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The Guardian
27-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Solar power: Kangaroo Point Bridge leads winners as Queensland architecture awards put spotlight on sustainability
The newest bridge spanning the Brisbane River – the longest cable-stayed pedestrian bridge in the country – has taken out top honours in the 2025 Australian Institute of Architects Queensland awards. A week after Sydney's new network of city metro stations collected architecture's most prestigious prize in New South Wales, Brisbane's Kangaroo Point Bridge was lauded at Friday night's award ceremony as another example of the significant value of state governments investing in architecture to realise major infrastructure projects that raise the bar beyond the realm of mere functionality. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The Blight Rayner Architecture-designed bridge, in collaboration with Dissing + Weitling Concept, was awarded the Queensland Architecture Medallion, with judges hailing the project as a transformative urban infrastructure endeavour that enhanced Brisbane's connectivity and public realm. The 460-metre bridge linking Kangaroo Point to the CBD, completed in December last year, also collected the Karl Langer award for urban design and an award for sustainable architecture. Designed for pedestrian, cycle and e-scooter use, the bridge is solar powered and shaded along its entire length. It has seated resting nooks that double as viewing areas and integrated cafes and bars. 'Kangaroo Point is a case study for urban design excellence in Brisbane, demonstrating how investment in key public infrastructure can enhance mobility and liveability in rapidly growing cities,' the judges' citation said. Another major infrastructure project that collected multiple awards was Caboolture Hospital's new clinical services building, part of a $399.5m redevelopment by the state government. The Jacobs-designed facility, housing new emergency, intensive care, rehabilitation and palliative care units, won the FDG Stanley award for public architecture, the social impact prize and a commendation for interior design. Jacobs' incorporation of First Nations artworks and its particular attention to creating a welcoming, dignified and non-intimidating atmosphere in the palliative care unit gave the building a 'deeply human' quality, the judges said. 'It sends a clear message to the Caboolture community: You matter.' Two other design project collected multiple awards: Matso's Sunshine Coast Brewery, designed by Five Mile Radius and Knight Wilson Architects, won the award for commercial architecture, the EmAGN project award and a sustainability commendation, while James Cook University's new Engineering & Innovation Place, designed by KIRK, i4 Architecture and Charles Wright Architects, was recognised in the educational architecture, sustainable design and interior architecture categories. One of Australia's most decorated living architects, Glenn Murcutt, was recognised for his co-design with Brian Steenyk of a modestly proportioned three-bedroom home on a sloping site in the Brisbane hinterland. With its steel and timber construction and its large northern sliding doors opening out to treetop views and distant mountains, Gold Creek was described by judges as 'a masterful tribute to the architectural philosophy of Glenn Murcutt, embracing his principles of climate responsiveness, material honesty and environmental harmony'. Also in the residential category, Brisbane architect John Ellway won the Elina Mottram award for architectural renovation with his Niwa House, Niwa being the Japanese word for garden or courtyard. Despite its inner city location, Ellway has created the illusion of a manicured Japanese garden segueing into the interiors of the reimagined timber cottage, which had been virtually untouched for more than a century. 'The journey through the house honours its historic bones while gradually revealing a series of terraced spaces that lead, like a cinematic sequence, to a framed, almost 'wide-screen' view of the garden,' the judges said. In the residential award for multiple housing, three terraces designed for three sisters and their extended families, built on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) took out top honours. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The Blok Modular design, in collaboration with Vokes and Peters, was praised for its careful response to a fragile coastal environment and a creative response to Australia's notorious 'missing middle' in the housing market. The Fortitude Music Hall project gives the impression the judges may have mis-categorised the finished product, placing it in the commercial architecture category instead of heritage. Yet the 3,000-seat 'gritty art deco' inspired auditorium in Brunswick Street Mall is brand new. Brisbane architect firm Arkhefield, accepting a brief that read 'high end grunge or just a bit above, but not a hotel' and 'retro New York, rock chic but not rock and roll' paid homage to the original Festival Hall, which opened in 1910 and closed its doors for good in 2003 It is a 'metronome for artistic expression in Brisbane', the judges concluded. New sports and educational facilities in Queensland schools and universities attracted a number of design awards. In addition to the multi-award winning James Cook University engineering building, the St Marcellin Centre at Marist College Ashgrove (Phorm Architecture + Design), St Aidan's Anglican Girls Sports Performance Centre (also Blight Rayner, which won the Queensland medallion for the Kangaroo Point Bridge) and a new soundshell at the University of Queensland, were all recognised. The Stephen de Jersey-designed sports precinct for Townsville's Cathedral School won a award for education architecture, praised for its capacity to turn practical needs into an inspiring piece or architecture. The solar energy harvested from the roof of the new facility services the air conditioning in nearby classrooms and the bore water collected irrigates the school's playing fields. The pavilion is configured to block harsh eastern and western sun and capture prevailing breezes from the north and south. 'Rather than overpowering its setting, the structure enhaces it, setting a new standard for thoughtful economical design in the region,' the judges said.
The Age
29-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Three proposals, three locations for Victoria Park stadium
Another plan for a Victoria Park stadium has come to light, as the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority continues its work to select a suitable location. The Crisafulli government gave the Victoria Park stadium the green light in March, but its exact location within the 64-hectare site was still to be determined. Brisbane firm Blight Rayner Architecture has suggested the stadium be located in the north-east corner of the park, closest to the RNA Showgrounds and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. The Blight Rayner concept was submitted to former lord mayor Graham Quirk's 60-day Olympic venue review and uncovered in a Right to Information request from Save Victoria Park, the community group committed to preventing the stadium's construction within the parkland. It was the third known vision for the site in the public realm, all of which position the stadium in different sections of Victoria Park. Archipelago's high-profile Brisbane Bold proposal had the stadium a little further south, near the Inner City Bypass, while an artistic render released by the Crisafulli government in its 2032 Delivery Plan positioned the stadium in the south-west corner of the park. 'I'm not sure why the government one was slightly further down into the park,' Blight Rayner director Michael Rayner told this masthead. 'It may have been a concern over the acoustics – I don't know – but that's yet to be tested.'
Sydney Morning Herald
29-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Three proposals, three locations for Victoria Park stadium
Another plan for a Victoria Park stadium has come to light, as the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority continues its work to select a suitable location. The Crisafulli government gave the Victoria Park stadium the green light in March, but its exact location within the 64-hectare site was still to be determined. Brisbane firm Blight Rayner Architecture has suggested the stadium be located in the north-east corner of the park, closest to the RNA Showgrounds and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. The Blight Rayner concept was submitted to former lord mayor Graham Quirk's 60-day Olympic venue review and uncovered in a Right to Information request from Save Victoria Park, the community group committed to preventing the stadium's construction within the parkland. It was the third known vision for the site in the public realm, all of which position the stadium in different sections of Victoria Park. Archipelago's high-profile Brisbane Bold proposal had the stadium a little further south, near the Inner City Bypass, while an artistic render released by the Crisafulli government in its 2032 Delivery Plan positioned the stadium in the south-west corner of the park. 'I'm not sure why the government one was slightly further down into the park,' Blight Rayner director Michael Rayner told this masthead. 'It may have been a concern over the acoustics – I don't know – but that's yet to be tested.'
