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.
