Sydney

Guest Contributors – Vin and Priyanka Rathod

In our earlier post ‘The facade as a canvas of light‘, we talked about the relationship between art and architecture where artists created light-art projections on some of the prominent facades along Sydney harbour. Vivid Sydney also hosted some innovative and interactive small scale light installations fascinating the visitors. Without doubt, some of them were conceptualised, developed and installed by professionals from architecture industry. Below are some we found very captivating.

Rats

Designed by the team at Hassell – Jason Hammond, Sarah Meyer and Bridget Tregonning – the installation Rats was based on the story of an infestation of rats arriving on ships from Europe in early 1900. The Walsh Bay Wharfs, where the installation is located, was renewed to include a pre-cast concrete seawall to stop the rats. It was very intriguing to see the rows of lights (eyes) in one corner of the bay, staring at you.

Possible Imprints

Nikola Kovac and Nicholas Malyon along with David Vu designed this dynamic interactive installation where visitors can push the luminous acrylic rods to create (and leave) an imprint. It was quite playful and attractive for people from all age groups.

Planet: Under Construction

The team at Woods Bagot – William Fernandez, Young Lee, Thomas Hale, Amanda Gore, India Collins, Sophia Bennet, Danny Wehbe, Penny Craswell – designed this globe-like sculpture from orange construction cones that symbolises planet. With its bright colour and strategic location, it was an attractive piece of artwork.

Euphonious Mobius

Rebekah Araullo’s sculptural freeform is an experiment to explore the visual and interactive potential of architecture and media using rich data displays cutting-edge design and application resulting in a 3D space.

Field of Colours

Nicholas Elias and Clinton Weaver had a site right under Harbour bridge and opposite to Opera House. Their take for the installation created a landscape of light and colour that reciprocated to view from all angles. With its soft presence, it created a surreal world for the passer-by.

Digitalis

Rana Abboud with Ewen Wright conceptualised the installation as a genetically modified breed of Digitalis Purpurea, a toxic plant that defends itself from threats by rattling. The cleverly used crumpled plastic cups rattled and LEDs brightened to warn off the intruder that approached too close to the installation.

Polka Kucha

Josh Henderson, Kat Jurkiewicz, Donn Salisbury, Ryan Shamier and Catriona Simmons from Grimshaw and Electrolight designed this simple installation based on the power of colour to influence mood, energy and spacial perception. The colours and form changed when a visitor turns a wheel to experience his own personal preference.

Bees

Designed by Jon Voss, a light-art representation of a bee-hive, the installation was inspired by the juxtaposition of apparent chaos and strict order.

Vivid Sydney is an annual event that brightens up the dark winter evenings of the City of Sydney. Expressions of interest are called for every year and a selection is made by an expert panel. For those who have inspiring ideas, look out for the call of expression of interest for next year’s event on Vivid Sydney website.

Photographs by Vin Rathod, text by Priyanka Rathod

Vin Rathod is an architect and a photographer. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from KRVIA, Mumbai and Master of Construction Project Management from UNSW, Sydney. Vin is an Emerging Member of Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) and works in Sydney, Australia. For Vin, each photograph is a design; a design for the subject, be it an art, architecture, city, or a sculpture. He thrives on creativity and imagination and is always developing new ideas. The photographs speak of his vision to see built-form as an artwork. A collection of Vin’s fine art photographs are constantly evolving as seen on his website Through Vin’s Lens

As an architect, Priyanka is very much interested in exploring designs with sustainable initiatives. After completing Bachelors of Architecture from KRVIA, Mumbai University, she did her Master of Architecture with major in Design from UNSW, Sydney. In her professional career, Priyanka has worked on variety of projects – urban and rural; commercial, institutional and healthcare both in India and Australia. Her volunteering initiatives include participation in the event organising team of Archikidz! Sydney 2012 held during Sydney Architecture Festival. Currently, Priyanka lives and works in Sydney enjoying her time between professional work and some personal initiatives including writing for Through Vin’s Lens

Guest Contributors – Vin and Priyanka Rathod

There are many ways architecture interacts with the community and facilitates cultural behaviour. However, very few times it can actually become a canvas for an artwork. Vivid Sydney Festival has seen this opportunity and have converted the facades of some significant buildings along the harbour into canvases for light projections.

