The House of the Victorian Government Architect
July / November 2020 Major Project Master of Architecture RMIT University Melbourne Thank you Michael Spooner for the project supervision Amy Muir Peter Elliott Jill Garner Matthew Bird for the informal feedback
Alessandro Castiglioni
This book collects the developement of ‘The House of the Victorian Government Architect’. The thesis project was undertaken by Alessandro Castiglioni and supervised by Dr. Michael Spooner at the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne. The book curates the work in strict chronological order. This is to provide an objective reading of the project in contrast to the manufactoring of the end result, which is presented through curated panels, and limited in what it chooses to show. The chronological reading of the project allows an understanding of the end result as one of many projects within the undertaking of the thesis, and not as a ‘final project’. The objective documentation is complemented by a mix of small essays, notes, thoughts and transcripts as to provide full insight in the conceptual development as well as the design development. The drawings describing the project at its final stage are at the end of this book and are to be understood as the direct consequence of the work presented prior.
RESEARCH ABSTRACT
The broad research question of this thesis explores the relationship between the architecture profession and governance and uses world-building techniques in aid of proposing a fictional setting in which the relationship is presented. An understanding of the hierarchy that architecture sits within in state and local governance in the context of Melbourne and Victoria forms the premise for a speculation on a re-structuring of that hierarchy that favors the ambitions of the profession. The official presence of architecture within government is currently limited to the ARBV, the architecture registration board of Victoria, which sits within the DELWP under the Minister for Planning, and the OVGA, a purely advisory office sitting within the DPC. The AIA, whereas holding a primary role for the profession, sits outside of governance, functioning in a similar fashion to a professional club. The roles and levels of authority of these professional bodies is arguably far from the professional ambitions embedded within architectural education and academia. From a governance point of view, one can assume the architecture profession is 1: An ensemble of registered architects (ARBV) and 2: an advocacy vessel for good design (OVGA). Despite this, as architects, we are often told that Architecture permeates every aspect of the city, from urban planning to interior design. Architecture can play a role in wellbeing, health, justice, education, culture, ideology, and many more by using the spaces it structures as vessels for almost every aspect of a citizen’s everyday life. Is this a delusional fictional narrative we tell ourselves to build an invested and passionate body of professionals? Or is there truth in this all-inclusive narrative of the discipline? This thesis does not attempt to provide an answer to these questions. Rather, it puts forward a scenario in which the value and authority of the Architect as a professional exceed the current ones. A constructed reality where the role of architecture is not questioned anymore, a Victorian state that allows a new form of governance by design. What are the implications of a collapse between architecture and politics? Can architecture and the processes it carries within become a tool to reshuffle hierarchies of power and authority? Can procurement models for building be applied to any civic policy making? The reading of the city and the state as the physical manifestations of a set of social rules and norms, seems to legitimize the dominance of lawyers in the structures of governance of most political systems in the capitalist world. What would the city and the state look like if those structures of governance were designed by architects? Should architects limit themselves to design buildings, or can they take on the challenge of designing systems? Is an architectural technocracy a plausible alternative? In this scenario, what institution would need to emerge as a manifestation of this new ideology? What would the relationship of this institution be with existing government buildings in Melbourne? What would its civic role be in the context of the city? What does the architecture of a government building for architecture look like?
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT DIRECTORY
DEPARTMENT OF PREMIER AND CABINET
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, LAND, WATER AND PLANNING
DEPARTMENT OFHEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PREMIER
DEPUTY PREMIER
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
MINISTER FOR ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE
MINISTER FOR SOLAR HOMES
MINISTER FOR AMBULANCES
MINISTER FOR HEALTH
MINISTER FOR ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FORHIGHER EDUCATION
MINISTER FOR SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT
MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
MINISTER FOR PREVENTION OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH
MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING
MINISTER FOR WATER
MINISTER FOR PLANNING
MINISTER FOR HOUSING
MINISTER FOR CHILD PROTECTION
MINISTER FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
MINISTER FOR YOUTH
MINISTER FOR EQUALITY
MINISTER FOR VETERANS
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT
MINISTER FOR DISABILITY, AGEING AND CARING
DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY AND FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
DEPARTMENT OF JOBS, PRECINCTS AND REGIONS
MINISTER FOR ROADS AND ROAD SAFETY
MINISTER FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT
TREASURER
ATTORNEY JENERAL
MINISTER FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY
MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE
MINISTER FOR RESOURCES
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
MINISTER FOR SUBURBAN RAIL LOOP
ASSISTANT TREASURER
MINISTER FOR CORRECTIONS
MINISTER FOR CRIME PREVENTION
MINISTER FOR INNOVATION, MEDICAL RESEARCH AND THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MINISTER FOR FISHING AND BOATING
MINISTER FOR PORTS AND FREIGHTS
MINISTER FOR REGULATORY REFORM
MINISTER FOR VICTIM SUPPORT
MINISTER FOR YOUTH JUSTICE
MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS
MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT
MINISTER FOR POLICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES
MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS, GAMING AND LIQUOR REGULATION
MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY SUPPORT AND RECOVERY
MINISTER FOR BUSINESS PRECINCTS
MINISTER FOR TOURISM, SPORT AND MAJOR EVENTS
MINISTER FOR TRADE
MINISTER FOR CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
MINISTER FOR RACING
MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
MINISTER FOR COMMUNITY SPORT
The directory evidences which ministries share a minister. The blocks that have the same color represent one same minister. The shared roles evidence how aliatory governement is, with absurd crossovers such as the Ministry for Water having the same Minister as the Ministry for Police, or the Ministry for Equality also being the Ministry for Mental Health and the Creative Industries.
THE PAVILION
A first attempt in redefining the relationship between architecture and governance consists in the commissioning of a building that houses a newly formed government office merging the OVGA and ARBV, the only two bodies that represent architecture in the hierarchy of the Victorian Government. The OVGARB (Office for the Victorian Government Architecture Registration Board) is commissioned in the form of a pavilion, occupying the former Gordon’s Reserve, liberated from its former use in light of recent attitudes towards British Imperialism in Australia. The newly named ‘Corroboree Hill Reserve’ acknowledges the role of the site in the pre-colonial Kulin Nation’s governance structures by reconfiguring the triangular site as a civic garden, briefed to allow for both congregation and casual occupation. The OVGARB pavilion opportunistically coinhabits the site to define the edges of the garden as well as imply a newly found independence and civic importance for the Victorian architecture government institutions. These appropriate the garden pavilion typology characteristics and reframe them as an institutional urban office space. The implied ‘leftoverness’ of the triangular site is acknowledged as serving a purpose for transport infrastructure, highlighted by the entry for Parliament Station as well as the Parliament Tram Stop. The scale and horizontality of the pavilion suggest a subservient relationship to the adjacent government buildings; however its strong formal presence and singularity signal a desire for independence and the beginning of a greater agency for architecture over governmental hierarchies. The semi-enclosed nature of the garden creates an ambiguous relationship to the civic realm, denying the horizontal plane of the city to allow for a stronger transition to a new civic realm dominated by architectural authority. The surrounding towers, whose ground plane has been denied, occupy the sky and are being reduced to abstracted volumes poking through the walls defining the garden.
ORDERING THE PROFESSION
INTER PLANETARY
GLOBAL
NATION
STATE
URBAN
BUILDING LANDSCAPE
INTERIOR
VIRTUAL
OBJECT
BODY
TERRAFORMING PROJECTS
Benjamin Bratton
ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITIONS
Venice Biennale
ARCHITECTURE PRIZES
Pritzer Price
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
UIA Union International des Architectes
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Minister for Cities
NATIONAL REGISTRATION BOARD
AACA Architects Accreditation Council Australia
GOVERNMENT PROFESSIONAL BODIES
GANA Government Architects Network Australia
NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL BODIES
AIA Australian Institute of Architects
TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS
RMIT Architecture + Urban Design
STATE REGISTRATION BOARD
ARBV Architects Registration Board Victoria
STATE GOVERNMENT ARCHITECT
OVGA Office Victorian Government Architect
MINISTERIAL DEPARTMENTS
DELWP Planning Department
URBAN PLANNER
VPA Victorian Planning Authority
COUNCIL
Rob Adams
URBAN DESIGNER
Peter Elliott
HERITAGE COUNCILS
Christine Phillips
ARCHITECT
Amy Muir
BUILDING DESIGNER
Don’t know any
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Mark Jaques
CURATOR
Rem Koolhaus
STAGE SET DESIGNER
Peter Corrigan
INTERIOR DESIGNER
Sibling Architecture
DECORATOR
Flack Studio
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Buro North
ANIMATION AND FILM
Liam Young
VISUAL ARTIST
Matthew Bird
FURNITURE DESIGNER
Claire Cousins
INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER
Philip Stark
FASHION DESIGNER
Leanne Zilka
BODY ARCHITECT
Lucy McRae
ARCHITECTURE PARLIAMENT
Ordering the profession allowed the definition of 6 main scales at which architects operate: . the urban scale . the building scale . the landscape scale . the product scale . the digital scale . the speculative / research scale Each of these fields of operation are then given representation within governance through an architecture parliament of sorts, which allows meetings between the Chief Government Architect and the 6 Chief Architects representing their fields: the Chief Urban Architect, the Chief Building Architect, the Chief Landscape Architect, the Chief Product Architect, the Chief Digital Architect and the Chief Research Architect. While the Chief Government Architects takes on the higher seat, in reference to the same hierarchy between the Speaker of the Assembly and the ministers, the Chief Architects occupy a singular piece of joinery that collects them all. The piece of joinery becomes the instigator for the design of the whole room and the exterior of the building, which ends up becoming a meeting chapel of sorts. This is where the exploration of the oblique begins.
AIA PALACE
The speculation progresses towards a more extreme point, where the Australian Institute of Architects becomes part of the Victorian Government, and is able to occupy the site with a mixed use building inspired by the Palace typology. The building grows out of Parliament House, completing the building with a Southern Wing, and it leans onto the Department of Premier and Cabinet building, a rationalist office tower designed by Yunken Freeman. At ground level, the idea of enclosed garden and Pavilion somehow remains, as well as the provision for the access to the underground Parliament Station.
ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT
The project site boundary is challenged and the proposition is to deal with Parliament House rather than the adjacent reserve. The incomplete circulation square of the original design for Parliament House is used as an instigator to shape a corridor-like extension to sit on top of the existing structure, without causing any demolition. The extension grows out of existing proportions and alignments, and it completes the missing wings of Parliament House. A circular void is left facing the Bourke St axis, as a way to acknowledge the never completed dome that was meant to sit on the axis.
spatial intelligence
PROJECT FRAMEWORK MAP
RESEARCH
atmosphere
C R I T I C AL D E S I G N lithosphere
SPECUL ATIVE DESIGN FICTION W O R L D B UI L D I N G NARRATIVE TIMELINE GENEALOGICAL MAP mantle
AR CH I T
ECTURE + POWER
THE PA
T
R CH M
core
I T E C T + G O V ER N
A J O R P R OJ E C T
AN
C E
A HE
L A C E T Y P O LO GY
1532 1598 The oldest recorded meeting minutes of masons at the Lodge of Edinburgh, oldest lodge in history
1634 Academie Des Beaux Artes founded in Paris, combining architecture with fine arts and other media The King of France moves to the Palace at Versailles, built on the grounds of his hunting lodge
1717 Grand Prix De Rome extended to architecture students of the Ecole Des Beaux Artes French Revolution begins
1793 1835 Napoleon III appoints Haussman for the rebuilding of Paris to lay claim on his title
1855 1855 Governor House is officially open in Melbourne
1920 1922 Erns May becomes municipal architect in Frankfurt
1929 Boris Iofan declared winner of the competition to design the Palace of the Soviets
1933 Hitler commissions a house for Speer in the Bavarian Alps close to his mountain retreat
1936 Hitler appoints Speer as General Building Inspector for Berlin Hitler’s speech on the importance of the Reich Building Programme
1938 1938 Act establishes the title of ‘Architect’ can only be used by registered architects in Victoria Speer completes the III Reich Chancellery Hitler summons Czech President Haca to the Chancellery and he has a heart attack
1940 Stalin evacuates to the Urals with Iofan so that he could keep working on the Palace of the Soviets
1942 1943 Wernher Von Braun (Nazi rocked scientist) is transferred to the US
1945 Indian Independence, New Delhi declared capital despite the British Imperialist origins and symbols of the city
1949 The Moscow Architecture Institute designs the Pyongyang City Reconstruction and Construction Comprehensive Plan London City Council Architecture Department restructured, employing 1500 architects at municipal level
1955 1957 1958 The Man in The High Castle published by Philip Dick Victorian Royal Institute of Architects joins the Australian Institute of Architects Arcosanti construction begins under Paolo Soleri’s design for an arcological city Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu visits Pyongyang and is inspired to build a new Romanian parliament
1972 1972 Louis Khan and Kenzo Tange invited by the Iranian Royal Family to collaborate on the master-plan for the New Tehran
1974 AACA becomes an independent body
1975 1976 1978 The Pritzker Architecture Prize is established
1979 Iranian Revolution, architectural model by Khan and Tange destroyed
1979 1981 Grands Project of Francois Mitterland announced, architectural program to provide modern monuments in Paris Pana Wave cult is formed
1987 Public works department in Victoria closes, ARBV shifts to Dept of Housing and Construction
1988 1990 Department of Planning and Housing formed in Victorian government, ARBV’s new ministry
1991 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il publishes ‘The Art of Architecture’ Department of Planning and Development formed in Victorian government, ARBV responding to Minister for Planning
1992 1993 The RAIA refuses to adopt these standards for registration Romanian Palace of the Parliament completed by communist regime of Ceaucescu, inspired by NK visit
1996 The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is formed Miralles Tagliabue commissioned to design the new Scottish Parliament
1998 Saddam Hussein initiates the reconstruction of Babylon and inscribes his name on every brick used
1999 2001 Victorian Bracks government moves Planning and Heritage to dept of Sustainability and Environment
2006 2006 OMA designs the headquarters of the Chinese state propaganda CCTV in Beijing Department of Planning and Community Development formed by Premier Brumby
2008 2008 Helsinki Design Lab operates as strategic design body for a national development body of the Finnish parliament
2009 Ted Baillieu is the first architect to become the premier of Victoria
2011 OVGA establishes a Victorian Design Review Panel
2011 The AACA’s NCSA are adopted in determining accreditation of Architecture programs Building Imaginary Worlds by Mark JP Wolf is published
2013 OVGA is moved from dept of Premier and Cabinet to DTPLI
2013 Turkey’s President Erdogan completes controversial Presidential Complex in Ankara
2014 2015 Andrews government moves the OVGA back to the dept of Premier and Cabinet
ARCHITECTURE + POWER
Thomas More publishes Utopia
WORLDBUILDING
1320 1398 Cooke Manuscript, document regulating and recounting the history of the Freemasons craft
ARCHITECT + GOVERNANCE
Lucian of Samosata writes A True Story
HISTORY
-587 -375 Vitruvius writes the Ten Books on Architecture (firmitas, utilitas, venustas)
PALATIAL TYPOLOGY
HISTORY
WORLDBUILDING
PALATIAL TYPOLOGY
ARCHITECTURE + POWER
ARCHITECT + GOVERNANCE
PROJECT RESEARCH TIMELINE
Hiram Abiff, Chief Architect for Solomon’s temple is murdered for not revealing its design secrets Plato writes The Republic
-40 150 Dante Alighieri publishes the Divine Comedy Regius Poem, the oldest masonic manuscript recounts the origins of masonry being brought to the UK from Egypt
1450 1516 Machiavelli publishes The Prince Schaw Statues published, formalization of apprentice, fellow, master hierarchy in Freemasonry
1599 The first non-mason is accepted into the Lodge in Edinburgh
1648 1682 Grand Lodge of England in London opens
1720 1789 The Louvre, former royal palace, opens as a museum Foundation of Melbourne as a barely legal speculative settlement
1853 Charles Hotham (UK) is nominated first Governor of Victoria Victorian Parliament House begins construction
1876 The storming of Winter Palace takes place in St Petersburg Architects Registration Act in Victoria establishing the ARBV, responding to Minister for Public Works
1925 Australian Institute of Architects is officially founded by state architecture professional bodies
1933 Hitler lends his coat to a cold Speer at a general’s lunch
1935 Casa del Fascio in Como completed by Terragni under Mussolini’s Fascist regime
1937 1937 Hitler appoints Speer as chief architect for the construction of Germania Mussolini announces plans for EUR in Rome for the 1942 World Expo overseen by Piacentini
1939 1939 1939 Hitler tours Paris after its annex to the Reich with state architect Speer and state artist Breker
1941 Speer becomes Minister of Armaments and War Production UK Parliament bombed, Churchill gives speech to rebuild the chambers as they were
1945 Nuremberg Trials - Albert Speer (Nazi architect) is arrested for crimes against humanity
1947 Marble from the Reich Chancellery’s demolition used to construct the Soviet War Memorial
1951 1953 Palace of Culture and Sciene built in Warsaw as a gift from the Soviet Union to the Polish People Treaty establishing the European Economic Community provides free movements of professionals within Europe Nikita Khrushchev commissions Moska Pool to be built on the foundations of Iofan’s Palace of the Soviets
1962 1969 1970 1971 AACA is formed by the RAIA as a collective of state registration bodies Jorn Utzon commissioned to design the Kuwait National Assembly Building
1974 Henry Winneke is the first Australian to be nominated governor of Victoria
1974 Architecture degree is offered at RMIT in Melbourne, based on ARBV’s prescribed content Palace of the Republic in East Berlin built by Soviet Union to house the Volkskammer North Korean architects design the Bangui Presidential Palace in the Central African Republic
1979 Victorian Government launches an architectural competition for a new Melbourne landmark
1979 Canberra announces the international competition to design the new Australian Parliament House Luigi Serafini publishes Codes Seraphinianus
1982 1985 Queensland Governor Walter Campbell refuses to follow Queensland Premier advice
1987 Canberra Parliament House designed by Italian American architect officially opened by the Queen Department of Planning and Urban Growth formed in Victorian government
1991 The ARBV produces the Architects Act
1991 1992 Architect Joze Plecnic appears in the Slovenian 500 Tolar Banknote The AACA publishes the first NCSA (National Competency Standards in Architecture)
1994 1997 Kennett Gov creates department of Infrastructure
1998 1998 Saddam Hussein commissions Umm Al-Qura Mosque to glorify his victory and deceive his secularism
1999 UK government establishes CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) An Iraqui architectural graduate hijacks a plane into the World Trade Center in NY
2002 Palace of the Republic built by USSR in East Berlin demolished to give space to reconstruction of imperial palace OVGA is created withing the dept of Premier and Cabinet in third term of Bracks government
2007 2007 Charles Avery publishes The Islanders Leon Van Schaik publishes Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture
2009 Strelka Institute is founded in Moscow
2010 Castro legalizes private practice for interior decorators and private property and development in Cuba
2011 GANA is established by the collective of Australian Government Architects
2012 2012 Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure formed by Napthine Government
