8 November 2011

"Weave" wins the Northbourne Flats design competition

| johnboy
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weave

Joy Burch has announced the winning entry of the Northbourne Flats design competition:

Ms Burch said the competition Jury was unanimous in its decision to award first prize to Melbourne-based firm John Wardle Architects for its design titled “Weave”.

“The entry more than trebles the number of units currently on site while incorporating features that help it retain an open feel and also be sympathetic to its surrounding environment,” Ms Burch said.

“Just as important as its urban design quality is the fact that the proposal is a practical one that the panel judged was eminently achievable.”

The entry proposed retaining some of the existing buildings and extending them. As well as adding to the number of homes to bring the total to 905 from 248 currently, there are also proposals for retail outlets, a cafe and child care facilities.

Weave incorporates gardens inside the complex, including a community vegetable garden. Among the extensive sustainability features are photovoltaic panels for the rooftops of all buildings, solar orientation of buildings, a mini wetland to assist passive stormwater treatment and the use of materials to reduce carbon emissions associated with the project.

Minister Burch promises that Housing and Community Services is going to start talking to the current denizens of the flats about what it means to them.

You can get a big look at the winning entry “Weave” on the pdf we’ve been supplied with.

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joeyjojojuniorshabadoo10:03 am 09 Nov 11

Yo mama’s got more Weave than a dog in traffic.

I don’t know why, but architects seem to hate Canberra.

Anyway, he hasn’t the foggiest idea about solar energy, I wish they would consult some professionals before relying on their token one semester subject in their undergraduate, that was obviously taught to make them look good, rather than provide them any comprehensive practical understanding.

Building sucks and he knows it.

bigfeet said :

Mysteryman said :

The positive side is that they appear to have provided sufficient underground carparking – a concept that ACTPLA generally struggle to grasp.

If I lived there, I wouldn’t be using that park.

It would be a perfect opportunity for the ‘special’ residents to break into dozens of cars sight unseen, every night.

It will also give them a great place to hide their stolen cars out of sight.

I hadn’t thought of that. I was more excited by the fact that a new residential development was proposed with adequate underground parking. It’s seems to be a rarity of late.

Mysteryman said :

The positive side is that they appear to have provided sufficient underground carparking – a concept that ACTPLA generally struggle to grasp.

If I lived there, I wouldn’t be using that park. It would be a perfect opportunity for the ‘special’ residents to break into dozens of cars sight unseen, every night.

It will also give them a great place to hide their stolen cars out of sight.

MummaBear said :

gospeedygo said :

Really? I’ve suspected for a long time that whole architecture fraternity is a front for a double-super-secret organisation with the sole aim of designing joke buildings and laughing their arses off when they actually get built. This doesn’t help disprove my theory.

+1

My theory is that because government restricts the supply of permits to develop land the people who obtain those licences gain significant monopoly rents that they can spend on dressing their buildings up. If the government let anyone build an apartment block on any land, competition to drive prices down would be fierce and buildings would be a lot more modest.

Mysteryman said :

Also worth noting that many of the internal walls have corners that are greater than, or less than 90 degrees. That’s going to result in a lot of wasted space as furniture can’t be effectively placed in corners.

I hate it when people come along and redesign something established like this. As you said, there is a reason people make rooms square. Making them at odd angles is just wasteful at a time when people are trying to make buildings as wasteless as possible.

bystander_effect10:06 pm 08 Nov 11

Wow. 905 units.

One hopes for sufficient visitor parking.

And possibly some thought to the effective utilisation of nearby Haig Park, being the closest significant greenspace.

screaming banshee8:53 pm 08 Nov 11

Well at least we got to experience a brief period of hope.

Oh my, what a wonderful sight this will be for the first time Canberra visitor driving down Northbourne Ave. Looks a bit like a UK housing estate built around 1980s, they age very ungracefully.

Hope the tenants maintain their (expensive, huge) new accommodation better than they do currently.

Adding another 600 or so government homes?

Feeling better about upgrading my home security already.

creative_canberran5:14 pm 08 Nov 11

First thing the strikes me is the rather high grass mounds out the front in the first image of the PDF, masking views of the entrance. That should be interesting for security.

That looks pretty awful from the elevations in the PDF. Dark Brown brick facade, really? Bloody awful.

Also worth noting that many of the internal walls have corners that are greater than, or less than 90 degrees. That’s going to result in a lot of wasted space as furniture can’t be effectively placed in corners.

The positive side is that they appear to have provided sufficient underground carparking – a concept that ACTPLA generally struggle to grasp.

Is this still going to be government housing?

Yeah, that’s gonna age well…

lipstick on a pig

Ugly, pointy brown brick?
Looming brown rectangles?
They’ve managed to think of something that looks worse than what’s there now.

The aerial view looks okay, but the street facade is terrible. Maybe it’s the long term vision to look good once we have the flying cars from Back to the Future II (by 2015).

Still, as long as it is functional, I’ll be happy.

Also, does anybody notice than on p1 of the PDF the suggestion is that people will be riding bicycles on the footpath, without helmets? Huzzah for Civil Disobedience in the ACT-Govt approved vision of the future.

gospeedygo said :

Really? I’ve suspected for a long time that whole architecture fraternity is a front for a double-super-secret organisation with the sole aim of designing joke buildings and laughing their arses off when they actually get built. This doesn’t help disprove my theory.

+1

Really? I’ve suspected for a long time that whole architecture fraternity is a front for a double-super-secret organisation with the sole aim of designing joke buildings and laughing their arses off when they actually get built. This doesn’t help disprove my theory.

Plywood walls? Fantastic idea.

And where’s the bulldozer?

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