UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
CROSS-SECTION
Photo, Mark Strizic In Collins-st, Melb, are these new premises of Atlas Assurance. The owners clearly seek prestige with this less-than-limit-height bldg, with its full air-conditioning, fine materials, deep-set mezzanine giving a large, double-height business chamber, and its sculpture out front. The sculpture is Atlas, bearing his world, modelled in London by Allan Howes, reduced to life size and cast in bronze . . . some £2,800 worth. (H Garnet Alsop & partners, arch'ts; E A Watts, bldrs)
Issue No 78 April I, 1959.
A scale model of Syd's Opera House was exhibited in New York's Museum of Modern Art. Arch.' critics wrote it up, some wrote it down, one wrote it off.
The adverse comments related to the arbitrary relation between the internal functions and the shell roofs.
The praises were typified by the comment of Morris Ketchum: "delightful design, superb engineering, an architectural triumph".
¶ "How did Civil & Civic Contractors come to offer a price !£200,000 below the next, when tendering for stage I of the Opera House?" was a question asked of G J Dusseldorp during a TV session. He answered that his firm, with its Dutch background was more willing to gamble on what may be discovered when excavations go below sea level. "I would hate to be in a business where I took no risks" he added.
C & C's tender was also £100,000 below official estimates.
1[ The WA chapter of the RAIA was rebuffed by Perth CC when it pressed reconsideration of proposed Town Hall site (C-S Feb '59) & investigation of a riverside location. Arch't O V Chisholm published a reasonable schedule of progress for a competition &
construction, to show that the ambition to finish by the Empire Games is a risky rush.
¶ The Melb & Metrop Board of Works, Town Planning (Melb Master Plan) Section, appointed as new Chief Planner John Alistair Hepburn. Mr Hepburn's basic training was in Surveying. He has been Deputy City Planner of Brisbane (he came there from London), Officer-in-charge of Scheme Control in the Cumber- land County Council, NSW, and, for 6 years Planner to the West Aust'n Govt. He is 43.
Outwardly complete, Adelaide's £7m Queen Elizabeth Hosp at Woodville (C-S Mar '59, etc), joins the ranks of major Aust'n hospitals. One photo (right) shows the new main block, the other looks left from the same view- ing spot, to show the nurses' home (C-S Oct '58), and, in front of their block, the restaurant. The restaurant's
central, prominent location is a sign of yet another human note being introduced into hospitals known for efficiency: Visitors Welcome. (Stephenson &
Turner, Melb, with Caradoc Ashton, Fisher, Woodhead
& Beaumont Smith, Adelaide, arch'ts; Hansen &
Yuncken in association with Wilkens & Burnside, bldrs)
INS
Dandenong, rapidly growing industrial centre near Melb, became a city. Besides the major factories such as International Harvester, Heinz & General Motors, the city has many new commercial premises,
& one 4-storey office block, built by the National Bank in 1957, designed by arch'ts Meldrum & Noad.
IT
Designs for a 6-wing, £lâm engineering school for the Univ of NSW were published. May begin in 1960.¶1 The Perth division of the Institution of Engineers (Aust) moved into new premises, Science House, in West Perth. It has a meeting hall holding 200 which the Institution hopes will be used by architects, sur- veyors, chemists, dentists & others. It is single storey, cost £9,500. (Duncan, Stephen & Mercer, arch'ts)
Photo, David Moore This new North Shore (Syd) service headquarters of Lanock's is at St Leonards. It was designed by Donald Woods & Andrew Young, of AVA Associates.
¶ WA's Housing Minister, Mr Graham, announced the Hous'g Commission's intentions to build 170 flats in South Perth, by the Swan. The group will include an 8-storey block. He said the project will be ready for tenders in June, the aim being to finish before the end of the Com'Ith-State Housing finance agree- ment, 2 years from now, in case it is not renewed.
Along with celebrations marking the centenary of its Local Gov't, the city of Brighton (Melb) publicised its intention to build a new Town Hall. This model shows the intended building, designed by arch'ts Oakley &
Parkes.
¶ A Home Plans Bureau, such as Melb, Adelaide &
Syd have, is being opened in Perth, jointly sponsored by Boans Ltd & the RATA Chapter. Plans will be published by the Sunday Times.
¶ The WA Transport Board directed that cement tiles going out to country centres should be carried by rail, not road as before. Quality Tile Manufacturers Ltd sent 1720 tiles to Albany & back, then had the mexamined by 2 neutral builders, who rejected three quarters as unfit for house construction because of chips, cracks & rubbing. The Transport Board says packing will be improved, & that rubbing marks could be repaired.
¶ Close to St-Kilda junction, Melb, where Princes- highway meets the Gippsland highways, a 20-suite motel is being built by Aychar Pty Ltd, plaster manu- facturers. It is in Canterbury-rd, alongside St-Kilda railway; the suites will be soundproofed. (Bernard Evans & Associates, arch'ts)
In a none-too-attractive part of narrow Law Courts PI Melb, these, the new Com'Ith Arbitration Courts, manage dignity & an impressive scale. Two court- rooms open off a ground-floor waiting space, another two are found upstairs, after some corridor-searching.
At least when empty, the courts have the air of well- run municipal council chambers. Judges' suites are to the rear, with private access & separate lifts (Com'Ith Works Dept arch'ts, with Stevenson & Turner; Lewis Construction, bldrs). To their left is the bldg where Cross-Section was printed for 6 years — once an im- portant fire station (the watch-tower is still attached, overlooking the judges' rooms). Dominion Press has moved to 62 Carrington-rd, Box Hill.
