STEEL: Art Design Architecture is opening this week at Jam Factory in Adelaide, SA until the 7th of May. We are thrilled that our Weave Waterloo Youth Centre has been selected as one of the 29 projects which explore how the material is being used in innovative ways, and at a range of scales, in contemporary Australian design and architecture. The exhibition will tour urban and regional galleries until 2020 and will be in Sydney at the Australian Design Centre from February 2019. You can learn more here. Photograph by Richard Glover.

Facade construction on our five bedroom family house in Bondi, being built by Mardini Constructions, is nearing completion.

A mixture of recycled and weathered Australian hardwood profiles is used in various sizes and spacings to form a veil of fixed walling, with integrated operable screens and shutters. The varying positions of these screens creates a continually changeable facade, at times revealing the building form and the home beneath.

On completion, the striking sculptural weathered building form will be softened by a lush new native coastal garden being designed by Beth Pickworth.

Facade works are nearing completion on the Sam Sing Street residential tower for developer JQZ, designed in collaboration with Environa Studio.

Seeking to establish a new typology for high density living, this tower, accompanied by two smaller 4 storey buildings, is conceived as a garden tower, incorporating greenery throughout the design, from large 12m high open air outdoor gardens to green roof treatments including recreational spaces, as well as a communal vegetable garden that will eventually allow for residents to grow their own food. The facade is characterised by a full height garden voids, and a multi-toned external shading system of perforated aluminium fins in a variety of variegated shades and subtly different angle adjustments.

The project is due for completion in Q2, 2017.

Construction works for Guardian Early Learning’s flagship new CBD centre within the heart of Barangaroo recently started on site with Jeckra and Wade Constructions.

On completion, the centre within the podium of the International Towers Northern T1 building will provide 108 childcare spaces within a playful and vibrant learning landscape, designed in collaboration with Aspect Studios.

After 250 cubic meters of concrete, 50 trucks, and 6 hours, the upper slab pour of Building R1 was completed in mid December, topping out the buildings concrete super-structure. On completion, the stand-alone building being delivered by Lend Lease at the southern end of the waterfront will create a significant entry into the Barangaroo precinct, and be a flagship venue for Matt Moran, one of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs.

With a building form resembling a trio of stacked wooden bowls, the soft organic form of the building will overflow with greenery at its perimeters, with integrated landscape that will include fresh ingredients to be used by chefs on site.

A State Significant Development Application has been lodged with the NSW Department of Planning, on behalf of Mantle Group Hospitality and LionCo.

The proposal seeks approval for a flagship James Squire restaurant and bar within Tenancy 5 at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, along with associated landscape and external works. The design includes a freestanding fully glazed working microbrewery which will brew limited release beers for sale exclusively at the venue. Elevated to maintain public access and views toward the world heritage listed Opera House, the microbrewery pod will provide a new visual focus at the site and celebrate the art of the master brewers in the heart of one of Australia’s most significant historic precincts.

Collins and Turner’s three storey residence in Point Piper has recently been topped out with a slender steel roof frame engineered by Partridge Partners. When complete, this gently vaulted roof will be internally finished with a seamless woven copper lattice ceiling, creating a space that will frame sweeping views of the harbour from Blackburn Cove to the south through to the Sydney CBD skyline. At completion, the building will be characterised by a palette of warm natural materials including Wandabyne sandstone, reclaimed Western Australian Karri, copper, brass and European limestone.

Collins and Turner, working in close collaboration with PTW Architects and McGregor Coxall landscape designers, have been confirmed as joint winners of the design excellence competition conducted by Dyldam Pty Ltd, on the former News Ltd Cumberland Media site, in the heart of Parramatta.

The prominent site faces the Parramatta river at the location of the first landing in 1788, and contains towers of 60, 35, and 25 stories, grouped around a major new public plaza. Collins and Turner’s proposal for the middle height, 35 story mixed-use building contains apartments, commercial, and retail uses along with a spectacular pool club and restaurant, located at roof level.

