The Bond | Fitzpatrick + Partners

The Bond: A Sustainable Work Oasis

In the heart of Norwest Business Park, The Bond, a seven story engineered timber marvel, redefines workspace sustainability. The vision was clear: an adaptable space prioritizing occupant well-being and productivity. The challenge? Achieve PCA A Grade Office rating with a 25% lower construction cost target than comparable projects. The solution? Streamlined processes creating an economically optimised constructure. Strategic location aligns with a master plan for porous connectivity, maximizing natural light. The materiality, inspired by local heritage, utilises clay and brick. The Bond is not just a building; it’s a testament to visionary design, economic feasibility, and environmental responsibility a blueprint for future sustainable workspaces.

TERROIR Hobart Office | TERROIR

As the impacts of climate change are now felt in real time, the idea of sustainability in architecture is being questioned. TERROIR aim to challenge sustainability in Architecture through the concepts explored within their own office fit out in lutruwita / Hobart.

Occupying a space within an abandoned mid-century office fit out, the design is a cannibalisation and reappropriation of what was already there. This project is an experiment that challenges the paradox of ‘sustainable architecture’. This project may be small in size, but heralds a disproportionately large manifesto for a different sort of practice that is more and more urgent to embrace. Its lessons are already informing our practice’s larger projects in our quest to continue making places which support the interactions of people and place, but in a way that uses less resources than ever before.

Salesforce Tower at Sydney Place | Foster + Partners and Architectus

Salesforce Tower at Sydney Place, located between George and Pitt Streets. has reinvigorated Sydney’s iconic Circular Quay with a network of pedestrian laneways that criss-cross the site at different levels. Closely integrated with the tower above, the laneways are lined with restaurants, cafes and bars.

The tower makes a distinctive contribution to Sydney’s skyline with its innovative facade a series of external cross-braces derived from structural stress diagrams. The entire elevation is vertically articulated to modulate its visual impact on the skyline. The expressed structure also allows flexibility in interior layouts with the core offset to one side. Salesforce Tower was designed to support new ways of working in the 21st century, suitable for a whole range of organisations, from new start-ups to large companies.

The offset core and column free workspaces maximise views of Sydney Harbour, and create a workspace that optimises community, collaboration, wellbeing, and productivity for workers.

National Herbarium of NSW | Architectus

The National Herbarium of NSW features a new state of the art facility for one of the most significant botanical resources in the Southern Hemisphere.

Moving to the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan after almost 170 years at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, the Herbarium required a new facility to protect its growing collection of over 1.43 million plant specimens essential to knowledge and decision making about the conservation and management of our natural environment.

Architectus collaborated with two esteemed industry professionals on the project, architect Richard Leplastrier and landscape architect Craig Burton. Together, the team researched and explored the nature of the Mount Annan site, the complexity and extensive indigenous history of the region, and the Herbarium’s functional requirements.

Liverpool Civic Place | fjcstudio

Liverpool’s Civic building, lost to fire, prompted a transformative initiative at the southern end of the CBD. A new Civic Place includes a unique 21st century library, Yellamundie, and Civic Building. Inspired by the gentle curve of the Georges River, Yellamundie’s curvilinear design invites pedestrian flow and connectivity. Set at the terminus of tree lined Macquarie Street, it harmonises with the Civic Foyer that references Greenway’s local heritage buildings.

The library’s curved form, reflecting the river’s eddies, fosters gathering and embraces a timber decked gathering garden and sunken courtyard. Within the plaza, a grove of resilient Crepe Myrtles combats heat island effects, and reinforces the strong Hoddle like city grid. Integrating much of the 5000sqm library beneath the plaza presented an urban challenge, resulting in generous on grade public domain from Scott Street. Liverpool Civic Place uniquely resolves complex urban challenges to offer invaluable social infrastructure to an increasingly dense Western Sydney city.

Hurlstone Memorial Reserve Community Centre | Sam Crawford Architects

The soft Y shape of the Hurlstone Memorial Reserve Community Centre welcomes the local community with multiple access points and vistas.

