, and filter daylight through openings on the rooftop.

Image credit: 3XN

The shape of the roof was informed by the site’s prevailing winds, allowing the extraction of hot air while protecting users from southerly winds. Made from timber and aluminum, the roof is also designed to be as permeable as possible, minimizing the need for air conditioning while also deflecting direct sunlight....

On the cultural implications of SANAA's latest Art Gallery of New South Wales expansion

2023-01-11T15:09:00-05:00

The Art Gallery of New South Wales, one of Australia’s most important art institutions, faces an especially acute cultural challenge. Museum building in a real-estate obsessed city that Mark Twain called “superbly beautiful” — in the sunny heart of a proud “sporting nation” — often requires overcoming a barrage of negativity. The Sydney Opera House was loathed before it was loved, and the Modern has traveled a rough road already.

The debate around SANAA’s newly-opened $344 million expansion in some ways mirrors the one leading up to the (then $102 million AUS) Sydney Opera House in the late-1960s, which, at the time. centered on a discussion over the value of cultural investments that culminated in philosopher Peter Singer’s groundbreaking text Famine, Affluence, and Morality.

“Most of the rulers and commentators really do believe that ‘culture’ is a nonessential or luxury additive rather than part of the educational, civic, ethical and moral systems whereby a society might govern its core values and activities,” University of Canberra professor Ross Gibson told the Times in summary of that history.

The gallery has reported a total of 120,000 visitors in the first ten days of opening.

Explore SANAA's Art Gallery of New South Wales expansion ahead of its grand opening

2022-11-30T15:35:00-05:00

Sydney's highly anticipated Art Gallery of New South Wales expansion will open its doors on Saturday, December 3, expecting the arrival of 15,000 people who have already registered to visit.

Designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, the new project is set to be the city's largest "cultural development since the dramatic opening of its Opera House nearly 50 years ago," as reported on Archinect back in May 2022 when updated project renderings were released.

Image © Iwan Baan/Courtesy of SANAA | The Art Gallery NSW.

Sejima and Nishizawa expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to work on the project. They shared with the press, "It has been a wonderful honor to design such an important public building in Sydney. Working closely with the Art Gallery of New South Wales team, we aimed to design an art museum building that is harmonious with its surroundings, one that breathes with the city, the park, and the harbor. We hope it will be a sp...

3XN completes 'world’s largest upcycled tower' in Sydney

2022-11-18T11:07:00-05:00

Copenhagen-based studio 3XN has completed Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia, described by the firm as the “world’s most comprehensive upcycling of an existing tower.” The scheme, which sees the retention and transformation of an existing 1970s tower near the city’s waterfront, was recently awarded the 2022 International High Rise Award for what the jury determined to be an “extraordinary combination of upcycling and densification.”

Situated on 50 Bridge Street, the project centers on the former AMP Centre, which, when constructed in 1976, was the tallest building in Sydney at 617 feet in height. The building’s transformation into the Quay Quarter Tower saw 3XN retain 65% of the original building’s structure, including beams, columns, and slabs, and 95% of its original core. In addition, new floorplates were added to the existing plates in order to double the usable area and increase the building’s capacity from 4,500 daily occupants to more than 10,000.

Image credit: Adam Mo...

Construction begins on SHoP's record-setting Atlassian HQ hybrid timber tower

2022-09-21T17:42:00-04:00

SHoP has begun work on the 39-story Australian Atlassian HQ project it says will eventually hold the title of the world’s tallest hybrid timber tower upon its completion in 2026.

The project for local Sydney developers Dexus combines mass timber elements with a diagrid steel tube exoskeleton and staggered glass envelope to achieve a 50% reduction in carbon emissions throughout the total 112,000-square-meter (1.2 million-square-foot) structure. It is envisioned as the anchor of Sydney’s new Tech Central district and will run completely on renewable energy sources according to Built, the Australian company serving as one of two main contractors for the $1.4 billion construction.

Image courtesy of Dexus

SHoP explains: “The tower is organized as six discrete but interconnected ‘habitats.’ Each four-level habitat is a freestanding mass-timber construction supported within the efficient steel exoskeleton. A naturally-ventilated zone, akin to an outdoor garden, is located at each level.”

I...

Sydney Opera House completes extensive concert hall renovation

2022-07-05T12:47:00-04:00

After two years of renovations, a room once blighted by poor acoustics and outdated machinery can now accommodate musicians previously turned away, with a push of a button

Ahead of its 50th birthday next year, the famed Jørn Utzon-designed Sydney Opera House is set to present the newly renovated concert hall which sought to remedy significant acoustics and accessibility issues.

