Indesign Issue 84 - Preview

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Issue #84 / Australia $16.50 / New Zealand $17.50 / Singapore $12.95 / U.S. $21.99

A professional resource for the design curious.

INDE.Awards Official Shortlist 2021 INDESIGN Luminary Meryl Hare The Foundry At South Eveleigh, Davenport Campbell And Partners Simon Topliss, Warren And Mahoney Citi Wealth Hub, Ministry Of Design Indesign’s ‘Education And Urbanism’ Issue

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A Legacy Of Enrichment Words Leanne Amodeo Portrait Photography Charles Dennington

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INDESIGN Luminary In an era of fleeting enticements, Meryl Hare engenders empathy, elegance and grace through her luxurious and cohesive designs.

It’s no secret there’s something about Meryl Hare, and those lucky enough to be in her orbit notice it immediately. She has a charisma that resonates, a warmth that envelopes and a humility that’s admirable. Her genuine excitement in what she does is contagious and her care for those she works with and designs for is palpable.

Unsurprisingly, Hare is one of Australia’s most renowned interior designers, having especially made her mark producing some of the country’s best residential designs.

Born in South Africa and raised in Zambia and Swaziland, Hare was a graphic designer co-running a successful studio when friends started asking her to help them decorate their homes. “I realised I was in the wrong profession,” she openly admits. Following her heart, she undertook extra qualifications and started practising interior design full-time. “As a twentysomething, I was incredibly optimistic, although it was a steep learning curve,” Hare says. “With young children, I was doing the balancing act. But I had always wanted to transform interiors, not just adorn them.”

Hare was in her thirties when she migrated to Australia in 1988.

The following year established Hare + Klein. Now based in Sydney, she celebrates the way Australian architecture and design has come of age in the past two decades. Her contribution is a portfolio of beautiful interiors that are cohesive and harmonious; an elegantly resolved fusion of luxury and down-to-earth comfort.

Each project exhibits a meticulous attention to detail, sensitive response to place, and richly layered material and colour palettes.

Not to mention her unfailingly client-centric approach.

As Hare explains, “The most important opinion about Hare + Klein’s work belongs to the clients who live in the spaces we create for them. We like to take them beyond the brief and always make sure they’re heard and understood so we can help them realise their vision for a unique home.” Hare doesn’t have a favourite project.

Instead, she considers her greatest achievement to be her body of work, including the crisp, fresh modernism of The Old Dairy and understated charm of Dover Heights House, as well as the austere stylings of Woolwich House and refined chic of Cloud Apartment.

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Biophilia in retail spaces is not new, but Ministry Of Design pushes it further with its highly imaginative design of Citi Wealth Hub. Retail never looked so fresh.

Welcome To The Jungle Citi Wealth Hub, Singapore by Ministry Of Design Words Tamsin Bradshaw Photography KHOOGJ

INDE.Awards 2021 Shortlisted for The Shopping Space, partnered by Tappeti

Wealth management hubs can often feel pretty unremarkable.

They blend soullessly into one another: cold lighting, marble, red-toned wood panelling, a plant or two in the corner for good measure, and some leather if you’re lucky. Which is one reason the new Citi Wealth Hub in Singapore feels like such a refreshing departure from the status quo.

Situated smack-bang in the middle of Orchard Road – next to the Apple store, no less – the 2,787-square-metre Citi Wealth Hub is a giant, glass conservatory, home to a veritable jungle.

The central talking piece is the main atrium. Here, tinted glass walls and sky lights shield betel nut trees jostling with parlour palms. Saplings and arums sit side by side, and bird’s nest ferns, money plants and Boston ferns add a lower layer of tropical life. In amongst this tropical flora sit Garden Pods for private meetings on

level seven, with central, marble-clad bars on each floor catering to refreshment needs. No water coolers and paper cups here, and no – as Colin Seah puts it – “dinky little menus”.

Seah is founder and director of design at Ministry of Design (MOD), and he’s also one of the key minds behind this fresh-faced new wealth hub. This was the first time MOD had worked on a wealth management centre, and this, along with the design studio’s ethos of “questioning convention”, surely helped it take a completely different tack.

