Archinect - News

Mecanoo revives Scotland’s past into a new source of community pride

2024-04-08T17:26:00-04:00

Mecanoo has shared the news of its completed transformation of the Perth Museum in central Scotland.

The three-year construction yields 37,700 square feet worth of new public space inside of the Edwardian-style former City Hall that serviced the community from 1914 on. A specially carved Vennels-inspired intervention connects the two separate halls, framed by two new portals made from Black Isle timber and finished with a bronze casing.

Image credit: Greg Holmes Photography

Visitors will be welcomed into the brightly-lit new Main Hall archives space by a dramatic oak box container for the mythical returned Scottish Stone of Destiny. The adjacent Lesser Hall is thereafter recreated as a new communal space with larger windows and replete with a café and events venue.

Image credit: Greg Holmes Photography

This creates new panoramic views of the St. Johns Kirk church outside. Artifacts taken from the Jacobite period are on display within, including the silver broadsword used by Bonnie Pr...

OMA debuts PRINCIPLES Square collection for Perth Design Week

2024-03-14T19:28:00-04:00

Photos of the central hub for Perth Design Week, the eight-day event taking place now in the Western Australia capital, have been revealed by OMA to go along with the start of festivities.

Their colorful design for PRINCIPLES Square is located inside Cathedral Square in Perth's city center and features the Australian debut of the firm's office furniture collaboration with UniFor, which first premiered at Milan Design Week in 2022.

Intended as the main gathering space for Design Week, the concept creates a variety of socializing and spatial scenarios. For the event's second edition, no less than 20 events will be hosted there. Philippe Braun, the project's associate-in-charge, told the press that its realization "stimulated us to further explore how the collection can be applied beyond the typical."

Photography by Frans Parthesius, courtesy OMA

OMA says of the arrangement: "PRINCIPLES Square is the manifestation of the potential of the collection. The installation takes advantage of ...

Record-setting 50-story mass timber skyscraper approved in Perth

2023-10-05T17:55:00-04:00

Australian architecture firm Elenberg Fraser is moving forward with a new $350 million AUD ($223 million USD) high-rise tower in Perth on the country's west coast that could set the record as the world’s tallest mass timber structure once completed.

Plans for the new 627-foot C6 Tower were approved last week by the city’s Metro Inner-South Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) for client Grange Development.

The firm’s newly-formed research arm Fraser & Partners will be leading the project and says their hybrid steel frame and wood design will utilize a total of 9,678 cubic yards of locally sourced timber in its construction. At 50 stories, it is more than twice the size of the Milwaukee Ascent Tower and another 11 stories taller than SHoP’s forthcoming 39-stroy Atlassian Headquarters in Sydney. Grange says it will be the first carbon-negative construction in the history of Western Australia, though some academics caution this is misleading under current IPCC guidelines.

Image c...

WW+P designs landmark air-rail link stations for Perth

2017-09-29T11:39:00-04:00

Weston Williamson + Partners in partnership with local architects GHD Woodhead has completed the detailed design stage of all three stations for Perth’s new airport rail link - Belmont, Forrestfield and Airport Central Station.

This landmark transport project will deliver a new rail service to the eastern suburbs of Perth, increasing transport options between the city and foothills, improving access between the city and Perth Airport and driving future developments in the area. The team is now moving on to final design stage for Airport Central, with the line scheduled to open in 2020.

At Airport Central Station the aerodynamic roof shape integrates with the Perth Airport Masterplan and sets the path to the next stage of expansion of the Perth International Airport.

At Belmont Station, particular importance has been placed on ensuring that the development reflects the future high-density nature of the Belmont Masterplan.

In contrast, at Forrestfield Station, the characte...

Woods Bagot to design Australia's AUD $1.85 billion World Trade Center

2017-01-19T18:35:00-05:00

World Trade Centers aren't just for the northern hemisphere anymore: Perth, Australia will become the recipient of a two-towered, $1.85 Australian dollar World Trade Center designed by Woods Bagot. The uneven towers (one tops out at 36 stories, the other 75) still need official approval by the State Government, which plans to thoroughly vet both the proposal and the backers themselves in the more severe sounding Stage Two section of the process. However, by virtue of clearing Stage One, things are looking good for the buildings (and, let's face it, for Woods Bagot).