Two winners of the prestigious Australian Award for Urban Design were announced last week (11 August) at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra in a prelude to the Built Environment Meets Parliament conference. They were the Paddington Reservoir Gardens, designed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects with James Mather Delaney Design and City of Sydney and City of Melbourne and Victorian Department of Transport for Transforming Australian Cities. A Commendation was made to the City of Sydney for Sustainable Sydney 2030 – The Vision Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, announced the winners on behalf of the Prime Minister who is patron of the award, which originated in 1996, through Paul Keating’s  Urban Design Task Force. Hosting the award was Planning Institute of Australia with support from the Australian Institute of Architects, the Urban Design Forum, the Property Council of Australia, the Green Building Council of Australia and Association of Consulting Engineers Australia. “The Paddington... 
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by Lynne Blundell As the effects of global economic conditions continue to impact across Australian office markets, with rising vacancies and increasing incentives, two government departments in Melbourne are taking the opportunity to strike new property deals and move to more sustainable buildings. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Melbourne Water are both engaging property consultants to find larger premises that allow them to amalgamate current offices and that also meet the government’s sustainability requirements. The ATO has appointed property consultant United Group Services to run an expressions of interest campaign to find new 25,000 square metre headquarters. An ATO spokesperson told TFE the only stipulation for the new space was that it was located in the Melbourne CBD, which could extend as far as the new Dockland developments. In terms of sustainability, the ATO would be seeking a building that reflected current government policy and benchmarks. “Currently the Department... 
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by Genevieve Lilley One often wonders, in a murder trial, how juries actually work – how draining is the process, what happens if juries can’t agree? How does one cope with the responsibility of making such permanent decisions, which will profoundly affect the lives of those being assessed? These are questions the 2009 NSW Awards Jury all asked on the first morning at [Australian Institute of Architects headquarters] Tusculum, meeting each other, mostly for the first time, discussing our unusually diverse professional experience. Assessing buildings, we consoled ourselves, is not quite as life-and-death as deciding on murder (though to read the press after the awards, and to hear the opinions of some of our peers, one might wonder…) The jury this year was Sam Marshall (as head juror), Philip Pollard, Tina Perinotto, Mark Cashman, Richard Hassell and myself. Andrew Stanic was a juror for the first weekend’s presentations. The head juror’s role is a clear and important one,... 
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BRIEF: 15 July 2009 – Two Victorian Green Precinct projects have received funding for their water and energy-saving initiatives through the Rudd government’s Green Precincts funding program The Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES), located on the banks of the Merri Creek in East Brunswick, Melbourne has received $1.15 million to help implement its Zero Emission by 2012 project. Manningham City Council received $1.5 million for its Hill Green Civic Project which will help support the development of a sustainability education hub to be integrated into a new multi-purpose community centre and regional library. Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said CERES had a proud reputation for leadership in sustainability. “This $1.15 million commitment will assist the Centre to further build on a great record by installing wind turbines, solar panels, a solar thermal energy generator, electric vehicle charging stations and even a biogas powered barbeque,”... 
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BRIEF: 15 July 2009 – Two Victorian Green Precinct projects have received funding for their water and energy-saving initiatives through the Rudd government’s Green Precincts funding program The Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES), located on the banks of the Merri Creek in East Brunswick, Melbourne has received $1.15 million to help implement its Zero Emission by 2012 project. Manningham City Council received $1.5 million for its Hill Green Civic Project which will help support the development of a sustainability education hub to be integrated into a new multi-purpose community centre and regional library. Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said CERES had a proud reputation for leadership in sustainability. “This $1.15 million commitment will assist the Centre to further build on a great record by installing wind turbines, solar panels, a solar thermal energy generator, electric vehicle charging stations and even a biogas powered barbeque,”... 
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10 July 2009 -  BRIEF – Michael Pawlyn, founder of British architectural practice Exploration, took on climate sceptic Bjorn Lomborg at the British Council for Offices 2009 conference in Edinburgh held on 20-22 May. Speaking after Lomborg, who did not agree to his session being videod, Pawlyn tackled Lomborg’s arguments head on in a three part video posted on You Tube. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 For instance Pawlyn shows the figures used by Loborg and his Copenhagen Consensus made up of economists, were out of date. Instead of the US$2 cost of damage per tonne of carbon assigned by by Lomb to the damage caused by a tonne of carbon, the Stern Report quotes a cost of around US$80. And instead of the assumed $20 to clean up a tonne of carbon, a report by leading global consultants McKinsey showed that the biggest quickest savings in carbon would create savings rather than cost. Significantly Pawlyn points to the important role that architects are now able to play in helping to shape the... 