It all started when MOD entered a design competition initiated

by Citibank to find a designer for its new wealth centre. The largest of its kind for Citibank, this was slated as the workplace of private bankers and wealth relationship managers, and the polestar of their interaction with private clients.

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The Garden Pod Discussion pods set within the conservatory gardens are panelled in Kvadrat Remix 3 fabric panels, Aural-Aid veneer panels, with curved LG OLED TV screens and concealed cables.

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Cox Architecture has established a tiered and abundant learning oasis within the concrete metropolis of the Docklands.

Fount Of Knowledge Docklands Primary School, Melbourne by Cox Architecture Words Sandra Tan Photography Peter Clarke

INDE.Awards 2021 Shortlisted for The Learning Space, partnered by Autex Acoustics

Notoriously buffeted by stiff winds and several notches quieter than the bustling city centre, Melbourne’s harbourside precinct isn’t the obvious setting for a primary school. Situated in a starkly urban context against the West Melbourne rail corridor, Docklands Primary School finds every opportunity to bring wonder and exemplary amenity to its community through meaningful design.

“As more and more families choose to live in inner-city Melbourne for reasons of affordability and convenience, schools like this will become increasingly important to the fabric of our cities,” says Andrew Hayes, director at Cox Architecture. Working with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA), the team at Cox delivered an inspired vision for a thriving educational ecosystem.

Subverting the conventional vertical school model which favours tall, stacked volumes and sacrifices floor space to sports fields, Cox instead proposed a more dispersed form, where each meandering level creates a meandering built topography. These bring a reassuring sense of enclosure to the exposed site while maximising northern daylight. Pathways between classrooms are intentionally positioned outside to enable incidental connection with the outdoors – a breath of fresh air for many local children arriving from insular apartment homes. Softened by lush native landscaping and peppered with a variety of spaces to enjoy, the school provides an organic terrain for discovery.

“What works particularly well is that everyone, both kids and staff, can see the community that they’re part of,” says Hayes. “The little ones in the early learning centre can look up to the bigger kids on the upper levels and think, ‘Oh, one day I’ll be there!’ They get a real sense of their place and belonging within the school.”

Inside, Docklands Primary School comprises an early learning centre and adaptable classrooms for learning communities up to grade seven. Equipped with various seating options and acoustically separate areas to accommodate up to 75 children and three teachers, these are arranged radially around a core of shared facilities, including bathrooms, a wet area classroom used for art and science, and an internal workspace where teachers can collaborate. In a communal environment, individual reading nooks allow children to take time out in view of teachers, providing a moment of reprieve from stimulation for those with diverse sensory requirements.

Classrooms are divided and serviced by an ‘anchor’, a curvilinear multifunctional joinery element developed by Cox. Featuring inbuilt audiovisual capability, pinnable and writable surfaces, storage and a small desk for teachers to use as a workstation, these respond ably to the ever-growing spatial and tech-integrated expectations of future generations. Following an extensive prototyping process with the VSBA, the smart standalone units are set to be rolled out for use in other schools.

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Vivid cellular façade forms give way to quiet, contemplative spaces of soothing white.

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Following this line of thinking, the vivid cellular façade forms give way to quiet, contemplative spaces of soothing white. The project’s program includes a touring gallery space for significant exhibitions, alongside a children’s and workshop gallery to house the permanent collection. With a long tradition of acquiring art for the city, this new space is now the permanent vessel for these pieces be proudly displayed.

Experientially, the interiors incorporate in-between spaces to pause, reflect and refresh; and also offer glimpses of the ‘art machine’ in action. This is most apparent in how the behind-thescenes of the gallery has been made public. “We have designed opportunities to peek into the back-of-house and so part of the main foyer has a view into the storage, where you can see the inner workings of the gallery and intricacies of the collection, even when it’s not on show,” says Judd.

Connecting the ground-floor exhibition space up to the top of the six-level tower is a meandering, winding staircase. Lined in timber

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and hugging the edge, the stair captures expansive views across Nerang River, adding an unexpected yet democratic thoroughfare not common for an art gallery.

The verticality plays into the towering vertical high rises that the Gold Coast is renowned for. “If you’re going to have a vertical art gallery, where would you have it, if not the Gold Coast?” muses Judd, confirming that the immersive journey is best experienced starting at the top of the gallery and winding your way down the stairs.

