Architectural Review: #146

Architectural Review

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW

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THE BUSINESS OF ARCHITECTURE ISSUE 146 | 2016

THE IOT IN ARCHITECTURE TECHNOLOGY GENDER INEQUITY BRAIN TRUST SUCCESSION PLANNING STRATEGY MIHALY SLOCOMBE EMERGING

The Business of Architecture

LARISA MORAN Chief Operating Officer Woods Bagot

146

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FEATURE INTERVIEW Woods Bagot’s COO, Larisa Moran discusses expansion, strategy and her first 18 months in the role

CONTENTS

AR REGULARS

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10

EDITORIAL

12

OPINION Penny Craswell on gender inequity and how to address it

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QUOTES

34

EMERGING PRACTICE Sandra Tan meets Mihaly Slocombe Architects

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BRAIN TRUST Male domination in architecture – why and is it changing?

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DEBATE To insource or outsource: that is the question

BUSINESS 23

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TECHNOLOGY Anthony Caruana on how the Internet of Things will affect architecture

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STRATEGY Penny Craswell investigates succession planning in the industry

30

TENDER WRITING An introduction by Stephanie Bullock

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ASIA REPORT Pamela Chew looks at growth areas

MARKETING Peter Roper on the end of the social media dream

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CONTENTS

DESIGN 38

LEAD PROJECT Ruyton Girls’ School by Woods Bagot

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EMERGING PROJECT Chamfer House by Mihaly Slocombe Architects

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SKELETONS The State Library of Victoria

APPLICATION 52

SECURITY Improving building energy efficiency via access control

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INNOVATION DesignBUILD – winners from the inaugural Incubator competition

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CLOSED LOOP DESIGN Michelle Dunner on the new future proofing

60 SHOWCASE New products under the spotlight

THE BUSINESS OF ARCHITECTURE

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Publisher Joanne Davies

10 EDITORIAL

Editor Madeleine Swain madeleine.swain @ niche.com.au National advertising manager Lachlan Oakley lachlan.oakley @ niche.com.au (03) 9948 4952 Business development manager Nirma Ledford nirma.ledford @ niche.com.au (03) 9948 4992

TIME MAY CHANGE ME…

Y

ou’ll have no doubt noticed some profound changes to the magazine you’re currently holding in your hands.

Over the course of its distinguished 35-year history, Architectural Review has undergone many evolutions and changes in focus, but this is probably the most radical of all. We’ve thought long and hard about the magazine’s place in the world and what its offering should be, and we have come to the conclusion that while there is much to be gained from a focus on projects and stunning photography – inspiration and information above all – perhaps that format doesn’t provide the best help when it comes to architecture practices actually running their businesses.

Hence the new look AR – with a tag to its title – the business of architecture. From now on this magazine will have a primary focus on business – with articles, interviews and opinion pieces that will help architects in the complex everyday task of running their practices.

If it’s beautiful photography you crave, well, we’ll still feature some of that too, but there are multiple outlets to access such material – a whole internet full of it, it often seems.

The new aim of the magazine is to home in on the essential practicalities of architecture – to provide a resource that will help you write a tender, address such issues as succession planning, market your business or learn about new and game changing technology. These are all topics covered in this issue of AR. The magazine will cover three general sections: business, design and applications. In the first section of the magazine, each issue will have a cover story/interview – no longer will this always be with a leading designer or practising architect. It could, for example, be with the chief financial officer of a practice, the managing director or, as is the case in this issue where we talk to Woods Bagot’s Larisa Moran, the chief operating officer. But we want to explore the real worlds of all practices, large and small – so

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Assistant online editor and Social media coordinator Sara Kirby sara.kirby @ niche.com.au (03) 9948 4946 Production Art director Keely Atkins Production coordinator Alicia Pinnock alicia.pinnock@niche.com.au

alongside our lead story we will continue to feature an emerging practice and begin to look at the very specific challenges involved in firms just starting out and setting up shop.

The middle section of the magazine will be where we focus on design – with at least two main projects linked to our featured interviews.

Applications will be the section in which we’ll investigate new products, services and ideas of practical interest to architecture studios and all who work in the built environment. In this issue, we throw the spotlight on a range of highly innovative products, all winners in this year’s Incubator competition at DesignBUILD. Of course there’s always room for debate and discussion about the nature of the profession and the ideals that practitioners strive to reach on a daily basis. In columns like the Brain Trust, the Debate and Opinion, industry experts will offer their thoughts on a range of fundamental topics. In this issue, John Wardle and Lindsay Urquhart debate the pros and cons of insourcing versus outsourcing, while the subject of gender inequity again rears its problematic head in both Penny Craswell’s opinion piece and our inaugural Brain Trust article.

But it’s not all about the present and the future – we’re also looking back, back to some of our most renowned and even iconic buildings to when they were still little more than twinkles in their creators’ eyes. Our Skeletons column will feature historical plans, sketches and blueprints to remind us all how things used to be done and how much (or little) has changed since then.

It’s a very different direction for AR and I’m sure there will be many responses and reactions to the changes. And I look forward to hearing and reading each and every one of them.

Madeleine Swain Editor madeleine.swain@niche.com.au

Design & digital prepress Monique Blair Publishing Chairman Nicholas Dower Managing director Paul Lidgerwood Commercial director Joanne Davies Content director Chris Rennie Financial controller Sonia Jurista Subscriptions Subscription enquiries Call 1800 804 160 or email subscriptions@niche.com.au Cover: Larisa Moran, Woods Bagot.

Photo: Eamon Gallagher Printing Graphic Impressions

Architecture and Design Division Architectural Review Asia Pacific is a publication of Niche Media Pty Ltd ABN 13 064 613 529 Suite 1418, Level 14, 1 Queens Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 T 03 9948 4900 F 03 9948 4999 All unsolicited material should be addressed to the attention of the editor at the address above. Material will only be returned if a postage prepaid self-addressed envelope is supplied. Niche Media Pty Ltd accepts no liability for loss or damage of unsolicited material.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, internet, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publishers accept no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions or resultant consequences including any loss or damage arising from reliance on information in this publication. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily endorsed by the editor, publisher or Niche Media Pty Ltd. Niche Media Privacy Policy This issue of Architectural Review Asia Pacific may contain offers, competitions, surveys, subscription offers and premiums that, if you choose to participate, require you to provide information about yourself. If you provide information about yourself to Niche Media, Niche Media will use the information to provide you with the products or services you have requested (such as subscriptions). We may also provide this information to contractors who provide the products and services on our behalf (such as mail houses and suppliers of subscriber premiums and promotional prizes). We do not sell your information to third parties under any circumstances, however the suppliers of some of these products and services may retain the information we provide for future activities of their own, including direct marketing. Niche Media will also retain your information and use it to inform you of other Niche Media promotions and publications from time to time. If you would like to know what information Niche Media holds about you please contact The Privacy Officer, Niche Media pty ltd, 1 Queens Road, Melbourne VIC 3004.

Architectural Review Asia Pacific is a publication of Niche Media Pty Ltd, ABN 13 064 613 529, 1 Queens Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 Australia, tel +613 9948 4900, fax +613 9948 4999, Architectural Review Asia Pacific ISSN 2200-243x ©2016 Niche Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

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12 OPINION

BALANCING THE GENDER SCALES / PENNY CRASWELL

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n order to change gender inequity in architecture, there are three steps that must be taken: acknowledgement of the problem, understanding the problem and tackling the problem. Although the first of these may seem unnecessary – sexism is no longer a new concept – the problem here is apathy. Women in their 20s may not think sexism applies to them – after all, they may have spent their school and university years in a roughly even split between genders, and are now in their first or second job with no discernible difference between their own salary and that of their male friends and colleagues. But, research conducted by Dr Naomi Stead and Justine Clark of the Parlour Inc website shows that, while the numbers of men and women graduates have been roughly equal for the last several decades, women are significantly underrepresented the more senior they become, to the point where there are more Peters* who have won the Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal than women.

Likewise, for women architects who have been in the profession for a long time – perhaps they have had their own practice or are leaders in their field – the issue of gender may seem a tired one. I can understand it – if you find yourself interviewed yet again as the only woman in a group of senior architects, I can pretty much guarantee that you are the only one being asked about gender (can you imagine a journalist asking what it’s like to be a male architect?). But that doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist and it doesn’t mean it should be ignored.

Understanding the problem is the next task. Fortunately, there has been much research done, by Parlour and others, into the cause of gender

THERE ARE MORE PETERS WHO HAVE WON THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS GOLD MEDAL THAN WOMEN.

inequality within architecture. In her new book Where are the Women Architects?

Despina Stratigakos presents a history of women in architecture as well as providing a snapshot of the profession today, including an account of the significant strides being taken to right this wrong, including her own involvement in the creation of architect Barbie.

Next: tackling the problem. It is fantastic to see that there has been a lot of action on gender inequity in architecture in Australia in the last few years. ‘The Parlour Guides to Equitable Practice’ provide positive, productive suggestions around issues such as pay equity, flexibility, long-hours culture and registration.

Also providing a practical and measurable set of actions for gender equity is Champions for Change, a program set up by the Gender Equity Taskforce of the NSW Australian Institute of Architects, which tasks male leaders within large architecture firms with making impactful actions to bring change for women in architecture.

These programs are making real, measurable changes to improve things for women in the field, which is so important. Because, even if the outward signs point to gender equity, sometimes unconscious bias can be our undoing.

One interesting example of this recently made me take note: when people start to lead in their field, they are often

Where are the Women Architects? by Despina Stratigakos opens with this wonderful photograph of Fay Kellogg on the ninth storey of a building being interviewed by a journalist in 1912.

asked to speak at events or conferences or to write articles or be interviewed for media. As you may expect, there is a tendency for men to do these things more, but there is another bias at play here. This is because workplaces are more likely to see these activities as part of a man’s day job (all part of promoting the practice), while, for women, they are seen as extracurricular activities.