The shape of the building minimises the building mass, allows views through the building from key park entry points whilst framing views to all areas of the park.

The layout also allows spaces around the building to be maximised for public use. Each side forms a sheltered courtyard, and facilitates circulation around the building so that no one side is the back.

The pavilion is lifted off the ground to avoid flooding and to provide seating around the edge. The three curved sides feature large glass doors adding transparency, cross ventilation, and accessibility.

Perforated screens on the roof and undulating facade create a lantern effect offering views out and up, bringing light in, and promoting safety. The materials, colours and forms complement the Federation heritage of the area.

Foveaux Street | Candalepas Associates

The Foveaux Street project preserves a 1960s and 1970s sewing factory, stripping the existing six level concrete and brick structure down to its basic elements. The renovated building maintains low floor to ceiling heights, enriched by a large west and south facing internal atrium incorporated into the eight level commercial expansion.

This space serves as a focal point, featuring a glass artwork by Janet Laurence and carefully crafted concrete brise soleil for controlled light. The communal atrium, shared with the city through a south facing window, enhances the office environment.

White lanterns augment natural light, creating a dynamic workspace with a relaxed engagement with the street. The project transforms a slated for demolition building into a contemporary, flexible workspace, fostering a connection between the internal and external environment for office workers, ensuring its utility for years to come.

A building which was earmarked for demolition is now one which is kept and renewed into a contemporary workspace.

Ewen Park Outdoor Learning Centre | Sam Crawford Architects

The Ewen Park Outdoor Learning Centre delivers a vibrant place for meeting, promotion of place, and environmental awareness.

Canterbury Bankstown Council’s brief required a simple yet dynamic shelter to provide the community of Hurlstone Park with a flexible use outdoor learning centre.

Referenced in the design is an appreciation of the history, hydrology, and ecology of the site; from strategic site planning initiatives through to the design details. Country centred design principles underpin the project.

The Outdoor Learning Centre is expressed as a pavilion with expansive roof that provides shelter to the central gathering space, as well as providing peripheral shade.

The playful edges of both the shelter and landscape afford flexibility in use, breadth of scope for inclusion of public art, and carefully integrate with adjacent developments in a manner that affords equitable use of the site and surrounds, with framed views and vistas of the Cooks River and park beyond.

Darlington Public School | fjcstudio

Darlington Public School, a small school located on the fringe of the City of Sydney near the University of Sydney and the eclectic neighbourhoods of Darlington and Newtown, has undergone a significant transformation. Linear brick structures, complementary to the local industrial masonry, house flexible learning hubs, a multipurpose hall, and support spaces, while a curvilinear perforated metal screen defines fluid, organic movement and gathering areas related to outdoor learning and play.

The redesign prioritises a contemporary learning environment, fostering a safe and inclusive atmosphere for the tightknit school community. Acknowledging diverse backgrounds, the design integrates the rich Aboriginal Peoples culture and artistic heritage, preserving aboriginal artworks with QR codes for ongoing curation.

Photographed murals from demolished walls are reproduced in the cladding, providing a tactile response and preserving cultural narratives. The landscape enhances learning by detailing indigenous plant names and uses, reinforcing the school’s commitment to a holistic educational experience.

Charles Street Square | lahznimmo architects with SMM

lahznimmo architects, with landscape architects Spackman Mossop Michaels, were engaged by the City of Parramatta to design Charles Street Square. The design resolves complex spatial issues including steep level changes, challenging flooding constraints, retention of mature trees, numerous stakeholders, indigenous and recent heritage and large volumes of pedestrians navigating between the river and city.

A series of sweeping curves respond to the fluid form of Parramatta River at the point it transitions from tidal and brackish to running fresh water at the Charles Street Weir. The curves form a series of terraces and ramps that mediate three distinct levels: Riverfront, Mid terrace and Street level providing a continuous accessible path and river facing Amphitheatre.

The Architectural elements take their cues from traditional maritime structures the timber and painted steel shade shelter bows towards the riverfront, echoing the curving terraces and responding to the bowl like cross section of the site.