Supergraphics

Several ARM projects feature in the new book Supergraphics - Transforming Space: Graphic Design for Walls, Buildings & Spaces.

The book, which chronicles the early days of the Supergraphics movement and also looks at work by leading contemporary practitioners, includes 1010 LaTrobe St, ACER, Melbourne Theatre Company, Melbourne Recital Centre and the National Museum of Australia.

The future is here!

The future of architectural photography has arrived.

Renowned photographer John Gollings has today photographed our latest project, Info Corner at RMIT University, using the same stereoscopic 3D process he employed for the Now + When exhibition at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale.

We believe that this is the first time anywhere in the world that a built architecture project has been photographed using this technique. The images will appear in 3D as described here in Architecture Australia magazine.

Stay tuned for more details and spectacular images to emerge!

Melbourne Open House 2010

Visitors can go on a self-guided tour of the Recital Centre with technical guides on hand to point out the many interesting features of the Centre. All areas are accessible (except the stage in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall).

Further details are available on the Open House website.

State of Design Festival

Premier's Design Awards - Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre from State of Design on Vimeo.

The State of Design Festival begins today!

The Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre are shortlisted for the Premier's Design Awards, one of the four programs during the festival.

The festival increases the awareness of the value of design and showcases how design generates innovation, promotes sustainability and adds value to business and society.

Festival programs demonstrate and broadly communicate how the Victorian and Australian design profession can improve living conditions, create sustainable development opportunities, and generate new and innovative products and services; in turn, providing economic benefit for the state of Victoria.

By communicating to Victorian, Australian and international audiences, the Festival promotes a deeper understanding of design capability and value.

The 2010 State of Design Festival will take place from 14 – 25 July throughout metropolitan Melbourne, and regional centres around Victoria.

Next stage for Hamer Hall

Melbourne said goodnight to Hamer Hall on July 4 as it closed its doors ahead of its $128.5 million redevelopment.

The new designs for Hamer Hall open the building up to the river bank and St Kilda Rd. The design is a radical rethink of the 30 year old building that will increase access while maintaining its heritage features.

For further images and details of the project please visit the Arts Centre website.

One East Melbournewins top multiple housing award

ARM is thrilled to announce that One East Melbourne received the Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture, Multiple Housing at the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter 2010 awards at a gala ceremony on Friday 25 June.

The Best Overend award is the major prize in the multiple housing category.

The awards jury citation stated:

“One East Melbourne confidently combines an apartment tower genre with a level of critical discourse of ideas of the ‘little tower’ hovering at the fringe of the city’s ‘big towers’.

The dialectic of form and program contribute to a memorable, sculptural building that responds commendably to its various contexts;
Park, Rail-yards and CBD, as well as civic scales; Street, Podium and Tower.

The architecture explores residential living possibilities within a building fabric more often belonging to the office tower. Curtain wall façades contain yet support habitation – facilitating the expansive views from the site as well as contributing to an ‘in-the-round’ form, so often not achieved in the CBD. The façades are at their most exploratory and expressive when responding to apartment planning and operable ‘winter garden’ terraces enlivening the corners. This design develops a significant advancement for multi-residential architecture, through its deft combination of market realities and higher order civic ideas.”

Congratulations to our client Becton and all our project partners for this wonderful achievement.

This year One East Melbourne was also awarded a 5 star Green Star – Office Design v2 rating for the office component of this unique mixed-use residential development located on a once-in-a-lifetime site.

Perth Arena raises the roof!

The mega trusses that will support the operable and fixed roof span of Perth Arena have been jacked into place.

Each mega truss is 132 metres long and 10 metres high, containing almost 3000 tonnes of steel!

Further details on Perth Arena can be found on our client VenuesWest’s website.

(Images copyright Martin Farquharson Photography 2010)

The project is a joint venture by ARM and Cameron Chisholm Nicol.

Premier's Design Awards

The Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre have been shortlisted for the 2010 Premier's Design Awards.

The awards are one of four main programs in the State of Design Festival, July 14-25. The theme of this year's festival is Change By Design.

The awards identify the most exciting applications of design, recognising original, sustainable, innovative and groundbreaking design in and from Victoria, and celebrating the contribution of design to business excellence.

ARM on the road

Southern Way has formed a unique partnership with the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park which will culminate in a major sculpture being installed at the Peninsula Link/EastLink interchange – or the Peninsula Portal as it will be known.

In a first for a road project in Victoria, two other sculpture pieces will be rotated every four years based on the winners of a bi-annual sculpture competition. This will provide a great opportunity to showcase the McClelland Gallery and to support the thriving arts community on the Peninsula.

ARM has designed three different styles of noise wall panels for the project. Mostly located in the northern half of Peninsula Link, the ‘text type’ noise walls (pictured) will feature place names from the local area, while along the route a ‘geology’ pattern will also be visible on some walls inspired by rock formations or impressions left in sand. Finally, oxidised steel panels in a zigzag pattern will complement suburban roof tops in the distance.

Work is underway on Melbourne’s newest freeway project after Victorian Premier John Brumby and Roads Minister Tim Pallas turned the first sod on the $759 million toll-free Peninsula Link in mid-February. Early works started last July and now Southern Way, along with its construction contractor Abigroup, has started on the main works.

Further information on the Peninsula Link can be found on the Linking Melbourne website.

Spotlight on Perth Arena interiors

The designs for the interiors of Perth Arena have been revealed.

Design Director Howard Raggatt said the aim was to reinvent the perception of a standard arena to make something that would become a beacon for the city.

