Innholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2017 i Architectural Review Asia Pacific

Regular readers of the new format Architectural Review will have noticed something a little amiss with the last issue and this one – namely debates that aren’t actually debates at all. To be worthy of the name, a debate really has to have at least two sides to it. In AR151 we thought the flammable cladding in buildings issue such an important one that it really didn’t warrant space put aside for anyone foolhardy enough to say, ‘we’re totally OK in this department – we’re on the bus, ding ding’. We left it entirely up to Scott Williamson of the Fire Protection Association of Australia to explain the situation and what it means for architects. That’s not the case with this issue’s debate though. The topic is a thorny one…

“FOR ME, THERE WAS NEVER THIS SORT OF ‘OTHER WORLD’ THAT I WAS CROSSING INTO. DESPITE THAT, I COULDN’T THINK OF A MORE CHALLENGING JOB.” “You grow up quickly when you start your own practice. It changes everything,” says Ben Mountford, principal and director of Mountford Architects. “You change your outlook, because you have to wear so many hats, and you become aware of all the responsibilities and connections that a project has, as well as the internal running of the business.” Since kicking off his studio, Mountford’s life has changed – in some ways a lot, in other ways just a little. Growing up the son of a carpenter/builder, he spent much of his childhood around buildings, often visiting sites. “I remember being on some sites for houses by…

WHEN AN EXTERNAL OR INTERNAL THREAT BECOMES APPARENT, IT’S MUCH SAFER FOR ALL CONCERNED IF DOORS CAN BE CLOSED AND SECURED WITH JUST THE FLICK OF A SWITCH OR PUSH OF A BUTTON. Rule 35 of the Geneva Convention states: “Directing an attack against a zone established to shelter the wounded, the sick and civilians from the effects of hostilities is prohibited.” And yet this year alone has seen appalling bombings of hospitals in Idlib and Aleppo in Syria and in Bangkok in Thailand. Meanwhile, Australia has experienced several well-publicised cases of horrific and unwarranted acts of violence against healthcare workers in our hospitals. In the most tragic recent example, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann was killed by a coward’s punch assault at Box Hill Hospital in June. There was…

/ GERALD MATTHEWS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MATTHEWS ARCHITECTS We train ourselves to be agile. Agility is more important than foresight. There is plenty of speculation about possible futures, but fundamentally no one knows what’s going to happen. Anyone who makes prophecies about the future is probably selling something. I ride a motorcycle and the first rule of staying alive on one is making sure you don’t have more momentum than you can control in whatever distance you can see ahead of you… and paying attention. The same approach needs to be applied to business. We constantly work to improve our agility by giving everyone in our team the chance to broaden their experience and expertise. No one is allowed to rest on their existing strengths. It’s easy to confuse specialisation with…

“THE FACT THAT WE ARE CALLED OMA, OR OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE, ALREADY MEANS IT’S NOT FIXED TO REM [KOOLHAAS] ONLY… IT’S A SHELL IN WHICH A LOT OF THINGS CAN HAPPEN.” / DAVID GIANOTTEN, PAGE 14 “IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENABLE A CONVERGENCE BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND SIMULATED WORLDS IN A SINGLE REALM HERALD THE NEXT PARADIGM.” / IAN NAZARETH, PAGE 20 “ONLY HERITAGE LISTS OR REGISTERS GOVERNED BY STATE OR COMMONWEALTH ACTS ARE LEGALLY BINDING. THE NATIONAL TRUST’S LIST IS, FOR INSTANCE, NON-BINDING.” / SUSANNE KENNEDY, PAGE 24 “OUR STRONG REPUTATION IN INTERIOR DESIGN HAS ALSO HELPED THE BUSINESS, AS THE TIMELINES OF THESE JOBS ARE RELATIVELY FAST-PACED.” / NICK TRAVERS, PAGE 62 “ANYONE WHO MAKES PROPHECIES ABOUT THE FUTURE IS PROBABLY SELLING SOMETHING.” / GERALD MATTHEWS, PAGE 62 “WITH…

HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE AND PROTECTION Buildings, places and objects are legally protected at the local, state, national or international level, when considered important for our understanding of history and development in a corresponding area. If protected, a property cannot be developed without a permit or permit exemption from the Heritage Office, which oversees the protective register, list or overlay. (An overlay is a local government planning tool for regulating municipal development.) Heritage importance or ‘significance’ can relate to architectural style and fabric, landscape, archaeology, aesthetic, culture or science, or a combination of these. Ilana Kister recently finished restoring and converting an 1890s bluestone Gothic Revival church in Collingwood, Victoria, into a family home. The church is protected under the City of Yarra Heritage Overlay HO336 as “an individually significant building”. IDENTIFYING…