This is why gender inequality is not just about women needing to ‘lean in’ or put themselves forward for more power, responsibility and visibility. It is about a fundamental, and often unconscious, bias – that men’s work is more important and more valuable than women’s work. ar *Women: Britt Andresen (2002), Kerry Clare (shared with husband Lindsay Clare) Peters: Stutchbury (2015), Wilson (2013), Corrigan (2003) and McIntyre (1990)

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14 QUOTES

“THERE ARE MORE PETERS WHO HAVE WON THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS GOLD MEDAL THAN WOMEN.” / PENNY CRASWELL, PAGE 12

“AT THE END OF THE DAY WE AS DESIGNERS OR MANAGERS NEED TO CARE ABOUT DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT. I THINK THE TWO ARE FUNDAMENTALLY CONNECTED.” / BRUNO MENDES, PAGE 16

“WITH THE SECOND-FASTEST GROWING GDP (GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT) BEHIND CHINA, THE PHILIPPINES IS GOING THROUGH AN INTENSE STAGE OF GROWTH.” / PAMELA CHEW, PAGE 32 “SUCCESSION PLANNING IS VITAL – YOU NEED TO BE DOING IT ALL THE TIME, NOT JUST FOR LEADERSHIP, BUT TO IDENTIFY A CAREER PATH FOR EVERYONE IN THE ORGANISATION.” / TOM JORDAN, PAGE 28 “ARCHITECTURE FIRMS NEED TO INVEST IN THEIR NON FEE-EARNING EXPERTS. STRONG FINANCE, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH TEAMS WILL BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL FIRMS AND THOSE THAT WILL TREAD WATER.” / LARISA MORAN, PAGE 16

“IT’S EXCEEDINGLY RARE AND ACCIDENTAL FOR SOMETHING TO GO VIRAL WITHOUT AN ADVERTISING AGENCY AND SOME ASSISTANCE FROM PAID DISTRIBUTION, AND EVEN WITH THOSE IT’S FAR FROM GUARANTEED.” / PETER ROPER, PAGE 26

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“WHILE PEOPLE ARE WORKING OUT HOW TO REUSE THINGS IN OTHER WAYS, OR HOW TO MANAGE THE WASTE IN THEIR OWN CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES, IT’S STILL TOO EASY FOR US TO THROW THINGS AWAY.” / PETER HO, PAGE 58

“REAL CHANGE WILL ONLY HAPPEN WHEN IT’S ACCEPTED [GENDER INEQUITY] IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR ‘WOMEN IN ARCHITECTURE’, BUT A PROBLEM FOR ARCHITECTURE ITSELF.” / KERSTIN THOMPSON, PAGE 63

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“LONG WORKING HOURS ARE NOT ONLY A BARRIER TO EQUITY IN THE WORKPLACE, BUT THE PRACTICE ALSO HAS A DETRIMENTAL IMPACT ON ALL STAFF AND THEIR FAMILIES...” / SIMON KNOTT, PAGE 63

“IF OUR GOVERNMENT TRULY CARED ABOUT FOSTERING AN INNOVATIONBASED ECONOMY, THEN NEW SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS SHOULD BE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THEIR THINKING AND INVESTMENT.” / ANDREW MAYNARD, PAGE 58

“I STILL COME ACROSS THE ‘GOLFING NETWORK’ OF MALES, WHICH REALLY FRUSTRATES ME – KEY INFORMATION ABOUT FUTURE JOB OPPORTUNITIES IS DISCUSSED IN THESE OR SIMILAR FORUMS, WHICH HAVE LITTLE OR NO FEMALE PRESENCE.” / DEBBIE RYAN, PAGE 62

“IF YOU OUTSOURCE YOU MUST BY ITS VERY NATURE PUT SOME RESTRICTIONS ON THE POTENTIAL FOR COMPLETING THE DESIGN PROCESS TO BEST ADVANTAGE.” / JOHN WARDLE, PAGE 64

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16 INTERVIEW

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ON INFRASTRUCTURE AND RISK LARISA MORAN OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS WOODS BAGOT HAS SEEN AN AVERAGE YEAR ON YEAR GROWTH OF AROUND 20 PERCENT. THIS DELIBERATE EXPANSION STRATEGY FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS CALLED FOR A FUNDAMENTAL RESTRUCTURING OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM. ENTER LARISA MORAN, WHO BECAME CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER A LITTLE OVER 18 MONTHS AGO. / MADELEINE SWAIN

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longside Moran, Woods Bagot also hired Peter White as chief financial officer and Andrew Kalinowski as director of people and culture. Moran comes from a strong accounting background – her 20 years of experience including long stints as partner at both Grant Thornton and KPMG. The first surprise then perhaps is why she was interested in the COO role and not the CFO. “It’s been a huge career change,” she admits. “It really stems back to a lot of the work I was doing as an accountant… I spent a lot of my career advising clients on restructuring, expansion, succession planning and so forth.

“I was partner in charge of human resources for my division, so I had lots of opportunity to work in areas outside of accounting for my whole career and it was those areas that I really enjoyed working in and became passionate about – the strategy, the technology, the human resources elements. Finance never goes away. It’s in my DNA and it’s obviously fundamental to the business… but it’s not something that I have granular responsibility for on a day to day basis.”

So what was Woods Bagot looking for when it hired Moran? The key piece for them was to engage someone in the organisation that

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could really focus on bringing the infrastructure of the organisation in line with the growth trajectory,” says Moran. “And so that was the role of a COO. They had contemplated the role of a joint CFO/COO, but then they realised that the task was actually big enough to warrant individuals on their own in those roles.”

It wasn’t just the role that was a huge change in direction for Moran, but indeed the very industry. Yet Moran says she was undaunted by this whole new world. Her drive stemmed from “moving out of accountancy and into industry in terms of that leadership role within an organisation”, she explains, adding, “but also in terms of my family background.

My father is in design so I had an appreciation and understanding of architecture and design.

“There’s something fascinating about being part of something that’s physically built. And you can touch and feel when the end product is complete. There’s a buzz that you can get out of that that you can’t get in many other industries.”

And it is a different industry – full of creative and design oriented folk. What has she learned about the discipline of architecture and its unique qualities?

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18 INTERVIEW

“THERE’S SOMETHING FASCINATING ABOUT BEING PART OF SOMETHING THAT’S PHYSICALLY BUILT. THERE’S A BUZZ THAT YOU CAN GET OUT OF THAT THAT YOU CAN’T GET IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRIES.” LARISA MORAN

“I realised that architects are some of the most highly educated, highly intelligent people that we have and yet they seem to be quite underappreciated and undervalued, which was surprising to me. I get to engage with individuals here who have extraordinary intellect. It’s very complex, in terms of what they do, and the amount of understanding they need to have – about communities and the social environment and political environment and how our cities are developing – is quite vast. Their breadth of knowledge is not just siloed to ‘how do we design a building?’ it goes so much beyond that. I really don’t think they get the credit that they’re due. So it was quite an interesting light bulb moment for me.”

With this in mind, in a practice like Woods Bagot, how do the suits converse with the creatives at the coalface and make sure they’re all on the same page?

Moran believes her client adviser background has helped here and that there is a common language. “My experience is it’s fairly well aligned. Being a client adviser my whole career, I’ve had to focus on how to have the right conversations with my client so that they can understand the message that I’m trying to get across. That I can

understand what their needs are. You’re constantly having to adjust the way you engage with individuals. I continue to do that in my role here.”

Principal Bruno Mendes says the management/creative relationship at Woods Bagot has changed over the last couple of years, since Moran, White and Kalinowski joined the firm in fact. “We have been using a three-legged stool model whereby projects require three particular skill sets – those that focus on management, others on design and others on technical,” says Mendes. “The issue with this setup is that it creates very distinct types of people who focus on their specific responsibilities. In the last year or two, personally, I’ve been trying to break down that kind of management because I think it’s really important to create the all-round individual. At the end of the day we as designers or managers need to care about design and management. I think the two are fundamentally connected.”

The practice’s growth demanded a different model, agrees Moran.

“The complexity of the business, as Bruno has mentioned, and its size and geographic dispersement, means you really have to engage and communicate in a completely different manner. Compared to the past,” she says.

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And, conversely, how does the C-suite talk to each other? The COO role has been memorably described as resembling the relationship between a vice president and a president. Is this true? Does Moran see herself as the Joe Biden to CEO Nik Karalis’ Barack Obama? Moran laughs, but emphasises that Woods Bagot has a “structure in place that is more of a team kind of approach to the running of the business.

“But yes, Nik and I work well and I help him in terms of delivering the strategy to the organisation and the vision that he’s created. It’s a fantastic relationship.”

Was there any concern within the company before those new roles were appointed? “Woods Bagot, being a commercial firm… there’s always a little bit of negativity towards commercial firms, big is bad, all that sort of stuff,” says Mendes. “But to be quite honest, within the practice itself there’s a series of smaller offices. The true benefit is when you bring all these little teams together, and you bring the reach that you’ve got, say, in New York which is about to wake up when we’re about to go to sleep. The ability to tap into the different bits of the world and different skill sets is the true benefit of having a global practice. So big isn’t bad.”

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After a year and a half in the role, Moran says that on the whole there have been few surprises. “Probably the piece that I didn’t really appreciate was how complex the organisation was. Because it spans so many geographies, so many time zones. And has so many different sectors of expertise.”

Woods Bagot currently has 17 offices across the globe, with a presence in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Managing these disparate elements, not to mention time zones, is clearly a formidable challenge. “We don’t run a hierarchical organisation,” explains Moran. “It’s what we would call a matrix structure. So we have leaders of regions and leaders of disciplines that all manage the business together. And therein lies the challenge of a global studio across five different time zones.

“Technology is a really key piece in our organisation, not only from the design point of view, but in terms of the way we operate as a business. We may have 20 people working on a project and they may be from three different offices. So you need to be able to have that infrastructure set up so that you can work on the same project at the same time.”

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20 INTERVIEW

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Larisa Moran on four growth areas for Australia’s property and architecture industries: Ageing population. It’s no surprise that we have an ageing population, but the newest trend with empty-nesters is their interest in moving into the CBD to be closer to art, culture, health and facilities. Vertical aged care, urban retirement villages and hotels offering room service… and other services will increase.

Transit oriented developments. With three of our Australian cities investing in Metro transport over the next decade (circa $40 billion), there will not only be an increase in the need for rail and infrastructure architects, there will be more focus on value capture (over-station developments) and a need for private companies to cover the costs of infrastructure.

Technology. The Internet of Things will influence the way architects design and who they design for. Banks and hotels are already starting to see themselves as the ‘tech sector’, a sector that requires quick responses and access to space at short notice etc.

“THERE’S ALWAYS A LITTLE BIT OF NEGATIVITY TOWARDS COMMERCIAL FIRMS, BIG IS BAD...”

BRUNO MENDES

That challenge is certainly worth it, however. “From a Woods Bagot perspective, because we are so geographically dispersed, potentially where there’s some instability in one area, hopefully there are some upsides and positives happening in another area, and we can play off that risk if you like.”

Despite the current political instability in countries like the US and the UK, with the presidential election and Brexit respectively, Moran says the company sees huge potenial and has had a number of sector leaders relocate to North America to build the team there. “Australia represents about 47 percent of our revenue,” she says. “Asia has been a huge growth market for us over the last five to 10 years, so the big opportunities for us are in North America and Europe.”

Whether ‘big is bad’ or not, there are only so many practices the size of a Woods Bagot in the world. If Moran were running a small to medium sized architectural business in Australia in the current climate, what would her future proofing strategies be? As always, it comes back to having the right people in place in all areas of expertise, she believes.

“Clients of architecture firms and professional services firms generally are becoming more sophisticated. Architecture firms need

Retail oriented developments. This will be a new trend and growth area in Australia. Retail is playing more of a role in leading mixed-use developments, rather than the other way around. The shopping mall will soon be linked to residential, education, commercial office and even aged care facilities.

to invest in their non fee-earning experts. Strong finance, business development, technology and research teams will be the difference between successful firms and those that will tread water,” she says.

And in the future? How does she see her COO role evolving over time? “The key piece for bringing me into the role at Woods Bagot was because the infrastructure really hadn’t kept up with the pace of the growth over the last six years. And we’ve done an extraordinary amount of work already in the last 18 months in bringing that all into a state where it’s really now strongly supporting the business. We’ve still got some work to do as always, but I think the role will really evolve in terms of being more strategic and more forward thinking and future focused rather than a bit of catch-up,” she says.

