JOURNAL/ Competitions

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Congratulations to Bates Smart Associate Johan Hermijanto for his success in the annual National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) competition to design the 2016 Architecture Commission.

Johan's proposal 'Plane Clock' was chosen from over 90 entries to receive a Jury Commendation.

Johan's submission proposed a trio of seemingly paper thin planes to interact with the garden's sculptures. These finely detailed structures align with the existing grid and capture the changing light of the garden to generate moments of activity and interaction. See Johan's proposal in the Gallery.

Urban regeneration or renewal is currently a significant driver of development in Sydney. From Barangaroo, already well underway, to Central To Eveleigh (C2E), Wentworth Point and Lachlan’s Line, there are significant opportunities to reinvent the city and position it for the future.

Our team combines award-winning specialists, many of whom we have successfully worked with before, as well as a range of local consultants in Washington DC.

Australian Team

Bates Smart - Architects / Interior Design

Aurecon - Structural / Services / Facades

Taylor Cullity Lethlean - Landscape Architects

Electrolight - Specialist Lighting

Chris Love Design - kitchen specialist

Fabio Ongarato Design - Graphics / Signage

Washington Team

KCCT - Architects / Interior Design

Keast and Hood - Structural

Interface - Services

Wiles Mensch - Civil / Landscape / Surveyors

Holland & Knight - Land Attorney

Wells and Associates - Traffic

EHT Traceries - Heritage

Schnabel Engineering - Geotechnical

Culinary Advisors - Kitchen Specialists

For the competition phase of the Embassy project, Bates Smart took advantage of the new technology provided by virtual reality goggles.

This technology generates an immersive 3D experience, and is beneficial for architects in enabling clients to better understand the scale, volume and context of potential buildings. It can impart a heightened awareness over and above that conveyed by traditional 2D methods, and enables clients and other viewers to more fully appreciate the spatial dimensions and orientation of the plan.

The goggles also offer an exciting and novel experience. In addition to gaining a heightened appreciation for the ambiance and finishes of the internal spaces, viewers can be virtually transported to a spot outside the building where they can comprehend both its scale and relationship to the surrounding streetscape and environment.

Bates Smart Director Kristen Whittle discusses the reasoning behind using timber in the award winning Dandenong Mental Health facility.

In an extract from the interview with Woodform, Kristen says:

"There’s a huge future for using timber for its natural curative properties. It’s soothing, it’s reassuring, it’s tactile and people relate to it, just like they relate to having a garden. If you put someone into a concrete box and asked them how they were feeling – or measured how they were feeling – and then put them into a garden courtyard with timber, plants and trees you’d get a completely different response. We all know that, because we all experience that feeling and we’re all human because we come from the same DNA, so basically it’s proven as an irrefutable fact. It becomes the natural material for use in healthcare, and is now the go-to material for similar projects."

Read the full article here

Dandenong Mental Health won the AIA National Award for Public Architecture in 2014 along with the Australian Timber Design Awards, Overall Award for Timber Design. The project is a joint venture between Bates Smart and Group GSA.

Bates Smart, with long term client Ecove, recently won a design based tender for a mixed use development at Sydney Olympic Park.

There is a growing commitment globally to a sustainable vertical urbanism that is conceptualised in relation to cities as a whole.

Bates Smart believes that in order to achieve sustainable development our buildings must be attuned to local climates, cultures, contexts and technologies. To find out more about Bates Smarts latest high-rise and super-tall projects read our latest publication Tall Buildings

'Through open voids in the structure the topography of the site spills through the house and falls away towards the ocean.' This is the Container House - an elegant proposal by a trio of talented Bates Smart graduates.

The recently completed 177 Pacific Highway demonstrates that tall buildings can be built in dense urban environments without sacrificing public amenity and particularly access to sunlight.

At 31 storeys the building reaches to the maximum height limit in North Sydney of 195 metres. Through detailed solar analysis, innovative design thinking and engineering, the project team unlocked the sites’ development potential for a major commercial office building, and created a new type of public space for the city, while maintaining legislated solar access.

Design Director Philip Vivian comments: “Overshadowing prohibitions have effectively prevented new high rises in North Sydney for nearly two decades. Much of the debate about tall buildings has been around their height but the concern should be focused on public amenity rather than height.

Bates Smart are shortlisted in the International Design Competition for a 380m supertall tower in Kuala Lumpur International Financial District (KLIFD) alongside Foster + Partners and SOM.

Design director Philip Vivian commented; 'The design elegantly tapers to create an omnidirectional profile on the skyline; its warm, soft, glassy image theatrically playing with the Petronas Towers to create a uniquely Malaysian skyline. The building's timeless design will be attractive and adaptable to the needs of tenants through the next century.'

Warm, tactile, renewable and enduring, the material qualities of timber are palpable. In both pure and hybrid structures, engineered timber has the potential to create high performance buildings that reduce the carbon footprint of our cities and feel good to live and work in.

In this issue of Journal we celebrate this enduring material in both natural and engineered forms; its nascent qualities and the potential for our future built environment through a selection of our built and unbuilt work.