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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.

Dusty morning. The crew pull up rough from a night exploring the town. That sangria is a quiet sleeper.

The day was dedicated to Mies and a survey of the city’s contemporary public space and buildings,

with a smattering of the old. With time of the essence the crew split into teams to explore different layers of the city. The Barcelona pavilion was a clear standout, but we were pleasantly surprised with the depth and quality of the contemporary work. Gaudi’s work inspired the ‘historic team’, and lead to a lively evening’s discussion and photo swapping to try to discover the essence of Barcelona.

Day 5-Barcelona continued
Visits to the offices of Miralles and Bofil, as well as taking in some of the city sites have the team relaxed and excited. The Culture of the offices appears as

though they know how to relax and have some great examples of how to achieve a good work-life balance. Most exciting to us was the office environments themselves – abundant light, cool breezes, wicker chairs, classical music in the background. Surely this is a model to replicate in our similar climate?

Day 5. Barcelona
Start the day at this little old church called the Sagrada Familia, which is disappointingly over program. They’ve achieved lock up, but defects abound. Rectification due for completion in 36 years. Models helpful in lieu of lost drawings. Shame about gaudi s tram incident.

Who are we kidding?

In all seriousness, despite the fact were now in our third scotch,

it was an experience that can’t be put in words. The interior is now scaffold free and revealed in it’s full glory. A special thanks to Marta for a generous, warm and welcoming tour. Having access to behind the scenes was a true privilege.

Day 4. Barcelona
Arrive to a warm sun and a new culture. The crew is excited to see how the financial crisis has affected this nation.

Arriola and Fiol spent a generous afternoon with the team today, beginning with a tour of the Parc Central. Interestingly, the competition process that we tend to associate with european practice appears to be having a detrimental affect here, with the chances of winning so low that practices

are no longer as interested. Renumeration is now
poor also. Reform to the system appears immanent. If that is the case, it prompts the question what model would be a suitable replacement?

This is especially relevant given this offices’ history with the
Parc de la Villette competition back in the 80’s. Aside from the usual issues of maintaining design integrity through the construction process (an apparently universal phenomenon, along with D&B), the studio finds that there are often different expectations of the role of a winning practice when working abroad, particularly. Design ideas competitions are a notable point of contention here. Should the architect be guaranteed the opportunity to see the winning scheme built? This is certainly the cultural expectation here for now but there appears no guarantee the contractors will take it through to completion with the same integrity, as in Australia. Unfortunately the language barrier didn’t
enable us to probe further on this issue. Eye-opening none the less.

Sagrada Familia
Mind officially blown! Elated elevatoring to peak of sagrada familia, all faces drenched in expressions of awe + amazement