Every evening until 10th June, these building facades convert to canvases for vibrant colour light-art, and, in spite of cold and wet winter nights, Sydney-siders are enjoying every bit of the festival.

The projection at the Sydney Opera House, ‘Play’ is designed by Spinifex Group. It really is very playful giving vibrant colours to Opera sails.

The facade of Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) hosts 3D-mapped projections with a creative splurge of colours. The artwork is brought to life by collaboration of Gemma Smith, represented in MCA’s collection and Spinifex Group.

The heritage facade of Customs House has a striking projection ‘Move Your Building’ by collaboration of French design company, Danny Rose, Technical Direction Company, Customs House and the City of Sydney.

Spinifex Group in collaboration with Audi, transformed the facade of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company building into colourful 2D and 3D display that draws you in through the clever use of facade elements. The installation is creative, technical and energetic.

The Cadman’s Cottage allows people to render the projection using a large touch screen in front of the building. Designed by The Electric Canvas, it allows people to choose various regions on the facade and apply textures and animations in real time.

No doubt the Sydney Opera House is a highlight among all the facades, partly because of its unique form and also due to its location at the tip of the harbour. But Spinifex Group’s ‘Play’ has cleverly used the form to splash colourful projection that surely entertains every visitor. It makes one wonder about refreshing possibilities that can arise from creative collaboration between an architect and an artist.

Photographs by Vin Rathod, text by Priyanka Rathod

Vin Rathod is an architect and a photographer. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from KRVIA, Mumbai and Master of Construction Project Management from UNSW, Sydney. Vin is an Emerging Member of Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) and works in Sydney, Australia. For Vin, each photograph is a design; a design for the subject, be it an art, architecture, city, or a sculpture. He thrives on creativity and imagination and is always developing new ideas. The photographs speak of his vision to see built-form as an artwork. A collection of Vin’s fine art photographs are constantly evolving as seen on his website Through Vin’s Lens

As an architect, Priyanka is very much interested in exploring designs with sustainable initiatives. After completing Bachelors of Architecture from KRVIA, Mumbai University, she did her Master of Architecture with major in Design from UNSW, Sydney. In her professional career, Priyanka has worked on variety of projects – urban and rural; commercial, institutional and healthcare both in India and Australia. Her volunteering initiatives include participation in the event organising team of Archikidz! Sydney 2012 held during Sydney Architecture Festival. Currently, Priyanka lives and works in Sydney enjoying her time between professional work and some personal initiatives including writing for Through Vin’s Lens

Guest Contributor: Priyanka Rathod

The profession of architecture is as versatile as that of an artist. In fact, an architect is an artist of the built environment. This was quite clear throughout all of the presentations and discussions at Q&A(rchitect) arranged by Darch last month. On the evening of 23 April, Tuesday, 5 young practices in Sydney presented the ideas, projects and hopes for the future of their practices, and none of them were similar to each other.

Penny Fuller of Silvester Fuller was awarded NSW Institute of Architects Emerging Architect Prize last year. The practice has produced a range of simple yet elegant projects. What I found most interesting is their vision for the future to be more proactive, i.e. to find a solution to built environment issues and then find a client to make the project happen. She believes as architects we are designers, but at the same time, we are entrepreneurs too.

Joe Snell of Snell Architects is also a creative director for the Goods Tube, the product he designed himself for gifting his corporate clients. His recent venture includes being a judge for TV show House Rules soon to telecast on Channel 7. He strongly believes that as architects, we shape not only spaces but also business, culture and the future.