Andrew Haveron, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster, seemed more than pleased with the improved sound performance of the upgraded concert hall, telling The Guardian: "You can hear every minute detail now, every nuance — right up to the back row, everything pings through. It’s a miracle."

The project, led by ARM Architecture, commenced in early 2020 and will officially open to the public on July 20th.

Previously on Archinect: Sydney Opera House closes for its first major renovation

SANAA's Art Gallery of New South Wales expansion will deliver the city's largest cultural commission in 50 years

2022-05-05T12:59:00-04:00

SANAA has released renderings and added a new opening date for their expansion of Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW).

Touted as the city’s largest cultural development since the dramatic opening of its Opera House nearly 50 years ago, the Sydney Modern Project entails the creation of two new buildings connected by a public garden and will make its public debut on December 3rd.

Image: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021

The expansion will increase the institution’s gallery spaces by almost double from 96,875 to 172,222 square feet, including a new 23,680-square-foot underground gallery which was repurposed from a decommissioned World War II-era oil tank. Overall, 70% of the new gallery is being constructed above existing structures.

Per SANAA, sustainable design initiatives include over 16,000 square feet of photovoltaic cells covering the Entranc...

Sydney's iconic Harbour Bridge celebrates 90th birthday

2022-03-21T15:53:00-04:00

It started as a way to connect two sides of Sydney Harbour but, over 90 years, has become an iconic part of visiting Australia. It’s an icon of Australia and a beacon to tourists around the world. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is celebrating 90 years since it opened to the public on March 19, 1932.

The City of Sydney recently published a fascinating delve into the history of the 1,650-foot span bridge, including the Coachella-like program of festivities that surrounded its original opening ceremony. This past weekend’s celebration included the symbolic interchange of a vintage 1920s F1 electric rail car and modern Waratah set in addition to historic and ferry bus tours coupled with other period-specific to give residents a sense of the atmosphere nine decades ago.

Pressure from Sydney’s then-1.2-million-strong populace during the Great Depression was instrumental in the creation of the bridge, whose existence is now associated with notions of equity and progress that came at a time when Australia as a society was going through a process of desecularization and modern change.

Plus sets a higher bar for student accommodations at Sydney's Moore Theological College

2021-11-08T17:41:00-05:00

A new way of living is coming to Sydney’s Moore Theological College thanks to an AUS$33 million student housing scheme from an award-winning regional firm.

Plus Architecture is behind the redevelopment of Moore’s John Chapman House, a pair of two-story buildings from the early 1950s that will soon become an expanded accommodation with a modern suite of amenities and room for about 113 residents.

Image courtesy Plus Architecture

In order to create a more affable student experience for its residents, the college asked Plus to design a dorm building that would encourage connectivity and human connection while remaining in conversation with different heritage sites and architecture in the campus area.

Image courtesy Plus Architecture

This is accomplished by a network of communal gathering spaces and “pinch points” which actively engender an almost forced kind of intramural interaction. A glass element unites the two alternatively-facing four- and six-story volumes and serves as both ...

Sydney is the latest city to pursue a floating pool scheme as it looks to further revitalize its harbor

2021-10-25T19:17:00-04:00

Moore's office commissioned Australia-based Andrew Burges Architects (ABA) to reimagine what Sydney Harbor could look like if there were sections accessible for public swimming. Her proposal mentions that climate change and an increasing population will both change Sydney's makeup in the decades to come, and with green space at a premium, cleaning up the harbor and making it swimmable could be a good way to give residents a way to cool off.

Cities like Copenhagen, which has successfully converted much of its canalway into programmable public park-type spaces, are serving as a model for Sydney and other world metropolises with similar water park-like developments proposed for the near future.

Sydney Harbour has seen shark episodes on and off throughout the past century, leading the cities to install safety netting and a host of harbor-adjacent public pools that are already very popular. The Harbour itself faces a serious flooding threat by mid-century in addition to a cleanup effort that will abate pollution caused by runoff from some of the reclaimed land around the Harbour.

"This vision rests on improving water quality," Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore told CNN. "Some parts of our harbor are highly polluted and cleaning up these waterways so they can be used for recreation and to improve biodiversity will require cooperation across all levels of government."

Related on Archinect: The long-awaited Plus Pool officiall...

