Royal Far West, the 95-year-old iconic Australian charity has commissioned Australia’s most decorated architect, Glenn Murcutt AO to design its beachfront headquarters at Manly.

Murcutt will collaborate with accomplished architect and designer, Angelo Candalepas of Candalepas Associates to create a beautiful campus for Royal Far West (RFW) that will allow the charity to help more country kids in need and future-proof their work for the next 100 years.

RFW CEO Lindsay Cane AM says, “Our vision is to deliver a beautifully integrated health and wellbeing ‘campus’ that is inclusive, open and innovative – one that draws different people and local businesses together as a community to support our work of bringing vulnerable country kids to the beach to receive specialist health services while enjoying the warm hospitality of the local community.

“We chose to partner with Glenn and Angelo as they represent iconic, accomplished architectural talent for an iconic site – not only are they globally acclaimed, but Glenn, as a former local, intimately knows the micro-climate, light and landscape of Manly.”

Murcutt says he is honoured to accept the commission and excited to partner with RFW on their joint vision for the transformation of the site.

“Having grown up in Clontarf and attended the former Manly Boys High School, I’ve been well aware of the great service provided by RFW over many decades and have recently seen the challenges they face with their growing service demand,” he explains.

“By opening up the site, Angelo and I intend to deliver on RFW’s inspired vision of a wellbeing campus that will not only help secure RFW’s future in a highly responsible way, but also allow the charity to grow and help more and more country children.

“We are also aligned with RFW in that we see this commission as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give back to Manly by supporting local jobs and existing businesses and improving the Manly visitation experience. By rejuvenating the southern portion of this site, we intend to unlock its great potential.”

“RFW is expanding rapidly in an effort to meet the rising challenge of country kids in need – in the last 10 years we have grown ten-fold in terms of the numbers of people we have supported," says Candelapas.

“In the next 10 years we will have a greater challenge again – in addition to expanding our footprint, we’ll also be investigating ways the campus can provide co-locating opportunities for organisations aligned with our values as well as residential, retail and commercial opportunities that will safeguard the charity’s future for the next 100 years.”

Image: (L-R) Angelo Candalepas, Glenn Murcutt and Lindsay Cane at the Royal Far West site (Photo: Andrew Harrington - Polymer Studios)

Architecture News & Editorial Desk

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