Innholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2018 i Architectural Review Asia Pacific

In the last issue of AR we featured a married couple who run their architectural practice together. Rosa Coy and George Yiontis are still a comparative rarity in the industry, and talked to us of client preconceptions and gender-based prejudices being an issue even today. But what must it have been like over 35 years ago when Carme Pinós set up a small practice with her husband Enric Miralles, in post-Franco Barcelona? Challenging is the answer. Clients would routinely ignore her and only address Miralles. But if that was hard, how very much harder did it become once she and Miralles divorced? Born and bred in Barcelona, Pinós stayed there to establish her own practice after the split. Despite her experience and skills, she was faced with a profession that…

Leadership qualities. My rule is respect. I try to give space to people, to convince them that we are in the same boat, but they must believe this. My goals are their goals. Current economic challenges. I’m looking abroad, out of my country. I started working in Mexico 20 years ago and I’m now focusing there and in France, especially with all the political difficulties in my region, Catalonia. Advice for young architects starting out. It’s not easy for young people because when I was young, the idea of being an architect was more humanist. Now it seems the pressures of the market require a focus on big offices, more standard projects that are anonymous and luxurious, or pragmatic offices. Young people are working on contracts and maybe they have…

It may be difficult for people to connect a farm upbringing with a creative pursuit like architecture, but for Kate FitzGerald, founder of Whispering Smith, it was these formative years spent getting involved in all aspects of farm life that drove a passion for thinking and making. “Farming is all about teamwork and coming up with clever solutions to problems,” says FitzGerald, “and as kids we always had access to tools, space and plenty of time to build or invent things. That is where I began solving problems via making.” FitzGerald grew up in rural Victoria spending her time riding horses and mustering stock. Unsurprisingly, she wanted to become a vet, until she found out at an open day that the degree was “more textbooks and not many animals”. It…

Name of project: La Massana Fine Arts School Location: Plaza Gardunya Nº 9, Barcelona Client: Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona Promoter: Ajuntament de Barcelona, BIM/SA Dates: Contest: 2006. 1st prize Preliminary draft: 2007 Basic project: 2008 Executive project: 2010 Start of work: 2015 Completion date: September 2017 Area: Effective: 10,050 square metres Built: 11,010 square metres Cost: PEC project: €11.5 million PEC final: €11.1 million Fees: €912,030.76 Euros Complete mission (origin contract) Architect team: Architect, project author: Carme Pinós Desplat Project manager: Samuel Arriola Design team: Elsa Martí, Roberto Carlos García, Holger Hennefarth, Blanca Perote, Ana Isabel Rodríguez, Inés Senghour, Francisco Olivas Consultants: Structural engineer: Boma – Masala consultants Mechanical and electrical engineer: Indus Ing eniería y Arquitectura Project manager: Entropia – PCG Builder: UTE Massana (Acciona – Copcisa) Photography: Estudio…

“WHEN WE SPLIT, ALL THE PHOTOS WERE FOR ENRIC [MIRALLES], AND I DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY. BUT I AM HERE. NOW IT’S A LITTLE DIFFERENT, BUT IT IS STILL NOT SO EASY TO BE A WOMAN ALONE.” / CARME PINÓS, PAGE 16 “THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE FROM THE CLIENTS HAS BEEN THAT THEY USED TO HAVE THE WORST KINDERGARTEN AND NOW THEY HAVE THE BEST.” / ANDREW HOLLOWAY, PAGE 31 “THE SCANT PLANNING OF TRANSPORT, EDUCATION, HEALTH, SPORTING AND COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE HAS NOT KEPT PACE WITH THE CITY’S GROWTH, AND HAS MADE MELBOURNE AN INCREASINGLY AWFUL AND EXPENSIVE PLACE FOR A LARGE PROPORTION OF ITS INHABITANTS TO LIVE.” / JAN VAN SCHAIK, PAGE 64 “NO MATTER YOUR BELIEFS OR IDEALS ABOUT DESIGN, RUNNING A BUSINESS IS ALWAYS ABOUT CASH FLOW AND STAFF.” /…

Proudest career moment to date. Getting registered as a self-employed architect and providing a space for other young architects to develop at Whispering Smith. Winning a State Architecture award as a 32-year-old female director was also one of the proudest moments for me personally. Most important lessons learned along the way. There used to be some big egos in architecture and I personally think there’s no room for that anymore – it’s a service industry, and our personal and industry reputations are too important in the bigger scheme of things. Favourite project to date. House A (see page 50) because it gave us a soapbox and megaphone, like this one we’re using now! Advice for up-and-coming architects. Get some skills in business and learn how other professions are staying profitable…

