A rich array of international and Australian speakers has been confirmed for the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2013 National Conference – MATERIAL.

Creative Directors Sandra Kaji-O’Grady and John de Manincor have selected 14 presenters including academics, artists, practicing architects, historians, researchers and problem solvers, once again securely positioning the 2013 conference as a must attend annual industry event.

The 2013 National Architecture Conference presents:

Kathrin Aste – LAAC Architects, Austria
Lucia Cano – SeglasCano Arquitectos, Spain
Billie Faircloth – KieranTimberlake Research Group, USA
Manuelle Gautrand – Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, France
Tim Greer – Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, Australia
Matthias Kohler – Gramazio and Kohler, Switzerland
Carey Lyon – Lyons Architecture, Australia
MAD Architects – Beijing, China
Jorge Otero-Pailos – Columbia University, USA
Cesare Peeren – Superuse Studios, Netherlands
Philippe Rahm – Philippe Rahm Architectes, France
Virginia San Fratello – Rael San Fratello, USA
Nader Tehrani – NADAAA, USA
Emma Young – PhooEY, Australia

‘The quality and diversity of the approaches to MATERIAL that speakers will present at this year’s conference highlights the complex nature of how architects, both locally and internationally, explore this multifaceted topic.

‘The variety of MATERIAL(s) used by the speakers at the conference is both astounding and exciting: including coloured light, heat and gaseous composition (Philippe Rahm), latex, pollution and time (Jorge Otero-Pailos), printed ceramics, straw and cardboard (Virginia San Fratello), cellophane and LED’s (Billie Faircloth), brick-laying helicopters (Matthias Kohler) and more,’ say the Creative Directors.

The National Architecture Conference – Material will be held in Melbourne from 30 May – 1 June 2013, co-locating with designEX.

For speaker profiles, conference program, fringe events and to purchase tickets visit www.architecture.com.au/material.

Click here to view a statement from the 2013 Creative Directors.

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For media enquiries contact:

Alexandra Cato
National Media and Communications Officer
Australian Institute of Architects
P. + 61 (3) 8620 3813 | M. + 61 (0)416 022 818
alexandra.cato@architecture.com.au

Notes to editor:

Kathrin Aste – LAAC Architects, Austria
Katharin Aste founded LAAC Architects with Frank Ludin in 2009. LAAC is focused on contemporary architecture for urban and landscape contexts, particularly alpine infrastructures. The sites for their projects to date have ranged from the medieval centre of Innsbruck to mountain tops in Kazakhstan. In high altitude and inaccessible sites, such as at their daring 2009 Mountain Peak Platform ‘Top of Tyrol’, the practice has developed great material precision – it was constructed in parts and transported by 20 helicopter flights over three days. Their material experiments engage structural technologies, extreme climates and history.

Lucia Cano – SeglasCano Arquitectos, Spain
Lucia Cano is co-founder and co-director of SelgasCano Arquitectos, Madrid with Jose Selgas. Their work is characterised by its luminosity, achieved through lightweight and translucent materials and a palette of acid and pastel colours. They are intensely interested in the construction process, from manufacture to installation. Recent projects include the Cartagena Auditorium and the Merida Factory Youth Movement, both in Spain. They are currently completing a Congress Centre and Auditorium for Plasencia.

Billie Faircloth – KieranTimberlake Research Group, USA
Billie Faircloth is the director of the KieranTimberlake Research Group (KTRG), a trans-disciplinary group of nine professionals leveraging research, design, and problem solving processes from fields such as environmental management, urban ecology, green infrastructure, architectural design, building construction, chemical physics, electrical engineering, and materials science. As director, Faircloth fosters collaboration between disciplines, trades, academies and industries in order to define a relevant problem solving boundary for the built environment.

Manuelle Gautrand – Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, France
Manuelle Gautrand is the principal architect and director of Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, which she founded in 1991. Manuelle Gautrand Architecture design buildings in areas as diverse as cultural facilities (theaters, museums, and cultural centers), office buildings, housing, commercial and leisure facilities. The practice has received numerous awards including two International Awards ‘The Chicago Athenaeum’ (2011) for Lille Museum of Modern Art and Cité des Affaires in Saint-Etienne, World Architecture News International Award – Commercial (2009).