2013 Dunne and Raby publish Speculative Everything
2014 North Korean top architect disappears following leader Kim Jong-Un dissatisfaction with his airport re-design DELWP is formed by Andrews Government (Environment, Land, Water, Planning)
2015
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT GENEAOLOGICAL MAP
RAIA VICTORIAN CHAPTER
AACA
ARBV
VICTORIAN
GOVERNMENT
HERIT AG VIC E
A OVG
NT ME ON VIR EN Y, ES M HO R
R MIE PRE S ICES FAIR Y SERV MINISTER L AF ALIR ENT FOR VE INA EQU RNM IER BORIGR FOR GOVE TERA M E NS R A TE O R Y P FORMINIS TER F FINANCE T MIN IS PU ER AND ISTE MIN DE INIST Y R U RF M EASURER OR REAS TR T T N A F MU N MIN ASSIST ATORY REFORM TO ME LTIC ISTE MEN REGUL WO RF UL ART OR P F OR OR TU E R F D ISTE RA YO TER S MIN ATION S UT LA I N N H FFA DUC MI TIO E A F O IRS L RE ENT L A N D , W T, A L N M TE E R AND T NM AR N N RIA ENVIRO P O I T E T S A PLAN IO D OF NG N CAT EDUCTRAINI TMENT L DU O R I C N U A FO L GOVERN G ER ED HER AND EPAR MINIST R FOR PLANNING MENT R IN ER IG D TE S S I O R H ILL MIN F OR SU SK MINISTER FOR S RF R EA TE FO UBURB TR AN D NIS ER OR EVEL MI INIST ER F OPE ENT OF JOBS, PRECINCTS MEN M INIST DEPARTM AND R T EGIO M NS MIN MINISTER FOR ISTE MI BUSINE RF NIS SS PR OR ECIN TE WA CTS RF STRIES U TER MI D N I OR E NIS EATIV R T EN N C E TE M Y R EMPLO ISTER FOR RF ER INDUSTRY SUP R FO E R N I T P M G O OR O IS RT AN RF AL ECONOMY D RE ISTE D THE DIGIT MIN SO N N A I MINISTER FO MI COV M LA R RACI NI ERY ARCH E S N S E G TE NT AL R R C E I D FO PM ME MI RA LO NI SPORT AND VE S G N TOURISM ST INES DE MINISTER FOMAJOR E TIO ER BUS OR IC R TRA VENT VA M ALL ER F DE S NO MI INIST OM SM INIST IN NIS ER M R ON R TE FO FO RF R FO R R E OR RE TE ST RE GIO NI T SO MI OR M SP MI INIST AN NIS E RF T TR T R D F E E PARTM O R F OR O ENT SP FETY P O N F O AT TORNE A A O R P IS Y GEN F TR D S LO RE ERA LICROA RAIL CTU L U AN STR JU MI A S NIS S TE N RF IO N MINISTE MIN CT TIO S MINISTER FOR ISTE RE VEN VICE W R R E ER AND HU FOR Y ORK FO S O P R M MINIST AN S UTH LA E ER F TH OR RVI AL AM N MIN TIOITY, MINISTEISTER AG L R F MINISTER FO FO TION OF R VEN F RE
ISTER FOR MIN P
DE PA MIN RT ISTE MIN M MINIS EN TER MINISR FOR ISTER T FOR TER RO F TRA FO AD OR NS R S S PU PO UB AN B RT U D IN RB M F MIN IN R ER FOR POLICE ISTER F ISTER MINIST AND OR FO EM CR R C ERG IM O EN E PR R CY DEPART MEN TO FH ISTER FOR CHILD E MIN MINISTER FOR PROT DIS EC AB I
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G TIN S OA HT D B EIG R AN D F RVICE NG AN Y SE HI TS NIT MU OR GAMING AND REGULATION OM AIRS, S DC AFF ER AN UM CE NS TI CO OR
NT ME OP EL EV LD S NA RCE U
MI NIS TE RF OR EC M IN IS
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THE PAVILION GENEAOLOGICAL MAP
RAIA VICTORIAN CHAPTER
AACA
VICTORIAN
AND CABINET PREMIER
TY RE NI TU MU UL OM RIC RC FO
E NG HA EC AT LIM DC AN NT ME ON VIR EN Y, ES M T OR HO SP R
R MIE PRE S ICES FAIR Y SERV MINISTER L AF ALIR ENT FOR VE INA EQU RNM IER BORIGR FOR GOVE TERA M E NS R A TE O R Y P FORMINIS TER F FINANCE T MIN IS PU ER AND ISTE MIN DE INIST Y R U RF M EASURER OR REAS TR T T N A F MU N MIN ASSIST ATORY REFORM TO ME LTIC ISTE MEN REGUL WO RF UL ART OR P F OR OR TU E R F D ISTE RA YO TER S MIN ATION S UT LA I N N H FFA DUC MI TIO E A F O IRS L RE ENT L A N D , W T, A L N M TE E R AND T NM AR N N RIA ENVIRO P O I T E T S A PLAN IO D OF NG N CAT EDUCTRAINI TMENT L DU O R I C N U A FO L GOVERN G ER ED HER AND EPAR MINIST R FOR PLANNING MENT R IN ER IG D TE S S I O R H ILL MIN F OR SU SK MINISTER FOR S RF R EA TE FO UBURB TR AN D NIS ER OR EVEL MI INIST ER F OPE ENT OF JOBS, PRECINCTS MEN M INIST DEPARTM AND R T EGIO M NS MIN MINISTER FOR ISTE MI BUSINE RF NIS SS PR OR ECIN TE WA CTS RF STRIES U TER MI D N I OR E NIS EATIV R T EN N C E TE M Y R EMPLO ISTER FOR RF ER INDUSTRY SUP R FO E R N I T P M G O OR O IS RT AN RF AL ECONOMY D RE ISTE D THE DIGIT MIN SO N N A I MINISTER FO MI COV M LA R RACI RCH NI ERY A E S N S E G TE NT AL R R C E I D FO PM ME MI RA LO NI SPORT AND VE S G N TOURISM ST INES DE MINISTER FOMAJOR E TIO ER BUS OR IC R TRA VENT VA M ALL ER F DE S NO MI INIST OM SM INIST IN NIS ER M R ON R TE FO FO RF R FO R R E OR RE TE ST RE GIO NI T SO MI OR M SP MI INIST AN NIS E RF T TR T R D F E E PARTM O R F OR O ENT SP FETY P O N F O AT TORNE A A O R P IS Y GEN F TR D S LO RE ERA LICROA RAIL CTU L U AN STR JU MI A S NIS S TE N RF IO N MINISTE MIN CT TIO S MINISTER FOR ISTE RE VEN VICE W R R E ER AND HU FOR Y ORK FO S O P R M MINIST AN S UTH LA E ER F TH OR RVI AL AM N MIN TIOITY, MINISTEISTER AG L R F MINISTER FO FO TION OF R VEN F RE ISTER FOR MIN P
DE PA MIN RT ISTE MIN M MINIS EN TER MINISR FOR ISTER T FOR TER RO F TRA FO AD OR NS R S S PU PO UB AN B RT U D IN RB M F MIN IN R ER FOR POLICE ISTER F ISTER MINIST AND OR FO EM CR R C ERG IM O EN E PR R CY DEPART MEN TO FH ISTER FOR CHILD E MIN MINISTER FOR PROT DIS EC AB I
RT PPO SU Y TIM FET VIC E SA ICE C ST JU ES CES AN C ING R L A C BU ND H G A ALT IN R HE USING O HO TAL HEALTH R EN VIOLEN CE M ILY AM
G TIN S OA HT D B EIG R AN D F RVICE NG AN Y SE HI TS NIT MU OR GAMING AND REGULATION OM AIRS, S DC AFF ER AN UM CE NS TI CO OR
NT ME OP EL EV LD S NA RCE U
MI NIS TE RF OR EC M IN IS
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HERITAGE VIC GOVERNMENT
ARBV
OVGA
ARCHITECTURE PARLIAMENT GENEAOLOGICAL MAP
RAIA VICTORIAN CHAPTER
IPL ARCH UIA ARCH AACA ARCH JUROR ARCH AIA ARCH ARBV ARCHITECT GOVERNMENT ARCH PLANNING ARCHITEC T COUNCIL ARCHITEC T URBAN ARCHITEC T HERITAGE ARCHITEC T ACADEMIC ARCHITEC T BUILDING ARCHITEC T LANDSCAPE ARCHITEC T CURATOR ARCHITEC T SCENOGRAPHY ARCHITEC T INTERIOR ARCHITEC T INTERIOR ST YLING ARCHITEC T GRAPHIC ARCHITECT MEDIA ARCHITEC T ARTIST ARCHITEC T FURNITURE ARCHITEC T INDUSTRIAL ARCHITEC T FASHION ARCHITEC T BODY ARCHITEC T AACA
MINISTER OF ARCHITECTURE
GO VE R NM E NT VIC TORIANN GOVERNMENT OF TH E R IA OFFICEE OF THE VIC TOORIAN GOVERNMENT OFFIC E OF THE VIC T RIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF THE VIC TORIAN GOVERNMENT O C I F ICT V OF OF THE IAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICEE OF THE VICTOR VICTORIAN OFFIC
GOVERNMENT
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R MIE PRE S ICES FAIR Y SERV MINISTER L AF ALIR ENT FOR VE INA EQU RNM IER BORIGR FOR GOVE TERA M E NS R A TE O R Y P FORMINIS TER F FINANCE T MIN IS PU ER AND ISTE MIN DE INIST Y R U RF M EASURER OR REAS TR T T N A F MU N MIN ASSIST ATORY REFORM TO ME LTIC ISTE MEN REGUL WO RF UL ART OR P F OR OR TU E R F D ISTE RA YO TER S MIN ATION S UT LA I N N H FFA DUC MI TIO E A F O IRS L RE ENT L A N D , W T, A L N M TE E R AND T NM AR N N RIA ENVIRO P O I T E T S A PLAN IO D OF NG N CAT EDUCTRAINI TMENT L DU O R I C N U A FO L GOVERN G ER ED HER AND EPAR MINIST R FOR ARCHITEC TURE R MENT R IN E IG D TE S S I O R H ILL MIN F OR SU SK MINISTER FOR S RF R EA TE FO UBURB TR AN D NIS ER OR EVEL MI INIST ER F OPE ENT OF JOBS, PRECINCTS MEN M INIST DEPARTM AND R T EGIO M NS MIN MINISTER FOR ISTE MI BUSINE RF NIS SS PR OR ECIN TE WA CTS RF STRIES U TER MI D N I OR E NIS EATIV R T EN N C E TE M Y R EMPLO ISTER FOR RF ER INDUSTRY SUP R FO E R N I T P M G O OR ORT A IS RF AL ECONOMY ND R ISTE D THE DIGIT MIN SO N N A E I MINISTER FO MI COV M LA R RACI RCH NI ERY A E S N S E G TE NT AL R R C E I D FO PM ME MI RA LO NI SPORT AND VE S G N TOURISM ST INES DE MINISTER FOMAJOR E TIO ER BUS OR IC R TRA VENT VA M ALL ER F DE S NO MI INIST OM SM INIST IN NIS ER M R ON R TE FO FO RF R FO R R E OR RE TE ST RE GIO NI T SO MI OR M SP MI INIST AN NIS E RF T TR T R D F E E PARTM O R F OR O ENT SP FETY P O N F O AT TORNE A A O R P IS Y GEN F TR D S LO RE ERA LICROA RAIL CTU L U AN STR JU MI A S NIS S TE N RF IO N MINISTE MIN CT TIO S MINISTER FOR ISTE RE VEN VICE W R R E ER AND HU FOR Y ORK FO S O P R M MINIST AN S UTH LA E ER F TH OR RVI AL AM N MIN TIOITY, MINISTEISTER AG L R F MINISTER FO FO TION OF R VEN F RE
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GO VE R NM E NT VIC TORIANN GOVERNMENT OF TH E R IA OFFICEE OF THE VIC TOORIAN GOVERNMENT OFFIC E OF THE VIC T RIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF THE VIC TORIAN GOVERNMENT O C I F ICT V F O OF THE IAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICEE OF THE VICTOR VICTORIAN OFFIC
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R MIE PRE S ICES FAIR Y SERV MINISTER L AF ALIR ENT FOR VE INA EQU RNM IER BORIGR FOR GOVE TERA M E NS R E A T R O Y P FORMINIS TER F FINANCE T MIN IS PU ER AND ISTE MIN DE INIST Y R U RF M OR REAS TREASURER T T N A F ST MU N MIN ASSI ATORY REFORM TO ME LTIC ISTE MEN REGUL WO RF UL ART OR P F OR OR TU E R F TE D IS RA YO TER S MIN ATION S UT LA I N N C H FFA MI TIO EDU A F O IRS L RE ENT LAND, WATER T, L N M E M T N AND AR N N RIA ENVIRO P O I T E T G F O S A PLAN I D O N NIN CAT EDUCTRAINI TMENT L DU O R C U A FO L G G ER OVERN ED HER AND EPAR MINIST R FOR ARCHITEC TURE MENT R IN ER IG D TE S S I O R H LL MIN F OR SU SKI MINISTER FOR S RF R EA TE FO UBURB TR AN D NIS ER OR EVEL MI INIST ER F OPE ENT OF JOBS, PRECINCTS MEN M INIST DEPARTM AND R T EGIO M NS MIN MINISTER FOR ISTE MI BUSINE RF NIS SS PR OR ECIN TE WA CTS RF STRIES U TER MI D N I OR IVE NIS REAT T EN N C E TE M Y R O EMPL ISTER FOR RF ER INDUSTRY SUP R FO E R N I T P M G O OR O IS RT AN RF AL ECONOMY D RE ISTE D THE DIGIT MIN SO N N A I M M COV INISTER FOR M LA IN ERY RACIN ARCH E I S S E G TE NT AL R RF C E I D OR PM ME MI LO AG NI SPORT AND VE S N TOURISM ST INES DE MINISTER FOMAJOR E TIO ER BUS OR IC R TRA VENT VA M ALL ER F DE S NO MI INIST OM SM INIST IN NIS ER M R ON R TE FO O RF R FO RF ER OR RE TE ST RE GIO NI SO MI RT M PO NS MI INIST A NIS E RF T TR T R D F E E P ARTM O R F OR O ENT SP FETY P O N F O AT TORNE A A O R P IS Y GEN F TR D S LO RE ERA LICROA RAIL CTU L U AN STR JU MI A S NIS S TE N RF IO N MINISTE MIN CT TIO S MINISTER FOR ISTE RE VEN VICE W R R E ER AND HU FOR Y ORK FO S O P R M MINIST AN S UTH LA E ER F TH OR RVI AL AM N MIN TIOITY, MINISTEISTER AG L R F MINISTER FO FO TION OF R VEN F RE