Claire McCaughan and Lucy Humphrey established Archrival in 2011, a non-profit organisation that unites the creative community through unsolicited projects. Archrival creates various projects to unite creative professionals with community, technology and business industries which in turn explore the possibilities of collaboration and innovation. Their most recent project is an installation ‘Mirror Mirror’ at Australian Technology Park in Redfern. It is a stage for Vanishing Elephants for their showcase during MB Fashion Week Australia.

Amelia Holliday of Neesan Murcutt Architects presented her research and explored a very interesting idea – a practice of doing nothing. Sometimes doing nothing can also be a solution for built environment and as architects we need to recognise the right solution for our neighborhood.

Felicity Stewart and Matthias Hollenstein of Stewart Hollenstein, recent winner for Green Square Library Plaza, have been exploring the idea of developing natural spaces for interactions and performances in the public realm from their university years. Now, they will be able to transform their ideas into practice with the plaza that they have planned for construction in 2017. Our previous blog ‘Green Square Library Plaza won by Stewart Hollenstein and Collin Stewart Architects‘ explores their competition design in detail.

From the past and present projects and ideas of future from all these practices, it was quite clear that today, young architects cannot be satisfied in simply designing buildings. They want to, as always, explore and contribute to various creative fields and we’ll be seeing architects in many different roles exploring, innovating, resolving, engaging, entertaining and contributing to the community.

Guest Contributor: Priyanka Rathod

From 167 entires that included Australian as well as international architects, a young firm Stewart Hollenstein in association with Colin Stewart Architects won the competition organised by City of Sydney. From the judges’ comments during the design excellence award ceremony on 4 March 2013, it was very clear that the decision was unanimous, a well deserved victory for the duo Felicity Stewart and Matthias Hollenstein. They will work with City of Sydney to develop the design and plan for construction in 2017.

Green Square, just 4km south of Sydney CBD, is a suburb currently under transformation from predominantly light industrial to residential. As Lord Mayor Clover Moore mentioned during presentation, it is very important to create a social hub for the community envisaged in future. With recent success of Surry Hills Library, City of Sydney council is looking for a design where people want to come again and again, relax, play, interact, exchange ideas and learn.

Stewart Hollenstein’s design provided all of above, and most of all, it responded to the context very well. Remaining above the flood level line (there is a risk of flood once in 100 years), they managed to create a plaza with submerged functional spaces and just a few tall buildings. With a site surrounded by high density tall residential towers, this seemed a natural and most appropriate option.

The shape of the plaza is essentially derived from site constraints and the library is seen as a large submerged room surrounding a courtyard. The presence of an amphitheatre made it even more interesting. It is not just a place where one would have to go, but a place where one would want to go.

For me, the series of diagrams that explained the usability of the plaza during various events and various time of the day was really impressive. It was clear to me by the end of presentation from Felicity and Matthias that it is truly a well thought design and a deserving winner.

Images Courtesy: Stewart Hollenstein and City of Sydney

Guest Contributor – Vin Rathod

During 2012, Sydney saw various Public Art Festivals including: Vivid Sydney (May – June 2012); 18th Biennale of Sydney (June – Sept 2012); Art and About (Sept – Oct 2012); and Sculptures by the sea (Oct 2012)

One Planet Living emphasises on reviving the local cultural heritage that is being lost throughout the world due to globalisation, by supporting and participating in the arts.

The various installations we saw this year in Sydney, both inside and outside, created opportunity for the community to interact, reflect and share the ideas, creativity and culture. Both local and global artists, by use of innovative ideas and at times high-tech technologies, presented some very fine installations lifting up the ‘spirit of art’ among Sydney-siders. The long queue at circular quay for ferry to Cockatoo Island and always full forecourt of MCA and Custom house during Vivid Sydney 2012 were among the few proofs of the success of these events. Hope all of you in and around Sydney got chance to be a part of these celebrations. If not, watch out for them in 2013.

