Inspiring Projects

A key design challenge was to rethink the established Australian ‘demountable’, which features throughout most schools in Australia, with the goal to build sustainably at a cost and timeframe equivalent to traditional portable classrooms and attain the International Passivehouse Standard using timber as the primary construction material.

Given its waterside position and direct openness to occasional extreme weather conditions it would have been understandable to approach this design with a material selection devoid of timbers. But such a move would also contradict the central premise of the Waterfront Tavern, which was based on the appeal of timber boat houses and their historic maritime construction.

Station Street Mall is a small pedestrian street located in the centre of Frankston, Victoria. It connects the recently upgraded train and bus station with the business and shopping heart of the city, being the ‘welcome mat’ that is unrolled 75 metres down the length of the street.

The warmth and informality oozes from every corner, welcoming you to share in the activities on show. The Tasmanian Oak floor, wall and ceiling wrap you and put you immediately at ease.

Eric Tweedale Stadium’s design was inspired by the connection to the local environment and history of the Cumberland Plains. Aboriginal architecture is referenced in the ‘V’ shaped cantilevered roof beams. The glulam roof cantilevers over the seating, creating a simple yet striking and beautiful form.

Hiding behind the stunning façade is a complete cross-laminated timber structure, which was chosen because it is lightweight and can be prefabricated offsite, assisting in the certainty of the delivery of the design.

Chadstone Link pedestrian walkway at Melbourne's Chadstone Shopping Centre stretches 110m in length and the superstructure is made entirely from visible glulam and covered by Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

The Macquarie University Clinical Education Building is elegantly realised using timber and glass to evoke calmness of form, generosity of space and reflects the natural environment using biophilic design concepts.

The Marrickville Library and Community Centre is located on the site of the former Marrickville Hospital, which closed in 1990. It is crafted inside and out with timber that is used for its columns, façade, screening, internal walls, window and door frames, tiered seating, joinery, ceilings and furniture.

Mon Repos Turtle Centre occupies a sensitive beachside location in a Central Queensland conservation park. The structure of the centre is a timber glulam diagrid, used for both the roof and walls. The timber diagrid pattern references the turtle carapace and is celebrated throughout the interior.

Targeting to be one of Australia's first 5-star Green Star rated hotels, the Wildlife Retreat at Taronga Zoo features a new native Australian wildlife sanctuary showcasing its unique biodiversity.

The historic Fenner Hall Student Accommodation building has been reborn as two cross-laminated timber towers in the ANU Kambri Precinct Redevelopment using modern design and construction methods. The mid-rise, 450 room achieved positive outcomes in construction program efficiency and has set a new benchmark in the use of mass timber in the student accommodation sector.

Monash University Gillies Hall, located at the Peninsula campus in Frankston, comprises 150 single-occupancy units, set over six levels. Featuring cross-laminated timber construction, Gillies Hall on only sets a new benchmark for sustainable design and construction, but is also the first large-scale building in the southern hemisphere to achieve Passive House certification.

The Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre is the social and sporting hub of the Shire of Pingelly and the surrounding communities. Located 200 kilometres south-east of Perth in the Western Australian wheat belt, the building was designed for long-term sustainability for a community with scarce resources.

The mezzanine and foyer at No 1 Martin Place, Sydney sits beneath a vaulted canopy of timber dowels. Envisaged as an entry portico, the space creates a warm and welcoming front of house. The aim was to create an identifiable entrance, a place to meet your office neighbours.

Australia's largest engineered timber commercial building, designed by Bates Smart, has opened in Brisbane. At 10 stories and 45 meters in height, the 25 King open plan office complex is the tallest timber structure in Australia and establishes new frontiers in the design of commercial buildings.

Winner of the Sustainability Award in the 2018 Australian Timber Design Awards Aveo Norwest is a 10-storey residential apartment building made from CLT and Glulam, which neatly encapsulates the significant environmental benefits that engineered timber construction provides.

Winner of the Grand Prix in the 2018 Australian Timber Design Awards Bunjil Place is a multipurpose arts, civic and community facility designed by FJMT for the City of Casey in the outer Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren. The project provides a broad range of spaces for council and community organisations and serves a number of functions.

Our Lady of the Assumption is a completely new primary school that reuses a 1970 three storey former Telstra training centre. The building - a typical institutional example of brutalist concrete architecture of its time - presented a number of design challenges in turning it into an inspirational educational space.

