NIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

CROSS-SECTION Issue No. 98

II There are 7 applicants for the post of Melb City Ccl Town Planner advertised recently (C-S—Sept '60). The Ccl has been severely criticised for its niggardly attitude in offering a salary range of £2450 to £2578—a scale that is identical with that offered by Townsville, a much smaller city with a population of 44,000. After months of arguments it has now finally decided that the successful candidate will work under the City Arch't & not the Bldg Surveyor as previously suggested by one section of the Ccl. (( Cumberland County Ccl severely criticised the design of a vast Housing Comm'n project of 262 flats planned for Sth Coogee NSW. Permission was granted but the Ccl felt the project of such magnitude deserved a better scheme than the one submitted. The bldgs appeared to be squeezed together & the grouping lacked any "visible design".

Photo: Mark .Strizie

Several small shops & reception rooms are planned on the 1st flr of this Kolonga Shopping Centre recently com-pleted in Clayton, Vic — an attractive solution to a prob-lematic triangular site resulting from the local Ccl's require-ments for the bldg to be set back 20 ft on each corner street. (Kenneth McDonald & Ass'ts, arch'ts; H. W. Viney Pty Ltd, owner-builder; Cost: £45,000).

Photos: L. ß D. Keen

That enthusiasm & disciplined control can often produce a worthwhile piece of bldg is well demonstrated by this Carapark Motel recently compl'd on the Q'land Gold Coast. Its overall form may not be pure, but the precise planning is. Detailing is exact & is carried right thru the bldg & its ancillaries. Each of the 24 units is well stacked with armchair comforts & push-button service. The latter is quite intriguing at times, particularly the small 1'6" sq. hatch that feeds on to a table at the bed-heads. In the morning a breakfast tray & paper slide discreetly above the guest's head & come to rest at mouth level. Neatly integrating the spaces around the main block, this Motel's restaurant & swimming pools, service shops & reception, all help to conceal the presence of parked vehicles—a first class bit of planning which offers worthwhile lessons to many similar projects now being undertaken all over Aust. (Hayes & Scott, arch'ts; F. J. McWilliam & Ass'ts, engrs; R. & B. Const'ns, bldrs.)

December I, 1960

This is the new 14 storey 1st stage of what is planned to be Syd's biggest (1,200 bed rms) hotel, the Chevron Hilton, recently opened in Macleay st., Potts Pt. (C-S April '60). The 2nd 41 storey bldg (now under const'n) will be served by facilities already installed within the 1st stage. Covering 2â acres, the whole £71 m scheme promises to be the most spectacular of the chain of luxury hotels proposed for all the major capital cities in Aust & N.Z. Completion of the Ist £22 m structure is indeed a creditable achievement for its arch'ts, particularly the princioal Donald Crone who not only organised an office but has succeeded in designing & build-ing a large structure in a remarkably short time. (The task was offered early in June last year). The hotel offers luxury at a price, aimed primarily at the dollar tourist & the expense-account-business-man. To many a sensitive soul, it simply cloys & gives the impression of a tinsel veneer over what 'may' be very ordinary hotel service. Small keynote—the W.C. lids are gilded! As example of perhaps the lack of time for full design consideration there is the main stair (see below) where rather a magnificent sparkling & shining wire-and-marble glitter-cage descends to 3 very mundane & formless carpet covered solid steps. There is the main entrance, right on the street, already crushed with cars, when one could imagine some more pleasant off-street drive. (But, may be there were site problems to complicate this.) (Donald Crone & Ass'ts, arch'ts; Miller, Milston & Ferries, engrs; John D. Booker Pty Ltd, bldrs).

If A £8 m satellite city develop't plan was lodged with Brisb. City C'cil recently. The scheme which involves possibly the largest real estate deal ever negotiated in Aust, will take from 10 to 12 yrs. to complete. Primarily planned as a residential area to house 60,000 people on what is now mainly farm land, the develop't covers 4,183 acres in the Kenmore-Darra area between Brisb. River & West'n H'way. It includes 1 I self-sufficient neighbourhoods, a 2-lane access bridge, a 65 acre regional shopping centre, leaving 506 acres of parkland. (Hooker-Rex Pty. Ltd., prmtrs).

