"Public school in the making": the Department of Education building. Photo: Christopher Pearce

One of the two major public buildings on Sydney's Bridge Street should be converted into a much-needed city school, says a group of prominent Australian architects.

The Department of Education building and the adjacent Department of Lands building are being offloaded by the Baird government for "no longer meeting their requirements"after more than a century of civic use.

The architecturally prized landmarks, known as "the sandstones", are being sold on a 99-year lease through an international expressions of interest campaign closing on December 3. The marketing pitch describes it as a "rare" chance for a buyer to convert the two buildings into boutique luxury hotels.

But eight architects and academics are appealing to the Premier and Treasurer to keep the historically significantbuildings in public ownership by realising the Education building's potential as "a Sydney city public school in the making".

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Australian Institute of Architects' gold medallists Richard Leplastrier and Peter Myers, both of whom worked withJornUtzonon the Sydney OperaHouse, are among those who put their names to a letter sent on Saturday.

"Surely here is an unlikely to be repeated opportunity to make a very fine city-based school in a buildingthat belongs to the citizensand is currently under the custodianshipof the Department of Education," the letter says.

The group argues the building was "readily adaptable" for use as a public high school; a purpose that would require less intrusive changes to the historic structure than a hotel.

"Basically, you could call it Bridge Street High School, just write it in chalk on the wall and that's it; everything's there," said Mr Myers, who has designed plans that show how the building's internal courtyard could be converted into a 500-seat theatre.

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Architects' plea to abandon hotel plan

Careful design and material selection can reduce the long-term maintenance of apartments.

This week Tony Trobe talks to Andrew Wilson, president of the Australian Institute of Architects' ACT chapter.

TT: Canberra is having a strong public debate about building quality. What are the issues?

AW: Much of the debate is around the quality of design and build outcomes. For example, owners and tenants experience aspects of poor design, with excessive heat load in our hotter and drier climate and/or technical failures, the leaking of balconies into apartments below and unplanned, or high, maintenance costs.

Careful design and material selection can reduce the long-term maintenance. Effective maintenance ensures the longevity of buildings, sustaining the value of the property and reducing the life-cycle cost to owners.

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TT: NSW aims to improve the design quality of residential flat/apartment buildings by a policy called SEPP 65. What is this?

AW: It is a policy that promotes better apartment design. It has a companion code, the "Apartment Design Guide - Tools for improving the design of residential flat development". It was introduced in 2002 and is acknowledged as improving the design quality of apartment buildings.

The design of apartments has improved markedly. Much of this improvement can be attributed to SEPP 65 and the Residential Flat Design Code. This success indicates that design considerations are fundamental to the achievement of high-quality building projects.

TT: How does this differ from what we do?

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Tony Trobe: Design fundamental to achieving high-quality apartment buildings

Elkanah House High School Campus Nic Border Architects

By: Sandra Rippon

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Elkanah House High School Campus Nic Border Architects - Video

Medium-density living: Heller Street Apartments by Six Degrees.

Like Margaret and David without the bickering, Simon Knott and Stuart Harrison set out to do for architecture what Pomeranz and Stratton did for cinema.

"They were a real role model," says Knott, one half of 3RRR's weekly program, The Architects. "The relaxed way they do it, the odd argument, but clearly having a good time doing it. The guiding principle for us has always been that it would appeal to architects and the lay person."

For the past 10 years the two young architects (they were later joined by Christine Phillips and Rory Hyde) have broadcast the voluntary radio show. In its first year it won the Australian Institute of Architects' architecture in the media award.

Clever design: Andrew Maynard's Hill house.

Their infectious enthusiasm and insider knowledge led to guest appearances on ABC TV arts programs. Meanwhile, like Pomeranz and Stratton, the team got to broadcast from Venice when they represented Australia at the Venice Architecture biennale, hosting a "pirate" radio show. The pair are nothing if not passionate about architecture.

