News

24.01.2024

Denton Corker Marshall recognises the cultural diversity of our workplace and pays respect to all First Nations peoples.

Our workplace policy supports our staff in their choice if they wish to work on the 26th of January.

We come together on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Eastern Kulin Nation, we acknowledge their custodianship and living connections to land, sea and community.

Image: detail view of Wurreka by Judy Watson, Melbourne Museum

30.08.2023

Today, members of the Architecture + Design Reconciliation Industry Network Group affirm our support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for the establishment of a First Nations voice enshrined in the Australian Constitution.

We represent a broad group of architecture and design practices, each with endorsed Reconciliation Action Plans that formalise our commitment to advancing reconciliation in Australia. We believe the Voice is a simple, sensible, and positive step in the process of righting the wrongs of the past and building a more equitable Australia.

We shape spaces and places on Country across Australia. As a design community, we have begun a process of better connecting with Country – through close engagement and participatory processes led by First Nations communities. We have witnessed the positive impacts of engaging directly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whose wisdom, generosity, and world-view enrich our work and the built environment.

We respect the principle of self-determination. We’re committed to working towards greater equity and prosperity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We call on other industries, businesses and organisations to join us – to stand up, speak up, and support an incredibly important moment in Australia’s history.

We urge all Australians to learn more about the Uluru Statement and make an informed decision in the Referendum.

Find out more by visiting ulurustatement.org and yes23.com.au

17.02.2023

2023 celebrates Denton Corker Marshall’s 50th year of transformative and thought-provoking design. The milestone was celebrated at the Melbourne Museum, one of the firm’s most notable civic projects.

Founded in 1972, by John Denton, Bill Corker and Barrie Marshall, the Melbourne based practice gained early prominence in 1976, after winning the design competition for the Melbourne City Square with an ultramodern scheme of contemporary 1970s urbanism.

Ground-breaking designs

Further ground-breaking designs followed with the 1981 joint venture project for 1 Collins Street, notable as the first modern city development in which the heritage frontages were preserved to allow a new high-rise construction behind, and in 1992, the accomplished development of the site of Australia’s First Government House with Governors Phillip and Macquarie Towers and the Museum of Sydney.

The firm’s output and trajectory continued uninterrupted in the decades that followed and garnered global acclaim with international projects such as the Australian Embassies in Tokyo, Beijing and Jakarta.  In Europe, the practice won the international design competitions for Stonehenge Exhibition and Visitor Centre and the highly awarded Manchester Civil Justice Centre. In 2011, the practice won the competition to design the first 21st century pavilion to be constructed in the Giardini della Biennale, Venice – the Australian Pavilion – representing an ambitious new chapter for the representation of Australian art and architecture internationally.

The practice received awards for Bridge of Remembrance, Hobart (2020) and Shepparton Art Museum (2022), the first 6 Star Green Star art museum in Australia.

In 2022, the practice won the design competition for the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, a project representing the largest ever capital investment in biomedical research in NSW.

Recognition

In 1996, at a relatively early career stage, the practice was awarded Australia’s highest architectural honour, the Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal, in recognition of the high quality of work produced in a relatively short period: very tall buildings driven by engineering solutions, monumental public buildings, art galleries, offices, museums and elegant urban plazas. Today, Denton Corker Marshall is the recipients of 75+ AIA State Awards and 30+ Significant AIA National and International Awards.

Formally, the practice investigates the functional and sculptural possibilities of architectural and urban design, resulting in landmarks that consolidate the intrinsic aspects of the city’s visual character and urban morphology, and respond materially and formally to the multiple scales of the city through an abstracted elemental language.

Fundamental experiments with colour, surface, scale and form, and the way architecture is inhabited contributes to the distinctive architectural language for which Denton Corker Marshall is critically acclaimed.