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Photos: John Morton

Exactly 2 years after its official opening MeIb's ICI bldg experienced its first curtain wall problems (C-S—Dec '58). Chief trouble seems to centre around its west wall where several 5' x 3' glass panels have cracked & fallen on the pavement below. As a result, a timber canopy (see top rt.) has been built over the Nicholson St. footpath to protect pedestrians. Reactions to this safety move ranged from I.C.I.'s officials' "great concern" to press headlines & even ridicule (see cartoon). However the events were no joke to many members of the arch'I profession who took it as a serious warning against indiscriminate use of large glass areas on curtain walls without benefit & availability of thorough local investigations & research reports into all problems of cladding. (C'crete too, seems to suffer from similar prob-lems; column cover slabs on the West wall of the new Melb. Univ. Wilson Hall have recently dislocated due to expan-sion). The I.C.I. news has certainly succeeded in spot-lighting many basic problems relating to solar radiant energy penetration & steps being taken by glass manufacturers, fabricators & glaziers to solve them. Cracking of tinted glass has been a common occur-rence in bldgs for quite some time, but specially imported toughened glass used in ICI bldg was expected to answer this problem. That this has not been entirely successful has been proved by recent unfortunate accidents where a few panels have shattered info a number of small pieces very much like the windscreen of an automobile. C.S.I.R.O. reports indicate the cause lies primarily in sun shining on the centre portion of the panel while edges remain in comparative shade. Uneven stresses developed within the panel result in cracking—a problem even more serious when sun protective louvres cast deep shadows on different parts of the same sheet. Because of its low heat absorption, use of light tinted glazing has been suggested as one answer. Another remedy seems to lie in restricting the present liberal use of glass cladding. Such a practice will, no doubt, also help to reduce enormous loads on air-conditioning plants.

Photo: Don Stephens

This is Motel Marine—a 'boatel' on a 2} acre site in New Town Bay on Tasmania's Derwent Estuary. Imitating 'a modern ocean liner' its interiors have a nautical air typified, for instance, by "a large fishing net used for curtain draping over the lounge windows, the original ropes & cork floats

still attached & a crayfish pot holding a large indoor plant". (I. G. & L. G. Anderson, arch'ts; John Paine of Hobart, bldr; £35,000).

(j Syd arch'ts Rudder, Littlemore & Rudder have been awarded RIBA's bronze medal for the design of the Quantas HO Bldg in Elizabeth st.

IT Mr W. H. Craig, 43, has been appointed secretary of the Vic'n T & C Plan'g Board. He succeeds Mr Noel Lyneham who has been appointed director of the City Development Ass'n. (C-S—Nov '60).

(j A £I m cement industry is to be established at Rock-hampton. Cent'I Oland Cement Pty. Ltd. will build this £250,000 first stage—a grinding & bagging plant that will use clinker from Darra.

'1( Figures released by Com'wlth Bureau of Census & Statis-tics show that new industrial bldgs valued at more than £43 m were completed in Aust last year.

(( 7 Melb Univ Arch Students shared £200 in the Tasmanian Timber Ass'n home design competition.

Photo: Ronald H. Armstrong

These new premises for the Bank of NSW were recently completed at Nedlands—a Perth suburb. The distinctive flat roofed bldg accommodates standard facilities with dbl ht banking chamber & a staff recreation room on the upper floor. (Forbes & Fitzhardinge, arch'ts; W. H. Ralph & Son, Bldrs; Cost, £22,000).

Photo: Wolfgang Sievers

The development of Canberra as a civic community as well as the national capital is being recognised in plans for a distinctive civic centre. Growing at a tremendous pace the city has a population of 50,000 which is expanding at the rate of 10% a yr. With 2/3 rds of its workforce engaged in private industry, commerce & the professions, Canberra can no longer be regarded as a public service outpost. As laid down in the master plan, the city's national & commercial centres have developed separately, the former to the Sth & the latter Nth of the Molonglo River. Work has already started on this impressive City Square & Offices (above) which represent the Ist stage of a large Civic Centre planned for the City Hall below which the main shops & commercial offices are grouped. Flanked by 2 L-shaped 3 storey Civic offices, this 250' x 200' attractively paved Square will hold 20,000 people. The bldgs will have an open colonade & there

is a proposal for planting clusters of chinese elms all round the central pool with its ingeniously controlled fountain. A statue by sculptor Tom Bass will be unveiled on Canberra day, March 12, next year. (Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffith & Simpson, Arch'ts; Conc. Const'n Canberra Pty Ltd, bldrs; Cos+ 1st stage: £575,911).