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"There's never been a show where I didn't feel invigorated as I walked out the door," says Knott. "One of the greatest things about the program is we got to meet every architect in Melbourne, and some international heroes," Knott says. He cites Toyo Ito and David Adjaye as particularly memorable.

Now, like the At the Movies stars, the architects are retiring their show, in their case to focus on their young families and their maturing day jobs.

Doing things right: Jackson Clement Burrows' Upper House in Swanston Street.

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Simon Knott and Stuart Harrison to retire The Architects show

In the architectural design process there are three stages - schematic, development and documentation.

Prior to the digital revolution, architects spent the preliminary part of the design process using pen or pencil to sketch on paper, translating design concepts from the designer's mind into 2D or 3D images that could be easily understood by the architect himself or by others. Physical or mock-up models also helped.

With computer technology, architects began to develop designs and create construction documents, but the schematic design process was not really computerised.

By the 1960s, however, computer-aided design (CAD) began to take shape as a new line of research that was quickly applied to the architectural practice. By the 1970s, CAD programs began to be commercially produced and sold.

In the 1980s, while personal computers began to develop, Autodesk Co was established, with made-for-PC programs such as AutoCAD Release 1 coming to the market.

Design, both architectural and engineering, began to be computer-aided. However, the early generations of CAD programs remained largely drafting tools on PCs, as they were developed by engineers and researchers who were not designers themselves. They did not have much understanding of the minds and working process of architects. Architects needed not only an aid for architectural drafting, but also for architectural design.

In 1999, a group of researchers, both architects and software developers, began to search for an alternative program that catered better to architects' needs than CAD. A company called @last Software was established and designers' hand-sketching and design processes were studied to develop a sketching/designing program. In August 2000, SketchUp was born.

With full understanding of architects' needs and work methodology, SketchUp is an easy-to-use program that works on quick 2D sketches that can be projected into 3D form very quickly. The award-winning program caught on and now is widely used.

In 2006 it was sold to Google, which turned it into what we now know as Google SketchUp. It is now very easy to design, create forms and exchange information about these forms over the Internet. With free use for the basic-level program, Google SketchUp is commonly used by not just architects and designers.

As it was based on AutoCAD, SketchUp's interface is fairly similar, with the same set of basic functions, command icons, and form-creating, manipulating and rendering commands. These commands are not complex, with just enough options to generate various forms, with many styles of effects. Those already familiar with AutoCAD can easily learn to use SketchUp.

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Hand-Sketch vs Sketchup: tools for helping designers

Every Time I Die, The Ghost Inside Architects UK On Tour Now
Catch Every Time I Die, The Ghost Inside and Architects UK on tour with Hundredth and Backtrack Visit http://www.everytimeidie.com/tour-dates/ for dates and tickets.

By: EpitaphRecords

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Every Time I Die, The Ghost Inside & Architects UK On Tour Now - Video

ARCHITECTS | DAYBREAK bass cover
A little weird on the camera angle, slight hiccups, but all in all I don #39;t think I did too bad of a job on this song. I love Architects, great music. My gear: Ibanez GSR200 Bass Acoustic B20...

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ARCHITECTS | DAYBREAK bass cover - Video

A FIRM of architects has been fined for safety failings in the construction of a new timber frame care home in Middlesbrough.

Teesside Magistrates Court today (November 26) heard that Mario Minchella Ltd had not given contractors relevant information about the flammability of the timber frame used in the construction of the new building in October 2012.

An inspection of the work by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector found that the separation distance between the new timber frame building under construction and an adjacent occupied care home was insufficient.

As a result, had the timber frame caught fire there was a serious risk that the radiant heat would cause the fire to spread to the care home, putting the lives of residents and staff inside at risk.

HSE found that there was nothing in the design specification produced by the company to alert construction workers erecting the timber frame to the additional fire risk it created, and the need to take action accordingly.

The court was told that it would have been reasonable for the architects to have specified in its design that fire-resistant timber be used or that it considered the sequence of construction so that the timber frame of each floor was clad before the next one was constructed, reducing the amount of timber exposed at any one time.

