Out with the new, in with the old
Last week, the national awards were announced in Brisbane, and looking through the images and citations I had a mixed reaction.
Artwork courtesy of Lauren Babula and LocalLure
There were some lovely houses in the lineup, but most fell into the “architecture for the 5%” category, doing little to dispel the widely-held belief that architecture serves society’s elite.
I’ve always been convinced that architecture should be for everyone – my Churchill Fellowship in 2003 looked at architectural responses to public and social housing, and I saw some wonderful projects on my travels. There are some great examples springing up here in Australia now too, but we have a long way to go before architecture is seen as a mainstream offering.
That’s why I was buoyed by the quality and type of the heritage award winners this year. Three of the four projects cleverly repurposed old buildings into new uses.
The Lachlan Macquarie Award went to Premier Mill Hotel in Katanning, a town 300+km south-east of Perth, by spaceagency architects. This is significant because this one project has given the town a new lease on life: it shows just how transformative great architecture can be.
The jury said:
“This was not a stripping out of the old and a re-presentation of various bits and pieces of the mill in a new context; rather, it involved a delicate merging of a significant portion of the systems, mechanisms and engineering of the original mill. Simultaneously, it also provided bespoke details and hospitality features that give the hotel a one-of-a-kind confluence – a contemporary heritage.”
In architect-central in Sydney, the Paramount House Hotel by Breathe Architecture collected a National Award, also for the repurposing of an historic building into a boutique hotel.
Paramount House Hotel by Breathe Architecture, photography by Katherine Lu
Paramount House Hotel by Breathe Architecture, photography by Sharyn Cairns
And in Melbourne, Kerstin Thompson Architects received a commendation for the Sacred Heart Building at Abbotsford Convent; the former institution dedicated to the care of “fallen and wayward women” has been reborn as a multi-arts community.
The KTA design approach - to “leave well enough alone” – saw the existing fabric respected and reworked where necessary, with new elements including a bridge to link two buildings.
Sacred Heart at Abbotsford Convent by Kerstin Thompson Architects, photography by Derek Swalwell
Architects face significant competition from design professionals in other sectors, especially housing, but they essentially have the adaptive reuse and heritage sectors all to themselves. Architects are the profession most ably equipped to imaginatively repurpose old buildings, providing the profession with a distinct and unique advantage as we collectively try and limit the damage from climate change.
In the UK, the Architects Journal has launched the #retrofitfirst campaign, and many practitioners have signed up. Perhaps a similar push will emerge from Architects Declare discussions in Australia?
Last week, Irish Architect Sheila O’Donnell spoke about her love of working with old buildings, asserting they can be just as rewarding as new build, and adding that architects have a ‘huge responsibility’ to reduce their carbon impact. She did concede that it’s not always easy to convince clients and other parties to retrofit, though:
‘A lot of times, people are concerned that they won’t get something as good,’ she said. ‘Funding agencies are quite reluctant as well. It may just be a prejudice people have.’
Is your firm one of the 600+ practices that has signed up to Architects Declare in Australia? Have you started to think about what your practice might do to tackle climate change, both in terms of mitigating future temperature rises and making buildings more resilient to inevitable weather pattern changes?
Does retrofitting factor into your response? Please jump over to Instagram and add your two cent’s worth!