15 October 2018

It’s getting increasingly hard to write an article in the South Australian Institute context that does not involve procurement or planning reform.

Worthy topics both, and time consuming for those of our members who have been involved in reviewing and representing for us.

However, architecture is a lot more than planning and procurement.

So today I thought I’d avoid these two. I thought, perhaps controversially in a gaggle of architects, that I may be a little up beat.

We’re busy. Most members I speak with are busy at the moment and there is a fair amount of work still entering the market. We are changing. The city is a different place to the CBD of my graduation. Look at our skyline, medical precinct, conventions, oval… its all quite different to the past decade. Even over the weekend listening to the news of the apartment fire at Munno Para (fortunately no human harm) it struck me that now there are actually apartments in a 3 storey building in Munno Para. Economic growth in itself is valuable to our profession but my belief is that there is an alignment between density, activity and land value which creates the petri dish for architectural growth.

We will always have a role in the tier 1 style projects and arguably never have a role at the opposite end of the mass housing spectrum. I believe it is when we need to embrace the complex, celebrate the challenging and when development value and scale justify, perhaps demand, the architectural skill set that we as a profession gain greater relevance in the broader community. Adelaide has for many years offered a limited pool of mid tier architectural projects, but this has and continues to change.

This Friday the Institute is hosting a breakfast which is themed ‘an Adelaide architecture ’. We will be exploring what we think it is that makes Adelaide unique and how we should respond with our built form. I suggest that we are now in the zone for making decisions which will define our city, suburbs and regions for the future. I suggest that we have tipped the critical mass to a point where our profession will have increasing relevance to our community. We will begin to host the urban projects of architectural merit in infill and multi residential and mixed use development. These are happening now and increased densification will see our services more and more relevant.

This work will provide the breeding ground for new practices and the practice ground for new ideas. It has started already and it will continue.

This is a positive message. Our time is here. Projects continue to rise from the ground in Bowden, in Norwood, in Munno Para and beyond… and they already utilise architects.

The challenge is for us to now deliver the quality. The community is looking to us and we are right now designing the products by which they will judge our contribution. Let us grab the opportunity and make sure that in the hurly burly of this evolving market, we hold on to the values we know make great architecture.

Mario Dreosti
SA Chapter President