Introduction

‘3 Over 4 Under’ is an annual exhibition / forum presented by Merge, providing an opportunity for three established practices and four emerging practices to present and discuss current works.

Theme: On Language Forum Location: Bread Box, 233 James Street, Northbridge Speakers: Sophie Giles, Paul Edwards, Dr Steve

Basson, Jennie Officer/Trent Woods, Philip Goldswain, Simon Cundy, Jeremy Feldhusen and MunInn Chan.

‘On language’ is the theme for this year’s event, the 4th in our themed series previously exploring ‘On Home’‘On Site’ and ‘On Weathering’.

This year our presenters are made up as follows; 3 Over (established) + 4 Under (emerging) + 1 Across (overseas).

On Language - from the pragmatics of communicating with clients and builders to more conceptual discussions such as the influence of linguistics; on understand-ing, experiencing and creating built form. We hope to stimulate a variety of unique responses and provide an insight into the way in which language informs the prac-tice of architecture in Western Australia and it’s position in the world.

David Barr and Leon SlatteryOctober 2008

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‘On Language’

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SignSenderReceiver

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Jeremy Feldhusen Feldhusen Choy Pty Ltd

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Name of Practice:Feldhusen Choy Pty Ltd

Name of Principal:Jeremy Feldhusen & Jonathan Choy

Date or Practice Commencement:March 2003

Size of Office: Small (3)Small = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:0

Practice Statement:Feldhusen Choy Pty Ltd aims to bring high level design sensibilities to spec de-velopment projects through the understanding that considered design can result in increased returns without necessitating an increase in expenditure and that standard economical construction techniques can still produce a well designed and ecologically sound building. This then forms a testing ground that informs all other projects.

Ongoing Research:Early Perth industrial buildings. Local construction techniques. Property develop-ment construction trends.

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)Meridian Park Design Guidelines – Neerabup (with DnA, Architects)Universal Panel & Paint – Lot 1017 Greenwich Parade Neerabup Project Imola – 524 Abernethy Road Kewdale.Project Monza – Lot 50 Ennis Avenue Rockingham17 Hillside Crescent, MaylandsJett Agency – 8 Somerville Street, PerthProject Gina – 241 Hay Street Subiaco.

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On Language

The language of architecture is not about words.

Architecture is a secondary or arguably tertiary operation in the language of buildings. It is a higher level reading of a natural language which happens to be built. Put simply architecture is the reading between the lines.

As a practice we actively look outside the architectural industry drawing from Perth’s past to learn the local building dialect. A language based on cost, site, brief, materials, place, construction, ecology and time.

For a starting point we turned to industrial building design. A building typology integrally concerned with construction, manufacturing and logistics. Here the lan-guage is (was?) less obscured with architectural misdirection and assumption.

And just as importantly we saw an opportunity.

The lessons learned and tested here then inform all other projects.

Jeremy FeldhusenOctober 2008

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Jennie Officer & Trent Woods Officer Woods

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Name of Practice:Officer Woods

Name of Principal:Jennie Officer & Trent Woods

Date or Practice Commencement:December 2006

Size of Office: SmallSmall = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:One

Practice Statement:Officer Woods works with people to amplify their ambitions. We practice because we enjoy the variation and challenge of making things and making things happen. We privilege flexibility and resourcefulness over style. Our work is built on good communication and sound research. To us sustainability is a conscious aim and not an aesthetic response.

Ongoing Research:How to ask the right questions.

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)6 Houses, 3 House extensions, 1 Stadium Refurbishment, 1 Instrument Vault, 1 Absolute Hut

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On Language

Our language is informed by the questions we ask ourselves and find hard to answer...

