Table of contents for INDESIGN #93 in INDESIGN

Hello! Naarm/Melbourne is a design community at the peak of its powers. Its makers, artisans, artists, craftspeople, designers, architects, landscape architects, gardeners, manufacturers and visionary thinkers are talking, collaborating and dreaming together and the results are useful, interesting and beautiful. It’s a functional, collegiate, warm community. It is a city we are proud of, and not just because it’s great to live here, but because it is asking difficult questions about sustainability, housing security and existing on unceded Country and thinking deeply about how we as a community can be part of the solutions – how we can be helpful. On a more joyous note, it’s also a city which is making beautiful things which help explain the world we live in. As Guest Editors of Indesign #93, the Life-Work…

INDE.Awards 2025 Luminary Partner As a practitioner, John Wardle is in a league of his own. His work encapsulates the best of architecture through form, connection to people and sensitivity to site. His many projects have made an indelible imprint on the built landscape of Australia and beyond, and he and his practice have been justly recognised for this immense contribution. As a Luminary this year, John Wardle is celebrated as a leader, a visionary and, simply put, an extraordinary architect. John was born in Geelong, Australia, Victoria’s second largest city where he enjoyed a carefree childhood with his family. At this time, Geelong was an agricultural hub and, located on the Barwon River, life was idyllic in this bustling harbour town. His interest in architecture was piqued through family…

INDE.Awards 2025 Luminary Partner Andrew Tu’inukuafe and Barrington Gohns are a powerful pair that together, and separately, have made a profound difference to the architecture of our region. Each epitomises the ideals of a Luminary, creating change for the better that is inclusive, diverse and culturally aware. The two men practice architecture at Warren and Mahoney (WAM) with Tu’inukuafe based in Auckland and Gohns in Sydney, however, their visions are united, intertwined and demonstrated not only in their home cities but across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific. Andrew Tu’inukuafe is Chairman of the Warren and Mahoney Group, and his leadership is evident, the trickle-down effect of good management, sound principles and awareness on all levels that is embraced by all. Barrington Gohns is Principal and Head of Design…

Seismic strengthening techniques were employed and new structural concrete and steel elements inserted into the existing fabric. It makes sense then that this mighty natural resource was the inspiration behind the meticulous restoration and expansion of Whanganui’s Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, which overlooks the Whanganui River and surrounding landscape from its elevated location. The project itself is monumental in scale and process, beginning in 1998 with Warren and Mahoney winning the design competition. Its evolution manifests as the ‘re-lifing’ of a building with great historical and cultural importance and is very much a story of respect and representation, borne from a co-design process that allowed a multitude of voices to be heard. Interestingly, construction was already underway before the Warren and Mahoney team, led by principal Ralph Roberts,…

On the ground floor of Skye House, a project within the Nightingale Village by Breathe Architecture, there is an inviting restaurant that reflects this community. Ima Asa Yoru is a café by day and restaurant by night, but most importantly it is an extension of the sustainable, people-focused ethos that underpins the entire Nightingale project. From morning to evening, each day, the restaurant moves with the rhythm of the day – serving traditional Japanese breakfast and lunch (asa) before shifting into a lively izakaya-style dining experience (yoru) at night. Residents have embraced it as an extension of their homes, a place to gather over good food and conversation. “It’s the beating heart of the village,” says Jeremy McLeod, founder of Breathe Architecture and the driving force behind Nightingale Housing, the…

There is a promontory in south-east Sri Lanka where an old frangipani tree stretches her branches against a tapestry of tropical foliage and shimmering water views. Planted in the early 1950s by famed Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa (1919–2003), she has stood firmly rooted in his Lunuganga Estate for over seventy years of change and flux. In search of a piece of land he could mould, Bawa acquired 15 acres of abandoned cinnamon and rubber plantation in 1948 and dedicated his life to transforming the property into a sanctuary for biodiversity and artistic life. In fulfilling Bawa’s vision as a place for reverie and dreaming, the garden became a patchwork of landscapes and moods, of walkways meandering through terraced gardens, tree framed lawns, sculptured waterways, and art-filled architecture. Bawa saw…

Rachel Nolan and Patrick Kennedy Principals, Kennedy Nolan The darlings of Melbourne architecture, Rachel Nolan and Patrick Kennedy are a powerhouse of design excellence. It is an absolute privilege to host them as our Guest Editor. “The design ethos of Kennedy Nolan is defined by the impulse to be creative and is powered by the energy of working together - with our own brilliant staff and with regular and new collaborators in our design community. We aspire to first principles creativity derived through understanding and interpreting our world with kindness, humour and sometimes beauty. We are a practice that wants to be optimistic, diligent, fun to work with and helpful.” Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan, page 72. Gillian Serisier Editor Editor of both Indesign and Habitus magazines, Gillian brings a…

INDE.Awards 2025 Luminary Partner Joyce Wang designs interiors that make a signature statement whatever the brief. As the founder and principal of Joyce Wang Studio, she has forged a career that has brought her great success. As a child with an eye for design through to the professional interior designer she is today, every project is a consummate example of her inherent good taste and impeccable style. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Wang grew up in a sophisticated environment, her father an industrialist was involved in manufacturing in Hong Kong and the family travelled extensively. Design was not a part of the family’s DNA but through exposure to a variety of people, places and countries around the world, Wang’s knowledge was formed and instincts developed. Drawing was a great passion,…

