QUEENSLAND SHORTLIST
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
Category
Introducing the Shortlist for SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
The following projects have been shortlisted for the 2022 Queensland Architectural Awards, in the Sustainable Category. This page will continue to list shortlisted project until the last of the 2022 Queensland Regional Events have concluded in Townsville on the 10th of June 2022. The result of the 2022 Queensland Architecture awards will be revealed via livestream, which will be shown at the presentation event on the 24th of June 2022 at the State Library of Queensland, and also available via Youtube.
Timber Tower
The Timber Tower is an experimental project and the first non-residential building in Australia to use locally grown and manufactured mass timber. The project was developed in direct response to challenges of limited build time, limited site, fixed floor area, and the construction challenges of an occupied and operational site. The fully fabricated approach to structure and building systems allowed for “just in time” construction. The 5-level structure was erected in 28 days and the building, including the integrated fitout for 90 staff was completed within 7-months. It is the first tall building to utilise CLT as the primary vertical structure. This increases the useable column free floor area with the added benefit of providing a more solid façade, providing a very efficient building envelope. The resulting effect of exposed timber structure, small intimate column free floor plates, and generous windows produces a completely new typology for the commercial office.
By KIRK
Photography by Scott Burrows
Citation:
The timber tower solves a problem that would commonly be addressed using unsustainable expediencies. Kirk have the respect of their client and proposed a simple, sophisticated and elegant solution to quickly and economically providing much needed office space on a site constrained by being close to Brisbane Airport. Laminated and CLT timber (manufactured locally) do most of the “work” providing structure, shelter and nearly all the finish, with zinc cladding to protect the timber, and plywood and imported American Walnut providing joinery details.
Brisbane South State Secondary College
Brisbane South State Secondary College, the city’s newest vertical campus, offers next level learning connected with the contemporary knowledge network and the country it is bound to – a ridge historically used for camping, weaving and the making of tools by the local First Nations.
Visitors are welcomed within a generous arrival court into a memorable and vibrant central native garden, a magnet for community into the campus. Open galleries across all levels fringe the garden, encouraging interactions and framing views to the surrounding landscape.
Multi-discipline learning hubs are characterised by open and adaptable spaces arranged around double height presentation and making settings in order to share the benefits of education with all.
The architectural language is derived from the First Nations heritage of the site as a place of making, informing the scored details within the concrete facade, as well as harnessing a local palette of colours and materials.
By BVN
Photography by Christopher Frederick Jones
Citation:
Education has always been important to our society, culture and economy. It is increasingly important now. The design of this building responds to a new form of secondary school in Queensland and to a new pedagogical model of learning through making and experience. The architects have responded to the constraints of the site, the procurement model and the client’s requirements with a building that is rational economically structurally and materially, but facilitates complex teaching, learning and social functions. The building is commendable for its integrated responses to a wide of biophysical, social, cultural and psychological needs in a way that feels completely “natural”
Live Work Share House
The Live Work Share House comprises a house, office, and self-contained flat. We have called the project by this name as we designed it as a test case for the way in which flexible adaptable living and working could be achieved on a suburban block. The need for such housing types is pressing given the issues of housing affordability, the need for more smaller homes given the reducing prevalence of the nuclear family, the increasing numbers of people working from home (especially now in these Covid times), and the need to densify to sustainably house a growing population.
The principle aim of the design was to ensure that the live/work/share components happily co-exist whilst achieving for each component an obvious entry, engagement with the street, visual and acoustic privacy, passive ventilation, good solar access, and connection to greenery and outdoor spaces.
By Bligh Graham Architects
Photography by Christopher Fredrick Jones
Citation:
This new house in the town of Samford (almost a Brisbane “dormitory suburb”) does what it says on the label. It delivers a range of biophysical related to energy use, materials, waste, health and so on. But it goes further providing a family home, a workplace and a place for another small family to live. The management of connections between these uses and the flexibility of the spaces to adapt to changes is based on clear, logical planning integrating the site and the building. The intention of making a sustainable and sustaining place has generated spaces that are comfortable, beautiful and a joy to be in. The building is commendable as a model of how people can live using very opportunity of an “ordinary” suburban land. It helps push the understanding of sustainability beyond the biophysical in considering a wider social/economic context.
Anne Street Garden Villas
In collaboration with the Queensland Government, this project was a unique opportunity to challenge the conventions of social housing, and a more create more liveable, forward-thinking model. Our aim was to employ small design moves that could have a big impact, and offer a more efficient alternative to single dwelling living without sacrificing the amenity offered by freestanding homes.
Design workshops with current tenants informed our design approach, and the resulting development strives to make a positive contribution to the neighbourhood. The design prioritises pedestrian scale movement and provides opportunities to engage with the broader neighbourhood. The bulk and scale of the built form is retrained and the aesthetic responds to local contextual studies.
Small, efficient dwelling footprints kept costs down, and created space for a shared outdoor garden, which is key to both the social sustainability of the project and passive design moves across the site.
By Anna O’Gorman Architect
Photography by Christopher Frederick Jones
Citation:
Through the use of a simple palette of robust materials, the design responds to the surrounding context and scale with single storey individual villas and their cheery pop of colour fronting the streetscape. The apartments and carparking are nestled behind, mirroring the scale of the adjacent residential. Within the centre of the development is the protected natural heart, providing social respite and connection interwoven with the biophilic design to direct and treat stormwater flows. Each design element used has a duality that responds to the social, climactic, safety and autonomy needs of the use. Consideration of privacy, personalisation, access and connection provide the residents with a self-directed sense of both independence and community.