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BRIEF – 15 JULY 2009 – The RMIT Design Research Institute has appointed a panel of experts to judge a design challenge to develop creative solutions to extreme bushfire events. The 2009 Design Challenge will award a $25,000 research and development grant to the best bushfire design idea. RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, will join the Victorian Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Innovation, Gavin Jennings, on the jury. Mr Jennings said the challenge provided a fantastic opportunity to bring Victoria’s research, industry and community sectors together to find collaborative solutions to one of Australia’s biggest challenges. “Through the use of intelligent and creative designs that embrace new systems, products, materials and technologies, these innovative proposals will hopefully offer us outcomes to help deal with extreme bushfires in the future.” Other members of the 2009 Design Challenge jury are Jenny Bonnin (City Director,... 
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by Lynne Blundell Sydney’s laneways are about to get a sustainable makeover, adorned with everything from silver birch forests, canopies of bird cages, giant fluorescent light tubes, a mini outdoor cinema and a seven metre high bar to highlight climate change. Laneways by George! Hidden Networks is the City of Sydney’s second annual display aimed at highlighting Sydney’s hidden places. Eight projects were chosen out of 68 submissions. Each focuses on collaboration, sustainability and the changing role of public spaces, and has been created by interdisciplinary teams including artists, architects, urban designers, landscape architects and others such as musicians, poets, a scientist and a lawyer. The eight projects were chosen by curator and urban designer Steffen Lehmann and the City’s Public Art Panel. City of Sydney Mayor, Clover Moore, said the council received more than 500 registrations and 68 submissions for project with many inspiring high quality temporary artworks. “These... 
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BRIEF – 16 July 2009 – A new McDonald’s restaurant about to open in North Carolina in the United States will offer a free car charging in its parking garage, according to on-line newsletter Springwise “The new restaurant in Cary—opening this week—will be North Carolina’s first “green” McDonald’s, and it aims to become gold-certified under the LEED standard. “Both the interior and exterior of the restaurant have been designed with sustainability in mind. More than 95 percent of the wood used in construction, for example, comes from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, while tables and decor incorporate rapidly renewable materials such as sunflower seed board, wheat board, bamboo and kirei board. “Solatubes inside provide quality natural light, while lighting fixtures automatically adjust to changing light conditions. All components used inside are free of urea and formaldehyde, while vinyl is PVC-free and all... 
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“The Design Hub will be a centre for collaboration – a place to develop world-class concepts and initiatives that will raise this city’s and Victoria’s international profile”- RMIT Vice Chancellor, Professor Margaret Gardner by Lynne Blundell July 5, 2009: With the appointment today of building contractor Watpac Construction (Vic), work will soon begin on RMIT’s new Design Hub, a building that will house some of Australia’s future design brains and is itself a design showpiece featuring leading edge sustainable technology. RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, said she welcomed the appointment of Watpac Construction to the project: “Watpac are renowned for their expertise in education projects, but also their commitment to environmentally sustainable design.” Professor Gardner said that the Design Hub would be a “centre for collaboration – a place to develop world-class concepts and initiatives that will... 
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2 July 2009 – The Green Building Council of Australia said its new Green Star – Multi Unit Residential v1 rating tool, released today, could be used as a way to allocate bonus floor areas, fast assessment of development applications and cash incentives for green developments. Chief executive officer of the GBCA, Romilly Madew, said that her council did not advocate Green Star as a mandatory regulation tool, but it did “encourage Green Star as a support mechanism for incentives.” “The GBCA is currently in discussion with a number of authorities on how to apply the Green Star – Multi Unit Residential v1 rating tool to the allocation of bonus floor areas, fast assessment of development applications and cash incentives for green developments,” Ms Madew said. “We are confident that the Green Star – Multi Unit Residential v1 tool will deliver a single third party certification that the residential market can understand and trust, and that property developers can use to demonstrate... 
