Tranquil Kumutoto – Campsite planning and folded planes

As discussed in the previous retrospective (timberDESIGN summer 07), precedence in design with timber in Australia is not restricted to domestic buildings and the rude timber wool store. Australian timber building in the Second World War broke the mould of the quaint acceptance of heritage king and queen post timber trusses.

An elegantly detailed and spatially innovative roof – designed by British firm Building Design Partnership for the Marlowe Academy in Ramsgate – was the winner of the structural category in the 2007 UK Wood Awards.

High on a plateau in a quiet region of the Tallebudgera Valley on Queensland’s Gold Coast you will find Gwinganna – a health retreat created to take its guests on a journey of self-realisation and healing.

The architect was approached in 2004 to look at the sensitive restoration and refurbishment of the Grade I Listed Orangery at Chiddingstone Castle in Kent – and came away with the best use of British timber award in the 2007 UK Wood Awards.

With new multi million-dollar generic wood promotion campaigns in various stages of rollout in Australia and New Zealand, a leading timber design academic says the fast food industry should be on the marketing menu.

Architects and planning authorities need to think more outside the square if they are to address issues of housing affordability and environmental design successfully, according to Peter Brook, a director of Melbourne-based Peddle Thorp Design.

A ‘period relic’ that played a socially significant role in the growth of youth activity groups and the Returned Soldiers League network in Port Melbourne is now a unique example of innovative social housing and bedsit accommodation.