I’m looking forward to welcoming Planning Minister Pru Goward, Environment & Heritage and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore to the Chapter’s NSW Architecture Awards on Thursday. Institute alumni Jon Clements, National President-Elect, and NSW Government Architect Peter Poulet will also be welcome guests. Your presence is also welcome. I’m looking forward to a record roll-out of the NSW architecture fraternity at the biggest event in our annual calendar. Other than the Awards themselves the evening offers a opportunity to catch-up with colleagues we rarely see due to our busy professional lives.

Last month’s highly successful Student and Graduate Awards confirmed the abundance of talent in the next generation of young architects. The continual renewal of our ranks is one of the key means of achieving forward momentum and change in the profession. Of course we need wise older heads to lead our practices, but without a new generation’s fresh ideas and impatience for change we will be in danger of stagnation. Judging by the standard of entries in this and previous years I don’t think there is any chance of that. It is good that the other chapters are looking to our student awards as a model to be replicated.

Joe Agius

NSW Chapter President

31 March

Congratulations to all of our members who made presentations to the NSW Architecture Award juries on 21 and 22 March. The Awards program is not just about the recognition of excellence by our peers; it’s also our annual opportunity as a profession to demonstrate the value of our work to potential clients and the general public. We should all be proud of the general quality of architectural projects that is showcased through the program year after year.

The 2014 Venice Biennale is set to be fantastic highlight in this year’s calendar. The official opening is 5 and 6 June, with the Biennale running until the end of November. Augmented Australia will showcase unrealised projects from the past 100 years, using an app downloaded onto your smart device. Supporters and sponsors for this year’s event are still need. To register your interest please contact Monica Love at the NSW Chapter office.

While on the subject of major events, I encourage you to travel west this year to the Institute’s national conference Making in Perth on 8-10 May. Perth might be the most isolated capital city in the world, but it’s also the Australian city that’s closest to South Asia and Africa, so its frame of reference is unique and refreshing. Each session will be ‘anchored’ by leading Australian practitioners: Andrew Burns (making culture), Elizabeth Watson-Brown (making life), Emma Williamson (making connections) and Timothy Horton (making impact); they’ll be joined by more than a dozen international speakers.

As architects, we continue to advocate the value of design in creating economically vibrant, socially diverse and liveable cities. But as Vancouver urbanist Brent Toderian pointed out last week in his address at the Sydney Town Hall, our passionate advocacy doesn’t cut any ice with the hard-headed economic ‘rationalists’ who tend to be in charge of the decisions these days. We need verifiable numbers and reliable case studies if we are to have any impact in the corridors of power.

The Institute has recently joined forces with the Government Architects of NSW, Victoria and SA in funding an RMIT Value of Design research project. The project aims to review design value research and experience to date, and conduct a limited pilot case study, drawing on the experience of apartment buildings designed under SEPP 65 in NSW, to test a design value approach.

This month I’ve been pleased to welcome Barcelona-based architect and urban designer, Dr Carmen Fiol-Costa as the first Droga Architect in Residence; she took up her three-month residency in the Surry Hills Droga Apartment a few weeks ago. The Droga residency program is an Institute cultural exchange initiative fostering international collaboration and connections. Dr Fiol-Costa, an architect, urban designer and landscape architect, is the co-founder of Arriola & Fiol Arquitectes in Barcelona. An advocate for urban regeneration and the importance of the public realm in all architectural projects, her portfolio ranges from urban developments and housing projects to public furniture and lighting. A signature project of the practice is the 2007 Parc Central de Nou Barris in Barcelona, for which a series of ‘outdoor rooms’ was created in the leftover space between massive housing blocks built in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The residency program is the first initiative of the Australian Institute of Architects Foundation that will promote the benefits of architecture and design to the wider community through a national program of initiatives. Chaired by former Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Edmund Capon AM OBE, the Foundation will focus on projects that positively impact our communities through architecture and design including exhibitions, scholarships and education programs.

The Foundation’s fundraising initiatives will include the launch of a Patrons program. Patrons will be our key allies in the development of a range of initiatives that draw architecture and design to the forefront of Australia’s creative consciousness, as well as educating the wider population about the benefits to be gained by good design.

Joe Agius
NSW Chapter President

There has been much concern amongst our younger members at the rise of unpaid internships – along with the majority of the profession I share these concerns.  Discussion on the issue seems largely centred on ‘ethics’ – around the benefits an architecture student or graduate derives from unpaid work, versus the contributions of the student or graduate to the productive output of a practice.

This discussion belies the clarity in regard to unpaid internships at law.  Under the Fair Work Act 2009 any architecture student (local or international) or graduate of an architecture course undertaking ‘work’ for a practice in Australia is considered an “employee”, as such there are statutory obligations placed on the employer such as minimum wages. These are described in the Architects Award 2010 – which also covers architecture students.

In determining whether a student or graduate is undertaking “work” for a practice – and therefore an employee, the Fair Work Ombudsman will consider issues such as the purpose of the arrangement, who derives benefit from the arrangement, length of time, and any expectations of productive and useful output for the employer.

Given the heightened competitive environment we are currently experiencing many practices are increasingly approached by students (local as well as international) and graduates seeking unpaid internships. I remind practice owners/directors as employers of your obligations at law in this regard.

Best regards,
Joe

Joe Agius
NSW Chapter President