Should architects talk about their own work? How can we be both thoughtful and provocative? Is it more important to do the work or promote the work? When do you know you have made it, when you are in the Sunday Times or the Wallpaper direc-tory? Are we confused because we like variety and not featurism? Do interesting screens hide boring architecture? Is it wrong to like streets more than laneways? Is architecture more than problem solving and service provision? Why is having a social agenda so unfashionable when modernism isn’t? Why does asking all these questions make us feel elitist? Does every house need to be an experiment in liv-ing? Does worrying about everything all the time make us unproductive? Can’t you be a thinker and a doer? Does every building have to be encapsulated in a diagram? Does working with small budgets make you unambitious? Where did all the people and furniture go in architectural photographs? Is our taste better than ‘their’ taste? Are we secretly jealous of glib optimism? How do you find the time to write a blog and practice architecture? Why do architects take themselves so seriously?

Officer WoodsOctober 2008

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Sophie Giles Giles Smith Architects

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Name of Practice:Giles Smith Architects

Name of Principal:Sophie Giles(WA) and Des Smith(VIC)

Date or Practice Commencement:2005

Size of Office: SmallSmall = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:0

Practice Statement:Our work, we believe, embodies our endeavours to give expression to the nature of place in Australia. We wish to investigate Australia’s cultural identity as expressed in building form and building practice. Strong consideration is made for the specific physical nature of each site in making an architecture which es-sentialises our collective place in the world.

Ongoing Research:Architectural GeologyWater Collection as Architectural Grace

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)Murphy Residence - Gingin 2003-2008Kargotich Apartment - Cottesloe 2005-2007Winchcombe Residence - Dunsborough 2005-2007

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On Language

The language of the dotted line is that of intention in architecture. A drawn language, a dotted line is prevalent in map legends often as a signifier of an undefined track. Or it is an intention: a proposed road. A dotted line or dashed line is the way a boundary is often described, accepting that this abstract threshold of space is open to some interpretation. Of course, Le Corbusier’s regulating lines were a modernist legitimation of proportioning systems from antiquity. The dotted line as order or intention in architecture is something that is the basis of our language of architecture. The first words – so to speak.

A carrying through from earlier work is the intention that we are trying to make places that speak of the non-hierarchical character of Australian landscapes. It is the nature of part-ness of the land that we begin involving in relationships to form an architecture. It is these relationships as a collection of dotted lines which begin our understanding of place. “Line is breathless length.” The line for the eye starts at the horizon such that the color of wind on the water is some of the far wall...

No building, architecture all the way.

Sophie GilesOctober 2008

1. First published in Le Corbusier and Ozenfant, A (eds), L’Esprit Nouveau, issue no. 17, June 1922.

2. Euclid, I:153

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MunInn CHAN DCA

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Name of Practice:DCA (DESIGN COLLECTIVE ARCHITECTURE NETWORK)

Name of Principal:David CHAN and MunInn CHAN

Date or Practice Commencement:2002

Size of Office: LargeSmall = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:0

Practice Statement:The practice looks into the process of building with and not for the end-user. The client’s involvement during the design process forms the detailed synthesis of the programme. There is an intense relationship between architect and user that builds a bond that enables communication of programme and needs. A design practice that insists on being very personal with the lives of the clients and the users.

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)‘PAROS’; a private residence in Sentosa Cove, Singapore (Design Development)‘WINDHILL’; a private residence in Country Heights Damansara, Kuala Lumpur (Re-cently Completed)‘QUADRANT’; a private residence in suburban Kepong, Kuala Lumpur (Recently Com-pleted)‘KEN’S PLACE’; a private residence in Country Heights Damansara, Kuala Lumpur (Completing Soon)

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On Language

Ken’s House - ‘Storytelling’

...is one part architect, one part owner and one part site. For Ken’s house, we had 3 dominant parts fusing together into a whole that in simple mathematical terms; 1+1+1 = 4

Part 1: SITE The site was relatively bad in any private residential context. Sitting amongst and visibly compromised by 5 other houses built (and to be built) around the land, we had to approach the project on a defense, siting the house to deflect direct neighbouring views into the house.Spatial composition and the arrangement of the pavilions were strategic to shield the very open and exposed interiors.Introverted in many sense, it was then left to the architect to deal with the qualities that are to be carved within.

