State Architectural Awards 2010

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

This year Deicke Richards took on the honour of Creative Directors for the Queensland Architectural Awards.

The theme of “Lighter” was set in an urban environment of pocket seating nooks, urban swimming pools and leafy parks. Guests were taken on a journey of light from the pink shades of dusk through the midnight blues, crisp early morning yellows, to lazy late afternoon purples. “Lighter” reflects on the need for all of us as designer to tread lightly on the earth and hence the night was designed to allow for little waste with light being the main tool for setting the scene. Centrepieces and material backdrops from the night were designed to be reused in a soon to be built non-for-profit project.

Thanks to all staff who enthusiastically participated in preparing for the night. We would particularly like to thanks Magda Myszkowski and Shy Tay for bringing the many ideas to fruition. It was a great night.

Look at all the photos from the night at:

http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=1.13262.156.3145.14380

Read all about the winners at:

http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=1.64.34.13875.14369

Deicke Richards wins commission for Yeerongpilly TOD

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Deicke Richards has been awarded the Yeerongpilly TOD project. The project involves the preparation of a Plan of Development for the former Animal Research Institute (ARI) site at Yeerongpilly which will enable the nature and form of development to be determined and the extent and timing of land release and infrastructure provision to be programmed.

The location of the site, between Yeerongpilly Station and the Queensland Tennis Centre, represents the best opportunity to date for local and state government to deliver a TOD demonstrating the principles as enshrined in the SEQ Regional Plan, research policy by DIP on TOD Guidelines as well as the City Shape and Neighbourhood Planning process of BCC.

DIP and BCC share a common interest in the success of the project as a TOD and have entered a formal partnership for the preparation of a plan of development and suitable planning instrument to effect this.

The current ARI activities will be relocated over the next 12 months to make way for the TOD development which will include high quality residential accommodation, affordable housing, retail, commercial, entertainment facilities and green space.

The Yeerongpilly consultancy team includes:

Deicke Richards
DMA Partners
Buckley Vann
Archipelago
Ecolateral
Terrain
Cambray Consulting
Glibert & Sutherland
CRG
Bornhorst & Ward
EMF Griffiths
Resolution
Urban Economics
River Levett Bucknall
Minter Ellison

Hayley Phillips receives 2010 National Award for Planning Excellence.

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Deicke Richards would like to congratulate Hayley Phillips, one of our budding urban designers for her contribution to the Carseldine Fitzgibbon Community Development Strategy. For this work Hayley and four of her fellow students from Queensland University of Technology, have been awarded the National 2010 PIA Student Tertiary Project Award.

The National Awards for Planning Excellence are the only Australia-wide mechanism for formally commending planners for professional excellence and obtaining peer and public recognition for their work.

The Carseldine Fitzgibbon Community Development Strategy analyses the site and the significant external influences, the need for quality community consultation and the resultant strategic planning for the next 15 years. The report focuses very concisely on the results and challenges the reader to become involved in the implementation of the strategic vision.

And the winner is Bowen Hills Master Plan

Mon, 31 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The Bowen Hills Master Plan received a Regional Commendation at the recent Australian Institute of Architects, Brisbane regional awards. The Master Plan was prepared by Deicke Richards in conjunction with Aecom and Macroplan for the Urban Land Development Authority.

Judges for the awards noted in particular ...”the study displays a strongly design-informed approach. Informed by a commitment to subtropical sustainable built form and the importance of the public realm, amidst the often hostile external impacts and internal strategic uncertainties of the area, the urban design work goes well beyond a pattern-making structure plan and demonstrates the workability of the broad and detailed urban design ideas through testing of the sites.”

All commendation recipients are now in the running for Queensland Architecture Awards, to be announced in Brisbane on 19 June.

ACNU Congress 2010 Reflections

Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

As with all good music festivals, ACNU Congress 2010 had a suitably hectic pace. The solid bill, with its mix of headline acts and indie practitioners, suited the ‘single session’ approach. No choosing who to see, just strap yourself in and hang on!

But 10 days on, I’m still struggling to describe the Congress (but that could be the mental equivalent of tinnitus!!). I’ve got plenty of good notes and sketches, but the pearls of wisdom, the beautiful images, the ideas, the provocation and argument are all still swirling. They’ll come to land at some point and will undoubtedly influence the way I work.

Most immediately memorable and just as useful are the conversations had around the event. These pub-based discussions connect the conference content with our own experiences. This intersection raises important questions about ACNU.

Is this an organisation for old farts? How do we younger practitioners ‘get a look in’ but honour and retain input from ACNU pioneers? Do we engage on new fronts and who should our audience be? Are plans the most suitable tool for explaining projects to the uninitiated? Why don’t we produce useful info/tools for non-designers at the government coalface? Is the Transect scary and misunderstood? How long will it be until we have an adequate suite of good NU projects ‘on the ground’ to touch, taste and feel?

These questions indicate a robust organisation in transition and Congress 2010 may be a turning point for ACNU. But the value of the Congress theme - ‘Plans to Places’ - sits nicely in the middle of these questions.

Plans are visioning tools, but they are also design tools and evidence of thought and process. As designers we forget that plans are not always the best tool for debate - not everyone understands the 3D implications of a plan.

Conversely the visit to Mawson Lakes generated much debate about NU form (mostly from non-designers), but with little discussion of the issues of delivering ‘place’ in such a short timeframe. But it’s these form-based delivery conversations we need to have with our audience who are reluctant to discuss plans.

So the importance of communicating our ideas in the third dimension was reaffirmed for me at ACNU. Stef Polyzoides’ diagrammatic analysis of typologies drove this home. But an equally valuable communication method was the photo-analysis of ‘what works and what doesn’t’ by AAUD. They put the ‘to’ back into Plans to Places.

