Southern Entrance,
Australian War Memorial

One of our most notable projects to date, a variety of works on the Southern Entrance, Australian War Memorial. These works include the Oculus, Brass internally and externally, Spiral stairs, Carpark screens and awnings

The project has many highlights that pushed our team technically to the limit. Most notably the centre point of the project: The Oculus saw us install 60mm thick compound curved glass to a frame that we had to completely wrap in compound curved glass. With tough access and time pressure this was really fun to come together as a team to deliver in the final moments of the projects.

The Oculus outshines the all the other glazing which is still highly technical. All the framing to hold the glass is wrapped in brass + pieces are rebated into off form slabs which we had to provide cast ins for. The glass lift facing Poppy’s café was almost as challenging as the Oculus. The mitred glass panels all self support each other with structural silicone. Once again all of the stainless steel structure we built to hold the glass is wrapped in brass.

Internally and externally all of the surfaces that aren’t sandstone are either 3mm solid brass or perforated anodised aluminium. All of the finishing details the architect wanted leave no room for error. Everything we built can pretty much be touched so there’s no where to hide if the quality isn’t there.

When you move through the main foyer and up to the existing building, you’re taken there by two spiral staircases which are wrapped in aluminium. This product is challenging to use in this application as there’s give in the material. The spiral uncoils with 4 different radiuses, so many templates have to be made for rolling panels. Then on the soffit all the panels are perforated, out of wind and with express joints. To overcome this we templated every panel in MDF, then 3D scanned them, then cut templates in thin gal sheets on our laser CNC, then test fit the new templates, then make adjustments to the laser file before finally cutting and fitting the final panels. Once again all edges are exposed. It’s a tedious process heightened by time pressure.

In order to achieve the client’s architectural vision for these complex works, we refined prototypes of different parts of the build off-site before installing them into the AWM Building. The finished works have been well received by the public and we are very proud to have contributed to this iconic Australian building.