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S ICES FAIR Y SERV MINISTER L AF ALIR ENT FOR VE INA EQU NM RIG FOR OVER TERA NS ABO TER OR G OR INIS TER F FINANCE F M IS MIN AND TER IN ISTE IS M Y R N U RF MI EASURER OR REAS TR T T N A F MU N MIN ASSIST ATORY REFORM TO ME LTIC ISTE MEN REGUL WO RF UL ART OR P F OR OR TU E R F D ISTE RA YO TER S MIN ATION S UT LA I N N H FFA DUC MI TIO E A F O IRS L RE AT E R W ENT , A D N N D P LA L A T, N L N M E N ING T NM AR N N RIA ENVIRO P O I T E T S A IO D OF NG CAT EDUCTRAINI TMENT L DU O R C U A FO L GOVERN ER ED HER AND EPAR MINIST R FOR PLANNING R MENT R IN E IG D TE S S I O R H ILL MIN F OR SU SK MINISTER FOR S RF R EA TE FO UBURB TR AN D NIS ER OR EVEL MI INIST ER F OPE ENT OF JOBS, PRECINCTS MEN M INIST DEPARTM AND R T EGIO M NS MIN MINISTER FOR ISTE MI BUSINE RF NIS SS PR OR ECIN TE WA CTS RF STRIES U TER MI D N I OR E NIS EATIV R T EN N C E TE M Y R EMPLO ISTER FOR RF ER INDUSTRY SUP R FO E R N I T P M G O OR ORT A IS RF AL ECONOMY ND R ISTE D THE DIGIT MIN SO N N A E I MINISTER FO MI COV M LA R RACI RCH NI ERY A E S N S E G TE NT AL R R C E I D FO PM ME MI RA LO NI SPORT AND VE S G N TOURISM ST INES DE MINISTER FOMAJOR E TIO ER BUS OR IC R TRA VENT VA M ALL ER F DE S NO MI INIST OM SM INIST IN NIS ER M R ON R TE FO FO RF R FO R R E OR RE TE ST RE GIO NI T SO MI OR M SP MI INIST AN NIS E RF T TR T R D F E E PARTM O R F OR O ENT SP FETY P O N F O AT TORNE A A O R P IS Y GEN F TR D S LO RE ERA LICROA RAIL CTU L U AN STR JU MI A S NIS S TE N RF IO N MINISTE MIN CT TIO S MINISTER FOR ISTE RE VEN VICE W R R E ER AND HU FOR Y ORK FO S O P R M MINIST AN S UTH LA E ER F TH OR RVI AL AM N MIN TIOITY, MINISTEISTER AG L R F MINISTER FO FO TION OF R VEN F RE ISTER FOR MIN P
DE PA MIN RT ISTE MIN M MINIS EN TER MINISR FOR ISTER T FOR TER RO F TRA FO AD OR NS R S S PU PO UB AN B RT U D IN RB M F MIN IN R ER FOR POLICE ISTER F ISTER MINIST AND OR FO EM CR R C ERG IM O EN E PR R CY DEPART MEN TO FH ISTER FOR CHILD E MIN MINISTER FOR PROT DIS EC AB I
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DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE MINISTER FOR URBAN ARCHITEC TURE MINISTER FOR BUILDING ARCHITECTURE MINISTER FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MINISTER FOR INTERIOR ARCHITEC TURE MINISTER FOR PRODUC T ARCHITEC TURE MINISTER FOR TRANSMEDIAL ARCHITECTURE MINISTER FOR HERITAGE ARCHITEC TURE DEPARTMENT OF PREMIER AND CABINET PREMIER DEPUTY PREMIER
WORK IN PROGRESS REVIEW According to an old book that millions of people do not believe to be fictional, there existed an architect named Hiram Abiff who was in charge of the construction of the temple for Solomon, the king of Israel. During construction, 3 of Hiram’s builders ambushed the architect to force him to reveal the temple’s design secrets, which Solomon received by God himself. Committed to the professional oath he took with the king; Hiram refused to talk and was consequently murdered by his builders. Framework. The framework diagram describes the fields of study that the project operates within. Critical design If a critique is a gentle refusal of what is, and wishful thinking for what could be, then critical design depends on a dialectical opposition of truth and fiction and questions rather than answers. Speculative design fiction. Constructed realities are generated by using design to give form to alternative worldviews, using unreality to question the authority of a reality in order to foreground its assumptions. The Pana-Wave cult. A micro-utopia constructed around the belief that electro-magnetic waves are slowly killing us. Covering everything in white to reduce the impact of the waves. Causing an aesthetic regime to emerge from a fictional truth. Worldbuilding. Spatial, temporal, and genealogical narrative infrastructures used to construct alternative realities. The timeline and the genealogical map instrumentalized for story making, not story telling. The Man in the High Castle. Using a counterfactual timeline to ask what if the Nazis had won the war? and presenting an alternative world revealing the consequences of that one what if. Overall the project is interested in the relationship between architecture and power within a fictional setting. The palace typology offers useful insight in how this relationship plays out within a quasi-fictional and hermetic reality. The role of the architect within and outside governance is the core matter of the project. All the research to date is distributed within a timeline that, starting form the murder of Hiram, explores the complicated relationship between architecture and power throughout time. Globally and in Australia, as described by the spiky gray line within..
Maps and genealogy, common worldbuilding infrastructures, are merged into one matrix. A genealogical map reveals the Victorian government directory and the relationships between ministries and departments. The architecture bodies that sit within government foregrounded at the top of the governance surface. These are the OVGA, responding to the premier, and ARBV and Heritage VIC, responding to the planning minister. The chosen site for the project is Gordon’s Reserve next to parliament house, however its boundaries are being constantly negotiated between the surrounding government buildings. These four projects are different, however complementary, approaches to deal with the project framework and site. Each project will be introduced by events from the timeline. 1940 Following the German invasion of France, Hitler goes for a tour of Paris with the reich’s architect Albert Speer and artist Arno Breker 1953 The London city council architecture department employs 1500 architects, who work on ambitious nation building projects for the new welfare state 2011 Castro legalizes the private practice of interior decorators in Cuba, however architects still remain government employees, forced to assume the title of decorator to work in private practice The first project, the GOVARBH, seeks to push the three bodies representing architecture within government together under one roof. The building is treated as a pavilion, defining a central garden that frames the entry to parliament station and the side façade of parliament house. An abstracted version of the never completed dome of parliament house finds form in the pavilion, marking the congregation point for the three architecture offices.
1979 During the Iranian revolution, protesters break into a city library to destroy the architectural model by Kenzo Tange and Louis Khan, that was flown in from London to exhibit the Pahlavi scheme for a New Tehran. 1991 Kim Jong-Il, former dictator of North Korea, publishes a treatise on architecture with prescribed guidelines for national taste, the Juche. The second project emerges from an ordering of all the roles architects assume inside and outside the profession, the ziggurat. These are then distributed according to scale in 7 representative offices that would sit within a hypothetical ministry of architecture. This is explored through the design of a meeting room chapel for the ministry. The plan evidences its relationship to and formal departure from traditional parliament room design. The exterior and the interior are driven by the formal gestures of the timber piece of joinery that collects the representatives of the 7 bodies in the architecture ministry. 1939 Czech president Hacha suffers a heart attack following the endless procession to Hitler’s office, escorted the long way, room after room, through Speer’s ominous chancellery building. 1955 Stalin generously gifts a Stalinist palace of science and culture to the Polish, to thank them for their involuntary submission to the Soviet Union. 1999 Saddam Hussein initiates the reconstruction of Babylon and inscribes his name on every brick. The third project accepts the existence of a ministry of architecture and speculates on the inclusion of the institute of architects in the matrix of governance. The AIA is commissioned to occupy the site through a palace of architecture defined as the missing wing of parliament house.
A subservient intervention. Instigating a formal conversation between parliament and the department of premier and cabinet. 1945 During the Nuremberg trials, Werner Von Braun, engineer of the Nazi rockets that killed thousands of allies in WWII is invited to move to the US to work for the government. Albert Speer, on the other hand, the Reich’s architect, is sentenced for crimes against humanity.
A bridge, a plaza, a tower, and the entry to parliament station.
1945 During the Nuremberg trials, Werner Von Braun, engineer of the Nazi rockets that killed thousands of allies in WWII is invited 2001 An architectural graduate hijacks a plane into the world trade center in the name of Hallah. 2010 A former architect becomes the premier of Victoria. 2014 Kim Jong-Un delivers a tour the new Pyongyang airport after executing the chief architect for not having followed the national design guidelines of Juche beauty The last project places the ministry of architecture above the department of premier and cabinet, instigating an architecture technocracy led by the institute of architects. Architects operating inside and outside of the profession become part of the governance matrix. The result is a parasitical megastructure occupying the same site as parliament house. This is defined by the never achieved circulation loop of the original design intent of the building. The missing dome is acknowledged by a flipped circular void. The sides of parliament house become an equally important front, as originally intended. Nothing is demolished, the structure grows out of the existing system, occupying voids and turning the parliament roofscape into an enclosed landscape.