If The Baptist Union of Vic has decided to build a Univ College in Parkville. Designed to house 80 students the new bldg will be circular with a courtyard in the centre. (Mockeridge, Stable & Mitchell, arch'ts; £210,000).

Q Plans are now ready for the new war memorial Co-Cathedral of St John which will be erected by C of E's N.G. Diocese. Set into a Port Moresby hillside the shimmering white bldg is expected to cost nearly £400,000. (Lund, Hutton, Newell, Black & Paulsen, arch'ts).

(( A limit-ht office bldg is to replace Melb's Astoria Hotel in 2 yrs' time. Sold for £90,000 the hotel will continue to operate until expiration of its lease in Feb '62.

)( Mr Mervyn Parry has been elected president of the WA Chapter of the RAIA. He succeeds Mr Desmond Sands.

This is "Australia Square" a £20 m Commercial Centre proposed for a site bounded by Syd's Hunter, Pitt, Bond & George Sts (C-S June, July '60). An integrated complex containing a 40 storey office tower, a 400 rm luxury hotel, shopping promenade, multilevel sub-surface parking & a spacious landscaped plaza (see below), the scheme should well benefit the financial nerve centre of this major Aust'n city. (Harry Seidler, Arch't in Ass'n with I. M. Pei & Ass'ts, U.S.A.).

Photos: Ingerson-Arnold A large expanse (3,600 sq ft) of anodised alum'm sun screen replaces the old front of this Finance Corp'n bldg in Franklin st, Adelaide. Built around the shell of the 56 yrs old Henry Berry bldg — last of Adelaide's fine old warehouses, the new 5 storey job is remarkable for its low cost achieved largely by rehabilitation rather than undertaking an entirely new structure. Of course both client & the builders were lucky in more ways than one. Firstly the footings were adequate to handle additional loads as were also the old cast iron columns & the RSJ's which carried the floor joists. Then, by an ingenious system of wedging the builders were able to use the existing timber floors as forming for the new cont slabs. Later drawing out the wedges, all the timber flooring was removed & made good use of elsewhere on the job — altogether quite a commendable performance (John S. Chappel, arch't; Marshall & Broughton Ltd, bldrs).

If An impressive list of £500 m worth of new developmental & industrial projects in the far north of gland was recently outlined by Premier Franklin Nicklin. Expansion projects now in progress or planned for the near future include a £45-175 m bauxite development scheme at Weipa, on Cape York Peninsula; £30 m Mt Isa railway rehabilitation scheme linking Collinsville coal mines with Townsville & the giant Mt Isa mines; The £45 m uranium production at Mary Kathleen; The new £32 m copper refinery operating at Townsville & prospects of using iron ore deposits from the Constance Range area.

a new step

in flooring by

versatile Dunlop

Vinyl

A stair-covering application completely new to vinyl flooring was introduced in construction of the dominant Phoenix Assurance Building in Bridge Street, Sydney. Special wide Dunlop Vinyl strips were used to cover stair treads, risers and landings. Nosings were Dunlop Vinyl plastic. Unsightly joints on stairways and land-ings were completely eliminated. Floor level numbers on landings were incorporated in the vinyl in contrasting colour. For quick, accurate installation, the Dunlop Vinyl strips were trimmed to size on site. No less than 8,000 square yards of Dunlop Vinyl tiles were used to cover the rest of the floors in Phoenix House. As the flooring was installed in two stages, 15 months apart, consistency in tile colours and lining up was essential.

DUNLOP FLOORING SERVICE MELBOURNE: Dunlop Floorings Pty. Ltd., 96 Flinders Street, Melbourne. MF 0371. SYDNEY: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., 27-33 Wentworth Ave., Sydney. 2 0969. BRISBANE: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., Centenary Place, Brisbane. 31 0271. PERTH: Dunlop Flooring Centre, 473 Murray Street, Perth. 21 3085. ADELAIDE: Dunlop Floor-ing Centre, 131-133 Pirie Street, Adelaide. W 1647. HOBART: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., 27 Argyle Street, Hobart. 2 6581. LAUNCESTON: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., 18 Paterson Street, Launceston. 2 2067.

ARCHITECTS: THOMPSON SPOONER & DIXON BUILDERS: CONCRETE CONSTRUCTIONS. 4146

Library Digitised Collections

Title:

Cross-Section [1960]

Date:

1960

Persistent Link:

http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24054

File Description:

Cross-Section, Dec 1960 (no. 98)