And on a personal note, has this radical career change taught her anything else? Is there anything she would do differently if she were starting out today? “I think earlier on in my career I would have taken more risks and put myself out there in order to take more opportunities when they came across my path. I have certainly done that in more recent years, but in the earlier part of my career I would say I was more conservative and didn’t need to be.” ar

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Larisa Moran with Bruno Mendes.

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TECHNOLOGY 23

THE IOT WILL CHANGE HOW BUILDINGS ARE

MADE AND USED AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LIKELY IMPACTS OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS ON THE ARCHITECTURE INDUSTRY. / ANTHONY CARUANA

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oday’s world depends on connectivity. Until recently, that connectivity was based on bringing people together using the internet as the conduit for email, instant messaging and video conferencing.

But over the last couple of years, things have changed.

We now expect devices to deliver a constant stream of data to us, for us to be able to communicate with those devices and for different devices to communicate with each other. We are now entering the Internet of Things, or IoT, era.

For commercial buildings, some of the concepts used by the IoT are familiar.

Sensors and controllers are used to manage services in order to optimise the experience of tenants and patrons.

For example, thermostats can be used for climate control systems, ambient light sensors can be used to control light dimmers and window coverings or security passes can be used for secure access and to activate building services.

Where the IoT differs from traditional systems is that it is built on the open

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protocols of the internet. Rather than each system being based on proprietary standards developed by component manufacturers, the IoT relies on the use of open standards that allow devices to interoperate and to be accessed and controlled over the internet.

This has significantly changed how buildings, large and small, are designed and built.

THE RISE OF THE BUILDING NETWORK ENGINEER In the past, systems such as airconditioning and heating were installed by specialist engineers and electricians. With the advent of IoT, however, these devices can now be connected to a network.

That means building design and construction companies need new skills.

With proprietary equipment, data used to monitor and control a device was largely confined to a closed system that didn’t interact with any other systems.

With the IoT, that data can now be shared between systems and outside the

WHERE THE IOT DIFFERS FROM TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS IS THAT IT IS BUILT ON THE OPEN PROTOCOLS OF THE INTERNET. building. That means installers need to be network engineers who understand connectivity and security. While the traditional skills employed by electricians are still important, it’s vital to understand the potential security issues that can be introduced if a system is connected to the internet.

For example, a building security system with access control on doors, security cameras and personal data that is connected to the internet presents new opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, it makes it easier to keep an eye on building operations and carry out routine support. However, it also presents opportunities to malicious parties who wish to circumvent security and carry out a physical breach.

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24 TECHNOLOGY

BUILDING MATERIALS AND DESIGN Today’s workforce depends on wireless communications; however, Wi-Fi signals can have difficulty penetrating some construction materials.

During the design and construction phase, it’s important to ensure adequate cabling to every work area is provided so that wireless access points can be installed easily.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMART BUILDING There is a massive upside to a welldeployed building management system that takes advantage of the technologies IoT offers. The rise of connected, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets makes it possible for architects to create smart buildings where everything that happens within the construction can be visualised from anywhere at any time.

Furthermore, as systems increasingly turn to the use of public standards such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol – the networking protocol of the internet) rather than proprietary standards, it becomes easier for systems to integrate both from an operational point of view and for monitoring and management.

For example, when a person enters the building using their security credential (which could be a biometric system using facial recognition via security cameras) the climate control, power management and lighting systems in their workspace could be automatically activated. The climate system could take into account external light and temperature to optimise the environment.

Suddenly, architects can evolve from designing edifices to creating experiences for patrons.

WITH THE IOT… DATA CAN NOW BE SHARED BETWEEN SYSTEMS AND OUTSIDE THE BUILDING. THAT MEANS INSTALLERS NEED TO BE NETWORK ENGINEERS WHO UNDERSTAND CONNECTIVITY AND SECURITY.

Architects, working with network and software engineers, can create real-time feedback systems with data delivered to a smart console so that everything can be monitored and managed.

All of these tools require a new way of conceiving how buildings are designed and built. This will require new skills but, more importantly, a new wave of creative design. ar

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26 MARKETING

WAKING UP FROM THE SOCIAL

MEDIADREAM LIKE EVERY OTHER BUSINESS, ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICES HAVE GOODS AND SERVICES TO SELL. BEAUTIFUL, STUNNINGLY DESIGNED GOODS, BUT GOODS NONETHELESS. ARE YOU STILL HOPING SOCIAL MEDIA WILL DO THE SELLING FOR YOU? PERHAPS THE BEAUTIFUL DREAM SHOULD NOW BE CONSIDERED IN A MUCH MORE PRAGMATIC FASHION. / PETER ROPER

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t was a beautiful marketing dream.

Networks of people connected by friendship and shared passions could stay in touch with the brands they choose. The quality of a brand’s content could spread by shared appreciation.

The quality of a brand’s performance could spread by word of mouth.

Social networks have been evolving the ways in which billions of people communicate for the last decade. As a communication channel, it’s probably lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of social media’s hype as a marketing channel. The promise was a great democratisation of business. No matter your size or marketing budget, you could compete on the same level as the world’s biggest corporations, judged on how human a business could be instead of how much it could spend on advertising. That was the promise but, eventually, all social networks realise they have to generate revenue like any other business, and that either means selling to its audience or selling its

audience. It chose the latter, which is also known as ‘advertising’.

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of people propagating the buzz – because there are plenty – but it’s just buzz. Social media isn’t the meritocracy for brands it could have been, anymore, if it ever was. It’s exceedingly rare and accidental for something to go viral without an advertising agency and some assistance from paid distribution and, even with those, it’s far from guaranteed. Three years ago, a brand could expect its Facebook posts to be seen by about 20 percent of its followers. These days, it’s closer to two percent.

Social media is just another paid advertising channel. Brands can pay to distribute their messages in images and words that people can click on.

There is a very good reason for me to make this point as strongly as possible, because the crux is the positive flipside to all this. Once it’s accepted that Facebook and company are simply channels on which to buy advertising, digital marketing becomes

THREE YEARS AGO, A BRAND COULD EXPECT ITS FACEBOOK POSTS TO BE SEEN BY ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF ITS FOLLOWERS. THESE DAYS, IT’S CLOSER TO TWO PERCENT. a much easier proposition. A platform like Facebook can now be assessed in the same way as any advertising channel: how many of the right people does it reach and will reaching them through this channel contribute to my marketing goals by moving people further down the funnel?

Then, all it takes is good-oldfashioned trial and error to discover its place in a brand’s media mix. Like every media channel, there are things social media advertising does very well and things it doesn’t. And, like any media channel, it’s never going to work on its own. In 2016, the best marketing communication is still integrated marketing communication. ar

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28 STRATEGY

SUCCESSION

PLANNING WHETHER SMALL OR LARGE, ARCHITECTURE FIRMS NEED TO TAKE SUCCESSION PLANNING SERIOUSLY, BECAUSE SUCCESS IN TRANSITION LIES IN PREPARATION. / PENNY CRASWELL

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ike all businesses, architecture firms need to be serious when it comes to succession planning.

This is especially true now, when a huge amount of businesses are facing uncertainty as Baby Boomer leaders and owners reach retirement age. A recent survey in Australia found that, in the next decade, 60 percent of private business owners in Australia will be reaching retirement, and that the resultant transfer of ownership assets and business equates to $607 billion (Monash University Family and Private Business Research Unit).

Unlike other professions, such as accounting and law firms, in architecture, succession planning is one area of business that is often overlooked.

This is especially so for the majority of Australian architecture businesses that employ fewer than 200 staff – most of which are led by a living, working

architect (or two or more architects), who owns the business. But succession plans are vital for any business, no matter the size.

For those larger architecture firms that have survived 50-plus years of practice, the transition from the original owner/architect to a collective leadership and ownership model may have occurred decades ago. HASSELL is an architecture, interiors and landscape firm with studios in Australia, China, Southeast Asia and the UK that was founded in 1938 in Adelaide and takes its name from one of its three founders, Colin Hassell. For HASSELL, succession planning has undergone several stages, from the original founders to leadership under John Morphett, who was influenced by his time working with Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus, to the next phase led by Tim Shannon, which saw the upscaling of the firm

+ A number of architecture firms, large and small, have disappeared over the years, despite their once highly regarded reputations.

Examples include Yuncken Freeman, which designed Sidney Myer Music Bowl and BHP House in Melbourne, and Tompkins Shaw and Evans, a 100-plus-year practice that renovated the MCG’s Great Southern and Northern Stands (with Daryl Jackson Architects).

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+

IMPORTANT STEPS FOR SUCCESSION PLANNING:

Undertake a review of the business: due diligence, benchmarking, structural review and valuation.

__________

Understand the difference between management, leadership and ownership.

__________

Engage in talent mapping to find gaps in skills and identify individuals for promotion and development.

__________

Consider an independent business or management adviser to add value where you may be lacking in skills or information.

__________

Consider options to exit the business, including handing over to children, selling to other partners or shareholders, a trade sale; or more complex, but potentially more lucrative options, such as selling to private equity.

__________

Mergers and acquisitions may also be a viable option.

through new locations in Asia and elsewhere. Current managing director Rob Backhouse has been in the role for nearly eight years and has recently become chair as well. Constantly on the lookout for the next generation’s leaders, Backhouse describes the practice’s approach as a collective. “Once firms become bigger and they become distributed with multiple locations, to survive and prosper you have to share authorship and ownership,” he says.

At Hayball, the strategy for succession planning is proactive,

“SUCCESSION PLANNING IS VITAL – YOU NEED TO BE DOING IT ALL THE TIME, NOT JUST FOR LEADERSHIP, BUT TO IDENTIFY A CAREER PATH FOR EVERYONE IN THE ORGANISATION,” TOM JORDAN, HAYBALL

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with the firm announcing an employee share ownership scheme in 2013.

Under this system, shares are granted independently of seniority within the firm. This has several benefits, including bringing more individuals into the core of the business.

“It means that people have an insight into the business side of the practice and are often then more proactive about commercial matters,” explains Tom Jordan, managing director of Hayball. Allowing people to slowly buy into the business is also a powerful human resources tool. The focus for Hayball is therefore about talent attraction and retention, about identifying future leaders while retaining the legacy of the design leaders of the practice.

“Succession planning is vital – you need to be doing it all the time, not just for leadership, but to identify

a career path for everyone in the organisation,” says Jordan.

For smaller firms, the question of succession planning may be raised when the lead architect approaches retirement. In this case, it is best to start planning for the changeover five years prior, in order to give the business time to adjust to the change, which may affect finances, design and management style, as well as client relationships.

Succession planning may also be useful in the event of a change in career – the benefits of a working brand and team do not have to dissipate because the owner of the business changes their priorities and decides to take a career break or change careers entirely. As strange as it may seem to prepare for an event when the key players in the business are absent, not to do so means risking the future and legacy of the business. ar

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30 BUSINESS

TENDER WRITING FOR TENDERFOOTS TENDER WRITING CAN BE THE BANE OF AN ARCHITECTURAL FIRM’S EXISTENCE. BUT IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE THAT WAY IF YOU HAVE THE CORRECT PROCESSES IN PLACE. AR WILL RUN REGULAR ARTICLES ON THE PRACTICE OF TENDER WRITING AND HERE WE BEGIN WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCIPLINE. / STEPHANIE BULLOCK

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ike many practices, BKK started out doing mainly residential work, often for family and friends, and without the need to prepare formal and detailed tender submissions. In the 16 years since the practice was founded, we have expanded our work into more broadly based design and problem solving, rather than specialising in particular building typologies. We now work across a wide range of sectors with clients that include a number of government agencies, institutional bodies, developers and commercial entities. Consequently, preparing tender submissions has become an increasingly important part of our business development approach, which we continue to refine along with our overall strategy for the practice. Along with improving the effectiveness of submissions through a client-centric, collaborative approach, this has significantly shaped how we approach the process of preparing tenders.