THOUGHTS
The project is an essay of the power structures that govern the city in that it responds to the question of city making as a financial enterprise rather than a spatial enterprise. In the current model of Melbourne as a global city, space making and its architecture are the result of the financial game of private corporations that need territorial and material manifestations in order to justify their legitimacy. With market neoliberalism, comes privatization and deregulation of previously state regulated frameworks and sectors. This shifts power from the legislative (parliament) to the executive branches of governance, that form strategic alliances with corporations to establish the legal frameworks in which they operate, favoring their goals to the ones of the city as a collective and as a space. This is done through commissions that are setup by the executive by choosing experts from the very same sectors that they seek to regulate, meaning policy is shaped by the same people that seek benefit from that policy. These people are not citizens nor space makers, but rather global firms with financial goals.This causes a reading of the city as a financial device for corporations rather than a civic space (a space dedicated to its citizens). With the specialization of professions, the architect was left in charge of only two aspects of city making: the aesthetic and the spatial. These are valued within the profession as the main drivers of the built environment, however that is the core delusion our profession insists on propagating. Despite architecture holds the front image of the city as a concept, that is simply a superficial understanding of a much more complex machine. The architecture, just as it was enslaved by rulers in ancient times to symbolize power, status and national ambitions, it is now enslaved by global corporations to be the physical manifestation of money. The hierarchy of power of architecture in a neoliberal global city, however, is not as evident as the hierarchy of power that architecture would sit in within a nation-state framework. The nation state and the global corporation are both using architecture to achieve their goals, however, while the former made this rather evident through symbolism and ideologically infused aesthetics, the architecture of global corporations does not need to be representing any ideology. It is simply an asset to be held. A territory or a land to be possessed. While architecture enslaved by nation states needed to communicate ideology through aesthetic, needed to deliver a message to the civic sphere, architecture enslaved by development is simply a collectable object, that does not need to do anything other than being possessed. So acknowledging that the real power does not sit within government, but rather within the market, who should the profession attack to provoke a tangible reversing of hierarchy/power structures. Yes, traditionally architecture was in the hands of nation states, however it is now in the hands of development. And where is the core of development? What is the engine of the development machine, that not only allows it to dominate city making but also it regulates it? Planning. So while taking power off the premier would be absurd enough to generate a framework for design, the real domain of power that architecture needs to attack is planning. What would it mean to subordinate planning to architecture? It would mean that the city is an instrument of civic space making, rather than an instrument of financial speculation.
How is this radical in the context of Melbourne and Australia in general? The history of Australia is a history of planning, not space making. The country was ‘zoned’ since its declaration of terra nullius. It was zoned as a land for imprisonment and punishment. No spatial qualities were instilled in its inception. Australia was born as a masterplan, a planning device drafted from afar, just like urban planning happens at a non-human scale. It can be argued this is the result of colonization as a practice where decisions are made from far away. It comes down to scale again, would the British have zoned a whole continent as a prison if that continent was close to home? Can there be an argument made for the birth of Australia as a western nation as an act of planning and zoning? Shifting now to the scale of Melbourne in the context of this framework/reading of Australia. If the colonization of Australia was an act of planning, then the founding of Melbourne was an act of development and its development as a city was an act of financial speculation. The city of Melbourne became a city by the splitting up of land in a grid of lots. Each lot was the physical evidence of future capital, to exist as an imaginary rectangular boundary, that would then be sold to British, Scottish, welsh and Irish lords from a distance. The lots determined the architecture, the subdivision plan, the Hoddle grid, determined the architecture and the spatial qualities it would bring, not the opposite. Australia was born out of a zoning gesture; Melbourne was born out of a planning gesture. What does it mean for a city, that inherently has spatial qualities, to be the result of financial speculation rather than the result of organic spatial development around core civic monuments (European cities in mind). It is certainly true that most global cities share this aspect, of being driven by property and development rather than space and civic desires. However it can be argued that Melbourne never was about space and the civic. It always was about planning and speculation. So can there be an argument made for reversing Melbourne back to a history that it never had. A history of architecture and space making driving city making. We are so immersed in our architecture bubble, that we delude ourselves thinking we are key players in city making. Possibly this is because we are good at city making, however that does not necessarily translate to being key players. The real situation is that the profession spends most time arguing for its existence and relevance than actually making change and do the things we tell ourselves we can do with the skills inherited from our education. So the speculation in dumb terms is: if you put architecture above planning, then city making becomes about space rather than money. And if it is about space rather than money, it removes itself from the capitalist neoliberal market framework. This framework has over time eroded nation-state monopoly of regulations and brought a privatization of space, in opposition to the public nature of a government led outcome. So the opposing binary is: neoliberalism/deregulation/privatization vs nation-state power/regulation/publicness. This perhaps goes back to the capitalism vs communism old debate. Architecture has found a way to exist within both frameworks, as discussed before, however within the neoliberalist framework it is struggling to be relevant more so than in the nation-state power framework. Can architecture be instrumentalized to carve out a middle ground? A new framework for city making that balances nation-state monopoly of legislation with the neoliberal market greed for property. A framework where architecture is removed from the domain of the neoliberal market (represented by planning) and not put back in the domain of nation state power, but rather forming a new domain of its own, that works as the moderator between the other two. So it is not about being instead of planning or above premier and cabinet, it is about architecture as the referee for the frontier of the city.
Let us accept Saskia Sassen’s definition of the city as a frontier: a space where actors from different worlds have an encounter for which there are no established rules of engagement. This definition acknowledges the sense of anarchy found in city making. The actors in the definition can be developers, investors, planners, government, citizens. We do have rules of engagement, however these are constantly being pushed and pulled by the actors according to the need. The reality of Melbourne is that these rules of engagement are pushed and pulled mostly by planning and development. This is allowed by the other actor in the frontier, government, as the commissions established by the executive branch of government to regulate the battle, are composed of the very same actors fighting in the opposing team. The people that make decisions about planning in government, are planners and they represent the interests of development. Can the architect be a third actor in this frontier, disrupting this relationship by becoming a city referee? The British parliamentary system, that Australian government comes from, used to have a monarch, a house of lords and a house of commons. If the state government is the monarch and planning is the house of lord, defending property owners and land development, do we need a third actor in the metaphor to assume the role of house of commons? Can the architect act in the civic interest through advocating for space making to be above property ownership? Should that be a duty? Who is taking up the interests of the civic realm in the frontier between power and money? Social justice is proven to be too weak to do so, unless it has a spatial consequence (demonstrations, occupations, looting etc.) The project could become an exercise in communicating this profound proposition for the role of architects in governance, in a way that is somehow comical, leaving ambiguity as to whether this is suggested as a way forward or simply a thought experiment. So the project could be about setting up this ambitious and hopeful framework, by providing a thorough narrative and plausible space for this to exist in, to then highlight its shortcomings through a subtle series of problems and critiques that could arise.
A TRIP
St Patrick The tilted landscape and fences as a way to demarcate territory The fence chopping off the strong axis formed by the stepped fountain, pointing to the leakage of the opposite building The two palm trees as gate markers The church imposing its own system, convinced of itself similarly to the fountainhead character Melbourne is a series of systems that think about themselves They do not acknowledge each other, each system installs its own truth St Patrick’s cathedral creates its own fictional island of existence, where it has its own system of being This system of existence is not just territorial, but also economical, the church has the power to claim a whole lot of land in the city and set up their own truth. The claiming of territory allows the church to present their fiction as a truth I don’t have issues with my design process, a way to make it unexpectable is as simple as drawing from careful observation of the context, rather than propagating my existing taste. There will always be something if you look hard enough, I just was not. My contribution is not about novel processes, I should not be wasting time on process. I should be using time to contribute to the conversation that I want to contribute in, which is using the city as an apparatus to talk about the role of the architect and its relationship to the power structures that exist and using the 3 key typologies that reveal this to us, the church, the palace and the tower, the 3 poles of power, legislation, religion (or ideology) and money (capitalism). Everything is a design tool Even the fountain heads of the moat The way the church emerges outside of the moat, the building is floating, its like Curion chapel, it feels like you’re in Venice, it brings you somewhere else The pigeon guards defining the edge of the moat, blurring its solidity The stepped moat could be appropriated to define a geological formation, with the buildings popping out of the moat The axis Why do we like it, where does it come from Every building is setting up its own system, so the project could be not about introducing a new system, but rather embedding a system that brings the other systems together That’s what the city in a building and the building as a city mean, not treating the building as a series of metaphors of rooms, streets, laneways and city squares as lobbies etc., it’s about creating a building that joins the different systems of the city, bringing levels together, mediating different architectures The glue to the city Why is it important the a city gets glued together The building will be about resolving the convergence of axis, proportions and rhythm of the context It is about acknowledging those systems, redirecting the power they carry and exaggerating the forces through architecture.
Collecting those forces into the building, directing power to spaces of congregation The process comes from a neurotic way of reading the city and the context, driving the systems into the site is going to generate form I design through alignments and axis, that’s my process, so that everything has a relationship to what’s already there Why are alignments so important to me? I come from a medieval city that is not about that, however there is an organic development of form and aesthetic, quite singular Perhaps Because of the grid in melbourne, I acknowledge that the only way to bring things into conversation with each other is through axis and alignments, rather than through a singular language The order in padova doesn’t come from alignments, rather from language Nothing exists independently, architecture is part of a system Architecture might be man made, however men are animals and part of nature, we all come from the big bang Why should I create a building that distrupts the existing systems instead of doing an intervention that acknowledges and sustains the existing systems Why do I get pissed at buildings that set up their own system? Because they are disregarding that everything is one There will always be constants in architecture, that’s what Nervi is talking about, these are the laws of physics, that is nature That is why a building that acknowledges this through structure rather than decoration, will always be timeless, because it is about timeless laws, not passing fashions Or buildings that reference the context through digital tools or abstraction, that is just semantics Bu then how do you create novelty, well here’s the thing, architecture never creates novelty, nothing starts from it, it starts from ideology, buildings are the direct result of the human mind and hand, it is delusional to think we can invent anything through architecture My role as a designer is to reconcile the existing systems, we can’ t be all introducing new ones, and in the same way we can’t all be reconciling Everyone has a role of either connector or agitator, and my role is to be a connector in an agitated way, to bring reconciliation to such extremes that it becomes an agitation You acknowledge the systems; you choose which ones to reveal and then you exaggerate the ones that are relevant And how is this process relevant to the idea of a department of architecture? Because that’s what governance needs, a glue that brings together a the civic collective, rather than separating A glue that can infiltrate every department (see architecture multidisciplinary nature) It’s not about creating a new hierarchy, it’s about infiltrating the existing ones and redirecting their efforts to a synthesis Channeling all the systems (of the city and architecture but also of government and departments) into a coherent forma l outcome that collects those That’s why I am obsessed with singularity as a designer, because the act of designing is one of synthesis
The city is driven by planning rather than architecture, so what does it mean to reverse that? Is it perhaps about collecting all the systems that operate on the site and synthetizing them and using the architecture to manifest that? Architecture is about collecting, uniting, synthetizing Planning is about separating, zoning, subdividing Planning subdivides the land in lots and streets, architecture collects the forces generated by that act of subdivision The triad of church, parliament and tower are setting up a confrontation of power And they represent the shift of power from god, governance and in the hands of governance it falls into the market I’m proposing a fourth shift, acknowledging the genealogy of power that came from church, parliament and tower – meaning the new typology should draw from all the three (church, palace, tower) I’m proposing the architectural profession to be the actor of that shift The tripolar relationship of power present on site, arguably is representative of Melbourne, judging by what architecture occupies the axis of the city, collecting the forces of power it collects The project comes out of a causal geneaology of shifting power After power has gotten in the hands of capitalism, the market and power, what is the next step? That’s where the project starts Every force surrounding the site, attacking him with its alignments This new body of governance is not a new force supposed to be disrupting the existing power structures, but rather a glue And so just like the body is a glue to governance, the building is a glue to the city The building collects the centrifugal forces of power through axis and proportions of the surrounding buildings that represent the different poles of power So the building collects them, confronts them and subverts them, transforms them and redirect them to where they should be going So there needs to be both an act of collecting and redistributing them (upwards, inwards, spaces of collection, chambers of discussion) So the axis is the tool of the baroque city to direct power, and the project does not seek to disrupt that but rather acknowledge it and adopt the tool to redirect power It’s not about introducing a ‘better system’ rather use the existing system to redirect it Architecture is not a separate discipline from interior, landscape, urban design/planning, heritage – it is the synthesis of the concerns of those disciplines Those separations within the built environment professions are equivalent to zoning and planning, they separate and subdivide rather than unite the built environment in a holistic manner A building for architecture, is a building that makes no distinction between interior and exterior, manscape and landscape, heritage and new, urban or not urban The building is a series of interiors and these create a landscape of sorts – the parliament hill is the building The scale of the interior landscape, being a hill, comparable to a geological formation, make the project urban and infrastructural The design process of mediating the architecture of the surrounding buildings, makes the hill-building a heritage project The allocation of program is the same as zoning and planning The building is the hill, the hill is the city, the city is architecture
THE BUILDING, THE HILL, THE AXIS
The new strategies for design defined through the post mid-sem thoughts and the site trip are tested on the extended site of Parliament Hill, through a singular gesture with geological qualities. The tool of the axis is used to sculpt the hill and create a hard landscape to be inhabited by architecture. The narrative of the project is paused to allow for design tests to emerge from site related problems.
