Concrete Masonry Innovation. Walling

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ConcreteMaso

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P

Maitland Visitors Centre, NSW

Wyong Civic Centre, NSW

Mercedes Benz National Headquarters, VIC

Primo Smallgoods Head Office, NSW

Concrete MasonryWALLING

The use of concrete masonry offers a number of

pragmatic benefits, notably noise attenuation, thermal

mass and low maintenance. In this publication however,

we focus on design, and look at the integration of

concrete masonry in the schemes of seven architects.

In the use of the material, the projects variously explore

colour, mass, texture, form, context and metaphor.

Collectively they demonstrate the range and the

potential of today's concrete masonry.

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The Evan Burge Library and Education Centre divides

its primary functions on two levels. The ground floor

contains the education centre comprising a 175-seat

lecture theatre and teaching rooms, and the first

floor houses the library of 30 000 books and 70

student carrels.

The building makes a simple rectangular footprint

and has straightforward rectilinear planning. The

form of the building adopts a linear pavilion model,

accentuated by the barrel vault of the first floor

ceiling, the full-length clerestory and the masonry

covered way cum cloister.

Split-face cream concrete masonry blocks have been

used for the walls generally, with smooth-face cream

blocks framing the openings. Bates Smart Architects

have used the split-face blocks to lend a monumental,

collegiate appearance to the building's envelope.

The mass and texture of the material is brought into

sharp counterpoint with the smooth stick framed

glazed wall of the north elevation.

The cloister provides a grand verandah to shade the

west elevation, and where the concrete masonry wall

wraps around to the east, offers the occupants the

benefits of thermal mass.

The building is a creditable addition to the university.

The masonry and its application by the architects sits

comfortably in the context of this established

college campus.

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Evan Burge Libraryand Education Centre

A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1997

Location Trinity College, University of Melbourne,

Parkville, Victoria

Client Trinity College

Architect Bates Smart

Structural, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic engineer

Addicoat Hogarth Wilson

Landscape architect Chris Dance Design

Project manager Kimpton Yuille

Builder Salzer Construction Pty Ltd

Concrete masonry Pioneer Building Products

Total cost $2.35m

D E T A I L S

Floor area 1050 m2

Number of floors Two

Blocks Southern White split-face

390 x 190 and 390 x 90: walls generally

Southern White polished face

390 x 190 x 190: opening surrounds

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In Melbourne's southeastern suburb of Mulgrave,

Mercedes Benz has recently established its new

national headquarters.

The car's qualities of comfort and reliability have

been the basis of the image for the new building.

The texture and colour of Boral's split-face concrete

masonry have engendered a warmth and solidity in

the building's public facade.

While the building has an imposing corporate

presence, it also addresses the public context by

creating something like a stage set that partially

envelopes the streetscape and contributes to its

setting.

As you turn into Lexia Place you first encounter

Boral's Sandstone split-face masonry on the re-built

walls of an earlier building. The original brick walls,

damaged as a result of structural movement, were

stripped from the building and replaced with masonry

matching that of the new building.

The wall of this building merges with the masonry of

the new boundary wall. This then describes a

serpentine curve before reintegrating with the new

building, and ending its sweep in an imposing portal

at the foot of the cul-de-sac.

The wall is the primary architectural gesture made

evident in its continuity and mass (witness the

rustication of the masonry and the deep reveals of

openings). Other features of the building's design

arise from operations on the wall. At first floor level

the wall is made to bulge making a sign for the

entry. The large cut outs are made to reveal the car

showroom, however the wall appears to stand apart

from the body of the building and continues its path

to the big portal.

The architects in association, Michael Dore with

Castles, Stephenson & Turner have grasped a nexus

between material and idea. The colour and texture

of the masonry has been well chosen to reify the

abstract.