Australis
Australis is a family house in the Noosa hinterland that responds to the local environment and lifestyle. the architecture was inspired by the original gable roof timber buildings that were located along the Noosa river in the early 1900’s. The single and double gable roof was one of the earliest ‘queenslander’ roof forms, and provides wonderful spaces in and around the house. The home has been designed to encourage a close connection between people and the surrounding natural landscape. The house has been named after the native livingstonia australis palm forests on the property.
By Sealand Architects
Photography by Emma Bourne
Citation:
Responding to climatic conditions the passive design principles demonstrate a well-considered approach; deep overhangs, cross ventilation and orientation. Fire resistant Australian hardwood-clad buildings with standard format material sizes reducing on-site wastage sit atop a concrete waffle slab for diurnal thermal comfort. Native rainforest trees with high water content replace trees removed to mitigate bushfire risk, with felled trees milled and re-used on site. 125,000 litre rainwater collection system for on-site irrigation and fire-fighting provision and waste water recycling utilises a secondary advanced treatment system. Opting for a large 30kw solar system, dual battery backup, and provision for electric car charging in the design, the solar system is large enough to power 3 homes, with excess renewable power fed back into the community power grid.
Mundingalbay Yidinji eco-cultural arrival facilities
Ambitious, indigenous eco-cultural projects need to start somewhere and here… “small is beautiful”.
It’s a way that the Mundingalbay Yidinji people can show they’re serious about offering a welcome to their “on country” education and tourism program where they revere the nearby mountain range containing song lines, the “Pyramid”, the “Stingray” and Crocodile”.
The buildings might look simple, (an umbrella and a box?) but they’re designed to contend not just with the lazy crocodile ambling through but also storm surge, unrelenting cyclones and bushfire.
They’re completely “off the grid” and self-sufficient in water harvesting, solar power production, waste treatment and in bringing back biodiversity to the area through endemic plantings.
So, making things look simple may not be simple but the result is two buildings that fit into their settings and give the visitor and awesome “welcome”.
But is it a bird? …. is it a stingray? … it’s whatever imagination allows.
By Philip Follent Architects Pty Ltd
Photography by Andrew Watson, Philip Follent and Mundingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Corporation
Citation:
An intelligent and well considered response to providing immediate shelter to visitors arriving at the East Trinity jetty. The project is off-the-grid and small in scale comprising two buildings that meets all the clients service requirements. The arrival structure is spacious with a large spanning roof that provides shade and weather protection from the harsh environ. The amenities building is an “inverted box” which creates a powerful juxtaposed language between the two buildings. The project exemplifies attention to detail in the fascia, cladding, lighting and throughout. It is a small but complex undertaking resolving accessibility, pontoon positioning, tidal and flood issues as well as the biodiversity preservation. This project provides an artistic outcome with imagery related to the indigenous culture of the area whilst creating an architectural identity to the significant East Trinity Reserve.
Muttaburrasaurus Interpretation Centre
This project’s ideas are generated from the Prehistoric and the community of Muttaburra’s existing focus on its paleontological past – specifically the chance discovery that uncovered the Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni approximately 60 years ago.
The primary driver for the design was to integrate the building as a direct extension of the landscape in lieu of a structure sitting atop the landscape. Local gidgee stone berms conceal the gabion framework and interior creating a sense of intrigue and discovery. The gabions act as retaining walls for the rock berm creating the ovate plan form with a clear spanning steel framed / sheeted roof structure over the interior.
The structure deliberately obscures the life size replica from the entry path and only affords a full view once traversing its threshold into the core creating a greater sense of scale and intrigue for the visitor with the interior’s pared back materiality & rawness reflecting the prehistoric epoch.
By Brian Hooper Architect
Photography by Lisa Alexander
Citation:
The Muttaburrasaurus Interpretation Centre, designed by Brian Hooper Architect, is incredibly successful as a structure that connects a prehistoric past and the desert landscape to a rural town setting and adds a layer of community pride as an important piece in the Queensland Dinosaur Trail and Paleo Tourism. Its power is in the harmony it has achieved with its unique surroundings, the use of local materials, robust design and how the architect has used history and landscape as tools for abstraction. The Muttaburrasaurus Interpretation Centre is a sensitive architectural expression of landscape and built form celebrating the most complete fossilised dinosaur skeleton found in Australia. The Centre is a wonderful example of biophilic design, connecting visitors closely with its setting. Its built form is simple but impressive, inspired by desert landscape forms around Muttaburra. Gabion walls of local stone create the oval walls of the main structure and entrance path with loose rock mounded around the exterior façade. The lightweight, floating custom orb roof form with a triangular truss along its spine connects to its adjacent built environment. Materials and detailing minimise ongoing maintenance for an unattended, self-guided facility and the space is naturally ventilated with lighting supplemented with daylight. The building is oriented to provide enhance the experience of approach to the interior and its ‘Mutta’ replica at its heart. The dinosaur is positioned to be ‘entering’ the structure from the eastern side through a circular opening with views beyond to the expansive sky and landscape, providing a natural backdrop to the main display and dramatic sunlight. This layout with the carefully place openings creates an incredible connection to the setting for the visitor, especially at sunset.
