Architectus

“The single biggest industrial endeavour that our nation has ever attempted”. - Richard Marles, Australian Deputy Prime Minister    We are proud to announce we have been engaged by Australian Naval Infrastructure (ANI) as design partners with KBR, Inc. on the new landmark $480 million Skills and Training Academy Campus at Osborne.      With a collaborative approach in both spirit and geography, the design team on this groundbreaking venture will draw on Australia's most specialised Defence design talent. The state-of-the-art academy will train and sustain crucial naval talent for decades to come and now puts Australia on the path to owning “one of the most high-tech production lines in the world”. - Deputy Prime Minister Marles.    Learn more by hitting the link in the comments. #Australianarchitecture #Defence

The Canberra Theatre Centre’s Playhouse posed as the perfect backdrop to celebrate our Canberra studio’s official launch last night. The event also gave us an opportunity to properly welcome Andrew Collins and his team, formerly of local Canberra practice Collins Pennington, which officially merged with Architectus last month. As Canberrans, their knowledge and understanding of the city’s nuances will drive our work to positively impact the people and city of Canberra. Opening doors in our nation’s capital follows many years of work in the region, including the iconic Telstra Tower, the Canberra Metro and Canberra Theatre Centre –  last night’s venue. Studio leader Alexandra Lawlor accompanied CEO Ray Brown and Principal Andrew Collins to thank past and future collaborators in a night of celebration. Here’s to creating exceptional design solutions that make a positive impact.  

The scale of this adaptive reuse project is more akin to the planning of a city block than an education space. The Sustainable Industries Education Centre (SIEC), completed in association with MPH Architects, is housed in a former Mitsubishi manufacturing plant. The goal was to integrate sustainable architecture and educational pedagogy to achieve cohesive learning, teaching and social spaces. Larger than the Adelaide Oval, SIEC is an amalgamation of three separate trade-training campuses into one consolidated facility. The former industrial building was characterised by high, south-lit spaces, formed by a roof truss system and supported on a steel column grid. The structure was retained where possible and individual ‘trade’ departments were inserted into the steel skeletal frame. Since completion, the project has acted as a benchmark in our own practice for avoiding demolition and thinking creatively about our future. See more of our renewal work by hitting the link in the comments. TAFE SA | Tonsley Park, South Australia #adaptivereuse #renewal #tafe

This international FIFA-standard football field hovers above the ground plane of Brisbane’s QUT (Queensland University of Technology) Kelvin Grove campus. By going up, the essence of outdoor play and sport can be preserved as our cities densify. The multi-purpose structure has expanded teaching areas, encouraged seamless accessibility to the university and most importantly – created an epic venue for sports lovers and players alike. We collaborated closely with ADCO Constructions to deliver the project within 15 months. Learn more by following the link in the comments. #Sport #Brisbane #MixedUse

Ahead of International Women’s Day, we are proud to announce Architectus is undertaking a new research initiative. The research will take a deep dive into the return-to-work experience after parental leave, a period our data tells us is a major barrier to closing the Gender Pay Gap. The good news is, we have reduced our Gender Pay Gap for the third year in a row by 3.5%, and we are ahead of our industry peers. However, the gender pay gap persists. Why? In our industry, and in our practice, men hold more senior leadership positions than women. Forces that contribute to this include a lack of female role models, having children, part time work and unconscious bias. Where can we make the most impact? We have already ensured that more than 50% of our student and graduate hires are women. At our highest executive level, we have also achieved 50% Architectus representation on our board and management groups. Where our ‘gap’ widens is in senior management positions – primary years for raising young families, a role that still largely lives with women. That’s what makes our parental leave and return-to-work policies valuable levers in working to close the Gender Pay Gap – something our firm has already invested $5.8 million in since 2018. Our research initiative will uncover the lived experience of our policies and return-to-work practices, to help us identify better ways to support and retain women with young families. For more information on our research initiative, how WGEA calculates Gender Pay Gap, what it is and why we report on it, head to our website by clicking the link in the comments. #iwd #iwd2025 #InternationalWomensDay #Genderpaygap

Spanning an entire city block, the renewal of No. 1 Anzac Square in Brisbane offers a benchmark project for reusing our cities' B-grade commercial buildings. Our Interiors and Commercial team cleverly decided to open up the ground plane by removing heavy structural elements, creating the opportunity to combine two commercial towers and an iconic heritage building. Now filled with plants and a humming cafe, what was once three under-used lobbies has been transformed into a new, generous space for the city, buzzing with city-goers far more than just the building’s tenants. In Brisbane’s sub-tropical climate, the inclusion of more than 6000 plants and 180m2 of green walls has transformed the lobby into a garden, centred around a new, 5-storey glazed atrium. A cool oasis in Brisbane's warmer months, the biophilic design principles improve the wellness of all who pass through. Working within an existing building presents challenges that are only revealed during the construction phase. The team remained agile and responsive to assist Hutchinson Builders and resolve detailed coordination of finishes, services and existing structures. Australia’s Federal Government is aiming to increase the number of carbon-ready commercial and residential buildings in Australia – a key initiative to help achieve a 40% target for improving energy productivity by 2030. Against this policy backdrop, we're studying how to avoid demolition, conserve resources, and think creatively about our future city. Read more on our Renewal page by hitting the link in the comments.  #Reuse #Renewal 