STRATEGIC FOCUS An effective approach to preparing tenders should be aligned with your overall business strategy, including being clear about which sectors and or clients you are targeting. Fundamental to this is understanding both your current positioning in relation to each of these, as well as the capabilities you are trying to build in order to expand into new areas.

If a number of people are responsible for business development, a clear decision-making process is important to help prioritise the opportunities you pursue. This can be as simple as

DECISIONS REGARDING WHICH TENDERS TO PURSUE SHOULD CONSIDER THE COST OF PREPARING EACH TENDER SUBMISSION.

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a regular discussion, or may evolve into a more detailed checklist or evaluation system.

As well as thinking about how it aligns with your overall strategy, decisions regarding which tenders to pursue should consider the cost of preparing each tender submission – this is often mainly time, but even this can be significant as it often involves the most senior resources in a practice.

Understanding how the submission fits into your broader business development strategy not only ensures you are investing this time in the right areas, but will also assist significantly in tailoring the content, including how you approach pricing. Taking a strategic approach to the content of the tender ideally extends to being clear on what is your point of difference, both in the broader market, and also in the context of a particular submission.

CLIENT CENTRED APPROACH Developing a detailed understanding of both the specifics of the project and the client is crucial in order to tailor the content of the submission to both.

Establishing a library of visual and written content from previous tenders can make the process of putting proposals together more efficient; however; each tender should ideally be customised to the specifics of the project. This should include understanding how proposals will be assessed – as well as being clear on the evaluation process and criteria (including the weighting of each), identify who will be assessing the submission and consider what their priorities may be. Take advantage of opportunities to be involved in the selection processes of key clients (i.e. for sub-consultants or contractors) as it can provide a great deal of insight into how these processes work. Finally, in

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ESTABLISHING A LIBRARY OF VISUAL AND WRITTEN CONTENT FROM PREVIOUS TENDERS CAN MAKE THE PROCESS OF PUTTING PROPOSALS TOGETHER MORE EFFICIENT.

order to make it as easy as possible to evaluate your submission, strictly comply with submission requirements in terms of time and format, in order to avoid the client needing to seek clarification or, worse, the risk of being excluded for non-conformance.

COLLABORATION Assembling the right team of collaborators is not only a requirement for many tender submissions, it is crucial to the success of the project should you win it. Confirming this as early as possible not only allows you to get the optimal (and ideally exclusive) team locked in, it enables you to fully leverage the specialist knowledge within the team in preparation of the tender, which is effectively the first stage of the project. Consider collectively how the team will operate from the outset and reflect this clearly in both the written content and graphic presentation – if the process is to be seamless for the client, the submission should be reflective of this.

time spent, will provide enough data to start analysing how effective your processes are. Particularly important is recording feedback on pricing and how you are scoring on assessment criteria, as invaluable input into future tender submissions. Obtaining detailed feedback on all tenders, successful or otherwise, not only allows you to refine the way you approach future submissions, it represents an ideal opportunity to build relationships with clients for future work.

Every tender, regardless of the outcome, has the potential to improve your understanding of both the cost and likelihood of winning work, build relationships with key clients and collaborators, and allow you to more effectively target the work that is of most value to your practice. Aside from the obvious benefits of winning more projects, approaching tender submissions in this manner can have far-reaching benefits – not least because it requires the development and implementation of an overall business development strategy. ar

CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT Utilising appropriate systems to track projects in the business ‘pipeline’, as well as the cost of preparing tenders, is fundamental to measuring the success of submission strategies.

There are a number of proprietary pipeline management systems available – at a minimum, allocating a unique identifying number to each potential project, in conjunction with tracking

Stephanie Bullock is a director at BKK Architects, currently leading a wide range of projects across the residential, fitout, institutional and urban planning sectors. Prior to joining BKK, Stephanie worked in senior roles in banking and finance for 10 years, managing strategic projects focused on business process improvement and organisational change management.

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32 ASIA REPORT

BOOMTOWNS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, SOME COUNTRIES PRESENT A BETTER OUTLOOK FOR INVESTORS AND DEVELOPERS THAN OTHERS. IT IS FAST BECOMING AN ATTRACTIVE REGION FOR REAL ESTATE. COUNTRIES LIKE THE PHILIPPINES AND VIETNAM, WHICH WILL BE FOCUS OF THIS ARTICLE, HAVE POSTED STRONG GDP FIGURES. WITH STRONG ECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS AND A DIGITAL REVOLUTION UNDERWAY, THE REGION IS AWASH WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR VARIOUS ACTORS IN THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR. / PAMELA CHEW

PHILIPPINES With the second-fastest growing GDP (gross domestic product) behind China, the Philippines is going through an intense stage of growth. There is currently a lot of investment in infrastructure, and the building spree is not just limited to traditional metropolitan areas like Makati and Taguig.

The Philippines is continuing to capture wider attention. It is not just Metro Manila – the country’s political and economic powerhouse – that is enticing.

And other markets such as Cebu, Boracay and Davao on the island of Mindanao are also healthy, despite projections of slower economic growth last year.

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Commercial real estate is especially strong, with businesses renting out retail and commercial spaces in Quezon City, Pasay and the bay area of Manila.

Premium office spaces are seeing record sales, and property values are sharply rising by the year. For example, Ayala Land’s first office project in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig sold 95 percent of it units in the first tower just a year after its launch. And 93 percent of the second tower within the same time period.

Office space is being rented by multinational companies, mainly from the business process outsourcing and manufacturing industries. Companies from these industries tend to lease office spaces for an average of five years, much longer than residential spaces, and this trend is promising for property developers as they receive recurring income over a longer period.

In the Visayas, Bacolod and Iloilo are catching up to Cebu. Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga, meanwhile, are up-and-coming areas of Mindanao, after Davao.

up the spread of modernisation and rejuvenation as the President’s winning campaign was built on a platform of decentralisation of CBDs and pushing for the development of provinces in hopes of decongesting major city areas.

According the Philippines’ national statistics authority, real estate and construction make up a combined share of 18.1 percent of real GDP. It should be noted that the positive outlook is tempered with longstanding issues that have plagued the sprawling island nation, such as swathes of ageing infrastructure and lack of transparency. There have been talks by the government, however, about improving infrastructure through public-private partnerships. These partnerships will be tremendously beneficial for future real estate developments should there be a successful follow-through.

With property markets flourishing in the 7500-plus islands in the Philippines, now is a good time to explore the opportunities on offer.

THERE HAVE BEEN TALKS BY THE GOVERNMENT, HOWEVER, ABOUT IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. THESE PARTNERSHIPS WILL BE TREMENDOUSLY BENEFICIAL FOR FUTURE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENTS SHOULD THERE BE A SUCCESSFUL FOLLOW-THROUGH.

The city of Iloilo is significant to note.

Located on Panay Island, it has seen a boom in recent years and is considered one of the most progressive in the country in urban redevelopment.

Infrastructural and architectural projects include the Iloilo Esplanade, a convention centre and mixed-used development in the rejuvenated old airport area. Good road infrastructure also links suburban residential projects. While architectural rejuvenation has been progressive, the city of Iliolo has kept many of its Heritage buildings and some have been adapted for reuse.

The Philippines’ new President Rodrigo Duterte should also speed

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VIETNAM With an economy buoyed by a burgeoning middle class, and encouraged by an easing of real estate laws, the property sector is emerging from a market collapse not too long ago, and looks set for a boom again.

DKO Architecture is just one Australian practice optimistic about the region. The firm recently opened a new office in Ho Chi Minh City to manage a “multitude of significant new commissions”, in both the Vietnamese capital and Hanoi. While it has bases in Melbourne, Sydney, Christchurch and Auckland, this is the practice’s first office in Asia.

Vietnam still has some ground to make up, however. The collapse of 2011, which left US$6 billion worth of unsold properties and banks crippled by defaults, has led to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) tightening criteria on domestic home loans.

Experts say a healthier economy in the US, where many of the diaspora live, and Vietnam’s improving business prospects are encouraging people to send money back to Vietnam where extended families still reside.

The SBV expects remittances to hit a record US$14 billion this year, and to be equivalent to 6.4 percent of GDP. The growth in remittance is also expected to eclipse that of the Philippines, Southeast Asia’s top remittance receiver as a share of GDP, and these cash inflows are fuelling an economy that grew 6.7 percent last year – a pace not seen since 2008.

Property prices are also being supported with a fifth of cash remitted going into real estate, according to the SBV. New legislation easing restrictions on ownership by foreign citizens, have made it easier for Japanese, South Korean, Singaporean and overseas Vietnamese investors who are keen to buy in Vietnam.

Underlying demand will, however, come from Asia’s fastest rates of middle class expansion. Research agency JLL rates Ho Chi Minh City as the fastest improving among the 120 cities in its Momentum Index in 2015. This year, the report highlighted Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as Asia’s growth hotspots.

The research agency said that the two cities have prominent economic momentum, propelled by FDI (foreign direct investment) and raw GDP growth.

JLL also highlighted the transition towards higher-technology manufacturing and the increasing inflow of innovation oriented investment as exemplified by Samsung’s near US$400 million expansion of its R&D centre in Hanoi last year.

There is still much room for growth, with Vietnam’s market valued at US$21 billion in 2014 by Nomura Research Institute, compared with Thailand’s US$89 billion and Singapore’s US$241 billion. ar

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34 EMERGING PRACTICE

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EMERGING: MIHALY SLOCOMBE SANDRA TAN MEETS PARTNERS IN LIFE AND WORK, WARWICK MIHALY AND ERICA SLOCOMBE AND DISCOVERS A PRACTICE WITH A TRUE PASSION FOR PLACE AND CRAFT.

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rom their Brunswick East studio in Melbourne’s inner city, Warwick Mihaly and Erica Slocombe are steadily developing a portfolio of well resolved built works, including a number of considered residential designs and an innovative community project.

Along with graduate Jake Taylor, the partners in both life and practice are making a name for themselves in 2016, achieving a commendation in the Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) category at this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards.

Sandra Tan: Can you give some insight into the challenges and highlights of your work?

Mihaly Slocombe: We launched Mihaly Slocombe at the beginning of 2010, just as the world was emerging from the GFC (global financial crisis). We had returned the month before from 18 months of travel around the world, flat broke and at the same time decided to start a family. The perfect moment to forgo any form of regular income!

In hindsight, this was actually a great time to throw ourselves into architecture. It was just the two of us practising from our dining table, our costs were low and we were happy to tackle anything. We survived on the smell of an oily rag for ages, waiting for projects to make their slow way through design and construction.

Sustaining ourselves and balancing our work and family lives were our biggest challenges in these first few years. Lots of late nights, heaps of hustling for work, and constant revisions of our design and business processes. Sometimes we look back and marvel how we managed to survive at all!