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by Lynne Blundell When Mary-Anne Kyriakou, founder and artistic director of Smart Light Sydney talks about the future of sustainable lighting in cities her voice buzzes with the same sort of energy that emanates from the light sculptures in her show. “This show is about the expression of urban space through light. With urban planning it is important to do a master plan of the lighting but this is not really done very often. There is a great need to understand lighting in the urban space,” Kyriakou told TFE. Kyriakou, a lighting engineer and artist, believes our cities are currently over-lit – something that needs to change if we are serious about cutting emissions and slowing global warming. Smart Light Sydney is celebrating sustainable innovations and the future of low-energy lighting design (see our separate story on the show). The 25 works, which are located along the route from the Sydney Opera House to Observatory Hill in the Rocks, all use low energy technology and many... 
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by Lynne Blundell… 26 May – Smart Light Sydney kicked off  with Brian Eno’s spectacular light show on the sails of the Sydney Opera House. Eno’s Lighting the Sails is part of Light Walk, a series of light art sculptures, interactive and performance-based art displays from local and international design luminaries and artists which celebrate sustainable low-energy lighting design and innovation. As part of a switch-off campaign in conjunction with the Property Council of Australia, Smart Light Sydney will turn off more power on the grid than it uses. The switch-off lights campaign, incorporating some of the major properties located within the Light Walk precinct, will offset the low levels of energy being used by the Light Walk’s installations to ensure the event creates a minimal environmental impact. Three of the installations on the Light Walk use no new energy at all, while some others use solar and pedal-power. Tree and Bench on Observatory Hill will... 
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by Lynne Blundell… 26 May – Smart Light Sydney kicked off  with Brian Eno’s spectacular light show on the sails of the Sydney Opera House. Eno’s Lighting the Sails is part of Light Walk, a series of light art sculptures, interactive and performance-based art displays from local and international design luminaries and artists which celebrate sustainable low-energy lighting design and innovation. As part of a switch-off campaign in conjunction with the Property Council of Australia, Smart Light Sydney will turn off more power on the grid than it uses. The switch-off lights campaign, incorporating some of the major properties located within the Light Walk precinct, will offset the low levels of energy being used by the Light Walk’s installations to ensure the event creates a minimal environmental impact. Three of the installations on the Light Walk use no new energy at all, while some others use solar and pedal-power. Tree and Bench on Observatory Hill will... 
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-  with best regards to Paul Keating By Peter Droege… The audience in the near-full auditorium expected turmoil, demonstrations and heckling after calls from the “modernist” camp to boycott the event. The Prince had written to Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber Jasim al-Thani, urging the Quatari Prime Minister and member of its royal family to seek withdrawal of investment support for the controversial Richard Rogers designs for a scheme at Chelsea Barracks, without success. But except for a single, somewhat reluctant call for “end the monarchy now” at the end of the speech (prompting another audience retort of “certainly not”), and some placard-waving in support of Charles’ position on the project at the entrance of 66 Portland Street, no protest surfaced. Prince Charles gave a fine speech at the175th anniversary this month. It came across as differentiated, elegant, poetic and funny. The 45 minute address managed to connect his placelessness critique of 1984 (remember his... 
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-  with best regards to Paul Keating By Peter Droege… The audience in the near-full auditorium expected turmoil, demonstrations and heckling after calls from the “modernist” camp to boycott the event. The Prince had written to Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber Jasim al-Thani, urging the Quatari Prime Minister and member of its royal family to seek withdrawal of investment support for the controversial Richard Rogers designs for a scheme at Chelsea Barracks, without success. But except for a single, somewhat reluctant call for “end the monarchy now” at the end of the speech (prompting another audience retort of “certainly not”), and some placard-waving in support of Charles’ position on the project at the entrance of 66 Portland Street, no protest surfaced. Prince Charles gave a fine speech at the175th anniversary this month. It came across as differentiated, elegant, poetic and funny. The 45 minute address managed to connect his placelessness critique of 1984 (remember his... 
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by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES - 21 May 2009 – The official start of construction this month (13 May) on a landmark green building in Sydney’s CBD felt like a good omen. With the cranes that dotted the skyline several years ago all but gone and construction sites pretty much an endangered species, the pouring of the first concrete at 1 Bligh St was like an affirmation that there’s still a heartbeat in there somewhere. The building owners, the architects, its future tenants, VIPs and media all gathered at the construction site to watch the first concrete slide into a prepared footing. As the grey sludge slid to the ground a small sea of white hard hats bobbed approval and cameras clicked like manic applause. And applause seemed justified; the building is being heralded as a big step forward in sustainable design, its construction during a global recession a sign of good faith. Designed to achieve a 5 star NABERS energy rating and Australia’s first 6-star Green Star rating for... 