No. 470 Bourke-st, Melb, nearly back-to-back with the new Arbitration Courts, contains more surprises than other new city office blocks. The entrance lobby serves 2 masters: down from it is the Federal Mutual Insurance Co, up from it the London Assurance. The next floor up is entirely given over to car parking, artfully dis- guised at the front, entered from the rear. Above that again are tenants' floors. (Bernard Evans &
assoc'tes, arch'ts; McDougall & Ireland, bldrs)
Described as the world's most modern scrap handling depot, Albert G Sims Ltd opened their new ferrous & non-ferrous depot in Duck-st, Auburn, Syd.
Equip't was imported from Germany, Sweden, France, Switzerland & USA. Television is used to enable I man to control most of the works. Compaction mach- inery functions in concrete pits below ground level, supported on piles which go through 15 ft of clay to shale rock. (Planning by E Gerofi, works tech director;
M G Bull, cons'g eng'eer; Thiess Bros, D Paxton Ltd, McDonald Constr'ns Ltd, bldrs for various sections)
This is the anticipated appearance of Broadwaters, the 37-flat block being built from top to bottom (C-S Nov '58), off Sutherland-cres, Darling Point, Syd.
(H Stossel, arch't; Civil & Civic Contractors) IT Since the Vict'n Gov+ established a Level Crossing Fund to assist build overpasses at Melb's worst inter- sections of rail & highways, the Clifton Hill overpass has been completed, the Moorabbin is partly in use,
& now a start has been made at Elsternwick. This latest one will cost about £370,000, take 2 years.
¶ The post-graduate group at Melb Univ School of Architecture will this year continue its 1958 studies in Hotels & Research Laboratories. The 1957 study, Buildings for Car Parking, is ready for publication.
¶ Dunlop Flooring Service regrets an error in their Jan C-S advert, which has misled some readers. The cove described as 6-ins high "sit-on" type was an imposter, he should have been described as a 4-ins high "butt-type".
¶ MeIb's 30-acre, .£6m regional-type drive-in shopping centre at Chadstone (East Malvern), to be built by Myer's (C-S July '58) will be under construction this year. Site clearing began.
¶ A new 5-storey wing, costing £900,000 for 76,100 sq ft, was completed at the Royal Alexandra Hosp for Children, Camperdown, NSW. Being for out- patients, balconies running the full length of the bldg may seem superfluous, but these are to give access to pipe ducts, to clean windows, and to shade from northern sun. Both horizontal & vertical ducts are covered by removable porcelain-enamelled steel sheets.
Throughout the bldg a pneumatic tube messenger system operates, Australia's first to use a rectangular section tube, 7 by 4 ins. (Leighton Irwin & Co, Melb, arch'ts)
IT In the area of Nth Melb which is being rebuilt by the Master Builders' Slum Reclamation Co (C-S May '58) demolition of 73 houses is complete, & the first 36 new flats will be ready by mid 1959. A panel of architects & estate agents is co-operating with the Master Builders.
¶ A group of Melb companies proposes to build a Elim Fashion Centre in City-rd South Melb, where the Glaciarium skating rink stands. The idea is a 2-wing bldg with 17 storeys & 12 storeys, with space sold to fashion houses & with a fashion hall shared by all. (Promoter Mr Jack Skolnik; Bernard Evans &
Assoc'tes, arch'ts)
Australian airline companies vie with each other in buying super-speed, super-styled aircraft, but on the ground they agree that a little comfort and a little colour goes a long way. This new passenger terminal is TAA's, at Cairns aerodrome, gland. (Goodsir &
Carlyle, Brisb, arch'ts; T J Watkins Ltd., Cairns, bldr)
IT
Exemption from the final exam of the British Town Planning Institute has been granted to graduates from Melb Univ's Diploma of Town & Regional Planning, a 3-year course of evening studies. This recognition is shared with only II other schools, I in Sydney, I in South Africa, the remainder in Britain.IT At least one reader noticed our misplacement of +wo pictures last month: Hotel Manning & Hotel Florida. It is the latter which has 69 new bedrooms.
The PMG's Dept has a large variety of phone box designs in use, most of wood, some of concrete, a few of metal, most square, a few round, some half- length, some full-length. The outdoor ones have in the past borne elaborate roofs, & a lot of red paint.
This new type is of unpainted aluminium, uses a single form for back & top. I+ does without the word Telephone, but its door is branded Pull. A prize for the first person to ring from the first example of the next new design, if he guesses correctly the reasons for the changed design, might help the current PO PR campaign.
It's easy to pick the winner in a one horse race
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The durability, ease of main- tenance and wide colour range of Dunlop Vinyl Tiles made them an obvious choice for the floors.
Dunlop Vinyl Wall Tiles were used in the stair wells because of their bright, clean appear- ance and because of their resistance to bumps and scratches, inevitable in high- traffic areas.
Architects : LEITH & BARTLETT PTY. LTD.
Builders : LEWIS CONSTRUCTION CO. PTY. LTD.
it, At all events, they had no difficulty
tl
l in picking a winner at Melbourne's
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' new Racing Centre. They installed Dunlop Vinyl Tiles on all floors throughout the building and used Dunlop Vinyl Tiles on the walls of the stair wells.
For further details of the very real, long-term economies possible with Dunlop Vinyl Wall Tiles, or for any information relating to the use of vinyl tiles, rubber flooring, lino or lino tiles, Fleximer underlays, link mats, stair treads — contact the Dunlop Flooring Service.
Its
th NI 111
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