The Newcastle Architecture Awards celebrates design excellence in architecture in Newcastle. It is also a great way for architects to receive public and peer recognition for projects and helps the Institute to promote architects and architecture within Newcastle, NSW, across Australia and internationally.
Modus Operandi Brewery is a wonderfully conceived juxtaposition of hospitality venue, brewery experience and production facility. In a highly varied streetscape, a new dynamic polycarbonate and rammed earth form which acknowledges the buildings’ semi-industrial function envelopes the main brewing room and opens to the street to welcome patrons.
Cleverly blurring the lines between internal and external space, and patron and production space through the use of giant polycarbonate clad sliding doors, the architects have delivered a unique and varied patron experience whilst seamlessly facilitating complex production requirements. The structure overhead which speaks to an industrial aesthetic, is beautifully completement at the patron level with tactile rammed earth elements, sand-coloured floors, and landscape elements. The result seems effortless and feels good and is a place that you want to be.
Modus Operandi Brewery is a worthy recipient of the Newcastle Architecture Medal.
The skeletal beauty of exposed steel beams which are interlaced within the existing structure and that of the 250sqm new addition, understates their purpose in enabling the adaptable and flexible open spaces below them. While providing lateral bracing, Modus Operandi Brewery have skilfully incorporated steel beams into the design that support the huge sliding partitions which divide the internal spaces in ever changing ways.
Peter Stutchbury Architecture in creating this courtyard home with lightweight moving walls, complimented by monolithic rammed earth structure has created a true oasis, perfectly oriented to capture the changes in seasons as well as the daily rhythm of the environment in which this home is sited. The low pitched ZINCALUME® steel roof protects, and redirects nature’s waterflows without impending the fall of the morning light, entering the central open space and surrounding rooms.
The elegant simplicity of the roof design is understated, enabling the natural environment to shine.
Modus Operandi Brewery is a wonderfully conceived juxtaposition of hospitality venue, brewery experience and production facility. An existing warehouse building has been re-purposed and extended through the creation of a new polycarbonate and rammed earth form that fronts the street. The welcoming contemporary expression nods to its semi-industrial function whilst being a highly considered architectural contributor to a varied streetscape.
Cleverly blurring the lines between internal and external space, and patron and production space, the architects have been able to deliver a far higher patron yield than would have otherwise been achieved. Giant sliding polycarbonate clad door can be configured variously to section off areas to expand or contract patron areas, form private function areas and to section off production areas. The structure overhead which speaks to an industrial aesthetic, is beautifully completement at the patron level with tactile rammed earth elements, sand-coloured floors, and landscape elements.
Modus triumphs commercially and aesthetically, makes for a wonderful patron experience and is a worthy award recipient.
A highly considered infill project in a rapidly densifying and gentrifying inner city suburb of Newcastle, JL House presents 2 simple perforated metal clad screen forms to the street concealing a dynamic spatial arrangement of living spaces that open wonderfully to a protected double height atrium that ensures the occupants privacy and brings light and ventilation deep into the plan.
The brief has been cleverly executed on what is a highly constrained site, and whilst compact in square meter terms, the spaces feel generous and bright. Raw off-form concrete ceilings and concrete block walls are juxtaposed against high refined timber joinery solutions and carefully integrated services. With a limited site area, strategic placement of landscape elements ensure they are an integral part of the interior experience.
JL House is a wonderful example of compact infill development and a worthy award recipient.
The Sacred Mountain House stands confidently within the valley landscape, protected on all sides from the elements by rammed earth construction. Upon arrival from an elevated vantage point, the diagram of the courtyard house is revealed, and you are drawn down into the space through a primary point of entry.
Inside the protection of the monolithic perimeter, the boundaries between inside and outside become blurred through the use of lightweight moving walls and high-level glazing that drops in and out dependent on the level of enclosure required. This openness to living with the seasons has resulted in a unique home where a dialogue between natural ventilation, sunlight, prospect, and refuge is created in every room.
