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Vision for Brisbane suburbia wins national design award
Media ReleaseFor immediate release
October 2, 2008:
A leading Brisbane-based architectural practice has won a national design competition for their proposal for an outdoor community centre in suburban Brisbane that features giant brick ‘pixelated’ paintings.
Brisbane’s M3Architecure and Perth’s Pendal and Neille were announced as joint winners of the ‘About Face’ design competition at an event in Sydney tonight. Unlike other design competitions, the About Face competition is research-based allowing architects to undertake architectural research within their own practices.
Brisbane-based M3Architecure’s proposal was for a community centre and basketball court flanked by two large brick walls which draw inspiration from artworks by Howard Arkley and Fred Williams, who helped to redefine and re-imagine the way Australians perceive built and natural landscapes through their paintings of suburbia and bushland respectively.
The scheme is situated on the edge of parkland adjacent to a shopping centre and the unique brick walls tie it back into its surroundings, with different imagery on various sides. M3Architecture was awarded prize money of $10,000.
M3Architecture’s Michael Banney explains; “The court-side depicts a Howard Arkley painting. By pixelating the painting into the proportion of a brick, we colour-matched the painting to locally sourced bricks to test how versatile the colour palette can be. The opposite side of that wall replicates the Fred Williams painting ‘Hillside’, using the same method.”
It all results in an engaging yet familiar urban space that can be used in multiple ways. “It might be used by children playing basketball or other ball games, or people taking shelter under the roof, or having parties or community barbecues,” Banney says. “It has all sorts of uses, as many as the community can imagine.”
About Face is an annual design competition between six invited architectural practices, run by the Australian brick industry’s peak body, Think Brick Australia. Chief Executive Officer Linda Ginger believes this year’s competition reveals the widespread interest in rediscovering some of the lost craftsmanship associated with traditional building materials like clay bricks.
“The two winning entries reveal that a material like clay brick can be anything. The scope is limitless and once again we are very excited by the richness of ideas and possibilities presented to us by these amazing architects.” Ginger says.
For further information, interviews or images contact:
Reservoir Network 02 9331 8840
Kate Wearne 0403 135 672
Suzanne Beaumont 0414 623 708
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