Below are my Top 12 installations from this year’s various Art Festivals. They are in no particular order.

Fujiko Nakaya’s Living Chasm – This installation created fog-like effect using pure water. This site-specific installation converted the normal afternoon into a magical, dream-like atmosphere …

Lee Mingwel’s Mending Project – A simple yet colourful installation where visitors could participate by bringing in a garment or object that requires mending that became a part of installation.

Tiffany Singh’s Knock on the Sky Listen to the Sound – the large entry hall of Pier 2/3 was full of colourful ribbons and wind chimes. Visitors were encouraged to take a chime home, decorate as they like and return to a dedicated space on Cockatoo island. An artist’s installation was transformed into people’s installation.

Ed Pien and Tanya Tagaq’s Source – The black and white film of hand gestures was projected on floor from a ceiling mounted projector, creating interesting display right in the front of the entrance. One could walk over or simply watch the display without any interruptions, establishing a connection in their own way.

Philip Beesley’s Hylozoic series - Working with the concept of hylozoism – the belief that all matter in the universe has a life of its own – Philip Beesley creates interactive environments that respond to the actions of the audience, offering a vision of how buildings in the future might move, think and feel.

Daan Roosegaarde’s Dune - Cockatoo Island’s Dog Legged tunnel was lined with Interactive landscape, a hybrid of nature and technology made from large amounts of fibre optics which reacts to the sounds and motions of people walking by. Visitors become active participants, having a direct influence on the interactive artwork’s identity.

Light Display on MCA facade by various Australian artist from MCA and Sydney’s Spinifex Group – During Vivid Sydney 2012, the Museum of Contemporaty Arts (MCA) was transformed into a Canvas of Light. Every evening 3D colour projections and digital artistry did their magic transforming architecture into vibrant graphic art.

Li Hongbo’s Ocean of Flowers – This installation has been created by gluing piles of paper together with the honeycomb technique carved into forms resembling weapons that the artist twirls into new ‘flower shapes’. The thing that struck me the most is the scale and the intricate detail of every flower making the installation space into a huge colourful ocean of flowers.

Ken Unsworth’s No Return – The life size skeleton balancing on the pole creates an atmosphere of tension or uneasiness that gives the viewer an opportunity to re-evaluate one’s own life.

Kathryn Clifton and Martin Bevz’s Sea Grass – The strands of optic fibres changed colours as a response to human presence. As you can see, it was a big hit among kids. (This image got highly commended in Australian Photography Competition, Theme – Colour Green)

Alex Richie’s Kaleidoscope Cube – The towers of mirrors depicted urban landscape of tall buildings with curtain wall facades. The way they reflect each other resembles the current cities with sense of commonness between them. However, from certain angle, these walls merged into the surrounding being a part of natural environment. A simple yet very interesting installation.

Hilde A. Danielsen’s Upside Down Again – The most facinating thing about this installation way wooden slats were installed to create a fluid twirl-like form. The juxtaposition of rigidity of slats vs fluidity of installation attracted many art lovers.

All images: Copyright Vin Rathod.

Vin Rathod holds a Bachelor of Architecture from KRVIA, Mumbai and Master of Construction Project Management from UNSW, Sydney. He lives and works in Sydney, Australia. His photography pursuit developed during his architectural education where he developed an understanding of various design elements such as brightness and darkness, colours and shades, composition and importance of negative spaces etc. For Vin, each photograph is a design; a design for the subject, be it an art, architecture, city, or a sculpture. He thrives on creativity and imagination and is always developing new ideas. The photographs speak of his vision to see built-form as an artwork. While highlighting the essence of the subject using creative photography techniques, each image is a wonderful piece of art.  A collection of Vin’s fine art photographs are constantly evolving as seen on his website www.throughvinslens.com

