Architectural Happenings in Perth

Last Issue of The Architect for 2011 now available on line

pertharchitecture — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:21:38 +0000

The third edition of The Architect for 2011 is now available on-line. This edition is an education edition, featuring an (unfortunately at times ill-informed) editorial on the BER, a great call-to-arms from the WA Chapter President, news from the Institute and really well-thought-out reviews of three buildings : the UWA Early Learning Centre by Hames Sharley, the Year 7 Transition Building at John XIII College by Broderick Architects, and the Moerlina Primary School Refurbishment and New Early Learning Centre by Corey Jones. Following this is a discussion with Armstrong Parkin about their recent Trade Training Centre projects, a review of the recent Affirmative Architecture Symposium and a lovely short essay on the Architecture Building at Curtin Uni. I really like the format of including lots of plans and other drawings, and balancing the architects’ words with an independent reviewer – a great step forward for editor Andrew Murray in his first year on the job. Would be interesting at some point to see some cross-fertilisation amongst some of the topics eg the discussion on Trade Training Centres could have maybe also included Gresley Abas who have done a few great examples lately, and see what the similarities / differences in the process were. Same with the two Early Learning Centres – could have been interesting to get the two architects (or two reviewers?) together and see what the development and changes of this building type says about architecture as a whole.

It would be nice if this publication could be a bit more inclusive – not sure how firms / projects get ‘picked’ for this? Particularly on a edition focussing on education, which so many architects were involved in, in the past few years, it could have been an idea to put a call out to all those architects involved to give comment, and provide feedback. And especially a shame that CEFPI wasn’t included or invited to comment, considering so many architects in Perth are members, and use it as an important resource on the development of educational faciltities.

Overall I think this is quite a good issue, and it is really starting to read much more as a cohesive magazine, put together for information, discussion and debate, rather than written just by architects for architects. I like it, look forward to seeing what next year brings (hopefully a hardcopy??!!).

Officer Woods featured on Australian Design Review

pertharchitecture — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:10:57 +0000

The beautiful work and practice of Officer Woods has been featured in a very well-written interview on Australian Design Review. Some really nice sentiments on their design theories and mode of practice.

Going Solo

pertharchitecture — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:56:41 +0000

I’ve been in my firm for about five or so years now, and been out of uni for about 10. It’s a medium sized firm, not big or very well known but it does ok. The people are good and the architecture ranges between ‘bread and butter’ to innovative large projects. But always around this time of year, when you’re catching up with old friends and networking with new ones, there comes The Proposition Between Friends – should we quit our jobs and start our own company? Ohh it does sound good – the opportunity to do my own designs, and create the kind of company that I want to be working at. Sometimes I feel I am so restricted by the designs of the director that I don’t get a chance to use my skills. But it is of course also a quite confronting idea – what if I don’t get enough clients? How do I even fund a new business in the first place? And do I really want that responsibility?

So, in an effort to get more info about a pipe-dream, I thought I’d put it out to you, readers. If you’ve started your own firm, any tips, hints, recommendations to help me weigh up the options? Can you ‘ease’ yourself in to a new firm or do you really have to ‘cut and run’? Would it be practical to stay back and Admin a project, while starting a new one? And if you don’t have family nearby is there really any chance of getting clients? Is it best to start with residential? And then finally, what happened to your best mate friendship once you’ve decided to start a business together?

Would love to hear any of your thoughts, it’s a tough decision!

Phillip Griffiths wins Architects Board Prize

pertharchitecture — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:47:19 +0000

Back in November, according to the new ArchitectureAU site, Philip Griffiths was awarded the Architects Board of WA’s Board Award for ‘outstanding contribution to the architectural profession.’ Well done to Philip who has been a great supporter of Perth’s heritage, and produced some great architecture along the way.

He is also involved with the AIA’s Heritage Committee (so its a bit of a shame the Institute didn’t shout out a congratulations in their latest e-news).

I couldn’t find a complete list of Board Award winners but they have included Warren Kerr (2006), Ron Bodycoat (2008) and Geoffrey London (2009). Anyone know any others?

What can we learn from East Perth and Subi developments?

pertharchitecture — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:37:05 +0000

Planning Minister John Day has released case studies on Subi Centro and Claisebrook Village, to try and inform future urban planning and development.

“Both Claisebrook Village and Subi Centro had ambitious targets and, some 20 years later have set the trend for higher density living and innovation in urban regeneration,” Minister Day said. “In 1991, Claisebrook was an abandoned industrial wasteland, badly in need of regeneration. Today, it embodies the original objectives set by the East Perth Redevelopment Authority to create a modern urban community, while retaining and protecting the rich heritage and natural setting of the area.”

The Minister said the Subi Centro project was an internationally-recognised example of a transit-oriented development that demonstrated how a new community could be integrated into a well-established inner-city suburb.

“In creating Subi Centro, the Subiaco Redevelopment Authority relocated the railway and Subiaco Train Station underground – a bold decision for its time. This allowed Subiaco to be reconnected with the northern suburbs and made way for the popular Subiaco Square precinct,” he said.

Mr Day said that with a new amalgamated Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority scheduled to commence on January 1, 2012, it was important to reflect and learn from these early projects.

