Innholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2017 i Architectural Review Asia Pacific

Ethics in business. How do you hold on to them? This isn’t just a question for the architecture profession of course, but every industry trying to compete in an ever-changing, ever-ruthless economically uncertain and geopolitically unstable climate. It’s just as much of a challenge in journalism, especially print journalism, where the tide of digital has long since swallowed up many of the physical incarnations of loved and respected publications. To survive, do you jettison long-held principles in favour of simply going where the money is? Or do you have to be more strategic, and indeed pragmatic, about how you approach the market – both your advertisers and your audience? Our cover story this issue is a profile of the Danish architect Mette Lange, who would seem to be a one-woman…

Corporate social responsibility, as a concept, has been around since the 1960s, while its organic offspring, the triple bottom line, was coined as an expression by the founder of UK consultancy SustainAbility, John Elkington, in 1994. Since then the conventional three bottom lines – people, planet, profit – have been augmented by yet another line – purpose. Mette Lange Architects is a Danish practice, based in Copenhagen, which could be said to be an enviable exemplar of all four. Graduating from Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole (the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture) in 1990, Mette Lange, the practice’s founder, spent the first 12 years of her career working for a semi-large practice in the Danish capital. Half of that time was spent working part-time, following a decision to focus…

Winning government work requires a tender process to choose the best candidate. At its core, a tender is a precise request for information that must be satisfied completely and often the wording and requirements are stipulated by law. The winner should be an unbiased choice based on submitting the most suitable solution, and without any conflicting interest – arguably different to working for private clients. ADDRESS THE SELECTION CRITERIA There is no formula except to be clear and concise. It bears repeating that you must answer all the selection criteria within the tender request completely. The ability to respond to the project requirements combined with your past work are what will win. Complete planning solutions are rarely requested as part of the submission. Providing a planning solution to a government…

“IT WAS AN EXHILARATING, BEWILDERING AND EXCITING TIME TO THROW EVERYTHING UP IN THE AIR AND SEE HOW IT WOULD LAND!” “THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON I LEARNED IS THAT IT’S OK IF YOUR INITIAL VISIONS DON’T WORK OUT EXACTLY AS YOU ENVISAGED.” “Unlike many architects, I didn’t grow up from a young age knowing what I wanted to be,” says Alexandra Buchanan, who, despite this, is now the director of her own studio, Alexandra Buchanan Architecture (ABA). “I was brought up in deepest, darkest Devon in the UK, in a family where getting a trade was the norm over going to university. I didn’t know what an architect was, or that a career as an architect was available to me!” It was only when Buchanan was studying her A Levels…

A REVOLVING DOOR IS THE BEST POSSIBLE AUTOMATION PRODUCT IN THE MARKETPLACE TO CONTROL THE ENVIRONMENT OF A BUILDING. While the splendidly named H Bockhacker may have been granted the first German patent in 1881 for a Tür ohne Luftzug (door without draft of air), the equally magnificently monikered Theophilus van Kannel is generally regarded as the father of the revolving door, thanks to his patent of 1888. But apparently Kannel’s design was actually all to do with a certain level of misanthropy or, more so, misogyny. The story goes that he invented the revolving door because he simply hated holding doors open for people, especially women. It has also been reported that Kannel was a man without a family. These two facts may not be unrelated. Nevertheless, Kannel’s loss…

/ TOM JORDAN MANAGING DIRECTOR, HAYBALL A prerequisite of diversification is, in fact, specialisation - specialisation in any industry sector that an architect aims to be active in. After all, most clients seek architects with specialist expertise and knowledge in their project type. While some practices may specialise in one or a small number of project types, others, like Hayball, benefit from specialist expertise across a range of sectors and market locations. The benefits of diversification become more significant with practice size – and it has been a key strategy that we have adopted as we have grown over the last 30 years. There are a range of benefits for this type of diversification, beyond simply dealing with market risk. The most obvious case for project typology diversification is that…