Sydney's tallest tower, One Barangaroo, wins Emporis Skyscraper Award

2021-09-23T15:15:00-04:00

The top ten skyscrapers in the world have been announced as part of the annual Emporis Skyscraper Awards, with One Barangaroo in Sydney, Australia taking the top spot.

This is the first time in the more than 20-year-long history of the awards that the prize has gone to an Australian building. The 890-foot-tall, 71-story skyscraper, designed by British firm WilkinsonEyre, is the tallest building in Sydney and fourth tallest in Australia. It offers expansive views of Sydney Harbor and the Opera House.

As per the award announcement: “According to the jury, the extravagant design of One Barangaroo’s exterior façade was the deciding factor for the building coming in at first place. It is inspired by natural shapes and resembles three petals rising slightly twisted into the sky. The magnificent tower stands on a four-story high podium, the outer walls of which are decorated with a mantle of marble. In addition to a casino, apartments and restaurants, the building also houses a luxury si...

Make Architects transforms former chocolate factory into boutique office building in Sydney

2021-05-19T18:14:00-04:00

Make Architects has converted a former chocolate factory in Sydney, Australia into a boutique office building. Situated in the city’s Haymarket district, the building was originally built in the early 1900s. The project is the latest in a series of new developments in the area with dining, commercial, and retail uses moving in.

Preserving the structure’s original character was the core focus of the project. The design has retained as much of the pre-existing components of the 3-story building as possible, including the steel beams, timber flooring, exposed brickwork, and original hoists. New materials such as copper, concrete, and terrazzo, all sourced from within Australia, were chosen to contrast with the old.

Make Architects crafted a new main entrance by painting over the original brick facade and adding a new copper and steel portal door. The former roller shutter entrance has been replaced with a custom double-height reeded glass and steel door that slides up, opening the lo...

Australian architects propose improbably narrow 'skyscratcher'

2021-02-01T15:07:00-05:00

With a street frontage of just six metres, the Pencil Tower Hotel is barely wider than a terraced house. [...] Planning documents for the $35.6 million hotel, which are on exhibition until February 2, describe the “improbably narrow” tower as a “skyscratcher” because it is too thin to be regarded as a skyscraper [...].

The proposal for a 33-story new hotel tower in Sydney's Central Business District is catching attention for its ambitiously skinny proportions: designed by Sydney-based Durbach Block Jaggers Architects to stand 110 meters (361 feet) tall, the structure will occupy a narrow site that is only six meters (less than 20 feet) wide.

"Our proposal embraces this extraordinary attenuated quality, proposing a ‘column’ tower on a low scale podium," states the architects' project description. "The tower simulates the compression and extension of a column, through a continuous abstraction of the elements of a column: base, shaft and capital."

SHoP Architects to create world's tallest "hybrid timber" tower in Sydney

2020-06-25T17:09:00-04:00

New York City-based SHoP Architects and Australian technology company Atlassian have unveiled plans for a 40-story tall timber and steel tower slated for a new business-technology district in Sydney, Australia.

The 280-foot tower will be wrapped with a diagrid steel tube and staggered glass envelope that is set to include solar panels embedded within some of the frames. The designers of the project, CNBC reports, aim to run the building entirely on renewable energy and are projecting energy use levels at 50% below conventional new-build projects.

This loose-fitting envelope will encase a rhythmic arrangement of staggered floor plates and internal gardens that run up the height of the tower. The building's stepped top will also featured staggered terraces populated by trees.

BVN Architecture is serving as Architect of Record on the project, which is scheduled to break ground next year with estimated completion in 2025.

Henning Larsen wins Tower competition in Sydney for commission of Cockle Bay Park

2020-03-19T16:02:00-04:00

Global architecture firm Henning Larsen's concept has been selected as the winning design in the international competition for the redevelopment of Cockle Bay Park in central Sydney. Coming in at 73,000 square meters, the project includes 63,000 square meters of tower program that sits upon a 10,000 square meter public plinth.

“We are incredibly proud to have won this important design competition in the heart of Sydney and excited by the opportunity to design a destination that is distinctly human-scaled while also offering world-class retail, office, and public space." said Henning Larsen Partner Viggo Haremst in a statement. "Sydney is unique in how it entwines a friendly, local community atmosphere within a cosmopolitan city – we see Cockle Bay Park as an opportunity to reflect this and to emphasize the best of what Sydney can be."

The lower level program consists of dynamic retail spaces that weaves through an expansive public park that drapes from the main level down to the wat...

