Work resumed on Berger House, Syd, the 15-storey co-op office project which stopped at steel-frame stage one year ago (C-S, Mar '53) . The contract for completion was let to Messrs C A Gaskin, the original bldrs. Messrs Stephenson & Turner are now the arch'ts. The original design was smart with open batten sunshades above all windows & a high- style multiple arch entrance canopy. Now stripped for an austerity finish (above), it has a graph-paper simplicity unknown on the front elevations of Aus- tralian city bldgs. /Also re-started in Sydney by Messrs, Stephenson & Turner: extensions to the Dental Hospital near Central Station, started in 1947 & suspended for lack of funds.
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE DEPARTMENT Or ARCHITECTURE
CROSS-SECTION
Issue No. 17: March, 1954
Landscaping is now completing the administrative bldgs at the Shell Refinery, Corio, Vic. The £76,000, 10 mths contract was finished last year by Messrs J C Taylor & Sons, bldrs, of Geelong. . . RC frame, walls of steel-frame panels with infills of either glass or porcelain enamel. Partitions are on module &
removable. The floor is radiant heated. (Buchan, Laird & Buchan, arch'ts.)
¶ The Holy Cross Church at Collie in mid-west NSW, was completed for £3,200 (Fowell, Mansfield
& Maclurcan, ach'ts). It is in grey & red painted cyprus pine with grasshopper-proof concrete base.
¶
Mr D R R Tait, former president of Tas Master Builders Ass'n died. /Mr S W Lucas, former ex-senior officer in the Dept of Works, was appointed Assoc't Prof of Arch, NSW Univ of Techn'y. /Mr. Angus Teece (1953 ASAA Press) will represent Australia at the Arch'I Students' Intern'! Conference at Rome (C-S Feb. 1954) . /Mr R R Woodward, young Syd graduate, now working for Alva Aalto in Finland, is arranging to send an exhibition of Finnish arch'ture to the RATA Convention in May. /Prof Dennis Win- ston returned to Sydney from a world trip, stressing decentralisation & the need to improve country transport.¶ Gay's Arcade, a neglected shopping centre of Adelaide, will be remodelled for over £20,000.
Administration, etc, blocks at Kirstall-Repco Pty Ltd's new bldgs at Clayton, Vic, are distinguished by the fine details of Messrs Hassell & McConnell, arch'ts. Tho main factory (in background) is con- structed of :Standard prefab steel-frame units by Octavius Atkinson, Eng. Above a concrete dado,
"Protected Metal" (by Robertsons, Eng: corrugated black iron proofed with felt & tar) was used in preference to asb-cement, which would have been frayed by the vibration; or ordinary iron, which would have corroded in the fumes.
IF "Liquid Envelope" vinyl plastic will be sprayed over flat butted asb-cement sheets on the external walls of a steel frame, steel floor, plastics factory for G Herring Pty Ltd at Willoughby, NSW. Her- rings are pioneering the plastic "overcoat" (C-S Nov '52). This is the first large application. Mr.
Peter Cussel's tender was accepted: £150 a square.
(Davey & Brindly, arch'ts.)
IT A new "Facts About Housing" pamphlet issued in London by Australia House presents a fair, accurate report which makes no attempt to gloss the picture: "[Home] might be one of a terrace .. . on the street, a long narrow backyard with an asphalt surface & strip of tired garden edged with broken roofing tiles . [It] is extremely difficult to obtain accommodation . . . the newcomer should be prepared for some years waiting ..."
IT Prof Brian Lewis left Melbourne last Friday for Singapore, Europe, USA: his first sabbatical leave.
Vitreous enamel, aluminium & glass sheets set in aluminium bars cover the face of the Egg & Egg Pulp Marketing Board's new bldg at Port Melbourne by Messrs. Mussen, Mackay & Potter, arch'ts. Under the sawtooth roof, the steel frame is entirely of tubular sections, with bracing on columns & canti- levers of trusses cutting steel weight to minimum.
