terroir.com.au articles

Building Blocks

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:21:28 +0000

TERROIR have been selected to participate in an exhibition titled "Building Blocks" at Färgfabriken in Stockholm.

The exhibition brings together 9 international architects, each with their own client in the form of a young child.

The exhibition seeks to explore the spatial intelligence of children and how this might be put to work in collaboration with architects who have an established research agenda and reputation. Thus, as well as exploring the role of the child the exhibition will also expose how authorship and client involvement are addressed by firms with different approaches.

The exhibition opens at Färgfabriken on April 24.

TERROIR Masterclass, Aarhus

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:16:30 +0000

TERROIR will conduct a masterclass at Arkitektskolen Aarhus in Denmark from April 12-22.

Gerard Reinmuth, who is currently Visiting Professor in Aarhus, will be joined by Richard Blythe and Scott Balmforth during the two week studio. Students will be asked to explore the potential of the inner-outer condition in architecture to address a critical urban project in the city of Aarhus.

PROJECT 21: ANDERS G

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:05:17 +0000

Anders Gammelgaard is co-leader of 1st year architecture at Arkitektskolen Aarhus, and is in Australia as part of the exchange we are doing between the school and the University of Technology in Sydney - "The Opera House in 3 Acts."

His particular research interest is in the field of materials and tectonics. In particular, he has done a major research project on plywood as the first PhD by design at Arkitektskolen Aarhus.

TERROIR Sydney office March 9, 6pm.

Jellingstene

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:21:25 +0000

Occasionally projects appear which force us to address and challenge the value system of an entire culture and how it will address its past and construct a future. This is one such project.

The difficulty in this project resides in the need to choose, or to at least negotiate, between three important aspects of the Jellingstene complex. How can we find a compromise between the following:

- the need to preserve and protect heritage artefacts of national significance;

- the need to provide an environment suitable for visitors viewing the stones; and

- the need to do all this without destroying the context in which the stones are located?

We suggest that the answer to this seemingly impossible question requires critical questions of the site and its history, including past, present and future. Only by allowing for an organic overlap between past and future we can free the design process from the weight of the past. We can then understand that the stones are located at the intersection of multiple values representing a certain kind of crisis that must be dealt with in some way for a proposition to be successful.

The dilemma is evident in the tension between the idea of housing the stones in a museum and finding a way to retain them on their site. This is a tension between the value of the material object and the value of relationships between objects - that is, the stones and their greater context. We can add a third value relating to the question ‘what do we build now’. These three, sometimes conflicting values can be summarised in terms of: object, relations, and future.

Past

The history of the site could, for the purpose of illustration, be crudely categorized in terms of a series of material transformations of the site - King’s compound, stone ship, mounds, stones, three churches, le Jardine Engleise. The site thus provides evidence of an accretive process, starting over 900 years ago when the stone ship was first established. In this accretive process each new layering of the site has resulted in a disruption and in some cases deliberate obfuscation of previous layers. For example, the burying of the stone ship, the construction of the mounds and the addition of the church have all served to disrupt previous understandings if the site while suggesting new ones.

At no previous time in the development of these material layers has the ‘value’ of previous layers - either material or relational - been a driving consideration in what happens next. The first observation to make then of these value conflicts is that the very presence of the dilemma is unique to our time, it is in a way our defining issue.

Projection

In a context already laden with history, we are required to add a new layer. There is no escape from this need, for to avoid it will result in the relocation of the stones and the loss for all time of the chance to experience the potential of these multiple contexts at play in the same location.

So, to project a future for the site, our approach is to look for the openings - gaps that appear between these value conflicts and between the historical layers of the site. In these gaps we might find new potential, such that we can use architecture as a tool too see earlier site relations or glimpses of prior site arrangements.

We can observe that although previous attempts to disrupt preceding layers (burying the stone ship, building a church across its keel line, building a new mound), subtle clues still remain – such as placing the key stone on the old keel line. So, once the church appeared on the site, it was no longer possible to open the site up in ways that allowed you to see the stone ship in full or connect with the adjacent landscape in the same way. Yet, when you stand with the stone you are still standing in the boat conceptually – such that the announcement of a new religion may have been understood differently by those with previous knowledge in the context of previous histories. This act shows a sophisticated ability to work back and forth through history - a skill we have lost in our desire to preserve both material and context in a holding patter as defined by a previous era and resistant to change.

To go forward, we have to ask - what is the nature of the current condition? And in this condition, what is more important, material, context or activity? Or can we do the impossible and harness all three?

We suggest that we can – via another accretive move which might enable experience of one or more components of the previous history. Thus, we suggest a shelter for the stones which is neither a statement of the modern nor a timid response which simply makes concrete our fear as a culture that we cannot answers these questions. We suggest a sort of time machine, which exists now but takes visitors into each of the past incarnations of the site while proposing a future where this building type may become more prevalent as our confidence increases.

The Opera in 3 acts

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:02:56 +0000

120 students from Arkitekskolen Aarhus in Denmark will visit Sydney in March to work with 120 University of Technology, Sydney students on the Opera House, before heading to a workshop in the desert near Broken Hill.

The idea for the collaboration came from Torben Neilsen - the new Dean at Arkitekskolen Aarhus - as a way of generating a collaboration between UTS and Aarhus universities, where TERROIR Director Gerard Reinmuth holds an Adjunct and Visiting Professorship respectively.

The combined group will be asked to make a series of observations of the Opera House according to three themes (or acts). In all, 240 students, divided in 60 groups will produce almost 200 documents regardung their observations of Utzon's masterpiece.

The images with this listinjg are from the first week of student activity, site visits, and social events,

A town transforms

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:13:22 +0000

TERROIR friend and regular Mercury newspaper columnist Greg Barns has written an insightful article on the City of Burnie’s transition from an industrial town into a town of architectural excellence, which includes the Makers’ Workshop by TERROIR. According to Greg, “The Burnie of a decade ago was dull, dirty and down at heel. But when you drive around the city now, you are struck by architectural excellence, a turning of the city back to the stunning coastline which it abuts, and downtown streets that are benefitting from considered tree planting. Burnie is also fortunate….in having a “can do” culture among its elected officials and senior council management.”

Body of Work

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:12:01 +0000

Issue 95 of MONUMENT magazine represents a major refresh and re-launch for this key publication in Australian for architecture and design.

As part of this new format, MONUMENT has started a new section in every magazine called "Body of Work". We are proud that TERROIR's commitment to the culture of architecture, research and built work has led to our selection as the first practice to be covered.

The thumbnail image is by Brett Boardman, from his series on TERROIR for the National Portrait Gallery.

Smith House: Green Magazine

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:24:49 +0000

Smith House has been published as the cover story in Green Magazine.

Given our regular lectures and writing on the need to elevate the role of building re-use in terms of sustainability - such as the recent essay in Conditions Magazine - we are very pleased to receive this recognition from Australia's newest publication on Green issues.

SNM debate in Arkitekten

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:32:41 +0000

Since the Statens Naturhistoriske Museum competition, a debate has been ongoing in Denmark about the project and the brief that insisted the building go underground. We had our own thoughts on that, placing the building underground but with a glass spire that worked into the logic of Copenhagen's cityscape.

In the latest issues of major Danish architecture magazine Arkitekten, academic and architect Thomas Bo Jensen makes a case for the underground building, citing Utzon's unbuilt masterwork at Silkeborg as an excellent example of the type, which he then compares to TERROIR's prize-winning entry to the competition.

Portraits + Architecture Reviewed

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:51:27 +0000

Annabel Pegrum has written a review of the Portraits+Architecture exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery in the latest edition of Architecture Australia.

Portraits+Architecture, Architecture Australia, Jan/Feb 2000.

Jørn Utzon and the Opera House

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:46:23 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth Chairs a symposium at Arkitektskolen Aarhus (Denmark) on Jørn Utzon and the Opera House on February 4.

The symposium features contributions from Jan Utzon, Michael Asgaard Andersen and Adrian Carter.

Utzon 6-pack

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:36:51 +0000

To commence his Visiting Professorship at Arkitektskolen Aarhus, Gerard Reinmuth will present a series of six lectures over two days on Jørn Utzon and the Opera House in Sydney.

Each lecture takes a different slice through the Opera House and its design, deliberately contrasting "official" accounts of Utzon's design process with a "next generation" view.

Gerard will suggest the Opera House might be an exercise in defamiliarisation, mimesis, importation or the play between the inner and outer.

TERROIR in Parallax

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:33:20 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth will give a public lecture in Aarhus to announce his arrival as Visiting Professor at the School.

The lecture builds upon the "rehab" lecture given by Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe last year, slicing sections through TERROIR's work according to key issues such as place, the cosmopolitan, ethics, politics and parallax.

Thanks to Dan Hill of Arup and City of Sound for the Canberra overlay image fronting this posting.

Edwina Hughes

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:03:08 +0000

After completing her degree in Environmental Design in 2009, Edwina has elected to take a year away from study in order to take up the student position in TERROIR’s Hobart office. Edwina’s role within the office is based around assisting project leaders with a variety of tasks, including model making, product research and interior design.

Edwina plans to return university in 2011 to complete her Master of Architecture. Edwina has also previously studied Fine Arts and Psychology at UTAS.

CONDITIONS Magazine article

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:13:12 +0000

Edition 3 of dynamic new Scandinavian Magazine CONDITIONS features an article from Gerard Reinmuth on Sustainability. This magazine is a brilliant publication with provocative articles from the new generation of architects and thinkers.

In Gerard's article, sustainability is discussed as an aesthetic problem in a broad sense and in the context of a Scandinavian tradition.

Reinmuth, Gerard. Sustainability as an Aesthetic Problem, Conditions 0310, Oslo, 2010

36 The Calls (competition)

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:03:51 +0000

The competition brief called for not only an iconic building, but one which complements the existing buildings and is fitting to the location. Situated in the city of Leeds in Yorkshire, the building is to be a symbol of great design for the area, one which alludes to the history of the site.

Our design, which draws its inspiration from epiphytic plants, proposes a building that functions like one. This is achieved in two ways. The first is symbolic, by drawing from its unique conditions - Yorkshire's spatial intelligence and site – its form and configuration is articulated, very much like an epiphyte derives support from its surroundings without adversely affecting its well-being.

Secondly, it is also a sustainable, living and breathing project; being part of its context and not challenging it. Again, like an epiphyte which extracts moisture and nutrients from the air, rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, the building will harvest rainwater and feature a façade created from the reuse of bricks within a lattice frame.

Within this, a framework which can incorporate various programmatic arrangements is implemented, ensuring an outstanding architectural and commercially viable result. Standing like a modern watchtower at the confluence of river and street, it will become a symbol of Yorkshire's gentrification within a contemporary adaptation of its history.

SNM in Arkitekten

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:51:25 +0000

Our prize-winning submission for the Statens Naturhistoriske Museum in Copenhagen has been published in the January 2010 issue of Danish architecture magazine, Arkitekten.

The Adam and Eve Projects

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:47:56 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been featured as one of a broad range of artists on the Adam and Eve Projects website.

Other featured artists include colleagues Tatiana Bilbao, Bjarke Ingels and Chris Bosse and idols such as Nick Cave.

The site is the brainchild of Scott and Tracey Woods, two architects who have also trained in Tasmania including a stint under TERROIR-Director Richard Blythe.

Venice Biennale 2010

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:18:41 +0000

TERROIR have been shortlisted - in a team including Richard Goodwin, Andrew Benjamin, Ingo Kumic and Dan Hill - for the Australian Pavilion in the 2010 Venice Biennale.

The Creative Directors for our 2010 Pavilion - Ivan Rijavec and John Gollings - are curating an exhibition titled "NOW and WHEN" - comparing Gollings' magnificent photographcs of Australian cities with a series of proposition about these cities in the future.

Our submission, titled "Fraying Ground", uses texts by Andrew Benjamin on the work of TERROIR and Richard Goodwin as a portal through which the city in 2050 is reconsidered by the team as a whole.

Part of our submission text is as follows:

""Porosity, fraying, knotting, etc are all ways of redefining relationality that allows for another economy of lines. In addition they need to be understood as modes of thought and design that take potentiality as central and reposition control. Not the abandoning of control, rather its having a different figure: a difference allowed for by its separation from a specific economy of activity. Thus, fraying within the city will work to redefine public and private spaces no longer as a binary opposition or as a matter of degree. The fraying of lines, the loosening of borders marks the implicit porosity of the urban.

In this context if we then were to ask - where does architecture start? – we cannot answer by evoking the figure of the architect. Such an evocation would be no more than the final refrain of an aesthetics of “genius.” Developments within the history of design techniques – many of which are central to the ongoing work of TERROIR and Richard Goodwin – have rendered such an aesthetics redundant. Once reposed the question of the beginning involves the ground. And yet, the ground must always be more than its literal presence."

2009 Office Trip, Burnie

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:03:06 +0000

Our 2009 office trip took us to Burnie and the recently completed Burnie Makers.

After a day in Burnie looking at the building, we celebrated the announcement of Chris Rogers as an Associate of TERROIR and Tamara Donnellan and Shaun Miller as Associate Directors.

AR Emerging Architecture

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:47:59 +0000

TERROIR's small public space at 86-88 George Street has been recognised in the Architecture Review (UK) International Emerging Architectue Awards.

From over 500 entries received from across the world, 4 prizewinners were selected. The George Street project received a commendation, which is a great result given the sheer volume and entries and the quality of work from our colleagues across the globe.

The awards ceremony was held at the RIBA in London on Tueaday, December 1.

Burnie Maker's Workshop

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:48:25 +0000

Burnie Maker's Workshop was completed in November 2009, 14 months after the project design commenced.

The project represents a major investment in the future of a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania coming to terms with its post-industrial reality. Until recent times, the town has been known primarily for its key large scale industries and the servicing of these via the port area. The largest of these industrial plants is the large pulp and paper mill on the waterfront.

Over recent years, a local initiative, Creative Paper, has built a culture of high quality product and value-adding upon the base level industrial paper production associated with the town. In addition, the role of town as a gateway to the fertile farming lands of Tasmania has not been forgotten completely, resulting in a rich sense of its heritage as a rural centre. This twin focus – part creative industry, part museum – provided the basis for town council backing of the project. TERROIR have transformed this brief into a living room for the town, built around these two functions but also incorporating café, theatre and other meeting place activities.

This project is understood as part of the collection of industrial objects along the coast. However, rather than pander to a sentimental pseudo-industrial aesthetic, these objects have been re-imagined as giant “toys” of which this project forms a new part. Our “toy” is a lighthouse of sorts, perched on the western headland above the beach, a sentinel both for passing ships and for the locals whom we hope will make this the living room of the city.

Five key functions each occupy an arm of the building with the central space providing access and general orientation. The difficulties with climate on this site are addressed by the radiating arms which generate a series of spaces of different orientations and enclosure to be used all year round as conditions dictate.

TERROIR’s proposal has bought into sharp relief the importance of the project, not only for the town but for the region (and even state as a whole). Thus, the project is now proceeding to documentation and construction for completion in late 2009 with full backing from all levels of Government. When completed, the project should stand as the fullest exemplar yet of TERROIR’s ambition to provide places of cultural consequence based on a critical design approach.

Visiting Professor, Aarhus

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:39:15 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been appointed Visiting Professor at Arkitektskolen Aarhus in Denmark.

The appointment will commence in February 2010 and will see Gerard involved in education projects in both Denmark and Australia associated with the school.

Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe will be involved in masterclasses during 2010 in Denmark.

Dansk

Gerard Reinmuth er blevet ansat som gæste professor ved Arkitektskolen i Århus.

Stillingen påbegyndes i februar 2010 og kommer til at involvere studierelaterede projekter både i Danmark og Australien.

Scott Balmforth og Richard Blythe, Gerards to partnere, vil være involverede i masterclasses i Danmark i løbet af 2010.

PROJECT 20: RICHARD GOODWIN

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:13:57 +0000

We have always wanted Richard to give a lecture on PROCUREMENT – that is, how does he get that stuff built? For, the realisation of so many Goodwin projects is not the result of pure design skill, but is also due to his ability to develop techniques to make possible what is not even thinkable for most of us. Whether this means re-writing the structural design manual, building the thing himself for a third the cost, or taking an angle grinder to some street furniture that has got the way, Goodwin has consistently demonstrated an ability to work outside the normal parameters of practice. What he knows about the rules is carefully deployed in the interests of breaking them.

TERROIR Sydney office Nov 26, 6pm.

Clareville House

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:08:28 +0000

The project is currently under construction. Clareville is a sensitive part of the greater Sydney area, featuring large waterways and waterfront property. Given the sensitivity of the site location, the project became an exercise in mapping the natural site and views out from and back to that site to create a machine for designing the object itself. The spatial and organizational logic underpinning the house was then rendered in a material palette sympathetic to the surroundings, using the same timber species found on the site.

In detail, the house was set by the location and orientation of 4 key rooms in the house (living, studio and 2 bedrooms). The volumes of these spaces are diagrams of the desired view and were determined by precise mathematical measurement of the relation between the site and views in both plan and section. More immediate constraints such as the location of significant trees further defined the geometry and the footprint of the main rooms, such that the analysis left a 2-storey volume literally suspended on the site, with no basement, nor connection to the street above. The connections to street and site were developed from the overlay of a meandering path which negotiated the considerable level differences between street and water and the geometry determined by the view analysis. The winding of this path forms an amplification of the existing means of traversing the site - jumping from rocky ledges to flat areas of undergrowth - and takes cues from it in the resolution of volumes and materials.

The main volume of the house is blinkered by fattened timber walls to effect privacy to the neighbours and further intensifies the views out and across Pittwater. The roof canopy completes the system of customised facades - rolling with the geometry below and splitting to allow light to enter. The canopy form of the roof engages with surrounding trees and thus completes the transformation of the site but in a manner which preserves the essential qualities that led the clients to make it their home.

Placing Design: The Problem of Context

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:08:29 +0000

Professor Richard Blythe, Head of RMIT Architecture + Design and founding Director of TERROIR, will unpack the design process of competitions for architectural projects through which Terroir have unravelled the idea of the contextual surface. In doing so key past projects will be touched on including the awarded Statens Naturhistoriske Museum, Denmark, announced earlier this month. The lecture will unravel how designing itself is a legitimate research enquiry and illustrate how the RMIT University practice-based PhD works and how it results in more rather than less designing.

Venue: Katholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Date: Thursday, November 19

Maitland City Bowling Club Stage 2

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:32:48 +0000

Maitland City Bowls Stage 2 sees the continued implementation of the Masterplan TERROIR developed for the Maitland City Bowls in 2006.

This stage involves the creation of a new entry and further work to the roof. The entry works provide a major new public identity to the Club while the roof works now see 50% of the total masterplan design for the roof in place.

For further information on the project and the masterplan, click here.

Houses Feature

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:59:56 +0000

The Australian HOUSES magazine has included a major feature on TERROIR in their November 2009 issue.

The article surveys our trajectory through a series of housing projects over the past 5 years, including the recently completed Smith Street warehouse conversion.

Statens Naturhistoriske Museum prize

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:17:55 +0000

TERROIR has won a prize in the international competition for a new Natural History Museum in Copenhagen's historic Botanical Gardens.

TERROIR’s scheme was based upon the cellular nature of the Botanic Garden as it is currently organised. A series of bulbs are literally "planted" below the surface and merge together to create a diverse range of gallery and storage spaces. The extraordinary collection held by the new institution is archived on the lower level, allowing glimpses down to the collections from exhibition spaces above.

The TERROIR scheme challenged a major rule of the competition, which required the new project to be completely underground. Our proposal suggested that one or more of these "bulbs" might grow above the ground level to provide café and entrance facilities and also to create a new glass spire. This iconic, slender spire would complement the existing spires which dot the Copenhagen skyline and announce the institution across the city. Despite this radical suggestion, the project was awarded a DKK100,000 special award for the quality of the exhibition space proposed. TERROIR now hope to be short-listed for the next phase of the project next year.

The awards ceremony was held in Copenhagen on Thursday, November 5 with Camilla Jensen from TERROIR in attendance to accept the prize.

The ceremony was opened by the Director of the Natural History Museum, Morten Meldgaard with a welcome speech from the Danish Science Minister, Helge Sander. Prizes were awarded by members of the jury including Professor Malene Hauxner from Copenhagen University, Thomas Bo Jensen (Architect) and the Director of the Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, Poul Erik Tøjner.

To see more information on the scheme, click here.

You can also see the project featured on the Australian Design Review site.

Dansk

Terroir har vundet en pris i den internationale arkitektkonkurrence ”Statens Naturhistoriske Museum” i Botanisk Have, København.

Overrækkelsen af præmierne finder sted Torsdag d. 5. November, hvor Camilla Jensen fra Terroir København vil være tilstede og modtage prisen.

Ceremonien blev åbnet af Statens Naturhistoriske Museums direktør Morten Meldgaard, med en velkomsttale af Videnskabsminister Helge Sander. Vinder forslagene blev præsenteret af fagdommerne Malene Hauxner, Professor Københavns Universitet, Thomas Bo Jensen, Arkitekt MAA og Poul Erik Tøjner, Museumsdirektør, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art og overrakt af Videnskabsminister Helge Sander.

Se forslaget her.

The Making of Makers

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:13:39 +0000

Excitement is building in Burnie with the imminent completion of Burnie Makers, resulting in major coverage in the local newspaper.

The Advocate has established a special zone within their website allocated to images, news and interviews about the project.

This is really exciting for us here at TERROIR to see the local community taking such owenership of the project even befoe it has been completed.

To link to the Burnie Makers coverage on The Advocate website, click here.

Ares Prosthetics

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:26:56 +0000

“Usually we consider landscapes as “natural” when there’s been no human intervention, and “modified” when people have left their trace. This simplification would make us rule out the Valencian territory, since it’s made, in most of its extension, by adapted, built, modified and used landscapes. Probably one of the best meeting points between both concepts, apparently contradictory (natural versus human, wild versus built) are those landscapes of stone that spread through the whole Valencian Community."

And thus within this context we find the town of Ares - an altar atop La Mola which forms part of this exceptional landscape. The form of the town depends heavily on the interface between the character of the limestone landscape and the occupation of the hills over the past 1000 years.

The limestone strata and its weathering over time has resulted in an extraordinary figure of parallel lines within this steep landscape, which in turn has left us with a series of horizontal platforms. These platforms have informed the occupation of La Mola itself, where the first castle wall was laid down to mark the extent of the town. However, like much of the town, this wall has been built and re-built over time such that it still exists in spirit even though very little of the original fabric of geometry remains.

We find it had to distinguish between the terraced landscape and the logic of the town itself. Thus, the town can be understood as both “complete” and always “in construction”. All we do know is that a radicalisation of the town and its structure would destroy the slow accretive process which has unfolded over XXX years. When we understand this - that the town is neither complete nor requiring radical adjustment - we can look again to the limestone platforms and consider how we might add new elements without disrupting this pattern.

Our proposal then, is a series of PROSTHETICS added to the existing structure of the town. These small elements do not provide complete answers but rather cause us to ask new questions about the form of the city and how it might evolve in future. Each of these prosthetics addresses a particular situation – where connection is required between paths, or street furniture, lighting and landscaping might improve a space in the town. These prosthetics do not resist the layered structure upon which the town is based but simply attempt to make connections between the layers where the most critical moments of repair or connection are needed. They will be contemporary in nature and made from innovative ceramic techniques. These ceramic objects capture the material of the region while impressing with their quality finish at the points of human contact.

Our proposal is therefore not definitive, but rather a suggestions of where prostheses might be needed. Further discussion might result in a new set which have a particular prioritisation. Similarly, each prosthetic can exist as a discrete project which can be built as funds become available. Their separate nature is such that the town will always be “complete”.

Sculpture by the Sea: Conference

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:50:24 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been asked to participate on a panel entitled "Activiating the City" at the Sculpture by the Sea Conference, held to coincide with the opening of this fantastic annual event.

For further information on Sculpture by the Sea and the symposium, click here.

The image with this listing is from Sculpture by the Sea's first overseas foray earlier this year, in Aarhus, Denmark where Gerard Reinmuth is Visiting Professor at Arkitektskolen Aarhus. The sculpture is by Lene Desmentik.

DESSA Gallery, Slovenia, Exhibition

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:06:19 +0000

TERROIR have been included in a major exhibition of Leon van Schaik's ideograms at the DESSA Gallery in Slovenia.

The exhibition was commissioned by Maja Ivanic for the DESSA Gallery, Ljubljana Slovenia, 23 March - 17 April 2009 The Singapore viewing: WOHA Gallery, 12-26 September 2009 The London viewing: the School of Architecture, University of Westminster, opens 17 November 2009

Ideogram opposite by Leon van Schaik. Interview with TERROIR regarding Peppermint Bay 3-7 Feb 2004.

Dessa website click here

10x10x10

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:18:16 +0000

To celebrate Architecture Week 2009, Scott Balmforth was invited to participate in the 10x10x10 presentation organised by the Australian Institute of Architects Tas Chapter on Monday 26^th October. The session’s Creative Director was Peter Poulet (State Architect) and was titles ‘Provocation’.

Scott’s talk, titled ‘what we don’t know we know’ looked at (provocative) opportunities for Hobart from lessons learned in growing up in this place – one’s spatial intelligence - or the transplanting of relevant ideas from other places;

1. State of play; ‘have we dropped the ball on understanding what makes us unique and at a level that will benefit all?’

2. Early impressions of place; Someone showed me this page, pointed to Tasmania and said ‘we live there’….I interpreted it literally….because I can clearly recall from my childhood home on Hobart’s eastern shore, looking out at the River and Mount Wellington backdrop and then looking down and seeing my house – yes, I lived in a blue-roofed house, so that was right – the river (aka bass strait) and everything else was over there. I look back and wonder what this spatial organisation I had between my infant mind and the ‘real world’ means to me as an architect from this place, working in this place…

3. Developing a spatial intelligence; simple lessons in spatial intelligence, such as seeking sunny, sheltered spaces within Sullivans Cove whilst a student at the Art School….which van Schaik notes “..is one of man’s most underrated human capabilities and enables us to navigate our way through our daily lives.”

4. Reflecting on experiences from other places; Building mental space from histories in other places and how that experience can be translated here.

5. Actions to enhance experience of place; ‘Give me 500m3 of concrete to make a change to how we experience the city’s unique setting within a powerful landscape and I would recomplete this section of the concrete apron of the docks across Davey street – where the rivulet once drained.’

6. Maintaining scale; Managing the large-scale head on is something I don’t think we do very well nowadays in the Cove…..

7. More appropriate climatic response; What’s been missing is the potential of dissecting place, not building place. This is real sustainability, a rethinking of architectural practice and projects – where sustainability is embedded in the conceptual strategy of each and not just the application of formulae or ‘add-ons’….. Communities will benefit when an architect’s advice to do less or nothing is deemed valuable….

8. Projecting a future; Opportunities to think laterally and appropriately on vacant land in the CBD.

9. Makers’ Workshop, Burnie; seeing the TOY and revealing a clients capacity.

10. Curating a capacity in local profession; is commissioning for the future.

Anne Elisabeth Toft

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:45:44 +0000

Anne Elisabeth Toft is Associate Professor of architecture and architectural representation at the Aarhus School of Architecture (aarch.dk) in Denmark from where she also holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Theory. Anne Elisabeth - and her colleages Anders Gammelgaard and Torben Nielsen - will be working with Gerard during his Visiting Professorship in Aarhus.

Anne Elisabeth studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and Visual Culture at the Department of Art History, Copenhagen. Her Ph.D.-dissertation theorizes the relationship between architecture and architectural photography. She has participated in group and individual exhibitions on architecture and architectural photography in Denmark and abroad and she has lectured and taught at many international universities and schools of architecture

She has written interviews and essays for magazines and books about architecture, architectural education, architectural photography and the visual arts. Her current research project investigates architectural photography as an architectural strategy. She has been a member of the EAAE Council (European Association for Architectural Education) for many years and she is editor of the EAAE News Sheet (www.eaae.be). She lives and works in Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Since 2008 she has been involved with rethinking the Bachelor Education at the Aarhus School of Architecture - a project with which Gerard will be involved during their collaboration.

Smith Street in Hise Magazine

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:02:04 +0000

TERROIR's Smith Street hosue has been featured in Slovenian magazine Hise. Magazine editor Maya Ivanic is a regular in Australia and has done much to support Australian archietcture in Slovenia and Europe.

Et Øjeblik!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:46:29 +0000

TERROIR have been included in Copenhagen’s contribution to the largest exhibition of architecture ever held in Denmark, to be held on October 1 to mark World Architecture Day.

Et Øjeblik is the vision of the AA in Denmark and intends to build bridges both within the profession and society as a whole - and is therefore typical of efforts by Danish architectural organizations to engage with the wider public. Thus, the AA has initiated a nationwide exhibition, where inhabitant, citizens and shoppers now have an insight into ideas and projects. The main themes for the exhibition are Sustainability, Tradition and Technology.

TERROIR have exhibited our public place at 86-88 George Street in Sydney – a project which addresses all three themes, given the incorporation of an existing heritage listed building and innovative sustainability practice.

The exhibition is on October 1^st.

