Emagn PROJECT
AWARD

Leadership 

Three months after her architectural registration was formalised, Hariklia Pontikinas assumed the role of Project Architect for Russell & Yelland (R&Y) on Nazareth Catholic Community’s St Gabriel Centre in Underdale. With almost a decade of experience, Hariklia had already been a key contributor to R&Y’s design and delivery of the 2018-completed Caritas building at Flinders Park. This established relationship with the school and builder proved central to the success of the St Gabriel Centre: one of R&Y’s fastest, large-scale education refurbishments in its 80-year history.
With just nine months to deliver the project, Hariklia worked swiftly, with support from Graduate of Architecture, Jessica Weiland, and final year Student of Architecture, Georgie Warren. Under the guidance of R&Y’s Project Directors, Hariklia learned quickly what information would be crucial to explore and what would risk delaying completion. To maintain construction momentum, she set up a temporary office on site, sharing well-organised 3D models to keep all parties informed and solve problems quickly in the round.

Renovating a disused 90s commercial premises uncovered various latent issues, which required speedy resolutions to keep the project on track. Hariklia built confidence as she juggled input from the client, builder and subcontractors, learning to speak with authority on issues of safety and delivery quality. Mindful of the opportunities she had been given by her directors on earlier projects, Hariklia delegated key components of the project, which fast-tracked the juniors’ skills development. On the back of a strong design concept Jessica developed the design of interior spaces. She also shadowed Hariklia during contract administration, observing and participating in the assessment of tender packages

Collaboration 

Hariklia, Jessica and Georgie worked as a tight-knit team on the St Gabriel Centre project, seeking direction from the client, then setting goals together and dividing tasks to maximise efficiencies. The trio would meet regularly to discuss design problems, testing and resolving design propositions before presenting options to the client.

Each party began the project with different levels of experience, but all committed to support one another to advance the project and their teammates’ skills. As a recently registered Architect with extensive education experience, Hariklia offered consistent support and advice to her team. Georgie paid close attention to precise, fast-paced documentation, while Hariklia and Jess attended site and administered the project, working closely with the site manager to resolve issues as they arose. The pair would write and issue instructions for the builders and subcontractors, always asking questions to anticipate forthcoming issues as the build progressed. Driven to deliver a timely and compelling end product, the team maintained robust, open communications channels, ensuring they remained a reliable information source for the client and for those on site.

As a graduating Student of Architecture, Georgie attributed the depth of her learning on the project to the generosity of her collaborative team. Both Hariklia and Jessica dedicated time to explaining why particular tasks were important, and summarised current and pending project stages for Georgie. This empowering, collegial approach is consistently modelled at Russell & Yelland, where knowledge is prized, and considered best achieved when “learning through doing.” In their dedication to the project and flexibility in tackling tasks as required, all members of the team reported significant professional growth. Hariklia learned independence and was rewarded with a promotion to Associate. Jessica stretched her design capability and honed contract administration skill – learning from Hariklia’s experience and testing her own fledgling leadership skills.

Expertise and quality of architecture

Anticipating a compressed project schedule, the project team divided various key tasks according to individual strengths, while being mindful of growing their skills and knowledge in less familiar areas of design and project delivery.

After a decade specialising in education projects, Hariklia established a compelling design concept that would resonate with users and support accelerated works on site. Her expertise helped to close any gaps between the client’s brief and the specific end user requirements. Having worked on the earlier Caritas Centre project, she offered a working understanding of how new design approaches were contributing to advanced curriculum delivery for Nazareth as the school continued its expansion. In particular, Hariklia drew on past analysis of how senior students naturally gathered in circular groups in breakout zones, or how they sought variety in their learning and socialising environments. This knowledge enabled faster resolution during design refinements, ensuring clear, evidence-based instruction was given to subcontractors on site, when build time was of the essence.

Georgie’s naturally efficient and accurate 3D modelling skills were put to good use, and she created compelling flythroughs and videos to support the school when communicating plans and progress to stakeholders. A flexible member of the team, she turned her attention to various tasks as needed. Georgie practiced her design skills during concept and design development stages, but was a primary support in her production of visualisation tools and reliable documentation.

With previous experience in the design and documentation of school canteens, Jessica assumed responsibility for developing internal details. Standout elements included the the ground floor cafeteria and eye-catching displays like the periodic table feature wall in the open science laboratories. But Jessica still managed to break out of her comfort zone, building her knowledge of flexible, open plan learning area design, and developing skills in construction administration.