• Home
• Current Issue

Specifier Magazine Issue 106

• 

  Vibe Design Group / Tramway

  Vibe Design Group were commissioned to create a family home in the leafy streets of Beaumaris in Melbourne. Some distance away from the CBD, Beaumaris is abounding in suburban charm. Tramway, however, is not your typical suburban home. Box- shaped, zinc-clad, asymmetrical and towering, Tramway ticks all the clients’ pragmatic ‘must have’ boxes while imparting just a little bit of their own personality into the form of the building. As for what was on the ‘must have’ list, there was nothing too surprising: a family home, with living spaces and a master bedroom on the lower floor and a teenager retreat up high. Vibe’s clients decided to capitalise on the fact that their kids would be leaving the roost in the not too distant future. Thus, the upper level of the house doubles as an apartment, offering accommodation for visiting international guests. Off-street parking was needed to house three vehicles, one of which was a race car – and here is where the design got a little more interesting.

  read more »
• 

  AFFECT-T / Jardine's Lookout Flat

  Jardine’s Lookout was born of a fairly straight-forward request: client, an elderly lady, needed an open, spacious, light-filled home with a lot of storage. The client just so happened to live in Hong Kong, a city notoriously low on space, in an old apartment with fixed windows and ancient plaster walls that were there to stay. Thankfully AFFECT-T architects, founded by up-and-coming architect Dylan Baker-Rice, were up for the the challenge. This Hong-Kong based firm responded to the clients need for an ultra-contemporary flat with light natural materials and plenty of space. Responding to a long list of problems with an even longer list of ingenious solutions, Jardine’s Lookout is a cool and quirky flat that encapsulates the inventive spirit of contemporary design.

  read more »
• 

  Regden Mathieson / Burbury Hotel

  There are few things as classic as  a black-and-white palette. Oozing class and sophistication, yet devoid of pretentious trappings, the interior of Canberra’s Burbury Hotel caters to the many travellers and weary business-people who find a home away from home at the Burbury, sometimes for significant stretches of time. Regden Mathieson set out to create an interior that would stand the test of time, exuding comfort, calm and permanence.  The Burbury is a 4.5 star hotel   located in Barton, just a short way from Parliament House. Being in this prime location naturally attracts a lot of corporate business. Inside the hotel, dark timber wall panels meet luminous gothera limestone. The effect is simulta- neously chic and understated. The secret to Regden Mathieson’s success with this interior, not surprisingly, is small things done very well.

  read more »
• 

  Sanctum Design / Manly Beach House

  With Manly Beach House, Sanctum really have brought the 1950s Australian dream to life. This white clad and sun-drenched shack, true to its name, sits right alongside the iconic Manly Beach with a great big backyard, a swimming pool, and a family of bandicoots out the back. Sanctum’s award-winning design came from humble beginnings, originally selected as a pre-costed design solution for owners wary of cos The house as it stands now is down to earth and cost-effective. It is also right on target, meeting all the requirements of the site, the clients, the council and the community. Anyone who has ever built or renovated knows the pain of a budget blow-out. Sanctum offer their clients a range of pre-costed, pre-designed homes based upon a modular, adaptable format. For the owners of Manly Beach House this (understandably) seemed like a great idea. With a young family and a budget in mind, they opted for the design that might most easily be adapted to the orientation and outlook of their site, and the one which was consistent with the design aesthetic of their dream beach home.

   

  read more »
• 

  dm2architecture / Fernberg Rd Residence

  Located on a corner block in the midst of Brisbane’s vibrant inner suburb of Paddington, the Fernberg Residence, designed by Brad Muller of dm2architecture, is at once a striking and natural feature of the surrounding environment. The request for a “black box” open plan addition to the house, and reconfiguration of the existing residence for compartmented living was articulated by dm2 to create a disparate yet harmonious building of two parts.
  The “black box” concept was softened and appropriated with the timber and tin aesthetic desired by the council and an appreciation of the surrounding suburb in mind. Offsetting and layering of wall treatments, awnings and screens were integrated to create something in line with the client’s request that was at the same time contextually sympathetic. A major contextual feature was the corner position of the block, which posed both benefits and constraints for design.
  While the position allowed conducive space for the addition, there was a risk that it would feel like a cumbersome attachment to the existing residence. Dm2 avoided this by conceiving of the additional structure as a lightweight, secondary building to mirror the scale of the original, attached via a sleek recessed glazed link.

  read more »
• 

  Kardare Cultural Centre

  Yurihonjo city is relatively new. Founded in 2005, Yurihonjo was created from a combination of various small towns in Akita, Northern Japan. Until recently, the local cultural centre was quite disjointed – so much so that it was split over two buildings. The new building, designed by Japanese architects Chiaki Arai, brings together all the disparate elements of the old cultural centre with uniformity and finesse.

  read more »
• 

  All Saints' Chapel, Brazil

  Cool and refreshing, All Saints' Chapel brings a distinctively South American flair to sacred architetcure.

  read more »
• 

  The Shard, London

  London's biggest, newest, most controversial skyscraper has critics divided.

  read more »

• The Shard, London

  The first truely enormous skycraper in London, the Shard had divided critics, residents and architecture enthusiasts alike.

  read more »