¶f
A new Lutheran Church planned for North Adelaide by Mr E E von Schramek, arch't, will have a crying room, separated from the nave by plate glass & wired for sound.¶ Corruption charges which the NSW Public Ser- vice Board has pondered over for nearly 9 months finally led to 4 dismissals, 4 demotions & 3 fines.
Estimates for payment for work done in 21 schools had been falsified.
The Prudential Assurance Co Ltd announced that its new Brisbane bldg would start this year—
a 5-storey, Elm office block curving modernistically round a 150 ft facade on Queen-st—North Quay corner with a garden front & basement park for 150 cars.
1T The revolving Royal Tour arch over Macquarie- st., Syd, had cost the Timber Development Ass'n
£2,500 when the S C Council withheld permission unless the movement was stopped. The TDA Direc- tor, Mr E C Davis, stopped its erection because, sta- tionary, "it would be just another drab unimaginative
structure." Reasons given by the Council: "It might jump off its rollers," & it was "structually unsound".
The designer of the 38 cwt, 80 ft laminated arch, Mr Ralph Symonds, offered o £5000 bond for its safety. After tests were made permission was grant- ed at the last minute.
The new Grand Lodge bldg for the Royal Andeluvian Order of Buffaloes in Morphett-st, Adelaide, will be done in 3 stages. The contract for the 1st stage (above) was let to Messrs. Hansen & Yuncken, bldrs, to be finished in 30 weeks. (W Lance Brune, arch't.)
The Trussed Concrete Steel Co supplied this elegant light steel frame for a pottery at Mittagong, NSW, for the "Sturt" Ass'n. (Moore, Walker & Croaker, arch'ts; Alf Stevens & Sons, bldrs.)
¶ The Jan issue of Arch'ture & Arts. (86 Collins- st, Melb; 3/-) was published last month with 4
"feature" houses & 12 designs from lasf year's Vic Small Homes Service competition . in now quite the most handsome bldg magazine in Australia.
¶
The steel frame shot up in Lonsdale-st, Melb, for our first multi-storey car park; for The Myer Emporium, by Cr. Bernard Evans, arch't.¶ Mr K V P Werry, arch't, has 2 4-storey office blocks building in Sydney: for Haywyn Electrix, Elizabeth-st, £28,672; for St George & Cronulla Co-op Bldg Soc's, Hurstville, £36,186.
¶ The Q'land Govt, planning to boost tourist trade, will probably license 7 new hotel projects at coastal
& Barrier Reef resorts, to be built this year.
3 houses in Lindisfarne, Hobart, indicate the slow growth of an unaffected, uncomplicated idiom of timber building in this area. 1, by & for Mr Ray G Longden, final year arch'I student. 2, by & for Mr D W Cutter, 4th year arch'I student. 3, by & for a layman owner-builder who "got the idea out of a magazine & then mucked it about."
The Sydney Morning Herald's proposed enormous new bldg "the most modern & largest in Aust."
(C-S Feb) probably will have no architect.
¶
Earthworks & drainage completed, steelwork be- gan on the £4-m railway workshops on a 133-acre site at Redbank, Q, to be in operation in 1957-8.They will take over from Ipswich all heavy ironwork, maintenance & building of new locomotives.
A sophisticated familiarity with timber construction
marks this new house near Sorrento, Vic, by Messrs Mockridge, Stahle & Mitchell, arch'ts.
¶ Alfred College, WA, proposes new classrooms as a war memorial: a 2-storey wing for 10 classes, to cost more than the present fund of £27,000 (Has- sell & McConnell, arch'ts) .
¶ Kwinana, WA, Oil Refinery has been under con- struction for one year, leaving 18 months to the confpletion goal. The labour force by June this year will be more than 3000.
¶ Meanwhile foundations have begun at the Caltex refinery at Kurnell, Botany Bay, NSW, where roads, water mains, pile driving, tank erection & site grading have been under way since April last.
Estimated labour force at future peak: 1600. The main contractor is a subsidiary of Messrs. E B Boger & Sons of London.
