Gallery
Federation Square, Melbourne
Guardian Towers, Abu Dhabi
LAB Architecture Studio was a firm of architects and urban designers based in Melbourne, Australia with international offices in London and Shanghai. [1]
Peter Davidson [2] after graduating from Bachelor of Architecture in 1980 from the NSW Institute of Technology, Sydney, moved to London in 1981 where he became editorial assistant for the journal International Architect. Whilst running his own practice for ten years, Davidson was also teaching at various institutions, including the Architectural Association School of Architecture where he met fellow design director of LAB Donald Bates. Davidson suffered a severe stroke in 2010 and has no involvement with Lab Architecture Studio. [3]
Donald Bates [4] completed his bachelor's degree of Architecture in 1978 from the University of Houston, Texas and received his masters of Architecture in 1983 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Bates was the associate architect to Daniel Libeskind for the Berlin: city edge competition entry as well as the Berlin Museum extension Competition entry, now also known as the Jewish Museum Berlin. After business partner Peter Davidson suffered a severe stroke in 2010, Bates was accused of forgoing his partner's physical, emotional and financial well-being. Quoted in The Age, Nina Libeskind referred to Bates' "Cynical opportunism and expediency". [3] In 2012 Bates was appointed chair of architectural design at the University of Melbourne. [5]
Completed in 2002, Federation Square is situated on a 3.6-hectare (8.9-acre) corner site bound by Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne, Australia. With a building footprint of 45,000 square metres the precinct incorporates commercial, civic and cultural programs. [6] Along with a wide variety of restaurants, bars and cafes and retail spaces larger institutions represented include the Ian Potter Centre (NGV), the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Melbourne headquarters for SBS (Australian TV channel) and the Melbourne Visitor Centre. [6]
In 1997 an international design competition was launched by the Victorian Government with a focus of creating new civic space for Melbourne, connecting Flinders Street to the Yarra River and enhancing the cultural attributes of the city. Five designs were shortlisted from the 177 entries. The winning design of Bates Smart Architects and Lab Studio Architects was announced in July 1997. [7] When the competition was won, Federation Square was their first building project.
The main plaza can accommodate up to 25000 people. [6] The outdoor amphitheatre plays host to a variety of festivals and concerts as well as broadcasting cultural events such as the annual Tropfest and sporting events such as the AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final.
Federation Square was met with widespread disapproval, the architects receiving hate mail from people who loathed the design. [8]
SOHO Shangdu [9] Beijing, China (2004–07) Site area: 2.2ha Gross floor area: 170,000m2 Type: commercial, residential + retail
Riyadh Business Center [10] Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2005) Site area: 3.9ha Gross floor area: 87,000m2 Type: offices, hotel, retail
Tatweer Towers Dubai (2006) Site area: 7.6ha Gross floor area: 1,500,000m2 Type: commercial offices, residential, hotel + retail
Zovie Towers Tianjin, China (2007-) Site area: 2.7ha Gross floor area: 223,710m2 Type: commercial office, residential, retail, hotel + business club
Guardian Towers [11] Abu Dhabi (2007–09) Site area: 0.7ha Gross floor area: 50,000m2
Federation Square is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of 3.2 ha at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy railway lines and across the road from Flinders Street station. It incorporates major cultural institutions such as the Ian Potter Centre, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the Koorie Heritage Trust as well as cafes and bars in a series of buildings centred around a large paved square, and a glass walled atrium.
Docklands, also known as Melbourne Docklands, is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km (1.2 mi) west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Docklands recorded a population of 15,495 at the 2021 census.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architectural firm based in New York City. that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services. They do different projects that includes civic and cultural spaces, commercial office buildings, transportation facilities, residential and hospitality developments, educational and institutional facilities, and mixed-use commercial developments. KPF has 600+ employees.
Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new references and interpretations of traditional architecture to highly conceptual forms and designs, resembling sculpture on an enormous scale. Some of these styles and approaches make use of very advanced technology and modern building materials, such as tube structures which allow construction of buildings that are taller, lighter and stronger than those in the 20th century, while others prioritize the use of natural and ecological materials like stone, wood and lime. One technology that is common to all forms of contemporary architecture is the use of new techniques of computer-aided design, which allow buildings to be designed and modeled on computers in three dimensions, and constructed with more precision and speed.