Sydney Opera House closes for its first major renovation

2020-03-13T16:52:00-04:00

[...] vast renovation project aimed at bringing all those innards up-to-date. The endeavor, budgeted at close to 300 million Australian dollars (nearly $200 million U.S.), culminated with the closure of the complex’s concert hall for the first time in its history. The hall has in the past been open 363 days a year, a point of pride, but it was shuttered in February for the start of a two-year upgrade.

Sydney's iconic Jørn Utzon-designed opera house will be turning 50 years old in 2023, and a massive renovation project has been long overdue.

Particular focus for the designers in charge of the job, Australian firm ARM Architecture, will be creating accessibility for visitors with mobility issues and improving the acoustic performance of the concert hall.

Rendering of the improved concert hall. Image: ARM Architecture.

"Performing arts venues are designed for the art that exists in their era. But artworks speak of their societies and as technology, construction and human endeavour progress, so do performance arts," states ARM Architecture on its website describing the renovation efforts.

"Over time, venues become technologically and artistically obsolete: they need to be calibrated to contemporary artistic thinking so that new works can be created and performed."

Construction is scheduled to be completed in mid 2021.

View this post on Instagram The first model of...

Adjaye Associates teams up with Aboriginal artist Daniel Boyd for their first Sydney project

2019-12-08T14:29:00-05:00

Following a competitive expression of interest, the City of Sydney recently commissioned Adjaye Associates and renowned locally based Aboriginal artist Daniel Boyd to design the scheme for 180 George Street, which comprises a new public square, plaza building, and public artwork near Circular Quay. Currently scheduled for a 2022 completion date, the development will be Adjaye Associates' first Sydney project.

The team's design is rooted in lost history and revolves around the themes of heritage, identity, and place. Inspired by Aboriginal dot painting, one of the building's distinct features is a 27x34m perforated canopy of scattered, circular mirror-lined openings that will filter dappled light onto the plaza below. The same circular pattern continues onto the paving of the plaza through a series of steel circles and cylindrical glass skylights, which allows light to filter all the way down to the bicycle facility beneath the plaza.

Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates.

Artist Dani...

Sydney's famous fish market reveals new design by Danish firm 3XN

2018-11-06T15:58:00-05:00

Sydney's Fish Market will undergo a $250 million expansion designed by the renowned Danish firm 3XN. As part of the city's plan to revitalize the harbor, the iconic attraction will be relocated to Blackwattle Bay, where it will provide greater public access to the city's prime waterfront.

Currently, the Sydney Fish Market brings in more annual visitors than the Great Barrier Reef and accounts for more than 20% of international visitors to the Sydney area. The new cultural facility will help the attraction become more community oriented, providing improved public space, dining options, and transport connectivity.

The upgraded market will host a seafood cooking school, restaurants, bars, new public wharves, a waterfront promenade, and a new ferry stop. Working with with local architect BVN, GXN Innovation, and landscape architect Aspect Studios, the project will also provide improved facilities for the city's fishers and fishmongers, as the original center was beginning to show signs ...

#SailsNotSales: public protests after Sydney Opera House displays horse racing ad on its facade

2018-10-15T16:13:00-04:00

After a horse race ad was projected onto the structure’s iconic roof earlier this week, protestors took to the streets in objection to the commodification of their beloved building.

Hundreds of protesters had gathered in the evening hours of October 9 when the, usually, off-white iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House were used as a video projection canvas to promote a major upcoming horse race in New South Wales. The crowd booed and tried to interrupt the projection with a small army of flash lights, chanting "Whose house? Our house".

The protest meanwhile has drawn much wider circles, resulting in a Change.org petition with over 300,000 supporters against any future use of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as a promotional billboard and a rebuke from the Heritage Council of NSW.

Francesca Hughes named Head of University of Technology Sydney’s School of Architecture

2018-03-30T14:01:00-04:00

An architectural theorist, educator, and specialist in architecture’s transforming relationship to technology has been appointed as the new Head of the University of Technology Sydney’s School of Architecture. Professor Francesca Hughes has more than 25 years experience in the field of architectural education, theory and practice and will join UTS’s School of Architecture in October 2018.

Fire safety reform: Australian state government to audit, replace and ban flammable cladding

2017-08-02T13:46:00-04:00

The state government will audit the use and ban the supply of the potentially flammable building cladding that led to London's deadly Grenfell Tower inferno, in what it styles as Australia's toughest fire safety reforms. [...] Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean said the government had undertaken an audit sample of about 180,000 residential and commercial towers constructed in NSW since the 1980s. About 1000 of those buildings "may have [unsafe] cladding", the Minister said.

