It was great to see one of our 2013 Alumni, cialis Adam Pustola, featured in Melbourne MX yesterday.
Go Adam!
New York, New York, and Chicago.
Thats right folks, destinations for the 2014 tour will be limited to two cities, and one big country…USA!
With more time planned in both cities and side trips to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water & Philip Johnson’s Glass House, what other reason do you need to enter!
I want to be a part of it…!!!
Click here to enter.
Dulux Study Tour
On the 14th May 211 at Changi airport, Singapore, all five recipients of 2011 Dulux Study Tour met as a group for the first time since being announced as the winners at the AAAA in Perth March 24.
The tour started in London on the 16th May, with an architectural walking tour guided by the enthusiastic and knowledgeable Architect Ken Allison, of Archigram fame. Ten days and a thousand miles later, in Copenhagen, the tour concluded at the Danish Architecture Centre, with a cocktail reception attended by Mr James
Choi, the Australian Ambassador to Denmark.
The intervening ten days introduced us to a full complement of architects, architecture, business styles, management styles, procurement styles, design styles, studio styles, beer and ham styles. From the mind blowing ‘access all areas’ tour of the Sagrada Familia, to negotiating the bike paths of Copenhagen; from the rigour of the offices of David Chipperfield, to the laid back office environments in Barcelona – what we experienced is hard to put into words. The dialogue sparked from these experiences filled every day from sun up to sun down – regularly extending into the wee hours of the morning. We look forward to sharing and continuing these discussions with our peers back in Australia; and to collectively digest what it means for all of us back here in Oz.
Highlights? Well, as every night, we finished off our last night sharing our thoughts and reflections over food and wine. There was a consensus that the high point of the trip was the site visit to Sagrada Familia – and being able to take back with us a piece of history (literally! stone tile shards from the towers. Perhaps reincarnated into rings and pendants?!). Above all, the most unexpected and pleasant highlight was the respect, fun and chemistry generated amongst the crew (and our ever-reliable hosts). Undoubtedly, this has lead to firm and longstanding friendships that will lead to collaborations and support in the future. In conjunction with the DST Alumni events held annually, this may very well be the greatest legacy of the tours; cementing a firm support network that will undoubtedly lead to tangible, positive changes in the profession in the years to come. Watch this space.
Each day felt like a week of ordinary life; a creative celebration full of adventures, and inspiration. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Our greatest thanks to our Mother Hen Bernadette from the Institute – that iPad was a stroke of genius. To Uncle Phil and Jason from Dulux for your support, wisdom and friendship – karaoke has never been so much fun. Finally, our thanks to Davis Langdon Australia for your support, warm reception and for opening up so many practice doors to our curious minds to probe.
Carly Barrett, Jefa Greenaway, Brendan Murray, Yuri Dillon & Christina Na Heon Cho – 2011 Dulux Study Tour Alumni
Entires for the 2012 Tour will open next week, 17 August.
Watch this space, as we announce the cheap cialis destinations.
Where we go, no one knows!
Our last official day of the tour :(
BIG Bjarke Ingels Group
Their minimalist office is overtaken with large scale models 1:5000 to 1:1. Their designs are extra-ordinary, visionary, some realised, some conceptual. They are currently in the process of documenting their first North American Project in Manhattan, a highrise residential tower. A warped parabola”esque” form with internal courtyard, sticking out like a sore thumb within the straight edge conventional shapes of the big apple. Also recently established; an Industrial Design department,designing custom furniture and fittings for their buildings and for mass production. BIG’s shanghai expo pavilion created a public uproar in Copenhagen,when they dared to propose moving their treasured Little Mermaid statue to the pavillion for the duartion of the expo. Now safely back home, we make a little detour to visit Copenhagen’s second most visited tourist attraction before our next stop.
Municipality of Fredriksberg. We are briefed by a Social/human geographer/Branding Consultant, Urban Designer, Landscape Architect and Architects on the visions for the municipality. They have a sincere
interest in the development of their city. Identification of Urban development areas are considered not only on Physcial development, but more importantly on social redvelopment. Importance is placed on spatial planning and dialogue with stake holders and their invovlement goes beyond council obligations. We hop on bicycles and ride through the city to a current re-development zoned area for a first hand look at their visions.
Our last site visit is to Jorn Utzon’s Bagsvaerd community church with his son Jan Utzon. Having met both Jan and Jeppe, we now have a slight understanding of what kind of character Jorn Utzon would have been. We all gasp as we enter what looks like an industrial building on the outside, to an aesthetically pleasing and softly day lit interior. The heavy concrete structure is delicately detailed, edged in a white stained pine; as an aura of light penetrates into the building through hidden crevasses. A new Piano had been commisioned in same whited stained pine and Jan invites Brendan and Christina to play, concluding our study tour with a piano recital in Jorn Utzon’s church!
As the night falls in Copenhagen, we relax with drinks at the Danish Architecture Centre (DAC) with the Australian Ambassador and new Danish friends.