Tim Greer – Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, Australia
Tim Greer is a director of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, an award-winning Sydney-based practice. Greer has an interest in existing urban fabric and the cultural elements it embodies, treating each project as an individual opportunity to create fresh contemporary forms. The foundation for the firm’s expertise in conservation and museum work was laid with the 1991 restoration of the 1817 Hyde Park Barracks as a museum for the Historic Houses Trust. In 2009 Tim was named one of Sydney’s 100 most influential people in the SMH Sydney Magazine.

Matthias Kohler – Gramazio and Kohler, Switzerland
Matthias Kohler established Gramazio and Kohler with Fabio Gramazio in Zurich in 2000. The practice quickly became known for using advanced digital logics in the realization of built architecture. Gramazio & Kohler’s work explores highly complex architectural artefacts, built by industrial robots typically used to assemble automobiles and perform other high-precision tasks. The accuracy, strength and speed of these robots allow them to fabricate architectural forms of unprecedented complexity and intricacy. The office’s projects include the Gantenbein vineyard façade, the Tanzhaus theatre, the Christmas lights for the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and the sWISH* Pavilion at the Swiss National Exposition Expo.02.

Carey Lyon – Lyons Architecture, Australia
Carey Lyon established Lyons with his brothers Cameron and Corbett in 1996 and it is now one of Australia’s leading architectural practices. Lyons are renowned for their interest in expressive material surfaces and spatial complexity. The practice has won more than 25 state, national and international awards for its outstanding projects which include the BHP Billiton Global Headquarters, the School of Medicine and Research, Western Sydney, the Melbourne Brain Centre and the Lyon Housemuseum. The practice recently completed the RMIT Swanston Academic Building in Melbourne.

MAD Architects – Beijing, China
MAD (architects) is a Beijing based practice recognized as an important voice in a new generation of architects. Founded in 2004 by Ma Yansong, the office first earned worldwide attention in 2006 by winning an international competition to design a residential tower near Toronto, which was completed in 2012. MAD is led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. They were awarded the Young Architecture Award from the New York Institute of Architects in 2006 and the 2011 RIBA International Fellowship.

Jorge Otero-Pailos – Columbia University, USA
Jorge Otero-Pailos is an architect, artist, historian and theorist specialising in experimental forms of preservation. His research and work rethinks preservation as a powerful countercultural practice that creates alternative futures for our world heritage. He is the Founder and Editor of the journal Future Anterior, the first scholarly journal to be devoted to the history theory and criticism of historic preservation. His latex casts extracting the pollution from monuments have been exhibited in Manifesta7: The European Contemporary Art Biennial (2008) and the 53rd Venice Art Biennial (2009), and his works of art are in the collections of major museums and foundations.

Cesare Peeren – Superuse Studios, Netherlands
Cesare Peeren co-founded Superuse Studios (formerly known as 2012Architects). With 15 years of experience in building for a sustainable society, it has led to the development of four studios, each dedicated to a specific segment of their strategy: Superusing available flows and resources and connecting them into urban ecosystems. The practice is committed to ‘reuse’ as an integral design strategy. They believe that the intrinsic qualities of used materials and location offer a potential added value if they are incorporated into new products and compositions and have developed processes for auditing and managing local waste materials for the purposes of innovative design. They recently completed Eamescape for the Vitra Design Museum using waste from the production of Eames chairs.

Philippe Rahm – Philippe Rahm Architectes, France
Philippe Rahm is the director of Rahm Architectes, based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, the visible to the invisible, has received an international audience in the context of sustainability. His expanded material repertoire includes humidity, gaseous composition, light, air movement and temperature. In 2002, he represented Switzerland at the 8th Architecture Biennale in Venice and was one of the 25 Manifesto Architects selected by Biennale director Aaron Betsky.

Virginia San Fratello – Rael San Fratello, USA
Virginia San Fratello is a founding director of Rael San Fratello, a practice whose work revolves around the convergence of digital, ecological, and building component design in architecture. Their projects have experimented with digital cement and ceramics as well as earth at the Mud House, Marfa, 2009 and hay in the Straw House, London 2010. Virginia was the recipient of Metropolis Magazine’s Next Generation Design Award for her Hydro Wall concept and with Ronald Rael currently has a collection of recently designed masonry units which hold vegetation on display in New York. She is working with manufacturer / distributors to launch these innovative and sustainable architectural building components into the market place.

