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Churchill Trust plan offices in Canberra
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust in Aus- tralia, presided over by Sir Robert Menzies, has announced plans to build a new national head- quarters in Canberra, to be known as Churchill House.
Located on a prominent site next to the National Capital Development Commission in Northbourne Avenue, the main approach road to Canberra City, the building will cost about
Churchill Memorial Trust headquarters
Interior open court with sunken garden
A$900,000 to construct. Apart from the Trust's own offices, it will contain some 237,000 sq. ft. of office area for other non-profit organisations. The architect is Robin Boyd of the Melbourne firm of Romberg and Boyd.
In conformity with the capital's urban planning requirements, the building will be no more than three storeys high. It is planned in three wings. One of these is occupied by the Churchill Trust and is dominated by a spectacular glass pavilion. This is a permanent museum where the achievements of Fellows of the Trust will be exhibited.
The pavilion is designed to be viewed from the outside. Visitors will be able to walk on the raised terrace all around it, viewing a fascinating series of displays which will be iluminated at night.
Split level planning provides direct access, by way of a short flight of steps to both ground and first floors, so that even the top floor is only one and a half flights of stairs above the upper entrance hall.
Another unusual feature of the development is a sunken garden with pond and raised sitting ter- race, shielded from traffic noise by the three wings of the building.
Building research congress in Versailles
A world congress on building research is to be held in Versailles, France, during the last week of June, 1971. It is being organised by the Conseil International de Batiment, which groups the world's main public and private institutes devoted to research, study and documentation in the field of building.
The main topics of the congress will be: The knowledge of natural data and of user require- ments; the contributions of sciences applied to building; the practical 'tools' for the application of research; and the technology of various fields of construction (tall buildings, lightweight structures, etc.).
The Congress secretary is Mr. G. Hierholtz, Centre Sceintifique et Technique du Batiment, 4 Avenue du Recteur Poincare, 75 - Paris 16.
French firm wins Reynolds Award
The 1970 R.S. Reynolds Memorial Award of US$25,000 has been presented to the French architectural firm of Lods. Depondt and Beauclair for its design of a 500-unit low cost housing development in Rouen, known as the Project Experimental de la Grand ‘Mare.
The Rouen project consists of 25 five-story buildings, with five walk-up apartments on each of the upper four floors, and utility and storage rooms on the ground floor The structural frame is of weathering-type steel, and the exterior is formed entirely of industrially produced aluminum and glass sections, assembled at the construction site primarily by unskilled labour.
Field assembly resulted in significant economy.
Far East BUILDER, August 1970
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