Architect’s statement. Whispering Smith’s House A is a challenge to the status quo of housing in Perth. The sustainable apartment-house hybrid is designed for small lots and uses commercial materials in an innovative way to achieve a tight footprint and carbon neutral status. The brief was to take a 175-square metre block under Perth’s single bedroom dwelling code, and make an affordable and sustainable home for Whispering Smith’s director, Kate FitzGerald and her partner. House A is 70 square metres of compact, flexible and delightful spaces, which are capable of hosting a dinner party for 30 guests, illustrating that small can be big. House A was the first house of three by Whispering Smith, in partnership with FitzGerald’s father. The diminutive footprint of the house was designed to maintain the…

Collaboration initiated by: American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) Designed by: Waugh Thistleton Architects Engineered by: Arup For: London Design Festival Presented at: Victoria & Albert Museum Timber donated by: Allegheny Wood Products, Baillie Lumber Co, Bingaman Lumber Inc, Boos Lumber Coorperation, Classic American Hardwoods, Collins Hardwood, Latham Timber, Northland Forest Products, Northwest Hardwoods, Parton Lumber and Thompson Hardwoods Inc Timber processing: Glenalmond Timber CLT manufacturing: Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) Fabrication and installation: Stage One Ltd Lighting: SEAM Design and Atrium Filming: Petr Krejci Photography: Ed Reeve, Petr Krejci and Ben Tynegate Renders: Forbes Massie Studio…

Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin, Alison and Peter Smithson, Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio… the fact that these names are so familiar indicates perhaps that they were the exception that proved the rule. Couples working in architecture in the early and mid parts of the 20th century were fairly rare beasts. And in Spain following the Civil War and World War II even more so, as the country found itself isolated politically and economically under the repressive regime of General Franco. Following Franco’s death in 1975 and the country’s return to democracy, however, the conditions were ripe for an up and coming couple of architects to make their mark. Graduating from Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona in 1979, Carme Pinós went back to the school to study…

Are you managing your practice or does your practice manage you? How do you feel about your business – do you find you’re hitting a brick wall and feeling out of control with excessive hours and no work/life balance? Or perhaps you feel like you’re chasing the business and it’s running away from you, rather than leading it forward? As directors and business leaders – not just architects – you need time to focus on strategic decision-making, not just chasing your tail. One way to do that is to address a few myths that may be holding you back: ‘MY BUSINESS RUNS ON GREAT DESIGN’ The first common misconception is that your business runs on great design. Is the purpose of your business to make a profit or is the…

Discipline: manage pro bono projects with the same discipline as fee-paying projects. __________ Endurance: actively nurture and maintain senior commitment over the course of the project. __________ Flexibility: be prepared to respond to surprises, which may entail seeking further donations, adjusting design etc. __________ Clarity of brief: clearly define the parameters of the pro bono architectural and contractor work being offered. __________ Opportunities: further to the social contribution, pro bono work provides opportunities to innovate and develop architectural practice. __________ Leverage: when seeking new donations and contributions, highlight how they would be maximised by already secured funding/ donations.…

Childcare projects are more complex than a lot of developers initially appreciate. There is a third level of approval that is required above a planning and building permit. The Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) must inspect, approve and license the centre before any children will be allowed on-site. This approval ensures the centre can operate in compliance with the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care. Some guidelines are explicit; e.g. minimum areas per child for indoor and outdoor space. Other guidelines aren’t explicit and are based on balancing a number of factors simultaneously; e.g. quality of landscaping and the dimensions of the area. This is deliberate, as the overall experience of a centre cannot be determined by a single element or minimum requirement. The DET’s…

Technological advances have seen the way we interact with all our household items change and this is no different for the household front door lock. The increasing level of digital door locks in our market has changed the way we look at our front door security. Although still commonly supplied with the traditional mechanical key override, the digital door locks of today can now offer a range of features depending on the user’s wants and needs. These features can be in the form of a basic digital push button lock, an RFID (radio-frequency identification) lock or a biometric fingerprint lock. Also available is an all-in-one model featuring all the previously listed functions, providing multiple methods of access. But more recently these features have begun to take a backseat to the…

ILVE Black Glass Gas Cooktop ILVE’s latest elegant and stylish black glass, gas cooktop collection is a dream for the passionate home cook. Evolving from the traditional stainless steel, ILVE’s latest black glass range is bringing the future of design into the kitchen. RRP: From $1299 ilve.com.au Cult PH5 pendant light Designed by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen in 1958, the PH5 is an iconic pendant light that is equally at home in a residential interior or a commercial project. Synonymous with classic and timeless style, the pendant boasts a 50-centimetre diameter and, irrespective of how the light is installed or the light source used, remains completely glare free. Over the years the PH5 has been updated in step with contemporary living with a high gloss version introduced in 2008…