WOMEN IN ARCHITECTURE WAS A GREAT ORGANISATION WHERE WE MET REGULARLY AND EXCHANGED STORIES ABOUT OUR WORK BATTLES AND TACKLED MANY ISSUES, INCLUDING CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND SAFETY, AND BETTER EDUCATION BUILDINGS. I graduated in 1979 from the University of Queensland with two other women, Fiona Gardiner who is now the director of the State Heritage Branch of the Queensland Government, and Helen Wilson, an architect practising in Sydney. We started the course with 10 women. We three surmise it was our education at private girls’ schools that gave us the wherewithal to survive a male dominated course. We simply believed we could do anything. We were shocked when we struck barriers and found it very funny. Upon graduation, I was fortunate to work with my architect father. I led a somewhat…

“WE SIMPLY BELIEVED WE COULD DO ANYTHING. WE WERE SHOCKED WHEN WE STRUCK BARRIERS AND FOUND IT VERY FUNNY.” / CATHERINE BAUDET, PAGE 14 “ARCHITECTS ARE ABSOLUTELY THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO BE DOING BIM… WE HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN THE VIEW THAT YOU EMPLOY CLEVER PEOPLE FOR THEIR ABILITY AS AN ARCHITECT ON THE BASIS THAT SOFTWARE IS A TOOL AND YOU CAN TEACH PEOPLE TO USE TOOLS.” / DARREN TIMS, PAGE 23 “BIM IS NO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE DID YESTERDAY; WE JUST ADDED TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE THE PROCESS OF DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING.” / MICHAEL RUEHR, PAGE 23 “IF I DIDN’T HAVE MY OWN BUSINESS, I THINK MAYBE I WOULD BE WORTHLESS IN OTHER STUDIOS, BECAUSE I’M ALWAYS CRAVING MY OWN WAYS OF DOING THINGS.” / METTE LANGE, PAGE…

“WHAT WAS GREAT IN WORKING WITH INGRID AND MICHAEL WAS HOW CONFIDENT AND CLEAR THEY WERE IN THEIR NEEDS AND PREFERENCES.” How did the Hawthorn house project come to you and evolve? The owners were recommended to us by a friend with whom we were doing some work. Ingrid and Michael were open, clear and decisive, so we established a very collaborative and responsive process right from the get-go. What were the key elements of the brief? The brief was to remediate a dark and restrictive interior and to create additional family spaces for a growing young family. A dated extension that was well used, but equally worn provided the main living space for the expanding family of four. The daily dance around toys, furniture and poorly located bathroom and…

WHETHER THEY REALISE IT OR NOT, MOST BUYERS ARE ATTRACTED TO THE IDEA OF BELONGING TO A COMMUNITY. Architecture is often cited as a representation of a time and place, and the notion of creating community is used across many creative fields, but is less appreciated as a business model. Interestingly, creating a community formed a central part of Pace of Collingwood’s development strategy, and became integral to the architectural approach by SJB. However, it wasn’t only for feel-good reasons that Pace Development Group asked us to focus on community: developments that embrace the idea of creating and connecting to communities attract buyers who value being a part of something bigger, rather than just providing a roof over their heads. Whether they realise it or not, most buyers are attracted…

/ MICHAEL ARGYROU JOINT MANAGING DIRECTOR, HICKORY In handling skill shortages in the construction industry, we’ve invested in professionals from the automotive sector who are skilled in manufacturing principles and can transfer their skills across. Hickory prefabricates many elements of the construction process through our subsidiaries, Hickory Building Systems, which manufactures prefabricated concrete structures used to deliver tall buildings and SYNC, which prefabricates bathroom pods. The construction of these prefabricated elements differs from traditional buildings as the majority of formation work is shifted to a manufacturing space, reducing on-site labour. The development of our building systems involved a substantial manufacturing investment into our Melbourne factory, with financial support from the Commonwealth Government under the Manufacturing Transition Program. The Victorian State Government’s Department of Economic Development also provided investment assistance to…