Mercedes BenzNational

Headquarters

A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1997

Location Lexia Place, Mulgrave, Victoria

Client Mercedes Benz

Architect Michael Dore in association with

Castles, Stephenson and Turner

Structural and civil engineer Eldon C Smith & Partners

Electrical and mechanical engineer Adrian Newman & Associates

Hydraulic engineer Eldon C Smith & Partners

Landscape architect Rick Blake

Builder Hooker Cockram Ltd

Concrete masonry Boral

Total cost $6.2m

Cost breakdown $1350/m2

D E T A I L S

Floor area 4540 m2


Blocks Boral Sandstone split-face

Boral Sandstone smooth-face

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From Hadrian's Pantheon of 124 AD to Aldo Rossi's

Elementary School of 1976: this project has its roots

in the Italian Classical line.

The project is primarily a formal composition with

no marked contrasts in colours or texture. Concrete

masonry, however, readily develops a patina as it

weathers, which will lend a subtlety to the monolithic

surface. Moreover the unit size of the concrete

masonry is well suited to this scale of institutional

building.

The building is not unlike a cloistered college in its

organization. It presents a formal public face to the

street by adopting a greater proportion of wall to

window, but opens onto the quadrangle with larger

windows and covered ways.

By adopting a familiar Australian vernacular of stick

construction (albeit steel sticks) and corrugated iron,

the integration of the covered ways makes a

marriage of the European and Australian.

In the tradition of the circular reading room, the

library occupies the drum on the corner, making a

hinge for the wings of the building.

This building occupies a labile territory between old

and new. The effect of the masonry, with its subtlety

of colour and texture, is somewhat like the sepia

toning of a recent photograph to prompt a double

take on the new.

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All Saints CatholicPrimary School

A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1998

Location Grand Boulevard, Seaford, South Australia

Client All Saints Catholic Primary School

Architect Tridente Architects

Structural and civil engineer CC&L Consultants

Electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and fire services engineer

Caporaletti Consultants

Landscape architect Tridente Architects

Builder (final stage) Kennett Pty Ltd

Concrete masonry Rocla

Total cost $2.4m


D E T A I L S

Floor area 2400 m2


Blocks Rocla Seaford smooth-face

Sand-blasted cant: sills

The Maitland Visitors Centre and Heritage Centre

plays a central role in the promotion of Maitland as

an historic centre of New South Wales.

Sited in Ministers Park, the area is situated inside the

Maitland flood plain and has been subjected to a

number of significant floods, the first recorded in

1864. To symbolise the passing of these events into

local folklore, the scheme incorporates a flood pole

sculptural landscape comprising 16 recycled electricity

poles sculpted by artists from the University of

Newcastle Fine Art Department and of Maitland.

An awareness of the continuing risk of occasional

flooding has influenced the design and the choice of

building materials, notably ceramic floor tiles and face

concrete block-work. Easy clean up and recommission

of the building will be possible, minimising the

operational down time.

Being bounded on all four sides by a road and rail

network the issue of noise reduction needed consid-

eration. Suters Architects made use of the sound

attenuating qualities of concrete masonry to mitigate

the impact of these noise sources.

Maitland Visitors Centre

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Looking beyond the practical applications of concrete

masonry, Suters Architects have explored the

materials' textures as part of the representation of

their design theme: the 'layering of time'.

The public face of the building comprises trabeated

structures each side of a forecourt. One is intact, the

other infers the reconstructed ruin, with a steel frame

as a diagrammatic representation of the former

structure. A freestanding wall, braced with steelwork

and featuring an unglazed opening stands as a

fictional ruin now propped and unroofed for use as a

plaza. The split-face blocks produce a rustication at

the base of the walls, and the smooth-face blocks

above imply a partial reconstruction. This theme

continues into the interior of the main hall with face

blockwork, engaged pilasters and standing pillars.

Over this ruin is the broad canopy of the new roof,

making a clerestory as it rests on the reconstructed

walls. To complete this schema, the architects

sourced tessellated tiles from Duckenfield Park House

built in the 1850's and demolished in 1917. There

are over 9000 tiles laid to the original pattern as they

appeared in the courtyard of Duckenfield Park House.