Dansk

TERROIR bidrager til den største udstilling af arkitektur, som nogensinde er afholdt i Danmark, der afholdes den 1. oktober i København, for at markere World Architecture Day.

Et øjeblik er AAs vision om at bygge broer både indenfor faget og i samfundet som helhed. Det er en indsats fra den dansk arkitekt organisation om at engagere sig i den bredere offentlighed. Således har AA indledt en landsdækkende udstilling, hvor indbygger, borgere og handlende nu får et indblik i ideer og projekter. De vigtigste temaer for udstillingen er bæredygtighed, tradition og teknologi.

TERROIR udstiller vores offentligt plads 86-88 George Street i Sydney - et projekt, som omfatter alle tre temaer, i form af koblingen mellem en eksisterende fredet bygning og innovativ bæredygtighed.

Udstillingen er den 1 oktober.

AAA Exhibition: Remodelling Architecture

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:14:58 +0000

This is the 5^th year in what has become an annual exhibition curated by TERROIR for the Australian Architecture Association (AAA) at Custom’s House. In the first two years of the series, the work of over 20 young architects was revealed to a wider audience. This was followed in 2007 by an exhibition of 2 greats – Col Madigan and Max Dupain. In 2008, we mounted an exhibition of Bruce Rickard’s work alongside contemporary residential architecture in Sydney to suggest how influential it has been.

In 2009, 5 years after the first exhibition, titled Young Architects, we are revisiting this theme but with a different focus. Over the last five years, the "young architect’s" scene in Sydney has been transformed by a growing number of exciting young practitioners who are exploring the potential for digital technology in architecture and urban design practice and installations. Over the same period, Customs House has developed and refined their exhibition program with an emphasis on digital media work in a range of disciplines.

This new wave of technologically savvy young architects is an interesting phenomena, particularly so given their location in Sydney scene where a certain traditionalism and conservatism has defined architectural practice. The use of digital tools in the conception of architecture and its production has been a growing tendency internationally over the past few decades, but to see a group of vanguard practitioners collecting in Sydney is an unexpected development. Many of these practitioners have come to us from afar, including Germany (Chris Bosse), East Coast USA (Patrick Keane and Anthony Burke), Pittsburgh (David Burns) and Russell Lowe from New Zealand. The overlap between the work of this diverse group and the developing interest of Customs House in digitally produced art and architecture has meant that some of those exhibited here have already been involved with this key venue in Sydney’s cultural life.

Four years ago, many of these people were not in Australia or had just started out. Now, their presence is well felt and their future impact on our city should be significant. Thus the culture of architecture in Sydney is witnessing a phase-shift and this exhibition at Customs House is one of many signals that the new wave is here.

The image with this posting is from the Dubai Tall Emblem competition completed by Adrian Lahoud in association with TERROIR and Richard Goodwin.

George Street wins again!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:07:57 +0000

Our project at 86-88 George Street has won another award, this time in the sustainability category of the Australian Institute of Project Management awards.

Our client, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority entered the project in the awards, and their Project Manager, Colin Sargent, collected the award with TERROIR Project Architect Tamara Donnellan.

Statens Naturhistoriske Museum

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:56 +0000

The redevelopment and expansion of the Statens Naturhistoriske Museum is a unique opportunity to bring together in one place four institutions which together can tell

"...historierne om ekspeditioner til de fjerneste ørkener, bjerge og skove på kloden. De bærer historierne om generationer af dedikerede forskere og passionerede samlere, og de bærer historien om udviklingen af museet fra kunstkamre med rariteter til moderne naturvidenskabelige samlinger. Men disse omfattende samlinger er ikke blot en værdifuld del af vores kulturarv. De dokumenterer også, hvordan vores planet er formet, hvordan livet har udviklet sig, og hvordan vi deler verden med millioner af organismer, der alle, som vi, har fundet deres niche på Jorden. Og sidst, men ikke mindst, så dokumenterer samlingerne vores verdenssyn og leverer det videnskabelige fundament til vores moderne samfund."

While this redevelopment is very exciting it also brings with it a great responsibility to preserve what is best about Botanisk Have, while at the same time imagining a new future for the gardens, which best capitalizes on the opportunity presented by the Statens Naturhistoriske Museum.

This proposal suggests a way that the past and future histories of Botanisk Have and Statens Naturhistoriske Museum can be combined to create a dynamic, contemporary institution - but which comes out of the qualities of the existing context. Only by acknowledging how the gardens contribute to Copenhagen’s city fabric, can a proposal use the past to project into the future.

GREEN BAND

Botanisk Have is an integral part of the urban life of Copenhagen. Changes to the garden, and in particular, a substantial increase in building in the garden, risk changing its character irrevocably. In addition it would forever dilute the green band, which runs through the city and of which this garden forms an integral part. Thus, any new project must above all else preserve the quality of the garden setting and enhance it via specific interventions.

However, for the new institution to function properly, it must be joined together as a single building complex.

A SECRET GARDEN

Part of the special quality of Botanisk Have is its "secret" quality, protected from the bustle of the adjacent streets by a perimeter of trees and fencing, which ensure a strong sense of being "inside" or "outside" the garden. Botanisk Have is a "world within a world" – a magical quality heightened by the existence of idyllic landscape settings, rare plants and wondrous environments such as the glasshouse interior.

However, Statens Naturhistoriske Museum needs a strong identity to register it’s existence in the wider city.

PROJECT 19: TOKO

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:48:41 +0000

TOKO are responsible for this website in addition to a range of brilliant design solutions for things as diverse as university programs, festival identities, magazines and the Parallax conference in Melbourne earlier this year.

So, we thought it time they came in to tell us more about what they are up to at the moment and what makes them tick.

Hear Michael and Eva on Tuesday, September 15 in our offices.

TERROIR Interview

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:35:53 +0000

TERROIR have been interviewed by Christopher Chapman as part of the Portaits+Architecture exhibition mounted by the National Portrait Gallery.

To hear this interview, you can download it from the National Portrait Gallery website or simply click here.

We should warn you, the interview goes for 52 minutes and is completely unedited.

Portrait Video Installation

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:47:03 +0000

John Vella (assisted by Clockwork Beehive) have produced a video installation of TERROIR in discussion and at work for the National Portrait Gallery exhibition in Canberra.

Footage for the video was taken over 3 days with John, who then put together this broad collection of sequences into a video piece that describes the character of TERROIR in the design process.

The full installation is 7m long x 2m high and has a soundtrack also put together by Clockwork Beehive. If you feel like downloading the whole 16 minute video, click here.

Alternately, you can view the video on Clockwork Beehive's youtube page, which can be accessed here.

TERROIR Portraits

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:13:29 +0000

Brett Boardman has taken a brilliant group of portraits of TERROIR Directors and their offices for the National Portrait Gallery exhibition.

TERROIR portrait

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:07:55 +0000

TERROIR have been invited as part of a distinguished group of Australian architects to participate in Australian Style I: Architecture - an exhibition exploring contemporary Australian identity through creative process to be held at the newly opened National Portrait Gallery in September 2009.

The main theme of this exhibition is: identity through creative process. The exhibition foregrounds the philosophy and creative process at the core of each participant’s practice, hence constituting a ‘portrait’ of their style.

TERROIR has gathered together a team including two favourite collaborators - Brett Boardman and John Vella. Brett is taking a series of portraits while John has produced a major video artwork/installation that captures the character of our creative process by overlapping models, projects, landscapes and conversations in a 16 minute video piece.

Brett's session with Gerard on Bondi Beach has been captured in the photogaphs accompanying this posting. Brett's images of the video filming sessions are also posted here.

Main photo: Photographer Credit: © Maritza Cafatti

To see the ABC news coverage of the exhibition, click here.

Public Sculpture

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:40:51 +0000

Our timber kiosks at Commonwealth Place, Canberra, have been published in the Spring edition of Timber Design Australasia.

Gerard Reinmuth Interview

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:18:56 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been interviewed on the Archi-Ninja blog.

This is a great site with loads of news about current happenings in architecture, particularly among younger architects and students.

To read the interview, click here

Camilla Jensen-Thorup

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:34:07 +0000

Camilla first worked for TERROIR in 2004 while in a break from her studies in Denmark. During this time she worked on a number of projects, most significant of these being the Leichhardt House.

Camilla subsequently completed her studies at the Royal Danish Academy after which she worked for BBP arkitekter and THORA arkitekter in Copenhagen.

Camilla has also exhibited a large art/architecture project at the Charlottenborg spring exhibition in 2008. The project received considerable critical acclaim.

Camilla is now taking on the role as key contact for our Danish office. Camilla’s knowledge of TERROIR’s design process and her continued engagement with the office over the past 5 years is a perfect pre-requisite for her role as interface between new Danish projects and collaborators and the current TERROIR team, many of whom she knows well from her time in the Sydney office.

Camilla can be contacted on jensen-thorup@terroir.com.au

Dansk

Camilla var, i løbet af hendes studietid i 2004, ansat ved Terroir i Sydney. I denne periode var hun involveret i en serie af projekter, specielt designfasen af Leichhardt House.

Efter opholdet ved Terroir, færdiggjorde Camilla sine studier ved Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Arkitektskole, hvorefter hun blev ansat ved BBP Arkitekter og THORA Arkitekter i København.

Derudover har Camilla blandt andet været involveret i en stor kunst/arkitektur udstilling på Charlottenborgs Forårsudstilling i 2008. Projektet modtog stor anerkendelse.

Camilla er nu hovedkontakt i Terroir ApS. Danmark. Camillas erfaring indenfor Terroirs design parametre og hendes vedvarende engagement i Terroir i løbet af de sidste fem år, er den perfekte forudsætning for hendes rolle som kontakt mellem de nye danske projekter og samarbejspartnere og det nuværende Terroir team i Sydney og Hobart.

Camilla kan kontaktes på jensen-thorup@terroir.com.au

TERROIR ApS

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:52:42 +0000

TERROIR ApS has opened in Denmark.

After 7 years of engagement with Danish architecture culture via lectures, symposia and competitions, we have taken the next step.

TERROIR ApS is fully owned by TERROIR Pty Ltd and will be the hub for projects in Europe. In addition to current TERROIR staff, TERROIR ApS hopes to build a Danish team from our diaspora currently in Denmark who have worked in the Sydney office.

The Director-in-charge of this office is Gerard Reinmuth while Camilla Jensen-Thorup is the key contact in Copenhagen on a full time-basis.

The office is currently based in Skoubogade in central Copenhagen.

Feel free to contact Gerard or Camilla directly or email copenhagen@terroir.com.au

Dansk

TERROIR Aps. er nu åbnet i Danmark.

Efter 7 års engagement i dansk arkitektur via forelæsninger, konferencer og konkurrencer, har vi taget det næste skridt og åbnet Terroir ApS.

Terroir ApS.i Danmark er fuldt ejet af Terroir Pty Ltd, Australien, og vil være hovedkontoret for projekter i Europa. Udover det nuværende Terroir team i Sydney og Hobart, håber Terroir ApS. at opbygge et dansk team bestående af en håndfuld tidligere danske ansatte ved Terroir Sydney, som nu alle er tilbage i Danmark.

Den dasnke direktør er Gerard Reinmuth, mens Camilla Jensen-Thorup er hovedkontakt i København.

Kontakt venligst Gerard eller Camilla direkte, eller email copenhagen@terroir.com.au

Portraits + Architecture

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:56:30 +0000

Ben Morgan at Indesignlive has featured the Portraits+Architecture exhibition coming up at the National Portrait Gallery.

To see the article, click here

No More Icons

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:18:14 +0000

Andrew Mackenzie's discussion panel about procurement at the recent State of Design festival in Melbourne is issued in AR 111.

The photograph shows (left to right) Timothy Hill, Hamish Lyon and Gerard Reinmuth in conversation.

National Portrait Gallery Feature

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:39:52 +0000

The latest edition of Vogue Living has highlighted the forthcoming exhibition Portraits+Architecture at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Brett Boardman's image of Richard Blythe was featured.

Prospect and Refuge Forum

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:35:06 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been invited to participate in a forum in Newcastle titled "Prospect and Refuge".

The forum is supported by the Lock-Up Cultural Centre where forum organiser Kim Bridgeland completed an artist-in-residence.

Hosted by Chris Tucker, the forum will see a panel of speakers discuss approaches to architecture, identity, culture and sustainability. Other participants include Rod Simpson, Olivia Hyde and Michael Chapman.

In the Public Eye

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:39:40 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth's critque on public architecture for MONUMENT magazine reflects on the current malaise in public procurement.

Questions about the stimulus package, project management and costing practices and the crudity of many aspects of public procurement methods are touched upon in this plea for a better built environment.

86-88 George Street Podium Recognised

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:25:44 +0000

The concrete podium at 86-88 George Street has been commended in the 2009 CCAA Public Domain Awards.

Despite the small size of the project, it was recognised in the Precincts section of the awards, a category featuring some impressive work in some of our most significant public places.

Gerard Reinmuth at State of Design

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:44:55 +0000

Andrew Mackenzie has invited Gerard Reinmuth to speak at a forum titled "What makes public architecture?" at Melbourne's State of Design Festival.

The forum will examine current trends in the procurement of public buildings and in particular the effect of Public Private Partnerships (PPP's) on the public realm and on the profession of architecture.

Other speakers include Hamish Lyon of NH Architecture and Timothy Hill of Donovan Hill. For more information and session details, click here.

The session is presented by Andrew Mackenzie's new venture, URO Media. Given his incisive constributions to thinking about architectue in Australia for some years now, this is sure to be a successful and valuable publishing enterprise.

Clockwork Beehive

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:22:01 +0000

Clockwork Beehive is Mark Cornelius & Dianna Graf and they worked with John Vella on the video installation for the National Portrait Gallery exhibition.

Their projects have spanned the field of new media, specialising in video production, animation, installations and large-scale projection in public spaces, with diverse clients, from government to the arts and entertainment industries.

Inspired by human-computer interaction, in 2008 they began design and development of their first computer game project for Mac and PC. In 2009, they undertook creative and technical realisation of a prototype Augmented Reality application for iPhone.

For more on Clockwork Beehive, go to their website www.clockworkbeehive.com

‘RE:HAB’ Student Congress

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:22:59 +0000

TERROIR Directors Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe speak at the 2009 Australia New Zealand Student Architecture Congress ‘RE:HAB’ Held at the University of Canberra.

TERROIR's lecture was titled ‘RE:PLACE’ and discussed the creation of ‘place’ within the urban landscape - responding to and enhancing the cultural and physical qualities of site.

Richard and Scott presented selected TERROIR projects via 4 key themes of; Politics, Cosmpolitan, Ethics and Parallax. And yes, the image accompnaying this article does in fact show an image of Mr Potato-head, harnessed in a line of argument by Richard Blythe to explain our cosmopolitan condition.

In addition, on Wednesday 8^th july:
-Richard participated in a workshop seminar titled ‘RE:THEORISE’ with Craig Bremner and Gevork Hartoonian which looked at ‘how do we as architects position ourselves within the contemporary situation?’ and;

-Scott chaired a workshop seminar titled ‘RE:DESIGN’ with Bruce Townsend, Tone Wheeler and David Sutherland which looked at ‘up close and personal with architectural projects at an intimate scale, with reference to sustainable methodologies in contemporary practice.'

TERROIR thanks Kevin Hui who tweeted this image.

TERROIR featured in 10x10/3

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:54:04 +0000

TERROIR is featured in the new instalment in Phaidon's respected 10x10 series.

This third instalment includes a range of innovators including Thomas Heatherwick and Klein Dytham. Excitingly, a number of TERROIR-friends have also been featured, including Tatiana Bilbao, Studio Mumbai, BIG, JDS, Durbach Block and M3.

See the Wallpaper Magazine review of the book here.

Featured: Matiland City Bowling Club Stage 2

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:38:36 +0000

TERROIR project Maitland City Bowling Club Stage 2 is featured in The Herald newspaper.

The article quotes club chief Paul Cousins saying "the redevelopment is particularly exciting and a milestone considering it can go ahead in the current economic climate". Paul is later quoted saying "This will be unlike any other club development in the state".

View the Maitland City Bowling Club Stage 2 project

Monocle Magazine interview

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:00:54 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been featured in Monocle magazine’s survey of 11 influential architects, urbanists, academics and authors on the future of the city. Gerard’s Q&A session sits alongside contributions from a diverse group including Alain de Botton, Saskia Sassen and Tyler Brule.

By complete coincidence, Gerard’s favourite Bondi café/bookshop, Gertrude and Alice, features in the same issue.

Sydney Laneways

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:56:34 +0000

TERROIR have proposed a series of interventions for Sydney's laneways in collaboration with long-time collaborators Brett Boardman and John Vella.

A series of laneways were identified at the belly of Sydney’s CBD which, if activated, could add a whole new dimension and energy to this part of the city.

It was our view that for art to have a catalytic role in this invigoration an inanimate object or installation is not enough. Equally, if we are going to project forward and propose a future for these places, the work must avoid a sentimental fetishisation of history. Finally, we must avoid the impulse to Melburnanise these lanes. Sydney its own city and does not need more cafes and patisseries. We have our own opportunities.

These proposals promised a genuine an authentic set of re-invigorated laneways which respond to the character of Sydney and the gaps within the amenity of the city. The potential of the lanes to harbour activities which challenge society can also be harnessed in a series of new uses which build richness in the city without challenging its basic structure and operation.

A series of proposals as projections, speculations about new uses for these lanes align with their formal or spatial characteristics and historic associations but which firmly encourages new forms of occupation. Many of the

Australian landscape (underwood)

Rather the dwell on the sentimentality of laneway factories and bars, recover what we really have lost – the Australian landscape, complete with kangaroos and wombats, occupies this dogleg lane.

Ferris wheel (bridge lane)

Look differently at your city. A giant ferris wheel rotates taking you from the ground past the hotel rooms of the establishment to the rooftops of the city.

Pay per visit (Wynyard lane)

Encourage people to discover Sydney’s lanes. Pay them. Turnstiles at either end will control the flow of money.

Permission lane (curtin, next to aust sq)

Next to Australia where everything is forbidden, open up an opportunity for graffiti, skating and parkour in a controlled and defined environment.

Multi-cultural lane (Hamilton)

Rather than consign ethnic groups to the city periphery, give over a lane to become a piece of Persia.

Melbourne lane (angel place)

Encourage interstate tourism - give Mebournians a piece of their own city so they never felt like they left, and leave the other lanes for Sydney. An Earl’s Court for Melbournians, entry only upon presentation of a Victorian driver’s licence

Amenity

Childcare lane (de mestre place, via wynyard)

Drop your children off at the centre of the city, right outside Wynyard Station.

Bike parking (hunter st, sports club)

Consolidate cycle parking with a giant multi-level cycle station behind the Sport’s Club

Left Luggage lane (Abercrombie, near hotel)

Trouble storing luggage at airports and stations given the fear of terror? Dump your bags in this laneway complete with baggage scanner and security guard.

Binge drinking (crane place, drinking stories rugby)

Rather than celebrate the drinking stories of old, make new ones. As the home of rugby, this is the perfect lane to celebrate binge drinking and its aftermath.

Smokers lane (tank stream)

Smokers will never disappear. Put them somewhere, celebrate smoking. Like the plastic rooms in Asian airports, Tank Stream lane becomes a smoking haven for stressed brokers from the exchange next door.

Girl’s night out (Reiby Place)

In honour of Mary Reiby, this popular nightspot is augmented with security guards and safe lighting so women can visit The Basement and adjacent nightspots in comfort.

Smith St (ware)house Wins Award

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:45:20 +0000

TERROIR's Smith St (ware)house was named the winner of the 2009 Tasmanian Architecture Awards Residential Architecture (houses, new) category.

The jury wrote:
Hidden behind an industrial brick facade signed 'Hobart Hot Water Centre' exists an uncompromising residential refurbishment. The challenge to maintain the former industrial character of the building and meet the demands for one's own family home has resulted in an exceptionally detailed residence.

The choice of materials has been informed by the building's former life, providing a robust coherence. Playful details, such as the rock climbing grips or the folding back of materials revealing family activity, provide a welcome contrast tot he architect's well-executed, formal vigour.

The architect has made the most of the opportunities that presented themselves throughout the construction process. The ability to be open to discoveries and integrate them in the overall design, achieves unique results.

The adaptation is a good example of a cost effective development with design integrity bringing new life to a slowly receding industrial area.

view Smith St (ware)house project

86-88 George Street wins award

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:47:18 +0000

TERROIR's refurbishment of 86-88 George Street has been Highly Commended at the Property Council Awards. The project was recognised in the Adaptive Re-use category.

view 86-88 George Street project

Parallax reviewed in Architektur

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:11:40 +0000

Parallax has been reviewed in major German architectural magazine, Architektur.

Swan Street Review

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:52:59 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews the Swan Street house by our colleagues Iredale Pedersen Hook.

The review appears in Architecture Review Australia (AR) issue number 110 and which also includes a round-up of Parallax.

The article is available online at the Australian Design Review website.

Woodbridge Marine Discovery Centre

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:16:50 +0000

The redevelopment of the Woodbridge Marine Discovery Centre (WMDC) will create a world class marine education and research facility that will deliver exceptional educational outcomes to visiting students, foster links with national and international research organisations, and reinforce and nurture links within the local community.

The proposal will also create a renewed identity for the Centre - both physical and virtual. Controlled public access will enable passive engagement with pre-existing tourism experiences, while development of an online presence for the Centre will enable access to teaching resources, historical data, and the marine based activities of the education program.

The location of the WMDC, on the D’Entrecasteaux Channel in Southern Tasmania, has been central to its success since inception in 1979. Building on this exceptional locality is the access to the pristine waterway enabled by the WMDC’s Research Vessel, the RV Penghana. This ‘on-water’ experience teamed with a direct association between location and education program, create an unrivalled experience for students and visitors to the Centre.

At the core of the redevelopment proposal is the new pier building to house first class marine habitat displays of the unique species and marine ecosystems of the area.

A key element of the new pier, is an iconic new timber portal structure which brings together both existing and new building elements to deliver a new public ‘face’ for the WMDC. The adaptive reuse of the existing buildings on site is not only significant for its stainability benefits, but also acknowledges the historical and social significance of the building and programs delivered by the WMDC over many years, and the important history of the buildings prior to the development of the Centre.

Combined with the new pier structure, internal alterations to the existing Centre (in part assisted by removing the existing display tanks to the new building) facilitate much improved accommodation for students and staff. The replanning has also incorporated a new research laboratory, between the two teaching laboratories, for use by visiting and in-residence research scientists. Interaction between the two groups is facilitated to expose students to the research activities, and in fact work done by the students visiting the centre will add to the historical data already gathered over the past thirty years.

The replanning of the centre also enables controlled public access to the marine displays, and passive interaction and observation of the education programs offered at the Centre. This is achieved by creating clear delineation between student and public access areas, requiring little additional monitoring by staff to monitor and control interaction between students and the general public. This element of the redevelopment will also enable to Centre to investigate further opportunities with local tourism operators for access to the displays, and even controlled access and shared mooring access to the new pier structure. This overall ‘re-branding’ of the centre offers a unique opportunity to engage new financial sponsors and associations within local industry/business to become involved with the WMDC.

Integrated within the new Centre, will be a new suit of technology exponentially increasing the accessibility of the centre to schools nationally and internationally. The proposal includes elements such as; remote cameras located on the RV Penghana and potentially at key underwater habitat locations, delivering vision back to the centre; development new interactive teaching resources and displays; digitisation of the historical scientific data held by the centre for ease of access; and development of an on line presence for the centre to deliver all of these elements via a web based interface.

Parallax Reviewed in AR

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:55:03 +0000

Esteemed UK-based Architectural Review magazine has included a review of Parallax in the June 2009 issue.

The review has been written by Leon van Schaik, who's concept of constructing conversations between speakers inspired the structure of the event. Despite Leon's aversion to the celebrity and performance involved in such an event, he found much to reflect on. In particular, he describes the contribution of Slavoj Zizek and Zizek's use of TERROIR project Peppermint Bay as an exemplar of his architectural thesis.

Monument Editorial on Parallax

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:37:24 +0000

The new issue of MONUMENT (91) magazine includes a glowing editorial about Parallax. Leanne Amodeo writes:

"If like me, you attended this year’s National Architecture Conference, Parallax, then you may very well still be basking in its glow. I was inspired, challenged and provoked by the presentations that went on in the seminars and equally engaged by the discussions that took place outside of the auditorium. Being introduced to the work of Sou Fujimoto, Tatiana Bilbao and Studio Mumbai was a highlight for me, and I am very happy to feature the latter as this issue’s Architecture Profile. The vigorous thinking of Slavoj Žižek – genius programming on the part of the Creative Directors – will remain in my mind as one of the most memorable seminar presentations I have ever attended. But what does it all mean?

Certainly, I don’t have the room here to give that question the lengthy answer that it deserves, but I do know for certain that the architecture community in Australia – and as it sits in a broader international context – is very much alive. In these current challenging economic times, this very simplistic statement actually means something. I was interested to hear the discussion turn to the collaborative nature of architecture in the final Forum seminar and was struck by the inherent generosity displayed by the Creative Directors and participants that very much reinforced the notion of community."

Thanks Leanne!

National Procurement Strategy

Thu, 21 May 2009 01:41:32 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Nick Murcutt have co-chaired a National Procurement Workshop for the Australian Institute of Architects. The workshop is seen as the first step in reiewing all major procurement hurdles in the industry and developing strategies for improving procurement processes around the country, particularly focused on public works.

Workshop participants included John Denton (DCM's Manchester Civil Justice project is pictured opposite), Carey Lyon, Karl Fender, Steve Ashton, Geoffrey London and Michael Mandl. The discussion was focused on ways that current procurement processes could be altered to achieve better result for clients. Emerging patterns in PPP's, such as the loss of client control over the briefing and design phase were hot topics.

Watch this space for future activity.

The Mint Project

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:17:26 +0000

The Historic Houses Trust have published a book on their successful refurbishment and expansion of the Mint in central Sydney. The project is an exemplar of best practice procurement, with a sophisticated client and quality architect working together, rather than adversarially, on this complex project.

Gerard Reinmuth was asked to make a contribution to the book given his focus on the political machinery which underpins how cities are made and how this machinery presses itself onto the procurement processes for much government work. He takes the outsider's view of the project, reflecting on the excellence of the outcome and how this varies substantially from most other public work in NSW.

This contribution led to Gerard's involvement in a Q&A session about the book as part of the 2009 Sydney writer's festival, held on May 19.

Emily Taylor

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:42:53 +0000

Emily was the student architect at TERROIR during 2006 and has returned in 2009 after completing her Masters of Architecture degree at the University of Queensland.

During her time with TERROIR, Emily has gained experience working on a range of projects including hospitality, tourism, commercial, education and residential typologies. She has assisted in the documentation process of a number of projects, as well as with the schematic design and presentation of a number of entries for international design competitions.

As the most recent graduate to join TERROIR, Emily is looking forward to her involvement in a wide range of projects, developing her own design and documentation skills.

B. Env Des; University of Tasmania
M. Arch; University of Queensland

Contact Emily: taylor@terroir.com.au

Carbon Footprint

Sat, 23 May 2009 01:16:26 +0000

TERROIR have focused intently on the environmental characteristics of their own workplace via their invitation as one of 5 practices to participate in the NSW Architects Registration Board “Reducing Carbon Emissions: A Guide for Architects” pilot program.

TERROIR are testing guidelines for the Board as part of the development of a self-assessment tool that can be used by all architecture practices to manage their carbon footprint.

The tool will go online for all practices to use in July 2009.

Parallax Reviewed

Sun, 24 May 2009 02:38:13 +0000

Stuart Harrison reviews PARALLAX for The Australian Design review. As usual, Stuart's perceptions are sharp and the article captures the grain of the event very clearly.

"What mixture of things makes a successful conference? This one had debate, conjecture, amusement and ideas. Parallax was an energetic snapshot of the direct and indirect concerns architecture faces today – democratisation of publication, the relationship to the system of collapsing capital, how we might work with marginalised communities and the role of the architect as an agent for change. This parallax event did indeed give us a new line of sight, a shift in where we stand – some mental triangulation."

To read the full review, click here.

Slavoj Zizek on ByDesign

Sun, 24 May 2009 02:37:21 +0000

Slavoj Zizek appeared on the ByDesign program on ABC radio as part of his visit to Melbourne for Parallax.

To hear the interview, click here

Leichhardt House

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:19:10 +0000

When considered as an empty shell in the context of its site, the building and site together could be said to constitute a particular landscape within which new work is required. This idea of the site as landscape is a conception central to many TERROIR projects and is particularly relevant here in both the building and garden given their scale, suggestive of a landscape as opposed to suburban scale. This situation is given further particularity due to the inside/outside nature of the site and building. The building interior is a landscape of intense interiority, while the garden is a landscape of exteriority but contained within an interior boundary (site fences).

The new occupation of this building in a residential mode significantly changes both the pattern and type of use of the site. The landscape is gathered up into a vortex that presses into the building, while inside, a series of nested spaces address issues of scale and occupation. These interiors operate like Russian dolls, or alternately the finely tailored clothing worn by the client, with interior linings that speak of an alternate exterior. As with this clothing, the insertions into the existing building take the occupant further and further into an embedded interior until, in a moment of unexpectedness, they press against the exterior and break through to the garden.