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT ARCHITECTURE
The department of government architecture (DGA) is a government body collecting the 5 ministries responsible for the design and implementation of governance, legal and bureaucratic structures responsible for shaping the state of Victoria. The five ministries were introduced in the government directory as a way to stitch together the existing government departments through an overseeing body responsible for the coordination of the different ministries and departments. Each of the 5 ministries within the DGA is an apolitical collective of government architects. The term architect has been appropriated and its meaning changed, to indicate, not a building designer, but an authority organizing both spatial, technical, aesthetic, social and cultural inputs into coherent and holistic outputs that can be both physical and systemic. Following a change to the architect’s act to allow a name swap, architects as we know them now, continue to operate under the title of building designers and continue to protect their profession through regulating bodies and education requirements. The architects act becomes the building designers act, the ARBV becomes the Building Designers Registration Board of Victoria (BDRBV) and building designers as we know them now, cease to exist as every project requires a building designer (previously architect) to exist. The title of architect has now shifted meaning to indicate someone educated in architecture who, regardless of their experience in designing buildings, attains the skill of synthetic intelligence. Educational institutions keep offering courses in architecture and whereas most of the graduates become building designers, only a few will become architects and even less will become government architects. Government architects are those educated in architecture who seek to put their synthetic skills to use In order to design and implement structures of governance that impact how the government operates and consequently how society defines itself in that system of governance. Government architects are apolitical authorities overseeing the design and structuring of government. They are grouped under five ministries that form a technocratic department (DGA) sitting above every other department and forming a third branch of parliament (legislative assembly, legislative council, DGA).
The DGA has come into existence following Australia’s Commonwexit (exit from the commonwealth) and the redundancy of the role of the governor of Victoria. Needing a new apolitical third body moderating the political parties presence in parliament, the Victorian premier opened an ideas competition to design a technocratic body that would replace the governor role and expand it to be more than an assenting body, but rather a glue to the fragmented system of governance. A body that would have a consistent presence in governance, irrespective of the political party that won the last election. The competition was open to everyone from different professions and was won by a team of architects and researches with their proposal to form the DGA. Aside from minor changes and reshuffles of ministries, each department maintains its role in governance, however their roles are managed and designed by the DGA, which is responsible for coordinating each ministry towards established goals. The ministries of the DGA oversee different portfolios within government, each heading one or more of the other sub ministries. Their portfolios are a loose inheritance from the architecture disciplines as we know them now, as a way to continue the binding of architecture and governance.
Ministry of Heritage Architecture The ministry of heritage architecture oversees matters of cultural concerns, tourism, communities, and identity politics. It deals with the government architecture of culture building -past, present and future- heritage through the creative sector, sport, tourism, and identity politics. Each of the ministries includes their individual: . Research office aimed at collecting the most relevant research in each field that will then inform government architecture and policies to present to the departments to put forward. . Design office collecting the government architects responsible for designing the structures of governance responsible for implementing physical, systemic or bureaucratic outcomes. . Communications office aimed at communicating the ministries work to the government as well as to the general public. This office is responsible for public relations, marketing, graphic design, digital innovation, media, events, lectures, talks, community engagement, festivals etc. DGA Hub
Ministry of Urban Architecture The ministry of urban architecture oversees matters that manifest at an urban and infrastructural scale. The ministry binds together the new definition of government architecture with matters of urban design, urban planning, infrastructure, engineering, development and local government.
The DGA Hub is a shared culture center that collects the work of the DGA in the form of an archive and a gallery, hosting exhibitions that communicate to the general public research that the DGA is undertaking or completed projects etc. The archive is accessible to all the government architects in order to form a common pool of knowledge, collecting matters of all the ministries under one roof.
Ministry of Landscape Architecture DGA Precinct The ministry of landscape architecture overseas matters that concern the natural environment. It binds together the new definition of government architecture with matters of land, water, resources, agriculture, regional development, climate change and sustainability.
The DGA Precinct includes the whole of parliament Hill, Parliament Reserve, Gordons Reserve and part of the Parliament House Annexe.
Ministry of Edifice Architecture
Parliament house remains independent, however embedded and hugged by the DGA on all sides.
The ministry of edifice architecture oversees matters that concern institutions that have systemic, civic, and legal implications. The ministry is responsible for the government architecture of health institutions, law institutions and educational institutions. It designs the structures that regulate the public civic infrastructures of society at the institutional level.
Whereas Parliament house requires high security and surveillance, the DGA precinct is designed as a tight urban landscape publicly accessible and traversable, a topographical architecture of sort binding the different urban systems and heritages conflicting on site through a singular, robust and timeless architecture that once and for all disrupts the distinctions between urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture and heritage architecture.
Ministry of Interior Architecture The ministry of interior architecture oversees matters that concern private business, jobs, finance, economic development and employment. The ministry is responsible for the government architecture of corporations and the private sector.
Parliament Extention Civic Square
Department Critique Chamber DGA Hub Gallery and Archive
Peter Elliott Annexe Annexe Ministry Residential Tower
Peter Elliott Annexe Annexe Ministry Residential Tower
THE LOGO
THE OBLIQUE
The vertical as the axis of elevation The ordering of traditional hierarchies of power The cathedral, the tower The horizontal as the ground plane The default axis within which the vertical hierarchies of power are distributed The palace, parliament The oblique as the new paradigm of power Vertical and horizontal axis are collected and either redistributed or dissipated by the oblique A constant state of instability, the state of design, no truth is reached Everything is in constant flux and up for debate and critique Constant awareness of gravity Dense forms, sculpturally full, an indivisible continuity of elements is achieved A topological architecture, not orthogonal A reaction to the orthogonal hoddle grid, collecting power through axis and maintaining control through the grid Acknowledging the ambiguous urban design of the site Using the oblique as a way to stitch together the two cartesian grids, but why is the oblique only used in the horizontal plane? A new government body disrupting he hierarchy of power through an oblique architecture The middle house between the upper and the lower house The noble pursuits of the oblique are credible and authentic in their spirit, however they hold in themselves secondary meanings that allow a different reading of the project. The oblique begins as a critique of the city as a financial driven entity, disrupting the cartesian systems that efficiently manage the space – money relationship. Once the vertical and horizontal are disrupted by the oblique, a distinct subdivision of space and property is unachievable, allowing the city to became a spatial enterprise rather than financial. This victory of space over function, however, is a classic act of authoritarian ego of the architect, who wishes to propel spatial effects by sacrificing the purpose of the space in the first place. The impracticality of the oblique allows the architect to put design on top of every other aspect and he is able to achieve this by selling the oblique as a narrative of activity and agitation of existing modes.
THE CRITIQUE CHAMBER AND THE HUB
The cerimonial meeting space for the department is designed along with the gallery and archive for the ministeries. The critique chamber is understood as the Middle House between the Upper House and the Lower House. A third technocratic assembly in charge of legislative architecture. Here the ministries of the department of government architecture design and discuss legislation and governance. In the DGA Hub the department hosts events, exhibitions and shows that showcase the work of the ministries.
THE CRITIQUE CHAMBER AND THE MINISTRIES
The critique chamber is redeveloped through the section in order to test the ideas of the oblique. The ministries around the Peter Elliott Annexe building and the St Peter’s Church bookshop are also developed to respond to the oblique gestures of the chamber. The ministry building growing out of the Peter Elliott Annexe leans onto Parliament House through oblique walls and it picks up the rithm of the facade of the Yunken Freeman office building opposite. The ministry building growing out of the St Peter’s Church bookshop references church proportions and it provides an edge to the site, a portal to access the public square between the buildings.