Mirrored wall on courtyard house, Photo credit: Matt Newton, Images Courtesy of MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Anuradha Chatterjee, Sydney Correspondent

MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania is infamously known as a ‘subversive Disneyland’ and ‘Museum of sex and death’, and I had anticipated not liking it because of these labels. But like a visit to any Gallery or Museum, a feeling of ambiguity is perhaps appropriate because of the expected friction between truth to the art historical discipline, and galleries as vehicles of mass enjoyment and consumption. Galleries or Museums rely on daylight and careful exposure of artefacts. In contrast, MONA utilizes darkness effectively to make this a novel experience. It is a challenge to design subterranean spaces as a provocative experience. At MONA, the journey to the ‘bottom’ of the building is simple. It is perhaps akin to that of entering a crypt – a supervised meandering through accumulated treasures of a person, satisfying perhaps an unrealized archaeological fantasy.

Screen Grab, My Tour, The O

The feeling of the going into a darkened space, three levels down can be intimidating or repelling. However, the illuminated lift core formed a conduit around which the staircase is wrapped. It is point of reference, a secure tie, allowing one/me to explore the collections beyond. Ironically, the darkness felt safe as I was being guided by the mobile guide - the ‘O’ that runs on an IPod Touch, and connected with headphones which updates to provide audio guides and information on the art of works in the vicinity. Forsaking the map, I decided to go an intuitive tour of the Museum. I needed to not take notes because the O recorded the tour for me, and I am now able to take a retrospective three dimensional journey and retrace my itinerary. The darkness, the interactive devices, and the headphones separate you from your fellow visitors, compelling you to commit to becoming self focussed during the visit. The still and quiet atmosphere, with the sight of people wandering about with their ears plugged, heads bent down to look at the IPod, is also perhaps an ironic commentary on the persuasive role of technology and galleries as mass media.

Cylindrical Glass Lift Photo credit: Matt Newton, Image courtesy of MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

The interior of the museum is carefully crafted to evoke emotional response. David Neustein’s essay is perhaps the best account of the physical aspects of MONA. The museum is entirely display focused, which it absolutely masters. The much rehearsed language of voids and staggered sections in gallery design is in fact effective in MONA where the desire to look down or up is not to see people (who are in shadow) but to see works of art (that are in light). However, for me, there appeared to be lack of clear curatorial direction pertaining to selecting, collating, and sequencing works of art. I found the collection somewhat Eurocentric with the old art being incompletely researched and explained. The only work by an Aboriginal Australian artist I discovered was Unwritten #8 by Vernon Ah Kee (who is of a mixed heritage that includes the Kuku Yalanji, Yidinyi, Waanyi and Guungu Yimithirr peoples), which is a profound commentary about becoming human.

Corten Stairwell & Surrounding Artworks Photo Credit: MONA/Leigh Carmichael, Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Some of works I loved were Bit.fall by Julisu Popp, Untitled (White Library) by Wilfredo Prito, Pulse Room by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Encyclopedia by Charles Sandison, Cloaca Professional by Wim Delvoye, and Kryptos by Brigita Ozolins. But don’t depend on my views, because the O will tell you how many loved or hated the art work you loved or hated. Art is enjoyment and delight, and in current times, a form of consumption. It was a full house on a Monday in MONA, because there was art to cater to all tastes! The argument about consumption is also underpinned by numbers. I am told of the works I saw (73) and the ones I missed (501), and how many views were recorded. Given the fact that I spent around three hours in the Gallery I would probably have only noticed but not understood the works of art. The emphasis on viewing and noticing is privileged over pausing and understanding. In summary, my experience was interesting and unresolved, and not something I could classify through the Love or Hate icon in the O!