Urd Norgard-Nielsen

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:56:57 +0000

Urd first joined TERROIR in 2004 partway during her studies in Denmark. She then went on to graduate with a Master of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark.

During her studies she has also worked for Nation Viney - a nice crossover given Michael Viney's influence on us here at TERROIR - and for fn-tegnestuen in Denmark. In collaboration with her professor Urd was also involved in several international research and development projects in the range of new industrialization and prefabricated houses.

After graduating her masters she worked for Rum Arkitekter, Sahl Arkitekter and fn-tegnestuen a/s in Denmark before returning to Australia and TERROIR.

Contact Urd: norgard-nielsen@terroir.com.au

Burnie Makers fast progress

Thu, 21 May 2009 01:31:58 +0000

The fast progress on site of the Burnie Makers project has attracted attention in the press.

86-88 George Street Reviewed

Wed, 06 May 2009 02:30:35 +0000

Our project at 86-88 George Street has been reviewed in Architecture Australia.

Urban Futures: Symposium

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:24:47 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been invited by Tarsha Finney to speak in the Urban Futures symposium on May 4 at Customs House, Sydney.

The symposium has been timed to coincide with an exhibition on typology and the urban plan drawn from student work undertaken at the Architectural Association in London. This work is done under the direction of Sam Jacoby and Chris Lee.

Other speakers at the symposium include Sam Jacoby, Chris Lee, Tarsha Finney, Adrian Lahoud and Nicholas Wolff.

For further information click here

Parallaxed a success!

Mon, 18 May 2009 10:50:15 +0000

The 2009 Institute of Architects conference, Parallax, has concluded to great acclaim. TERROIR were Creative Directors for the event.

Some of the initial feedback is as follows:

"This is one of the best conferences I have ever been to" (Aaron Betsky, participant)

"There is such an extraordinary level of engagement and discussion here" (Alejandro Zaera-Polo, participant)

"This is one of the best of these type of events I have been to in years" (Peter Wilson, participant)

"Everyone I have spoken to has nothing but good things to say about Parallax" (Veronika Valk, participant)

"I had an awesome time . . " (Geoff Manaugh, participant)

"I believe that this is one of the most professional events I ever been on the architecture world . . I think the idea of putting this together as you did was very clever, the selection of speakers, the pairs, the discussions, was really good" (Tatiana Bilbao, Participant)

"That was a beautiful conference" (John Wardle, Architect)

"By far the most successful conference I have attended"(Marcus Trimble)

"Thanks for putting together a great, stimulating, inspiring, diverse and argumentative conference – it was a truly great ride" (Paul Berkemeier, Architect)

"I enjoyed the conference immensely and come away inspired and invigorated" (Rob Tindal, Architect)

"I would like to pass on my congratulations to you and the team for Parallax. It was absolutely brilliant. Even as a non-architect I found the sessions that I attended to be really interesting, accessible and thought provoking." (Paul Beale, lighting designer)

TERROIR thanks SONA and the AIA for the conference session images, featuring Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Slavoj Zizek, Bijoy Jain, Veronika Valk and TERROIR

Parcours: DA features TERROIR

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:13:30 +0000

Major French magazine DA selected TERROIR as its featured practice for this issue, with a major article by French philosopger/architect Marc Armengaud opening the magazine.

Parallax: 2009 RAIA National Architecture Conference:

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:39:04 +0000

TERROIR have been selected as the Creative Directors for the Australian Institute of Architects National Conference in Melbourne 2009. This is the largest architectural conference in Australasia. Terroir are the youngest and first collaborative practice to be appointed as Creative Directors.

The conference framework and structure invites the profession to take a parallax view of the conditions within which we practice. For example, facebook communities are just one example of the complex contextual weave within which the processes and material of architecture now takes place. An aspect of that taking place is the way in which architecture navigates between multiple and even parallax perspectives in forming a believable ‘tale’.

It is the proposition of this conference that the architectural ‘tale’, is a fantasy that can enable our meaningful engagement with our challenging and changing contemporary condition. We have invited architects and thinkers to consider their own work in relation to this proposition.

For more information go to the Australian Institute of Architects website. Click here.

We can't keep up with all the chatter about the conference but here are some links:

Geekgirl

Butterpaper

Parallax Begins

Sun, 24 May 2009 02:39:10 +0000

Parallax begins with a speakers dinner at legendary Melbourne restaurant Di Stasio's - a highlight of unparalled proportions given that its our first gathering of all speakers in one place.

Photo - Slavoj Zizek takes delight in using our name tags to turn Di Stasio into STASI. The fun begins.

Aaron Betsky on ByDesign

Sun, 24 May 2009 02:36:34 +0000

Aaron Betsky appears on ByDesign (ABC Radio) as a precursor to his visit to Melbourne for Parallax.

To listen to the interview, click here.

Zizek in Weekend Australian

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:21:30 +0000

Parallax keynote speaker Slavoj Zizek was featured in the Weekend Australian Review section, anticipating his arrival in Australia for the conference.

Parallax Previewed: The Financial Review

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:10:03 +0000

Robert Bevan reviews Parallax and in particular the contribution anticipated from Slavoj Zizek.

Winka Dubbeldam

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:33:26 +0000

Winka Dubbeldam's collaboration during Parallax is much anticipated.

Having worked with TERROIR favourites Steven Holl and Bernard Tschumi in the early 1990s, Winka started Archi-Tectonics in 1994. Over the past 15 years the practice has completed a range of innovatuve projects based in an intelligence which Winka regularly tests in the design studio of universities such as Penn and Harvard.

Winka will provide a brilliant counterpoint to Peter Wilson's trajectory via the AA in the STUDIO session of the conference.

Richard Blythe Lecture in Slovenia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

Director Richard Blythe will be delivering a lecture at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia on 06 April 2009.

Entitled 'Architecture Cubed or 3x3x?: Architecture and the Design Space of Architecturing', Professor Blythe will discuss the production of architecture by reflecting on the works of TERROIR. The lecture will illustrate how, through reflective practice, architecture is inherently conflicted and this conflict is described in trilogies such as: inside, outside and surface; past, present, future; the Real, the imaginary and the symbolic. Vitruvius' trilogy Firmness, Commodity and Delight provides an historical precedent. The lecture will explain a possible strategy for designing in such a conflicted condition and tease out some possibilities for future practice.

For more information, click here.

The lecture will also explain how this architectural investigation has occurred as a design practice rather than philosophical or historic enquiry and proposes that research that is not undertaken by designing things risks irrelevance to the discipline of architecture and by extension other design disciplines. Central to the thesis is the proposition that design is not just an appropriate subject of research it is research in its own right in that through designing things we come to know the world in new ways. The academy has failed architecture by not creating PhD structures and research paths that are essential to design practice. Instead they have tended to develop self-referential and peripheral enterprises. Re-casting design as research provides a way that venturous practice can re-engage with the academy to jointly develop more relevant and effective research forums.

PROJECT 18: INGO KUMIC

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR staff have made a special request to hear Ingo unleash in the York Street offices on April 3.

Ingo's talk is titled:

"Pimping the City: Is Design Killing Architecture"

Image credit Francesco Francavilla

'TMAG Pavilion', Artichoke

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:18:12 +0000

TERROIR/JPW's Archaeological Structure at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is Featured in Artichoke Magazine's 26th issue.

view Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Archaeological Structure project

2009 Research Training Sessions

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

Director Richard Blythe and Professor Leon van Schaik were invited to run a workshop at the 2009 Research Training Sessions (RTS), Sint-Lucas School of Architecture, Brussels. They will speak about RMIT’s design practice research culture as well as provide critiques of current PhD researchers at Sint-Lucas, held on 02 to 04 April 2009. This is the second time they have been invited to the annual Sint-Lucas Research Training Sessions.

For more information, click here.

UTS Broadway

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

Our muscular approach addresses the context on its own terms and thus claims a place for UTS at this gateway site. Both a unique marker on the journey into the city and a specific object which identifies a new presence at the UTS campus, the building via its specificity speaks of the particular expertise and opportunities of this institution. The uncanny, taught character of the building evokes a sense of wonder and in doing so alerts us to the potential for this institution if it meets the challenge of moving forward on its own terms.

The project is explained in detail below.

Context

The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) occupies a difficult wedge of the city where the privilege of proximity is countered by a fragmented and constrained campus jammed in-between (and straddling) every arterial route to the immediate south-west of the city. The constrictions of these arterial roads have resulted in the gradual expansion of a guerrilla network of pedestrian links from the city to the site and which then persists throughout the site via a range of improvised connections between buildings. This morphology provides a spatial diagram with particular characteristics (which in turn is embedded in the spatial intelligence of UTS students) from which to develop responses to the brief for a gateway project.

This sits in stark contrast to the classical campus model focused on a central green surrounded by well-mannered buildings which complete axes, define boundaries and present a very particular public face to the institution. At UTS, the guerrilla occupation of buildings and circulation between them speaks of a more vibrant, opportunistic and highly tactical mode of engagement with the city. Most critically, the campus brushes up against the city for much of its surface area thus presenting to the city a range of opportunities to engage with the campus.

Site

The site is pressed hard to the south-west corner of the site and is thus bounded by two of the more dominant arterial roads, Broadway and Wattle Street, from which traffic continues to the city centre or diverts toward Anzac Bridge to the west. Pedestrian activity at this corner is focused on the rush to refuge within the campus proper while vehicular movement is intense as the various road intersections are negotiated. Thus, visual registration of the site occurs via peripheral glances, never revealed as a long view or over a long time. The site marks both a point of entry but is also a form of bumper or guard which engages with the abrasive nature of Broadway and protects the campus space beyond.

These abrasive conditions call for a robust response, addressing the situation as a challenge to be answered with bravery and confidence. A unique and condition-specific response is necessary given these circumstances and offers the best opportunity of uniquely signposting the university.

The circulation in and around the campus can be mapped as a viral circumstance replete with multiple pathways via which the rush of students into and out of the campus can occur in relative safety. Abandoned car-parks, aerial bridges, internal circulation of peripheral buildings – all are cannibalised in the deployment of the student population throughout the campus. At this site, the viral condition has a particularity given its adjacency to building 10 which it will extend, the student housing, the Clare, the proposed University Green and the main tower and library.

_Router

_{The ground level at the site is therefore a key moment in the urban engagement of the campus given the intersection of numerous pathways at this point. We have envisaged this zone as a router, negotiating the multiple pathways and trajectories at this point and enabling various distribution options to and from the campus. Both a metaphor for this circulation and the IT capability above it, the router is a knotted and multiple-sided circulation system with neither an inner nor outer but rather which grades levels of engagement or refuge with Broadway and the campus. The router is a transitional space between the architecture of} the road and campus, a hinge between the circulation of the freeway and that of the student.

A new campus model

A major role of the router is the distribution of students into the new Gateway building above. Ramped and vertical (lift) circulation are spliced to the router and thus become some of the numerous onward circulation options present at the site. Thus circulation provides the basis for the new building and thus marks a departure from typical institution-building but which shocks not due to its difference but with the inevitability of the solution given the morphology of the existing campus.

University campus management is notoriously difficult given the regular and persistent way in which faculty areas are restructured, re-defined and ultimately relocated. Purpose-built faculty buildings often change ownership years after their completion and in recent Australian history entire new campus buildings have been constructed not before the original client has been vaporised by a university restructure. Thus the important understanding here is the need for robust spatial types that can be reconfigured but which in doing so retain their sense of place and purpose within the campus. Following this logic, the campus masterplan should not be a diagram showing faculty locations but one which shows the location of spatial types to effect the campus with calculated intent.

This solution proposes a giant habitable circulation system, recalling the work of Virilio and Parent which sought to establish a new urban order in response to the established horizontal village and vertical city types. This habitable circulation thus amplifies the core characteristic of the campus and with this conflation makes it a sign for the university itself. A piece of educational infrastructure, the project mediates between human and road/city scale and in doing so clearly identifies UTS as the most urbane of campus types and which takes on its identity with pride and force. The circulation vectors throughout the site are thus registered here in physical form and with this the opportunities for true creativity and innovation emerge. Anecdotal and recorded evidence of the value of these circulation space as places which encourage innovation, discussion, debate, chance meetings and unlikely collaborations is bought here to the fore and given full potential in the urban-scaled corridors and pathways that form this new building.

By dividing the building into flat and ramped components, specific and focused functions can co-exist adjacent to large laboratory zones which regularly change in format to suit current requirements. Thus only the very specific (service cores, minimum required teaching and office infrastructure) is located permanently while the remainder of the building is a giant field to be occupied as required. Initial testing show that numerous configurations will be possible, accommodating both currently envisaged and future unknown building use patterns.

Data Theatre

The space between the router and habitable circulation houses a protected zone where the data theatre is located. By locating the data theatre at the nexus of the scheme its centrality and importance are signified while in practical terms it becomes an integral part of every visit to or through the site. The soft space of the data theatre works as a contrast in the belly of this urban response – a place of refuge and of engagement with the activities of the building and UTS as a whole.

The opportunities offered by this space are numerous and as such can accommodate any possible sense of what the data theatre might be as it becomes clearer in future development work.

Form

This configuration of habitable circulation results in a building form which is both muscular and indeterminate. Broadway receives not a classical urban marker but rather an oscillating concrete and digital mirage – a space which in its indeterminacy resides potentiality for numerous occupations and readings.

The folding of the habitable circulation in and around the site creates a facade engaged between the inner and outer as the orientation of the circulation changes. The spaces between the circulation elements themselves provide opportunities for glazing and/or digital information to be displayed. The extent to which the facade is clad with digital interfaces can change over time without the image of the building being compromised. Rather, this proposal offers infinite virtual possibilities for the final project both between now and construction and over its life as a sentinel and within the city.

The building form is most firmly a sign of UTS and its particular mode of occupying the city and the potential for this mode to inform innovative teaching practices and research output. Beyond that, opportunities for light, ventilation, sustainability initiatives such as PV cells and digital interface all exist in a constellation of possibilities – of which one or all can be implemented without compromising the building and the signals it sends to the city and to other institutions nationally.

Parallax Previewed: Pecha Kucha

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been invited to preview Parallax at Pecha Kucha Vol 11.

The event is on Thursday, April 2 at the Chalk Horse Gallery, Surry Hills. Other speakers will include TERROIR friends and designers of this site, and of the Parallax graphic accompanying this listing - TOKO.

For more information, click here

Joel Sia

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:08:38 +0000

Having completed his Environmental Design degree, Joel decided to have some time off and take up the student position in the Hobart office before going back to university to complete his Master of Architecture.

Joel assists project leaders on a variety of projects with model making being one of his specialties.

Contact Joel: sia@terroir.com.au

Parallax Previewed: RRR Architect's Show

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:53:13 +0000

TERROIR friends Simon Knott and Stuart Harrison have invited Gerard Reinmuth to their architect's radio show to discuss the National Architecture Conference - Parallax - to be held in Melbourne in May.

Simon and Stuart and great contributors to architecture discourse in Melbourne and are conference regulars.

The podcast of the show can be found by clicking here.

A video interview about Parallax recorded by RRR can be found here.

The RRR website is www.rrr.org.au/thearchitects

Benetton in Tehran

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:26:14 +0000

The complexity in locating a new retail environment for Benetton in Tehran is self evident. Benetton’s international reputation for asking provocative questions about society, media and fashion is presented in Iran with perhaps the most potent set of questions it has yet to address. How do we negotiate the relation between a multi-national retailer and the specific circumstances in Tehran? How might a new building address issues of branding in an urban context and establish a platform for the negotiation of sexual and spatial politics present here?

The opportunity to design two stores within one overall context is a challenging one but which present an opportunity to demonstrate how a single identity can mutate and adjust according to different urban conditions. Whole both stores lie on Valari Ars street, the contexts vary greatly from the leafy and refined northern suburb and the grit and activity of the site further south. We have therefore understood the project as an opportunity to design a new Benetton store type for Tehran, which can vary between locations but which, in each location, stands as a particular response to that place.

The confluence of these two issues – the politics of the retail project in this environment and the opportunity of working on 2 sites – has led to our approach.

The building has been understood in 2 parts – an “inner” component containing the shop, office and residential environments and an “outer” component which modulates the engagement between this inner core and the urban realm. Both components have a degree of variability which enables an infinite degree of variation in terms of privacy both within the building and between the inside and outside. The inner-outer strategy is, like the grid of the Persian courtyard house, a familiar characteristic of Iranian city organisation conflated to a public scale. The toughness of Tehran’s streets when compared to the richness of the apartment interiors is repeated here in the textured oyster shell concealing a sensuous, fine-grained interior.

The inner component is organised according to the logic of the Persian courtyard house. The use of a tartan grid to arrange varying levels of public and private space, to contain circulation components and to organise circulation to maximise privacy, have been embedded in the Benetton store. In conflating this logic to urban scale, a familiar spatial model is reproduced but with greater levels of complexity. By pushing the logic of this tartan grid and courtyard system, visitors to the store are confronted by unexpected juxtapositions between public and private space. Thus the spatial politics for which Iran is so well known are challenged here and with this challenge questions will be asked of visitors – questions they will take back to the city once they leave the store.

In material terms, the inner areas have a softness which is appropriate to their semi-private nature and a luxuriousness appropriate for a high quality retail environment. Materials such as vitrified tiles recall Persian traditions while colours – red, yellow and green – subtly reinforce the Benetton marque, embedding its colours in the very structure of the building itself.

This pearl-like inner is then protected by a robust outer shell which protects it from the elements while also carefully modulating degrees of privacy and exposure to the inner component beneath. Like an oyster, this shell protects the pearl inside but also acts as a filter between external elements and the inner sanctum. The shell is constructed from slumped glass, flat and sheer on the inner surface and rough and textured on the outer. This textured outer surface recalls both ancient Persian glass technology and provides further opportunity to manage different degrees of opacity and transparency.

The oyster analogy is instructive not only for its relation to the idea of the chador but also in the way that an oyster shell takes on the character of its environment with the weathering of the shell. Thus, the two locations can be marked by the same logic but a different outcome due to the context of each place. Further, the textured outer surface of the glass will transform over time in response to the weathering that is unavoidable in such a polluted environment. Like the circular windows of Scarpa’s Banco de Poplare in Verona, the glass skin and its copper brackets will result in guided staining and patination.

Thus, this project (like the advertising for which Benetton is so well known) asks questions of us all. The limits of male-female interaction in public space, the extent to which a private interior is exposed to the exterior, the role of a cloak (our shell) in concealing what lies beneath – all are tested here and, with this testing, the opportunity exists for Benetton to act as a true catalyst as a culture continues to redefine itself and to renegotiate its boundaries.

'Buffer Zone Planned to Protect Marysville' The Age

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:33:34 +0000

Director Richard Blythe is quoted in The Age's article 'Buffer Zone Planned to Protect Marysville'.

Richard comments on the plan to surround Marysville with a 500 metre wide buffer zone cleared of trees, calling on all parties to "slow down" to allow time to think about how the town might be rebuilt.

TERROIR on twitter

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

TERROIR has joined Twitter to keep you updated of our latest activities. Our in-house tweeter Rachael Annear regularly posts articles about up-coming events, talks and miscellanous stuff that is happenning in and around the office.

To find us look for TerroirPtyLtd on twitter.

'Design Research at RMIT' Seminar

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Director Richard Blythe will be presenting at a seminar entitled "Design Research at RMIT" at the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on 09 April 2009.

The key proposition of this seminar will be that of some processes of designing build knowledge. As such these kinds of designing are a form of research, one that is not well understood within higher education institutions. The absence of robust methods and knowledge for design research poses certain obstacles for design disciplines within the higher education sector and also within design professions such as architecture. This seminar will look at ways in which RMIT University have attempted over a twenty year period to find ways to address these shortcomings and to create strong links between venturous practice and the academy.

The seminar comes at the end of an international trip to discuss the possibility of an international design research network which might offer the following benefits:

1. strength of an international network of design researchers in terms of putting the case for design research and PhD's by design;

2. the opportunity for candidates to present their work at a partner institution during their candidacy to facilitate international networking of design researchers;

3. the opportunity to 'share' critics and examiners in ways that will also facilitate international networking of design research.

In Praise of Process

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR have been included in an exhibition to be opened at the Tin Sheds Gallery on March 27. The exhibition has been curated by Tim Osborne as part of an alumni activity.

TERROIR Director Gerard Reinmuth is an alumni of the University of Sydney, graduating in 1997 with Hons Class 1 and the University Medal.

Process on Parade

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

TERROIR's model installation has been featured in an article by John de Manincor about the Architecture 09 exhibition held at Boutwell Draper Gallery in February.

de Manincor correctly applauds Boutwell and Draper for their initiative. We all hope that they will have considered this event enough of a success to repeat the exhibition in 2010.

Spatial Intelligence: Review

Sun, 24 May 2009 02:17:07 +0000

Marie-Louise Holst and Gerard Reinmuth review Leon van Schaik's new book, Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture, in Architecture Review Australia, issue 109.

Leon's book is important for a number of reasons, and in particular his proposition that in professionalising a body of knowledge around the technologies of shelter, architecture started a slow decline. He speculates as to what might have happenned had architecture professionalised around spatial intelligence.

The article is also online at Australian Design Review

Image credit Peter Lyssiotis.

Parallax Previewed: The Age Newspaper

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

Ray Edgar's column in The Age newspaper previews the Institute of Architect's conference, Parallax.

Can we open up the dialogue?: MONUMENT

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth previews the National Conference, Parallax, to be held in Melbourne at the end of April.

The article formed the Last Word section of Monument Magazine's current issue (90), and is a call to the profession to engage with a conference less reliant on monologues and more directed to engagement and conversation about architecture and why it matters.

86-88 George Street Canopy

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR's canopy at 86-88 George Street has been completed.

The canopy follows a year after completion of the first phase of work and in sequence with a fitout of the adjacent cafe/restaurant.

Brett Boardman's images of the canopy accompany this listing.

Parallax Previewed: The Bulletin

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth previews the 2009 National Architecture Conference in the NSW Institute of Architects Bulletin.

Boost for Burnie

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR's Burnie Maker's Workshop project is featured in The Examiner newspaper. The article notes that 'Burnie Mayor Alvwyn Boyd peppers his sentences with words like "iconic", "spectacular" and "special" when he talks about the project.'

view Burnie Maker's Workshop project

Steel Profile: Labour of Love

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Scott Balmforth's house is reviewed by Rachael Bernstone in Steel Profile

Bernstone, Rachael. 'Labour of Love', Steel Profile, 102, p36

view Smith Street (ware) house project

Dubai Emblem

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:36:25 +0000

Dubai is a miracle. Something important is happening – something that we are yet to understand. Caution, opportunism and misrecognition mix in strange proportions as we witness the pure poetry of a city being born before our eyes – a sight that has proved blinding.

At the edge of this miracle we are asked to propose a viewing tower – a tower without program, an aberration in the history of tower design with few precedents outside the city-tower boom of the 60s and 70s. Thus, the critical space of this project is the space between the role of the tower to view back to Dubai as we struggle to recognize what it is we are looking at. For Dubai is a city pregnant with virtuality. This virtuality exists both within and outside the project as the entire context is filled with phantoms – neighbours, site and inhabitants who exist only in the space of production at present and that can and will change continuously in the future.

Climate

The only consistency is the climate. The thick atmospheric haze of Dubai compresses all the colour and light into a thin grey bandwidth. The desert sky is remarkable, a surface-less infinite depth, featureless and expansive. This spectral desert atmosphere provides the only comprehensible physical space in which the project occurs. A new atmospheric, spatial and cultural intelligence must provide the space from which the project emerges. Arabic fenestration patterns and visible technological dexterity would locate this project in the space we are trying to reflect upon. The viewing tower, as the sentinel standing by this miracle is formed via a search for an expression of desert-ness.

This quality of desert-ness provides a means via which a section can be taken through the virtual space of the project, using this essence of the landscape and the climate which created it as a poetic lens through which to reconceive Dubai, the lens of the mirage.

Mirage

The idea of a viewing tower is somewhat paradoxical, standing some 170m tall adjacent to a city which has towers reaching up to 1000m. Formal gymnastics and novelty at this miniature scale will render the project as a curiosity, an eccentric toy quick to be consumed by the scale of development around it, navel gazing into structures which extend to many times its height.

To avoid this problem of the mini-tower, we considered the project as a mirage - from the Latin mirare, ‘to look at, to wonder at’. For Dubai is truly a site of great wonder such that the means of seeing this site provides a critical space for this project. The mirage displaces images of distant objects, bringing into question their location, scale and meaning. Thus the mirage provides a nexus between this question of what we are seeing in Dubai and the intense climate in which the city is located.

Anamorphic Projections

The uncertainty and questioning of the mirage tower is elaborated via the use of anamorphism to structure the form of the tower itself. The spherical form of the tower reflects and distorts the cracked, dry surface of its desert site from every direction – providing both a point of intense focus and a continuous projection outward. The tower becomes an essay in the nature of seeing and questioning what we see.

Similarly, the viewing platform is located above a giant reflective surface which literally distorts and reconfigures the view of Dubai – a giant mirror of sorts which reminds us that Dubai’s current form is temporary and will continue to evolve faster than we are able to understand it.

The project was completed in association with Richard Goodwin and Adrian Lahoud.

Lindfield House

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:40:06 +0000

The very dark interior of an early 20th Century brick bungalow required reorientating the rear towards the backyard swimming pool and tennis court. The clients wanted an abundance of light to replace the pokey, dark kitchen, dining and study. The new extension required views and direct open access to a rear entertaining area for both family and friends.

The design process invloved removing the existing brick extension and replacing it with a new lightweight, indoor/outdoor pavilion with a folded roof pivoting around the rear corner of the building. A glazed axis was created parallel to the side boundary allowing views from the front courtyard through the kitchen to the swimming pool at the rear. Fanning out from this axis, a new angled glazed wall orients the kitchen and dining towards the outdoor dining area and tennis court.

The extension is envisaged as the space between a folded roof and moulded ground plane, which come together to create an enclosed living space, separated at times by glazing. "Talking" to this extension is a new folded awning clipped onto the garage, overlooking the swimming pool with views back towards the main house.

Photography by Simon Wood

PROJECT 17: JEPPE UTZON

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Cold, Wet and Dark: Reflections on practicing architecture in Denmark by Jeppe Utzon

Ben Hewett-TERROIR Studio at UTS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has joined with Ben Hewett of OffShore Studio at UTS to frame the 3rd year design studio.

Titled FIELD, the studio explores specific site-responsive urban interventions through the case study of a major extension of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.

Sydney architects exhibition, Boutwell Draper Gallery

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR have been selected as one of 9 architects from Sydney to feature in the first of that will be an annual exhibition at thge Boutwell Draper Gallery.

Other featured architects include TERROIR favourites Dale Jones-Evans, Lacoste Stevensen, Choi Ropiha, LAVA and Super Colossal.

TERROIR have exhibited a selection of models from our Castle Cove project, currently awaiting commencement on site.

View the exhibition on the Boutwell Draper Gallery website by clicking here.

Images by Simon Wood and TERROIR.

A+ Member

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR has joined the Australian Institute of Architects as A+ Members. The A+ brand has been established by the Institute to facilitate the promotion of premium quality practice members.

All eligible TERROIR staff receive the benefits of the A+ membership which is fully funded by the practice. Thus, TERROIR continally strives to be a preferred employer while also committing to professional benchmarks upon which A+ memerbship is contingent.

Beirut House of Arts and Culture

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

The freeway which traverses Lebanon’s north-south axis connects together key destinations along its path – a piece of national infrastructure which literally unites the country its traverses. Yet the freeway both connects and separates – cutting a swathe between previously adjacent neighbourhoods and redefining the hierarchy of the city. This is most pronounced between the Beirut Central District and Bachoura. The spaces under the freeway bridges adjacent to these stress points have emerged as new zones of exploration and occupation as the adjacent suburbs try to understand the new urbanity thrust upon them.

The ambiguity and opportunity of this space promises much for a House of Arts and Culture whose proponents understand that its conception risks the destruction of the very culture it is set up to support. Released from the constraints of typical urban rules and conformity, the choice of a site adjacent to the freeway is an inspired one, allowing the project to define its own territory. That this undercroft space is not fully understood holds hope that the building can break free of urban orthodoxies and meet its ambition as a booster for cultural activity that previously had no place it could call home.

Faced with a site lacking in a defined context beyond that of the freeway, this proposal foregrounds the freeway as the site itself. The building clips to the freeway, bringing it into the project while at the same time urbanising the road itself. The strong preference for movement by car in Beirut is encompassed in this strategy which foregrounds cars in a spatial sense and which also brings them into the public-ness of the project via the route for parking and circulation.

The project then is of both the city and the freeway. The theatres are protected within a giant fuselage – a sort of carburettor or engine which negotiates and mixes the various inputs and outputs present at the site. The robust arrangement of theatres follows both best practice theatre design while anonymous enough to enable great flexibility in their use and presentation. A key gesture toward the city – a major opening at the rear of the main stage – transforms the theatres from the mundane to magical places from where the city can be contemplated. The folds of curved metal surrounding the theatres invite and protect access to chambers within where foyers, small meeting places and services take place.

