As June closes and we pass the half way mark for 2015, we reflect on the articles that made headlines this month. The "Top 10" list below is an even mix of projects, news and comment articles. Click through to see what you’ve missed or for a refresher on what the design and construction industry found most pressing this month.
Brunswick West is a three-storey prefabricated house that was constructed in Modscape’s Melbourne warehouse in six separate modules. It was delivered to site and erected in less than a day. Is it a sign of things to come in prefab housing? We’ll let you be the judge of that.
Following a lengthy process of interventions and airspace limitations, the 336-metre Aspire Tower by Grimshaw Architects finally moved a step closer to realisation after the NSW Government approved the request to remove building height limits for the site.
Hamilton Wilson, Education Specialist, Wilson Architects, shares his insights into the future trends of education architecture and how to design a 21stcentury library.This piece is part two of a three-part series; the first explored the school of the future.
News that the University of Melbourne has been awarded $4 million to establish a training centre for manufacturing prefab housing was well received by readers this month. The centre aims to unlock the potential growth of Australia’s prefabricated building industry by creating a co-operative training system between industry and universities.
Built with their own bare hands, Sawmill House saw Archier architects turn to some interesting building techniques and make some unique material choices. One included the use of recycled blocks, 270 in total, that form the perimeter walls and are made of waste-concrete from other projects in the region.
Dame Zaha Hadid’s first Australian project cleared its first hurdle on the long track to realisation this month, receiving development application (DA) approval from the Brisbane City Council. But the Pritzker Prize winner’s three-tower residential design is in the middle of a 28-day public consultation process beginning Tuesday 9 June 2015.
We spoke with Jason Fremder, Managing Director of Harwyn about his award winning modular office pod range; what their made from and why he selects certain materials over others for modular design. Some interesting insights were uncovered from that interview.
In 2003 Rob Colquhoun established ‘Prebuilt’, a design-led prefabricated building outfit that endeavoured to distinguish itself from traditional kit / transportable building companies by offering custom prefab homes. Inverloch House is an example of the firm’s quest to offer custom built solutions within the process framework of prefab manufacturing.
As the South Sydney Corridor readies itself for the massive expansion of apartment offerings at Green Square, this recently completed project in Alexandria demonstrates an alternative to building brand new, glamorous buildings—even for those targeting the high-end property market.
What’s a month without apartment standards news? This time it was the much anticipated updated SEPP65 standards for multi-res buildings in NSW that made headlines. Some, including the NSW Government, believe the updates will introduce greater flexibility into the design process to encourage more innovation, and provide clarity and consistency in the way design issues are dealt with for apartments.
