At a gala awards dinner held in Sydney last week, the Australian Steel Institute unveiled the winners of its National Excellence Awards.

Taking out the award for the Large Buildings over $10 million category was the Art Gallery of NSW Sydney Modern Project. This was submitted by Arup, who led the engineering design for the project.

Open to the public in 2022, the project has created a new art museum experience across two buildings connected by a public art garden.

The project involved construction of a new building as well as revitalisation of the existing building and significant landscape works.

Designed by architects SANAA, the new building has almost doubled the amount of exhibition space and enjoys seamless connections between indoor and outdoor spaces.

From an architectural point of view, a key feature of the design involves its response to the site’s natural topography. This includes interlocking pavilions that nestle into the surrounding landscape and integrate the land bridge over the Eastern Distributor motorway below and the subterranean heritage structures.

Each pavilion connects with the outdoors. This includes roof terraces, courtyards, public walkways, and a 24/7 accessible art garden.

From an engineering viewport, smart structural solutions were needed to realise the architectural vision in light of the Gallery’s unique location and its steel-framed pavilion.

In particular:

  • Close collaboration and careful monitoring enabled the engineering to determine the right place for the structure over the land bride. This approach saved costs and time by eliminating the need for strengthening and major road closures.
  • Detailed investigation, assessments and analysis of an oil tank structure minimised the need for strengthening and preserved the original construction for the next generation.
  • Detailed analysis helped minimise column sizes and eliminate bracing in the entry canopy and pavilions.
  • Non-linear time history analysis helped to verify the seismic performance of the fully integrated chain of pavilions that step up the hill and to further verify the sway columns.
  • Connections are subtle and clean, and structural arrangements and load paths simple and direct wherever possible.

This project was submitted by Arup, who were the lead engineers for the project.

The Small Buildings under $10m category was won by Studio Fox for its work in creating a landmark piece of urban artwork that was created as part of the Rozelle Interchange project in Sydney (pictured above – header image).

The Rozelle Interchange is an underground motorway in Sydney that has been built as part of the WestConnex project and will be the southern terminus of the Western Harbour Tunnel that is expected to be completed in 2028 (the interchange itself opened last year).

The structure itself represents a landmark piece of urban artwork that interweaves between the Interchange ventilation towers.

The form of the artwork has been derived from mappings of previous, current and future ecologies. These mappings generate patterns of sculptural looping and interweaving forms that provide a framework for nature to take over.

Situated on the land of both Gadigal and Wangal clans of the Dharug language group, three landscaped monoliths take ground above a new parkland on the edge of Rozelle Bay. The area that was once bursting with vibrant ecosystems has been transformed over millennia. Previously characterised by mudflats and mangrove forests, the landscape has more recently been focused around industrialised maritime and rail use. This integrated landscaped artwork looks to this history and its continued stories.

A key feature of the project is the modulated zinc panelling and twisting steel structure. This references the turbulent air flow of the facility and projected spatial movements by inhabitants of the vast subterranean road network below.

Enveloping the towers, this living system extends as bridge forms above pedestrians and cyclists. Meanwhile, biophilic green-wall modules further integrate the structures into the parklands and transform this vast infrastructure into a habitat for urban biodiversity.

Other project winners

The Engineering Projects category was won by Hay Point Shiploader in Queensland.

Owned by the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, the terminal -situated around 40 kilometres south of Mackay – is one of the largest and most efficient coal terminals in the world.

The project involved the replacement of the existing berth and shiploader at Berth 2 in order to ensure the sustainability of the terminal and to improve cyclone immunity.

According to judges, the building information modelling and the adoption of a fully modularised fabrication and installation methodology delivered significant safety, cost and schedule benefits. Environmental considerations were made throughout the project design and delivery.

This project was submitted by DBM Vircon, who provided design modelling and shop detailing services.

The Steel-Clad Structures category (submitted by MY Framing Solutions) was won by Melbourne Quarter Tower.

Located on Collins Street, opposite Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, the Melbourne Quarter Precinct hosts three next-generation commercial towers, a build-to-sell residential tower, a build-to-rent residential tower (currently under construction), and a diverse mix of retail & thriving, green public amenity.

In terms of this project, judges said that the fabricators and designers produced ‘a compelling solution that takes into account the construction complexities of building at height and ensuring the majority of work can be handled off site for safety and efficiency’.

The Innovative Cold Formed Steel Building category (submitted by MYT Framing Solutions) was won by Glenelg Primary School in South Australia.

The project was undertaken as part of major upgrades to the school. This included construction of two new modular buildings for general learning, service learning, outdoor teaching, administration and support; library and staff room upgrades; a new lift to an existing 2-storaty building; and demolition of aged, relocatable accommodation.

Light-gauge steel frames were used for the entire structure including the curved wall, larger spans and wider columns.

The building curved wall feature enhanced its visual interest and softened its aesthetic.

Truecore light-gauge steel enhanced the structural integrity enhancing aesthetics by providing wide-span trusses and supporting the large window without compromising structural integrity.

Judges said the prefabrication of some of the elements ensured an efficient use of materials and less disruption to the school.

The use of cold-formed steel ensured the design and modular construction criteria was met, they added.

Finally, the Young Achiever award was won by Sydney-based Mohammed Kassira, a design engineer at Robert Bird Group.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Kassira has been at Robert Bird for almost three years. Prior to this, he worked as an engineer at Bayside City Council, where he started as a part-time student engineer in 2019.

He sis also a casual academic tutor at the University of Sydney.

Judges praised Kassira for his industry passion, community involvement and drive for success.

The awards were sponsored by Australian Super, BlueScope, InfraBuild and Steelwork Compliance Australia.

BlueScope and the National Association of Steel Framed Housing (NASH) were also category sponsors.

 

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