This mixing chamber is shrouded by a giant curtain of frosted glass – a fragile shroud which contrasts with the resilience of the theatre fuselage yet is able to protect and moderate the environment around it. The shroud is pressed fully to the allowable built area of the site, anticipating the continuation of the perimeter block urbanism which so characterises the BCD - but transformed here to an indeterminate space and boundary which speaks directly to the cycles of construction and destruction that have become synonymous with this place. Thus the permanence of the perimeter block is met with the temporality and ambiguity of the delicate and sheer skirt – a public response to the curtains which moderate privacy and openness through the city.

The lifting of the frosted glass curtain invites the citizens of Beirut into a space pregnant with opportunity. The edge of the skirt is lined in red such that the curtain of the theatre bounds the entire site. This key space does not exist in the brief but is that via which the building will avoid cannibalisation of the very thing it is set up to support. Shielded from the summer sun, this giant outdoor agora is both the meeting point between the city and the fuselage at the heart of the building – a moderator between the separate logic s of car and city which meet here. This is the booster in built form – a place that challenges the artists of Beirut to address it in new art forms and practices. Below the agora lies the gallery, embedded in the earth via its location insisting on public engagement. The rear of the agora is lifted to the freeway – a constructed undercroft which leaps toward and freeway and provides a space for outdoor cinema and performance events.

The ghosted silhouette insists there is a place for indeterminacy and ambiguity in spaces devoted to rethinking the production and dissemination of art. Both the inner and outer - in the slippery and reflective surface of the fuselage and the ghosted white shadows of the curtain - present two different attempts to suspend a final reading and understanding of the space. For, with the end of this fantasy and its dislocation with the real dies the hope of a nation and its arts culture.

This competition was co-authored with Adrian Lahoud and Richard Goodwin (who authored the pen sketch among the attached images).

Burnie Makers receives additional government funding

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

The Burnie Makers Workshop receives additional funding from the state Government.

Haneveer, Anthony. 'Boost for iconic Burnie Project'. The Advocate. Feb 4, 2009. p. 9.

View Burnie Makers Project.

Geoff Manaugh

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:38:33 +0000

Geoff runs one of the most popular architecture blog sites in the world and thus will address directly the Parallax conjecture that these online communities fundamentally change the way we practice.

Geoff is the author of BLDGBLOG (http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/) and a contributing editor at Dwell magazine. He has lectured on a variety of topics within the BLDGBLOG framework of “architectural conjecture, urban speculation, and landscape futures” at a long list of venues, from the University of Pennsylvania and the Bartlett School of Architecture to Storefront for Art and Architecture and the Center for Land Use Interpretation. Manaugh has been described as “the world’s greatest living practitioner of ‘architecture fiction’” by novelist Bruce Sterling and one of the 50 “most influential architects, designers, and thinkers” in the field today by Icon magazine. BLDGBLOG is one of the “100 Best Blogs” in the world according to the Times (February 2009); it was founded in 2004 and is visited by nearly 250,000 readers per month. Manaugh has written for Volume, Domus, Abitare, and Space & Culture, among others, and he has contributed essays to books by photographers David Maisel and Michael Wolf. The BLDGBLOG Book is forthcoming from Chronicle Books in summer 2009.

Edwin Chan

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:38:04 +0000

Edwin Chan has long been an architect of great interest to TERROIR given the role both he and Craig Webb have enjoyed in Gehry's office as long-term collaborators who's separate hands affect the projects on which they work such that they are distinguishable in Gehry's ourvre. This perspective will add a great dimension to Parallax.

Edwin Chan joined Frank O. Gehry & Associates after graduating from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 1985. He has worked on many of the firm’s most significant projects, including the Nationale-Nederlanden Building in Prague, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, and the hotel at the Marques de Riscal Winery in El Ciego, Spain. Currently Mr. Chan is a Partner of the firm, collaborating with Frank Gehry on the design of a number of projects that includes an office building for Novartis International in Basel, Switzerland and the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in Paris, France, and the Extension to the Philadelphia Museum of Arts.

In addition, he also designed The Art of Motorcycle Exhibition for the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Bilbao and Las Vegas, the exhibition ‘Exquisite Pain’ for renowned French Artist Sophie Calle in Luxembourg, as well as collaborating with the Academy Award winning director William Friedkin on the set designs for the opera Ariadne Auf Naxos by Richard Strauss in Los Angeles. In 2008, Mr. Chan received the honor of ‘Chevalier d l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ from the Republic of France.

TERROIR Website

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:30 +0000

TERROIR's new website is launched in January 2009.

TERROIR have had a website since just after the practice commenced in 1999. While the site was always known for its detailed information and wide range of topics, the layout started looking tired and the interface came to represent how we work less and less.

The project for a new website started in July 2008 with a workshop including TERROIR Directors, Martin Kornberger, Ingo Kumic and Michael Lugmayer from TOKO. This session worked through TERROIR's current practice and discussed how this practice should be positioned.

This exercise formed a brief for TOKO to develop design options for the site over the subsequent months. The selected layout was selected as it presents a literal cloud of architectural activity - which is what we do. Lectures, exhibitions, writing, teaching and projects all overlap to form the architectural practice.

The site was then built by twosixtwo late in 2008 and launched early in 2009.

TOKO, who designed the website, won a major design award for their folio during 2008 which included the TERROIR website.

Building from Process, Singapore Architect

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is interviewed in the latest issue of Singapore Architect to discuss his lecture at the SIA Archifest and views on sustainability generally.

SA Singapore Architect Issue 247

'TMAG at the core of our culture', Tasmania 40 South.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Boyles, Warren, 2009, 'TMAG at the core of our culture', Tasmania 40 South, No. 51, pp. 30-33

view Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery project

2008 Office Trip, Canberra

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Our 2008 trip focused on a visit to our completed kiosks project by Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.

Highlghts of the trip included a visit to Lerida Estate Winery designed by Glenn Murcutt and a private tour by Graeme Dix of JPW of the new National Portrait Gallery

PROJECT 16: GERARD REINMUTH

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

“The Elephant In The Room”

Gerard gives his lecture from the 2nd International Utzon Symposium as the last PROJECT talk of 2008.

Monday, December 8, TERROIR Sydney Office

Sou Fujimoto

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:37:31 +0000

Sou is one of TERROIR's favourite young architects and as such it is an honour that he has agreed to collaborate with us on the Parallax conference.

Through numerous projects for health-care institutions in his early stage of development, Sou conceptualized a loose and ambiguous order in architecture, simultaneously akin to a house and a city. The random plan seen in the Children’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, completed in 2006, epitomizes such attempts. Images conjured by, “The condition before a house and a city differentiated,” was inspired by the city of Tokyo itself. This notion was further developed since then, and currently, he is pursuing experiments in architecture to fuse the Natural and Artificial, a City and a House, Inside and Outside. Projects such as House N, House before House, Final Wooden House are indeed attempts to engender articulated forms to these ambiguous conditions.

Samaneh Moafi

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:00:28 +0000

Samaneh is one of the new breed of UTS students fortunate to have trained with various friends and collaborators of the practice including Adrian Lahoud.

Samaneh joined us to work on a range of competitions, 2 of which are in association with Adrian Lahoud and Richard Goodwin and will be loaded to the site once results are known.

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Archaeological Structure

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

This exhibition arose from the masterplan process undertaken by JPW and TERROIR for the redevelopment of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and was also a joint project by TERROIR and JPW. The purpose of the exhibition is to explain the significant archaeological potential that exists on the TMAG site to the wider public.

During the masterplan process a concurrent investigative archaeology dig was conducted in the Museum’s courtyard and the remains of former storage vaults were uncovered and extensively documented. A portion of these remains were left uncovered. This bold structure protects the exposed remains whilst signifying this temporary “exhibit” within the popular courtyard space.

This one-off structure suggests an approach for extended use across the site for future archaeology investigations.

Photography by Jonathan Wherrett

Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR's Peppermint Bay project has been featured in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture.

view Peppermint Bay project

Quality Assurance

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR successfully achieve ISO 9001 accreditation in December 2008.

TERROIR has always been committed to engaging in architecture culture at the highest level and as a direct result of this providing excellence in architectural services. Our quality assurance systems provide confidence to clients and through improvement will continually evolve to organise ourselves more effectively and provide a better outcome. These systems have now been formally accredited and audited.

A major part of the quality procedure is a project data base called Project Director. This program tracks and co-ordinates all correspondence and data for each project giving the office a comprehensive database of all past and present projects. This not only allows us to comprehensively track current projects but it also provides historical data which is analysed for future projects.

Further, each staff member is supported and assisted by the Quality Manager through the training and professional development programmes.

Peter Wilson

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:35:47 +0000

Peter Wilson's practide Bolles Wilson has been a long-time favourite of TERROIR. It is therefore very exciting that Peter has agreed to anchor our studio session at Parallax.

Peter Wilson has lectured world wide and has run studios at: Summer Academy Berlin (1988), Tokyo Workshop (1987/89), Berlage Academy Amsterdam (1994, 1995, 1997), Barcelona (1996), IAAS Venice (1997, 1998), NAI Rotterdam Summer Academy (1998), Syracuse University Florence.

www.bolles-wilson.com

Castle Cove House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The history of the single-family house in Sydney during the last century is a record of changing conditions in regard to our relationship with the landscape. Previous responses range from ignorance, to mimicry, to contrast. Responses have involved the importation of ideas from elsewhere and the futile quest to develop a 'vernacular'. It is in this context, and aware of this history, that this house has been designed.

Castle Cove is a classic Sydney context - a steep, rocky ravine with tributaries connecting to Sydney Harbour. The site faces north and looks across the top of this tight crack in Sydney's bedrock. The site and peninsula are distinguished by the classic features of Sydney's geological structure - steep, heavily wooded terrain yielding to sandstone cliffs at the apex which are patterned by the horizontal layering of stone and the vertical splits formed by past collapses.

The house exists as a reverberation across the contours of the site - a reverberation which splits into two main parts either side of an entry terrace. The upper part accommodates the primary house program while a recreation area is embedded below the terrace. The primary material for the house is in-situ concrete, with the exception of smaller rooms to the rear of the site completed in glass and copper.

The singularity of the primary material responds to the scale of the geological processes underpinning the greater site. More specifically, the detailed texture of the concrete will build upon the language of the striations and cuts in the landscape as it warps across the house extent. It is hoped that the occupation of the house negotiates between a visceral engagement with the site and the glamour and spirit of the California houses of the 50s and 60s by John Lautner and others.

'The Architects Home Design Notes - Balmforth Residence'. Architectural Review Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Scott Balmforth reflects on the difficulty of designing an architect's own home, particularly when our usual mode of operation is a highly collaborative approach driven by the Directors.

Balmforth, S, 2008, 'The Architects Home Design Notes - Balmforth Residence'. Architectural Review Australia, Residential 08, p.70.

view Smith Street (ware)house project

'The Architect's Home - Balmforth Residence', Architectural Review Australia, Residential 08

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Scott Balmforth's house is reviewed by Richard Goodwin in AR Residential Special Issue.

Goodwin, Richard, 2008, 'The Architect's Home - Balmforth Residence', Architectural Review Australia, Residential 08, AR107, p. 78-85.

view Smith Street (ware)house project

BPN National Sustainability Award

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Our 86-88 George Street refurbishment has won the National Sustainability Award in the large commercial section. The award was presented at an evening function in the main gallery of the Australian Museum.

The jury said that "this highly innovative project achieves great things within very difficult constraints - all other buildings should follow suit"

view 86-88 George Street project

(Re)making Sydney: Image, Form and Crisis of Vision', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Ingo Kumic's lead article in this MONUMENT issue devoted to public architecture locates the role of the image, capacity and content in rhe making of a city. Sydney's Vision 2030 is tested against this framework.

Kumic, I, Reinmuth, G, 2008, '(Re)making Sydney: Image, Form and Crisis of Vision', Monument, Issue 87, pp.47-52.

Bijoy Jain

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:36:49 +0000

Bijoy's unique perspective on collaboration will expand the focus of Parallax, taking delegates into resh territory.

Bijoy Jain was born in Mumbai, India in 1965. He received his M. Arch from Washington University in St. Louis, USA in 1990. He worked at Richard Meier and Partners in Los Angeles from 1989 to 1991, and formed Bijoy Jain + Associates in 1996 in Mumbai. Studio Mumbai was founded in 2005. The studio’s pursuit is to use the Indian landscape as a resource; to create spaces formed by local climatic conditions, materials and technologies. Recent works include private residences, an urban community space, biotech research centre and a retreat in the backwaters of south India.

Richard Blythe PhD

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

October 2008: Richard Blythe presents his PhD in Melbourne.

Conceptual Challenges inhibiting sustainable practice

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth participates in the 2nd annual Singapore ArchiFest Forum. This years theme, Man + Environment, examines the relationship of Architecture and the Environment encompassing context, genius loci through to issued of climate change, displacement and alienation.

Gerard's talk - "Conceptual challenges inhibiting sustainable practice" - outlined his thesis that truly sustainable practice is an aesthetic and not a technical problem.

Synopsis of lecture

The term “sustainability” has become so overused as to be completely meaningless. The word badges – and thus excuses – any level of environmental vandalism being perpetrated by our profession. Projects across the world – and particularly in the developing regions of China and the Middle East – are presented as “sustainable” in the hope that this blinds us to the reality of what is proposed. This lack of honesty prohibits us from addressing the monsters we create. We all live in denial.

The realities of sustainable development may well be uglier and clumsier than the crystalline images of brave new worlds encouraged by the aesthetic preferences of our globalised architecture industry. The idea of parasites, grafts and implants into existing contexts offer clues as to sustainable practice but remain as marginal “curiosities”. The way in which architectural practice is structured, its aesthetic and spatial preferences, and its business proposition, all need review.

This presentation of ugly, strange and incomplete projects by TERROIR suggests alternate ways we might engage with our environment in the hope of a more sustainable future.

Other speakers include: Fernando Menis (Spain), Andrew Maynard (Australia), Madhura Prematilleke (Sri Lanka), Ken Yeang (Malaysia) and Jo Noero (South Africa).

www.archifest.sg

Appointment to Adjunct Professor

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Scott Balmforth has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania

Appointment to Adjunct Professor

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Richard Blythe has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania.

Sydney Houses Exhibition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The Australian Architecture Association (AAA) has been committed to revealing Sydney’s architecture and architects to a wider audience since its formation in 2002. This has occurred via the successful matrix of activities including the tours, public lectures, and an Annual Exhibition at The Customs House curated every year by Gerard Reinmuth.

This year, we look to a great of Sydney’s architectural history – Bruce Rickard – for a lens through which we can view the classic qualities of the Sydney house.

Rickard’s work charts an important moment in Australian architectural history where our local practitioners developed their own language via the application of international precedents. The most famous of these is Glenn Murcutt, whose studies of the pavilions of Mies van der Rohe was exercised in a series of works faithful to the originals before this knowledge was fused with his emergent reading of the Australian landscape to invent a new type. Similarly, Rickard worked through the legacy of Frank Lloyd-Wright. While his houses feature many of the spatial devices for which Wright is known, his best works transform these into something particular to this region and the time in which he worked.

Rickard did not collect a group “followers” working in a similar vein, making his legacy harder to define.

Yet in Rickard’s work we see early appearances of many strategies which we now take for granted as familiar aspects of Sydney living, including in-built furniture, completely open pavilions, outdoor rooms, systems for managing natural light and the use of local materials. By pairing images of classic Rickard houses with works by a selection of Sydney’s contemporary architects we can see how their interests are still underpinned by these ways of living in Sydney’s landscape and climate which Rickard explored throughout the 70s and 80s. So, while none of these contemporary architects are “students” of Rickard’s, we ask whether their work would be possible without his legacy.

'Fish349', Artichoke

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR's extension to the successful Fish 349 restaurant has been reviewed in Artichoke.

Abell, Judith, 2008, 'Fish349', Artichoke, No.24, p. 132-136.

view Fish 349 Function Room project

AV Monographs, Emergentes

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR have been featured as one of 20 international practices in the first ever AV international survey of emerging architects.

Fernandez-Galiano, L 2007, AV Monographs Emergentes, Architectura Viva SL, Madrid.

Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR's Canberra Kiosk project has been featured in Leon van Schaik's new book, "Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture" published in September 2008.

Leon's thinking and teaching about spatial intelligence has had a significant interest on the way the practice understands itself, thus it is a great honour to be included in this book.

Abundant Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Australian Pavillion 11th International Architecture Exhibition - 1a Biennale di Venezia 2008

Durbach, N, Frost, V, Lewin, W, Thompson, K, Warner, G, 2008, Abundant Australia, Australian Institute of Architects, Australia, pp.12-15, pp.228-229.

view 2008 Venice Biennale exhibition here

Shainghai Biennale inclusion

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR Directors Gerard Reinmuth and Scott Balmforth have had their Masters work featured at the Shainghai Biennale 'Translocalmotion'. Their involvement came via the RMIT exhibition.

http://www.shanghaibiennale.com/

2nd International Utzon Symposium 'Poetics of Construction'

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:09:52 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited by Adrian Carter to participate in The 2nd International Utzon Symposium together with internationally renowned architects, Rafael Moneo, Matti Sanaksenaho, Enrique Sobejano, Lene Tranberg, Richard Weston and Alejandro Zaera-Polo.

Gerard's lecture was titled "The Elephant in the Room" and interrogated the influence the Opera House has exerted on Sydney architecture culture and provided a window into news ways of addressing its presence in new work.

Gerard is pictured here in conversation with William J.R. Curtis and Enrique Sobejano during the panel discussion which concluded the symposium.

http://www.utzoncenter.org/dk/forskning/the_second_international_utzon_symposium_2008/general_information.htm

100 Dream Houses from Down Under

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Acton Park House is included in a new publication on Australian residential architecture.

Beaver, R, 2008, 100 Dream Houses from Down Under, Images Publishing, Australia, pp.12-15, pp.216-219.

view Acton Park House project

Wapping Church Entry

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:02:36 +0000

“TERROIR's Detached (Gallery) Entry, an installed addition to the church, was an exhibition piece apart. It is a skilfully contrived design, which manages the difficult architectural act of fusing intellectual rigour with contextual fit.”

Extract from John Ancher’s review of “God is in the Details” exhibition at Detached Gallery, Architecture Australia Sept/Oct 2009

Burnie Council

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR commenced a relationship with the Burnie City Council on Tasmania’s North West coast in July 2008 when we were selected for the Burnie Makers Workshop, and iconic project for the Council and the region.

Burnie is a port city originally settled in 1827 and is now Tasmania’s fourth largest city, largest general cargo port and Australia’s fifth largest container port. Burnie is an industrial city with a history based around papermaking, forestry and cheese-making. It is also the gateway to Tasmania’s west coast mining region. In recent years, Burnie has undergone a resurgence with new industries and an increasing tourist visitation.

The Burnie Makers Workshop will be an important project in further developing Burnie’s resurgence and TERROIR appreciate the opportunity of working with such a committed and focussed local government.

Following our introduction to the ambition and success of this Council, in late 2008 TERROIR sought inclusion on the Burnie City Council’s consultant register for future Council projects.

http://www.burnie.tas.gov.au/

PROJECT 15: DAVID BURNS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

“Aesthetics”

Monday August 18, TERROIR Sydney Office

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Exhibition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

This exhibition outlines the masterplan developed by JPW and TERROIR for the redevelopment of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

The purpose of the exhibition is to explain to the public the process that was undertaken, key issues and questions that drove the development of a masterplan and the presentation of the final masterplan solution. The exhibition was held in the Bond Store on the TMAG site - one of the heritage buildings of national significance in the complex which is currently underutilised.

The exhibition is in 5 parts: an introductory section presented in workshop format with butcher's paper on pinboards explains to visitors the constraints and opportunities understood by the project team; a set of glass cabinets adjacent to this section displays some of the valuable items from the collection which cannot be displayed given the current conditions and constraints within the gallery; the third item is the centerpiece of the exhibition a 20m long lightbox upon which layers of design drawings are displayed in a logical manner, taking visitors through the design process for the masterplan.

With the design process understood, 2 models explain the masterplan in detail while an A/V presentation concludes the exhibition with a summary of what has been displayed and an explanation of the next steps in the transformation of this critical site in Tasmania's history.

PROJECT 14: NEIL DURBACH

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

“A Short Talk”

Thursday, July 31, TERROIR Sydney Office

Aaron Betsky

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:40:06 +0000

Aaron's participation in Parallax will be a highlight given his clear definition of building vs architecture has proved so instructive to us and in many ways will be a key theme of Parallax.

A prolific writer and editor with a dozen books and articles to his credit, Betsky is a former professor with the School of Architecture and Interior Design (now DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati and continues teaching and lecturing in the United States and abroad. His leadership of major institutions in the world of art and architecture includes serving as the Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam from 2001 to 2006 and as the Curator of Architecture and Design of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from 1995-2001. In 1998 Betsky served on the architect selection committee for the internationally acclaimed new building of the Contemporary Arts Center. In August 2006 he was appointed Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum. In 2008 Betsky was the Director of the 11th Exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

TOKO

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Toko is a multidisciplinary design studio with the emphasis on print design. They were established in 2001 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and are now operating out of Surry Hills, Sydney, where they relocated in the beginning of 2006 to pursuit new (geo)graphic adventures.

TOKO designed this website - I am sure you will agree they did a great job. This collaboration led to their selection as graphic designer for the 2009 National Conference PARALLAX curated by the Terroir Directors. You can see their Parallax work on http://www.architecture.com.au/parallax/

TOKO's website is www.toko.nu

PROJECT 13: STEPHEN VARADY

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for... 20 years of Stephen Varady Architecture”

Thursday, July 10, TERROIR Sydney Office

Slavoj Zizek

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:34:38 +0000

Slavoj Zizek has agreed to attend the Parallax conference as a keynote speaker, presenting his first paper on the subject of architecture.

As the author of the Parallax View, Zizek's arguments about the power of the gaps between different viewpoints have inspired our practice and thus led to our invitation that he attend. Zizek will be preparing the first paper on record which covers his view on architecture.

Slavoj Žižek is probably the greatest movie buff among contemporary philosophers and the greatest philosopher among movie buffs: he combines Descartes with Blade Runner, Schelling with The Flintstones, Karl Marx with Groucho Marx, and Jacques Lacan with virtually everything from Hitchcock to Stalinist musicals, from dazzling Sam Goldwyn’s quips to Morpheus’ prophesies in Matrix. He sees moving images as the royal road to ideological dimensions of today’s social and political phenomena – and that left no contemporary political, social od cultural phenomen unexplored. Žižek is currently the International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London.

'Commonwealth Place Kiosks', Architectural Review Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The Commonwealth Place Kiosks are the cover article for a special edition of Architectural Review Australia devoted to public architecture.

van Schaik, Leon, 2008, 'Commonwealth Place Kiosks', Architectural Review Australia, AR105, cover and pp. 98-101.

view Commonwealth Place Kiosks project

Tatiana Bilbao

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:39:44 +0000

Tatiana stands out to TERROIR as one of the brighest young architects of her generation. We are therefore very pleased that she will address Parallax about the opportunities and constraints she has faced as a young architect in Meixco where both young practitioners and females in the profession are both a rarity.

Born in Mexico City in 1972, Tatiana graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana in 1996, in 1998 she won honorable mention for her career and also appreciation for the best thesis of the year. In 1999 Tatiana joined and co-founded LCM, pursuing a new direction in the architectural practice by generating unprecedented spaces, exploring uncharted geometries, and has achieved international reputation and built more than 45,000 square meters around the country.

In 2004 started Tatiana Bilbao/mx.a S.C. with projects in China and Spain, some others around Mexico. Also in 2004 she founded mxdf along with architects Derek Dellekamp, Arturo Ortiz and Michel Rojkind, an urban research center, attending the production o space, its occupation its defense and control in Mexico City. Since 2004 Tatiana has been a professor of design at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Gerard Reinmuth Interview

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:02:25 +0000

See this interview with Gerard Reinmuth, recorded at Metropolis Laboratory in Denmark in June 2008.

To view the video clip, click here

Is sustainability nothing more than a nice idea?

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:55:25 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited to speak at the 2008 Metropolis Laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark.

His talk was titled "Is sustainability nothing more than a nice idea? Aesthetic and spatial challenges for the developing city in the 21st century"

Also speaking at this extraordinary think-tank on the role of art and architecture in the urban realm were Saskia Sassen, Nan Ellin and a range of artists, urbanists and artists from Denmark and overseas.

About Face 2008

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

About Face 2008 is the 3rd year of this successful competition, overhauled by Gerard in 2007.

This year's entrants included Adrian Lahoud, M3 and Choi Ropiha.

2008 RAIA Awards (ACT)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Commonwealth Place Kiosks was recognised for its Urban Design with a Commendation at the ACT Awards.

view Commonwealth Place Kiosks project

Alejandro Zaera-Polo

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:35:07 +0000

Alejandro has been a cornerstone for the Parallax conference, agreeing to present his paper on the Politics of the Surface as a major component of the event.

Alejandro is a founding partner of Foreign Office Architects together with Farshid Moussavi, and currently occupies the Berlage Chair in the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands. Prior to this current role at the TU in Delft, he was Dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam for four years, until 2005. He has also been Unit Master at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, and a Visiting Professor at the University of California in LA, Columbia University in New York, Princeton University, the School of Architecture in Madrid and the Yokohama School of Architecture where he currently has an advisory role. He has also been an advisor to several committees, such as the Quality Commission for Architecture in Barcelona City and the advisory Committee for Urban Development of the City of Madrid and is a member of the Urban Age Think Tank of the London School of Economics.

He has been published extensively as a critic in professional magazines worldwide, El Croquis, Quaderns, A+U, Arch + and Harvard Design Magazine amongst them, and contributed to numerous publications, such as The Endless City curated by Ricky Burdett and Dejan Sudjic.

2008 Sydney Biennale

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Atelier Bow-Wow were invited to join Dan Graham for a workshop and bus tour through Sydney suburbs, exploring the customization of suburban homes due to multicultural influences.

Given that Atelier Bow-Wow and TERROIR have been friends since Gerard and Momoyo spoke together at the RAIA National Conference in 2005, we organized a research laboratory to assist with the project. Atelier Bow-Wow and UTS students combined in a research project on the suburbs, assisted by UTS staff including Adrian Lahoud and Adjunct Professor Gerard Reinmuth (terroir). The whole team – Atelier Bow-Wow, Dan Graham, Gerard, Adrian and the students can be seen here on the rooftop of the MCA

'A yellow beacon set to light up venice'. The Sydney Morning Herald.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Australia's Venice Biennale pavilion is previewed in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Schwartzkoff, Louise. 'A yellow beacon set to light up venice'. The Sydney Morning Herald. June 9, 2008. p. 15.

Atelier Bow Wow

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Atelier Bow Wow and TERROIR met via the 2005 RAIA Conference - Exchange - hosted by Kerstin Thompson in Melbourne.

Since then BowWow and TERROIR have kept in contact and look forward to future collaborations. TERROIR were able to assist Momoyo and Yoshi with their recent appearance at the Sydney Biennale.

PROJECT 12: DAVID LANGSTON-JONES

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

“25 years in 25 minutes”

Thursday, May 29, 2008, TERROIR Sydney Office

2008 Tasmanian RAIA Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Small Projects Architecture Award: Fish349 Function Room

view Fish 349 Function Room project

2008 Venice Biennale

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR invited to participate in the Australian pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale.

5 TERROIR models have been selected to be exhibited in a display of 150.

Fatal Distraction

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:29:43 +0000

Fatal Distraction: Carbon Credits, Green Building & The Business of Sustainability'. Architectural Review Australia, The Green Review

Gerard Reinmuth launches a broadside against the sustainablity industry as it is currently configured. The article has bought many like-minded people into the open.

Reinmuth, G, 2008, 'Fatal Distraction: Carbon Credits, Green Building & The Business of Sustainability'. Architectural Review Australia, The Green Review, p. 40-42

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Masterplan

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR, in association with Johnson Pilton Walker, were engaged in late 2007 for the Masterplan of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which will set a path for the redevelopment of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery which has Australia’s most diverse museum collection spanning the arts, natural history and social history and the nation’s most significant collection of heritage buildings on a single site.

The recently completed master plan has as its core the following key aspects of the project: the exceptional natural landscape around the site; the exceptional suite of buildings; and the unique collection which combines both museum objects and artwork.

Given the sensitivity and significance of the site and collections, the project will be developed in an environment of the highest scrutiny. Starting with the collection which includes Australia’s finest collection of Colonial paintings, the only significant collection of Indigenous Tasmanian artefacts, and significant items from the state’s industrial heritage – key themes and points of significance are being sought. Then, in the context of the building stock – which includes Australia’s first purpose built art gallery, the oldest standing building in Australia and an archaeological site with significant indigenous material – the collection will be unfolded in a meaningful way.

From this analysis and the symbiosis to be developed between the two components, a series of key projects will emerge to fit with Government funding constraints and timing.