We finished off our last night like every other night, sharing our thoughts and reflections over food and wine. There was a consensus on the high point of the trip as being the site visit to Sagrada Familia and being able to take back with us a piece of history (literally! stone tile shards from the towers. Perhaps reincarnated into rings and pendants?!)
Each day felt like a week; a creative celebration full of adventures, and inspiration. Our greatest thanks to our Mother Hen Bernadette from the AIA, and Uncle Phil and Jason from Dulux, for your wisdom, and friendship.
A group text message received as we part, reflects all our thoughts…
“Ladies and Gents. It was the greatest of honours to share these last two special weeks with you. Needless to say, I count you all amongst the closest of friends and most talented of minds i’ve had the pleasure to know. I look forward to a lifetime shared together. The future looks bright. Bon vovage all- see you in the anitpodes!”
The biggest struggle in Copenhagen was not the language- most people spoke english with a pleasantly polite british accent- but peak hour with bicyclists. It’s not hard to spot 8 foreigners in the middle of the peak hour traffic, trying to figure out road rules and directions, whilst trying to stay
on the right side of the road…we somehow manage to survive.
First stop, the office of Terrior, and Jeppe Utzon (nephew of Jorn!). Gerard from Terrior- an Aussie living in Copenhagen- gave us an really interesting perspective into the differences between Australian and Danish business etiquette and architectural office culture; the laws of maternity (paid 1 year) and paternity (paid 3 months) leave, and the trust and belief in the abilities of the Architect rather than legal documentation. In Denmark and similarly in some other European countries, one can call themselves an Architect by graduating from Architecture School. The title of the Architect does not fall into disrepute, but rather creates a census of understanding that projects are not awarded based on merit and experience in the specific building typology, but on the Architect’s ability to design and provide intellectural and creative solutions to complicated briefs. Compettitions are well paid, and wages are controlled by unions, making Danish Architects some of the most well paid in Europe. Overtime is dictated in this way, and employers prefer sending home employees on time (Imagine a world like that!) Employees also accrue study leave and money, most opting for week long european trips to “study” Architecture.
Next to the office of Jan Gehl; theorist, Architect, Designer, Champion of “dad” jokes. Graduating from Architecture School and married to a Psychologist, Jan asked the question “Why are Architects not interested in people and only form?”. He emphasised that the form of a building needs to come from interconnections and create conditons of life for people. He does not call his services design, but rather a reprogramming of cities. He’s championed the change in the urban design of Copenhagen, creating shared spaces, where streets have become pedestrian plazas, and bicyclist make up 37% of peak hour traffic.
Final stop, 3XN (Neilson, Neilson, Neilson). Their designs seem to be based primarly on form marking and experimental techonologies. They have a Product Research Department, funded by grants from the goverment for new sustainable building technologies and visionary clients who commision the consultancy in addition to the Architectural design services. Again the importance of marketing strategies, student internships and paid compettitions are emphasised. We are all suprised to find out that Architectural Education is not included in the ministry of Education, but rather the Ministry of Culture. We venture out into the outskirts of the city to a new urban development where they have recently completed Scandanavia’s tallest hotel, and a educational facility.
Dulux Study Tour meets Davis Langdon UK directors – Sponsored Post
Davis Langdon, an AECOM Company directors Dave Smith, Iain Parker, Steve Watts and Gerard Daws were delighted to meet the winners of the Dulux Study Tour 2011 at a breakfast in their London office on Tuesday 17 May.
Discussions over breakfast were wide ranging, but centred on the changing skyline of London and the role Davis Langdon has played working for both the clients and design teams involved.
Our Tall Buildings expert Steve Watts was able to give some insights based on his experience working on the Shard at London Bridge (set to be the tallest building in the UK when it is completed next year) and the tall building modelling work undertaken by the Tall Buildings Group.
Iain Parker, head of our Commercial team was also able to share his knowledge gleaned from working on some of the most high profile commercial buildings in central London. Many of these are featured in a recent publication ‘City Architecture: Redesigning the City of London 1991-2011’, a copy of which was presented to the winners.
Dave Smith and Gerard Daws spoke of their experiences working from within the design teams and the different challenges from the client facing roles of the other directors. Gerard told the group of our experiences with Heneghan Peng a husband and wife team from Dublin who won the $600m Cairo Museum competition
and have seen the project through to construction. We were told later at the RIBA Cocktail reception that this proved to be an inspirational theme during the day for the young Architects.
Day 7 – After a rough plane ride, we touch down in Copenhagen in the late afternoon. Apparently they’ve had perfect blue skies since April, but today, the heaven’s were not smiling upon us.
Gloomy, yet with no sign of rain, we hopped on our bicycles to set off on an architecture tour around Copenhagen with a guide from the Danish Centre for Architecture. The area around our
hotel is a newly developed commercial precinct of glass boxes; a stark contrast to the old city centre. Unfortunately even before the tour begins, the skies open and it begins to bucket down. We take shelter in a shopping centre, but with the depressing thought of being trapped in a building where the only offerings were McDonalds and an Indian Buffet, we brave the rain and head back to the hotel for a shower, before heading out for a traditional Danish pub meal, blankets and all.