Part 2: KEN + RAJESPart oil and gas executive and part lawyer with a creative musician twist. The owners were con-servative yet expressive. They wanted a home that would reflect them as a person within as well as show friends and guests the person that is to be. It would not be a house that dictates what their lifestyle should be but instead express their lifestyle that is. The house was to communicate to others through architectural storytelling within itself the life of Ken and Rajes’ as professionals, as parents, as a family and as friends and to accent the things that holds close to their beliefs.A fairly tall order in any sense.

Part 3: THE ARCHITECTMaterials, colour, texture, shadow, light and reflections became key components to the design. The architecture was to be honest and real. True natural colours and textures that came from the clarity of the marble floor, to the textures of the travertine wall and the grains from the teak wood together as well as the reflection of the ripples from the pool falling onto corri-

dors. Each whispering softly of the person that lives within the house.

MunInn ChanOctober 2008

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Simon Cundy Kerry Hill Architects

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Name of Practice:Kerry Hill

Name of Principal:Kerry Hill, Justin Hill, Simon Cundy

Date or Practice Commencement:-

Size of Office: Large (20 Perth) Extra Large (30 Singapore)Small = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:-

Practice Statement:-

Ongoing Research:-

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)-

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Performing Arts Venue

Sited in the cultural precinct of Northbridge, the New Performing Arts Venue sits at the edge of the small textured heritage street frontage of William Street and the monolithic placement of the Art Gallery, Library and Museum.

Key to the resolution of a theatre is the handling of the large inexpressive bulk of the flytower. Placing this at the centre of the site, it relates to the large arts buildings. Clad in white glass it glows at night; an important marker as seen from the adjacent hi-rise city.

Addressing this interface the building is broken into a composition of volumes which respond to this context.

The lost history of the laneway pattern and the corner pub are referenced in the pattern of circulation and siting of verandahs. The entrance canopy, confined at a narrow corner location is sized to the height and width of the William Street buildings. Restored adjacent shopfronts provide additional accommodation opening directly off the street.

The performance of a night out at the theatre is evident as the audience arrives over an illuminated “carpet” and are displayed as they ascend and descend to the foyers.

Simon CundyOctober 2008

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Philip Goldswain

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Name of Practice:Philip Goldswain

Name of Principal:-

Date or Practice Commencement:-

Size of Office: -Small = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:-

Practice Statement:Philip Goldswain is a lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts at The University of Western Australia where he teaches in design, Australian architectural history and runs a 5th year elective on the relationship between photography and the built environment. He is one of a number of lectur-ers trialing small researched based design studios in the Master of Architecture degree. As well as being a contributing editor for Architecture Australia he is a member of the AIA State Chapter Education Committee. With Professor William Taylor he is co editing and co curating a monograph and exhibition on the work of Kalgo-orlie photographer John Joseph Dwyer whose work is the basis of his PhD candidature at the University of Melbourne.

Ongoing Research:Nineteenth century urban and landscape photography, the photographic depiction of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, the relationship between urban and industrial landscapes.

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)PerthSpace, Master of Architecture design research studio

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Shop Houses: Andreas Pantelis

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On (a) language ... for Perth?

From Peter Rayner Banham’s Autopia (1971) to Richard Weller’s Boomtown (2008) one is able to construct a history of speculation on, and investigation into, the potential of Perth’s urban condition. These histories can be seen as writing a series of metanarratives that are more broadly concerned with the city’s metro-politan form. In addition to these totalising scenarios we have sought to under-stand the physical, spatial, cultural and economic complexities of very particular urban conditions and buildings. The freeway, the highway and the railway have been investigated as urban forms whose competing scales and orders result in a series of ‘by-product’ spaces, interstitial zones that suggest potential occupation. Hy-brid building types such as the shop house have been documented to draw out their functional and compositional strategies. The investigations undertaken by Master of Architecture students are derived from an existing architectural language and methodology (both drawn and written). Through the testing and exploration of this appropriated language we are seek-ing to pidginise it into a new tongue able to articulate the specificity of this place. By the nature of their emerging status these are ideas that are not yet fully formed or realised with a developed vocabulary.