Working out who we are as designers was also tough. Six years in, it’s only now that we’re beginning to have a sense of it – our passion for place and craft, love of the intimate relationship we develop with our residential clients, and interest in the intersection of rigorous strategic thinking and playful space making.

Where do you turn for inspiration, and which architects or designers have had the biggest influence on your work?

We think there’s a wonderful community of extraordinary architects currently practising in Australia, to whom we look constantly for inspiration. We’re particularly interested in architects whose work

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IT WAS JUST THE TWO OF US PRACTISING FROM OUR DINING TABLE, OUR COSTS WERE LOW AND WE WERE HAPPY TO TACKLE ANYTHING.

eschews fashion – Kerstin Thompson, Kennedy Nolan, Neeson Murcutt, James Russell, Vokes and Peters, Room 11. Their work is instantly recognisable, sensitive, stylish and amazingly confident.

In a broader sense, we also look to industrial designers Dieter Rams and Jony Ive, both of whom have always preached the importance of simplicity in design. Architecture is an immensely complex undertaking, but we also try to distil our work down to core ideas and strong forms.

Finally, Richard Leplastrier and Peter Stutchbury provide important sustenance for the soul. We’ve just started work on a new house in north-east Victoria, and will salute both of them when we head out there in a couple of weeks to camp on-site. They’ve taught us that there’s nothing like spending time in a place to get the feel of it in your bones!

What excites or frustrates you about the current state of Australian architecture and design?

Beyond design and the day-to-day needs of our studio, we’re intensely interested in the state of the profession at large. Warwick writes a blog, Panfilocastaldi, which explores many of the issues facing the profession, and we both spend a lot of time planning for an unknown future.

Simultaneously, the most frustrating and exciting thing is the need to adapt in order to survive. The territory of architects has been under threat for as long as we can remember, and it feels sometimes like there’s not much appreciation for the work we collectively do.

But, at the same time, it’s exciting to work on projects that push the boundaries of our expertise.

Learning to navigate government stakeholders on our Cubbyhouse project, writing consistently on the business of architecture, starting a co-working space and kicking off a few new projects still under wraps are all ways we’re trying to expand into new areas of agency.

What has been the proudest achievement in your career?

Surviving six years of practice while having two children, and enduring five years of regular child-induced sleeplessness! More seriously, we’re really proud to have developed an inclusive business model that achieves design excellence through gender parity in our studio, civilised working hours and flexible part-time contracts. Years ago, we attended a lecture by Kerstin Thompson, who observed that any old architect can design an amazing building given unlimited hours… The real challenge is doing so between nine and five.

We believe in our social responsibility to nurture young architectural graduates to grow and develop. We both received strong mentorship when we were graduates, and want to pass on this generosity by helping our staff to register, and encourage their pursuit of private projects and professional learning.

On the design front, receiving peer recognition at this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards for Chamfer House was an amazing highlight.

Having such an unusual, challenging project recognised among a field of such extraordinary work was a real honour.

What is your favourite project from your own body of work and why?

We get asked this question every now and then, and can never agree. Warwick’s favourite is Chamfer House, which was a once in a lifetime opportunity to rework a house by the late, great Kevin Borland.

Renovating Borland’s masterpiece taught us a lot about design, and allowed us to explore a wonderful house full of rich texture. Erica on the other hand loves Cubbyhouse, which was a meaningful experience in designing for vulnerable children. It reminded us why we’re so committed to architecture, and the value it can bring to people in their daily lives.

What is your favourite space/place – is there a spot you wish you had designed?

While we were travelling around Europe in 2009, we spent a weekend at Peter Zumthor’s baths in Vals. Of all the architectural masterpieces we visited, this was easily the most sublime. The valley itself was extraordinarily beautiful, and the building was perfectly of its place. Usually when we visit a work of architecture, we treat it like a museum – a place to be observed and documented. In Vals, we used it and inhabited it.

On the day we arrived, the trees were laden with late autumn leaves.

We spent the day lounging about the pools, drawing, revelling. When we woke up the following morning, we discovered that winter had decided to arrive – the valley and everything in it was covered with a blanket of snow. It was truly an amazing experience to bathe in the outside pool, the heat of the water buffering us against the snow that was still falling.

What are you working on currently?

We’re currently working on an exciting collection of new houses and house renovations in Melbourne and rural Victoria. We love the journey of collaborating with clients on their own homes. They bring a passion and intensity to our work that we’ve never encountered in other typologies. We’re also mixing it up with a yoga studio in the city, which is a fun and lightning fast break from our residential work. We only received the commission a month ago, and we’ll be finished and out of there in another six weeks!

Erica also looks after our co-working space, keeping the desks filled and lights on, and Warwick has just embarked on an involvement with the newly formed ArchiTeam advocacy working group. Spreading our interests across many areas has always been a great way to keep our minds agile, so we see no reason to stop now. www.mihalyslocombe.com.au

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38 PROJECT

RUYTON GIRLS’ SCHOOL

Architect’s statement.

The design sees a move away from a traditional classroom planning framework where desks are lined in rows and a teacher educates from the front, to a model that prioritises natural light, flexible furniture and technology-enabled teaching and learning spaces for task-based, student-centred flexible learning.

Situated in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, Ruyton Girls’ School has a clear focus on personalised learning, an approach that exemplifies the shift towards student-centred learning where collaboration, creativity and critical thinking are all essential components.

Comprising four levels including a basement, the building sits within the heart of the campus. The entry has been positioned on the western elevation, while the building footprint at ground level has been deliberately reduced in area to ensure the landscaped footprint is maximised for students.

A complex sculptural form, there are two wings to the building.

Circulation around the floor plate has been designed to be fluid, with the main circulation space highlighted by curtain walls that bring the flow of the breakout space of the main courtyard and link to a tennis court on the east side of the building.

Timber veneer walls and bulkheads, timber joinery and blue stone flooring and carpets made of recycled fishnets, create a refined aesthetic finish. The colour palette has been intentionally

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pared back, with classrooms adding pops of blue in conjunction with the school colours.

The insertion of a new landscaped forecourt and external theatre along the south-western frontage of the site was an important move in reinforcing the social agenda for the precinct as it aligned with the original masterplan, also designed by Woods Bagot.

The western external performance area has been gently carved out of the building form with a timber-clad soffit providing protection from the elements. The space serves a multitude of functions, including a stage large enough to host Ruyton bands or ensembles, a formal and informal theatre and a sheltered space to sit during lunch breaks. The new performance area greatly enhances the central spine through the Ruyton campus and strengthens the social heart of the school.

Architecturally, the structure has a softness to the form, as well as the materiality. In an unprecedented move, stone pavers normally used on the floor have been used in a vertical application. Four types of pavers with subtle textural and tonal differences added to the overall softness of the finish.

While factors such as sunlight proved a challenge for the design team, showing imperfections and misalignment of the pavers not normally visible in a horizontal application, Woods Bagot worked with the manufacturer of the product to refine and perfect its usage on the façade, resulting in an extremely satisfactory outcome for the client.

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Project details Client: Ruyton Girls’ School Location: Melbourne Area: 3000 square metres, four levels Scope: Architecture and interiors Completion date: December 2015 Photography: Peter Bennetts Collaborative partners: project manager – Accuraco, service engineer – Murchie Consulting, structural and civil engineer – 4D Workshop and MA Design, building surveyor – Kinban Building Consultants, quantity surveyor – Wilde and Woolard, acoustic consultant – Marshall Day, façade consultant – Inhabit, DDA – Architecture and Access, landscape architect – Woods Bagot Principal in charge: Sarah Ball Principal design leader: Bruno Mendes Team: Jo Dane, Emma-Louise Hannigan, Nick Deans, Matthew Si, Lawrence Ng, Christopher Free

Principal design leader: Bruno Mendes What were the specific challenges?

It’s a very small campus, so one of the challenges was creating a project while the school was still functioning. That’s always quite a challenge from a technical point of view. As a piece of architecture it had a greater social responsibility… and it’s also a gathering spot for all the students. There was the brief, but we were quite conscious of making sure that the building connected with all of the other bits to make it holistically successful.

Were there any practical considerations or difficulties along the way?

Like most projects, with this one, early on there were a variety of stakeholders and quite a number of them… each stakeholder, they’ve always got a different view of the world and different pulls, and different aspirations. So it’s making sure that each of these personal predilections of each of the stakeholders are addressed and fulfilled.

What’s your takeout from the project?

I think the beautiful thing about a large practice is that you do get to work on larger projects, so when the smaller projects come about, i.e. like a Ruyton, those projects are quite important. They’re like big houses, in terms of craft and making sure that things are well resolved and thought out… you can really get down to the detail and really focus. So there’s a lot of satisfaction from doing the smaller projects, as opposed to the bigger ones, which is good.

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44 PROJECT

Post-occupancy evaluation AR CONDUCTS AN INFORMAL POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATION WITH LEANNE SMITH, BUSINESS MANAGER, RUYTON GIRLS’ SCHOOL. AR: What were the top elements that were most important for the school to have integrated into the design?

Leanne Smith: Flexible learning, formal and informal learning spaces, girl centred, integrated technology, collaboration, a feminine building in the heart of the school, which would sit well in its environment.

During construction, how easy was it for the school to continue its daily business and how long did the construction process take?

The construction site was in the middle of the school so it did pose some logistical issues. The main traffic corridors were narrowed considerably and staff and students learned to take alternative routes during the project. We found that communication was key

during this time, particularly when large deliveries or particularly noisy construction was occurring. The whole community were very patient during this time and, in spite of the size and position of the construction, we had very few issues or complaints. The school community and the construction company worked well together to manage the impact of the noise. The process took approximately 18 months.

Now that the project is finished, how well does it respond to those top elements?

The project has provided staff and students with a learning environment that strongly supports both flexible learning opportunities and collaboration. This is noticeable in student engagement and through feedback. Students are also seeking out the informal learning spaces during break times and free lessons, while staff are using these spaces with classes or small groups during class

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time. The building has a distinctly feminine feel to it. With curved lines and a sense of flow, the girls feel very much at home and parents and old scholars are extremely impressed. The access to technology, with features such as two screens in each learning area, is well utilised. We extended the project to include full landscaping of the courtyard in which the building sits (Hiscock Court). As a result, the building looks beautiful in its environment and sits proudly with the other buildings facing the courtyard.

How is the building being used on a day-to-day basis?

The building houses Year 7 and 8 students and all science classes.

Currently the Junior School music lessons are being held in the Drama rooms while we wait for our Junior School building to be completed.

The Events space is used by classes, year levels, sub schools, parents, old scholars, board and community events. It is truly a flexible and well-used area.

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Are there any unexpected or surprising elements that have become apparent through daily use?

The building includes a stage in Hiscock Court. The girls love this space and use it frequently for informal productions or just to sit and enjoy the sunshine. The building also includes wide windowsills, which the girls love to use as seats during informal learning.

What has been the reaction from the various stakeholders in the school body – the principal, other staff members, pupils, parents?

There has been an extremely positive response from all sections of the school community.

Have you needed to go back to Woods Bagot with any queries or responses to the project?