The tower’s facade is designed to appear as an assembly of woven shimmering tapestries with a perforated, gold-toned shading system that responds to climate, orientation and context. You can read more about our proposal here.

We are all very proud of our director Penny Collins who is featured in Jane Jose’s new book “Places Women Make” – a book that celebrates women who are shaping the Australian city. The book was launched in December at Tusculum by Lucy Turnbull. You can buy your copy here.

Our brew bar on Brisbane’s South Bank featuring reclaimed Queensland spotted gum floors has won an Australian Timber Design Award for best timber flooring.  It also received runner up in the Excellence in the Use of Timber Products – Recycled Timber category. The project was done in association with Baber Studio and D’Occhio. You can view images of the project along with all the other winners here.

Director Penny Collins has been featured in this month’s Australian House and Garden which focuses on women in design. The article pays tribute to the trailblazers and rising stars in all design disciplines across Australia. Penny is featured alongside other wonderfully talented design professionals.

Commissioned by developer JQZ, the Tower Residences, a 172 unit multi-residentail development designed in collaboration with Environa Studio has received development approval. Winner of a City of Sydney design excellence competition, the project located at 40a O’Dea Avenue in the heart of Waterloo will offer its residents an inner city sanctuary. Due for completion in 2016, the building will feature over 2500sqm of landscaped external space in the form of lush gardens, open air lobbies, roof terraces and planted balconies. Read more about the project here.

The Charming Squire on Brisbane’s Southbank is a finalist in the Hospitality Design category for this year’s Australian Interior Design Awards. Read more about it here.

Our recently completed project on Brisbane’s Southbank, The Charming Squire has received a runner up award at the 8th Annual Eat Drink awards for Best Bar Design.

Last night was the grand opening of our recently completed bar project, The Charming Squire. Hundreds of Brisbane craft beer fans flocked to South Bank to attend the event and sample some of the 11 James Squire craft beers and ciders including two beers that are brewed uniquely on the premises. Many thanks to The Mantle Group for putting on such an exceptional event!

Lend Lease have confirmed the tenancy in the flagship R1 building will be taken by MorSul + Solotel. Matt Moran will operate the three storey building alongside MorSul’s Peter Sullivan, in partnership with Solotel’s Bruce and Anna Solomon. Read the article in The Australian here.

Minerva’s latest exhibition, “Layers Thaw” opens this Saturday evening 4-7pm. The exhibition is curated by Amelia Groom and showcases works by Marian Tubbs, Hito Steyerl, Leigh Ledare, Zachary Formwelt, Linda Stupart, Eddie Hopely and Dream Factory. For more information on this exhibition and upcoming shows visit the Minverva website.

Our free standing restaurant/bar project at the southern end of Barangaroo was featured in the Daily Telegraph today along with a plethora of diverse foodie spaces that are set to open mid 2016. Read the article about the biggest food hub Australia has ever seen here.

Huw Turner presented some of Collins and Turner’s work last night at About the House, a talk series held at the Surry Hills Community Centre, along with Peter Loneghan of Cracknell Loneghan. About the House is a series of monthly neighbourhood idea forums on domestic architecture designed to allow architects and the public to talk informally about what makes a good house. The talk was organised and moderated by Associate Professor Elizabeth Farrelly, and sponsored by Spencer And Servi. About the House will each month invite two architects to present a house or houses they have designed.

Collins and Turner were involved in SuperStudio over the weekend, an annual 24 hour student design competition organised by SONA, the official student body of the AIA. The competition is designed to foster studio culture, networking and support between students of different universities, conceptual thinking; critique and analysis of topical subjects; and interaction between the architectural profession and the student community. David Janson was a design tutor at the event, and Penny Collins was part of the judging panel. Congratulations to the winners, Demas Rusli, Plini Roessler-Holgate and Jason Goh, and best of luck at the national SuperStudio.