FORM section of the May 2013 Adelaide Review

THE adelaide R EVIEW may 2013

FORM D E S I G N • P L A N N I N G • I N N OVAT I O N

Phillips Pilkington/Flightpath Architects, St. Peter’s Town Hall Complex. Photographer David Sievers

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects

sa architecture awards

sa architecture awards

voice

architectural cohesion

The showcase of the state’s best architectural work

Local agency Voice is one of the country’s best graphic design firms

What can Adelaide learn from Stuttgart?

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SA Architecture

Awards

by Chris Watkins

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he South Australian Architecture Awards program is an annual event showcasing the best architectural work in the state. Each year, architectural practices enter their finest completed projects into categories including Residential Architecture, Public Buildings, Commercial Architecture, Interiors, Heritage and Small Projects.

given. Projects receiving either a Named Award or an Architecture Award are entered into the National Architecture Awards programme, to be judged against the best work around the country.

Each entry is presented to a jury consisting of design professionals including architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and a guest juror i.e. built environment academic, specialist consultants, and major sponsors for each category.

It’s no surprise the quantity of entries in 2013 has dramatically reduced compared to previous years – no doubt due to the hangover of the Global Financial Crisis, tightening of Government fiscal policy and generally low private sector confidence all resulting in less construction project starts. However, the quality of the work entered this year is astounding – no doubt due to the skill and expertise of the architects and design teams involved and the ever increasing ability of architects to respond to the constant need to do ‘more with less’.

The jurors then visit the projects in person, often having the opportunity to meet the entrant’s client and chat with them about the project. Following the site visits, the jurors deliberate, often for many hours, and determine which projects are deserving of an award.

The 2013 SA Architecture Awards ceremony will be held on Friday, June 14 where The Adelaide Review People’s Choice Awards will be presented for projects entered into the Public Architecture and Residential Architecture – Single Housing categories.

There are three awards on offer for each category - a Commendation, an Architecture Award, and the first and highest award, the Named Award. There may be several commendations and Architecture Awards for each category but only one Named Award is

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» Chris Watkins is the 2013 Awards Director – SA Chapter

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Fitout with the Thonet Stol chair at Jack Ruby , Adelaide. Photo by Will Matthews.

1000 Chairs is a proud supporter of the AIA 2013 Peoples Choice Awards.

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The Adelaide Review People’s Choice Awards To vote in the 2013 People’s Choice Awards, which is held in conjunction with The Adelaide Review, Australian Institute of Architects (SA Chapter) and 1000 Chairs, go to adelaidereview.com.au

Thanks to 1000 Chairs, when you vote you will have a chance of winning a recently launched THONET STOL chair worth $300.

Voting opens on Monday, May 6 at midday and closes on Friday, May 31 at 5pm.

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Public Architecture 1. HASSELL, Flinders University Biology. Photographer Corey Roberts 2. Phillips Pilkington/Flightpath Architects, St. Peter’s Town Hall Complex.

Photographer David Sievers 3. Woodhead, Flinders Centre for Innovation. Photographer Steve Rendoulis 4. MPH Architects, Thebarton Community Centre. Photographer David Sievers 5. Woodhead, Kauwi Interpretive Centre. Photographer Mark Zed 6. BVN Architecture, The Braggs University of Adelaide. Photographer John Gollings

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residential Architecture 7. Energy Architecture, Prospect Residence. Photographer Lyndon Stacy 8. Max Pritchard Architect, Barossa Valley Glass House. Photographer Sam Noonan 9. Dimitty Andersen Architects, Rose Park Residence. Photographer Sam Noonan 10. Con Bastiras Architect, Kensington Park House. Photographer Peter Fisher 11. Con Bastiras Architect, Maslin Beach House. Photographer Corey Roberts 12. Max Pritchard Architects, Stringybark House. Photographer Sam Noonan > All entries will be on the voting site

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Voice

The Voice team

by Leanne Amodeo

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AXOR STARCK ORGANIC

eing invited to present at agIdeas International Design Week is quite a coup, especially since the annual invitation only extends to 40 design creatives worldwide. Big international names are often the drawcard at the weeklong event in Melbourne, but this year’s Australian speakers make for a stellar line-up. As the only South Australian representatives, Anthony De Leo and Scott Carslake’s inclusion marks them as two of the most dynamic graphic designers working in the country today.

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Their work for Hither & Yon is especially interesting as it signals a shift in direction for the design studio. “In the last year we’ve managed to work with clients that have allowed us to take brand work a lot further than print and digital,” Carslake explains. “We’re now also expanding into environments.” Voice’s work with Hither & Yon has included collaborating with Adelaide-based interior designer Georgie Shepherd to redesign the boutique winery’s cellar door. It’s an opportunity that has rounded out the design process for both De Leo and Carslake allowing them to be involved in the complete branding experience.

They co-founded Voice 14 years ago and have since grown it to a four-person operation. In recent times the Adelaide-based design studio has been no stranger to industry recognition.

Voice’s recent successes may have included a slew of international and national awards for branding, identity, publications and illustration, but both De Leo and Carslake’s approach remains refreshingly pragmatic.

It also highlights the diversity in their design process, which is often markedly different from one project to the next. And those lucky enough to hear De Leo and Carslake speak at agIdeas were given plenty of insight into just how diverse this process can be. One of their past projects they discussed was the rebranding of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO).

“Everything we do is essentially built on the idea of getting somebody’s attention,” Carslake says. Last year’s Design South Australia catalogue for the Integrated Design Commission and new branding for McLaren Vale boutique winery Hither & Yon are two recent examples that do exactly that. The prior’s palette of gelato colours and interspersed pages of geometric patterning lend it instant appeal. While the latter’s exaggerated ampersand motif gives the brand’s wine labels immediate vibrancy.