Only as expected during the defects period. There have been no major issues and any defects have been responded to in a very timely manner. ar

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46 EMERGING PROJECT

CHAMFER HOUSE MIHALY SLOCOMBE DISCUSSES CHAMFER HOUSE – THE PRACTICE’S ‘SENSITIVE INFILTRATION’ OF A 1970S KEVIN BORLAND DESIGN. / SANDRA TAN

Sandra Tan: How did the Chamfer House project come to your practice? Was it a long tender process?

Mihaly Slocombe: The project enquiry for Chamfer House was five years in the making. Our first built project, Hill House, was completed in 2006 and longlisted two years later in the WAN House of the Year Awards. This caught the attention of a scout for the Canadian television program, World’s Greenest Homes. In 2009, Hill House appeared on the show, which was aired a few times on the ABC. Our clients, Faith and Rohan, watched one of the repeats, tracked us down and in 2011 commissioned us. The amazing thing is we had almost no control over many of the steps in the process! This is proof that serendipity plays an enormous part in the success of any architecture practice.

How involved was the client from the initial conceptual stages and throughout the design process?

Faith and Rohan were ideal clients in pretty much every way. They were closely involved throughout the design, but never overbearing. They were supportive and decisive, emotionally connected to our design work, and trusting of our expertise.

What were the key points of inspiration behind the design?

Without doubt, our central inspiration was Kevin Borland’s own design philosophy. We devoured a great monograph on his life, Architecture from the Heart by Doug Evans, and learned all we could about his

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approach to architecture. We were very conscious of engaging with the existing house in as sensitive a way as possible. This aspiration was shared by Faith and Rohan, who bought the house in the first place because they loved its personality.

Evans wrote that, “Kevin Borland’s mature domestic style combined absolute structural rationality with materials and detailing of great romantic warmth and informality.” We used this understanding to drive our intervention, which assumed a strategy of sensitive infiltration. We touched every room, some more heavily than others, yet retained the house’s core personality.

How does the project complement and incorporate the local design language?

Olivers Hill, where Chamfer House is located, is a crucible of late modernism. There are a number of houses by Robin Boyd, Chancellor and Patrick, Daryl Jackson and, of course, Kevin Borland. The design cues of this era directly influenced our work, in particular the celebration of the much loved 1970s chamfer!

Last year, the local council undertook a comprehensive study of postwar modernist houses. They analysed the importance and intactness of the originals in order to recommend Heritage protection where appropriate. We were pleased to discover that Chamfer House received an individual Heritage citation, with our contributions to the building noted for their sensitivity to Borland’s original fabric.

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What, in your view, is the most successful element of the project?

Our interest in Kevin Borland’s architectural approach took expression in our work via a lens of interpretation and transformation. We absolutely didn’t want to replicate his design, this would have devalued both Borland’s work and our own. Instead, we wanted to rethink his ideas for a new client, new lifestyle values and new era.

An example of this is our explosion of the chamfer into three dimensions. In the children’s living room upstairs and outside the master bedroom, the chamfer is expressed as a faceted series of cement sheet surfaces. In the living room the facets mark the relationship between old wall positions and new, and outside the master bedroom they conceal a steel structure to support the balcony above.

We were always worried about the integration of new and old in this project. With regular renovations, there’s usually a clear delineation at some point in the house – where the original house ends and the new works begin. For Chamfer House, our works touch every room. There isn’t one transition point, but many. Our goal was a seamless transition with moments of particular celebration. We think we achieved this, and are stoked with the result.

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WE WERE VERY CONSCIOUS OF ENGAGING WITH THE EXISTING HOUSE IN AS SENSITIVE A WAY AS POSSIBLE.

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50 EMERGING PROJECT

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Architect’s statement. Chamfer House revisits a post and beam dwelling designed in 1977 by Kevin Borland, the Hildebrand House. It sits within an established garden on Olivers Hill, a crucible of late modernism overlooking Port Phillip Bay. Our clients approached us soon after moving in. They wanted to protect the timber ceilings, exposed Oregon structure and finger-jointed window frames they loved, while also updating the house to suit their young family.

Our intervention assumed a strategy of sensitive infiltration. We touched every room, some more heavily than others, yet retained the house’s core personality: the romantic rationalism that characterised much of Borland’s later work. We unkinked the plan, pulled back a touch on the 1970s psychedelics, and reconfigured the living and sleeping areas to better connect with the garden.

In his monograph on Borland, Doug Evans notes that his “mature domestic style combines absolute structural rationality with materials and detailing of great romantic warmth and informality”. We sought to build on this juxtaposition, layering a rational spatial sequence with

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an exploded interpretation of the chamfer. A device used regularly

by Borland and on Hildebrand House only in plan, the chamfer we developed into a three-dimensional form that operates from the macro scale to the micro. The faceted balcony soffit framing the view from the master bedroom is one example, as are the repetitive triangular motifs in our customised joinery hardware.

Chamfer House adheres strictly to the five- by five-metre grid of the original. The trimming and extending of corners deliberately interrupt the grid, but are very much a part of its pattern. Family life radiates from the kitchen, which straddles a full grid segment at the heart of the house. Our clients’ children have made the second living room their own, occupying a triangular bookend every afternoon for homework before LEGO and play.

These moments are an extension of the deep humanity of Borland’s work: the plan is aligned to the view, the sun and the garden; rooms are sized to suit the dimensions of living; triangular pockets provide looseness and intimacy.

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52 APPLICATION – SECURITY

ACCESS CONTROL OPPORTUNITIES THAT IMPROVE BUILDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY ACCESS CONTROL HAS EMERGED AS A VITAL AREA WHERE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS AND SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS CAN BE GAINED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUILDINGS.

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onsideration of access control systems has become increasingly crucial as new solutions being created for easy access and egress provide a more energy efficient outcome than what was previously available.

Schemes, such as the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS), have put greater emphasis on how much energy is being used in commercial buildings in Australia.

NABERS is a national rating system that measures the environmental performance of Australian buildings, tenancies and homes. It measures the energy efficiency, water usage, waste management and indoor environment quality of a building and its impact on the environment.

For more than 10 years, NABERS has helped building development teams, including architects, to improve their sustainability performance, delivering financial benefits and a stronger environmental reputation for the project.

Schemes like NABERS have led developers to assess the areas in which a building can be more energy efficient; for example, in lifts, heating, ventilation and lighting.

Access control is another area now viewed as having the potential to deliver

significant energy and cost reductions, making assessment of new alternatives crucial when designing buildings.

ACCESS CONTROL IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS Overhead door magnets have traditionally been the go-to devices for access control points in commercial buildings, as their upfront cost is lower than alternative products.

In instances where a carbon footprint and energy costs need to be reduced, however, electric locks are rapidly becoming the preferred solution for many companies.

Selecting electric locks ensures a system is being chosen that not only allows for swift and easy access, as well as egress alongside an enhanced security provision, but also reduces the energy consumption and carbon footprint of a building at the same time.

Door magnets are less energy efficient because they require a continuous electric current to lock the door. This current then breaks the use of a request-to-exit button, cutting the lock’s magnetic hold and allowing the door to be opened.

In contrast, a motorised or solenoid electric lock only uses power to open the

door or activate the door, so energy can be saved because the doors are closed for the majority of the time.

As a general rule, 13 door magnets use the equivalent energy of a kettle being run for an entire day, while electric locks use 10 to 20 percent of the energy in the same period. So although door magnets may have a smaller initial cost, in the long run electric locks could be substantially more energy efficient, reducing costs.

ACCESS CONTROL SAFETY Aside from the energy efficiency benefits, some electric locks also offer a superior level of safety, which can be essential in certain applications.

In the event of an emergency, such as fire, there needs to be a reliable exit route that allows a quick and easy escape. There can be risks associated with installing a magnet on a door that is used as an escape route.

Door magnets require special arrangements to be made to guarantee they are fail-safe at all times in the event of an emergency. It may be that an alarm of a ‘request to exit’ mechanism is required for electromagnetic locks to allow someone to exit, as there is no mechanical override.

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This is a great concern as it could hinder the safety of the occupants by not allowing for swift and easy access and egress.

In contrast, motorised and solenoid electric solutions satisfy the needs of both fire doors, and emergency and panic situations where a mechanical means of escape is required.

Motorised electric locks are also ideal for more secure access control, as they do not feature a handle on the external side – often the most vulnerable part of the door – making them a hands-free solution.

This can improve the flow of people through the door, which is especially useful when a swift and smooth exit is needed for a large number of people.

Therefore, electric locks are the superior device, not only in terms of energy efficiency but also public and staff safety.

Quality is another major concern when it comes to effective access control, so having a symbol of quality

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assurance is desirable. It is important, however, to not solely rely on symbols to offer a guarantee of a quality product.

For access control in commercial buildings, consideration should also be given to the level of security a product can provide, and the effectiveness of the solution when it comes to safety.

IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT SOLUTION Although there will always be the temptation to cut costs in order to have the most cost-effective access control, the growing importance of energy efficiency and standards to help buildings make the grade has to be front of mind.

With energy efficiency schemes high on the agenda, it is likely that access control will be one of the areas under heavy scrutiny. From the points raised, it is clear to see that electric locks offer the most energy efficient solution, which is also secure.

Therefore, the security industry needs to provide more energy efficient solutions in the form of electric locks, and this will be greatly beneficial for all parties involved, and help to create a greener environment across Australia.

A modern range of electric locks will include motor and solenoid locks, which are the most effective forms of electric locking. Solenoid locks work by pushing to actuate the locking mechanism.

Motorised locks work by winding to actuate the locking mechanism, which provides the most energy efficient form of electric lock and makes them suitable for the internal doors of public buildings, offices, schools or hospitals, and the external doors of apartments and detached houses. ar

This article contains insights from the ASSA ABLOY white paper titled, ‘Effective and Energy Efficient Access Control in Commercial Buildings’.

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54 APPLICATION – INNOVATION

INCUBATOR WINNERS THIS YEAR’S DESIGNBUILD FEATURED A NEW AND INTRIGUING COMPONENT – THE INCUBATOR COMPETITION. ENTRANTS WERE INVITED TO SUBMIT APPLICATIONS FOR THEIR INNOVATIVE AND EXCITING PRODUCTS, WHICH WERE THEN JUDGED BY A PANEL COMPRISING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS, EXHIBITORS AND VISITOR GROUPS. HERE AR SHOWCASES THE WINNERS THAT WERE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THE ARCHITECTURE INDUSTRY…

TILT

Tilt is the industrial design firm behind this automated skylight – the only operable glass skylight available on the market that can be utilised with a standard staircase.