“Our inspiration started with the Roundhouse in Fremantle, the designs of Middle Ages and Renaissance Ideal City drawings, and the Eternity Puzzle – like the Roundhouse, a 12-sided puzzle. Perth Arena has been designed to provoke symbolic interpretation, create direct visual responses from all approaches, and become an integral part of the city’s overall urban design and architectural strategy.”

Perth Arena will bring to Western Australia a new raft of entertainment acts that will perform in a space the quality of which has not been experienced before in Perth. Australia’s top promoters are already talking to VenuesWest about future shows for Perth audiences. The Hyundai Hopman Cup will benefit from the retractable roof (providing Australian Open conditions for players), Plexipave court surfacing, stunning corporate suites and function areas, comfortable spectator seating and ample green room space for players.

Sitting within the new Northbridge Link precinct, the Perth Arena will form an integral part of Perth’s revitalisation.

The project is a joint venture by ARM and Cameron Chisholm Nicol.

Hamer Hall reimagined

The concept design for Stage One of the Southbank Cultural Precinct Redevelopment has been revealed.

The new designs for Hamer Hall open the building up to the river bank and St Kilda Rd. The design is a radical rethink of the 30 year old building that will increase access while maintaining its heritage features.

The design incorporates a second entry to the Hall at the river level. The plan is to demolish the existing terrace and build a new terrace that allows light into the river level; to create a new 'civic stair' and a 24-hour lift from the river to St Kilda Road, and to bring a whole new section of the Yarra bank back to life with a range of entertainment options.

In addition to the external remodelling, the interior of Hamer Hall will be extensively redeveloped, including improvements to the auditorium, foyers and backstage.

ARM is the appointed architect to the project in association with Peter Elliott Architecture + Urban Design. Further details of our project partners are available from Arts Victoria.

Construction is scheduled to start in July 2010.

2010-A-MRC+MTC launched

Thanks to everyone who came along to the launch of our new publication on the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre. It was great to see so many friends and colleagues at the event.

Many thanks to Juliana Engberg, Artistic Director of ACCA, for her very entertaining launch speech.

Our sincere gratitude goes to the writers and photographers for their wonderful contributions, without which of course there would be no publication!

And thanks to Loop bar for hosting us.

2010-A-MRC+MTC is available for free in the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre foyers. It is also available from Architext bookshop.

Architecture Now!

ARM is proud to feature in both of the latest editions in Taschen's Architecture Now! series.

Albury Library/Museum appears in Museums and the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre in Public Architecture Now!, as reviewed recently by The Guardian.

ARM 2010-A-MRC+MTC

ARM is proud to launch 2010-A-MRC+MTC, a collection of essays on the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre. This is the first in a series of publications on ARM's work over the last 22 years.

2010-A-MRC+MTC features essays by Peter Corrigan (Edmond & Corrigan/RMIT), Ross Jenner (University of Auckland), Ian McDougall (ARM), Richard Mills (Melbourne Recital Centre), Simon Phillips (Melbourne Theatre Company), Howard Raggatt (ARM) and Naomi Stead (University of Queensland), with a foreword by Arts minister Peter Batchelor.

The Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre are considered through architectural critique, design intent, and the experience of our clients during this landmark project. The magazine features photography by Peter Bennetts, Earl Carter and John Gollings.

We are delighted that Juliana Engberg, Artistic Director of ACCA, will be launching the publication at Loop bar on April 14th.

Designs of the Year

Congratulations to overall Brit Insurance Design Award winner Min-Kyu Choi for the Folding Plug; ELEMENTAL for winning the architecture category with their Monterrey Housing project, Mexico, and the winning and nominated designers in all categories.

The exhibition of all winning and shortlisted designs, including the Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre, continues at the Design Museum until October 31 2010.

People's Daily Online

The Melbourne Recital Centre has been named one of the world's top 10 beautiful buildings by the People's Daily Online in the People's Republic of China.

We are delighted that the building was recognised in this way, and that it has reached such a wide audience.

Brit Insurance Design Awards

The Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company have been nominated in the Architecture category of the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2010 awards at the Design Museum, London.

The Designs of the Year awards showcase the best in architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport.

The exhibition at the Design Museum runs from February 17 to October 31 2010. The awards will be announced on March 4 and the overall design award presented on March 16.

ARM's exhibition includes two photopolymer rapid prototype models by ARRK, created using an Objet Connex 3D printer.

Southern Way wins Peninsula Link bid

Southern Way consortium, comprising Abigroup, Bilfinger Berger and the Royal Bank of Scotland, has been awarded the contract to build and deliver the $759 million toll-free Peninsula Link project, Roads and Ports Minister Tim Pallas announced last Friday. ARM, together with Urbis provided the successful design response for the winning competiton bid.

Key features of the Peninsula Link project include:
- A huge construction task including 27 kilometres of freeway standard road, 11 local road connections, more than 35 bridges and 18,000m² of retaining walls;
- A contemporary urban design that considers both drivers and the community with particular care taken through sensitive areas like the Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve;
- A 22 kilometre walking and cycling path starting in Patterson Lakes and connecting with other popular paths in the area;
- A partnership with the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park that will see a major sculpture at the Peninsula Link/EastLink interchange and the winner of a bi-annual sculpture competition being displayed along the project;
- Planting of around 1.5 million plants, shrubs and trees along the freeway corridor to improve the environment; and
- A partnership with the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES) to teach local school children about environmental initiatives.