Nader Tehrani – NADAAA, USA
Nader Tehrani is a Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Professor (Professional Fellow) at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. He is Principal and Founder of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry. NADAAA is currently designing the new schools of architecture building at the University of Melbourne, as well as the University of Toronto. Tehrani recently completed the renovation of the Hinman Building at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Emma Young – PhooEY, Australia
Emma Young is the EY in Phooey, with co-founder Peter Ho making up the remaining characters in a Melbourne-based practice whose name is also a word used to express disdain or disbelief. It suits their critical stance to consumerism as well as the wit that pervades their growing portfolio of work focused on upcycling and sustainability. Projects include the Templestowe Reserve Sporting Pavilion, Their Cubo House, Melbourne applies the surrealist technique of Cubomania to catalogue, reuse and reinvent all the demolished building materials.

The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing more than 11,000 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design. Learn more about the Institute, log on to www.architecture.com.au

A shrine to prehistory has taken out top honours in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2013 Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards announced tonight.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum by Cox Rayner Architects received a Regional Commendation and the J.W. Wilson Award for Building of the Year presented by Queensland State Awards Jury Director, Mark Damant.

Designed pro-bono by Cox Rayner Architects, the museum is located on a Mesa above the alluvial plains near Winton and comprises a visitor’s interpretation centre, a climate-controlled collections hall, administration centre, museum shop, amenities and outdoor gathering space from which volunteers are marshalled.

‘Put simply this is a remarkable collaboration between the design team and a committed client group and has resulted in a project that has regional and national significance.

‘The architects have carefully considered the procurement process and by working closely with the largely self-taught client, who actually built the building (with advice and help from Woollams Constructions); the whole team has been able to produce a building that has exceeded any reasonable expectations. This team ought to be immensely proud of this achievement,’ the jury noted.

Ten projects from Bundaberg in the south to Rockhampton in the north and Winton in the west, entered the 2013 Central Queensland Awards including a medical centre, museum and town hall among others entered in commercial, public, residential – houses and small project architecture categories.

In total, the jury awarded five Regional Commendations in addition to the J.W. Wilson Award for Building of the Year.

Regional Commendations:

Central Queensland Juror Brian Hooper, Principal of Brian Hooper Architect in Yeppoon, assisted the 2013 Awards Jury Director, Mark Damant (Woods Bagot) and Deputy Director, Liam Proberts (bureau^proberts) with selecting the worthy recipients which now progress to the coveted Queensland Architecture Awards to be announced in Brisbane on 21 June.

JURY CITATIONS

Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum – Cox Rayner Architects
Put simply this is a remarkable collaboration between the design team and a committed client group and has resulted in a project that has regional and national significance. Located on a Mesa above the alluvial plains near Winton the building emerges out of a deep understanding of its place and function. At a tectonic level the building uses imprints and clues from the site to create seamless insertion onto this extraordinary landscape. The architects have carefully considered the procurement process and by working closely with the largely self-taught client, who actually built the building (with advice and help from Woollams Constructions); the whole team has been able to produce a building that has exceeded any reasonable expectations. This team ought to be immensely proud of this achievement.

Crowsnest Retreat – PHORM Architecture + Design
The unusual retreat is a distinctive response to the unique brief from their client for “weekender”. The plan clearly uses the elements of the brief and the inferences of climate and view to form a quirky by easily navigable plan that responds to its context. The highly visible tower is highly visible in the Agnes Water landscape against the simple forms and details of the living spaces.

Administration and Library Woorabinda State School – Kevin O’Brien Architects
A bold plan idea responding to the country and ignoring the land subdivision grid, drives the orientation of form. Inventive use of robust materials, and a generosity of plan and internal light and space elevates the purpose of this building in the school and community.

Rockhampton Regional Library – Brewster Hjorth Architects
Located in the heart of Rockhampton, this building adds to the suite of good civic buildings in the city. A large portal frame structure contains a series of distinct forms and well lit spaces that combine to create an interesting experience for the participants. Through creating a space that is this flexible and adaptable the architects have delivered a space to the community that will have the ability to easily adapt as society changes through time. The building is clearly thought through, well-built and should play an important part of the public life of Rockhampton for many years to come.

Health Clinic CQU – Reddog Architects
Taking clues from the landscape and a clear understanding of the campus as a whole, the design for this building recognises the modest scale of CQU by delivering a carefully scaled and finely textured building. Clever planning and design has created a well-lit, easy to use interior that is perfectly suited to its function. Of note the architects have reconsidered a pre-existing proposal delivered an alternative solution that optimises the future use of the site. The builders also deserve credit for their role in the successful outcome.

