04 June 2018

 

With the year flying by, it was lovely to see such a strong turnout for the Launceston exhibition opening on Friday, showcasing the full suite of entries in the 2018 Tasmanian Architecture Awards at Design Tasmania. The exhibition was officially launched by the Building and Construction Minister, the Honourable Guy Barnett MP, with the People’s Choice Prize introduced by Launceston Alderman and our Institute Ambassador in the north, Janie Finlay. Todd Henderson from Cumulus Studio, our 2018 jury chair, and I had a chat about their deliberations and experiences while on the awards trail, and I was delighted to present the Board of Architects’ Professional Studies Prize 2017 to Kwan Chak Law – keep an eye out for him in the future! If you couldn’t make it to the opening, make sure to visit the exhibition while it is in Launceston, and cast your vote in the People’s Choice Prize – there are a host of wonderful projects in contention.

We’ve been advertising the awards program more widely in the public realm; you may have heard me speaking with Belinda King on ABC Northern Tasmania on Tuesday morning (listen here at 2:01:35), or on Friday on The Long Lunch with Mike Dunphy on Launceston’s City Park Radio, building the profile of Tasmania’s architecture. We have also had a very successful meeting with Minister Barnett, and we hope to continue this relationship.

I’m heading off to Queensland for another busy week with the National Council meeting, followed by the National Architecture Conference: edge, on the Gold Coast. I hope to see many of you there!

Yvette Breytenbach RAIA
President, Tasmanian Chapter,
Australian Institute of Architects