Suters Architects have made good use of the physical

properties of split- and smooth-face concrete masonry

and its potential in design for thematic allusion.

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A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1997

Location Corner of High Street and New England

Highway, Maitland, NSW

Client Maitland City Council

Architect Suters Architects

Structural engineer Lindsay & Dynan

Mechanical,electrical and hydraulic engineer Marline Newcastle

Acoustic consultant Caleb Smith Consulting

Quantity surveyor Ian Speight & Associates

Landscape architect Ginkgo Landscaping

Displays designer Jonathan Pritchard, Australian Museum

Project manager Suters Architects

Builder D F McCloy

Concrete masonry Boral Besser

Total cost $638 170


D E T A I L S

Floor area 350 m2

Number of floors One

Blocks Boral Sahara split-face

Boral Sahara smooth-face

90 mm and 190 mm high

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Wyong has grown rapidly over the past forty years.

During this period, the Shire Council's recurrent need

for more office space saw the ad hoc development of

its administration buildings, and the encroachment on

existing public spaces and areas with civic functions.

The result was a loss of the Shire's civic face.

The re-establishment of a public presence was

identified by Suters Architects as a primary issue in

the redevelopment of the new Wyong Civic Centre.

The addition of a major new building created an

atrium linking the new with the old. This provided a

new public focus to the interior of the building.

Outside, facing Hely Street, the architects

re-established the Shire's public face with an

imposing formal arrangement including a curvilinear

wall, which sweeps into the Centre's public entry.

The wall, of Boral's Sahara shot-blasted blocks, is an

integral part of the architect's formal and textural

considerations of the design. Being readily associated

with cut stone, the concrete masonry walls give the

project a solid plinth rooted firmly to the ground,

and present a contrast to the glass and metal

surfaces situated behind and above.

They have something of a medieval quality. Not

unlike the remaining ramparts of an old walled city,

they follow a serpentine path as if negotiating

difficult terrain; and present a heavy, raking surface

with just a few deeply recessed openings onto

terraces situated below ground.

The curved glazed walls of the administrative offices

are separated from the masonry walls by a skylight

over the Council chambers. The offices slip past the

wall and end in a cantilever. This again prompts

thoughts of the metaphor of an old wall as a

reconstructed ruin, behind which the new is built with

the engineering and materials of an industrial age.

As with the Maitland Visitor's Centre, Suters Architects

have made good use of the textures of the blockwork;

exploring both surface contrasts, and the rich ground

for other cultural and historical interpretations.

Wyong Civic Centre

A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1997

Location Hely Steet, Wyong, NSW

Client Wyong Shire Council

Architect Suters Architects

Structural and civil engineer Lindsay & Dynan

Electrical and mechanical engineer Norman Disney & Young

Hydraulic and fire services engineer Integral Building Services

Landscape architect Suters Architects

Builder Wyong Shire Council

Concrete masonry Boral Besser

Total cost $9.2m


D E T A I L S

Floor area 6450 m2

Number of floors Four

Floor to floor height 3.3 m to match adjoining existing

building

Blocks Boral Sahara split-face, 200 mm thick:

retaining walls

Boral Sahara smooth-face,100 and 200 mm thick

x 40 mm high: string courses and cappings

Boral Sahara shot-blasted, 100 mm thick:

curved walls

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In language, our sentences are governed by a set of

grammatical rules we collectively call syntax. These

rules make sense of our words and give them

meaning. In this project, Cheesman Architects have

used contrasting masonry to make a kind of syntax

for the building. Its various elements are drawn

together in a composition which suggests to us how

we are to read the building.

Situated south of Adelaide, the Seaford Ecumenical

Mission is a multi-denominational project involving

the Catholic Church, Church of Christ, Anglican

Church, Lutheran, and Uniting Church. The centre is

part of the Noarlunga regional health service, fostering

a holistic approach to health care by addressing the

needs of both body and soul.

It combines, under the one roof, a district community

health centre, a worship centre, and a multi-purpose

meeting space.

