3 February

We begin the new year with the Tasmanian election only weeks away. Regardless of the outcome, we hope to seize on the opportunity to change some perceptions about our industry and reaffirm the value of architecture to the community.

The upcoming state election has obvious implications for all businesses in Tasmania. Whatever the outcome, the Institute’s Tasmanian Chapter hopes to capitalise on the different parties’ plans for a stronger, more robust economy and, in turn, improve the prospects for local practitioners.

As many members would be aware, our industry has faced a number of challenges in recent years, not least of them the public perceptions about our profession. These perceptions are not helped by grandstanding contributions to The Sunday Tasmanian newspaper, like the ill-informed spread from Tony Hagar late last year. The article was a tirade against the UTAS student hub in Hobart, singling out Terroir as the recipients of Mr Hagar’s subjective wrath and despair about his perceived imbalance between development and “controversial new architecture”.  It’s unfortunate that contributors with seemingly questionable qualifications* to make comment in this field, are given carte blanche to take aim at an entire profession and its effect on an entire city. Questioning the development’s place in the context of its surroundings, Mr Hagar goes on to say that “architects and their clients have a desire (indeed, an overwhelming desire) to leave their imprint”. Never mind the fact that this is a gross generalisation, it also shows a distinct lack of understanding about the process practitioners are bound by. For example, the article completely ignores the fact that architects are responding to a different brief with every project. In this case, Terroir was faced with a complex brief and, no doubt, considered many of the issues raised by Mr Hagar. But it would appear the architects were communicating at levels not fully understood by him. The student housing development was never going to be a contextual fit with the two-storey buildings that surround it. But when guest newspaper columnists are given the opportunity to say it should have been, missing the mark completely, with nothing more than their own idiosyncratic views to base this on, it’s time for us to speak up and defend our profession and make sure their inaccurate and damaging views don’t go unchallenged. I urge all members to let the Chapter staff know if you stumble across any such articles so they can respond accordingly. We want to be taken seriously by whoever wins government; our cause can only be helped by challenging misconceptions about our industry as soon as they arise.

Andrew Williamson FRAIA
President, Tasmanian Chapter
Australian Institute of Architects

 

*The article stated that Mr Hagar had completed a law degree and a Master of Business Administration, and had studied at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League in New York.