The skylight also permits an architect to include rooftop terrace access without additional increases in building height. The interactive software allows architects and clients to digitally explore the features and benefits of the Tilt skylight in a unique way, providing an opportunity to understand the range of details for successful specification. It’s possible to take a computer animated tour of the skylight components, explore the installation process and download all the details. www.tilt-industrialdesign.com

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MULTIPANEL MultiPanel is an Australian owned company that produces lightweight, 100 percent waterproof building panels. Claimed as the most technologically advanced construction panel on the global market, the panels replace the need for a liquid membrane. The versatile panels are manufactured from a high-density polyurethane composite material, stronger than traditional foam alternatives and fire retardant. They also have excellent thermal, insulation and acoustic properties. Pictured is a Jamie Durie-designed terrace garden on top of Melbourne’s Origin building, created to transform a concrete slab into a sustainable garden retreat. The circular timber-clad cocoon structure provides a focal point and the floating timber deck is protected by a vertical green screen, which helps to create private spaces for people to come together. www.multipanel.com.au

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56 APPLICATION – INNOVATION

LIGNA STONE AND TIMBERCRETE

Ligna Stone and Timbercrete are hand-crafted masonry bricks, blocks and pavers made using over 50 percent timber waste to create a lightweight, load bearing block with high fire resistance and superior thermal insulation. The blocks are sustainable with low embodied energy and high use of waste materials, while reducing heating and cooling costs. The Ligna Group explains that the blocks are the only masonry/ concrete that acts as a carbon sink. Awarded the 2015 Product Innovation Award by the Bushfire Building Council of Australia, Timbercrete was used to build the first home constructed in a flame zone following the 2009 Victoria fires. New manufacturing processes and product applications are currently being developed, including a lightweight panel system for broader appeal. www.lignagroup.com

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TRACTILE

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Tractile designs, supplies and distributes innovative and sustainable roofing solutions. Tractile products are large format, lightweight, high strength, flat profile roof tiles and solar roof tiles with solar photovoltaic (electricity) and thermal (hot water) capacity integrated into the tiles. The company operates in the roofing industry and targets the pitched roof sector with an innovative and sustainable product offering. Pitched roofing refers to angles greater than five degrees. Approximately 75 percent of roofs are between 15 and 25 degrees.

Tractile’s award-winning products are manufactured from composite materials that are strong, light, aesthetical, sustainable, long lasting, easy to install, extreme weather and bush fire resistant, with energy generation as an added feature. www.tractile.com.au

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58 APPLICATION – DESIGNING FOR THE CLOSED LOOP

THE NEW

FUTURE PROOFING IS ‘CLOSING THE LOOP’ A RISING PRIORITY FOR ARCHITECTS? / MICHELLE DUNNER

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reating a balance between form and function has long been the challenge for architects, but now there is a new imperative – closing the loop. While a host of product manufacturers are coming to terms with developing end of life strategies and mechanisms, architects are becoming increasingly aware of what goes into their projects – and what may come out the other end.

“We aim for two key strategies,” says Melbourne-based Andrew Maynard of Austin Maynard Architects. “We want

to create buildings that will outlast a generation – at least. The second is to enable our buildings to be dismantled, rather than demolished.”

Maynard’s own bio states he believes that people should consider their responsibilities ahead of their rights.

Innovating in design and specification in buildings is just one aspect of how he hopes he can influence the world – and that means creating more resilient and sustainable buildings.

Globally, more architectural firms are delving further into the nature of

the products and materials they use. An item certified under various sustainability benchmarks may still have ‘inputs’ from fossil fuel energy and virgin resources.

As such, there’s a shift towards utilising more locally sourced materials and those that are repurposed.

“From what I hear and see, architects are looking for sustainable products, recycled materials, longevity and, if needed, demountability,” Maynard says.

“If they are not, then they should be.

Good architects think long-term and play the long game.”

Peter Ho from Phooey Architects says reuse of materials is on the agenda, but with a caveat: “We’re always looking for new things and evaluating recycled materials – in terms of their properties, their resilience, but also whether they offer a warranty. There is no doubt people do come to us and ask for more ‘green’ elements to their buildings but, at the same time, we are all looking at how these things can be rich and beautiful,” says Ho. “While we like to think we can pull things apart and deconstruct, there are many materials in current usage that just can’t be broken down, such as glues and adhesives. While people are working out how to reuse things in other ways, or how to manage the waste in their own construction processes, it’s still too easy for us to throw things away. We’re trying to be as efficient as we can in the use of each product.

“What inspires me is the concept of upcycling – using wasted resources in

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+

THE CUT PAW PAW PROJECT

Cut Paw Paw is a renovation and extension to a double-fronted weatherboard home in the Melbourne suburb of Seddon, by Austin Maynard Architects. The unusual moniker actually refers to the name of the home’s local parish. The home is designed to offer maximum liveability with reduced impact on carbon-guzzling mechanical gadgets and is able to be fully dismantled and reused if the need ever arises. Here’s an excerpt from Austin Maynard’s project description notes: “Cut Paw Paw is a structure that is deliberately incomplete. Derek and Michelle, the owners, asked that the house be ‘ridiculously inside-out’. To accomplish this, we not only used tested ideas such as sliding walls, bifold doors and decks but left the central space – between the dining area and the studio – as an unclad frame within and surrounded by garden. It is both inside and outside, a new building and an old ruin, a garden and home.

“Rather than simply extruding the existing structure, we have run the new form along the southern boundary so that it is soaked with sunlight. Openings and windows have been designed to optimise passive solar gain, reducing demands on mechanical heating and cooling. We have a pond on the face of the largest north-facing opening, providing a home for fish and plants, but it also serves as a mechanism to passively cool the house through a natural evaporative process. Water tanks and solar panels have their place as they do on all of our projects.”

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opposite page External al fresco space at Glenvill’s YarraBend project. this page top: Austin Maynard Architects' 'ridiculously inside-out' Cut Paw Paw extension. middle: Bedroom at Cut Paw Paw house.

either a material or non-material way.

There needs to be more thinking about how we use second-hand stuff.”

Ho says there are examples large and small around Australia and the globe to demonstrate the creativity inherent in upcycling. “At an architectural level it can be a bit more complicated, but there are examples like Architecture 00 in the UK, involving themselves in the way schools use the space they have rather than build something new. Then there’s Superuse Studios in the Netherlands – they have projects like this in the thousands. One was making a playground using old wind turbine blades.”

Developers are also seeing the benefit of closing the loop, working with architects to future-proof new ventures.

An example is Glenvill’s YarraBend project in Melbourne. It has set a goal of achieving the highest possible rating

under the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s EnviroDevelopment scheme.

A key feature of the current release is a standard inclusion of the closed loop Tesla Powerwall to store solar power for when it is required, as well as smart-wired houses and electric-car charging points.

Is there enough innovation in product and material development for architects to use? Andrew Maynard believes most of the IP – and the resulting products – is imported. “We should be innovating locally, but government is a hindrance rather than a help at the moment. All we need is leadership and investment at government level to turn this around,” he says.

“Price and local availability are huge barriers. If our government truly cared about fostering an innovationbased economy, then new sustainable technologies and products should be at the forefront of their thinking and investment. It is a global growth industry from energy production to product supply. We are missing our chance to innovate due to our entrenched investment in fossil fuel and fossil fuelbased product production.”

Ho believes Melbourne is the epicentre of the progressive move to greater sustainability. “We have several examples of buildings here, both commercial and residential, that recognise the value of the existing resources we have. As a result, more products are becoming mainstream and cost-competitive.” ar

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60 APPLICATION – SHOWCASE

▼ Billi The Billi Quadra Range Smarter, safer and more convenient drinking water, the Billi Boiling and Chilled product category delivers invigorating filtered boiling and chilled drinking water. The Quadra range blends elegant style, futuristic design and cutting edge technology, meeting green building requirements, disability access and ergonomic design imperatives.

Our Australian designed and made products are quite simply the world’s premium drinking water systems. Billi has a range of tap designs that will complement your space. Choose from handcrafted, artisan colours and finishes including Matte Black, Rose Gold and Matte White.

▲ Andi-Co BlackSteel The iF Design Award-winning BlackSteel side-by-side (SBSbs 7263) brings sophistication to the forefront in refrigeration. The transverse polished finish creates an exclusive look, making the BlackSteel a monochrome masterpiece.

It boasts innovative functionality such as BioFresh drawers, so foods retain their vitamins, aroma and appetising appearance longer. The NoFrost freezer creates three distinct climate zones for perfect storage, thereby removing the necessity to defrost. Other features include an internal IceMaker, premium GlassLine shelving, two removable VarioBoxes in the door, LED ceiling lighting and the MagicEye control system.

www.billi.com.au

▲ Rothelowman/Sue Hodges Productions PicPerf PicPerf artwork installations are indelible, the image is created using perforations within metal and thus will last the test of time.

The recent redevelopment of the original Northern Bakeries and later Tip Top Bakeries site in Brunswick East, Victoria pays homage to the historic importance of the site.

These historical artwork installations are incorporated into the façade and foyers on each level of the original art deco office building. www.rothelowman.com.au www.shp.net.au Photography: Rob Burnett

The BlackSteel refrigerator simplifies the advanced technology, delivering its features in a beautiful, classic and envy-worthy masterpiece. andico.com.au

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australiandesignreview.com

24/08/16 8:08 AM

62 BRAIN TRUST

BRAIN TRUST AR ASKS A PANEL OF EXPERTS IN THE INDUSTRY TO RESPOND TO THE QUESTION: ARCHITECTURE HAS LONG BEEN A MALE DOMINATED INDUSTRY. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS AND IS IT CHANGING?

/ DEBBIE RYAN, FOUNDING OWNER MCBRIDE CHARLES RYAN Architecture has long been a male dominated industry because historically men have been in control of money.

Construction requires large amounts of money and ‘he who holds the purse strings holds the power’. Because large sums of money are involved, the industry has become very confrontational. Dealing with confrontation has typically been seen as a male domain.

Historically men had greater access to education that led to lucrative careers and this has

changed, thankfully. Generations of experience in business and business affairs, which involves establishing strong networks with peers, has supported male domination.

My perception is that men generally support each other and feel more comfortable with each other. They are more likely to pass on referrals and helpful knowledge to each other, rather than a female. I have often speculated on the reasons for this, and maybe it is a feeling of trust: they trust that if they help another male that favour will be returned – that men will stay in the industry long enough to return favours. I think it also has something to do with familiarity; men are more comfortable with other males because their perception is that their thinking will be more similar. I still come across the ‘golfing network’ of males, which really frustrates me – key information about future job opportunities is discussed in

these or similar forums, which has little or no female presence.

I think that age-old tradition of supporting male egos also plays a part. Very few women have been allowed to develop healthy egos – I think this is changing. It is hard to know whether most men secretly think they are superior or whether I am just thinking I am inferior. Initiatives like Parlour are adding a support network for women in the industry and it is already having an effect. A focus on bettering the situation of women is very important for change to occur. The more women that make it to the top of the profession, the better it will be for younger women. Grit and determination to stay in the industry despite the difficulties is essential for future equity.

I acknowledge that some exceptional males are also working on a more equitable future and I thank them for it – it is perhaps an even harder road to travel.

/ SIMON TRUDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR GENSLER SYDNEY There was a time when architecture was maledominated, but that is no longer the case. There are not only more women entering the profession, in many cases they are leading very successful firms, and there’s no question that’s a positive thing. It just shows that at the end of the day, talent is talent, and it can come from anywhere.

Gensler is deeply committed to encouraging a diversity of ideas and perspectives, and we have an unwavering ‘constellation of stars’ approach rather than a ‘single star’ mindset. That means that no one person, male or female, dominates.

Diane Hoskins is the firm’s co-CEO and a huge advocate for creating professional development opportunities

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/ KERSTIN THOMPSON, PRINCIPAL KERSTIN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

across the firm at all levels.