Philip GoldswainStudents: Elizabeth Brogden, Andreas Pantelias, Matthew Preece, Michael Utting

Philip GoldswainOctober 2008

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Paul Edwards Site Architecture Studio

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Name of Practice:Site Architecture Studio

Name of Principal:Stephen Hart and Paul Edwards

Date or Practice Commencement:2005

Size of Office: SmallSmall = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:3

Practice Statement:Site Architecture Studio was borne out of the desire of two architects to col-laborate their design ideals and experiences in architecture and landscape over a wide range of community, residential and educational projects. We strive to enlighten our clients through creating places which are a cultivation of client needs, local culture, topography, light, air and materiality. As every project has a unique site and client conditions, architecture emerges devoid of precon-ceived styles or cliché’s.

Ongoing Research:Site specific and meaningful architecture as a response to a collection of unique; client, physical, cultural and spatial relations.

Current Projects:Mercedes College Master Plan Butler Community Centre Yallingup Hills Village Centre Wanneroo Showgrounds Entry Statement

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On Language

As a practice, we are interested in interpreting the ‘language’ of place: physical location and environs, social or cultural conditions, art, building science and technology. We consciously use these elements to inform architectural concepts which underpin a unique and varied architectural ‘language’ or style to make a place. As with all architect’s interpretations, our language evolves through the collaborative and collective gaze of our people. It is our own unique values, principles and experiences as architects and designers which dictate what we draw upon to firstly interpret a locale and brief and ultimately choose to inform an architectural concept or response.

We established a practice around a philosophy of ‘bring together all of our expe-riences, values and ideals as a broad spectrum of different architects, designers and people, collaborate and be open to the emerging architecture which results. Don’t stifle it with pre conceived ideas and notions, but through research and information gathering, slowly allow emotive feelings and sensations to guide the creation of space - those very unique human qualities that are affected by space. With a practice of deliberate diverse experience levels, ages, cultures and back-grounds we each bring our own ‘dialects’ to create an architectural language which is uniquely Site Architecture Studio.

Paul EdwardsOctober 2008

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Dr Steve Basson

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Name of Practice:Department of Architecture and Interior Architecture, Curtin University

Name of Principal:Dr Steve Basson

Date or Practice Commencement:2000

Size of Office: -Small = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large = 16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No of project completed for family members:-

Practice Statement:-

Ongoing Research:Ongoing Research: History, Theory and Psychology or Architectural and Urban Space

Current Projects:-

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Competing Voices, Competing Visions

Is there a single and independent language of architecture? Or is there rather a vast array of narratives that each offer different ways to perceive and un-derstand the rich meaning, value and purpose of architectural form? Historically there was once the tradition of classical language that appeared to inform the truth of built style and identity. But with the fading of those distant echoes of the ancient, new voices spoke out which sought to negate the language of the past for narratives of what was to come alongside a functionalist and abstract architecture expressive of the brave new worlds of tomorrow. More recently, other voices have intruded into the once bounded domains of architectural discourse and authority to pronounce of the virtues of external cultural, social and political identity; historical reference and heritage; regional, national or international imperatives; and phenomenology, gender and post-colonialism. Together these form part of the stylistic lexicon of postmodernism. And then there is the language of deconstruction and power. But whether represented through narratives of style and aesthetics, theory, history and philosophy, semiotics, or repression and resist-ance, what can be said, seen or known of architectural form and space is intimately related to structures of language. And yet, to what extent does the proliferation of narratives that surround the contemporary figure of architecture advantage or destroy how we perceptually engage with built space by incorporating such lan-guages, voices and visions.

Dr Steve BassonOctober 2008

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