MONA Museum of Old and New Art

Photograph of Florence Mary Taylor, Australia's first qualified female architect Author: Rita Martin, Dorothy Welding and others (created 1920-1955), Source: The State Library of New South Wales

Anuradha Chatterjee, Sydney Correspondent

The launch of Archiparlour earlier this year got me thinking of not only of women in architectural practice, issues of equity, opportunity, and visibility, but also of women’s contribution to the broader discourse of architecture. This involves the realms of curating, writing, managing, and marketing architecture. Taking a documentary strategy as opposed to historiographical one, I mapped the lived experience of my interactions and collaborations with women in leadership positions in Sydney for over a period of six months, in these other domains of architectural production.

From the middle of year, the Australian Architecture Association planned the four-part talk series titled Women Take on Design that featured Archrival (Claire McCaughan and Lucy Humphrey), Caroline Pidcock, Heather Whitely-Robertson, and Annalisa Capurro. The talk series was as interesting as it was successful. It should be mentioned that Australian Architecture Association, which ‘supports discourse and the promotion of architecture in the Australian cultural milieu’, is activated by the energetic leadership of Annette Dearing (Founding Director) and Vanessa Couzens (Volunteer, Architect, Designer, Project Manager, and Editor). The Sydney Architecture Festival brought forth the women in the public life of architecture. The festival was organized, managed, delivered, and marketed by Siobhan Abdurahman (Projects Officer, NSW Architects Registration Board) and Gillian Redman-Lloyd (Events & Marketing, NSW Architecture Awards Manager). The range of talks, tours, exhibitions, and workshops aimed to engage the many interests and capacities of its collaborators and audiences. Jennifer Kwok (Manager, Customs House Sydney), is a designer by training yet a strong thinker in built and visual worlds. She has produced many architecture exhibitions such as as Form to Formless, Remodelling Architecture, Transclimatic to name just a few, and her creative direction and acumen in production was instrumental in my curatorial contribution to Inter-action, the Sydney Architecture Festival exhibition consisting of six independent exhibits. Along similar lines, my collaboration with Ann Quinlan (Program Direction for Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW) also informed the curation of BE X Section, also a Sydney Architecture Festival exhibition.

Other key contributors to the Sydney Architecture Festival included Joni Taylor, a researcher, writer, and curator focusing on the transformation of the urban environment, curated The Third Landscape at the Tin Sheds Gallery. Taylor explains: “The exhibition examines the transformative possibilities for regenerating seemingly negative landscapes of the forgotten and the blighted”. As part of the Festival, Annette Mauer, Head of Learning at the Object Gallery, organised a workshop called Building Connections, for teachers and students at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia. Mauer explained: “The aim of both the workshop and resource was to make architecture accessible to visual arts teachers and relevant to their teaching the Visual Arts syllabus”. Dearing and Couzens made a substantial contribution to the Festival by organizing the talk by Ken Yeang as well as the planned walks around key public domains in Sydney. Other contributors to the Festival included Aanya Roennfeldt (Gallery Curator, DAB LAB, UTS), who contributed curatorial insights to William Feuerman’s exhibition and talk titled The Mechanics of Visual Perception, and Imogene Tudor, whose co-directorial role in Make Space for Architecture would have been vital to the success of the event, Public Space: Private Interest. Unrelated to the Sydney Architecture Festival but coincident with it was the launch of Kylie Legge’s book Doing it Differently, a well timed publication on urban living and city making, focusing on collaborative consumption (a concept made popular by What’s Mine is Yours by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers).

This piece, which I am sure is full of omissions, suggests the possibility of a more inclusive sociology of practice, which will allow for the expansion of the definition of architectural practice, beyond what is legitimized by the legal status of the architect, such that the other ‘stuff’ that women do can become included in the ‘business’ of architecture. That this is a timely argument is evidenced by the talk recently organized at Tusculum (home of the Australian Institute of Architects, NSW Chapter), What’s your architecture, the multifaceted career path that is an architecture degree. The photographer; the journo; the artists; the builder, which unfortunately failed to acknowledge women’s contributions in this area. This piece itself is imperfect because it does not as yet include women in complementary disciplines of photography, teaching, animation, illustration, graphic design, performance, set design, and so on. Perhaps when the picture is complete, we may even discover fuller participation of women in architectural practice.