Peter G Rowe, former Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Design, stated in his essay ‘Rule playing and the Ratbag element’:

“Architects often become pigeon-holed as being from particular schools, or following specific styles, or of being individualist to the point of being barely understood at all. On both counts of design principles and conformance (or not) to orthodox design thinking, the firm of Denton Corker Marshall consistently offers well-articulated concepts of modern architecture in which they play the occasional ratbag to their own rule making. (‘ratbag’ here conveying its colloquial sense of eccentric or nonconforming behaviour)”

International expansion

Following the design of the Australian Embassies in Tokyo and Beijing, the practice was at the vanguard of an early engagement with Asia, building over 40,000 apartments in the first decade of 2000. More recently, the 2013 design for Asia Square twin towers and City Room in Singapore became a benchmark of design excellence used by the Urban Redevelopment Authority Singapore for future downtown developments.

Reflecting the extent of international engagements, the practice has operated offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, London, Manchester and Warsaw in addition to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

The practice today

Since the late 1990’s, the practice has been headquartered in Melbourne, supported by offices in London, Manchester and Jakarta.

The Melbourne leadership team comprises John Denton, Adrian FitzGerald, Neil Bourne, Wojciech Pluta, Greg Gong and Sonja Syre, representing over 4 decades of continuity within the practice. The London office is headed by Stephen Quinlan and John Rintoul, with the Manchester office headed by Irwin Lopez. In Jakarta, the office is led by Budiman Hendropurnomo.

The current organisation, with offices in Melbourne, London, Manchester and Jakarta, is supported by a highly accomplished team of associates.

John Denton, Founding Director, stated:

“It is gratifying to be recognised for the enduring contribution our practice has made to the built environment in Australia and internationally. I see the prospect for Denton Corker Marshall as very bright. The practice is underpinned by a bank of knowledge and wealth of good design practices that will position it to achieve design excellence well into the future.”

A major strength of the practice is design innovation across multiple sectors through notable projects such as:

– Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria 2020

– Bridge of Remembrance, Hobart, Tasmania 2019

– Australian Pavilion, Venice Biennale Gardens 2015

– Stonehenge Exhibition and Visitor Centre, UK 2013

– Asia Square twin towers and City Room, Singapore 2013

– Australian Embassy, Jakarta 2016

– Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Manchester 2007

– Webb Bridge, Melbourne 2003

– ANZAC Hall, Australian War Memorial, Canberra 2001

– Melbourne Museum, the largest museum in the southern hemisphere, Melbourne 2000

– Melbourne Gateway, Sound Tube and Bolte Bridge, Melbourne 1999

– South Bank Boulevard Grand Arbour, Brisbane 1999

– Melbourne Exhibition Centre 1996

– Museum of Sydney and Governors Phillip and Macquarie Towers, Sydney 1993

– Adephi Hotel, Melbourne 1992

– Australian Embassy, Beijing 1992

– 101 Collins Street, Melbourne 1991

– Australian Embassy, Tokyo 1986

– 1 Collins Street, Melbourne 1981

– Melbourne City Square, 1976

 

The practice is a leader in university and research projects in the biomedical sciences, with a portfolio of significant projects:

– Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (under construction)

– Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, University of Sydney (under construction)

– Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong 2019

– Geoff Hanbury Science and Technology Hub, Melbourne Grammar School 2018

– Biomedical Learning and Teaching Building, Monash University 2018

– Faculty of Engineering and information Technology, University of Technology Sydney 2014

– Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne 2012

 

Denton Corker Marshall’s enduring contribution to the built environment with award winning and exceptional design in Australia and overseas continues to shape the construction of an Australian architectural identity at home and abroad.

15.02.2023

Conversion of a former rag trade building into a 34 room boutique Adelphi Hotel in 1992, put Denton Corker Marshall in the vanguard of the transformation of the City of Melbourne.

Characterised by bespoke furniture, sticks, stainless steel, aluminium and coloured planar surfaces, the hotel featured a radical 25m glass enclosed swimming pool extending over Flinders Lane street frontage at roof-top level.

2023 celebrates Denton Corker Marshall’s 50th year of transformative and thought-provoking design – catalysts for change in the city and Australian architectural identity abroad.

