Queensland President Bruce Wolfe FRAIA

28 June 2017

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The 2017 Queensland State Architecture Awards Event was held last Friday at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre and was a fitting conclusion to this year’s Awards program for QLD. Again there was a great display of creativity, commitment to excellence and a true demonstration of the difference our profession makes to our environment form “small” projects and some of these very small to the truly huge resulting from large teams over several years of endeavour.

Congratulations to all entrants that were acknowledged on the night. Those who received a State Award or Named Award in each category will now progress to the National Architecture Awards to be held in Canberra on Thursday 2 November.

During the evening we heard from both State Government Architect Malcolm Middleton and National President Richard Kirk with whom we all joined to congratulate our own Professor Michael Keniger as recipient of the 2017 National President’s award.

We were also treated to the pineapple wearing, Alice Hampson’s very last erudite dissertation on the special place Queensland Architecture has in the world. Hugely informative and thoroughly entertaining. Fantastic job Alice! Not at all sure how any future Awards Chair will follow that.

I would like to personally  acknowledge the contribution the Juries , led by Alice Hampson FRAIA & Deputy Chair of Juries, John Thong FRAIA, for their commitment, diligence and skill that they have brought to the process.

Alice touched on the amount of travel & hours involved for over fifty jurors each year during her address on the night. These figures are quite staggering and do highlight just how much time they dedicate to ensure our program is a success.

The awards evening is a night to celebrate all of what we do but it is also a time to consider the unique value we bring to the whole building and property industry. Design is an investment in both the way we live our lives and to the actual bottom line of the building asset over its lifetime. We, as a profession, must also value this to protect the sustainability of the profession.

Many of the Institute’s sponsors attending on the night certainly agree and put their weight behind our message that good design pays significant dividends
I would like to thank our Sponsors whose ongoing contributions ensure programs such as the Awards continue to run in such successful manner.

 

Best Wishes Bruce Wolfe FRAIA