Anuradha Chatterjee, Sydney Correspondent

As the curator of BE | X-Section Real Needs | Imagined Solutions, the UNSW Built Environment’s Exhibition for the Sydney Architecture Festival, it was interesting to showcase student projects from a range of Built Environment discipline degree programs that demonstrate shared awareness of social responsibility, collaboration, innovation, and most importantly an interdisciplinary knowledge base. These qualities, orientations, and attitudes contribute to the making of the UNSW Built Environment design students as intrepid graduates of global citizenship who understand and engage with the complexities of working with others in seeking creative solutions to real needs and issues identified by communities.

Real World

BEOutThere! electives capture the Interdisciplinary Service Learning in the Faculty of Built Environment, as they are carried out in collaboration with community partners with the expressed aim of exposing students to challenging social issues and considerations. In 2011 and 2012, key projects included: North Penrith Plaza – Designing a Digitally Enabled Public Domain; Northcott Project; Schools Project (Crown Street Public School, Ungarie Central School, and Tullibigeal Central School). The outcome and merit of these electives is the discernible and compelling nature of the interactions and the engagement evidenced in student reflections. Likewise, the significance of real world, industry-linked projects also informs Integrated Low Carbon Living Project. Delivered as a team based collaborative project between students from BE and Faculty of Engineering students, the studio presents the opportunity to design the Material Science and Engineering Building, UNSW with attention to low energy, passive design strategies design with zero net-energy and zero net-water consumption as the goal.

Southern Cross Packaging Awards, Musa Noor

Social Inclusion

Student works in the Socially Responsible Packaging demonstrate a range of approaches to packaging – the liminal and the most intimate threshold between the user and the product. The projects address contemporary issues of safety, convenience, and access by synthesizing aesthetics, functionality, and ethical response. Inclusive Architecture progresses a similar argument that inclusive design (also known as universal design, design for all, user-centred design, human-centred design) “is no longer a niche or unimportant endeavour”. Student projects which suggest inclusive redesigns of key twentieth century buildings demonstrate that architectural merit is not irreconcilable with these goals.

Sydney CBD, Local Government and Shires Associations Photo Database Project

Urban Orientations

The Intersection: Redevelopment of the SEU School of Architecture Building and its Landscape brings together students from three programmes (architecture, interior, and landscape) to make sense of the tectonic, landscape and interior conditions of the Southeast University and the School of Architecture as a cultural and historical phenomenon, to inform redevelopment proposals. In contrast, it is the post traumatic urbanist lens that informs the Landscape Urbanism for the Shattered Garden City: Christchurch. The fractures caused by natural disasters insert not only irreconcilable ruptures but also the opportunity for the new. Fittingly then, the students explore possibilities for city’s open space system and for vitalizing that with the proposals for an urban arena with sport or performance facility, facilities for both having been extensively damaged across the city. Interior projects in the City of Sydney need to maintain an orientation to urbanism. Taylor Square Bicycle Hub is one such project, and the student projects demonstrate unique and meaningful approaches that seek translations of the figure of the bicycle as 1) a mechanical assemblage and meticulous orchestration of parts; 2) bicycle as generative of movement systems, motion, travelling, and energy; and 3) bicycling as a social sport that not only activates the urban area but also highlights the uniqueness of the site.

Dust rising from collapsed buildings immediately after the earthquake

Generated by students in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, the exhibition demonstrates shared commitment, knowledge systems, and capabilities. BE | X-Section reveals that unlike the technological, formal ingenuity and production orientation enabled and rewarded in many architecture and design schools across the globe, socially responsive design and architecture in its attention to authenticity emerges out of vital creative engagements between built environment designers and many people – it emphasizes intent over form, process over outcome, shared knowledge over individualistic expertise and action over representation.