The project is of state significance and has been endorsed and supported by the Premier directly. As such, a high level of reporting through the Arts Ministry and Premier’s Department will occur, while on the other hand numerous reference groups from the client body need to be engaged with and consulted about proposals.

AV Monographs La Casa Natural

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Liverpool Crescent House is featured in an AV international survey on houses in nature.

Fernandez-Galiano, L 2007, AV Monographs La Casa Natural, Architectura Viva SL, Madrid.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

Creative Directors 2009 Conference

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

For the first time, an architectural practice (TERROIR) was announced as Creative Director for the National Conference.

Our practice structure and character – multi-locational, genuinely collaborative, bridging research and practice - has been fleshed out in Masters and PhD work led by Leon van Schaik at RMIT and formed the basis of a book published on the practice last year by UTS, TERROIR: Cosmopolitan Ground. These concerns will underpin the structure, character and invited participants for the conference.

For more information go to www.architecture.com.au/parallax/

2008 Interior Design Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Commercial Interior Design Award: Fish 349 Function Room (Best of State)

view Fish 349 Function Room project

Appointment to AAA Committee

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been appointed to the Committee of the Australian Architecture Association.

Fellow committee members include Glenn Murcutt, Wendy Lewin, James Grose and Richard Johnson.

Architecture Inspired by Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Acton Park House is featured in a new publication on Australian landscapes and the architecture inspired by them.

Sullivan, D & Buch, J (eds) 2008, Architecture Inspired by Australia, Mint Publishing Ltd, China, pp 112 – 117.

view Acton Park House project

Site Unseen, Castle Cove House, MONUMENT Magazine.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Castle Cove House is featured in Monument magazine.

Site Unseen - Projects on the Drawing Board, Castle Cove House, 2008, Monument, No.84, pp. 110-111.

view Castle Cove House project

2008 Dulux Colour Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Commercial Exterior Award: Commonwealth Place Kiosks

view Commonwealth Place Kiosks project

Smith St (ware)house

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:05:28 +0000

The narrow inner city street has a contrast of industrial and residential uses however this is the first house in the street within an industrial building. The existing 300 square metre warehouse had a private rear yard behind full height metal sliding doors. A dividing wall through the existing warehouse facilitated sufficient space for two new dwellings.

The change has maintained much of the former industrial building's character. The original street frontage is fully intended to dramatically contrast with the unexpected interior which retains the former character whilst meeting the demands for accommodating a young family.

Through-views from street to rear were crucial to maintaining the depth of space that was a privilege to inherit in the existing building. Most internal walls run parallel to the through views and establish a physical reverberation off the central wall between the two new dwellings. Closed rooms such as the upper level bedrooms run along the dividing wall. In contrast the opposite side wall is relatively intact and runs along larger spaces which capture the openness of the warehouse.

New steel beams span the full length of the interior to establish a new upper floor, the underside of which reveals exposed floor beams with long stripes of continuous diffused fluorescent lighting.

The upper floor is more refined - a lime-stained timber and wall finish reflects the increased natural light from the saw-tooth windows. The internal duality is furthered by the sense of elevation in the original space being enhanced by sky-views from within soft white plasterboard-lined bedrooms in contrast to the industrial aesthetic of galvanised metal sheet and formwork ply used throughout the open spaces.

Sections of expanded metal subtly disguise two new introduced north-facing skylights and enable the perceived retention of natural lighting effect via the original south-facing highlight windows whilst providing new light sources. The directional slippage in the expanded sheet on the raked ceiling ensures low-level winter sun is permitted and cutting out the higher-angled summer sun. This directional quality of the sheet is used in screen walls to the bedroom level, thus managing privacy via imperceptible changes in the direction of the grain of the expanded metal sheet.

Despite it's rawness, a playful character is present, such as rock climbing grips as door handles and the existing metal clad rear wall which can slide open to reveal the large internal space to the secluded rear yard - seemingly can-opened to form new windows with fold-out blinkers on the exterior like an advent calendar.

Photography by Jonathan Wherrett

PROJECT 11: TIM CARR (Arup)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

“The Architecture of light, the illumination of life.....”

Monday, February 25, 2008, TERROIR Sydney OFFICE

Richard Johnson wins RAIA 2008 Gold Medal

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Richard Johnson has been awarded the 2008 RAIA Gold Medal for a lifetime contribution to the profession. Gerard Reinmuth was honoured to be invited by Richard to reflect upon his career in the Architecture Australia issue dedicated to his award.

Jonathan Wherrett

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Jonathan Wherrett is a commercial photographer based in Hobart, Tasmania with a degree in architecture from the University of Tasmania.

Jonathan is an accomplished photographer of architectural projects, advertising, products, corporate events and portraiture.

Jonathan has photographed numerous projects for TERROIR since 2008

www.jcwimages.com

Questions of Space: of Architecture and Philosophy

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe is invited to speak at a conference on architecture and philosophy.

Questions of Space: of Architecture and Philosophy.

Federation Square Melbourne, Australia, 7 February 2008

Sheldon Place House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The house was an existing early 1980’s residence at the end of a cul-de-sac on the hill behind Hobart’s CBD. Infact, the house – prominent given its white colour – is one of the highest residences on the foothills when looking from the city up to Mt Wellington.

The site had a significant slope and the existing residence was built over 3 levels with a primary living level between lower level garage and guest bedroom and bedrooms and bathroom to an upper rear half-level.

Whilst the existing house was positioned to address the panoramic, ‘birds eye’ view on offer, the heavily framed front windows and very high ceiling levels internally – some spaces rising to in excess of 5 metres – we felt the full potential of the view, and the residences’ interior spatial arrangement as a reflection of the greater physical context, was open to greater enhancement in our new work.

Whilst a typical ‘alts and adds’, this project enabled further research in to issues being identified within other office projects such as the potency of a restrained formal object to respond to the power of the landscape which in turn reveals a complex interior – in this project through the increased vertical spatial order and repositioning the interior experience in a precise relationship with the broader landscape.

Photography by Jonathan Wherrett

'A High Point', Monument.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Liverpool Crescent House is reviewed by Leon van Schaik in Monument magazine.

van Schaik, Leon, 2008, 'A High Point', Monument, No.83, pp. 94-100.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

People to Watch in 2008

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was featured in a selected group of Sydney's young movers and shakers as "people to watch" in 2008. The Sydney Magazine survey is an annual review of who will impact on the city in the coming years.

Election to RAIA Chapter (NSW)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been elected to NSW Chapter Council of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

Gerard stood on a "ticket" alongside colleagues Brian Zulaikha, Nicholas Murcutt and Adam Haddow.

RAIA Practice Committee

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Tamara Donnellan joins RAIA NSW Practice Committee. This committee reviews current issues affecting architectural practice from contracts, insurance, professional competancies and registration issues.

Art Gallery of NSW

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The relationship between the Art Gallery of NSW and TERROIR stretches back to 1997 and Gerard's role assisting Richard Johnson at JPW. At the time, JPW had been engaged to work on a new Asian Gallery and other works within the gallery - a relationship still active at the time of this posting. The goodwill that exists between the gallery and JPW led to the suggestion to re-engage Gerard to attend to some of the minor works commenced a decade ago, such that TERROIR now work on a range of small projects at the gallery.

Commonwealth Place Kiosks

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Canberra is distinctive in international terms as a planned city and seat of government. At the centre of the planning geometry sits the nations Parliament House. Its foreground consists of a range of buildings containing Australia's major public institutions - a sort of "architectural zoo" constructed over a fifty year period. Each of these public buildings is large in scale and gravitas - mostly concrete sculptural works containing the High Court, National Gallery, and so on. The termination of this axis occurs in the form of the National War Memorial.

The brief required amenity buildings to be located in the foreground of old Parliament House. These buildings are small in size (less than 50sq.m.) and of a "prosaic" use when compared to the institutions adjacent. The projects are key elements in transforming a ceremonial space into an active public space with appropriate amenity for public use. Thus, the design proposition was an exploration of the tensions that exist within the brief itself. How does one install a toilet just meters from the central axis connecting our Parliament and lake? What is an appropriate form for an ice-cream stand on the edge of the lake, with Parliament looming on the horizon?

The uncanny nature of the planned city and the formal nature of the setting resulted in small, blank timber boxes that read as sculptural installations within this largest of sculpture parks. The choice of timber relates the boxes to the trees and ferry wharf adjacent while the taut geometry resonates with the monumentality of the built context. The potential for absurdity when Griffin's overarching geometry of the city plan is pushed to the limits, exploited in small adjustments to these seemingly regular objects that, when seen at close range, defy explanation. The uncanny silence of the objects is counterpointed by a surprise - the hidden system of coloured tubes which filter light in a dispersed manner, a scaling up of the dappled shade of the trees adjacent.

The colours themselves are based upon the tonal range of the autumn leaves of these trees, connecting this timber and coloured object back to it's formal landscape context.

2008 Dulux Colour Awards WINNER Commercial Exterior

Photography by Brett Boardman and Geoff Comfort

Robert Bevan

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Robert Bevan is a Sydney-based journalist and author. He is former editor of Building Design (UK) and writes regularly on architecture, design and housing issues for national newspapers and magazines in the UK and Australia. He is curently employed by leading Australian newspaper The Financial Review.

Rob has written two books, Architects Today (2004) and The Destruction of Memory (2006). TERROIR met Rob after the publication of this remarkable book dealing with architectural genocide. Robert has been a regular point of call for the discussion of urban development and city issues and has written on the practice.

'Designs on the future'. The Australian Financial Review.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Robert Bevan features TERROIR in a review of emerging practices working in the public realm.

Bevan, Robert. 'Designs on the future'. The Australian Financial Review. December 21 - 27, 2007. pp. L18-L20.

Green Star Accreditation

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Allison Earl has become a Green Star Accredited Professional. This is a highly specialised expertise to have in-house and allows Terroir to provide a comprehensive Green Star program to any project.

86-88 George Street

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

This refubishment of a state listed heritage building has set a new benchmark for contemporary work in Sydney's historic Rocks precinct. The existing building is in 2 parts, both of which have heritage listings with the heritage fabric consisting of the perimeter walls. Two key interventions - one inside these walls and one outside - became the primary areas of focus. Internally, the foyer was conceived as a bridge that leaves George Street to connect with the existing lift core. Initial investigations of a Scarperian "tub" gradually evolved into a singular folded concrete tube that provides a dramatic "pause" between street and office.

Externally, an existing triangular remnant of street configurations was developed into a new public space. While part of the project, this space was understood separately to the building as part of the complex cut and folded landscapes characteristic of the Rocks area. An analysis of the existing topography and the need for new connections led to a morphing exercise such that the various levels were reconnected in a single fluid plate. A small canopy sits in the north-east corner of the space which has similarly evolved from a mapping of sun, wind and tenant use requirements. While the materiality of this canopy ties it to the Harbour Bridge and other steelwork interventions in the Rocks, its scale renders it with a "toy"-like quality.

In November 2008, 86-88 George St was awarded the Environ BPN Sustainability Award for large commercial projects.

In April 2008, 86-88 George St was awarded the prestigious Energy Australia National Trust Heritage Award for Conservation Energy Management.

In December 2007, 86-88 George Street was acknowledged by the Green Building Council as the first State heritage listed building to be awarded a 5 star Green Star office design rating.

Photography by Brett Boardman

Image of 'Carlo Scarpa's Fondazione Querini-Stampalia' courtesy of Klaus Frahm/artur architekturbilder.

'Redesign to highlight history'. The Australian Financial Review.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR/JPW's masterplan for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is reviewed by Robert Bevan in the Australian Financial Review.

Bevan, Robert. 'Redesign to highlight history'. The Australian Financial Review. Tuesday 11 December, 2007. p. 49.

view Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Masterplan project

Maitland City Bowling Club

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

An existing bowling Club requested a significant transformation to address energy and occupation issues while providing an iconic new form that signaled a new identity for the club. The Club understood that a long term vision was required to ensure their maintained relevance and market position and avoid the fate of many similar Clubs, as portrayed in the Australian cinema classic "Crackerjack". With this in mind, the Club approached Big Switch Projects and defined a brief to reposition the Club at a cultural level and also with an increased emphasis on ESD measures. TERROIR then won an architectural competition with a submission driven by a market-led approach used in our tourism projects. The rebranding of the Club and the desire to open it to new markets led to a strong masterplan that could be implemened over a 5-10 year period.

The design solution evolved from a need to address these issues in an economical yet substantive manner, and one that enabled a "complete" stage one of works while enabling further improvements over time after the initial alternations.

Three key elements emerged as essential to the initial phase of work as they could achieve this transformation in a clear and direct manner: a new roof, new servicing, and a new facade to the bowling greens.

The high visibility of the site, the opportunity to respond to the greater landscape context, the need to manage changing servicing requirements, and the need to open up the building to more light and space, led to the conclusion that a major new roof element was necessary. The prominence of the roof is such that it will form a major part of rebranding the club for the future. Functionally, this roof acts a new "backpack" of sorts, enabling and containing new and more efficient building services, while also acting as a giant rain harvester, and as a solar parasol protecting the building from the harsh Maitland sun.

The need to address the history and culture of the club, to transform the quality of the interior spaces and to address ESD issues, suggested that a new facade would be a critical accompaniment to the new roof. The new 105m long glass facade reorients the Club onto the bowling greens while the glass specification further improves the shading and internal energy loading of the building.

This project has shown the power of a strong design solution - and one based in a rigorous understanding of the market profile for the commercial success of the project - can unite key stakeholders, galvanise a group around a long-term vision and reposition a Club that will have a successful future while others have been forced into closure.

Completed photography by Brett Boardman

Dun Laoghaire (competition)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The proposed library sits at a pivotal site in Dun Laoghaire – located at a key entry/exit point to the famous walk along the town’s piers, and the nexus between the breakwater, the pier and town. Thus the site is a critical nexus between the adjacent buildings, piers, and Manor Park Hotel and its grounds.

The existing garden contains a number of distinct elements – a sports green, a water feature, and constructed landscape elements such as the hedge bounding Manor Park House. In our proposal these elements are reconfigured and combined into a single composition –retaining both a historic link with the character of the site while projecting forward to the re-appearance of this place as a foreground to the library while providing the opportunity for a new specific garden element to ground and connect the new library with the site. Thus, the lawn (to the manor) is linked to the sea and ferry connections beyond by a new element – a constructed pleasure garden which acts as a hub between the various connections so critical for this site. That the garden contains the cultural centre’s galleries and theatres confirms it as a place cultural exchange and interface within the larger nexus of the garden system itself.

The library itself sits as an abstract element atop this new garden – a large scale monumental gesture balanced by its interface into the network of existing paths and routes through the Dun Laoghaire township and waterfront apron. Its location on the arc of the train line and road provides an opportunity for the library building to signify presence from approach in either direction – achieved here via a massive cantilever which addresses the scale of the harbour and the ships within it. This strategy gives form to both the local and regional roles of the library and subsequently provides a framework for the physical negotiation of these competing requirements.

The container form of the library suggests an ark for the books and other collections it is required to store for use by the residents of the region. Some of these collections – such as the clocks - are located inside the ark but can be viewed from the public realm - enabling visitors to this important place to engage with these artifacts while making their own contribution to the life of the town.

Keynote Lecture - University of Queensland

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited to give the keynote lecture to graduating students at the University of Queensland.

22 November 2007

'3 Unis / 3 Studios', RAIA, Tuesday Night Talk

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

This is the second annual review of Sydney's 3 universities via a presentation of a significant studio from each university conducted in the past year.

'3 Unis / 3 Studios', RAIA, Tuesday Night Talk, 13 November

Tusculum, Sydney, Australia.

Book Review: 'Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground', Architectural Review

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Stuart Harrison reviews the recently released book on TERROIR.

Harrison, Stuart, 2007, Book Review: 'Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground', Architectural Review Australia, AR103, p. 18.

‘International Cities in a Cosmopolitan World: Architectural Projects by Terroir’, PAM-ICI Design Lecture Series

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe discussed the work of the practice at the PAM-ICI Design Lecture Series in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Richard's talk was titled ‘International Cities in a Cosmopolitan World: Architectural Projects by Terroir’,

Terroir : Cosmopolitan Ground

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth - 31 October 2007

'Terroir : Cosmopolitan Ground'

Perth, Australia.

The Power of Desire

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth gave a lecture on the challenges facing the practice of sustainable architecture at the University of Sydney as part of its Thursday night lecture series.

The Power of Desire, October 2007

Office Trip, Melbourne

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR's annual trip in 2007 was held earlier than normal to coincide with Gerard and Scott's Masters examination.

Following the exam and subsequent celebrations, a number of visits were made to buildings by various colleagues. Two highlights were a visit to a nearly completed house with Kerstin Thompson and the Grammar Library project by John Wardle.

TERROIR are pictured here with John at his nearly completed Grammar School library in Melbourne.

Masters of Architecture, RMIT

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Scott Balmforth presented their final presentation and exhibition to complete their invited Masters of Architecture at RMIT, run by Leon van Schaik.

The exhibition was held at Brightspace Gallery
St Kilda, Melbourne.

'Terroir : Cosmopolitan Ground'

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Tokyo University lecture by Gerard Reinmuth.

Tokyo, Japan, October 2008.

JIA Conference

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited to talk in a session at the JIA National Conference in Tokyo, Japan chaired by Professor Ohno.

Gerard spoke alongside colleagues Adrian Lahoud and Joanne Jakovich (who organised the session) and Japanese architect Manabu Chiba.

Can Alterations and Additions Save the World?, RAIA

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth gives a lecture on alternations and additions at the RAIA, 11 October 2007

'Can Alterations and Additions Save the World?', RAIA

Tusculum, Sydney, Australia.

Fish 349 Function Room

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Located in the ground floor of a heritage building on a corner site, the existing dining room at Fish349 [a successful project previously completed by the practice] was conceived as a place which carefully mediated the relationship with its external context - mid-way along the popular commercial ‘strip’ of North Hobart.

The opportunity to add a Function Room to this already ‘complete’ space, immediately suggested a quality of ‘otherness’ for the addition – a simple enlargement would have destroyed the identity of the existing dining room. The function room extension was to occupy a space previously used for car parking, a less active side-street, thus giving way to the notion of an ‘internalised’ space – focused solely on its internal character.

The project was manifest as a fractured external container, struggling to contain the vibrancy of the interior space, with precise fragments giving way to form windows and skylights. The internal lining reinforces the fractured quality, taking further queues from the origami-like patterning of the Restaurants’ established logo.

The desire for an ‘anonymous’ external appearance allowed for simple construction methodology and consequently minimal construction time. The very tight budget was therefore ‘freed up’ to focus on internal materials selection and construction. Precast concrete panels were erected along two sides to form the rectangular new room in conjunction with existing walls to the building.

Lime-washed plywood wall and ceiling lining forms the internal envelope. Individual sections of plywood are strategically arranged in a ‘shattering’ pattern, separated by expressed panel joints – as though the assemblage is ‘coming apart at the seams’. Sections of plywood are removed to form windows and skylights, and on the rear wall one section is occupied by a painted projection screen.

The dark stained plywood floor of the existing dining room flows through from the newly formed entry, lapping up the rear wall of the new interior. This device acts to collect all of the miscellaneous furniture items into a single, consolidate volume.

2008 Tasmanian RAIA Awards
WINNER
Small Projects Architecture Award

Photography by Jonathan Wherrett

Exhibition Review: 'Living the Modern', Architectural Review Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Ulf Meyer reviews Living the Modern in Architecture Review Australia.

Meyer, Ulf, 2007, Exhibition Review: 'Living the Modern', Architectural Review Australia, AR103, pp. 20-22.

The Australian National Gallery: as it was

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth curated this annual AAA exhibition at Customs House with Richard Goodwin.

The National Gallery as it was completed in 1982 remains largely unknown, even to those who visit on a regular basis. The Gallery groans under the weight of a range of adjustments to existing fabric, a major addition in the late 1990s and now faces the construction of a new entry next year. Not surprisingly, Madigan’s original vision struggles to survive - starved of its original context and subsequently misunderstood by members of the public and the architectural profession.

Via an exhibition of Max Dupain’s photographs of the building as completed in 1982 – photos that are “toured” via accompanying texts from Madigan – the Gallery will be revealed as it was intended to be and as it could be again should we have the vision to insist upon it. Original sketches by Madigan and video footage rounds out this unique focus on a man and his masterwork.

We hope that – via this truly surprising exhibition – the public will be reconnected with the extraordinary achievement that is our National Gallery and in seeing it anew, will take more than a second look on their next visit.

TERROIR also sponsored the project through the donation of all time spent on the exhibition

Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground, edited by Scott Balmforth and Gerard Reinmuth, Dab Documents, Sydney, 2007.

t e r r o i r : cosmopolitan ground, published by the University of Technology Sydney, suggests a mode of collaboration between architecture and philosophy, where both professions retain their autonomy but are enriched via their reference to one another architecture and philosophy, where both professions retain their autonomy but are enriched via their reference to one another

'Terroir : Cosmopolitan Ground'

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited to give a lecture on the work of TERROIR at CREO Arkitekter in Odense, Denmark.

‘Terroir : Cosmopolitan Ground'

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is invited by Boris Brorman Jensen to lecture at the architecture school in Aarhus, Denmark.

Boris Brorman Jensen

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:05:49 +0000

Boris is Associate Professor in Urbanism and Urban Design at the Arkitektskolen Aarhus in Denmark.

Boris started his engagement with TERROIR in 2007, hosting a lecture by Gerard Reinmuth at the school. This led to a continual dialogue and exchange which has resulted in Gerard's appointment as Visiting Professor at the school from 2010.

Boris has been guest lecturer and critic at MIT, Harvard, KTH (Stockholm) and in 2003 started a relationship with AHO (Oslo) which continues to the present day.

Boris has been widely published, particular in his writings about architecture in the emergent economies in the middle east. This writing has led to engagement with practice on these issues, most notably with BIG with whom he remains an affiliated researcher.

Prior to his full-time teaching role, Boris was a founder of TRANSFORM, a Danish landscape architecture and urban design practice which has been sucessful in competitions over the past decade.

'Terroir : Cosmopolitan Ground'

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is invited by Adrian Carter to lecture at the School of Architecture in Aalborg, Denmark on 19 September.

‘Reflective Practice as Research’

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe lectures at a special RIBA symposium in London on 19 September 2007.

Richard's paper - ‘Reflective Practice as Research’ - is delivered alongside contributions from Nigel Coates and Catherine Findlay.

Adrian Carter

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Adrian is Associate Professor at Aalborg University and the inaugural Director of the Utzon Center in Aalborg. That the centre exists at all is testament to Adrian's vision and his persistence over many years.

Adrian invited Gerard to lecture at the 2nd International Utzon Symposium at the Utzon Center in 2008.

'Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground' book launch

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Richard Blythe & Gerard Reinmuth launch 'Terroir: Cosmopolitan Ground' at the Dansk Architektur Centre, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

17 September 2007

www.dac.dk

Kari Haugan Engberg

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Kari Haugan Engberg organised and promoted the launch of TERROIR's book - Cosmopolitan Ground - at the Dansk Arkitektur Center.

She subsequently assisted in the Metroplis Conference in Copenagen in 2008 and in Gerard;s invitation as a keynote speaker.

DAZ Symposium, Berlin

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe & Gerard Reinmuth lecture at the symposium accompanying the exhibition on Australian architecture at the DAZ in Berlin.

The lecture ws titled 'Between preservation of identified wilderness places and the economic enticement to develop tourism infrastructure in Tasmania' Symposium 'Australian Architecture and Urban Planning' . Living the Modern_Australian Architecture, DAZ

13 September 2007

Berlin City Hall, Germany.

Living the Modern_Australian Architecture, DAZ

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

12 September 2007
'Living the Modern_Australian Architecture'
DAZ, Berlin, Germany

t e r r o i r were among 25 of Australia's most prestigious Architects to be selected to exhibit residential projects for the 'Living the Modern_Australian Architecture' exhibition and symposium housed at the German Centre of Architecture and curated by Dr Claudia Perren.

The exhibition focused on practices that have transforned, interpreted, used, reformed and converted aspects of modernism to deliver insight to their buildings

Joanne Jakovich

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Joanne Jakovich has invited Gerard Reinmuth to join her and Adrian Lahoud in a special session of the JIA Conference in Tokyo devoted to a conversation between Australian and Japanese architects.

Joanne s an interactive architect and researcher specialising in interactive spaces spanning art, architecture and urbanism.

Her work has been exhibited in Japan, Australia, Taiwan and the Netherlands both in architectural and artistic contexts; including the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Jakovich is the producer of numerous international projects integrating urbanism, architecture and interactive art, including the CitySwitch Japan-Australia Urbanism Exchange and the Urban Islands Project on Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour.

Her PhD research examines the role of adaptation in human-system engagement in interactive spaces. Research outcomes include a quantitative analysis method of engagement, numerous interactive installations, and evaluation of these through experiments with the public.

As both designer and engineer of interactive works, she encourages broad-based computing skills in architectural design education. Her teaching areas include architectural design, urban studies, interaction design, physical computing and software scripting.

www.jakovich.net

Ganawarra Visitor Centre (concept study)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR undertook a project identification consultancy in conjunction with SGL Group for a proposed Visitor Centre for the Ganawarra Shire.

When Council nominated Cohuna as a destination of significance given its proximity to Gunbower State Forest and the history of Redgum harvesting in the area, we took the view that these key aspects of the place must be central to the design of the building.

The design gathers visitors from the car park to the edge of the irrigation channel where some significant Redgums are located. These Redgums are the key branding element of the region and so must be central to the design of any facility. In fact, the facility must bring visitors close to these to instill a level of wonder as to the scale and textures and colours of the trees. Against the backdrop of these trees, joinery, timber slats and timber walling demonstrated the use of the refined material. The path through the site - from car park and between trees - terminated at an amphitheater with a view to the channel and cafe. A gallery opens out to one side of this path, setting Redgum furniture against a stand of trees from where the material came.

‘Reflective Practice as Research’

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Richard Blythe - September 2007

‘Reflective Practice as Research’

Belgium.

'Twice the room, double the living'. The Australian Financial Review.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Liverpool Crescent was featured in an article by Stephen Crafti in the Australian Financial Review.

Crafti, Stephen. 'Twice the room, double the living'. The Australian Financial Review. August 31 - September 2, 2007. pp. L12-L13.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery aims to provide, promote and facilitate interaction with, and understanding of, the cultural and natural world for present and future generations.

Led by Director Bill Bleathman, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is one of the most significant such organisations in Australia.

Sited in a suite of buildings of significant and national heritage value, the museum and art gallery provides a place where the history of Tasmania took place and where the story of that history is now told.

www.tmag.tas.gov.au

RRR The Architects, Richard Blythe Interview

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:04:23 +0000

Richard is interviewed on The Architects to discuss his recent appointment as Head of the Faculty of Design at RMIT.

You can download a podcast here.

Challenger

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, Challenger is a diversified financial services organisation. It is dedicated to providing smarter solutions to financial intermediaries and their clients, offering a broad spectrum of financial products and services.

Challenger is one of Australia's largest mortgage providers with a mortgage book of $20.8 billion^, funding commercial loans as well as a range of residential mortgage products offered by a network of preferred lenders under their own brands. Challenger's participation in the Australian mortgage management industry has recently extended through the acquisition of interests in the growing mortgage distribution and aggregation segment of the market.

Through its annuity products, Challenger has built a strong reputation in the retirement market. Today, Challenger is the largest provider of retail annuities in Australia. This reputation also extends to the other investment products that it offers.

TERROIR has worked with Challenger via our Tenancy Coordination role on their retail property protfolio. The successful refurbishment of the Kings Cross Centre under Sydney's iconic Coca-Cola sign involved TERROIR in this role.

Green Star

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Terroir recognise the incorporation of best-practice Environmental Sustainable Design (ESD) is nowadays mandatory for architects and project managers. ESD is not an applied “badge”, rather it embraces an ethic of practice and one shared by the consultants whom we would seek to collaborate.

Our project at 86-88 George Street is the first state heritage listed project to receive a 5-star Green Star Design rating.

Green Star is a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating scheme that evaluates the environmental design and achievements of buildings.

Green Star was developed for the property industry in order to:

- Establish a common language;
- Set a standard of measurement for buildings;
- Promote integrated, whole-building design;
- Recognise environmental leadership;
- Identify building life-cycle impacts; and
- Raise awareness of green building benefits.

Green Star covers a number of categories that assess the environmental impact that is a direct consequence of a projects site selection, design, construction and maintenance. The nine categories included within all Green Star rating tools are:

- Management
- Indoor Environment Quality

- Energy
- Transport
- Water
- Materials
- Land Use & Ecology
- Emissions
- Innovation

These categories are divided into credits, each of which addresses an initiative that improves or has the potential to improve environmental performance. Points are awarded in each credit for actions that demonstrate that the project has met the overall objectives of Green Star.

Once all claimed credits in each category are assessed, a percentage score is calculated and Green Star environmental weighting factors are then applied. Green Star environmental weighting factors vary across states and territories to reflect diverse environmental concerns across Australia.