"The [New South Wales] state government said it would introduce reform that would identify buildings encased in unsafe cladding," the Sydney Morning Herald reports, "require them to be inspected and force building owners to foot the bill for replacements and ban the sale and supply of unsafe material."

Lille, France and Sydney, Australia named as World Design Capital 2020 finalists

2017-07-12T14:59:00-04:00

The World Design Organization today announced that Lille, France and Sydney, Australia have made the shortlist to become World Design Capital 2020, for their effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural, and environmental development in their cities. City visits will be conducted prior to final WDC 2020 selection, to better assess the scope and capacity of each of the cities’ proposed programs. The winner will be announced on 14 October 2017 in Torino, Italy during WDO’s 30th General Assembly.

"Once an industrial center facing economic upheaval, Lille aims to engage its 2.1 million inhabitants (including companies, local authorities, research and training centers, cultural destinations and civic spaces) in collaborative design-driven projects. Under the theme, Eldorado: the greatest design experiment, it places design at the heart of its economic, societal and environmental transformation.

Sydney, in collaboration with Parramatta and other surrounding suburbs, wil...

Brutalist Sydney Map celebrates the city's concrete heritage

2017-04-25T21:03:00-04:00

The family of Brutalist Maps architectural guide books just welcomed its newest member into this world and extends the reach to Australia: Brutalist Sydney Map—launched this week by Blue Crow Media in collaboration with Glenn Harper of @Brutalist_Project_Sydney and Senior Associate Architect at PTW Architects—helps concrete aficionados locate and learn more about landmark buildings designed by Marcel Breuer, Herbert Beckhard, Harry Seidler & Associates and many others.

"The guide features fifty of the most significant examples of Brutalist architecture in the city and suburbs of Sydney. Celebrated buildings such as the Sirius Apartments (likely to be sold without heritage listing) by Tao Gofers and the former NSW Housing Commission, Sydney Town Hall by Anchor Mortlock and Woolley, and Bidura Children’s Court (now sold and likely to be demolished) by former NSW Government Architect are included alongside lesser known structures such as Buhrich House II by the émigré architects Hugh ...

Robots could soon maintain the Sydney Opera House's one million roof tiles

2016-12-27T19:43:00-05:00

One million brilliant white tiles clad the 65m-tall precast concrete roof [...] glazed ceramic tiles need to be hand-checked, or tapped, every five years by specialist engineers, who abseil down the roof “sails” looking for changes in their sound or appearance. Now, thanks to the combined efforts of the opera house, the Getty Foundation, the University of Sydney and the engineering and design group Arup, this expensive, vertigo- inducing process is a step closer to becoming a thing of the past.

The fight for Sydney's brutalist public housing landmark continues

2016-09-23T14:13:00-04:00

Protesters gathered in Sydney’s historic Rocks district on Saturday to rally against the New South Wales government’s plans to sell off the Sirius building – which contains 79 social housing tenants – to developers for more than $100m. The 1970s Brutalist building was nominated for heritage listing by the NSW National Trust in 2014 but the government has refused to grant it, saying the proceeds from the sale are needed to build more public housing elsewhere in Sydney

Quartz also reported that Australia’s largest construction union Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Unions NSW have called their members to refuse any participation in demolition work of the structure.

“The Sirius building is not only an important piece of architectural history—it is one of the last areas of public housing in the district,” explained Rita Mallia, president of the CFMEU in a Sept 16 statement.

Learn more about the case in this change.org petition and on the cause's website saveoursirius.org.

Previously in the Archinect news: Just add balconies? Sydney deliberates future of brutalist housing landmark

Sydney's revamped Kensington Street wins Good Design award

2016-06-09T18:27:00-04:00

Juxtaposed by modern architecture on the western side of the street, the circa 1842 working class terrace facades on the eastern side have been retained and restored in line with strict heritage conditions. “Kensington Street’s integration with the Central Park precinct was of great consideration. We wanted to celebrate its difference in vernacular to the rest of the contemporary precinct but wanted to integrate it with quality landscaping and other infrastructure.

Until several architectural firms were charged with restoring and revamping it, Kensington Street in Sydney's Chippendale area was a former bustling industrial zone fallen to ruin. Now the street (or at least, the design firms responsible for its transformation, including Turf Design Studio, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, and Paul Davies & Associates) has won the "Architectural Design" prize in the Good Design awards, which is marking its 58th year.

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