The new gallery and the precinct it sits within are a veritable hub for a city that is defining its own voice. Judd confirms the local council had “an incredibly brave vision, wanting to create a cultural heart”. Which is worth highlighting given the project has been driven and funded by the local council, not the state government. It’s an attitude that will no doubt continue to germinate and evolve over time, just like the precinct itself. armarchitecture.com.au, hota.com.au

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“If you’re going to have a vertical art gallery, where would you have it, if not the Gold Coast?”

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Schools are islands no more Words Mark van den Enden Illustration Michelle Byrnes

If schools are the glue of our communities, what are the ‘sticky’ elements every modern school must have?

Mark van den Enden breaks it down.

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Australian cities are undergoing a fundamental shift in the role and function of social infrastructure, particularly schools within our communities. Between the 1960s and 1980s, schools were thought of as islands, or distinct and separate from communities: remote from the rhythms of a community and its daily activities. In many suburbs they were separated from neighbourhood activity centres and not seen as complementary in function or use. This planning approach, thankfully no longer employed, offered little or no opportunity for connection and engagement with the broader community.

The present day looks markedly different. From 2008 onwards, since the AUD$16.2 billion Building the Education Revolution began an ambitious rollout of school infrastructure, each state government in Australia has launched their own busy program of building new schools that have a strong focus of community integration.

Gen Z, a moniker which means ‘generation now’, requires access to learning environments that differ from those of the past. School Infrastructure NSW, the Victorian School Building Authority, the Department of Education and SA Education have all evolved with a specific mandate to improve the education outcomes for the citizens of tomorrow. Schools – whether innerurban verticals or large templated bundles in growth areas – have significantly changed, both in their education offer and their place in the communities they serve. Islands no more, they play a critical role in new suburbs by establishing a community’s identity.

Rather than keeping the public out, schools have increasingly invited it in, creating connections that extend well beyond the learners’ school years to act as the glue and connective tissue of communities by building enduring connections.

This make me think: what are the components of a modern school?

Many new schools are defined by an administration building designed for many functions. The administration building is a concierge point. A counselling point.

A multiple support agency touch point for vaccination and maternal-child health. Professional development hub. Community hub. Reading recovery zone. Best start initiative around kindergarten and school co-location.

And, hopefully not often, a disaster recovery centre.

Each individual part of the administration building must be flexible to adapt to its community’s need in any given moment. With each community and education catchment being different, it can be the foundation of an inclusive community that transcends age groups and cultural barriers to ultimately build and nourish social capital. In many respects, the administration building should be viewed as the school’s entry portal: open and transparent, welcoming to members of the school community and visitors alike.

A companion building is the community hall, which facilitates interaction between the school and the broader community – used during and after school hours by various local groups. Like the administration building, it has multiple functions and hybrid uses. In a school setting, one can often see a school assembly, canteen, rehearsal areas and a physical education class co-existing in a counter-intuitive calm. In a community setting, large and small community groups and sports clubs engage the building, extending the school’s reach, sustaining further connection and enriching social capital. This even extends to participating in elections and enjoying an aptly named ‘democracy sausage’.

Learning buildings form the final piece of the puzzle and exist in many forms, from general purpose learning to DATS (Design, Art, Technology and Science) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) buildings. All are underpinned by an education design strategy with the core objective to create diverse, purposeful and collaborative learning environments.

In many of these spaces the intention is to give the users choice by providing multiple learning settings that can be used in numerous ways. For students, this choice provides opportunities to develop independent decision-making skills and encourages them to select the setting, tools, resources, technologies and furniture that best suit their current task or learning investigation. For teachers, choice provides opportunities to differentiate learning outcomes for individuals. They can teach independently and collaboratively, moving seamlessly between the roles of instructor and roaming facilitator.

As one-fifth of the Australian population lives with a disability, inclusion has also become a focus in the process of school design and ensures, as a fundamental premise, the rights of inclusion for all learners. Schools design is now driven by inclusively for all learning cohorts regardless of need.

Considering all this, what does the future hold?

Due to COVID-19, population growth as a result of net migration has paused to a large extent. However, we can expect it to resume by close to two per cent on average, with some local government areas experiencing growth of four to five per cent in the eastern states. It is fair to say we can expect the development of new schools and other social infrastructure to continue in earnest to accommodate our burgeoning population.