I believe this has greatly contributed to our very diverse and balanced workforce and leadership team. Within our Asia Pacific region, alone, we have a strong representation of female leaders, with Xiaomei Lee as principal and managing director in Shanghai, Nachiko Yamamoto as principal and managing director in Tokyo, and Smita Gupta as principal and managing director in Bangalore. And if it is any indication that women are doing some amazing things in architecture today, Xiaomei was project director for the recently completed 632-metre high Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest building.

The point is, this isn’t a response to any particular mandate, it’s simply a reflection of the fact that as an industry and within our own firm, there are some incredibly talented and capable design professionals who happen to be women.

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Rather than answer this question I’d prefer to pose a related, but slightly different one: enduring myths around gender roles in architecture are restrictive to both male and female practitioners alike. What’s the best way to disband them?

Girls do interiors, boys do technical – so it goes. Actually girls also do towers and boys select curtains. But genderrelated assumptions still endure – that women will be good at kitchens but not know about a fire station, men question but don’t listen, women are sensitive but not authoritative.

I’m reminded of Despina Stratigakos’ new book, Where are the Women Architects?, which opens with the striking image of trailblazing American architect Fay Kellogg (see page 12) who in 1911 staged an interview with a journalist while suspended on a swinging beam, nine storeys up. Why? To demonstrate to peers and the public alike that women are capable of more than “building closets”.

Yet gender stereotypes in architecture open up a far broader raft of issues than who designs what. They lay bare a potent mix of structural problems – sexism within the ranks of management, the pay gap

between genders, the implied ‘character’ of the profession as masculine and a lack of female role models and mentors. While I certainly feel more female mentors are now emerging and greater flexibility in workplaces is enabling both men and women to balance the demands of home, family and work life, real change will only happen when it’s accepted this is not a problem for ‘women in architecture’, but a problem for architecture itself.

/ SIMON KNOTT, FOUNDING DIRECTOR BKK ARCHITECTS The simple answers to these questions are, yes, the industry is still largely male dominated, and the reasons are multiple and historical. I do, however, believe that, encouragingly, we are in a moment of great change. Through the remarkable work that groups like Parlour and the AIA have done in recent years, we understand that the barriers to equity are multiple and sometimes complex. By exposing them, we can begin to understand them better and ultimately strive towards more equitable outcomes. My experience working in small to medium size practice is that the ground is shifting. The size and ingrained practices of larger firms mean that making change tends to be slower and less responsive.

I believe one of the biggest barriers to equity in the profession is to overcome

issues around flexibility and working hours. Our studio has a number of parents (both male and female) that frequently require time off to pick up kids from childcare and school or work at home when they’re sick. By allowing people (both male and female) the flexibility to determine their own working hours, we find that the generosity is paid back in multiple ways.

There is also the insidious curse of long working hours. This is a choice for the owners of a business and one that can be managed. While occasionally, people may be required to work back, the business model of the firm should never be predicated on this. Long working hours are not only a barrier to equity in the workplace, but the practice also has a detrimental impact on all staff and their families, lives etc.

Equity for all in the workplace has been shown through countless studies to greatly benefit all facets of our lives. Equity in the workplace is not ‘a problem for women’. It is an issue that men also need to address and impacts all areas of our society. Don’t leave it to others to resolve. ar

australiandesignreview.com

23/08/16 3:42 PM

64 THE DEBATE

THE DEBATE: INSOURCING VERSUS OUTSOURCING TO INSOURCE OR OUTSOURCE: THAT IS THE QUESTION… JOHN WARDLE AND LINDSAY URQUHART DEBATE THE PROS AND CONS.

THE CASE FOR IN-SOURCE:

/ JOHN WARDLE, PRINCIPAL JOHN WARDLE ARCHITECTS We basically outsource very little. If there’s a special reason for engagement with somebody, a craftsman or artist, we would outsource that, but generally the model-making’s in-house.

We do all renderings, all design advocacy renderings in-house.

The only thing we outsource is marketing. Generally, if a client wants a marketing spin, we’ve often been told that our renderings have too much of a moody grey sky; they like blue

sky. We have a particular way of wanting to present a design and sometimes that doesn’t accord with marketing...

We don’t believe the design process stops neatly at a schematic design. Basically we see everything at some level as still having the requirement for a design overview. And a design approach that transcends virtually everything that you do. I think if you outsource you must, by its very nature, put some restrictions on the potential for completing the design process to best advantage. I think part of the culture of the firm is the way you present your work, so we like the idea that we have a house style, in the way we present anything – small residential project or large city building. There’s a consistency to the presentation, which links project scales, and which we enjoy. That means, at certain times, this doesn’t accord with a marketing manager or real estate agent’s view of the way they want to pitch – particularly in commercial buildings, so this really

only happens in the commercial area of our work. But basically in the residential work, our research building areas, our university and educational work, I can’t think of us ever outsourcing a rendering.

We’ve grown as a part of that natural maturing and development of the practice to take on larger and larger work.

The thing we have targeted is the strategic reasons for growth, getting people with particular skills, in the creation and delivery of various building types. We never thought, ‘Let’s get into the commercial sector and go and hire some commercial guys.’ We’ve won a competition or somehow were awarded a large project and then quickly assembled or encouraged people with some really good proven skills in those areas to join us.

As well as the development of existing core staff… there’s an amazing group of staff who have been here between 10 and 22 years and so along the way we’ve got people who came

“IF YOU OUTSOURCE YOU MUST, BY ITS VERY NATURE, PUT SOME RESTRICTIONS ON THE POTENTIAL FOR COMPLETING THE DESIGN PROCESS TO BEST ADVANTAGE.” – JOHN WARDLE

here as either graduates or were very young and stayed forever.

So while we’ve been developing skills in laboratories, for example, and very complex building types, so our core team has been able to further their development.

What’s very important – in the many competitions that we’ve worked on over the years – in that frantic pace of competition, is that we’ve produced in-house all of our presentation renders and models.

And a very big part of that essentially has been the delivery of the model as part of the competition bid, which allows us to work right up to the deadline, still designing and approving close at hand, both the design and the presentation of our proposal. They’re not dislocated.

John Wardle has led the growth of JWA from small domestic dwellings to university buildings, museums and large commercial offices. Among multiple awards, in 2002 and 2006, JWA was awarded the RAIA Sir Zelman Cowen Award for the most outstanding work of public architecture in Australia. The practice’s work has been widely published and celebrated in a book Volume – John Wardle Architects, Thames and Hudson, London, 2008.

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“DEMONSTRABLY, OUTSOURCING IS CHEAPER AND QUICKER THAN DOING IT YOURSELF, SO WHY ISN’T EVERY PRACTICE DOING THIS?” – LINDSAY URQUHART

THE CASE FOR OUTSOURCE:

/ LINDSAY URQUHART RIBA, FOUNDER, BESPOKE CAREERS Outsourcing, also known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a topic that divides our industry. It’s defined as the process of hiring another individual or company, either domestically or internationally, to handle business activities for you. Most of the architectural practices I work with have considered outsourcing. Some have tried it and like it, others have sworn never to do it again.

Those who promote it point to the time and expense saved when assembling a project specific production team.

They believe it is a credible operational solution because of the shortage of skilled labour in recent years and the difficulties encountered when resourcing projects. It is easy to see why it can be a compelling prospect.

Who wouldn’t be interested in handing over a package of work to a team in India, Vietnam or

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South Africa to produce their drawings work while their own team get a good night’s sleep?

The main advantage is the lower fixed price you can get for these services because wages are lower than those in the UK, the US or Australia. This is particularly appealing if you want to maximise profits and reduce risk on any given stage of work.

Depending on the relationship between the companies, there can also be significant time savings to be enjoyed. If the host office and the outsource organisation ‘tag team’, whereby one works while the other sleeps, the work could potentially be completed in half the time.

Demonstrably, outsourcing is cheaper and quicker than doing it yourself, so why isn’t every practice doing this? The answer is quite complex, but resides in both practical and moral considerations. There is consensus among the majority of practices that outsource that there are only certain stages that can be successfully completed remotely. An obvious one is visualisation work, which historically has been successfully farmed out to specialists. It seems to work here because the outputs are easy to define and the coordination

required to complete the task is minimal. Aside from that, it is most commonly used at the production information stage. Those who criticise it cite practical concerns situated around quality and coordination.

First, there is a loss of detail design control, which can jeopardise design integrity and intent. The second is the time efficiencies claimed are a fallacy because the number of errors and subsequent corrections needed negate the cost savings.

Additionally, there are concerns about the ethical implications of such an approach. When developing countries exploit low-cost labour in countries that will not be fully benefiting from the profits generated, it creates a moral dilemma in a profession that takes its ethical position seriously. Additionally, with fluctuating exchange rates it may not be as cheap to go abroad as it once was, making outsourcing less attractive.

If outsourcing doesn’t work for you and you are confronted by a short-term spike in work, what are your options?

The answer for some, particularly the award-winning design practices, is to utilise contract staff to deal with resource blips, finding it quick

and effective. Historically this has been stigmatised; it wasn’t unusual 10 years ago to hear people tell us that that they believed contractors were less interested in their careers, harder to motivate and sometimes even less skilled than those looking for permanent employment. The reality today is quite the opposite.

The reasons for working like this vary greatly, but what each individual has in common is their dedication to take a project on and see it through.

Professionalism is high among contractors; they are only as good as their last role, so they put everything into each new challenge they get. Hiring in this way works well for the design focused practices; they can manage the spike in work and maintain control over the detail design without having to commit to large number of permanent contracts. ar

Lindsay is the group managing director of Bespoke, the largest specialist architectural job agency in the world. Lindsay is an architect; her experience in practice includes stints with Wilkinson Eyre, Pringle Brandon Perkins Will and Denton Corker Marshall Architects. www.bespokecareers.com.

australiandesignreview.com

24/08/16 11:32 AM

66 SKELETONS

STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA YOU MAY WALK PAST THESE BASTIONS OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT EVERY DAY OR HAVE SEEN THEM IN A THOUSAND HOLIDAY PHOTOGRAPHS. BUT WHAT DID THEY LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY WERE JUST A TWINKLING IN THEIR CREATOR’S EYE? SKELETONS LOOKS AT THE ORIGINS OF NOTABLE BUILDINGS AND BEGINS ON OUR OWN DOORSTEP, WITH MELBOURNE’S STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA. / MELISSA RYMER

I

n 1853, following the appointment of Library Trustees, Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe and Justice Redmond Barry QC, the decision was made to build a public library for the people of Melbourne. They promptly announced a competition to design a new library that would be an important and enduring landmark for the city.

The winning architect was Joseph Reed, who went on to design many of Melbourne’s notable buildings, including

Melbourne Town Hall, Ormond College and the Royal Exhibition building.

The neoclassical design for the building followed the architectural fashion of the times. Reed was passionate about the work of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), the celebrated Renaissance architect. The Palladian allusions to the pure form of the classical temple, with its aesthetic of symmetry and formal composition, were for him the appropriate building archetype for this

highly significant public institution. The founders of the Library also had a strong conviction that access to knowledge was critical for the development of a healthy and prosperous society.

The State Library was described as ‘the people’s university’ – a place of learning and discovery for all Victorians. It was also charged with the responsibility of preserving Victoria’s heritage by collecting items of historical and cultural significance for future generations. ar

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24/08/16 11:19 AM

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