¶ A £20,000 roadhouse to give 24-hr. service to truckmen is nearing completion at Frewville, SA;
built by Mr S Zsolt, an ex-truckman.
If
In Watsons Bay, Syd, a 1925 brick bldg of 3 shops & 8 flats in 3 storeys was condemned &its tenants evicted following structural failures.
Walls & floors were shored & jacked 12" in places, a new concrete raft poured & defective walls re- placed. (P O Miller, Eng'r, D Forsyth Evans &
Assoc's. arch'ts.)
IF A new Girl's High School at Strathfield, NSW, with 12 classrooms, 7 practical-work rooms, library, assembly hall etc., was completed for £181,887.
(NSW Govt Arch't.)
¶ Up to 2,500 swimmers a day are using Bath- urst's, NSW, new 50 metre swimming pool while associated bldgs are still being erected. Total cost:
£65,000. (F,iggis & Jefferson, arch'ts; W Fuller
& Sons, Dubbo, bldrs.) /In Victoria Park, Syd, Messrs John Grant & Sons are constructing another
50 metre pool, for Sydney City C: steel framed, stone faced, 300 ft. long, with roof for sunbakers.
Total cost: £140,000. The filtration equipment for both pools is by G E Todd & Co., Syd. /Other State-provided pools to be opened this week: Cano- windra & Griffith.
¶ SA will spend a record £11.m on schools this year.
¶ Housey-housey tents in Victoria will be classed as public bldgs by the Govt following weeks of agitation by social workers & the press. This will at least stop them loitering on vacant lots indefin- itely, often without even public conveniences.
CSR is spending £350,000 on expansion at Glan- ville, SA.
IT "A Building Industry Productivity Team" of 20 arch'ts & bldrs left last week for Europe (7 weeks)
& USA-Canada (8 weeks) to study overseas methods, equipment, materials, training, contracts.
Leader: Mr W R G Longmuir. Secretary-manager:
Mr John O'Keefe.
IT New Perth suburbs of Ashfield & Midvale counted their population at 3000. 5 years ago they were virgin bush. The State Housing Comm'n is the principal builder.
IT Prefabs for old Australians (half-castes &
natives in nw WA) are to be made of tubular steel and asbestos at £ 1,200 each, to replace humpies.
¶ Advertised as "A Sanctuary for Penguins & Peli- cans," a new Aust'n distribution centre for Penguin Books Ltd is being completed at Blackburn, Vic.
It has been part-occupied since Christmas. Cost:
£16,885. Area: 10,018 sq ft. Time: 12 weeks.
IT Prof. Brian Lewis left Melbourne last Friday for bldrs; Mussen, Mackay & Potter, engn'rs.)
This £6,500, 75-ft high memorial clock tower at Ulverstone, Tas, has 3 columns representing the RAN, AlF & RAAF linked by copper chains & raised on a base formed as a map of Tasmania. It was built with public money raised since 1946, & was designed by Mr. Cvetko Florian Mejac, a former Yugoslav, free of charge, to show what he thinks of the town & country of his adoption. . . ,
WHERE BEAUTY AND UTILITY MUST COMBINE
Two views of the show- room floor at the new premises of Sydney Atkinson Motors Ltd., Terrace Drive, Perth.
Architects: Cameron, Chisholm & Nichol.
This modern showroom, newly completed in Perth, W.A. emphasises the greater use of natural lighting and selected materials in modern commercial construction.
The entire front of this new showroom and offices is completely glazed, offering the maximum in natural lighting and a pleasing view of all cars displayed on the broad expanse of floor.
Durable Dunlop Semastic Floor Tiles were selected for this showroon and lend distinction to its spaciousness and modern appearance. These hard-wearing, colourful
tiles were chosen because of their suita- bility to withstand continual foot traffic, and for their smooth, easy-to-keep-clean qualities.
The Dunlop range of both plain and marbled colours offers Architects and
clients the widest possible choice in floor tiles.
II
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■ A I) V I: l I S I M F N i
