News
18 JUNE 2014Superellipse Table
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We've added a page on our website documenting Super Table in her beautiful new home: This luscious solid lumber ellipsoid timber table, held up by 5 decorative art deco-esque steel legs, is made from solid laminated European Pine and sealed with a satin finish. The super ellipse shape allows for six people to be generously seated without any one person separated from another by a corner.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER BENNETTS
22 MARCH 2013Presentation at AIA awards
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On 24 March, Jan van Schaik and Fiona Abicare will present Scandinavian Freestyle to the juries of the Australian Institute of Architects awards, part of a two day program featuring 240 entries, each given an 8 minute presentation plus 2 minutes for Q&A. Open to the public, the event will be held at MADA, Monash University's Caulfield campus. Scandinavian Freestyle is entered in two categories: Interior Architecture, at 1:15pm in Studio 6, and Small Project Architecture, at 1:30pm in Studio 3. The event offers the public a chance to see new projects from Victoria's top architects and observe how they present work to their peers.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER BENNETTS
01 MARCH 2013The Curator and MvS
Jan van Schaik and Natasha Bullock discuss the architectural reconfiguration of the Franco and Amina Belgiorno-Nettis and Family Contemporary Galleries for "We used to talk about love" at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. MvS Architects collaborated with Bullock to redesign the gallery spaces as an emotional journey of mystery, discovery, pressure and release, manifest in interlinked rooms and corridors with new walls soaring into the coffered ceilings and compressed spaces relieved by glimpses into subsequent rooms, jointly offering a new way of seeing the artworks. Curated by Bullock, the exhibition spans photography, photomedia, video, collage, sculpture and installation, featuring artists including Polly Borland, Eliza Hutchison, Angelica Mesiti, David Noonan and Justene Williams.
The exhibition is open until the 21st of April 2013
Free admission
07 AUGSUT 2012Architecture Awards
We have just been sent the photographs from the awards presentation dinner. After being presented with their awards the recipients try to work out what to do with them!
18 NOVEMBER 2011Wetlands Discovery Centre
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This week the Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands Discovery Centre was officially unveiled, giving key stakeholders their first look inside the $4.9 million building, which offers school and community groups a vantage point to study the area's flora and fauna, including migrating birds from as far as Siberia. Built atop urban wetlands in Melbourne's south east and owned by Melbourne Water, the centre was designed by Minifie van Schaik to merge with the landscape, minimising ecological impact and complying with its RAMSAR listing, with director Jan van Schaik describing it as "designed to be another inhabitant of the wetlands." It was officially opened by Donna Bauer MP and Melbourne Water's Chris Chesterfield, and will begin operation in early 2012.
1 OCTOBER 2011QSYC display suite by MvS
Minifie van Schaik has been engaged by the Shengjing group and RMIT University to design a 5,000m2 display suite at Qinhangdao Super Yacht City. The display suite will be the mechanism through which the client sells apartments and yachts and will double as an information centre for the entire development. The display centre includes a dry dock, 50 berths, two display apartments, a theaterette, kitchens, sales offices, function rooms, a model display area and a yacht service centre.
09 JUNE 2011Financial Review magazine
A project for the urban expansion of Lianyungang designed to cope with future changes is sea level has beeb published on the front cover of the Financial Review magazine. The project is part of the World Architecture Workshop which we have been running since 2003 with RMIT University, ENSAM, the Miyagi University and Tohoku University. This year the workshop was held in Lianyungang wich is planing a population expansion of thirty million people over the next fifteen years.
15 MAY 2011Super Yacht City
Minifie van Schaik has designed a Super Yacht City in Qinhuangdao which has now been submitted for Stage Two planning approval. The project is a two million square metre luxury residential and marina development in China's ultimate summer holiday destination a mere forty minutes fast train ride due east of Beijing.
03 DECEMBER 2010Sugar Station
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This store is the original of the Sugar Station confectionary chain - and its engine. Originally fitted out by others it slowly deteriorated through high use while the other stores benefitted from the Minifie van Schaik bespoke design suite. Its new lease of life brings it in line with the rest of the chain. A second store in the same station is planned for the upper concourse level - opening soon.
15 OCTOBER 2010Cafe Bourgeois
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This idealised three dimensional space gives the café walls an otherworldly quality, a backdrop for glowing displays, warm polished joinery end grain and rich Marmoleum colours underfoot. Construction of Minifie van Schaik's design for a café in the new Docklands Myer building is now complete, with Café Bourgeois now open for business. Justin Clements described it as a striking op art ripple sweeping across walls, roof and floor in an economical sticky back vinyl print, unifying the café's diverse zones, from LED lit hula hoops to display cabinets, while enhancing function without feeling obtrusive or overly directive.
07 AUGUST 2008Shanghai Design Biennale
Minifie Nixon has been invited by the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development to join an Industry Capability Mission to the Shanghai Design Biennale in September 2008. The Biennale is seen as an important lead up to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, where Victoria plans to have its own exhibition space. Participation will expand Minifie Nixon's masterplanning and design competition portfolio in the region.