The rustication of contrasting split-face blocks and

parallel bands establishes both a base and a horizontal

reading to the lineal planning. The horizontal bands

are something like a musical stave for the sequence

of windows, which are elaborated with contrasting

masonry frames set proud of the wall. Consequently,

the windows are linked in a series, like musical notes,

rather than arbitrary holes in the wall.

The consulting rooms to the west are contained in a

building discrete in appearance. This – together with

the patterned masonry that stands the building in

the vertical – arrests the horizontal movement of the

eye and reorients the building towards the public

space to the south.

The tower is the signpost for the centre. With

alternating coloured layers it recalls its ancient prede-

cessor the Italian campanile.

The design also draws on a metaphor. The baptistery

and worship space are the sacred areas of the

building and feature expressive contrasting masonry.

The architects have made reference to the nearby

cliffs and Aboriginal ochre mines. This figurative

pattern is given form by the curved walls of the

building itself. Each concrete block has a groove

down the centre, which when laid in conventional

stretcher bond has the appearance of stack bond.

This project is a good example of the use of contrast-

ing masonry to characterise the form in the design.

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A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1996

Location Main Street, Seaford, South Australia

Client Seaford Ecumenical Mission

Architect Cheesman Architects

Structural and civil engineer Rust PPK

Electrical, mechanical and fire services engineer Bestec

Hydraulics Allan Turner

Builder Minuzzo Construction Pty Ltd


Total cost $1.7m


D E T A I L S

Floor area 1650 m2

Number of floors One

Blocks Rocla split-face, smooth-face and Ryltex finishes

Colours Driftwood, London Cream, Desert Sand,

Seaford, Eureka

Seaford EcumenicalMission

Concrete masonry is not a new material in light

industrial projects. In the past the unassuming grey

block was often used for the back-of-house

warehouse shell. Today, the new generation of

concrete masonry has become the public face of the

light industrial plant.

The Primo Smallgoods processing facility at Chullora

presents a fair and textured face to the Hume

Highway. Rocla split-face White blocks comprise the

body masonry, with string courses and window

surrounds of polished Ash Grey blocks. In this project

the contrasting colour has been used to string the

windows together and vary the wall surface to

mitigate the bulk of the building.

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The new generation of concrete masonry puts a

range of colours and textures in the hands of the

designer. Together with the choice of bonds and

block sizes, there are rich possibilities to manipulate

the wall surface.

In this project for example, the polished grey masonry

lends tautness to the wall surface while the split-face

gives rise to an appearance of density and

compression. The smooth surface 'stretches' in a

horizontal layer while the weight of the rough

textured masonry bears down on it.

The perception of form is influenced by subtle

variations in the wall surface. The diversity in concrete

masonry lends itself well, not only to the decorative,

but also to the formal issues in buildings design.

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A B S T R A C T

Year finished 1998

Location Hume Highway and Sherman Street,

Chullora, NSW

Client P&M Quality Smallgoods

Architect Peter Brooks Architects

Structural and civil engineer SCP Consultants

Electrical engineer E Shelmerdine & Partners

Mechanical engineer Lend Lease Process Services

Hydraulic and fire services engineer Buckton Lysenko

Landscape architect Precinct Landscapes

Developer and builder Civil & Civic


Total cost $28m


D E T A I L S

Floor area 17 500 m2

Number of floors Two storey office, single storey

processing area

Blocks Rocla White split-face 190 mm

Rocla White split-face 90 mm

Rocla Grey polished banding

with red feature stone

Rocla Grey polished face and top: sills

Rocla Grey polished two faces and top:

cappings

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ISBN 0 909407 39 8 August 1998 G80

Cement and Concrete Association of Australia

Locked Bag 2010 St Leonards NSW 1590

Concrete Masonry Association of Australia

PO Box 572 St Leonards NSW 1590

Telephone [02] 9903 7760

Facsimile [02] 9437 9703

For concrete masonry manufacturers contact CMAA

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Concrete Masonry Innovation.

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Concrete Masonry Innovation. Walling