Mario Minchella Ltd, of Swallow House, Parsons Road, Washington, Tyne and Wear, was fined 1,500 after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The company was also ordered to pay 816 costs.

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Andrea Robbins said: There was a real danger here that had there been a fire it could have spread to the adjacent care home, putting the lives of the residents and staff inside at risk.

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Architects fined for safety failings

A firm of architects has been fined for safety failings in the construction of a new timber frame care home in Hemlington.

Mario Minchella Ltd did not give contractors relevant information about the flammability of the timber frame used in the construction of the new building in October 2012, Teesside Magistrates Court heard today.

A routine inspection of the work by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector found that the separation distance between the new timber frame building under construction and an adjacent occupied care home was insufficient.

As a result, had the timber frame caught fire there was a serious risk that the radiant heat would cause the fire to spread to the care home, putting the lives of residents and staff inside at risk.

HSE found that there was nothing in the design specification produced by Mario Minchella Ltd to alert construction workers erecting the timber frame to the additional fire risk it created, and the need to take action accordingly.

The court was told that it would have been reasonable for Mario Minchella Ltd to have specified in its design that fire-resistant timber be used or that it considered the sequence of construction so that the timber frame of each floor was clad before the next one was constructed, reducing the amount of timber exposed at any one time.

Mario Minchella Ltd, of Swallow House, Parsons Road, Washington, Tyne and Wear, was fined a total of 1,500 after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The company was also ordered to pay 816 costs.

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Andrea Robbins said: Timber frames will burn faster and more completely when the panels are incomplete and not yet protected by the usual internal fire-resistant plasterboard and external cladding.

When burning, exposed timber frame structures generate a lot of radiant heat and there have been a number of large and serious fires which have affected neighbouring properties with devastating consequences, though thankfully without loss of life.

There was a real danger here that had there been a fire it could have spread to the adjacent care home, putting the lives of the residents and staff inside at risk. Mario Minchella Ltd failed to consider this risk in its design and failed to provide sufficient information to the contractors to enable them to carry out the construction safely.

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Architects fined for safety failings in construction of Hemlington care home

Tulsa, OK (PRWEB) November 25, 2014

KSQ Architects has designed a new addition to Tulsa Public Schools Edison Preparatory School that integrates a top-rated FEMA storm shelter within a high-design building that will function as the schools Collegiate Center. The project is scheduled to break ground tomorrow.

Time: 9:30 a.m. Date:Tuesday, November 24th Place:Edison Preparatory School, 2906 E. 41st Street, Tulsa, OK

The Collegiate Center will be an 18,500-sq. ft. addition adding two new multipurpose lecture and testing halls, two new concurrent enrollment classrooms, academic counseling offices, a conference room, computer research center and an academic study hall and lounge. The new facility will have two new FEMA-361, ICC-500-rated safe rooms. The safe rooms are designed and constructed to provide near-absolute life safety protection during tornado and hurricane events.

As we move forward in building new construction, its exciting when we can incorporate cutting-edge design in a way that provides additional safety for our students, said Bob LaBass, Executive Director, Bond Projects and Energy Management for Tulsa Public Schools. Once completed, this new structure at Edison will meet the most stringent FEMA guidelines.

As a secure school, access and circulation were key factors in the design. Placing a new building at the single secure entrance posed a potential for confusion, so a circulation path will be made from the parking area through the building. A visual path to the entry was achieved by raising the front faade to the second level in the story-high cantilever structure.

We are so proud of this project, said KSQ principal David W. Short, AIA. What you cant see from casual observation is that the infrastructure beneath the buildings exterior is as impressive as what meets the eye. To have this type of progressive design and a top-rated storm shelter in one project is an accomplishment for our entire team.

Wallace Engineering provided structural engineering on the project, and Crossland Construction is the general contractor. The addition is scheduled for completion in summer 2015.

For more information or project images, please contact KSQ Associate and Communications Monica Roberts at (918) 592-0622 or mroberts(at)ksqarchitects(dot)com.

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New Addition to Edison Preparatory School to Break Ground