{"id":21357,"date":"2024-10-23T12:02:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T02:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=21357"},"modified":"2024-10-23T12:02:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T02:02:33","slug":"from-the-halls-of-power-embassy-takes-aussie-hardwoods-to-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/from-the-halls-of-power-embassy-takes-aussie-hardwoods-to-world\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Halls of Power: Embassy Takes Aussie Hardwoods to World!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Sydney, Australia, to Washington, D.C., one of the world’s most beautiful embassy buildings has been crowned the 2024 Australian Timber Design Awards winner\u2014a project that taps into the country’s native hardwoods – amongst the most beautiful in the world – to celebrate Australia as a future-focused country that is grounded, welcoming and open.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announced before a packed audience at The View, a restored 19th-century hardwood workers shed on the banks of iconic Sydney Harbour, Bates Smart\u2014one of Australia’s oldest architectural practices\u2014was awarded the coveted Grand Prix prize for Australia’s new Washington embassy\u2014completing a hat trick that also included the International Project and Fitout\u2014Commercial and Public Buildings categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Australia’s new Washington DC embassy was designed by Bates Smart – one of Australia’s oldest and renowned architectural practices. The new building, which opened earlier this year, came 50 years after the studio designed Australia’s first Washington DC embassy in the 1970’s. (Photo Credit: Joe Fletcher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pairing blackbutt timbers (Eucalyptus pilularis<\/em>)\u2014grown extensively in Queensland and New South Wales\u2014with polished concrete, bronze, steel, and glass, the quintessentially Australian <\/em>timbers were chosen due to their economic importance, versatility, and celebrated history of propagating Australian native forests through burning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Embassy recognises Indigenous Australian culture, the oldest continuously surviving civilisation on the face of the Earth. (Photo Credit: Joe Fletcher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Working with the Design Institute of Australia (DIA) and a range of designers, including, but not limited to, Adam Goodrum, Simon Ancher, Ross Gardam, Alexander Lotersztain, and Tom Skeehan, the 20,000-square-metre building featured a boardroom table custom-designed using reclaimed timbers responsibly sourced (and certified to meet Responsible Wood<\/a> and PEFC standards <\/a>under the Wood Connect scheme<\/a>) from one of the world’s oldest underwater forest operations.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Working in collaboration with the Design Institute of Australia, the Embassy fitted out the interiors with a collection of the country’s finest designers and furniture makers. (Photo Credit: Joe Fletcher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“The timber’s fine, even grain, coupled with its straight cylindrical growth, made it a stunning material to work with.”<\/p>\nBates Smart on the use of native Australian timbers in the new Embassy of Australia in Washington DC<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“The singularity of expression of the interior is welcoming, enveloping and warm,” said Mark Healey<\/a>, Bates Smart Director of Interiors, who said the panel detail mimics the various textures of the blackbutt tree found in nature. Thick, wide panels interspersed with finer rebated sections absorb sound and deliver fresh air to the lower sections, becoming smoother, finer and narrower as they rise into the rectangular oculus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The natural light from the glass roof plays against different parts of the blackbutt panels, providing a different aesthetic across different parts of the 20,000-square-metre building. (Photo Credit: Joe Fletcher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From above, the light from the roof plays off against the blackbutt featured extensively throughout the 20,000-square-metre building. “These horizontal bands are an expression of the protective base of the tree and its relationship to fire,” according to Mr Healey, in a recent interview with InDesign Live<\/a>, who said the doors themselves have been blackened to give the impression of torched timber and thereby offers a further visual key to Indigenous methods of propagation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Steve Jones accepted the award for the project on behalf of Bates Smart.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Steve Jones, Bates Smart’s Studio Director – who accepted the top prize from WoodSolutions Kevin Peachey on behalf of the studio, the new Embassy comes half a century after the 171-year-old studio designed Australia’s original Washington embassy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More exposed timber and more interior spaces using timber…<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In total, 15 prizes were awarded – now in its 25th year – with Rebecca Gidding – Planet Ark’s CEO; Anthony Burke – host of Restoration Australia and Grand Designs Australia; Lisa Barbara – ex Interiors Lead at Fitzpatrick + Partners and current Cult ESG Manager; Michelle Di Giorgio – former Design Manager at Gensler and current member of the MPA pre-construction team; and Dr Ali Hadigheh, Associate Head of Research Education and Senior Lecturer at Sydney University judging the entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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