Donovan Hill Profile - State Library of Queensland

ackground
Donovan Hill is the Brisbane based practice
directed by Brian Donovan and Timothy Hill.
Established in 1992, the practice has successfully
combined its commitment to design standards
with delivery of services that have enabled cost
effective construction.
2006
112 Bowen Street
Spring Hill QLD 4000
BRISBANE AUSTRALIA
TEL +61 7 3831 3255
FAX +61 7 3831 3266
www.donovanhill.com.au
The practice acknowledges the changing
expectations of building owners in the current
climate of building usage and procurement.
The industry must now encompass pluralistic
concerns beyond the traditional ‘On Time
and On Budget’ criteria. Life cycle costing,
environmental performance, workplace
practices, joint venture delivery and particularly
the role of urban design have all become crucial
project elements.
Donovan Hill have been able to deliver buildings
that are responsive to these expectations as
a result of the close relationships established
with each of its clients. While relying on a
degree of experience has been essential, it
is the success of these relationships that has
enabled the devising of individual and tactical
solutions.
This fluency with relationships extends also to
include our built environment colleagues. As a
‘next’ generation practice, much of our work is
associative. Whether to maximise resourcing,
expertise or synergistic benefits, this model
brings out the best in knowledge workers and
aligns well with assisting the diverse array
of operative groups within the procurement
process.
Commissions have been varied. Commercial,
institutional and civic buildings have enabled
continuing opportunities for experimentation
and refinement, alongside innovative residential
projects, precinctual / master planning, interior
fitout, landscape and furniture commissions.
An emphasis on landscape throughout this
work is leading to independent commissions
for landscapes and outdoor spaces in the public
realm.
The practice is also active in the academic and
professional development realms. Teaching in
local studios, facilitating at interstate guest
masters workshops and speaking at national
and international conferences is an integral
part of the firm’s involvement in the practice
of architecture.
defining capabilities
Prior experience, plus over 15 years practicing in
a rapidly developing city allow some reflection
and valuing of skills that have been identified,
tested, adjusted and shared. These capabilities
have an authentic dimension; they have been
critical to the process of establishing and
expanding the practice from 2 to 30 people.
Our growth has occurred simultaneously
with societal, technological and cultural
change that has seen Architectural Practice
shift from ‘servicing’ to ‘assisting’, from
‘problem solving’ to ‘solution brokering’, from
‘producing identifiable forms’ to ‘facilitating
engagement’.
• Our education, generation and design focus
attracts very committed staff.
• The ethos of the practice is derived from a
current and committed collaboration of the
originating partners. This ethos is relived
each working day and contrasts with many
practices in Brisbane.
• We are not primarily designers. We practice
as a total entity that offers leadership
to our associates across the breadth
of a project’s scope and life. We have a
demonstrable rigour in conceptual strategy,
brief writing and information gathering,
architectural ‘design’, construction,
intensive documentation and contract
administration.
• We have a genuine studio based culture
in the practice. The partners actively lead
and participate in the output of the office
– they are not captured by administrative
or networking workload.
• We have a very varied commission
base. We work at 1:20,000 and 1:2, from
masterplanning, through domestic work
to furniture and exhibition pieces.
• We have a capacity to be persuasive
by offering research and precedent to
agencies surrounding projects.
• We have a particular reputation for
deriving schemes for complex sites to
enable overall siting strategies that ‘value
add’. The projects are ‘site driven’ rather
than ‘object driven’.
• We have proven performance within
development scenarios reliant on fast-track
procurement, often with simultaneous
occupation and continuity of use.

peer recognition
Both Brian Donovan and Timothy Hill are
Adjunct Associate Professors of Architecture
at the University of Queensland, and have
completed their Master of Architecture as part
of the Invited Candidate Program at RMIT. A
cache of awards and publications in the State,
National and International arenas indicate an
unprecedented level of recognition for a practice
originated, developed and based in Brisbane.