The following Green Star Certified Ratings are available:

4 Star Green Star Certified Rating (score 45-59) signifies 'Best Practice'

5 Star Green Star Certified Rating (score 60-74) signifies 'Australian Excellence'

6 Star Green Star Certified Rating (score 75-100) signifies 'World Leadership'

Pumphouse Point

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR have designed the refurbishment of the former Hydro Electric Commission's Substation and Pumphouse and private eco cabins throughout nearby native bushland. The site is within the Lake St Clair National Park and World Heritage Site and will adhere to the most stringent of development controls to ensure the pristine landscape is untouched.

The iconic image of the Pumphouse sitting at the end of a 230 metre flume, and which will provide an unparalleled visitor experience on the lake, with the backdrop of rugged snow-capped mountain ranges will become a future symbol of remote wilderness tourism.

TERROIR were commissioned for the project due to their successful outcome with the project's developer on previous projects (Simon Currant of Peppermint Bay) and outstanding credentials in experience-led architecture for major tourism developments.

'Living the Modern, Australian Architecture', 2007, FutureArc: New Architecture, Australian Edition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR and project Liverpool Crescent House are featured in an article on the 25 practices to be showcased at the DAZ German Center for Architecture in Berlin.

Special Feature: 'Living the Modern, Australian Architecture', 2007, FutureArc: New Architecture, Australian Edition, 4Q, p. 40.

Antipodean Charts. Australia and the Pacific, the Inverse Vision - in L Fernandez-Galiano (ed.), Atlas. Global Architecture circa 2000

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Lein van Schaik wrote about our Acton Park House for this Spanish book on Pacific Rim architecture.

van Schaik, L 2007, 'Antipodean Charts. Australia and the Pacific, the Inverse Vision', in L Fernandez-Galiano (ed.), Atlas. Global Architecture circa 2000, Fundacion BBVA, Spain, pp.289-290.

view Acton Park House project

Meadowbank

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

This project shows the potential for positive outcomes even in the most difficult circumstances. An iconic retail environment has resulted with a form and design character that may never have emerged if the situation had been less difficult.

TERROIR grasped the difficulty of the situation at hand and turned it to advantage. The discrete nature of the location led to the suggestion of a major canopy to give a unique identity to the centre and thus brand it in a powerful way. A difficult, hidden retail space thus transformed, in one move, into a highly visible and attractive destination.

The form of the canopy responds to the cavernous nature of the site and the paths through it - flowing through this tight urban situation. The sunken retail mall was used to inspire the sense of a stone cut, or quarry, that informed the detailed material selection and pattern arrangement. As one goes deeper into the earth the materials and patterns change, to achieve differentiated retail environments for convenience stores, food and so on.

Veronika Valk

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:36:20 +0000

Veronika Valk spoke at a TERROIR talk in 2007 and has since maintained contact with the practice via potential collaboration proposals.

Veronika's unique perspective on the politics of urban engagement in Estonia will give a fresh perspective on what is possible for young architects at Parallax.

Veronika Valk lives in Tallinn, Estonia and works as an architect in her practice Zizi&Yoyo. Veronika has constructed both public and private buildings, designed interiors and landscapes, won some 30 prizes at various competitions as well as published a number of critical essays on urban issues.

Born in 1976, Veronika has graduated from Tallinn Estonian Art Academy and Providence Rhode Island School of Design.

2007 RAIA National Awards Jury

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard has been selected as a juror for the 2007 RAIA National Architecture Awards.

This prestigous appointment carries with it the responsibility to curate a selection of the most important work carried out in Australia that has been submitted for awards in 2007.

Fellow jurors are Carey Lyon (Chair), Brit Andresen, Tom Henegan and John Wardle.

Wallpaper: World's most exciting architects

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR have been included in the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2007: 101 of the world’s most exciting new architects Wallpaper is an authoritative and influential design magazine covering Architecture, design, fashion and travel. Produced in the UK, Wallpaper, seeks to cover innovative contemporary design and each year produces the Architectural Directory, a prestigious selection recognising emerging architectural firms from around the world. Architects from 32 countries were represented in this years Directory including 5 Australian Architects.

www.wallpaper.com/directory/313

PROJECT 10: CHARLES RICE (UTS)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

“Everything you wanted to know about the interior but were afraid to ask Freud”

Monday, July 3, 2007, TERROIR Sydney Office

Charity Boado

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Charity joined TERROIR in 2007. Prior to that, she has had previous experience in retail and commercial work place design, fine arts and illustration.

Charity had began her undergraduate studies at COFA studying Fine Arts and a few years later graduated with honours for her bachelor of Interior Design course at the University of Technology Sydney.

Charity currently works across the Retail portfolio and in particular on the Ipoh Limited centres and Multiplex tenancies.

Contact Charity: boado@terroir.com.au

The Power of Desire

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth lectured on sustainability at the biennial Design Build seminar series in Sydney.

The lecture reviewed the contradictions in the sustainability industry which has emerged over the last decade.

PROJECT 9: VERONIKA VALK

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

“Festival of Light”

Friday, June 15, 2007, TERROIR Sydney Office

Living the Modern: Australian Architecture

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Richard Blythe wrote one of the essays in this book, considering the work of TERROIR in the context of the history of Tasmanian architecture. In particular, Richard referred to the work of Michael Viney who was a mentor to TERROIR Director Gerard Reinmuth and who's work has had a strong influence on the way we address landscape in our work. Michael's own house in Hobart (1975) is pictured opposite.

This book accomanies the exhibition of the same name held by the DAZ in Berlin in September 2007.

Perren, C, Ring, K. Living the Modern: Australian Architecture, Hatje Cantz. Germany. 2007. pp. 31-34, 167-172.

'The Bigger Picture', Tasmanian Life

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Scott Balmforth gives his views on the need for big picture thinking to ensure appropriate development of Hobart's waterfront.

Balmforth, S, 2007, 'The Bigger Picture', Tasmanian Life, May/June, p.116.

'Heavy Metal', Tasmanian Life

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR's Liverpool Crescent House is reviewed in lifestyle magazine, Tasmanian Life.

McLeod, P, 2007, 'Heavy Metal', Tasmanian Life, May/June, pp. 36-4.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

PROJECT 8: CHRIS ARKINS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

"The Melting of the World"

Monday, May 21, 2007, TERROIR Sydney Office

Carey Lyon

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Carey Lyon is an award-winning architect with more than 20 years experience in all facets of architecture. He has worked and studied in Australia and abroad throughout this time, being a director of high-profile Melbourne architectural practice Lyons for 10 years. He has lectured extensively at universities in Melbourne, has won significant design competitions across Australia, and has received a large number of national and state architectural awards.

Over the past 20 years, Carey has designed a diverse range of projects in Victoria, the ACT and NSW. His most recent work includes the high profile landmark BHP Billiton Global Headquarters Building in central Melbourne. He is also renowned for designing exemplary educational architecture, from regional TAFE colleges to tertiary premises and research centres, having completed more than 30 projects of this kind in Victoria, the ACT and NSW.

Carey invited Gerard Reinmuth to accompany him on the 2007 National Architecture Awards jury. Carey has continued as a mentor and supporter of TERROIR from this point onward. His counsel is regularly sought and generously given on a range of practice and architecture culture issues.

www.lyonsarch.com.au

Richard Blythe to head RMIT

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR Director Richard Blythe selected from an international field to be appointed as Professor in Architecture and Head of the School of Architecture + Design at RMIT.

RMIT is a multi-disciplinary school comprising architecture, landscape architecture, fashion, industrial design and interior design and holds an international reputation in regard to design innovation in these fields in addition to its pivotal role underpinning Melbourne’s design culture. The School is comprised of 112 staff, 1600 undergraduate students and 160 post-graduates.

In regard to the field of architecture, the school has an unparalleled reputation due to its research and teaching activities which continue to attract Australia’s finest architects in the post-graduate streams. TERROIR has a significant relationship with the School already, with all Directors involved in Masters and PhD research and are in partnership with RMIT’s Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory, headed by Professor Mark Burry on another PhD program.

The appointment will further weld TERROIR’s relationship with and commitment to design research in Australia and overseas.

Claudia Perren

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:55:48 +0000

Dr Claudia Perren has invited TERROIR to participate in the major exhibition on Australian architecture she is curating with Kristien Ring at the DAZ in Berlin, Germany.

Claudia is a Berlin and Sydney based architect, curator and journalist. She is currently teaching architectural design, history and theory at the University of Sydney and UTS. Her research areas and interests focus on modernism in Australia, moving architecture, and on the intersections of the disciplines of art, architecture and philosophy. Her writings have been published in Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, the Czech Republic, Spain and Switzerland.

Next Wave: Emerging Talents in Australian Architecture

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR are included alongside a dozen young Australian practice in Davina Jackon's new book on Australian architecture for Thames and Hudson, Next Wave.

Jackson, D. Next Wave: Emerging Talents in Australian Architecture, Thames and Hudson. NSW. 2007.

Form and Function: About Face 2007

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been engaged as Competition Advisor for the About Face competition. This lecture outlines his plans for the competition over the next 2 years.

'Introduction to About Face 2007', Form & Function Expo, Melbourne, Australia.

The jury to the first About Face competition is pictured opposite, from left to right Gerard Reinmuth, Kerstin Thompson, Fleur Watson and Linda Ginger (CEO Think Brick).

2007 Kenneth F. Brown Architecture Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Peppermint Bay received an honourable mention in these prestigious awards which cover any recent project built in the Pacific rim.

view Peppermint Bay project

OUT FROM UNDER: Australian Architecture Now

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Anthony Burke invited TERROIR to participate in OUT FROM UNDER: Australian Architecture Now, an exhibition of young Australian Architects who are ‘establishing unique new trajectories in design that combine innovative material and spatial research with high quality building’.

The exhibition includes work by: TERROIR, Tony Owen, Dale Jones Evans, McBride Charles Ryan (MCR), Neeson Murcutt Architects, Chenchow Little Architects, Sean Godsell, John Wardle Architects, Kerstin Thompson Architects, Chris Bosse of PTW Architects, Gary Marinko, Staughton Architects, m3architecture, Offshorestudio, Andrew Burges Architects, and Minifie Nixon Architects. Curated by Anthony Burke, Senior Lecturer and Director, Masters of Digital Architecture, University of Technology, Sydney

March-April 2007, San Francisco

Rachael Annear

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Based in the Sydney office Rachael is TERROIR's administrative assistant. She joined the team in 2007 on an administrative traineeship which she has since completed.

Rachael plays a significant role in keeping the Sydney office organised. She is the face of the Sydney office to many people who enjoy her good humour and affable demenour!

Rachael is also the TerroirPtyLtd twitterer, keeping the world posted of TERROIR activity. You can follow her updates on http://twitter.com/TerroirPtyLtd

Contact Rachael: annear@terroir.com.au

PROJECT 7: RICHARD JOHNSON

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

“National Portrait Gallery”

Monday, March 12, 2007, TERROIR Sydney Office

Peppermint Bay featured in The AR 25 Year Survey of Australian Architecture'

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Peppermint Bay is voted by Australia's profession as one of the top 25 buildings in the last 100 years.

The AR 25 Year Survey of Australian Architecture', 2007, Architectural Review Australia, AR100 special edition, p. 101.

view Peppermint Bay project

Emma Trask

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Emma joined TERROIR Pty Ltd in February 2007, while studying architecture at UTS. Her experience prior to Terroir was primarily in theater, film, and television. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Art in Architecture. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Architecture Program at UTS.

Emma has worked on a range of projects including 86-88 George St, Canberra Kiosks, Leichhardt House, Clareville, and Castle Cove. Assisting the project architects in the Sydney office, Emma has gained experience working on projects in the construction phase, negotiating between builders, clients, and consultants to procure a successful outcome for TERROIR projects.

Contact Emma: trask@terroir.com.au

'On the Library', Architectural Review Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Andrew Benjamin reviews TERROIR's competition entry for the Prague National Library.

Benjamin, A, 2007, 'On the Library', Architectural Review Australia, AR100 special edition, pp. 50-52.

view Prague Library Competition project

Australia: Architecture and Design

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR feature in this major new publication from daab.

Marreiros, Sabina. Australia: Architecture and Design. daab. Cologne. 2007. pp. 192-203.

Anthony Burke

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Anthony Burke has invited TERROIR to participate in an exhibition of Australian architects in San Francisco.

Anthony is a Director of Offshorestudio.net and a senior lecturer and Director of the Masters of Digital Architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney specializing in design and theory related to new media and advanced computational processes. A graduate of the Advanced Architecture Design Masters at Columbia University (2000) and the University of New South Wales (1996), Anthony has lectured and taught extensively in Australia and internationally, returning to Sydney in 2007 after 5 years as an Assistant Professor in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

Anthony’s work has appeared in numerous journals, and has been exhibited internationally including the Stazione Leopolda Florence, the SFMoMA, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, SFAIA and Seattle AIA. In October 2004, he co-convened the international symposia “Distributed Form: Network Practice” at UCB, with Therese Tierney and they co-edited the publication “Network practices: New strategies in architecture and design” by Princeton Architectural press released in 2007. Anthony is a regularly contributor to architectural media including Architecture Review, and Architecture Australia, and has published in numerous international forums including AD Collective Intelligence.

About Face Competition Advisor

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been engaged as Advisor for the About Face competition.

The purpose of the competition is to foster research among leading Australian architects in the innovative use of brick and clay products.

Gerard's role in the competition will increase the focus on design-based research via the competition brief and the shortlist of architects he recommends for the competition.

www.thinkbrick.com.au/brick-architecture.cfm

Environmental Management System

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Terroir has developed an Environmental Management System (EMS) as a driver for continual improvement in our environmental performance.

Terroir understand that a primary benefit of an EMS is that it provides a way of managing our environmental performance, allowing us to contribute to an improved environmental quality.

The EMS sets out our planning and development of our policy, implementation, objective and targets, operations, checking and monitoring as part of our commitment to minimise the environmental impacts.

The above is an important component to our overall management responsibility.

Terroir have established an Environmental Management Team as part of the operations in implementing the EMS.

2006 Office Trip, Flinders Island

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

The 2006 office trip was a major watershed in the practice comng after a big year and the conclusion of a major project on the practice and its structure by Martin Kornberger.

Highlights of the trip included the light plane trips to the island and the announcement of 3 new associates - Niki Douglas, Tamara Donnellan and Shaun Miller.

Think Brick

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

In Australia the brick industry is worth $2.0Bn to the economy and employs 30,000 people nationwide in the manufacturing and installation of its product.

Bricks have been produced in Australia since the arrival of the First Fleet and are intrinsically linked with the great Australian dream of home ownership. After all, property is often referred to as ‘bricks and mortar’.

Think Brick Australia represents the nation’s leading clay brick and paver manufacturers and is responsible for promoting the contribution that brick makes to the way people live today.

Think Brick CEO, Linda Ginger, has been incredibly supportive of research within the design professions and for this reason it has been a pleasure to work with her and her team.

http://www.thinkbrick.com.au

Supermodels

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR were invited by Sam Marshall to sumbit a collection of models for this exhibition held in Bourke Street, Sydney in September 2006.

Anzac Parade Amenities

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR were commissioned to design amenities for visitors to Anzac Parade – Australia’s national avenue commemorating our servicemen and women. The project was not without controversy – the essential need to provide a place for elderly war veterans to rest often being overlooked by the various heritage and community lobbies less interested in matters of national importance.

The design evolved from a clear and defamiliarised reading of the avenue as a 3 part urban structure – a band of southern blue gums forming a backdrop to a mown strip of land into which gravel forecourts announce each memorial. The avenue is crossed by streets at either end and at the mid point. These cross streets confuse the morphology and result in untidy grassed areas of a distinctly surburban quality.

Our proposal was to place the amenities at these cross streets, locating them at the mid point of the avenue for pedestrian amenity and as a means of addressing the unresolved landscape. As with many TERROIR projects, the project itself became an opportunity to resolve another problem within the same framework.

The southern blue gums adjacent to the site imposed strict conditions in regard to possible building footprints, resulting in a site boundary composed of intersecting arcs. These intersecting arcs thus became the site for the design proposal – resulting in both a functional response and a lyrical ‘landscape’ quality to the small amenity buildings.

In 2008, a visit to Venice and Carlo Scarpa’s canopy in the courtyard of the Italian Pavilion provided some confirmation of the potential for the proposal had it been realised.

IDEA Awards 2006, Inside

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR's Liverpool Crescent House is featured in an article on residential projects nationally shortlisted for the 2006 Idea Awards.

IDEA Awards 2006', 2006, Inside, no.43. pp.110-111.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

PROJECT 6: SIMEON KING

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

“Can architecture as an idea about rethinking, reorganisation, change and innovation, be used to renew Australia? Is the way we are doing things now the best way? What can we do better?

A discussion about imagining a new Australia. The biggest design project. Designing a new Australia.”

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

3 unis, 3 studios

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Rachael Neeson devised an annual review of Sydney-based universities via a focus on specific studios discussed at each school. Gerard chairs the discussion.

This is the first in what is hoped will be an annual event.

Prague Library Competition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR makes it to final 16 in international competition for a new National Library in Prague.

view Prague Library Competition project

'A Room With A View - design and the view', RAIA

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth gave a lecture at Tusculum in October on the use of views and vistas as a productive engine for architetcural design.

'A Room With A View - design and the view', RAIA Tusculum, Sydney, Australia.

Second Nature Exhibition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR were selected by Peter Davidson to participate in Second-Nature – Australian Modern Architectural Design Competition, Nanjing Planning and Architecture Exhibition Centre.

This exhibition featured the work of 9 Australian practices, of which TERROIR was the only practice featured from NSW and Tasmania.

Peter Davidson

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Peter Davidson has invited TERROIR to participate in an exhibition he is curating in Nanjing, China.

Peter Davidson taught at the architectural association and bartlett school of architecture in london prior to co-founding LAB architecture studio in 1994 with Donald Bates, and subsequently winning the design competition for Federation Square in Melbourne.

Peter has been fundamentally involved and continues to contribute to the studio's engagement with contemporary architectural theory through the organisation and participation in the global-reaching architectural academic and industry lecture circuit. In addition, Peter contributes to numerous teaching and pedagogical initiatives in Australia and abroad.

Peter is currently an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Technology in Sydney and MIT in the USA.

www.labarchitecture.com

PROJECT 5: SIMON GRIMES

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

“The Craft of Model Making”

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

AAA Young Architects Exhibition V2

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

This is the second exhibition curated by Gerard Reinmuth for the AAA and the Customs House, Sydney. The exhibition examines the work of key people in larger practices and their contribution to major projects.

For, a misunderstood aspect of architectural practice is the extent of collaboration involved. From the smallest projects (which involve a client, architect, engineers and builders) to the largest (where the design team alone may consist of dozens of people) the reality is that buildings rarely emerge from a sole creator.

This reality is being acknowledged more widely by some key members of the profession. For example, Pritzker-prize winners Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid are two architects who make explicit the importance of key collaborators in their offices and the shared authorship that results from these contributions. While these collaborators are from a younger generation, they have often been with a practice for much of its lifespan. In other cases, younger architects have joined established practices and become part of an transformation that takes their input and skills into account.

So, while the term “young architects” brings to mind the thought of sole practitioners working on house alterations from their spare room, there is a far larger group of young architects at work.

This group arguably has a larger effect on the landscape of our cities, even though the members of the former group may be more recognized. Theis group consists of the designers, project architects and junior partners in large practice.

The relationship between these architects and their practice is an interesting one. Directors of a large practice often provide a theoretical or architectural position which has been developed over decades and which provides a framework within which staff can operate. The practice also provides access to projects and a financial and management support that the younger architect cannot organise on their own. Further, the younger architects are insulated from commercial risks they are not willing to accept in the pursuit of private practice.

On the other hand, the role of loyal and dedicated key staff is essential for the viability of any organization and these younger architects are the lynchpins around which the practice can confidently deliver quality work time and time again. They may also bring a different design perspective that can reinforce the position of a practice or even see it shift and mature over time. Younger architects also tend to be closer to new innovations – in technology or theory – thus ensuring that the practice remains abreast of contemporary practices.

This exhibition showcases the work of 8 young architects who are fortunate to be located inside respected large practices who have provided opportunities for them to excel. Together with the young architects presented in the inaugural AAA Customs House exhibition, these professionals hold the future of the architectural profession - and its role in the evolution of our cities - in their hands.

'Architecture As Light, Light As Atmosphere', IES: The Lighting Society Convention 2006 OUR LIGHTING FUTURE

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited as a keynote speaker to the IES Annual Cinvention of lighting designers.

'Architecture As Light, Light As Atmosphere', IES: The Lighting Society Convention 2006 OUR LIGHTING FUTURE, Sydney, Australia.

Brookfield Multiplex

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Brookfield Multiplex is a fully integrated property, funds management and infrastructure business with activities in construction, commercial, retail, and residential property, property management services, and infrastructure.

Following the acquisition of Multiplex by Brookfield Asset Management Inc, the Multiplex Group de-listed from the ASX in December 2007 and in January 2008 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc which is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the symbol BAM and on the Euronext, under the symbol BAMA.

In Australasia, the group employs approximately 1,500 people and has a reputation for quality, innovation and the successful delivery of major projects.

TERROIR have worked for Multplex and now Brookfield Multiplex since 2006 on various retail centres within their portfolio, including World Square in George Street, Sydney.

Liverpool Crescent House review

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Liverpool Crescent House is featured in a new publication.

Spurr, H, 2006, 'Liverpool Crescent House (Tas)', Follow Gentlemen, September, vol. 2, p. 119.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

'Embedded Practice Symposium', RAIA

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR discuss their involvement in the SIAL embedded practice project.

'Embedded Practice Symposium', RAIA Sydney, Australia.

Martin Kornberger

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Martin Kornberger received his PhD in 2002 from the University of Vienna. Currently Martin has a joint appointment as Senior Lecturer in the School of Management and the School of Design at the University of Technology, Sydney. Martin is also a Visiting Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. His research interests are management, branding and organizational practices. Martin's work has been published in Organization Studies, Organization, Sociological Review, British Journal of Management and others. He is also co-author of the management textbook "Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice" with Stewart Clegg and Tyrone Pitsis (second edition forthcoming September 2007).

Martin’s management strategies were bought to TERROIR in 2006 where he undertook a major piece of work as part of his research into the structures of creative organizations. This work led to significant restructure of the practice and Martin has an ongoing role in staff reviews and Director reviews. Martin’s acute understanding of who we are and what we do remains important to the practice in many guises, including this website which emerged from workshops chaired by Martin.

Prague Library (competition)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Archives contain secrets, histories yet to be challenged and re-presented. New contexts surprising and even horrific. The idea of the archive is not situated in the preservation of this material however but in the moment of its opening up - of revealing, of bringing a new light to things that have lain still for so long, protected. Like eggs - eggs that contain the potential horror of the metamorphosis of history as much as they contain its hope.

Prague is a city of dark tucks and folds; the folds of valleys that protect a castle, dark histories over laying creativity, and like the blackness of the black theatre of Prague it is these shadows, this blackness that intensifies the appearances of this city. These are the secrets of an archive tucked under the corner of the velvet blanket of the park, clustered in the shadows made below the fold. Their existence is revealed via ruptures in the park's surface, while their potentiality emerges as each cracks open in the lightness of the moment.

PROJECT 4: ADRIAN LAHOUD

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

“Theatre of War”

Tuesday, August 15 2006, TERROIR Sydney Office

TERROIR Symposium

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Andrew Benjamin chairs a symposium at the University of Tasmania which fleshes out key issues that will form the basis of the book TERROIR: Cosmopolitan Ground. Symposium speakers include Jeff Malpas, Marcello Stamm and TERROIR Directors.

Kerstin Thompson and Rachael Neeson were invited to review and critique the presentations.

'Model Making as Thinking', Inside

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Reinmuth, G, 2006, 'Model Making as Thinking', Inside, Issue 44, p.36.

Hazards at Freycinet

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The opportunity to design a large hotel in a world-class landscape area is a significant one but also comes with a great responsibility. The site is located 2 kilometres west of the town of Coles Bay on Tasmania's East Coast, with only a beach and single connecting road between. The dominant feature of the site is the expansive view along the beach and across the bay to "The Hazards" - a famous landscape that makes the Freycinet Peninsula one of the most visited wilderness areas in the state.

A series of key organizational decisions formed the basis to the design strategy. The original brief for 150 units, spread across the site in a "resort" formation was challenged. By locating all units at the coastal edge of the site the whole development is accessed via internal circulation, changing the emphasis from a resort to hotel. In addition to addressing qualitative issues of 5-star accommodation in a cooler climate, the rooms were located on the most degraded part of the site (thus returning the rest of the site to bushland) and each room could receive the famous Hazards view.

Operating in parallel with these decisions was an emerging poetic position in regard to the occupation of the site and the way in which this occupation would reinforce its key characteristics. These characteristics - geology, landscape form and climate - led to the development of a series of written strategies and diagrams intended to clarify the architectural potential and thus the experiential and interpretive potential for short-term visitors. Key in these is our understanding of the Tasmanian landscape as an essay in monumentality and intimacy, a juxtaposition exemplified in the photography of the late Peter Dombriovskis.

The building consists of three key components. Firstly, a monumental copper roof plate crowns the site, providing an abstract and iconic synthesis of the site and the characteristics of the landscape in which it is placed.

All indoor public spaces are located under this roof, both an identifier and a gathering space. Secondly, a central zone of pools and walkways provides a foreground to the view in addition to a unique experience in the form of hot pools that recall the combination of granite and steam that formed this particular landscape. Finally, the room wings roll along the contours, ensuring that each room obtains a view while, via their detailed geometry, ensuring that the scale of the development is minimized.

Image by Bill Henson, 'Untitled,' 1996/97, Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.

TERROIR Studio at UTS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Ingo Kumic are to teach an urban design studio at UTS. The studio has been framed with Adrian Lahoud and looks at the City of Sydney's notion of a "City of Villages" and crituques both this notion and how it might impact on urban design propositions.

Preamble

In both the private and public realms there is an increasing recognition that good architecture, (rather than good building) is a consequence of sound strategic thinking.

Good architecture is therefore often grounded in the critical ability to contextualize. That is, to use a theoretical framework that reflects the prevailing urbanism of a place and which results in an explanation rather than simply a description of the end solution. One could argue that this may always be the case in the future as the focus on a single design-object shifts toward a greater emphasis on the resolution of the multiple systems or layers that affect our cities and which come to bear on any singular design problem.

This emerging condition has led to an increasing level of criticism that urban design praxis is being wholly ineffective at responding to and reflecting the production of the material basis of urban life - or if you like, the economy as a whole. This ineffectiveness may be an opening into which architects can step – hence the desire to play out these issues in this studio.

Alexander Cuthbert (The Form of Cities; Urban Design and Political Economy, 2006) argues that urban design theory is plagued by propositions which emerge from physical determinism, aesthetic theory and representation (architecture) on the one hand and public policy and planning control (planning) on the other. According to Cuthbert, the problem with urban design stems from its weak theoretical basis, allowing other built environment professions to claim ownership. This results in superficial explanations of operational features of the urban environment where “description = explanation”. [1]

In an effort to introduce students to the process of strategic thinking and to contest traditional approaches to urban design, this studio will, albeit in a cursory manner, engage the contemporary condition of capitalist globalization which commodifies culture and in so doing co-opts architecture in the broader project of making a place/ city (urban boosterism) economically competitive.

Studio Context

To this end, the City of Sydney (CoS) is attempting to solicit interest and investment in the City by pursuing what they believe to be a desirable ‘image’ which they call the ‘City of Villages’. As part of this process the City has prepared the Draft City East and Surry Hills Urban Design Study (EHUDS).[2]

The EHUDS arguably embodies many of Cuthbert’s concerns, not the least of which is that it describes urban design rather than explains its existence, and begs the question therefore of whether or not urban design, and therefore architecture, is being deployed in a manner that contributes to the project of making a city - or whether it simply responds to the immediate project of ‘building’ for the sake of it?

[1] Cuthbert cited by Kumic, AAUD submission 2006

[2] The Draft Urban Design Study was prepared by Allen Jack and Cottier and was on public exhibition until April 2006. Submissions are now closed and being considered by the CoS.

RRR The Architects, Interview

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:05:53 +0000

TERROIR give their first interview to Melbourne architecture radio show, The Architects.

A podcast of the interview can be found here.

Liverpool Crescent House, Architectural Review Australia: Residential Special Issue

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Philosopher Jeff Malpas reviews our Liverpool Crescent House for this AR special issue on residential architecture.

Malpas, J, 2006, 'Liverpool Crescent House', Architectural Review Australia: Residential, no. 097, pp. 72-79.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

Ingo Kumic

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Ingo Kumic is a strategist with 16 years experience in the planning of cities and managing and developing complex urban projects (spatial strategy/ policy). Apart from his project management experience his core expertise is in economic development, city/ marketing and communications and development partnerships.

Ingo has worked with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, NSW Landcom, NSW Department of Planning, NSW Department of State and Regional Development and South Sydney Development Corporation. Internationally he has worked with the European Commission, International Energy Agency, Greater London Authority, London Development Agency, French Ministry for Housing and Infrastructure, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has taught extensively having been a visiting lecturer/ critic in architecture, planning, urban design and development at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning University College London, the Architectural Association London, The University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, and the University of New South Wales.