 

 

1993 National President’s Award for Most Outstanding Work of Recycled Architecture in Australia

 

1993 Victorian Chapter Award for Outstanding Commercial (Alts + Ext)

 

1993 Victorian Chapter Award for Outstanding Interior Architecture
25.08.2022

In June 2022, Denton Corker Marshall + HDR won the design competition for the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, an integrated health, education and research precinct for the University of Sydney and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The Sydney Biomedical Accelerator will bring together seven science schools under one roof, in a facility designed to tackle some of the world’s most complex health challenges, from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases.

To be built next to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on the western boundary of the university’s Camperdown campus, the facility will consist of a 36,000-square-metre precinct including laboratory research facilities and clinical learning spaces.

The design, created in collaboration with Arcadia Landscape Architecture and Aileen Sage, centres around the notions of connectivity and functionality.

“We designed the building as a clear, simple sculptural form with a solid base acknowledging its campus setting. Above the base, sculptural sunscreens are embedded with an abstracted indigenous narrative and also allude to the scientific investigation within.” Denton Corker Marshall’s Director Adrian FitzGerald said.

“Our design achieves the highest level of efficiency and declares its purpose for systematic, methodical scientific study. It is a building for the future with clarity and memorability combining to produce timeless campus architecture.”

The Competition Jury said, “The scheme delivered a world-class biomedical precinct that celebrated the relationship between the University and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital campuses, linking the two together for the first time in history.”

The jury also commended the seven-storey circulation pine called the Connector as a ‘compelling proposition’ that will integrate the two facilities and foster collaborative interaction.

HDR designed the laboratory research facilities. “By pairing our local and global scientific expertise, we have a unique opportunity to design and deliver a series of state-of-the-art, highly adaptable biomedical laboratories where education, healthcare, engineering, and science converge,” said HDR director Graeme Spencer.

The project is the result of a partnership between the NSW government, Sydney Local Health District, and the University of Sydney. The architectural design is intended to reflect this arrangement, enabling “seamless knowledge transfer and communication between the hospital and University,” the partnership said.

More than 1,200 biomedical researchers and clinicians are anticipated to work from the adjoining buildings, including 800 university laboratory researchers and PhD students.

The $478 million project is funded in part with $73 million in philanthropic donations, including a $20 million donation from the Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation.

The facility is expected to open in 2026.

22.06.2022

The Victorian Architecture Awards recognise the best of the state’s architectural achievements. This year’s winners highlight the integral role architects play in empowering communities and driving change, with projects responding to issues of sustainability, equity and access.

The AIA Victorian Jury citation stated:

“Shepparton Art Museum is an elegantly resolved example of public architecture enabling and enriching communities, particularly in regional locations. Denton Corker Marshall’s competition-winning scheme turned a challenging floodway into an opportunity for conceptual clarity, with a small-and-tall approach to massing. The resultant sculptural form creates a bold statement on an otherwise low-lying landscape; a beacon that signifies both arrival to Shepparton, and Shepparton’s arrival to the national arts scene.

The internal plan is simple and open, with all five levels anchored by a grand circulation galleria. Back-of-house and loading is cleverly concealed beneath a sloped artificial landscape, allowing a generous public interface and connection to the parkland on all sides.”

12.05.2022

Melbourne Design Week panel discussion Presented by Denton Corker Marshall.

 

Adrian FitzGerald, Senior Director, Denton Corker Marshall will present some of the practice’s ground-breaking work in Singapore and Melbourne, alongside the City of Melbourne’s Director of City Design, Jocelyn Chiew, who will present the city’s initiatives in encouraging new laneways, open space and amenity by private developers.

Aligning with the City of Melbourne’s activation and greening policies, POPS has the ability to revitalise Melbourne in the pandemic era.

Adrian and Jocelyn will be joined by a distinguished panel including Deputy Lord Mayor, Cr Nicholas Reece and Dr Elizabeth Taylor, Urban Planning and Design, Monash University. Moderated by Simon Knott, Director of  award-winning architecture practice BKK.

Where: Clemenger Auditorium
Entrance via North Foyer, National Gallery of Victoria
When: Monday 21 March 6—8pm
Drinks 6pm, panel discussion 6.30—7.30pm
followed by post panel drinks and discussion