Just don’t tell Peter and Clive I called them ‘old farts’!

By Phil Smith, Urban Designer and Architect, Deicke Richards, Qld

Phillip Smith Appointed to Sunshine Coast Urban Design Advisory Panel

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Associate Director Phillip Smith has been appointed to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council’s Urban Design Advisory Panel.

The recently convened panel consists of 8 independent members, professionals in a range of fields including urban design, architecture, planning and landscape architecture together with senior council officers. The purpose of the Urban Design Advisory Panel is to provide independent expert design advice to Australia’s fourth largest local government area.

Phil, who manages the Sunshine Coast Office, says he has witnessed significant change on ‘The Coast’ over the last 20 years and that “The decisions made in the next 10-15 years will determine the urban form of our community for the next few generations. Convening the panel at this point is timely given the unprecedented growth pressures and the need for decisive action and leadership. Its formation is the sign of a maturing Council, one smart enough to understand that design innovation is the key to delivering the vibrant and authentic places we all want. ”.

As one of only 2 ‘locals’ on the panel, Phil is keen to promote discussion about what a ‘local urbanism’ should be and what amenity it is capable of delivering to future generations.

“We’re all getting a bit tired of the frontiers-town, dead-end slanging-matches about growth vs non-growth. As an increasingly sophisticated community we’re capable of a more intelligent, and nuanced discussion about design, place and urbanism! The Urban Design Advisory Panel can start the ball rolling, so let’s get on with it!”.

Starting on April 16th, Phil will be joined by some of Queensland’s sharpest urban protagonists and they are sure to create some heat over the next few years! So watch this space for sparks and stimulation on all things urban on the Sunshine Coast.

Norman Park Residence

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The office took an early mark on Friday and popped in for a bo-peep at
Norman Park. Our clients have recently completed their extensions to their
house which we provided development application, design and documentation
services. There is now plenty more room for the kids to run around
downstairs, and all are well pleased with the outcome.

Click the link to see more: Norman Park Residence

Arno King presents paper at AILA Productive Landscapes Seminar

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The growing interest in productive landscapes was demonstrated by the large turnout to this seminar in November. High quality fresh organic food, food security, protecting food diversity, water and energy needs are issues that are driving this interest around the globe.

To see a copy of Arno’s talk press 'PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPE Design into Produce'. To see a list of suitable annual and perennial vegetables for subtropical and tropical climates and when they should be planted press 'Annual Vegetable Planting Calander' or 'Perennial Vegetable Planting Calander'.

Townsville - 23 April 2010
Brisbane - 19 November 2009

ACNU 2010 Adelaide

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The conference program for the next Australian Council for New Urbanism (ACNU) to be held in April in Adelaide has been released. Following on from the success of ACNU08 in Brisbane, a three-day Master Class and NCI Charrette Managers Training course will precede the main conference.

Deicke Richards director Peter Richards is co-ordinating the master class, which is focusing on an inner and outer urban TOD sites. The materclass will be co-lead by the ACNU08 Brisbane team Paul Murrain (UK) and Wendy Morris (VIC). Peter has just made a reconnaissance trip to Adelaide to see the sites in question and finalise the program.

For more information please visit http://acnu.org/

Deicke Richards employee Simon Maurice won the 2009 John Simpson prize for the best use of technology in a final year Architectural project

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

It seems as though even if we like it or not Architects are becoming cheerleaders for emerging environmental and political factors previously not considered. Shifting attitudes evident in the change of Governments worldwide.

The proposition is a Bio-char mill and Research Institute that is a 2nd generation use of the former sugar mill site situated on 4.5 ha parcel of land in the Nambour town centre. The Proposition to the expatriate’s Rudd and Swann is this; use architecture as the catalyst to reclaim the abandoned town centre of Nambour. The proposition hopes to include Bio-char as a technology to be included in the emissions trading scheme, as endorsed by the former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull.

The plant operates on Bagasse, a waste produced from sugar cane manufacture, one of Queenslands biggest exports & generators of plant waste (120 Million tonnes per year). The Bio-char mill utilises the bagasse in a process called pyrolysis to manufacture oil, fuel, gas and other materials alternatively made from crude oil. The pyrolysis process is a clean clean technology with no emission and once started can perpetually power itself.

The Bio-char mill and Research Institute brings a new emerging technology to Nambour, the first of its kind in Australia and the World. This programme seeks to disregard the negative attributes often associated with industrial building assembly and prescribes a reciprocal interaction through the lens of valorised landscapes.

More text and images for the proposition can be found here

http://uqarchitecture09.org/pages/SimonMaurice.html

‘TOD is the New Black’

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

UDAL (Urban Design Alliance, Queensland) ran a successful ‘Urban Design Dialogue’ in conjunction with the 2009 State PIA Conference. The dialogue focussed on inner urban renewal and placemaking with a range of speakers presenting significant projects locally and internationally. Director Peter Richards presented a range of key issues and principles for the making of TODs including a framework of centres typologies. Recent TOD projects by the office including Varsity Station Village and Bowen Hills demonstrated these ideas in practice.

Stephen Smith presents paper on Varsity Station Village Master Plan at State Planning Conference

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Following on from other recent appearances, the Urban Design Associate was asked to present a paper on the award winning Varsity Station Village Master Plan.

Stephen noted that the project, the first of its kind in Queensland, placed a strong emphasis on place making to create a vibrant and walkable centre focused on the new station. A copy of the presentation is available to download.

Click link to view full presentation Varsity Station Village Master Plan