Ingo completed a PhD in 2008. His research, titled ‘Revealing the Competitive City – Spatial Political Economy and City Brands’, has provided the focus around his engagement with TERROIR. Ingo and Gerard have taught studios on the topic at UTS and written both popular pieces and critiques in the architectural press on city-branding and competitiveness issues.

Ingo’s understanding of TERROIR as a practice has led to his involvement in other activities including the workshop sessions from which this website design emerged.

2006 RAIA Awards (Tas)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Liverpool Crescent House is commended in the New Residential architecture section of the awards program.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

2006 RAIA Awards (Tas)

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Fish 349 receives a Commendation in the Interior Architecture section of the awards.

view Fish 349 project

'Street Works', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Fish 349 is featured in Monument.

Gatley, J, 2006, 'Street Works', Monument, April/May, pp. 30-32.

view Fish 349 project

Marcelo Stamm

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Marcelo Stamm's thinking of creative constellations has been incredibly important to the practice and our understanding of how we work. As a result, Marcelo made a major contribution to TERROIR: Cosmopolitan Ground.

Marcello met Richard while in a management meeting at the University of Tasmania and the relationship has never looked back. Marcello’s interest in creativity has led to his involvement in TERROIR: Cosmopolitan Ground and ongoing conversations about the nature of creativity which remain incredibly influential.

PROJECT 3: ANTHONY BURKE (Berkley, Calif.)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

“Exploring architecture in the post-digital age”

Monday, April 10, 2006, TERROIR Sydney Office

2006 National Interior Design Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR were awarded the National Emerging Practice Award. In addition, the work of the practice received a range of awards and commendations:

National Commendations

Hospitality Interior Design: Fish 349

Residential in Interior Design: Liverpool Crescent House

Colour in Residential Interior Design: Liverpool Crescent House

Best of State Awards

Commercial Interior Design: Fish 349

Residential Interior Design: Liverpool Crescent House

view Fish 349 project

view Liverpool Crescent House project

Northbridge Office

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Steensen Varming approached TERROIR in 2005 to redesign their offices. This invitation followed a number of successful collaborations, during which many hours were spent working together in our York Street offices. Steensen Varming were interested in the relaxed and informal studio environment in which we work and in how this sensibility could be utilised in their office redesign.

The partitioned office fitout with cellular workstation format was stripped out to create a large single space focused on an end-window view to the trees and distant landscape – a view that was not perceptible previously and which transformed the space. A communication and collaboration space was established along one wall of the tenancy, running the full length of the space and uniting all teams and personnel. Within this space is contained communal facilities such as kitchen, bar, art gallery and a series of meeting places.

Given Steensen Varming’s awareness of their Danish heritage, TERROIR procured a range of vintage Danish furniture of the era when Steensen Varming first worked in the Australia (on the Opera House). The remaining palette is white and off white to foreground both the external landscape and timber furniture.

In the lower level foyer a folding wall reveals an image of Varming playing the cello on the Opera House steps – a statement of heritage, culture and ambition which remains embedded in the firm to this day. The boardroom contains a tapestry made from a concept sketch for the fitout by Gerard Reinmuth.

Photography by Brett Boardman

PROJECT 2: BRETT BOARDMAN

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

"The Oeuvre Complete”

Friday, March 31, 2006, TERROIR Sydney Office

'Land Values'. MONUMENT Magazine

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews this new house in Scone by Paul Berkemeier.

Reinmuth, G, 2006, 'Review: Land Values'. Monument. February/March, pp.58-59.

PROJECT 1: Choi Ropiha

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“Recent Works”

February 10, 2006

North Sydney Bus Shelter (competition)

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In an effort to reveal and celebrate the opportunities of North Sydney, the design concept is an attempt to invoke intrigue and amenity to the people by the simple invitation to "look up, look down".

The Groundscape - reveals a trace of existence, a habitual pattern of use over the hard surface of the city, in a similar manner that the original bed rock was once eroded over time by nature. Incisions and insets in the ground begin to expose the hidden layers and inner workings of the city.

The Shelter - maps the activity people as a template for organizing zones of "shelter" and project out to engage with surrounding context. North Sydney's affinity with modern technology is the catalyst for the public facade-like underside of the shelters. Conceptually they aim to reveal the unseen (and inescapable) information, data and telecommunications systems that go unheralded in a modern metropolis.

Emma Quinn

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Emma is TERROIR's administrator, located in the Hobart office she oversees the day to day running of the business. She started out her life at TERROIR in 2006 as a trainee, that year being nominated for the Trainee of the Year award. Emma has since seen her role in the office grow to a level of great value.

Emma is also currently undertaking a Bachelor of Business at the University of Tasmania.

Contact Emma: quinn@terroir.com.au

Ferntree House Two

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The opportunity to revisit a project 2 years after it’s previous development in the office (refer Fern Tree House 1) but this time with a new client who had recently purchased the bush site, brought with it considerable site and project awareness but refreshed by the new client’s modified briefing priorities and expectations. It also served as an opportunity to reflect on the practice’s development over many years, with many projects and research (including a significant proportion of Masters research by Gerard and Scott at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology).

Occupying the end of a “line” - manifest in the drive from the city of Hobart up Mount Wellington to this foothill escarpment – from where primary water views to the south are experienced remained a strong conceptual driver, a carry-over from Fern Tree House 1. This iteration of the project however brought with it a re-awakening of the potent connection through the landscape on offer; between the summit of Mount Wellington and southern water views. Eschewing any notion of “line” as physical trace only – this underpinned the original Fern Tree House 1 – the project developed as a desire to capture the moment of “fusing” a trajectory of personal arrival with that of a latent landscape connection from the mountain pinnacle, and jointly projecting out to the southern view from the escarpment.

Externally the house is a lithe, low-lying “container” in the otherwise natural bush setting. It seeks to disappear - stealthbomber like - aided by the blankness of it’s external dark-coloured metal cladding, applied in flat sheets with a gentle tilting off the vertical of the lapped-joints in a rhythm similar to the adjacent tree trunks. The firmly-grounded sense when viewed from most aspects is contrasted by the culminating end projecting off the escarpment edge – a physical accompaniment to the spatial experience from the inside of being projected out “to” the views.

The blankness of the exterior is continued internally in the “public” spaces, furthering the idea of an uncanny container-like object in lieu of any semblance towards the “domestic”. The interior is in fact another exterior and equally “blunt” albeit the external tough metal cladding is replaced with a homogeneous ‘white’ surface. A crumpled ceiling expresses the force of the real (human arrival) and unreal (latent landscape line between mountain and view) vectors pushing in through the container-like internal space and fusing in to a singular projection to the distant water view; the ceiling profile relaxes as it approaches the culminating end space from where the views are experienced, similar to the effect of smoke travelling through a wind tunnel.

In contrast to the blunt, massive scale of the internal space, fine steel armatures are inserted at select moments on to which “events” such as lighting and operable curtains are attached.

Christmas Trip 2005

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR's 2005 Christmas trip took both offices to Hobart to review the recently completed Liverpool Crescent, Acton Park and Tolman's Hill houses.

The mountain biking down Mount Wellington was less sucessful based on the injury count.

'Olympic Ideals', Landscape Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The Blaxland Common project by TERROIR in association with Room 4.1.3 is reviewed in Landscape Australia.

Schaffer, B, 2005, 'Olympic Ideals', Landscape Australia, vol. 27, no. 108, pp. 30-40.

view Blaxland Common project

Cataract Kiosk

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Rather than providing a typical Centre, where Interpretation is displayed independent of its setting, TERROIR conceived this project as a sequence of authentic experiences that are focused on key thematic responses to the site, commensurate with the world's best interpretation practices. The thematic interpretation is delivered along a walkway that embodies a poetic response to the expanding and contracting landscape and allows the visitor to discover the place in an unravelling of the natural and constructed Victorian Landscapes complete with original garden pavilions and tea house and the more recent 1950's Basin Kiosk.

The innovation shown in the project occured across a number of fields. At an ESD level, the cultural capital of the project itself, the solution of the problem via thematic interpretation and the design not to build a new building are all significant ESD issues.

In terms of design innovation, this project has been highly recognised in international journal articles and architecture biennale exhibitions.

Photography by Ray Joyce

'Restaurant Reviews', QANTAS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Fish 349 is reviewed in Qantas inflight magazine.

Dyson, S, McShane, R, 2005, 'Restaurant Reviews', QANTAS, October, no. 148, p. 181.

view Fish 349 project

AAA Young Architects Exhibition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth curated the first ever AAA exhibition (on young architects) at Customs House.

The exhibition was opened by the Founding President of the AAA, Glenn Murcutt

The Young Architects Exhibition is a display of innovative architecture being held to mark World Architecture Day and Architecture Week. The exhibition runs from 1st - 30th Oct at Customs House, Sydney.

'Placing Design', Cosmopolitanism and Place: The Designs of Resistance Conference, UTS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Richard Blythe, Gerard Reinmuth, Jeff Maplas and Marcelo Stamm speak in a session on design and place in the Cosmopolitanism and Place conference curated by Jeff Malpas and Andrew Benjamin at UTS.

'Placing Design', Cosmopolitanism and Place: The Designs of Resistance Conference, UTS

Bondi Apartment

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

A yellow brick apartment building yields a secret and thus surprising interior, based upon a palette provided by soap-finishing the existing timber parquetry floor, reflecting the preoccupations of the Danish owner/collaborator. This timber palette is extended with a series of new plywood furniture pieces, laminated with Australian hardwood and also soap finished. These pieces provide for sitting, sleeping and display spaces, and contain within them further secret storage compartments. The combination of blonde timber palette and extensive storage enable an interior spaciousness that is unexpected for an apartment of this size.

Photography by Brett Boardman

Fish 349

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Fish 349 is a project in three parts: the original Georgian building, its 1970's extension and the new plywood and glass armature that connects them. The impetus for the armature comes from the extended landscape of the street, its folds, twists and nooks that work their way into the new interior and position diners relative to pedestrians. In this way the external space of the street is folded into the intimate space of a commercial interior in such a way that the interior is experienced as an extension of that urban condition.

The tool for exploring the contexts of this project has been the line: the direction of the street, the trajectory of a pedestrian, a line of sight. These linear explorations result in formal, material and spatial delineations that vary from careful spatial studies to playful graphics.

At the point of entry patrons are held in a pocket space defined by the concrete floor that flips up the wall and back across the ceiling. This space provides a threshold between the open kitchen to the left and the dining room to the right. The dining room occupies the entire ground floor of the Georgian building and this delineation creates clarity through use about the history of these building objects (Georgian and 1970's). This if further reinforced by pulling back the textures of the Georgian structure to reveal original materials: brick walls and a ceiling of the timber structure and lining to the floor above.

In this transformation of a grocery store into a contemporary fish cafe, TERROIR have attempted to modify existing fabric in a manner that brings new clarity to the history of its fabric and the modes of use in the extended landscape of Elizabeth Street.

2006 Interior Design Awards
BEST OF STATE: Commercial Interior Design COMMENDATION: Hospitality Interior Design

2006 RAIA Tasmanian Chapter Awards COMMENDATION: Interior Architecture

Photography by Brett Boardman and Shannon McGrath

'City's soul recycled'. Home.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Hobart-based freelance journalist reviewed TERROIR’s Trinity Apartments in an article on recycling buildings.

Mocatta, Gabi. 'City's soul recycled'. Home. 4th September, 2005. pp.10-11.

view Trinity Apartments project

Solis Golf Resort Competition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR successful in competition for golf resort on Tasmania's east coast.

National Gallery of Australia Contemporary Architects Speaker Series, National Gallery of Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR are invited to lecture at the National Gallery of Australia is this prestigious speaker series.

Jeff Malpas

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Born in Sydney, but growing up in Auckland, New Zealand, Professor Jeff Malpas completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Auckland and his PhD at the Australian National University. His first academic position was at the University of New England from 1985 until 1989, and he was at Murdoch University from 1989 until 1997.

Within philosophy, Professor Malpas is perhaps best known as one of a small number of philosophers who work across the analytic-continental divide, publishing one of the first books that drew attention to convergences in the thinking of the key twentieth century American philosopher Donald Davidson and the phenomenological and hermeneutic traditions, as exemplified in the work of Heidegger and Gadamer. More broadly, Professor Malpas’ work has been characterized by considerable inter-disciplinary engagement, particularly in relation to issues of space and place. His 1999 book, Place and Experience: A Philosophical Topography, was described by Professor Ed Casey of SUNY, as ‘the most important book written on the topic of place’ (Philosophy and Geography, 2001). He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania.

Jeff worked with TERROIR on Cosmopolitan Ground, an engagement that came out of his work with Richard Blythe at the University of Tasmania. Somewhat serendipitously, Jeff worked with Andrew Benjamin on his cosmopolitan project at the same time. Andrew wrote the introduction of Cosmopolitan Ground and was key in joining together the team of philosophers on the project. Jeff has also written about TERROIR projects in the architectural press.

Grape

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Grape is a wine bar and bottleshop that occupies the ground floor of an 1800’s sandstone-fronted warehouse on Hobart’s Salamanca Place, a popular place for locals and visitors to the State.

TERROIR’s response sought to reveal the original fabric by removing the recent proliferation of fitout accruements and thus exposing the original cast-iron columns, timber floor structure above and enclosing white-painted sandstone walls. These surfaces were left in their recovered state and clear sealed against further damage.

A series of cages-within-cages were then introduced to define spaces within spaces – for example on entering through the sandstone façade visitors find themselves between the façade’s inner surface the the first threshold of raw steel bars and reinforcement mesh in an informal sitting area. Moving in to the steel cage enclosed space a central tall table runs full length of the space. On one side is another secondary steel cage which holds the bottleshop component where patrons are able to pass in to and view the wine on display that is seemingly suspended in space within the thin-steel reinforcement. On the other side is the service counter, formed by a finer-aperture reinforcement mesh surrounding a ‘filling’ of used wine bottle corks.

The wine motif of cork is continued in the new cork tile flooring over the existing concrete slab but does not run completely to the walls and internal supports to further the legibility of ‘new’ and ‘original’.

'Tailor Made', Australian House and Garden

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Tranmere House is featured in this liftstyle magazine.

Watson, Reg, 2005, 'Tailor Made', Australian House and Garden, September, pp.112-119.

view Tranmere House project

World Square

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR has had an active role as the Retail Fitout Management to the World Square since 2006 this has included managing new fitouts including Tenancy Co-ordination and Design Reviews. World Square has over 90 tenancies and has a mix of shopping, food and entertainment precincts focused for inner city community.

Blaxland Common (competition)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

This project is for a new recreation park adjacent to the stadiums in which Sydney's 2000 Olympics were staged. In collaboration with landscape architects Room 4.1.3, TERROIR developed a notion of NewParkSpace as a means of responding to the needs of recreation spaces in the contemporary city.

The image of a hi-tech running shoe meeting the ground - the moment when the radically light, curved, computer aided, and artificial product meets the organic, dirty, weighty and in this case, toxic earth - provided a conceptual engine and sensibility for the proposal. This avenue of enquiry led to the artificial environment of computer gaming and the landscapes deployed in these environments as a reference from which the spatial maneuvers and representations of these were developed.

In capturing both the aesthetic and functional quality of the running shoe and the computer game and applying it to the site, we acknowledged the site's artificiality while distinguishing it from others. Thus, a branding exercise emerges from a spatial exercise, resulting in an activated parkspace.

The landscape was then developed in detail as a gameboard upon which people could enjoy what we called "sportfun". Sportfun is based on all possible official games and sports but it treats them as fun. Sportfun is participatory not passive. Currently there is no place, a place between the ticketed fun park and the instrumental sports grounds where people can feel comfortable to get involved in "sportfun". Our aim was to create such a place.

TERROIR and Room 4.1.3 were shortlisted to the final 4.

Hunters Hill

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Hunters Hill is another exploration in TERROIR’s approach to residential work and in particular alternations and additions. Our advice to the client from the first meeting was to build as little as possible thus minimising budget, risk and to minimise material use. The brief requirements were met via specific design interventions rather than the production of more space.

The house fronts the street via a stone building from the 1830s onto which an extension was located and updated in the 1980s. This extension, while not ideal from an architectural perspective, nevertheless existed in place and provided sufficient volume within which transformations could be made. The new work then consists of a series of small moves to provide appropriate living spaces, and storage for a growing family.

Photography by Brett Boardman

Simon Wood

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Simon is a Sydney based commercial and Fine Arts Photographer, having completed degrees in Fine arts at the Sydney College of the Arts and the ‘Hochschule Der Kunste’ Berlin.

His main commercial focus is in Architecture, Landscape and Fine Art projects and has been widely published inside Australia, as well as Asia and Europe.

Parallel to his commercial work Simon’s is interested in capturing the historical and future values of industrial and urban sites in Sydney and Berlin.

Simon has worked with TERROIR on a number of Sydney projects. In particular, his personal work of industrial sites has inspired formal investigations in some of our projects.

simon@swphotography.net.au

TERROIR Studio at UTS

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is to run a 4th year studio at UTS. The project is set to re-imagine a vision of Sydney via its portal at Circular Quay. The studio proposition is below.

Empathy, Ethics and Architecture

Empathy

Identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings and motives;

The attribution of one’s own feelings to an object

Ethics

The study of what is morally right and what is not

The physical evidence of cities - buildings and infrastructure - are the accreted outcome of the turbulent mix of systems and flows of which cities are formed and which encrust the topography of a place. Each city becomes unique by way of the particularity of this turbulent mix and particular topography. In the contemporary city local and global influences form and reform in patterns of lack and excess, of redundancy and opportunity.

Traditional approaches to city planning and urban design, of statutory and land use planning and of streetscape and building envelope are meaningless and ineffectual in the face of this turbulence. Planning mechanisms fail to design, clipping at the edges of the forming city, working toward a middle-road-mediocrity. Urban design struggles to engage with the dynamic systems that shape cities. Design-and-build packages re-package existing norms, the basic stricture of all commercialism, and invent very little.

TERROIR understand the world as an ever evolving system - at both a spatial and ecological level - and which is subject to continual modification (from both natural forces and human intervention). Therefore, TERROIR is a practice constantly in search of frameworks than can provide focus for a specific project while negotiating the turbulence of our evolving world. Our upbringing in a culture of contested wilderness areas, dam debates and world heritage listings has resulted in a preference for conceptual frameworks based upon empathy and ethics to underpin interventions in contested landscape and urban sites.

In this studio students can debate, position and then explore these issues with respect to a key Sydney site – the ferry terminals at Circular Quay. In redesigning this critical element in Sydney’s transport infrastructure students will be asked to take a position in regard to the image and mechanics of the city at a key threshold point within the city structure.

'Navigating Hazards', RAIA, Monday Night Talk

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews the design process to date of The Hazards project in Tasmania.

'Negotiating Hazards', RAIA, Monday Night Talk Tusculum, Sydney, Australia.

Liverpool Crescent House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Externally this house is a blunt cube in the landscape, an uncanny object which responds to the gravitas and power of the landscape with a restrained formal language. This restraint is carried through in the limited materials palette, darkened and unforgiving of the privacy of the occupants.

This external brevity is contrasted with a surprisingly rich and intimate interior. Public spaces of this interior are "carved" from the blunt block that establishes the house position on the site and are compressed by the more private functions - toilet, bathroom, bedroom etc - that occupy the solid components remaining from this carving action and which remain connected to from the base. This carved action results in a refined materials palette built upon the exterior materials resulting in a robust but surprisingly intimate interior. This externalizing of the materials palette has profound spatial implications and results in a tension between the inner and tightly sealed outer layer. This tension between the inner and outer is played out in a range of complex spatial maneuovres as the external skin is bought into and sometimes passes entirely through the interior section of the house to distribute light to lower levels.

The core folds out into the landscape in a suntrap courtyard connecting the spatial sequence of the house with the slope of the site. The courtyard and vertiginous windows suggest, conceptually, another level of folding outwards and interconnection with the greater landscape. In this sense the play of interior/exterior is extended to take in the valley and the hill.

This house can be understood then as a play of doubles - blunt/intimate, interior/exterior, carved space/plateau - in which the experiential qualities of house, of home, of inside and landscape are folded together in a powerful expression of place.

2006 Interior Design Awards
BEST OF STATE: Residential Interior Design COMMENDATION: Residential Interior Design
COMMENDATION: Colour in Residential Interior Design

Photography by Shannon McGrath and Ray Joyce

Image of 'La mesa de Giacometti, 1' by Eduardo Chillida Juantegui, 1988, courtesy of Archivo Fotografico Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.

Image of Tokyo Opera House, 1986 by Vincent Lafont, courtesy of Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

East Darling Harbour (competition)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

East Darling Harbour is a major development site in Sydney for which an international design competition was held in 2005.

The difficulty in working in Sydney in the current political and cultural climate is the prevalance of development parcel agendas to override a greater vision for the city.

We sought to address this issue via a city vision based in an understanding of both the cultural forces at play on the site and the landscape form itself which has been modified by industrial uses. The result is a giant parametric model with an approximate overall form and key linkages back to the city and which enables development to occur within this overall framework. Thus, development parcels can be sold off to the highest bidder as components of a parametric equation which in turn re-adjusts as each new parcel enters the market, preserving the overall form of this enormous development area, and thus preserving its contribution to the image of the city.

'Overcoming Sentimentality', Designbuild Exhibition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth - June 2005

'Overcoming Sentimentality', Designbuild Exhibition, Sydney, Australia.

2005 Tasmanian RAIA Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Tolmans Hill House wins the Residential New Award

view Tolmans Hill House project

2005 Tasmanian RAIA Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Peppermint Bay wins the Commercial award.

view Peppermint Bay project

UTS Design, Architecture and Building

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

UTS is the most innovative and exciting school of architecture in Sydney and has one of the best visiting tutor programs in the country. Gerard's appointment as Adjunct Professor consolidates a relationship between UTS and TERROIR - a relationship which spans publications, tutoring, guest critic and course advisory roles. TERROIR collaborators and supporters including Adrian Lahoud, Anthony Burke and Joanne Jakovich are all full-time staff members at the University.

www.dab.uts.edu.au/

Appointment to Adjunct Professor

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney. Gerard was appointed along with Peter Davidson of LAB architects.

Peter and Gerard both outlined their vision for their roles at a lecture and party held at the University.

www.uts.edu.au/new/releases/2005/October/12.html

Aalborg Universitet

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Adrian Carter's visit to Australia commences a relationship with Aalborg University. A number of Adrian's students subsequently visit the office and Gerard is invited to Aalborg to lecture on the work of the practice.

Room 4.1.3

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Room 4.1.3, an Australian landscape architecture firm, is renowned for producing some of the world's most finely tuned design work, striking a balance between theory and praxis, design and planning. The firm's projects engage visitors in a way that few public spaces have before.

Founded in the 1990s by Richard Weller and Vladimir Sitta, Room 4.1.3 has received awards in more than forty open design competitions and is currently at work on a new city in Singapore, "fusion-polis." Adopting a new proscriptive approach, the designs exhibit a strong theoretical base that extends into cultural studies, art, geography, anthropology, and psychology. For example, the controversial Garden of Australian Dreams at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra is a veritable playground of meanings, invoking events of such varying cultural significance as the birth of Australia as a nation and the work of Jackson Pollock.

"The provocative use of symbolism is an essential part of landscape art today, and Weller and Sitta are at its forefront. Typically mixing the artificial and the natural, their work explores possibilities of the new urban park and its radical hybrid nature."—Charles Jencks, architect, critic, and author of The Language of Post-Modern Architecture

TERROIR is proud to have worked with Room 4.1.3 on the design of Blaxland Common.

RRR Architect's Radio

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

RRR Architects Radio is a brilliant initiative that now has a strong following in Melbourne but also internationally via podcasts available from www.rrr.org.au/program/the-architects

Presented by Simon Knott, Stuart Harrison and Rory Hyde, The Architects is an interview-based show, resulting in a brilliant archive of conversations with both local and international architects.

Stuart Harrison first interviewed Gerard Reinmuth in 2004 as a result of Gerard's keynote speaker slot in the 2004 RAIA Conference, Exchange. Since then, RRR have interviewed all TERROIR Directors and are consistent supporters of our practice and of architecture generally.

'Overcoming Sentimentality', Exchange National RAIA Conference

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is invited to speak in a keynote session at the RAIA National Conference. Gerard is paired with Momoyo Kajima in a session focused on site.

'Overcoming Sentimentality', Exchange National RAIA Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

'Building Society', Houses

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR's apartment development has been featured in Houses magazine.

Mocatta, Gabi, 2005, 'Building Society', Houses, Issue 44, pp. 100-104.

view Trinity Apartments project

Mastering Architecture

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Leon van Schaik features TERROIR in publication Mastering Architecture, discussing the way TERROIR is part of a new generation of architects pushing on the doors of mastery and sharing a similarity with other research-lead practices headed up by three directors leading the way in Australia.

van Schaik, L 2005, 'Self-Curating Collectives, Terroir', in Mastering Architecture, Wiley-Academy, Chichester, England, pp.110-113.

Highlands Retreat

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR were successful in an invited competition for an eco lodge on the edge of Bronte Lake in Tasmania’s central highlands.

The design concept celebrates the communal “coming together” of guests who would dine at a communal table and enjoy the peace and solitude of this remote location around a large outdoor fire-pit and then the intense solitude that such a remote and densely vegetated site offers. Guests would leave the central lodge and walk along duckboards that systematically break down in a network of paths that lead to individual cabins.

TERROIR plotted the path of each walkway and cabin location on site to ensure no vegetation was lost and to ensure each cabin had complete privacy from other cabins through the screening of trees and placement of windows to avoid overlooking, even though some were only metres apart. The network of paths took on the character of the well-worn paths generated by the local wombat population through the thick low-level vegetation.

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority owns and manages some of the State's most significant assets, including Sydney's heritage and cultural precincts at The Rocks and Darling Harbour, and is managing the renewal of Sydney's newest harbour precinct, Barangaroo, on behalf of the NSW Government.

The Authority has engaged TERROIR for two projects - the management of the tenancy fitouts at The Rocks Centre and then the refurbishment of 86-88 George Street.

With more than $1 billion in assets, and around 240 employees, the Foreshore Authority manages significant commercial and retail leases, provides security, cleaning, building maintenance and other facility management services, cares for the public domain and more than 140 heritage items.

The Authority also operates tourism and marketing services and holds significant events in The Rocks and Darling Harbour each year. Between them, the precincts attract more than 40 million visitors annually.

The Authority also owns sites at White Bay Power Station, Rozelle railway yards and Ballast Point and manages other major waterfront assets around Sydney Harbour on behalf of other agencies.

www.shfa.nsw.gov.au

Mark Burry

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Professor Burry is director of RMIT’s state-of-the-art Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory (SIAL), which has been established as a holistic transdisciplinary research environment dedicated to almost all aspects of contemporary spatial design activity. The laboratory focuses on collocated design research and undergraduate and postgraduate teaching with associated advanced computer applications and the rapid prototyping of ideas. The laboratory has a design-practice emphasis and acts as a creative think-tank accessible to both local and international practices, including ARUP in Melbourne and London, dECOi in Paris and Gehry Partners in Los Angeles.

Mark has published internationally on two main themes: the life and work of the architect Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, and putting theory into practice with regard to ‘challenging’ architecture; he has also published widely on broader issues of design, construction and the use of computers in design theory and practice.

It is in this capacity as a researcher into putting theory into practice that TERROIR met Mark Burry and first collaborated with him on his pilot program for embedded researchers in practice.

As consultant architect to the Temple Sagrada Família since 1979, Mark Burry has been a key member within the local design team based on site in Barcelona, untangling the mysteries of Gaudí’s compositional strategies for his greatest work, especially those coming from his later years, the implications

of which are only now becoming fully apparent as they are resolved for building purposes.

www.sial.rmit.edu.au

Maitland City Bowls

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Maitland City Bowls are a regional bowls club located in Maitland, NSW, some 2.5 hours north west of Sydney.

The Club is led by Paul Cousins (CEO) and a Board of experienced local business-people who are all long-time Club members and supporters.

Jinhua Island Masterplan First Place

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

This competition for a masterplan on Jinhua Island received first prize in stage one of the competition.

Danish Architects Tour

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard has invited a group of Danish architects to a lecture event feasturing local Sydney architects Richard Goodwin, Dale Jones-Evans and TERROIR.

The Danish group is being led by Adrian Carter, Associate Professor at the School of Architecture in Aalborg, Denmark.

Kerstin Thompson

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Kerstin Thompson is Creative Director of the 2005 National Architecture Conference in Melbourne, Australia. In this capacity she has invited Gerard Reinmuth to be a keynote speaker at the conference, joining Momoyo Kajima from Atelier Bow-Wow in a session on SITE.

Kerstin Thompson Architects is a Melbourne-based architecture, landscape and urban design practice established in 1994. For more information go to www.kerstinthompson.com

Acton Park House (Stealth House)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

This house is located on a once-rural site now subdivided into large lots. The project furthers our explorations into place-based architecture - but one which extends notions of place from topography, climate and vegetation to include cultural and societal narratives. In this rural subdivision, these narratives include the role of the uncanny and unexpected.