We all know the world can be an uncertain place. This feeling of uncertainty comes from a rate of change that is frequently uncomfortable and concerning in its unpredictability. How can the status quo refer to an existing state of affairs any longer? It surely must now refer to a constantly changing state of social and political affairs based on the sociopolitical revolutions and surprises we are witnessing across the world. The only thing that we can predict with any certainty about the future is that it is impossible to predict it at all. But one thing we can rely on is experience, and plenty of it, to make some well-researched and supported assumptions of the kinds of changes and developments we can expect. And experience is something Schiavello has…

Let’s put this into context: at state level, Heritage classification is a high threshold. Heritage can’t, and shouldn’t ever be a flippant exercise that registers buildings without deep thought and consideration. Cities will need to grow and change over time. It’s what remains that is crucial as a social and cultural marker. More context: the New South Wales Heritage Council is not a council out of control, nor one making flippant decisions. Last year it recommended only 24 buildings be listed on the State Heritage Register. NSW has over 13,000,000 buildings. Clearly, they are not a bunch of rampant NIMBYs. The Heritage Council has a broad cross-section of representation that help it make sound decisions – from economists to architects, landscape architects, developers, community representatives, government, Heritage and many more,…

I MADE VERY DELIBERATE CHOICES TO WANT TO HAVE A BROAD SPECTRUM. I WANTED TO BUILD AND I WANTED TO REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW THAT WORKED. Following Sean Godsell in 2014, Amanda Levete (AL_A) in 2015 and Bijoy Jain (Studio Mumbai) in 2016, OMA has created the fourth in a series of temporary structures in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens. The MPavilion is an annual project, built to house a four-month program of talks, events, performances and installations. It’s become a firm favourite on the Melbourne design calendar – with another two iterations confirmed in July of this year – but, in the grand scheme of things, it could be considered a relatively minor project for a company renowned for its global reach and ambitious projects. To believe this would be to…

State: If state significant, a building is listed on the Heritage Register of the state it is located in – if in Western Australia, the State Heritage Office WA, if in Launceston, the Tasmanian Heritage Council Register, for example. State registration automatically triggers local significance. Local: Heritage Overlays within municipal planning schemes are how councils protect and manage properties with local significance. Each state has its own Act pertaining to its local planning schemes/environment plans. Victoria’s is called the Planning and Environment Act 1987, and Western Australia’s is the Planning and Development Act (2005), for instance. You can find this information, with simplified guidelines on the relevant council website. National: If classified as nationally significant, a building is included on the Department of Environment’s National Heritage List or Commonwealth Heritage…

“WE HAVE TO CONSIDER DIFFERENT FACTORS LIKE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, USER LIFESTYLE, LOCAL CULTURE, AND LEGAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS. BUILDING UP THIS LOCAL EXPERTISE IS HARD WORK, AND IT TAKES TIME.” – THOMAS STEMPER GroupGSA is an award-winning integrated design practice and is successful across the global market. With its foundations in Australia, GSA is also now well established in Ho Chi Minh, Shanghai and Beijing. Thomas Stemper is the newly appointed principal of GSAStudio Shanghai and, alongside a wealth of knowledge in urban planning, commercial architecture and interior design, he brings an extensive business background in international and multicultural environments. Having been practising for over 12 years across the German, US and Chinese markets, Stemper is well-versed in the advantages, and the hardships, of brokering a foreign market. “Having previously…

 Architect’s statement. Sussex Street was designed and built for an owner who wanted a small two-bedroom home that made the most of light and space on a small 295-square metre, narrow suburban block. Importance was placed on ensuring comfort, amenity (visual and environmental quality), ease of use and maintenance, accessibility and long-term affordability. “SPECIFIC INCLUSIONS WERE PASSIVE SOLAR, AN EDIBLE GARDEN, A SPACE TO READ IN THE SUN DURING WINTER, ‘SECURE-ABILITY’, THE FATHER’S FURNITURE, WARM MATERIALS LIKE TIMBER AND THE ALLOWANCE FOR COOL BREEZES TO PASS THROUGH.” The design needed to be clever, easily organised, flexible, healthy, optimistic and enriching. The owner was well-informed on ecologically sustainable development (ESD) principles and sought for the design to make use of as many of the block’s natural resources as possible and to…

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