Anuradha Chatterjee, Sydney Correspondent

This year I have had the chance to guest curate Inter-Action – the Sydney Architecture Festival event at Customs House Sydney, opening on 24 October 2012. The exhibition builds upon Customs House’s profile in nurturing explorations in the fields of digital visualization and technologies evidenced in past exhibitions such as Form to Formless, Remodelling Architecture, Transclimatic, and the Green Void, to name just a few. However, Inter-Action is not one but six exhibitions – Hypersurface Architecture [Redux] by Bachelor of Architectural Computing Students and Staff; Sydney from all Angles by Tim Vyse and Sam Westlake of Jane Irwin Landscape Architect; Virtual Warrane II by Brett Leavy; Real/Virtual by Peter Murphy and Real Serious Games; Model City by Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia, and UTS; and Open Agenda featuring winning proposals by Sibling, Tina Salama, and Robert Beson.

Draft Design of Euphonious Mobius Wall with Customs House in the Background: Rebekah Jo Araullo, University of New South Wales

The focus is on many disciplines (beyond architecture) that contribute to the making of the built realm. These include architecture, performance, art, and installation (Open Agenda, Hypersurface Architecture), architectural computing (Hypersurface Architecture), landscape architecture (Sydney from all Angles), web interface design (Sydney from all Angles), urban design, (Model City), digital visualization, and virtual environments (Virtual Warrane II, Real/Virtual). The curation of the exhibitions needed to attend to the agendas and practices shared by these different disciplines. What emerges as the key strands are: 1) Collaborative creation of knowledge, space, and experience; 2) Response to the city and its urban environment; 3) Crafting spatial and formal representations, both physical and virtual. The six exhibitions engage these strands in distinctive ways.

Hypersurface Architecture [Redux] is the design of an interactive media wall installation (composed of two walls – Halo Wall and the Euphonious Mobius) based on physical pixels, working thereby between the virtual and the real, attempting to generate an ‘infusion of form with media and media with form to work between the two’. The interactive aspect in Sydney from all Angles is achieved by embedding QR codes into a graphic map of Sydney highlighting recently designed key public domains, linked to a website, which allows a continual and democratized engagement with as well as the curation of the experience of the public realm. Virtual Warrane II uses gaming techniques and technologies (complemented by solid archival research) to provide a way of inhabiting the past and participating in the landscapes of the Gadigal people, demonstrating constructed and built occupations prior to and underlying European settlement.

Sydney from All Angles Draft of Graphic Maps: Tim Vyse and Sam Westlake, Jane Irwin Landscape Architect

The theme of modelling is explored further in Real/Virtual which compares miniaturization (city model), wire frame visualization, and stereo videos and panoramas of the city, highlighting technologies of visualization and different ways of creating navigable worlds. Model City is a display of physical models of key public precincts (under construction) in the City of Sydney, and it allows people to interact with the emerging public domains. Open Agenda (initiative of the School of Architecture, UTS) is an ‘annual competition aimed at supporting a new generation of experimental architecture. Open to recent graduates, Open Agenda is focused on developing the possibilities of design research in architecture and the built environment’. The winning entries this year by Sibling, Tina Salama and Robert Beson explore other ways of conceptualizing architecture from participation to performative spatiality to the architectonics of atmosphere.

What started off as a challenge (bearing the risk of becoming eclectic), worked out to be a genuine opportunity. Inter-action sustains the identity of each exhibition, allowing the spatial opportunities inside Customs House to suggest rather than emphasize synergies. In deploying different forms of interactive installations; modelled realities, pasts, and futures; and the speculation of the futures of architectural thinking, Inter-action celebrates the anticipation of the post-disciplinary in architectural thought. This is the emergence of new ways of knowing and doing, which is more than a simple convergence of different disciplinary knowledge systems.

For more information see: www.sydneyarchitecturefestival.org