20th Century heritage has been a major focus of Institute activity in the past few months.
Saving the Sirius
I have been chair of the Save our Sirius group since November last year. You may recall that Minister Hazzard had announced that the building would be sold for re-development; he also expressly rejected the idea of heritage listing for the building.
Sirius is listed on the Chapter’s Register of Significant Architecture. Read the citation here.
We also endorsed the Heritage Council’s decision to recommend the listing of Sirius on the State Heritage Register.
We need to be more than the sum total of our bank balance. Whilst heritage is a challenging issue for development in NSW, exemplar buildings that are recommended for heritage listing need to be protected. This is a fight we have to have.
Saving the Powerhouse
We also strongly object to the Premier’s intention to move the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta, and to sell the Ultimo for re-development to pay for it. The Institute supports the proposal for a sister building to the Powerhouse in Parramatta, but not at the expense of the Powerhouse in Ultimo. The building is listed on the Chapter’s Register and on the statutory Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012. The adaptive reuse won the Institute’s Sulman Medal in 1988.
I have written an opinion piece that was submitted to the Sydney Morning Herald but not published.
I encourage you all to join our fight for our 20th century modern heritage.
Advocacy and the media
One of the key tasks of Chapter Presidents is to be the representative voice of the architecture profession in the public domain. Advocacy is certainly seen by members as probably my major focus, and it’s certainly a role I both enjoy and also take very seriously.
Easy to say but hard to do! Even with a life span of two years in the role it takes a while for journalists and the media generally to know there is a new person in the role, especially coming in to it hard on the heels of the highly effective media presence of my predecessor, Joe Agius.
So the first year of my term was a learning curve, both for me and for the journalists and media with whom I need to interact. It has taken some time to be known by media outlets and journalists but I feel we now have made good connections, especially with the Sydney Morning Herald’s urban affairs and built environment writers. Institute staff have played a key role in generating these connections.
The fight for the Sirius has been the major focus of my media activity in recent weeks, including discussions with the Herald’s Jacob Saulwick and an interview on 2SER-FM. I have also been interviewed regarding the changing role of the Government Architect’s Office and, in the property media, choosing an architect rather than a building designer.
I am also proud of a deal we have struck with the Sky News Saturday property program for a weekly seven minute segment featuring a different architect each week, gender balanced of course. And there is daily advocacy and information via my Twitter feed.
I am sure you will agree that we would like to get more media exposure for the Institute’s views, for the public good, on architecture in general and design in particular, but we have to recognise that it is the editors of the individual media outlets that determine their own priorities. They will only run articles or op-eds if they believe their audience will be interested. That is why it is important for us to continue generating debate on architectural and urban issues in our own publications and discussion forums.
Shaun Carter
NSW Chapter President