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia is an art gallery that houses the Australian part of the art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
Australia Square Tower is an office and retail complex in the central business district of Sydney. Its main address is 264 George Street, and the Square is bounded on the northern side by Bond Street, eastern side by Pitt Street and southern side by Curtin Place.
Melbourne Central is a large shopping centre, office, and public transport hub in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The main tower is 211-metre (692 ft) high, making it one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne at the time it was built in 1991. Other parts of the complex include the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, the underground Melbourne Central railway station and the heritage-listed Coop's Shot Tower.
Bates Smart is an architectural firm with studios in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1853 by Joseph Reed, it is one of Australia's oldest architectural firms. Over the decades, the firm's practices involving architecture, interior design, urban design, strategy, sustainability and research, have been responsible for some of Australia’s most recognizable buildings.
Paul Carter is a British academic and writer.
Founded in 1969, ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, Inc. is a national architectural design firm, located in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in Science/R&D, biotechnology, educational, athletic and corporate facilities. With an emphasis on innovative and sustainable design, ARC has garnered more than 70 awards from a wide range of professional organizations and publications.
OMNIPLAN, founded by George Harrell and Earle Grady ("EG") Hamilton, and formerly known as Harrell & Hamilton, was established in 1956 to provide service and design in architecture, interior architecture, and planning. The majority of their work has been focused on large-scale retail, corporate and commercial office buildings, mixed-use projects and university facilities. With a staff of more than 50 people in offices in Dallas and Phoenix, OMNIPLAN provides design services to clients nationwide.
6 & 8 Parramatta Square is a skyscraper in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, a centrepiece of the Parramatta Square development. The building consists entirely of commercial office space, making up 120,000 square metres (1,300,000 sq ft) of floorspace, at a height of 225.45 metres (739.7 ft), making it the tallest building in Parramatta and outside the Sydney central business district. It was built in the Parramatta Square Development on plot 8 called PSQ8.
Collins Square is one of the largest commercial developments in Australia and the largest in the Melbourne central business district of Victoria, covering an area of c. two hectares.
Searle X Waldron is an Australian architecture firm based in St Kilda, Melbourne. It is an emerging firm co-founded by Nick Searle and Suzannah Waldron in 2007. The firm focuses on projects ranging from small scale residential to larger scale urban master-planning. Some of their notable projects and design competitions include the MoCAPE and Art Gallery of Ballarat Annexe which have managed to attain various awards from the Australian Institute of Architects, including the 2012 Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture and 2012 Architecture Award for Public Architecture Alteration & Additions. Their designs have been exhibited across Australia and throughout Asia and Europe.
AMP Square is a skyscraper situated in Melbourne, Australia, located on the corner of Bourke and Williams Streets in the Melbourne CBD. Designed by US firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with local firm Bates Smart McCutcheon, and completed in 1969, it was briefly the tallest in the city, and is noted for its use of solid sculpted forms bringing a sense of monumentality to tall buildings.
222 Exhibition Street is a 26 level office building in Melbourne, Australia. Constructed 1986-88 and designed by Denton Corker Marshall, 222 Exhibition Street is a notable example of Postmodernism by a firm that was later to gain international fame.
The Princes Gate Towers were a set of twin office tower blocks that were located at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets in the Melbourne central business district, Australia. They were designed by architects Leslie M. Perrott and Partners and completed in 1967. They were partly occupied by the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, leading to the buildings also being known as "the Gas & Fuel Buildings". They were demolished in 1997 to make way for Federation Square, the mixed-use development and public space that now occupies the site.
One Central Park is a mixed-use dual high-rise building located in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale in New South Wales, Australia. Developed as a joint venture between Frasers Property and Sekisui House, it was constructed by Besix Watpac as the first stage of the Central Park urban renewal project.
The Melbourne Prize is an Australian architectural award. It is awarded annually at the Victorian Architecture Awards by a jury appointed by the Victoria Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects to architectural projects that have made a significant contribution to the public life of Melbourne, Australia. It was first awarded in 1997 to Six Degrees Architects for the small bar Meyers Place.
Stanthorpe Post Office is a heritage-listed post office at 14 Maryland Street, Stanthorpe, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by John Smith Murdoch of the Queensland Government Architect's office and was built by D. Stewart and Co in 1901. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.