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For media enquiries and high resolution images contact:

Alexandra Cato
National Media and Communications Officer
Australian Institute of Architects
P. + 61 (3) 8620 3813 | M. +61 (0) 416 022 818
alexandra.cato@architecture.com.au

The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing 11,500 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design. Learn more about the Institute, log on to www.architecture.com.au.

Ten projects are in the running for honours in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2013 North Queensland Regional Architecture Awards with winners to be announced on Friday 1 March.

Spanning the region from Mackay in the south to Palm Island in the north and Cloncurry in the west, the projects include a shopping centre, library and regiment barracks among others entered in commercial, public and interior architecture, art and architecture, and urban design categories.

North Queensland Regional Jury Coordinator Zammi Rohan, Director at 9point9 Architects, and Jurors Mark Kennedy, Principal at Outcrop Architecture and John McLean, Principal at John McLean Architect, will assist the 2013 Awards Jury Director, Mark Damant (Woods Bagot) and Deputy Director, Liam Proberts (bureau^proberts) with selecting the worthy recipients of Regional Commendations and the Walter and Oliver Tunbridge Award for Building of the Year.

Projects awarded on the night will progress to the coveted Queensland Architecture Awards to be announced in Brisbane on 21 June.

Queensland 2013 Awards Jury Director, Mark Damant will present the Regional Commendations to North Queensland winners at a special Awards ceremony at Millie J & Co, 334b Flinders Street, Townsville commencing at 6:00pm Friday 1 March. Media are invited to attend.

Projects in the running are:

View all North Queensland entries here.

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For media enquiries and high resolution images contact:

Alexandra Cato
National Media and Communications Officer
Australian Institute of Architects
P. + 61 (3) 8620 3813 | M. +61 (0) 416 022 818
alexandra.cato@architecture.com.au

The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing 11,500 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design. Learn more about the Institute, log on to www.architecture.com.au.

By Shelley Penn, National President of the Australian Institute of Architects

2013 had barely begun when the federal government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) issued the factsheet GradStats – Starting Salaries, based on the Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) 2012 GradStatsreport. The figures were shocking: for 2012, a 9.1 per cent gender pay gap for new graduates across all occupations. And what woman would look twice at the architecture and building industry with its staggering 17.3 per cent disparity?

This was particularly disheartening for me as National President of the Australian Institute of Architects. Architecture is a broad discipline and architects are diverse in how, where and why they practice. The Institute has been active in celebrating this for many years, and in particular is focused on gender equity as an industry partner in the Australia Research Council (ARC) funded project ‘Equity and Diversity in the Australian Architecture Profession: Women, Work and Leadership’. I may be only the third woman president in our history, but I’m also the second in four years, a sign that things are changing.

The research team and the Institute suspected that the GradStats figures for architecture were skewed through being combined with building and related industries, and started to look at GCA’s published figures more closely. The Institute then contacted GCA’s Advisor on Policy, Strategy and Stakeholder Relations, Bruce Guthrie, who disputed WGEA’s analysis and provided further disaggregated data.

When looking at the detail for architecture masters graduates, who had studied full time and were working 38 – 42 hours in an architectural practice, the results were dramatically different and much more positive. In 2011, men were on a median annual salary of $45,000, with women on $44,300, which equates to a 1.6 per cent difference, while in 2012, men were on a median annual salary of $46,500, with women on $45,000 – a 3.3 per cent difference.

Guthrie advised that even this disparity is “… likely to represent an upper level acceptable range of respondent or survey error or a difference unexplained by the variables used to control for this analysis (that is, there could be factors apart from study time, occupation, employer type and working hours that could account for more of this difference) …”

So, is this good news? Well, it’s certainly better news, but it does not mean that gender equity is not an urgent issue within the profession, and we need to be mindful of the narrowing of the sample in the figures above. For the 2011 GCA survey, there were only 90 respondents who fit the descriptors while in 2012 this number had dropped to 77. Is that number adequate to be representative? I hope so!

There is no getting away from the fact that despite similar numbers of female and male graduates for the last three decades, women are less likely to register as architects after graduation (only about 20 per cent of registered architects are women). We only rarely become directors of practices and are also less likely to participate in the profession more widely; for example, by joining the Australian Institute of Architects, where less than 30 per cent of members are women.