“Scott and I wanted to explore the notion of what music looks like,” De Leo says. So the two University of South Australia alumni went back to their alma mater to conduct a series of workshops with a group of graphic design students. “We got them to do some visual studies for a day while we played different types of music,” De Leo continues. “Then we went away and built a visual body of work around that collated material and that became the identity for the ASO’s 2006 season.” The project remains a significant one in

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form Voice’s portfolio for the attention it garnered. It also reveals the lateral lengths the design studio is prepared to go to achieve outstanding results.

De Leo and Carslake’s motivation is an ongoing search to find innovation in all that they do and this allows them to constantly keep on coming up with new ideas. Some of these ideas have been Eureka moments while others have felt like hours spent banging your head against a brick wall. However, as Carslake says, “It doesn’t matter how you generate an idea, just as long as the idea is valuable.” At the end of the day what De Leo and Carslake are trying to achieve through every facet of their creative output is a response.

The design studio is currently working on a number of local projects, but De Leo and Carslake can’t give too much away. What they can say is that they’re gearing up to launch the new Rio Coffee brand within the next month and a big project in South Australia’s wine sector will come to fruition over the next 12 months. The adrenalin may have slowed after agIdeas, but the drive and energy that distinguishes Voice doesn’t seem like stopping anytime soon.

voicedesign.net agideas.net

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Architectural cohesion

by Leigh Vlassis

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tuttgart, a city in southern Germany, is the state capital of BadenWürttemberg. A generally conservative city (like Adelaide) Stuttgart is known for its Swabian people, their German dialect and its range of festivals that take place throughout the year.

Stuttgart has one of the highest incomes per capita in all of Germany, thanks largely to the fact that Stuttgart boasts some of the world’s most international and influential industrial companies.

Car giants such as Mercedes Benz and Porsche, as well as the engineering and electronic powerhouse Bosch, were all founded in Stuttgart and have their influences prominent here. This gives Stuttgart the availability to invest in its building infrastructure.

It is here where I’m currently based and where I am exposed to a variety of many architectural projects, styles and visions.

Stuttgart’s architectural history spans as far back as the 10th century. Even though almost 66 percent of the city was destroyed after WWII a strong historical presence remains intact and the city is still ever changing aesthetically to meet the current trends and needs of future generations.

Despite new architecture and design constantly making its way into the city’s landscape, a mutual respect exists between the surviving buildings and the modern interventions. A somewhat semi-compatible relationship between the two is managed and the city successfully grows and prospers whilst still bringing forth its culture,

heritage and technological advancements in a consistent manner.

Stadtbibliothek

Much of the city’s classical architecture is concentrated within its active and lively historical centre. The Old Castle (Alte Schloss), originally the seat for the first counts and dukes of Württemberg, is now the state’s City History Museum. The castle-like structure, covered in crawling enveloping green vines, is located next to the heart of Stuttgart’s main square, Schloss Platz, upon where the grandiose palace, Neue Schloss, sits. This palace (of Baroque, Classical, Rococo and Empirical Architecture) was built for the then King of Württemberg. Emanating great stator and superiority, the palace resonates power and instantly draws attention to any passerby. Juxtaposing this architectural splendour, and also within the main square, sits a silent, large, giant modern glass cube that is the Kunstmusem – Stuttgart’s Modern Art Museum.

Against all odds, the periodical classicism of the palace and castle with the contemporary trendsetting museum manage to create a harmonious balance with one another to encompass the main square as a whole. This was vital for the architect of the Modern Art Museum, Hascher Jehle, as he wanted an architecture solitaire be created with his design to form an ensemble with the museum and its surroundings. The success of this intervention is clearly visible as the main square is one of the main arteries of Stuttgart, where congregations are constantly held.

Another great example where this union of architectural togetherness is evident is Stuttgart’s new city library, Stadtbibliothek.

This marvellous modern world-class media centre by Yi Architects redefines the experience of what it means to borrow a book. If you’re expecting wooden desks, squeaking floorboards, the stench of old history and a librarian with a hand bell running around reminding everyone that the library is about to close then you couldn’t be more off target. This ultra hightech hidden wonder is like stepping into a 3D MC Escher drawing. Completely neutral in design and colour, where only whites and shades of grey are predominantly used, the library spawns into life when its visitors wander about to use the facilities and interact with the diverse range of coloured books that are on display, and from which gives the interior of the library its colour. Like the intestines of a layered organism, the library’s automated book borrowing system is clearly visible for all to see. Books are effortlessly delivered to their desired location on high-speed conveyer belts that run up the walls through each level of the building. If Stanley Kubrick had designed a library for his film 2001: A Space Odyssey, no doubt this would be it.

This library’s design is yet another example of how architecture is successful at expressing a period of time. Through its function, innovation and technological effortlessness, the library reflects our current modern times of progression and scientific advancement.

Aesthetic compositions of prominent buildings are not only meant to be charming in appearance, but are important reminders of what once was and where we are going. This is what architecture does.

Architecture doesn’t simply provide a function; rather, architecture is the symbolic interpretation of different cultures and times. One must only be able to unscramble what they are looking at in order to decipher the history that is unveiled right in front of their eyes.

The success of cities and their built environment is not only achieved through architectural integrations, more so, it is about how we as a people utilise what we have and how we want to go about living our lives. Yes, Federation Square is prosperous in its design, however its success is dependant on its users, the people. A collaborative cohesion between a city’s architecture and its users is imperative for an engaging and enthusiastic environment to emerge.

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