How could the Gold Coast reduce its reliance on cars in the years ahead? Where would Southeast Queensland source water and power in a changing climate? And just what could Brisbane really look like decades after the Olympics are over?
These are the big questions we asked ourselves at the annual Architectus Design Charrette – a hallmark of our practice now in its 17th year.
Intensely creative and highly collaborative, the event sees designers from different disciplines, locations, and experience levels take on a unique urban design challenge for one of Australia’s major cities.
Together, we propose design innovations and urban regeneration that inject energy and vitality into key destinations, connect with Country, and build social, economic, and environmental resilience.
A region in the spotlight
This year we turned our minds to Brisbane and South East Queensland (SEQ), with sites across a 200-kilometre coastal corridor, from Maroochydore to Coolangatta.
A region of extraordinary natural beauty and exciting opportunities, SEQ is also under mounting pressure from fragmented planning, rapid expansion, and climate change.
Our theoretical challenge: Reimagine sites across a 200-kilometre coastal corridor, from Maroochydore to Coolangatta
Beyond 2032
Our teams imagined ways to keep the region thriving for the next 100 years – well beyond 2032.
Sustainable transport plays a key role in all our concepts for the sites, which incorporate a mix of high speed and light rail.
Two of the most important lessons we learned exploring the region’s potential future:
• Communities that flourish will embrace critical infrastructure as part of everyday life, often living and working alongside it.
• The best planning and development will work with the environment instead of against it.
Opportunity #1: The way we travel
Concept: The Transport Transformer
In Gold Coast City, almost 67% of people travel to work in a private car, the latest census shows. Queensland also has the highest proportion of residents living outside its capital city than any other state in Australia, fuelling further car domination. Can we change that?
Our designers see a more liveable future where transport in the region becomes more sustainable over time.
We’ve designed a multi-modal transport exchange and future community near the junction of the M1 freeway and a new rail line connecting to Gold Coast light rail.
Highlights
• The building transforms over time, starting life as a hub for rail parking, charging electric vehicles, or stowing bikes. Over time, it also becomes a landing spot for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft – aka the ‘flying taxi’, an autonomous form of transport slated for SEQ.
• Further into the future, the carpark is ready for adaptive re-use as housing and commercial space to meet the changing needs of the community.
• Green land bridges span the Gold Coast Highway, reconnecting the airport precinct to the ocean and restoring ecological corridors.
• The design reveals and restores the floodplain. Wetlands to absorb water and breathe with the landscape.
• With rail infrastructure elevated, the precinct becomes a pedestrian-focused, flood-resilient precinct, supporting long-term sustainability goals.
Overall, the site has capacity for almost 134,000 sqm of Gross Building Area (GBA) for residential – with 1,100+ apartments – and 112,000+ sqm for commercial.
Gold Coast site: The Transport Transformer
Opportunity #2: The energy we produce
Concept: The Solar-Powered Super Station
As a region with abundant sunshine, Brisbane and SEQ have opportunities to produce as much power as they use.
Large-scale solar made up 7% of all Australian electricity generation in 2024 – a growth rate of 3,000+ percent since 2016. (Department of Climate Change, Energy and Water)
To that end, our teams cast Helensvale Station as a model for future transport architecture that generates its own energy, supports local sustainability, and enriches public space.
Highlights
• Banks of solar panels on the roof and façade turn the station into a mini renewable energy hub generating power to run high-speed rail and supply the surrounding community.
• A nearby windfarm provides additional power to the station and surrounding community.
• Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles make Helensvale a complete renewable energy node for both public and private transport.
• Like the design concepts across all our Charrette sites, the architecture and public realm incorporate the best of biophilic design to bring people closer to nature.
Overall, the site supports 43,00 sqm of residential, 32,000 sqm of research and learning space, a 30,000 sqm transport hub, plus other cultural, retail and hospitality spaces.
Helensvale site: The Solar-Powered Super Station
Opportunity #3: The way we live
Concept: The Climate-Responsive Community
Climate change is re-defining where and how we live – and the kind of housing we need.
By 2050, the number of coastal communities located in high and very high-risk areas nationally will increase. (National Climate Risk Assessment, 2025)
What if neighbourhoods could readily adapt to the unpredictable effects of global warming, thriving in both wet and dry conditions?
Near Petrie Station and the North Pine River, we envisioned a dynamic, multi-connected community that plays to the strengths of its location alongside river and rail.
Distinctly sub-tropical and primarily made from sustainably sourced timber, the neighbourhood demonstrates how we can become more adaptable and resilient as a society.
Highlights
• Timber-framed, solar-powered buildings on floating pontoons rise and fall with changing water levels.
• Elevated walkways and boardwalks link people across the buildings, to recreational areas, and to rapid transport, including water ‘taxis’ on the river.
• In ‘wet mode’, the community’s elevated buildings and thoroughfares remain open and active. In ‘dry mode’, riverside spaces previously at water level become a feature, rising up from the landscape.
• Deep balconies and lightweight screens on the buildings help to reduce heat, while solar panels make use of sunny conditions.
• Native Australian trees and plants are abundant, cooling the air, supporting natural ecosystems and creating a healthy place to live.
Overall, the site supports 1.1 million sqm of Gross Floor Area (GFA), with buildings up to 25 levels near the station and smaller structures at the river’s edge. The precinct’s 5000 dwellings can house12,500 people with high-rise development.
Petrie site: The Climate-Responsive Community
Opportunity #4: The water we source
Concept: The Hydro Hub
Like many countries, Australia is facing greater threats to water security due to climate change.
Increased severe floods and bushfires will degrade water quality, placing pressure on already limited water sources. (National Climate Risk Assessment, 2025)
With the race on to develop our water recycling capacity, our teams have proposed an innovative ‘Hydro Hub’ for both water treatment and research located next to Sunshine Coast Airport in Maroochydore.
Highlights
• The precinct’s timber buildings are set among restored waterways and native vegetation, creating a landscape where technology and ecology coexist.
• Wind turbines atop the facilities harness coastal winds, supporting solar energy systems that power on-site research.
• As it advances our capacity for greywater and blackwater recycling, the hub positions the Sunshine Coast as a leader in renewable water resources and climate resilience.
Overall, the site supports more than 126,000 sqm GBA for residential and 113,000+ sqm for commercial.
Sunshine Coast site: The Hydro Hub
Blue-sky thinking for long-term resilience
“Brisbane’s transformation in the lead-up to 2032 presents a rare opportunity to think about what happens after the Olympics,” says Architectus CEO Ray Brown.
“The Charrette encourages blue-sky thinking about the long-term resilience of our cities; how we live with infrastructure, adapt to climate change, and design for generations to come.”
To learn more about our use of AI in visualising our concepts for SEQ, read our ‘Picturing the future’ article. To see our other ideas for the future of Australia’s cities, visit our Design Charrette, Urban Design and Urban Planning pages.
Design Charrette: Blue-sky thinking for long-term resilience
Thanks to our 2025 Charrette contributors
We want to thank the inspiring and insightful guest speakers who participated in our 2025 Charrette, offering diverse perspectives on topics such as sustainability, cultural knowledge, and emerging technologies.
Our contributors were: Haico Schepers, Principal and Arup Fellow – Building Physics and Sustainable Buildings, Arup; Bree Trevena, PhD, Australasia Foresight Leader and Associate Principal, Arup; Carroll Go-Sam, Dyirbal gumbilbara bama of Ravenshoe, North Queensland, architect and academic at The University of Queensland; and Tom Caska, Founder and CEO, Aerologix.