As careers progress, the barriers for women increase, as evidenced by lower numbers in senior positions and higher attrition rates. The need for part time or flexible work hours when juggling career and parenthood affects women most heavily. But parenthood is just one issue. To understand the breadth and complexity of contributing factors, and to enable some real and meaningful change, we require good research and evidence.

Led by a large and collaborative team including three universities and five industry partners, the research project will, in 2014, provide valuable data, analysis and recommendations for ways to support equity and diversity within the profession, as well as a new Institute policy.

As part of the project, Parlour (www.archiparlour.org.au) was established. A website for active exchange,Parlour brings together research, informed opinion and resources on women, equity and architecture in Australia.

While to a certain extent, the information put out by the WGEA on January 3 has promoted debate and interest, it may also have done some damage. I hope any young women considering architecture as a career choice were not deterred. There is a growing acceptance that diversity is good for business – all business. In architecture, diversity in its broadest sense is an essential aspect of the profession’s ability to respond with sensitivity, innovation and relevance to the myriad issues facing the built environment. In relation to gender diversity, things are not so bad as suggested a month ago, and they will simply get better as more women are welcomed to the profession and are confident of their place in it.

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For media enquiries contact:

Alexandra Cato
National Media and Communications Officer
Australian Institute of Architects
P. + 61 (3) 8620 3813 | M. +61 (0) 416 022 818
alexandra.cato@architecture.com.au

The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing 11,500 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design. Learn more about the Institute, log on to www.architecture.com.au.

Ten projects are in the running for honours in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2013 Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards with winners to be announced on Friday 22 February.

Spanning the region from Bundaberg in the south to Rockhampton in the north and Winton in the west, the projects include a medical centre, museum and town hall among others entered in commercial, public, residential – houses and small project architecture categories.

Central Queensland Juror Brian Hooper, Principal of Brian Hooper Architect in Yeppoon, will assist the 2013 Awards Jury Director, Mark Damant (Woods Bagot) and Deputy Director, Liam Proberts (bureau^proberts) with selecting the worthy recipients of Regional Commendations and the J.W. Wilson Award for Building of the year.

Projects awarded on the night will progress to the coveted Queensland Architecture Awards to be announced in Brisbane on 21 June.

Queensland 2013 Awards Jury Director, Mark Damant will present the Regional Commendations to Central Queensland winners at a special ceremony at the Park Avenue Hotel, Rockhampton, recipient of a 2012 Regional Commendation, commencing at 6pm Friday 22 February. Media are invited to attend.

Projects in the running are:

View all Central Queensland entries here.

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For media enquiries and high resolution images contact:

Alexandra Cato
National Media and Communications Officer
Australian Institute of Architects
P. + 61 (3) 8620 3813 | M. +61 (0) 416 022 818
alexandra.cato@architecture.com.au

The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing 11,500 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design. Learn more about the Institute, log on to www.architecture.com.au.

Twenty-three local projects will vie for architecture honours in the 2013 Australian Institute of Architects’ Newcastle Architecture Awards to be announced on Friday 8 March at the Newcastle Museum.

The entries spanning commercial, public, residential –houses, residential –multiple housing, and small project architecture will be judged by a respected jury of local and state architects and academics.

Led by Jury Chair and Practice Principle at McKendry-Hunt Architects, Debra McKendry, the jury includes; Ramsey Awad, Senior Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle; Robert Donaldson, Trustee of The Architecture Foundation; Emili Fox, Director of Fox Johnston in Sydney; and Peter Johnson, former Director of EJE Architecture (retired).

Winners from the night will have the opportunity to present their projects to the NSW Architecture Awards’ juries for consideration of state honours.

Entries in the 2013 Newcastle Architecture Awards include a surfhouse, a motorcycle showroom, primary schools, a medical centre and a community centre among others. View all Newcastle entries here.

The Newcastle Architecture Awards are proudly sponsored by Architectural Window Systems Pty Ltd, Austral Bricks, and Marline Newcastle Consulting Engineers and supported by Terras Landscape Architects.

For more information and ticket sales visit www.architecture.com.au/newcastle.

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For media enquiries contact:

Kate Griffith
Australian Institute of Architects Country Division
P. + 61 (2) 4960 4200
kate.griffith@architecture.com.au

Alexandra Cato
National Media and Communications Officer
Australian Institute of Architects
P. + 61 (3) 8620 3813 | M. +61 (0) 416 022 818
alexandra.cato@architecture.com.au

The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing 11,500 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design. Learn more about the Institute, log on to www.architecture.com.au.