Author: Digital Ops

With only four weeks to go until the 2013 Dulux Study Tour competition closes, it’s an opportune to find out all about what the tour is really all about! What do the winners see and

do on tour and what do they gain from it both personally and professionally?

Who better to tell you than the winners themselves!

The 2012 winners will be sharing their experiences in their home states at a specially hosted EmAGN event:

MELBOURNE
Anna Maskiell, Weian Lim and James Coombe
Monday 3 September, 6.30pm
Loop Bar, Meyers Place

SYDNEY
Shaun Carter
Thursday 6 September, 6.00pm
Austral Bricks Showroom, 1/50 Carrington Street

HOBART
Emily Outson joined by Peter Walker, winner of the 2012 Tasmanian Emerging Architect Prize
Tuesday 11 September, 7.30pm
TUG bar – Elizabeth St Pier

All events are free to attend so go on and see what all the excitement is about!

Don’t forget entries for the 2013 Dulux Study Tour Prize close on Wednesday 26 September

we began our final soirée in London-town on a slightly somber note this morning. The excellent company we kept at the RIBA cocktail party the night before, followed by a splendid dinner, served to remind us of what an amazing trip we have all enjoyed together.

Our guide for day Ken Allinson, meets us at our hotel lobby and we out the door punctually on what will be the last of our architectural education of the city. We learn about the history of the city – its urban origins, growth, expansion, polarization and present-day regeneration. We learn that different urban/financial/historic monarchial agendas and generators of the central city centre, west end and east end, contributed in shaping the city we are familiar with today.

A short tube ride takes us into the heart of the city. We start with a colourful mixed use development by Renzo Piano, traipsing through the streets and narrow laneways to discover similar developments showcasing the diversity of the city blocks in congealing residences and office space with respect to the street. The ubiquitous Victorian terrace sometimes give way to more thoughtful approaches to community living. The Brunswick Centre harked back to the Metabolists – its public space treatment of stacked terraces over a retail podium akin to those seen in the Golden Mile Complex in Singapore. A brief by-pass into the British Musuem left us oohing and ahhing at the sensitive intervention of Fosters.

Enter the Barbican and the cameras click non-stop. A social housing development of the 60s is now home to majority of the city’s population.

Elevated walkways, wide podiums, courtyards and an emphasis on a rich living environment. It was like discovery a modern Atlantis, a serene oasis in the middle of bustling London. The surprise is that more of these typologies are not further explored today in cities requiring a response to the isolation of vertical living in cold towers.

Ken’s reputation for brisk walking preceded him and soon we were picking up the pace, heading towards the curtain walled, shiny new buildings (of the financial district) interspersed among the amazing historical gems of London. The Fosters, Rogers, Koolhaas and Grimshaws spring from behind each other… modern London at its glitzy best. we skirt around building security, taking photos of eaves/facades/lobbies/details quicker than the po-po can slap us with charges for ‘public damage’… Or nuisance.

At the end of the tour and on the rooftop of a Nouvel’s piece across the beautiful St Paul’s cathedral, we look out over the rooftops and to the city beyond. Not exactly an Ocean Eleven moment but we all shared the same sentiments in this quiet moment It has been such an adventure and one which stay with us forever. An unspoken bond unites us all and will continue as we take this on with us through the rest of our architectural careers.

Now to the pub.

Day 10 and the last whole day together. Before I blog shop, I’ll blog people.

This tour could only be as wonderful as it has because of the calibre of the other winners: Anna, Wei, James and Emily. It’s every archiNerds dream to tour these wonderful cities, practices and building with people of like mind and a desire

to interrogate the architecture beyond the obvious, the smoke screens and the superficial. You are special people and you guys rock!

But this can’t be the tour it is without the people behind it. Phil and Sarah from Dulux provide support and direction, and Kahlea from the Institute ( aka: the captain ) coordinates times and tours with effortless aplomb. Phil, Sarah and Kahlea are more than just tour support. They are wonderful people. I never thought this could be so busy, done on such little sleep, yet never wanting everyday to end. Our night in brick road will live long in my memory as one of the best times I’ve had. Thank you Kahlea, Sarah and Phil, it couldn’t have been the same without you.

Foster’s this morning. Or should I say Foster’s campus. Its a bit of an architects wonderland. Big floor to ceiling heights, a grand entry with gallery inhouse kitchen’ and a material sample room to die for. It’s what you’d want in a studio that is looking for rigor and to explore their architectural ideas.

Thouria, our tour host, and senior architect was generous with her time and thoughts. I sensed Foster’s has a desire to employ young talent from all over the world, which may have added to their enthusiasm to show us around. But it was more than that I think. Many other places haven’t been so.

Foster’s also talks about a commercialism that is not just a work grouping, it’s a modus operandi. Commercialism at Foster’s is an ethos that projects have to work for the clients and them, financially, but also for their image ( which is carefully managed ). Financially means to support the way they work and design. A constant exploration of architecture through models ( 3 model shops!) and having the right amount of time and equipment to support that, is admirable and here it expresses itself impressively. It’s good to see a firm that takes money seriously, but also well run and managed so that it doesn’t look like its struggling to do the best it can.

I wasn’t expecting to like Fosters as much as I did.

Which was further emphasized by our visit to Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. The usual cliche of dragging out the office aussie to take us on the guided tour. Which is a nice gesture, but not the depth I was expecting. Sometimes you feel it is a job offer intro rather than the heart and soul of the practice, which offers so much more.

Rogers’ seems to be still exploring the language he found at the Pompidou, with his deconstructed and compartmentalised program. Structure sits outside and coloured. Clear open space between, and services neatly organized in between. Whilst this offers many interesting resolutions of various building programs, it seems to limit other languages.