Australia’s coastline populations are ballooning. How can we build infrastructure to support communities, without losing sight of what makes the coastal environment so special in the first place? The Sunshine Coast in Queensland offers a unique case study on the impacts of shifting demographics – with its population increasing by 30% in the decade up to 2021. But with growth can come growing pains. Without proper social, economic and transport infrastructure the growth can become unsustainable and impact the liveability of the region, points out Amanda Kershaw, who leads our Rail work at Architectus. “The infrastructure needs to be part of the fabric of place – an enriching addition to people’s daily lives.” After years of working in the region and having now completed a range of projects including schools, housing and mixed-use developments our understanding of the region’s needs has deepened. Subtropical, community-minded design is a defining feature of the Coast’s built environment – a concept we explored in detail at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, pictured below. To read more about how smart planning and contextual architecture can support greater growth on the Coast, hit the link in the comments. #SunshineCoast #SouthEastQueensland #Infrastructure

Our dedicated Education team attended the official opening of Brighton Grammar School’s Duigan Centre last night, celebrating 8 years of hard work from concept to completion.    From the outset, this project was tasked with the ambitious goal of promoting ingenuity, innovation and invention in the student’s daily lives through specially designed spaces for science, design and art. Duigan Centre is fittingly named after John Robertson Duigan MC, a Brighton Grammar alumnus who designed and flew the first Australian-made aircraft. A replica of Duigan’s aircraft, ‘The Duigan Flyer’, is suspended in the 1882 Gallery acting as the embodiment of the school’s values and pioneering spirit. A key driver for the project was transparency and porosity - not only for students to learn from each other but to strengthen the school’s connections to the community. Four key design moves brought this idea to life: the laneway, cloister, courtyard and windows. Together they create a spatial journey far beyond a typical classroom that engages with light, context and the school’s ideals.     We would like to acknowledge this project as one of the late Paulo Sampaio’s defining works and we thank Brighton Grammar for generously honouring his contribution by naming a link bridge within the facility after him. The centre’s lofty spaces, extensive sky lighting and material choices reflect Paulo’s remarkable ability to design inspiring spaces for teachers and students alike.    Duigan Centre will be a legacy project for our education team to celebrate their dear friend and mentor, Paulo, and for the school to shape the future lives of students.      We look forward to sharing more design stories about this project. Hit the link in the comments to learn more.      #Education #SchoolDesign  Photos by Trevor Mein | Melbourne, Victoria

What can public schools teach Australia’s stadiums? Stadiums host the highs of public life – from sporting grand finales to musical mega-events, they are cultural powerhouses for cities. But they are only used to their full potential approximately 10-20% per year. Considering the vast expense, how can we all get more out of these significant structures? One answer might be found in our public schools. Similarly open approximately 25% of the year, they have successfully helped to create healthier suburbs thanks to their sports and gym facilities, chapels, halls and libraries that they share with their communities. How do they do it, and can stadiums do it, too? If you look at overseas precedents, the answer is yes. We sat down with Dr Kellee Frith, Associate Principal and Education Environments Strategist to discuss the mutual benefits that stadiums, local communities and our cities can gain from one another. Read more by hitting the link in the comments.   #PublicSchools #Stadiums #CommunityInfrastructure Pictured below: Mickleham Secondary College Forecourt | Victoria

Australia’s demand for services in healthcare, aged care and childcare is outpacing the growth of the workforce. How do you make these critical vocations attractive to the next generation? That was the brief for the Kangan Institute Health and Community Centre of Excellence (HACCOE). Tasked with attracting and then supporting our future caring workforce, the building was thought of as an anchor for the growing Broadmeadows campus, all while being a good neighbour to the adjacent parkland.  Externally, the building’s facade clearly defines two interlocking forms – the rhythmic, and the organic.  The strong, rhythmic colonnade frames the park, gently buffered by extensive new native gardens that connect the building to the public domain. The colonnade provides a sheltered thoroughfare that directs pedestrians past world-class tech-enabled learning environments. This planning not only brings visibility to the interesting learning happening within, but connects students to daylight and landscaping while they learn. Curved, organic brickwork becomes the counterpart to the rhythmic elevation. Tactile brick patterning (with a casual 76,000 bricks laid across four levels) began as an interpretation of the local waterway and developed to be an artwork about the flow of life, with cellular patterns reminiscent of an ultrasound image.   The contrast of the two distinct architectural elements helps the building respond to its different civic roles – one of a gateway, good neighbour and facilitator to future campus growth.  #education #skillsshortage #Victoria Hutchinson Builders | Photos by Trevor Mein meinphoto | Broadmeadows, Victoria