Goveror House is officially open in Melbourne
Luigi Serafini publishes Codes Seraphinianus
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is formed
1996 1998
The AACA’s NCSA are adopted in determining accreditation of Architecture programs Building Imaginary Worlds by Mark JP Wolf is published Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure formed by Napthine Government OVGA is moved from dept of Premier and Cabinet to DTPLI Dunne and Raby publish Speculative Everything Turkey’s President Erdogan completes controversial Presidential Complex in Ankara North Korean top architect disappears following leader Kim Jong-Un dissatisfaction with his airport re-design DELWP is formed by Andrews Government (Environment, Land, Water, Planning) Andrews government moves the OVGA back to the dept of Premier and Cabinet
2012 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015
GANA is established by the collective of Australian Government Architects
2011 2012
Castro legalises private practice for interior decorators and private property and development in Cuba OVGA establishes a Victorian Design Review Panel
2011 2011
Strelka Institute is founded in Moscow Ted Baillieu is the first architect to become the premier of Victoria
2010
Helsinki Design Lab operates as strategic design body for a national development body of the Finnish parliament
2009
Leon Van Schaik publishes Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture
2007
2009
OMA designs the headquarters of the Chinese state propaganda CCTV in Beijing
2006
2008
OVGA is created withing the dept of Premier and Cabinet in third term of Bracks government
2006
Department of Planning and Community Development formed by Premier Brumby
Palace of the Republic built by USSR in East Berlin demolished to give space to reconstruction of imperial palace
2002
Charles Avery publishes The Islanders
Victorian Bracks government moves Planning and Heritage to dept of Sustainability and Environment
2001
2008
An Iraqui architectural graduate hijacks a plane into the World Trade Center in NY
1999
2007
Saddam Hussein initiates the reconstruction of Babylon and inscribes his name on every brick used Uk government esatblishes CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment)
1999
Miralles Tagliabue commissioned to design the new Scottish Parliament
Kennett Gov creates department of Infrastructure
1997
Saddam Hussein commissions Umm Al-Qura Mosque to glorify his victory and deceive his secularism
Romanian Palace of the Parliament completed by communist regime of Ceaucescu, inspired by NK visit
1994
1998
The RAIA refuses to adopt these standards for registration
1993
1998
Architect Joze Plecnic appears in the Slovenian 500 Tolar Banknote The AACA publishes the first NCSA (National Competency Standards in Architecture)
1992
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il publishes ‘The Art of Architecture’
1991
Department of Planning and Development formed in Victorian government, ARBV responding to Minister for Planning
The ARBV produces the Architects Act
1991
1992
Department of Planning and Housing formed in Victorian government, ARBV’s new ministry
1990
1991
Canberra Parliament House designed by Italian American architect officially opened by the Queen Department of Planning and Urban Growth formed in Victorian government
1988
Public works department in Victoria closes, ARBV shifts to Dept of Housing and Contruction
Canberra announces the international competition to design the new Australian Parliament House
1981
1987
Iranian Revolution, architectural model by Khan and Tange destroyed
1979
Grands Project of Francois Mitterland announced, architectural program to provide modern monuments in Paris
Victorian Government launches an architectural competition for a new Melbourne landmark
1979
Queensland Governor Walter Campbell refuses to follow Queensland Premier advice
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is established
1979
1987
North Korean architects design the Bangui Presidential Palace in the Central African Republic
1979
1985
Palace of the Republic in East Berlin built by Soviet Union to house the Volkskammer
1978
Pana Wave cult is formed
Architecture degree is offered at RMIT in Melbourne, based on ARBV’s prescribed content
1976
1982
AACA becomes an independent body
1975
1972
1974
Jorn Utzon commissioned to design the Kuwait National Assembly Building
1972
Louis Khan and Kenzo Tange invited by the Iranian Royal Family to collaborate on the masterplan for the New Tehran
AACA is formed by the RAIA as a collective of state registration bodies
1971
Henry Winneke is the first Australian to be nominated governor of Victoria
Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu visist Pyongyang and is inspired to build a new Romanian parliament
1970
1974
Arcosanti construction begins under Paolo Soleri’s design for an arcological city
1969
1974
ICI House completed, first international style tower in Australia, tallest building of Australia
Victorian Royal Institute of Architects joins the Australian Institute of Architects
1962
Ben Edwards becomes the fourth death on the construction site of the ICI House in Melborune
1958
The Man in The High Castle published by Philip Dick
1958 1958
Treaty establishing the European Economic Community provides free movements of professionals within Europe Nikita Khrushchev commisions Moska Pool to be built on the foundations of Iofan’s Palace of the Soviets
1957
London City Council Architecture Department restructured, employing 1500 architects at municipal level
The Moscow Architecture Institute designs the Pyongyang City Reconstruction and Construction Comprehensive Plan
Palace of Culture and Sciene built in Waraw as a gift from the Soviet Union to the Polish People
1955
1951 1953
Indian Independence, New Delhi declared capital despite the British Imperialist origins and symbols of the city
1945
Marble from the Reich Chanchellery’s demolition used to construct the Soviet War Memorial
Nuremberg Trials - Albert Speer (Nazi architect) is arrested for crimes against humanity
1945
1949
Wernher Von Braun (Nazi rocked scientist) is transferred to the US
1943
1947
Stalin evacuates to the Urals with Iofan so that he could keep working on the Palace of the Soviets
UK Parliament bombed, Churchill gives speech to rebuild the chambers as they were
Hitler tours Paris after its annex to the Reich with state architect Speer and state artist Breker
1940
Speer becomes Minister of Armaments and War Production
Hitler summons Czech President Haca to the Chancellery and he has a heart attack
1939
1942
Speer completes the III Reich Chanchellery
1939
1941
Mussolini announces plans for EUR in Rome for the 1942 World Expo overseen by Piacentini Act establishes the title of ‘Architect’ can only be used by registered architects in Victoria
1939
1938 1938
Hitler’s speech on the importance of the Reich Building Programme Hitler appoints Speer as chief architect for the construction of Germania
1937
Hitler appoints Speer as General Building Inspector for Berlin
Victorian Parliament House begins construction
1876
Casa del Fascio in Como completed by Terragni under Mussolini’s Fascist regime
Charles Hotham (UK) is nominated first Governor of Victoria
1855
1937
Napoleon III apoints Haussman for the rebuilding of Paris to lay claim on his title
1855
Hitler commisions a house for Speer in the Bavarian Alps close to his mountain retreat
Foundation of Melbourne as a barely legal speculative settlement
1853
Hitler lends his coat to a cold Speer at a general’s lunch
The Louvre, former royal palace, opens as a museum
1835
1936
French Revolution begins
1793
1935
Grand Prix De Rome extended to architecture students of the Ecole Des Beaux Artes
1789
Boris Iofan declared winner of the competition to design the Palace of the Soviets
Grand Lodge of England in London opens
1720
1933
The King of France moves to the Palace at Versailles, built on the grounds of his hunting lodge
1717
Australian Institute of Architects is officially founded by state architecture professional bodies
Academie Des Beaux Artes founded in Paris, combining architecture with fine arts and other media
1682
1933
The first non-mason is accepted into the Lodge in Edinburgh
1648
Erns May becomes municipal architect in Frankfurt
The oldest recorded meeting minutes of masons at the Lodge of Edinburgh, oldest lodge in history
1634
1929
Schaw Statues published, formalization of apprentice, fellow, master hierarchy in Freemasonry
1599
1925
Giorgio Vasari designs the Uffizi in Florence for the Comune Administrative Workers
1598
Melbourne introduces a 40m height limit on its skyline
Tasso designs the Loggia at Mercato Nuovo in Florence for Cosimo de Medici
1555
Architects Registration Act in Victoria establishing the ARBV, responding to Minister for Public Works
Macchiavelli publishes The Prince
1555
The storming of Winter Palace takes place in St Petersburg
Thomas More publishes Utopia
1532
1922
Cooke Manuscript, document regulating and recounting the history of the Freemasons craft
1516
1920
Regius Poem, the oldest masonic manuscript recounts the orgins of masonry being brought to the UK from Egypt
1450
1916
Dante Aligheri publishes the Divine Comedy
1398
Lucian of Samosata writes A True Story
1320
Vitruvius writes the Ten Books on Architecture (firmitas, utilitas, venustas)
Plato writes The Republic
-40
-375 150
Hiram Abiff, Chief Architect for Solomon’s temple is murdered for not revealing its design secrets
-587
TIMELINE SPECULATIONS 2020 Elizabeth the II, Queen of the United Kingdom dies at 94 due to the COVID-19 virus
2021 Many Commonwealth nations across the world debate around the idea of exiting the Commonwealth
2021 The Federal Australian Government launches a referendum for Australia’s Commonwealxit
2022 Australia exits the Commonwealth and both Federal and State Governments are reorganized
2022 Ex Governor Linda Dessau wins the Victorian State Elections and becomes Premier
2022 Premier Dessau launches an ideas competition to redesign the Victorian Government based on the Commonwealxit
2023 A team of architects win the comp and propose a redesign of Parliament Hill in tandem with the government redesign
2024 The OVGA becomes a government authority in charge of government architecture
2026 The OVGA Legislative Architecture Chamber and Departments are completed
RY
STATE GOVER N RIAN
OVGA
ECTO
VICTO
T DIR AMEN PARLI
MEN
T
NEW VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT DIRECTORY GENEALOGICAL MAP
LEGISLATIVE ARCHITECTURE CHIEF URBAN ARCHITECT CHIEF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT CHIEF EDIFICE ARCHITECT CHIEF INTERIOR ARCHITECT CHIEF HERITAGE ARCHITECT
MID HOUSE SPEAKER
PRESIDENT
LOWER HOUSE
UPPER HOUSE
VE LEGISLATI
LEGISLATIVE COUN CIL
ASSEMBLY
F URBAN ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENTNISOTR Y OF PLANNING MI
MINISTER FOR SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER FOR HOUSING
MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT MINISTER FOR ROADS AND SAFETY MINISTER FOR PORTS AND FREIGHTS MINISTER FOR FISHING AND BOATING
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENMTINOF ISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT MINISTER FOR SUSTAINABILITY MINISTER FOR ENERGY MINISTER FOR LAND MINISTER FOR WATER
MINISTRY OF REGIONAL VICTORIA MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE MINISTER FOR RESOURCES
T OF EDIFICE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMNISEN TRY OF GOVERNMENT SERVICE MI
PREMIER DEPUTY PREMIER
S
MINISTRY OF LAW
ATTORNEY GENERAL MINISTER FOR POLICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES MINISTER FOR CORRECTIONS MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS MINISTER FOR YOUTH JUSTICE MINISTER FOR CRIME PREVENTION MINISTER FOR VICTIM SUPPORT MINISTER FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH MINISTER FOR AMBULANCES MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND AGE CARE PREVENTION FOR FAMILY VIOLENCE MINISTER FOR MINISTER FOR CHILD PROTECTION
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
MINISTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING
ENT OF INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE DEPARTM MINISTRY OF FINANCE TREASURER ASSISTANT TREASURER MINISTER FOR REGULATORY REFORM MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPEMENT
MINISTRY OF WORK
ESS PRECINCTS MINISTER FOR BUSIN MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS INDUSTRY SUPPORT MINISTER FOR OR MINISTER F EMPLOYMENT MINISTER FOR TRADE
OF HERITAGE ARCHITEC RTMENT TURE CULTU L AFFAIRS DEPA MIMNIINSTISTERYR FOFOR ABORIGIRA NAL AFFAIRS MINISTER FOR EQUALITY MINISTER FOR WOMEN MINISTER FOR YOUTH MINISTER FOR VETERANS FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS MINISTER
RY OF CULTURAL HE MINISTMINISTER FOR INNOVATIONRITAGE R FOR CREATIVE INDU MINISTEMINISTER FOR SPORT STRIES MINISTER FOR TOURISM
RBAN ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENTINIOSTFRUY OF PLANNING M
MINISTER FOR SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER FOR HOUSING
MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT MINISTER FOR ROADS AND SAFETY MINISTER FOR PORTS AND FREIGHTS MINISTER FOR FISHING AND BOATING
MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE MINISTER FOR RESOURCES
T OF EDIFICE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMNISEN TRY OF GOVERNMENT SERVICE MI
RIAN
OVGA
S
ATTORNEY GENERAL MINISTER FOR POLICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES MINISTER FOR CORRECTIONS MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS MINISTER FOR YOUTH JUSTICE MINISTER FOR CRIME PREVENTION MINISTER FOR VICTIM SUPPORT MINISTER FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY
LEGISLATIVE ARCHITECTURE
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
CHIEF URBAN ARCHITECT CHIEF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT CHIEF EDIFICE ARCHITECT CHIEF INTERIOR ARCHITECT CHIEF HERITAGE ARCHITECT
MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH MINISTER FOR AMBULANCES MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND AGE CARE PREVENTION FOR FAMILY VIOLENCE MINISTER FOR MINISTER FOR CHILD PROTECTION
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
MINISTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING
ENT OF INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE DEPARTM MINISTRY OF FINANCE
MID HOUSE
TREASURER ASSISTANT TREASURER O F MINISTER R REGULATORY REFORM MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPEMENT
SPEAKER
PRESIDENT
LOWER HOUSE
UPPER HOUSE
VE ASSEMBLY LEGISLATI
PREMIER DEPUTY PREMIER
MINISTRY OF LAW
RY ECTO
VICT O
MINISTRY OF REGIONAL VICTORIA
T DIR
STAT
MINISTER FOR SUSTAINABILITY MINISTER FOR ENERGY MINISTER FOR LAND MINISTER FOR WATER
N IAME PARL
E GO VERN MEN T
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENMTINOF ISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT
LEGISLATIVE COU
RBAN ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENTINIOSTFRUY OF PLANNING M
MINISTER FOR SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MINISTER FOR HOUSING
MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT MINISTER FOR ROADS AND SAFETY MINISTER FOR PORTS AND FREIGHTS MINISTER FOR FISHING AND BOATING
MENT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITE
MINISTRY OF WORK
NESS PRECINCTS MINISTER FOR BRUSI MINISTER FO SMALL BUSINESS US TRIAL RELATIONS D IN R O F R E T IS MIN USTRY SUPPORT MINISTER FOR OIND MINISTER F R EMPLOYMENT MINISTER FOR TRADE
NCIL
OF HERITAGE ARCHITEC RTMENT T UR E CULTU DEPA MIMNIINSISTTREYR FOOFR ABORIGIRNAALLAAFFFAFIARSIRS MINISTER FOR EQUALITY MINISTER FOR WOMEN MINISTER FOR YOUTH MINISTER FOR VETERANS FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS R E T S I N I M
RY OF CULTURAL HE MINISTMINISTER FOR INNOVATIONRITAGE R FOR CREATIVE INDU MINISTEMINISTER FOR SPORT STRIES MINISTER FOR TOURISM
THE OVGA PARLIAMENT HILL PRECINCT
For the Week 10 work in progress review, the project is consolidated through a timeline and a genealogical map that explain the narrative and framework of the proposition. The collection of buildings designed to date is kept and consolidated through a singular precinct approach, which sitting side to side to Parliament House, collects the new and more powerful OVGA, which is now a government body in charge of the legislative architeture of governance.