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Pixel on Grocon’s Melbourne Carlton brewery site, designed by Studio 505: a laboratory for new green architecture … “Nobody can tell you accurately what the financial impost will be of the cost of a carbon constrained economy,” says David Waldren by Tina Perinotto FAVOURITES – 6 May 2009 – Private developer Grocon is pushing ahead with its “laboratory” style environmental showcase building on Melbourne’s former Carton brewery site in Melbourne, in a move that it says anticipates a carbon constrained economy. “Pixel,” on the northern fringe of the CBD, will be small in footprint, just 1000 square metres, but giant in the strides it will demonstrate to the construction and development industry, Grocon development manager, David Waldren, told TFE in a telephone interview from Melbourne. “It will be a world first, not just an Australian first,” Waldren said. Waldren said that in Europe many of the offsets claimed by carbon neutral buildings... 
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The recently opened Workplace6 is part of the third stage of Sydney’s Darling Island Master Plan. The site, opposite Star City Casino on the waterfront at Darling Island, is managed by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA). SHFA initiated the contract for a benchmark building in environmental design and construction with GPT, in conjunction with Citta Property group, winning the contract. The first commercial development to achieve a 6 star Green Star rating for design in NSW, Workplace6 has achieved PCA grade specifications and is targeting a 5 star NABERS energy rating. Construction commenced in April 2007 and completed in November 2008, providing approximately 18,200 sq m of space over six storeys and offers some of the largest commercial floor plates in Sydney, of over 3600 sq m. The building was acquired by the GPT Wholesale Office Fund in December 2007 for $183.6 million. Accenture and Google have leased 96 per cent of the office space for 12 and 10 year terms respectively,... 
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Part 3 of a snapshot view of China’s sustainability challenge by Australian landscape designer, Chris Miller. In my last piece I talked about the extensive landscaping of the tower block development, Huafa New Town, located in the city of Zhuhai in Guandong province. While being visually rich, Huafa New Town is something that is not so unexpected, knowing the heady state of China’s economy. Huafa Ecological Manor is another thing altogether. Designed by US architects Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG) and Fiji architects, AP, with landscape design by Belt Collins International (Singapore) the name makes some big claims. Situated in countryside near the city of Zhongshan, an hour’s drive from Zhuhai and equidistant from the much larger city of Guangzhou, the feeling on approach is one of dislocation. This is a gated community for rich people. The dwellings are large with familiar architectural features, yet with a Chinese cast; the houses sit well in the landscape. Inside,... 
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Dr Ken Yeang is one of the world’s leading architects. Here are his views on architecture for the serious challenges that lie ahead for the planet and design… “We start by looking at nature. Nature without humans exists in stasis. Can our businesses and our built environment imitate nature’s processes, structure, and functions, particularly of its ecosystems?” Ken Yeang on green design For the designer, the compelling question is: How do we design for a sustainable future? Industries face similar concerns of seeking to understand the environmental consequences of their business, to envision what their business might be if it were sustainable, and to find ways to realise this vision with ecologically benign strategies, new business models, production systems, materials and processes. An ecological approach to our businesses and design is ultimately about environmental integration. If we are able to integrate our business processes and design and everything we do or... 
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by Greg Paine Second in our series, Walk With the Elephant The curious thing is that no matter how different they are, the people are all pre-occupied with the same thing, that is: how to live. We have to eat, we want to make money, but in every pause the question returns: how shall I live? - Jeanette Winterson: The World & Other Places. The way that the imperative of sustainable development now requires us to think about social, economic and natural environment matters together raises some interesting possibilities: that sustainable development might actually comprise a lens, or tool, through which we can understand and deal with the wider world, and in doing so, provide us with an answer to the age-old question of how we should interact with the natural and social systems around us. The shifting of the discourse from one solely about “the environment” to one encompassing connected environmental, social and economic matters emphasises the point - that sustainable development... 
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Green roofs, massive wetlands with nesting boxes to attract birdlife, locally generated power, on-site bore water and the creation of local employment these are just part of the mix in the regeneration practiced in the UK by Tom Bloxham. Read More  
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