• Creative Director of “Departure Lounge”,
2007 National RAIA Conference due to be
held in Melbourne
• Invited exhibitor “Micro Macro City”,
Australian Pavilion at the 10 th International
Architecture Biennale 2006, Venice
• Invited member of the 2006-2007 Brisbane
City Council, Independent Design Advisory
Panel
• Invited speaker at 2006 “The Future is
Now”, National RAIA Conference, Sydney,
2005 “An International Exchange on
Contemporary Architecture”, National
RAIA Conference, Melbourne and 2005
“Eco Edge - Urban Environments or Urban
Disasters?”, City Edge International Design
Conference, Melbourne
• Invited National Conference speaker and
State Legislative Review Member of Public
Art Policy
• C House cited as one of the great houses
of the 20 th Century by the world’s top 100
practices demonstrating ‘exceptional and
innovative work’ in Phaidon (London)
publications ‘10x10’, ‘Modern House 2’ and
‘The House Book’ (2001)
project profile
Commercial and Institutional Projects
• QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical
Innovation, Kelvin Grove Campus (in
association with PDT Architects) – New
research and education facility including
wet & dry laboratories, offices, support
spaces planned around a ‘memorable’
courtyard
• Gasholder Precinct, Newstead – A heritage
civic development with emphasis on
integrated public space
• 32 Turbot Street, Brisbane CBD – A medium
rise commercial tower that contributes to
the city via a public laneway connecting to
the future Tank Street Pedestrian Bridge
• Millennium Library Project, Brisbane (in
association with Peddle Thorp Architects) –
Extension to double the size of the existing
State Library of Queensland designed to
transform the facility into an interactive
place by incorporating an array of new
specialist components.
• Millennium Plaza, Brisbane (in association
with Peddle Thorp Architects) – Site
infrastructure works to provide a network
of public forecourts, plazas and gardens
surrounding the SLQ & QGMA
• The Neville Bonner Building, Brisbane (in
association with Davenport Campbell
and PDT Architects) – 18,000m 2 State
Government office building planned over
2 low-rise pavilions to yield a protected
terraced landscape and significant entry
room
• General Purpose North 3, University of
Queensland, Brisbane (in association with
Peddle Thorp Architects) – A commission to
develop the commerce precinct, integrate 4
departments and lead the UQ masterplan
• AQIS Facility, Brisbane Airport – Office,
laboratory and warehouse facility for
Australian Quarantine Inspection Service
and Australian Customs Service
• Queensland College of Art, Southbank
Campus, Brisbane (in association with
Bligh Voller Nield) – Campus complex for
Griffith University to accommodate 17
independent departments
Masterplanning
• Brisbane City Centre Draft Masterplan
(consultant to Brisbane City Council)
• Domestic Terminal Building Precinct,
Brisbane Airport
• Forgan Smith Forecourt Study, University of
Queensland, Brisbane (in association with
Peddle Thorp Architects) – Commission
to reconcile heritage, development,
ceremonial and circulation issues
• Brisbane Airport Development Strategy
Project (2000-2020) – Consultant urban
planner to Brisbane Airport Corporation
project profile
Multi-Residential Developments
• Portal Precinct, Newstead – Comprised of
3900m 2 commercial space, 2200m 2 retail
space & 60 residential apartments
• Domain Resort, Stradbroke Island – A
scheme for two generic accommodation
types (42 shacks, 40 villas) on a street based
pattern where the landscape itself is the
dominant value
• Apartments, West End – Separate 7 & 10
storey towers and street front 2 storey
townhouses totalling 112 apartments
• W4 Apartments, Teneriffe – Construction
of 117 apartments within an existing
heritage Woolstore structure
• 29-37 Terrace Street, New Farm – Set of
9 apartments addressed from a shared
court configured to emphasise potential
flexibility of occupation/use
• 33 Clarence Road, Indooroopilly – Set of
4 apartments which directly address the
street within a 3 storey format that yields
identifying outdoor rooms for each
Innovative Single Residential Projects
• C House, Brisbane – An interconnected
series of overlapping sub-sites resembling
experiences typical of ‘terrain’ arranged
by a set of private rooms gathered around
the site’s ‘memorable’ space, a large
outdoor room. The house anticipates future
generations by offering an adaptable
planning scheme.
• D House, Brisbane – Strategies including an
ambiguous public zone, a large proportion
of the site enclosed as a ‘public’ room
(indoor & outdoor) and generic features
that could be used to increase density on
small lot configurations
• N House, Brisbane – A format allowing
occupational flexibility sited around the
mini public realm of the outdoor space
• Q House, Brisbane – A condensed number
of precincts with differing function &
character to allow a range of spatial
experiences, fashioned in an attempt to
make the landscape and interior spaces
interchangeable
• Six Neighbour House, Brisbane – Configured
to yield a ‘memorable’ double height
outdoor room to reconcile complex
planning demands imposed by a small
inner suburban block with six frontages
and two street addresses