The Jordan Springs Community Hub is a vibrant place for locals to gather, to learn, to meet neighbours and is a place the whole community can use. By fostering the interaction of residents, the Hub brings people in this new community together creating greater social cohesion.

Winner of the Peoples' Choice Award in the 2018 Australian Timber Design Awards The Standing Camp - krakani luni or 'place of rest' - located in the Mount William National Park, wukalina is for the Aboriginal Land Council of Australia. It serves as accommodation for a guided walk through the cultural landscape, from wukalina - Mt William, to larapuna - Eddystone Point.

A newly constructed 114 suite hotel occupies precisely the same footprint of a former warehouse and quarantine shed. The hotel's architectural form is a contemporary expression of the old timber warehouses that used to the vernacular buildings which defined Hobart's waterfront.

The rich maritime heritage of the location and the utility of the venue as a place to brew beer have influenced the design form and function of this building. The design results in a mixture of production factory with references to maritime and shipbuilding techniques.

This is a unique, architecturally designed head office building for Strongbuild at their Bella Vista factory. The fitout of the two-storey, 600 square metre office space leverages off the exposed CLT and glulam structure with a visual grade finish to minimise the requirements of internal finishes. This commercial office space also doubles as a showroom to highlight what can be achieved with engineered wood construction.

Designed by Hassell, the University of Melbourne Biosciences building is an example of biophilic design at its finest. As the architect stated, 'Good design is about helping clients meet their needs and objectives. It is also about the way people feel when they experience it, a sense of meaning, connection and belonging'.

The Northshore Pavilion is a small public information and amenities building overlooking the Brisbane River and used to engage with the community to share plans for Hamilton Reach, Queensland's largest waterfront renewal precinct.

Winner of the Grand Prix in the 2017 Australian Timber Design Awards. Lendlease's International House Sydney (IHS) is Australia's first commercial and largest engineered timber building. Designed by Tzannes architects, IHS is a distinctive new element in the city, intended to establish a warm and welcoming connection between the new harbour precinct of Barangaroo and the heart of the city.

In a fitting testimony to its purpose, Macquarie University's new Innovation Hub was mostly pre-fabricated offsite, and the entire onsite build and fitout completed in five months.

The internal street within the Bendigo Hospital aims to create a close relationship with nature. As a key public space within the facility, the space demonstrates how the selection of natural materials like timber can enhance the wellbeing and comfort of visitors, patients and staff.

The designers of Bold Park Aquatic Centre selected timber as the major structural element as it is the physical embodiment of sustainability. In particular, they wanted to use the public building to help create a higher level of awareness of sustainable building.

The timber used in the Woodleigh Senior Homestead is the central design element and pivotal to the architectural expression of the project. The inspiration for the use of timber was derived from both the beautiful natural landscaped setting of the buildings and the desire to use warm and tactile materials to express the structure both inside and out.

Until recently, at just over 32 metres tall, Forté was the tallest residential timber apartment building in the world. By using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), Forté, reduces CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 1,400 tonnes when compared to concrete and steel - the equivalent of removing 345 cars from our roads.

The first shipment of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) has arrived on site for what will become Australia's largest tall timber building, consuming nearly 3000 cubic metres of CLT, currently being constructed in Campbelltown, NSW.

The winners of the 2016 Australian Timber Design Awards were announced at a gala dinner on 15th September at Luna Park in Sydney. The Sustainability Category, sponsored by Planet Ark and presented by CEO Paul Klemenko, was awarded to Matt Dwyer from Y2 Architecture and Paul Waddell from Three Acres Landscape Architecture for the Marist College Bendigo Montagne Centre.

Setting new environmental benchmarks, the Library at The Dock is Australia’s most sustainable community building, constructed primarily from Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and recycled hardwood.

The brief for the JSRACS Senior learning Centre called for a substantial building that outwardly communicates its intended purpose that of a higher tertiary level learning centre for young adults with an architecture that promotes a sense of community that is founded on principles of flexibility, nurturing, school community and life-long learning.

Situated on the east coast of Tasmania, overlooking Great Oyster Bay, this iconic 20-suite resort features stunning context-sensitive use of timber. The exquisite curves of the wide span timber ceilings evoke a connection to the sea through references to waves, sea creatures, sand dunes and a flowing organic form.

Joint venture partners HASSELL + Populous have worked together to design a world class convention, exhibition and entertainment venue for Sydney, with inspiration from the site’s spectacular city and harbour surrounds as well as Cockle Bay’s history.

Ronald McDonald House achieved the international LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver rating, the first LEED rated building in WA and the fifth in Australia.