The Hill House, designed to nestle into an existing residential plot (with a heritage home and garden adjacent) displays a commendable ambition for suburban densification. The new three-bedroom home sits compactly on the site whilst embracing long visual connections and half levels to imbue a sense of spaciousness that belies the overall size and footprint of the home.
The internal kitchen and living room details are nuanced and create a warm and inviting central space around which the bedrooms congregate. A generous deck wrapped in a detailed timber screen speaks directly to the details of the veranda gracing the original home, just one of several visual cues to the new home’s sibling as you move throughout the building.
Rather than replacement or new build, Aija’s Place is more of an intervention. Modest changes to the home have transformed the existing envelope +5m2, for maximum benefit. The everyday spaces have been enriched with incredible garden and carefully borrowed views beyond, across, through and up.
A new kitchen opens to a sitting area, study, and new balcony – offering a new flexibility of living. The main bedroom has been extended with a veranda-like aperture offering direct access to the private cherished garden. New bathroom and utilities improved for ongoing use – suited to both Aija and her felines. The old and the new distinct but in gentle harmony.
Aija’s Place is a carefully considered project, a gesture of simplicity, with moments of whimsical delight. With minimal new floor area and interference to the property, incredible benefit has been created providing a refreshed living experience ready for the next chapter.
The Station Street Affordable Housing is an understated, efficient development on a compact and difficult site, working hard for residents and tenants.
The form demonstrates consideration for adjacent surrounds, immediate and longer-term, in a changing suburb. The building balances flood planning, open space, and planning controls with positive and inventive detail (including end wall fluted concrete panels potentially never seen). The roof terrace offers bonus amenity for residents and a planning success. Northern orientation has been achieved for all, providing natural ventilation, and views across the city.
The apartment is a robust, personable scale, providing quiet, comfortable homes, which deserves recognition despite its modesty.
Rather than the more conventional approach to fitting out a space through the introduction of new materials and surfaces, the Âpé Yakitori Bar represents a conscious exercise in refined deconstruction. The inner workings of the base building have been carefully exposed to provide a robust canvas through which early-stage innovation into carbon-negative materials has been explored. This opportunity for material experimentation is a testament to the trusted client-architect relationship formed through numerous project collaborations.
Where architectural intervention within the existing space occurs, it has been executed with elegance and restraint. A backdrop for a vibrant dining experience under a soft orange glow.
The new amenities and kiosk buildings at Stuart Park are a well-considered contemporary addition to the quaint sporting ground which is ringed by fig trees and a heritage-listed grandstand constructed in 1909. The scale and relationship of the new buildings were carefully considered within the context. Sweeping roofs direct sight lines whilst allowing the facilities to breathe, and providing a contemporary identity to the Hinton Rugby, Cricket, and Tennis Clubs.
Beyond the requirement for robust materials, locally sourced materials such as spotted gum have also been integrated into the scheme through screens and details. This is a project which has been delivered with deep care and serves to raise the ambitions for public architecture in the area.
Aija’s Place takes a refreshing approach to an upgrade of an existing home and sustainability.
It is a study of how to holistically improve a home and life, without major building (de)construction. The alterations set an example for ongoing architectural practice, and an approach to improve everyday housing stock.
Sustainability has been achieved through specific but minimal intervention: reduced demolition, and re-use wherever possible – including the relocation of the old bathroom, outdoors. The site’s inherent qualities and advantages – morning light, garden views, natural breezes have been embraced and enhanced. The use of simple, beautiful, modest sympathetic materials, re-use of structure rather than wholesale replacement, has invested in improvements for a further life cycle of the property. Aija’s Place is a hidden jewel in the neighbourhood.
The Modus Operandi Brewery reimagines the Australian shed through the repurposing of a post-war portal frame and the tying of it with a newly constructed interface, bridging between multiple lots. Creating the highly flexible space with unconditioned and naturally cooled areas was particularly challenging given the complexity of multiple sites being amalgamated.
As such this project is commended for its successful approach to urban infill whilst maintaining its strong commitment to passive design. Further, this project also displays a concerted effort by the architect to re-use and re-interpret materials, with thoughtful integration of recycled, handcrafted details and natural, locally sourced materials into an industrial setting.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