The Melbourne Place rooftop uses its beautiful brick eyes to seduce you up there and once you arrive you are rewarded with spectacular views. “Melbourne Place is undoubtedly our largest project,” says Nolan. “It’s been a huge investment of love, time and care from our team and so much of our practice DNA is deep in the fabric of this city building. I genuinely believe you can feel that when you visit.” Perhaps more than many of its urban contemporaries, the Modern Melbourne movement has long been an incubator of local architectural talent. Historically, Melbourne architects have had their champions. Leon van Schaik, for instance, who as head of architecture at RMIT commissioned buildings for the city campus that changed the northern end of Melbourne’s CBD. Over many years, he,…

Anyone approaching Cumulus is not looking for bland, but within the genre of the medical typology, the shift is extraordinary. As Dmitry Troyanovsky, Cumulus Studio architect and project lead, explains, Dr Tan was looking for “something different. He had a real aversion to the traditional, clinical-feel of a lot of dental practices.” Ostensibly Cumulus was tasked with increasing the capacity of a traditional Victorian red brick bungalow that had been converted to a commercial medical practice around twenty years ago. That task, however, soon grew to an extension, a rearrangement of the block, and then that extension also expanded. It was no ordinary conversion with Dr Tan wanting to “create a really distinct experience,” says Troyanovsky, adding: “It had a lot of lovely original features with timber architraves and built-in…

Not every project has to solve a bigger problem for the city or have a purpose beyond serving that specific client, but imagine if they did. Imagine if every single project our industry worked on was aligned to a purpose of incrementally leaving the next generation with a self-sufficient city. A city based on infinite resources. A city that gives more than it takes. A city that is based on resources that will never run out. When I was asked to write an article about work-life balance I had a good laugh. I’m not entirely sure what work life balance means. For me it’s all a blur. Work is life. Life is work. If someone gave me 1 billion dollars, I would wake up tomorrow and keep doing the same…

Melbourne Place, Naarm/Melbourne Architecture & Interior Design Kennedy Nolan Project Manager APP and Gallagher Jeffs Construction/Builder ADCO Builder Ben Thomas Builders Structural & Civil Engineer WSP Fire Omni Building Surveyor Codus Acoustic Engineer Renzo Tonin Electrical & Hydraulic & Mechanical Engineer Wrap Landscape Designer Amanda Oliver Access MGAC Art Consultant ADA Consulting AV Consultant Alder Branding and Identity Studio Round ESD Cundall Façade Engineer BG&E Land Surveyor Veris QS WT Hotel Consultants Ernesto A’de Lima & Tracy Atherton Furniture procurement JRF KENNEDY NOLAN kennedynolan.com.au Lighting Pyramid Scheme, brass + custom corridor lights + custom hotel bedroom lights + Anton, custom jarrah with frosted bulb + custom portable lamp, Volker Haug. Surveillance Wall Light, Lost Profile. Broad Pendant, Coco Flip. Petrine double pendant, Nightworks. Polar Wall Light, Ross Gardam. Conical wall…

Now in its twelfth cycle, the Eussen Design Competition is designed to foster exceptional industry talent, while elevating the work of students onto the national stage in Australia. With students across the country vying to be crowned the annual winner, the competition asks entrants to respond to a specific theme or brief, with previous iterations including tiny houses, community housing, and a Fire & Ice Boutique Hotel. For 2024, Eussen took his thinking digital, asking applicants to draw inspiration from viral visual artists to create an exhibition pop-up-space that, as he puts it “transports the audience to a destination real or imaginary”. Raising the bar further, he asked the winner of the 2018 Eussen Design Competition, Joss Knight, to lend his considerable talent to the competition. As such, entrants were…

INDE.Awards 2025 Luminary Partner The name ONG&ONG is synonymous with great architecture and design that, over the years, has made its mark on a multitude of countries in the Indo-Pacific. The practice has flourished and continues to do so, due to the tenacity, perseverance and vision of Group Executive Chairman, Ong Tze Boon. ONG&ONG was established in 1972 by Ong Teng Cheong and Ling Siew May; however, it is this couple’s younger son who has powered the practice to great heights, although the journey was challenging. As a child Boon was surrounded by architecture as his parents would talk about their work at the dinner table, take him on site and to their studio. His father, while an architect, was also a prominent public figure in Singapore, and this set…

In Brisbane’s bustling and leafy James Street precinct, a beloved culinary institution has undergone a transformative redesign that honours its past while confidently claiming its future. After 11 years of operating as a fine-dining establishment, the clients, Gerard’s owners Elie and Johnny Moubarak, engaged Jared Webb, Principal of J.AR Office to reimagine the restaurant – not just as a typical renovation, but as a monument to permanence and a celebration of ritual in an industry that thrives on the new. “There’s an overwhelming desire for what is new (in Brisbane), a new restaurant or place to be,” Webb reflects. “Our concept was built on the premise that Gerard’s was the first kid on the block, and we are not going anywhere.” This rebellious stance against transience manifests in the venue’s…

I was reflecting on this question recently after a wonderful experience on the national architecture jury for the New Zealand Institute of Architects. The most impactful part of being on the national jury is the nearly two weeks that the jury spends together visiting shortlisted projects across the country. Obviously involving a lot of travel, this time together naturally also means in-depth conversation about architecture, its place in society and culture, and all of the very many intersecting aspects of life which inform and shape our experience of it. It’s useful and enjoyable for an architect to experience colleagues’ work, especially at the high level encountered on a national jury, but what really struck me came not just from the buildings, but from the conversations with the architects. On every…