The Subi Centro case study can be found here and the Claisebrook Village case study here.

Where’s Perth’s architectural creativity?

pertharchitecture — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:01:28 +0000

There was an interesting letter to the editor in Saturday’s paper this week, basically asking why Perth architecture is all so boring and uninspiring, in response to Linley Lutton’s critical comments on our city published last week. (See this article too for a response.) I won’t publish the whole letter but note these parts :

“While one does not expect our so-called architects to be in the league of Anton Gaudi of some 100 years ago, surely they could be outside of the square in imagination – or should I say out of the shoebox mentality in their designs? The current breed of apartments showing their flat faces are extremely boring…Even in former Soviet Union countries, the apartment blocks now being designed…show decades of imagination far beyond our Perth designers. They are simply not oblong boxes with the same balconies everywhere, but actually show imagination with variations, interesting shapes, carved columns and more. It’s not an Australian thing totally because there have been a few interesting shapes on our eastern borders…Can someone please tell me what it is with Perth architects? Is it our universities, perhaps an ancient curriculum, an easy exam standard or is it just too much sun killing the imagination here? Maybe it’s our councils because I believe they give no guidance or involvement at all.”

So what do we think? Are we boring? And if so, why? Where are the opportunities for the architecture innovation that seem to occur so easily in other states? I really seem to struggle to push clients to want to be innovative sometimes, and I think also there is not the competition here yet between companies / offices / apartments to try and raise the bar. Look at Perth’s biggest office project ever :

BHP tower - photo from Skyscraper City

140William - Photo from AIA website gallery

and you can see that it was designed primarily to maximise lettable area, not any particular architectural design. But then at the same time, HASSELL does this magnificent building:

So the question is, why the difference? Both offices, both city locations. Same architects, so it can’t be that the architects aren’t creative, it must be that the client just doesn’t want to try. As architects, I think we all would love to be more creative, unfortunately we just don’t often get the opportunity. How can you convince a client that they should properly design their apartment building, when the off-the-shelf ‘shoebox’ down the road is selling for the same amount? What is the client’s motivation to build better architecture? It seems most of the well designed buildings lately have had at least part public funding (140William, State Theatre, Fiona Stanley Hospital), whereas private developers maybe just want to make profit and not allow the architects to put too much ‘design thought’ in to it. Should local councils enforce more stringent design guidelines for private developers to ‘force’ creativity??

Like most of my posts…more questions than answsers…what do you guys think??

The Aviary opens in one40William

pertharchitecture — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:19:32 +0000

The Aviary - photo from Habitus Living

Anyone been to the Aviary yet, the new rooftop bar at one40? It was featured in Habitus Living this week – looks like a great place to start enjoying this summer heat. (Although not sure what it looks like with people – great architectural photos!) I’m liking this emerging trend of rooftop bars in the city, lets hope it continues. Although this is looking better than The C0nservatory – at least hopefully won’t have such rude staff and ridiculous price tags!

Shortlisted firms for the Venice Biennale Pavilion announced

pertharchitecture — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:55:40 +0000

I can’t write a critique of the shortlisted firms for the Venice Biennale Pavilion any better than Peter Johns, so just going to direct you straight to his brilliant post. Seems to be the way most of these big architectural comps are going – not really encouraging emerging firms or attempting to break the mould at all…

Update from The Age The Agethis morning, apparently ‘architects broadly welcomed the shortlist’…hmmm…

2012 AIA WA Awards to include jury presentations

pertharchitecture — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:21:07 +0000

So I got a letter from the Institute last weekend announcing that from next year, entrants to the Institute’s architecture awards will have to present the design / building to a jury, which will be open to the public. Apparently quite a few of the other states are already doing this. The jury will also still inspect the works. I like the idea of this, in terms of going and listening to other firms presenting their work and the ideas behind their built form (tho would be &@$”-scared to present one of my own!). It allows the jury to get an idea of the people behind the design, and I guess if the presentations are open to the public, then might make the process more transparent? Or could it start to get more about the designer and less about the design? Will be interesting to see how this unfolds, and I wonder if they will have all the entrants from each category presenting one after the other, for an interesting comparison. Also, if the public are able to attend, can they have a voice? It would be great if they could contribute to the discussion of what makes ‘good’ (or award-winning) architecture, as opposed to industry insiders. Looking forward to seeing how this unfolds.

$200m D&C contract for Perth waterfront advertised

pertharchitecture — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:39:18 +0000

Perth Waterfront - pic from WA Business News

The State Government is advertising for a contractor to design and construct the $200 million public space of the Perth Waterfront redevelopment. The scope includes the creation of the new inlet and surrounding public space, the construction of the island centrepiece, a public access jetty and public transport berth and sites for future private sector development.

“We are looking for a very experienced team to help deliver the transformation of Perth’s waterfront – connecting the city to the Swan River and creating an attractive destination for the people of Perth and visitors alike,” Planning Minister John Day said.

“The early involvement of the managing contractor for this important part of the project will mean a high level of collaboration with the State’s own project team; more efficient delivery of the project; and encourage innovation in design and construction.”