As a typology, schools are yet to fully explore carbon neutrality, new learning modalities, early learning centre integration, and future dynamic hybrids. This presents an opportunity for our profession, and for future generations of learners, to embrace a more sustainable model that benefits everybody.

No longer outposts, schools are the thriving heart of existing and emerging communities. architectus.com.au

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Mark van den Enden is the national education sector leader at Architectus.

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CHARACTER BUILDING Words Leanne Amodeo Project Photography Various

Contemporary kindergartens and schools aren’t just about mathematics and grammar. Rather, they are socio-spatial environments where developing the individual’s character is just as important as academic performance. And it’s especially true today, when students’ wellbeing is being re-prioritised as a result of the pandemic. Spaces have to support a range of pedagogical frameworks that in turn support self-directed learning, collaboration and discovery. So what type of interior does this?

The short answer is many different types. There is no onesize-fits-all approach to designing for education, particularly since pedagogies shift, new technologies necessitate for greater integration and future-proofing poses challenges. However, the very best new fit-outs are characterised by flexibility and adaptability, and the very best architects and designers are adopting a tailored approach. Interiors range from minimalist to maximalist and include lots of variations in between.

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Architecture studio PORT’s recently completed kindergarten in Opole, a city in southern Poland on the Oder River, sits at one end of the spectrum. It’s the perfect study of a dramatically stripped back learning environment, which, in this case, supports the curriculum’s Montessori teaching methods. PORT co-directors Józef Franczok and Marcin Kolanus were tasked with re-imagining a decrepit building and smaller structure in as equally poor condition. They could have easily knocked down both. Instead, they decided to restore them, exposing their original features in the process.

The result is two highly tactile interiors that reveal the history of each building through original brickwork, architectural fragments and various markings. As Franczok explains, “Adaptive re-use is the future. But we also wanted to show the children how these old buildings were constructed because each structure tells a story.”

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Energised Environment A plywood cubby house sits within a collage-like scheme designed to heighten our experience of space at Ormiston College’s Centre for Learning and Innovation.

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Architectural expression influences the way we engage with our education precincts. Lyons and John Wardle Architects marry design vision and innovative façade solutions to great effect.

Words Emily Sutton Photography Various

Featuring Geelong College Junior School INDE.Awards 2021 Shortlisted for The Learning Space, partnered by Autex Acoustics

Architects have long been renowned for the innovation and bravery with which they design striking, rule-defying structures. Our urban spaces are defined and redefined with every wave of creative inspiration, and our cities are becoming a pastiche of themes both old and new. However, we’ve only recently begun to uncover how architecture interacts with our brains on the most fundamental neural levels.

Our brains create spatial maps of the spaces we inhabit. These maps allow us to store information, sense patterns, raise questions, and more deeply interact with our environment. To strengthen the relationship we have with our environment, architectural distinctiveness is key and that first point of contact – the external façade of a building – is paramount to this.

Architectural façades bring character and distinction to their locales. Vibrant colours, avant-garde shapes and contrasting materials highlight both design prowess and engineering ingenuity.

These creators’ plans are then brought to life through innovative structural and decorative cladding, as well as window solutions.

This is particularly relevant when it comes to education buildings.

“Sophisticated users are demanding education buildings of high quality to attract students and staff,” says Kah-Fai Lee, associate principal at John Wardle Architects. “The buildings need to be smart, sustainable, flexible and look welcoming.”

These spaces steer far away from traditional conceptions of lecture halls and classrooms – open planning, collaboration and technology are definitively at the forefront. These innovative builds define the next generation of educational spaces with their daring and unique exteriors.

Springvale Community Hub, Victoria, by Lyons Lyons director, James Wilson, focused on Springvale’s diversity when designing the new Community Hub for the Greater Dandenong City Council. The communal space is designed with longevity and social impact in mind – it “exceeds sustainability standards and celebrates the suburb’s cultural fabric from every angle”, says Wilson.

The exterior of the Hub meets this brief perfectly. With customglazed bricks by Euroa, the rainbow that ripples along the west façade reflects Springvale’s multicultural community and

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