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.