WORK IN PROGRESS REVIEW
This major project emerges out of a chain of events, beginning in 587 BC with the murder of the architect of King Solomon’s temple and leading to the passing of Queen Elizabeth the II in 2020. The death of the queen has caused a rupture in the Commonwealth nations across the world. While Canberra prepares for Australia’s ‘Commonwealxit’, the Victorian state government undergoes a profound restructuring of its hierarchies. The now redundant role of the governor has left a gap in parliamentary procedures between the legislative assembly and the legislative council. A new apolitical body is needed to arbitrate the architecture of decision making and legislation. A new mode of governance is consolidated through a State Government major project, using the Parliament Hill Reserve to build a new political order. Under the guise of a new governmental ‘Federation Square’, an acropolis for Melbourne, the State Government launches a design competition. The site is of extreme historical importance, both indigenous and colonial; and it presents itself as a convergence of different grid systems and significant architectures of power. Confronting Parliament Hill with their different alignments and proportions are buildings such as: The Old Treasury Building and Precinct, the architecture of government, with its horizontality and classical proportions, inherited by the palace typology St Patrick’s Cathedral, the architecture of faith, a neo-gothic spectacle of verticality, skewed from the grid in which it sits to pick up the Bourke St Axis ICI House, the architecture of capitalism, the modernist patient zero of tower development in Melbourne.
The masterplan of the winning team acknowledges and collects the urban gestures of the surrounding architectures. It draws in their axis of power and redirects them towards a new architecture of governance. The hill is sculpted by these gestures, resulting in a ‘geological’ architecture where the building is both landscape and infrastructure. The building is the hill, and the hill is the building.
The term ‘architect’ as we know it now, is appropriated to denominate a professional with architectural education that applies his/her skills of synthesis to the design of systems and strategies of governance. Today’s architects, on the other hand, the designers of buildings, are now referred to as ‘building designers’.
The geological approach to the masterplan is aided by the architectural celebration of the oblique. The oblique is used as a tool to synthetize the contextual forces into a spatial composition that redistributes the hierarchies of power established by those same forces. The verticality of the tower and the cathedral and the horizontality of parliament house and treasury are used as a point of departure for the oblique to agitate the existing hierarchies of power and establish a new critical architecture of governance. The ground plane of the hill is mobilized by the architecture, offering a government precinct to be inhabited and climbed on. The oblique provides a constant spatial awareness, of being part of a continuous unfolding architectural landscape, where the default cartesian axis are challenged.
What began as the Office for the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA), turned into a leading government authority with 5 departments, each collecting and overseeing the architectures of the existing Victorian government ministries. The Department of urban architecture oversees the ministries that deal with the urban and infrastructural scale, such as planning, local government etc. The Department of landscape architecture oversees the ministries that deal with environmental concerns, such as resources, regional development, climate change etc. The Department of edifice architecture oversees the ministries that deal with institutional matters, such as education, health, law etc. The Department of interior architecture oversees the ministries that deal with the market, such as business, economic development, etc. The Department of heritage architecture oversees the ministries that deal with cultural and identity politics matters, such as the creative industries, sport, aboriginal affairs, etc.
The geological axial approach and the oblique offer an alternative paradigm for both city making and decision making. For the city, it signifies a shift of power from planning to architecture. In a country born from an act of zoning (an entire continent dedicated to penitentiary land use), and a city born from an act of planning (where lots drawn on paper were sold to European settlers), the oblique challenges the notion of the city as a financial enterprise, easily subdivided and valued, and rather shift focus on architecture and the notion of the city as a civic enterprise, spatial and inhabited. For decision making on the other hand, this approach signifies a shift of power from binary and oppositional political systems (such as the labor and liberal party) and bicameral parliamentary systems (such as legislative assembly and council) to apolitical, tricameral and technocratic architectures of governance. After decades of decision making in the hands of ‘the generalist politician’ with a Law and Arts education, governance is now in the hands of ‘the technocratic politician’ with an architectural education. A lineage shown to be inevitable by this timeline collecting the past, present and future relationship between architecture and governance.
The central building shown in section hosts the Legislative Architecture Chamber, the Middle House between the Upper and Lower House in Parliament. The chamber works as the critique room for the 5 departments of the OVGA, and rather than using the opposing benches layout of the Upper and Lower Houses, it uses a round table configuration as a way to facilitate a technocratic approach. Growing out of the St Peter’s church dormitory building on Albert St is the OVGA Hub, a culture center that collects the work of the departments in the form of an archive and a gallery, hosting exhibitions that communicate to the general public research that the OVGA is undertaking as well as completed projects. The 5 departments spread across 3 buildings, including the Peter Elliott’s Parliament Annex Building, of which the exterior is maintained. The currently private central courtyard is transformed into a public plaza that brings pedestrians to the Mid House building and other open spaces of the precinct. The completion of the northern wing of Parliament House is undertaken as part of the works. The building has undergone significant renovations and extensions, and it now presents a new front to the site. An incision announces the contemporary intervention behind and works as the new entrance for politicians, proceeding through a civic square in order to get to work.
TABULA RASA
Following the interim review in week 10, the design of the precinct is started again for a third time. This time, with much more knowledge on what the project is trying to achieve and what the architecture is trying to contribute. A new site massing determines a shift of focus of th project from the side of parliament house to the back of parliament house, occupying the Bourke St Axis between parliament and St Patrick’s Cathedral. The scheme is also compacted into a singular building and an extension to Parliament House, in order to consolidate the multiplicity of the formal tests to date into a coherent and singular architecture.
THE CRITIQUE CHAMBER
The projections of the context’s axis, proportions and alignments are thrown on site and they confront the massing by slicing it up, determining interior walls, fenestration, paneling and program distribution. The Critique Chamber, the hearth of the project, is used as a beginning point to test out the axis strategy on an interior scale.
THE HUB AND MINISTRIES
Shifting focus to the north of the site, the Hub (Gallery + Archive) is developed along with the wing of the building connected to Parliament House, which houses the offices of the ministires, sitting above the now buried and embedded Peter Elliott Annexe Building. The gallery provides a boundary to MacArthur Street, a portal to be crossed to access the heart of the precinct, a civic square defined by the Hub, the Ministries Office, a generous staircase connecting the plaza to a roof terrace, St Paul’s Church and the dormitory building. A tilted landscape provides room for an amphitheatre facing a screen for outdoor lectures and viewings.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE EXTENSION
The same strategies tested to date to create a new building to the back of Parliament House are now tested to craft a sensitive extension to the Parliament House building. The alignments, axis and proportions of the building determine the paneling and slicing of the extension, which occupies the planar territory that would have been occupied by the scheme of the original design by Peter Kerr. The Northern Wing is completed as a facade and colonnade, however behind the colonnade, the contemporary extension is revealed. A porous veil of corten steel wraps around the elevations of the extension facing the courtyards of Parliament House. The exterior on the other hand provides raw concrete, similarly to the new building at the back. The Southern Wing, facing Gordon’s reserve, represents the tension between the architecture of the extension and the architecture of the new building. While the massing adopts obliqueness and is sliced up by alignments from Gordon’s Fountain, Parliament House and St Patrick’s, the paneling picks up the classical alignments that the rest of the extension is defined by, rsulting in an oblique monolithic building with rationalist and classical seams and fenestration.
PARLIAMENT HILL PARK
The architecture of the new building and extension begins to infect the rest of the site, defining a new landscape scheme reacting differently to the old and the new. The section of the hill adjacent to Parliament House, picks uo the structural proportions of ICI House and Parliament House on each side and it sweeps them together, defining a stepped landscape which embeds a carpark and public toilets underneath. The section of the hill adjacent to the House of the Victorian Government Architect reacts to the context in a more fragmented way, similarly to the building next to it. A fracture between the two hills allows circulation to continue from Treasury Lane at the back of Parliament House, onto Albert St and ICI House.
THE HOUSE OF THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT ARCHITECT
The House of the Victorian Government Architect is a fictocritical thought experiment exploring the consequences of an inversion of the relationship between architecture and power in a local context. By acknowledging and exaggerating the skills of synthesis and the multi-disciplinary expertise of the Architect as a professional, the definition of ‘Architect’ is pushed from the realm of the built environment to the one of decision making. An alternative history emerges, where architecture and politics merge into a fictional government authority in charge of legislative architecture. Architects are now public servants and congregate in the Middle House, a third technocratic assembly arbitrating the parliamentary procedures of the Upper House and the Lower House. The shift to an Architecture Technocracy is legitimized through a holistic redevelopment of Parliament Hill. Parliament House is completed, the fences are removed, and an acropolis is given to Melbourne. The civic precinct collects the urban and architectural axis of the city and redirects them towards a new architecture of governance. Through oblique gestures, the hill is sculpted by the axis, giving form to a geological architecture where infrastructure, landscape, interior and heritage collapse into one. The hill is the building, and the building is the hill.
Alessandro Castiglioni AU +61 478 190 928 IT +39 348 235 8586 alecastipadova@gmail.com