The house is a low-lying long, dark object placed centrally on the allotment in anticipation of the preservation of distant views and amenity when adjacent allotments are developed. The stretched house responds to the open landscape with which it seeks to engage, one of low-lying open fields and sheltered water-ways which folds into a neck of land adjacent to Hobart Airport. The setting is contained by a horizontal band of hills which define the bottom edge of a large sky view.

The reality of the suburban subdivision anchors an interest in the uncanny manifest in the photographic work of Gregory Crewdson. The large scale allotments are driven by the aspiration for "rural" living, but in fact amplify suburban issues such as lack of privacy and the enchainment to maintenance of manicured "front lawns" albeit on a magnified scale.

The building's exterior seeks to disappear like a stealth bomber into the shadows of the adjacent mature pine trees. In turn, this seemingly non-material "shadow" in the landscape provides a blunt background upon which a level of finessing - profiled gutters, broken flashing and window arrangements (including the TV satellite dish) are among many elements added-on in a "toy"-like manner. The blunt external envelope is contrasted by a dramatic interior - formed by breaks in the linear plan so that all spaces have a share of the view. The result is an internal sequence of varied spaces, each setting the occupant up in a different relationship to the external environment.

At two points, the tightly-packed interior is pulled apart, where the occupant is "exposed" to the outside and the outside seeks to flow through unabated.

Photography by Ray Joyce

Untitled image by Gregory Crewdson, 2001-2002, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

The Rocks Centre Fitouts

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR was the Retail Fitout Management consultants for the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority for the Rocks Centre Upgrade Project. This involves the Tenancy Coordination and Design Reviews for the entire suite of new retail and food fitouts for the centre.

TERROIR were also engaged to write the fitout guide for the centre to establish the high standards of both design and procedures that would be required given that the centre is in a heritage building within an iconic heritage precinct. TERROIR worked closely with the Project Management and Construction team that carried out the base building upgrade works to ensure a smooth and coordinated approach to the staged handovers to the tenants.

National Capital Authority

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

The National Capital Authority selected TERROIR (in association with Steensen Varming) as architects for the Parliamentary Zone as the result of a Quality Based Assessment procurement process.

During the project, TERROIR were fortunate to work with a cross-section of NCA staff including Annabelle Pegrum (Chief Executive of the Authority), Andrew Smith, Harriet Spring and Rob Tindall.

The functions of the NCA provide an enduring framework to secure the planning and development of Canberra as the capital; to accommodate the Seat of Government and associated national and cultural requirements; to provide national public places for all Australians to visit and enjoy; to enhance the unique character and symbolic meaning of the capital; and to develop appreciation of the capital as a reflection of our democracy and national life.

www.nationalcapital.gov.au

Casas Houses Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Tolmans Hill has featured in this Argentinian special issue on housing in Australia.

Izhar Jinich, Isidoro. Casas Houses Australia. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2005. pp. 54-59.

view Tolmans Hill House project

Rotterdam Biennale

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR were invited by Leon van Schaik to participate in the Australian contribution to the Rotterdam Architecture Biennale.

Christmas Trip 2004

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR's 2004 Christmas trip bought both offices to Sydney and visits with Dale Jones Evans and Richard Goodwin.

The visit included a picnic on Shark Island and dinner at the Wharf.

Steensen Varming

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Steensen Varming was first established in Australia by the Danish practice in 1957, following success in winning the commission to design the Sydney Opera House with Jørn Utzon.

Steensen Varming continued as the mechanical consultants after Utzon resigned in 1966, ultimately delivering the design, documentation, contract administration and detailed site supervision of all mechanical, hydraulic and fire protection services, including the controls/supervisory system.

The design innovation and technical expertise demonstrated in this unique landmark project subsequently led to the awarding of other projects in Australia to the Steensen Varming practice. As a result, Steensen Varming was permanently established on these shores, becoming incorporated in Australia in 1973.

Gerard Reinmuth first met Steensen Varming while working on the AGNSW Asian Gallery in 1997. Since then, Steensen Varming and TERROIR have worked together on a number of occasions, and, in late 2004, Steensen Varming became a client of TERROIR via two projects - their own office and the Canberra Kiosks.

1 Martin Place

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Within the purchase of the retail component of 1 Martin Place in 2004, Ipoh Limited expanded its CBD property portfolio to yet another prestigious and high profile retail property.

TERROIR undertake the Tenancy Coordination at this property as part of its portfolio with Ipoh Limited.

JPW

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

JPW have been a major part of TERROIR’s growth as a practice. The relationship stretches back to Gerard’s apprenticeship with Richard Johnson at JPW (then DCM Sydney) in the mid 1990s. Since TERROIR was established in 1999 Richard has been a regular and important confidant and advisor as we have negotiated our growth as a practice. Over the past few years we have collaborated on a number of submissions and projects, culminating in our successful Masterplan for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

www.jpw.com.au

Jinhua Island Masterplan (competition)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR assisted Richard Goodwin in the design of the masterplan for this island in the river at Jinhua. TERROIR was involved in the development of the resort component which was located within the overall framework established by Richard via an idea of performance in scultpure and space at key points on the island.

'Theory and Practice', RAIA, Tusculum

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is invited to speak on theory and practice at the RAIA in Sydney, November 2004

'Theory and Practice', RAIA, Tusculum Sydney, Australia.

'Trust me, Paul's right'. The Mercury.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Greg Barns rails against the failure of the Tasmanian profession to award Peppermint Bay and suggests TERROIR as ideal government advisors for development on the Hobart waterfront.

Barns, Greg. 'Trust me, Paul's right'. The Mercury. Monday 25th October, 2004. p. 16.

'Steel an honest and inexpensive material for the great Aussie shed'. The Australian Financial Review.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Tolmans Hill house was reviewed in this article by Stephen Crafti in the Australian Financial Review.

Crafti, Stephen. 'Steel an honest and inexpensive material for the great Aussie shed'. The Australian Financial Review. 15-17th October, 2004. pp. 30-31.

view Tolmans Hill House project

RMIT

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR's formal association with RMIT commenced in 2004 with the enrolment of all Directors in Leon van Schaik's Invitational Masters/PhD stream. RMIT is undoubtedly Australia's premier architecture school evidenced by the number of graduates among Australia's best practitioners and its significant international network.

'The Bulletin Smart 100'

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been selected as one of Australia's "Smart 100" people tipped to influence Australian culture and life in this annual review by Bulletin magazine.

Susskind, Anne. 'The Bulletin Smart 100: Design'. The Bulletin. 5th October, 2004. pp. 60-61.

'Melding into the Bush'. Sunday Tasmanian.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Tolmans Hill House is featured in the local press.

Kolbe, Brigitte. 'Melding into the Bush'. Sunday Tasmanian. 3rd October, 2004. p 32.

view Tolmans Hill House project

Leon van Schaik

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Leon van Schaik studied at the Architectural Association (AA) in London and is professor of architecture at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) where he holds an innovation chair. From Melbourne, he has promoted local and international architectural culture through practice-based research. In 2005, at the 75th anniversary awards of the RAIA he was awarded the inaugural Neville Quarry Prize for Architectural Education. On 26 January 2006 he was awarded an Order of Australia, Officer (AO) in the General Division, for service to architecture as an academic, practitioner and educator, and to the community through involvement with a wide range of boards and organisations related to architecture, culture and the arts.

Leon is the author of Mastering Architecture: Becoming a Creative Innovator in Practice (Wiley-Academy, 2005), and Design City Melbourne, (Wiley-Academy, 2006). He provided editorial advice and an essay the monograph on John Wardall Architects Volume (Thames & Hudson 2008) and Denton Corker Marshall: Non-fictional Narratives (Birkhauser 2008). His latest book, Spatial Intelligence, will be released in September 2008.

These activities and publications have been a major influence on TERROIR, along with Leon’s pivotal role as leader of the RMIT Invitational Masters and PhD program which all TERROIR Directors undertook from 2004-07. Leon continues to engage with the practice in a critical capacity and works alongside Richard Blythe at RMIT.

Cataract Gorge, Visitor Facilities & Interpretation

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Cataract Gorge is a place of significant natural and cultural value, treasured by the people of the City of Launceston and its many visitors. One hundred and seventy hectares in size and less than one kilometre from the city centre, Cataract Gorge presents an opportunity for the development of a world class tourism experience that responds, enriches and reinforces its unique values and place in the hearts of residents and tourists. Critical to achieving such a vision are visitor facilities that embody excellence in design, interpretation and customer service.

Rather than providing a typical Centre, where Interpretation is displayed independent of it's setting, this project is concieved as a sequence of authentic experiences that are focused on key thematic responses to the site, commenserate with the world's best interpretation practices.

The thematic interpretation is delivered along a walkway that embodies a poetic response to the expanding and contracting landscape. The walkway draws visitors along a tight passage accentuated by the overhead canopy and then releases to an expansive platform and view of the gorge basin.

Davina Jackson

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Davina Jackson is a prominent architectural writer and curator. She is a former editor of Architecture Australia, co-author of Australian Architecture Now, Phaidon 10x10 (Vol2) and is author of Next Wave. Davina has a Masters of Architecture from UNSW.

In her role as a promoter of progressive architecture and design, Davina has engaged TERROIR in many of her activities, publications and forums.

Davina's most recent venture is dcity, a network of academics, practitioners and industry partners interested in the utlisation of the latest digital modelling technology in the development of our cities - www.dcity.org

“There are characteristics that set TERROIR apart from other young practices in Sydney.

They are considerably more adventurous in form-making than locally educated peers. In short, they are more creative.”

Davina Jackson in Next Wave: Emerging Talents in Australian Architecture

'New vision for Gorge unveiled'. The Examiner.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR vision for Cataract Gorge announced in Launceston press.

Lowe, Michael. 'New vision for Gorge unveiled'. The Examiner. Saturday 21st August, 2004. p. 4.

view Cataract Gorge, Visitor Facilities & Interpretation project

'Hugging the outer edge of nature'. The Age: A3.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Greg Barns reviews the practice in The Age newspaper.

Barns, Greg. 'Hugging the outer edge of nature'. The Age: A3. 9th August, 2004. p. 9.

Greg Barns

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Greg Barns is an Australian barrister, author, political commentator and former politician based in Hobart, Tasmania. Greg Barns has been a former advisor to New South Wales Premier Nick Greiner, Federal Finance Minister John Fahey and the Howard Federal Government. He was also the political campaign director of the Australian Republican Movement's 1999 referendum campaign and he succeeded Malcolm Turnbull as ARM chair in 2000.

Greg is a regular commentator on public affairs with a broad range of interests including human rights, politics and political life and urban design. It is via this latter area of interest that he commenced a conversation with TERROIR. Greg has regularly supported the practice in his writings, in regard to our role on development projects in Tasmania and Hobart’s waterfront in particular.

Highlands Retreat Competition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR wins competition for new fishing retreat in the Tasmanian highland lakes.

2004 Venice Biennale

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR selected as one of ten Australian practices working in the public realm to feature in in Australia's contribution to the 2004 Venice Biennale of Architecture.

TERROIR were one of three young practices to be selected, whilst the other seven were well-established firms.

The Biennale exhibition was hosted by www.lab.3000.com.au or accessed directly via www.venicebiennaleaustralia.com

Chris Rogers - ASSOCIATE

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:19:57 +0000

Chris joined TERROIR Pty Ltd in January of 2005 following several years in the U.K. Chris previously worked for the practice as a graduate in 2001.

Chris has a diverse level of experience across a number of highly recognised design projects ranging from the RIBA award winning Arts Centre, Galeri-Caernarfon, in North Wales to high end multi-residential projects in the heart of the World Heritage listed City of Edinburgh.

Since joining the practice Chris has been Project Architect of Maitland Bowls and Castle Cove House and has worked in a senior documentation role on a number of other projects. As a Project Architect, Chris has particular expertise in procurement from design through to construction with a strong knowledge in the use of digital modelling to inform this process. Chris has excellent Client liaison skills and provides the level of service that TERROIR bring to each project to deliver projects of exceptional quality.

Contact Chris: rogers@terroir.com.au

'Anderland', H.O.M.E.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

One of the largest home and lifestyle magazines in the German speaking world - H.O.M.E - featured TERROIR and Sydney Director Gerard Reinmuth in an article about Sydney arts, culture and fashion.

Tolke, Andreas, 2004, 'Anderland', H.O.M.E., p. 110.

'Discourse & Diagram of Architects in Exile', Source 490 Lecture Series

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR were invited to lecture at the successful Source 490 series in Sydney.

Previous speakers have included Weil Arets, Ian Moore and John Wardle.

'Discourse & Diagram of Architects in Exile', Source 490 Lecture Series

'Ugly Duckling', Monument: Residential Special

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Leon van Schaik reviewed TERROIR’s Tolmans Hill House for Monument magazine’s annual Residential issue and was a catalyst for Leon’s invitation to Gerard Reinmuth and Scott Balmforth to undertake the invitational Masters program at RMIT University in Melbourne (Vic).

van Schaik, Leon, 2004, 'Ugly Duckling', Monument: Residential Special 2004, pp. 98-102.

view Tolmans Hill House project

'States of Mind' SONA Biennial Australasian Student Architecture and Design Conference

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Scott Balmforth & Gerard Reinmuth - July 2004

'States of Mind' SONA Biennial Australasian Student Architecture and Design Conference Tasmania, Australia.

Andrew Benjamin

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Andrew Benjamin is Professor of Critical Theory and Philosophical Aesthetics in the Centre. He was previously Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature at Warwick University. An internationally recognised authority on contemporary French and German critical theory, he has been Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York and Visiting Critic at the Architectural Association in London.

His many books include: What is Deconstruction? (1988), Art, Mimesis and the Avant-Garde (1991), Present Hope: Philosophy, Architecture, Judaism (1997), Philosophy's Literature (2001) and Disclosing Spaces: On Painting (2004). He also edited The Lyotard Reader(1989), Abjection, Melancholia and Love: the Work of Julia Kristeva(1990) and Walter Benjamin's Philosophy: Destruction and Experience (1993) and Walter Benjamin and Romanticism (2002).

Andrew has been a major supporter of TERROIR and has provided numerous insights which have transformed our understanding of what we do. Andrew first wrote about the practice when he selected TERROIR as a participant in Australia's digital contribution to the 2004 Venice Biennale. Andrew then invited Gerard to be Adjunct Professor at UTS in 2005 and in 2007 oversaw the publication of TERROIR: Cosmopolitan Ground. The book was published by DABDOCS which Andrew founded while at UTS.

2004 Tasmanian RAIA Awards

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Peppermint Bay is commended in the Interior Architecture section of the awards.

The failure to award the project a major award caused considerable furore and a letter to the national architectural press by Leon van Schaik deploring the decision.

view Peppermint Bay project

Andrew Mackenzie

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Andrew Mackenzie has been editor of Architecture Review Australia since 2003 and in 2007 became Managing Editor across the Niche Publishing stable of design publications.

Andrew has bought a sharp intellectual focus to Australian architectural publishing and is noted for commissioning major essays from some of Australia's best thinkers. That he has made a space for this within the contraints of commercial publishing is significant in itself and thus he has earned the suport of many within the profession who are committed to a high level of debate and critique.

Andrew has been very supportive of TERROIR during this period, publishing projects and essays on a regular basis.

'Peppermint Bay', Architectural Review Australia.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Leon van Schaik reviews Peppermint Bay for Architecture Review Australia.

van Schaik, Leon. 'Peppermint Bay', Architectural Review Australia. no. 087. 2004. pp. 64-71.

view Peppermint Bay project

Sharedrenovation

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

March 2004
Sharedrenovation
Cast Gallery. North Hobart, Tasmania

Sharedrenovation is a collaborative installation.

TERROIR worked closely with furniture maker / architecture student Simon Ancher and artist Jessica Ball.

Trinity Apartments

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR imagine the world as already full, as a complete set and therefore imagine architecture as being an act of modification rather than imagining the world as half empty and requiring the addition of new objects.

Our role then is to take what we find and re-configure it, transform it, alter it, manipulate it. In this re-configuration process we aim to accentuate experiences of this place through the architecture (what it looks like, what it feels like to move through, what you imagine it would be like to touch...Ruskin actually wanted to taste architecture) unravelling the onion layers of a site's inherent character and its history as a set of spatial encounters. And then we add something new, a proposition about the future (or at least the present).

At the Patrick Street site we were confronted with a 1970s bank building with a strong textural material palette (exposed brick and exoskeleton concrete frame) and unique double height building envelope in the existing banking hall.

The site itself had four distinct characteristics: one side faced Mount Wellington and West Hobart with views to Henry Hunter's St Mary's Cathedral; another faced the city, Derwent River, and the eastern shore; one fronted onto a fairly in-tact early 20thC section of Patrick St; and the final side of the site faced north providing a sheltered and sunny micro climate at ground level. Instead of ignoring these conditions, or worse, working at odds with them, each unit responds to its unique condition.

One set of units are mezzanine units each with double height volumes facing on to courtyards at ground level and the sun. Another set slot in between the existing structure creating three storey units with views to the mountain. The interiors of both these sets reach back far into the existing structure.

At the point furthest from the window we created 'nest' or burrow like spaces tucked away and protected with correspondingly darker colours and materials, a protected niche from which the space opens out to the larger landscape (the sky in the case of the mezzanine units, and the hills in the case of the others). The remaining units in the existing building face onto Patrick Street - the existing building provided a successful contribution to the streetscape so changes are small-scale on this side.

The final act was to provide a new 'plug on' which deals with contemporary construction techniques and materials (precast concrete) in a matter-of-fact way picking up on lines and volumes of the existing and exploding in a super-graphic bar code treatment of the eastern facade. In these units internal courts are created to make sheltered out door space rather than leaving people with useless wind-pounded balconies.

Photography by Brett Boardman

'Designing city's future'. The Saturday Mercury.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Newspaper Article on Terroir

Heather Low Choy. 'Designing city's future'. The Saturday Mercury. 28th February, 2004. pp. 44-45.

Shaun Miller - ASSOC DIR

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:09:32 +0000

Shaun joined TERROIR in 2004 to head up the most exciting project in the office, The Hazards. TERROIR had particular interest in this multi cultural architect especially for his procurement of large complex projects. Previous projects include The Georgian (Brisbane) 101M, Bulimba Apartments (15M), Castle Wharf (Nottingham). Shaun provides analytical and rigorous focus on the design and procurement of any project.

As a project architect Shaun is able to simultaneously hold the big picture while also considering the minute detail of a project. Shaun has a diverse portfolio and has a wide knowledge of different building typology and cultural and statutory requirements. Shaun provides a senior back bone to the office that helps strengthen the knowledge transfer within the office.

Since joining the office Shaun has worked on the Hazards (Boutique Resort), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) Masterplan, TMAG – Master Plan Exhibition, TMAG Archaeological Structure and more recently assisting on the documentation of the extension to the award winning Peppermint Bay.

Shaun completed his Architectural education at Nottingham University and became ARB registered architect in 1997. In 2008 Shaun successfully transferred his UK qualifications and passed the registration examination in Tasmania making him a fully registered Architect.

Shaun was made associate of TERROIR in 2006 and in late 2009 elevated to Associate Director.

Contact Shaun: miller@terroir.com.au

'International Accolades, People in Architecture and Design Feature'. Sunday Tasmanian.

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

TERROIR’s growing international reputation such as a recent major feature in Blueprint magazine (UK) was featured in an article on Tasmania’s architecture and design profession.

'International Accolades, People in Architecture and Design Feature'. Sunday Tasmanian.15th February, 2004. p. 62.

Sharedrenovation

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The "shed" is perhaps the most enduring symbol of suburban Australia and of its values and lifestyle. The shed is a symbol of the DIY culture which has spawned a multitude of renovation-based "reality shows", all fuelling and fuelled by a property market going through a seemingly endless boom cycle.

Unfortunately, the boom cycle has not brought any greater understanding of the potential of considered design, a desire to risk alternative strategies, or a desire to consume a lesser amount but of greater quality. Rather, a new type - the McMansion - has now taken hold among the noveau-riche in the Australian suburbs. This super-large domestic building, with a footprint that stretches to the perimeter of its plot, is characterized by voluminous interior space of unclear use while full airconditioning and double-garages prevail. A level of cultural despair is completed by the glowing testimonials of McMansion-owners who exhibit pride at their offensive - and given current environmental concerns - unsustainable living patterns.

This collaboration - between an artist, architectural practice and furniture designer - explored the formal possibilities of an older form - the Australian garden shed - in questioning the scale, materiality and politics of the new suburbs.

An existing shed (from a prominent shed manufacturer who offers custom-designed "sheds to order") is deconstructed and manipulated to provide for three alternate structures using the same material and templates derived from the original envelope. These new "sheds" are custom designed to serve differing spatial purposes and "functional" requirements. Thus, by modifying the requirements of the structures, three objects are possible with the materials from one. The freer social and spatial conditions offered by these new sheds forms a critique of the fortress-mentality that accompanies the McMansion type.

As a collaborative exercise (with Simon Ancher and Jessica Ball), the three sheds provide a built manifestation of the interests of three participants who share a common goal but use different means. In using the platform created by the art world to present three furniture pieces that comment upon a prevailing architectural and urban issue, the circuit is completes.

Photography by Richard Eastwood

Australian Architecture Association (AAA)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The vision of the AAA is to enable the public to understand, enjoy and discuss architecture, locally and beyond via discourse and the promotion of architecture in the Australian cultural milieu. Given that this vision aligns closely with TERROIR’s interests in pubic engagement, TERROIR has been a supported of the AAA since commencement and is a Founding Corporate Member. This membership status was quickly augmented in 2005 when Gerard began the curation of an annual AAA exhibition at Customs House in Sydney. This role has grown further from 2008 when Gerard was elected to the Committee of the AAA.

The Committee meets once a month and includes Founding President Glenn Murcutt, Wendy Lewin, Richard Johnson, James Grose and Founding Director Annette Dearing.

Alts and Adds

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR are asked to participate in an exhibition on alterations and additions to tour various locations in Australia.

'Urban Parasite', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Shelley Penn reviews TERROIR and Richard Goodwin's collaboraion on two recent parasite projects in Sydney's suburbs.

Penn, Shelley, 2002/2003, 'Urban Parasite', Monument, December/January, pp. 64-69.

Peppermint Bay

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Peppermint Bay provides a threshold for visitors to the inspiring landscape south of Hobart - Australia's southern-most capital city. The winding journey by boat or car to the peninsula is continued at the site in a labyrinthine path through the garden, culminating at a 100 year old oak tree. In addition to its function as path, this path structures the building's internal arrangement and for further development of the site and garden over time.

An elongated entry space connecting carpark and garden commences the on-site journey. Glimpses are provided to the kitchen, bar and restaurant spaces beyond. One side of the path is described by a timber container harbouring entry points to the public areas and which provides for a series of poche spaces for service areas and stores. The public spaces beyond the wall are divided into three zones, each of which has a precise and different relationship to the landscape.

A grey metal landscape results from the gathering of all roof and wall elements, exhausts, and entry and exit sequences into a single folded plate. This landscape contrasts with the lush interior - recalling the interplay of inner and outer as explored in the work of Parent and Virilio and later Nouvel. At a pragmatic level, this strategy resolved issues of building a cheap building - a "zippered up" exterior using traditional shed materials and a more luxuriant yet restrained interior where the detailing could be more exploratory and invited less risk.

The front of the roof plate opens to a complex glazed wall between the public spaces and views beyond and provides an overall form and facade pattern responsive to this unique Tasmanian setting. At its most focused engagement - with the oak tree that sits at the centre of the building geometry - the work of C.D Freidrich and Munch (and the links between these works as outlined in Rosenblum) is recalled in the frontal engagement with this element.

As in Kahn's famous sketch of the room, the building engages with an other - in this case the other is landscape and completes the composition.

Included in a list of top 100 Australian Architecture projects in the last 25 years (Architecture Review Australia AR100 Special Edition April 2007) 2007 Kenneth F. Brown Architecture Design Awards HONOURABLE MENTION 2005 Australian Tourism Award for Best New Tourism Development 2005 Tasmanian RAIA Awards WINNER Commercial Award 2004 Tasmanian RAIA Awards COMMENDATION Interior Architecture

Photography by Brett Boardman, Shannon McGrath and Peter Hyatt.

Drawings from the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Image of Louis I. Kahn's 'Architecture comes from the making of a room' courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of the artist, 1972.

'There's no place like Home', Monument: Residential Special

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

TERROIR are asked to contribute to an exercise involving the construction of a conceptual model for residential architecture.

Watson, Fleur. ed. 2003, 'There's no place like Home', Monument: Residential Special 2003, pp. 100-101.

'Great Australian Myth, MONUMENT

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth introduces the Monument residential special and in doing so makes a claim for the house extension as a critical site in the future evolution of the suburbs.

Reinmuth, Gerard. 2003, 'There's no place like Home', Monument: Residential Special 2003, pp. 92-93.

Ferntree House 1

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The winding and weaving nature of the approach road, along a rural dirt road through the landscape to the escarpment clearing, suggested an architectural response in the form of a line in the landscape as a continuation of previous investigations by the practice into the formal and spatial potential of a singular line in a powerful landscape setting. Here, a timber line runs parallel to the road and switches back and forth through the trees, gradually rising in height until it reaches a climax at the edge of the escarpment. Partway along this wall, its underbelly is eroded by a dark base (providing concealed entry doors) that alters in height. The only clues to habitation are small lancet windows toward the high end of the wall.

The singular quality of this timber line eschews any notion of domesticity or romantic "rural" habitation. Rather, it acts as a monumental object which navigates its landscape setting and provides both a "place" to inhabit within that landscape and a backdrop to it.

The house itself is located in a "poche" space created between the timber wall and a dark-coloured metal-clad wall beyond. This metal-clad wall varies in its distance from the timber wall, narrow at the approach end before opening out to the double-headed view to the southern waterways. The metal wall and roof are combined in a singular element that simplifies the external expression of the house, eliminating any intermediate scale within the composition. Windows are combined into two major openings further magnifying the scale of the house.

Allison Earl

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Architectural Graduate (B Arch Hons 1) and Green Star Accredited Professional

Allison joined the practice in 2003 while she was studying at University. During her studies, Allison had also worked at JPW on large scale projects such as the Art Gallery of NSW Asian Gallery, and gained considerable experience working on the design and construction of two schools.

Allison’s professional interests lie in the realm of design and sustainable development, and she actively continues her education in this area. She provides in-house expertise in sustainable design and development allowing the practice to consider these issues from concept design to building completion. She became a Green Star Accredited Professional in 2007 and is a member of the Alternative Technology Association. She has trained in the use of NatHERS and undertakes in-house BASIX assessments.

She also has a strong interest in architectural graphics, leading the team in designing the Terroir Book.

Allison’s skills are a combination of design and organization. Since joining the practice, Allison has worked on the design and documentation for the redevelopment of Maitland City Bowls Club. A project with a strong ESD focus and a iconic 5000m2 roof, which provides for all the Club’s water usage requirements. She has also held the role as project leader for the design of a residential renovation, as well as assisting the retail management of the Strand and QVB.

Allison is also a design tutor at UTS, teaching architectural design to 1^st and 2^nd year architecture students.

Contact Allison: earl@terroir.com.au

Lenah Valley House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The site is steep-sloping and south-facing at the edge of Lenah Valley. From a narrow, single-vehicle width entry at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac, the site fans out to present a "chest-on" armchair view of Mt Wellington above and beyond over a natural bush valley.

The clients' restrictive budget and minimal brief (essentially a single-person 'bachelor pad') necessitated a simple response based around a container form.

Having established a basic container, widening toward the view of the mountain, an overlay in the form of a linear "diagram" resulted in a greater tectonic and formal clarity. The container form subsequently became a "two-part" composition, consisting of a concrete plinth for the owner's car, connecting back to the street, and the steel container locked onto this primary "earthwork". These elements combine as a primary response to the powerful landscape setting and relationship to Mount Wellington.

The linear quality of the line diagram then led to the further elaboration of the project via a series of interlocked "spirals" that twist in, out and around the basic container as follows:

Wrap - A plate of zincalume wraps around to form the container, instigating the spiral action and culminating in a flip up over a plywood plinth to form a roof.

Line - A line action counteracts the previous spiral, starting as an incision in the roof before turning into a fattened gutter which folds down to frame the entry doors and windows to the deck.

Shadow - This line is in turn counterbalanced by a "shadow" that rolls over the container from the other side, taking in the sliding doors and windows to the deck before forming a "shadow" on the roof and side wall.

This action is completed by the movement of the shadow around the front of the building and up into the interior to form a carpet platform to the living area.

Ground - The action of natural ground rising up to form the end of the deck (when viewed from across the valley) completes the spiral actions, thus anchoring the house by winding the ground plane within the composition itself.

Folly - The density of the superimposed spirals is continued in a blunt interior rendered in a singular plywood 'base' rising up to form joinery items, thus ensuring a "bigness" to the interior that addresses the power of the landscape setting and outlook. A proposed sculpture by Richard Goodwin will be located atop the concrete plinth to provide both a threshold between the suburban street and landscape context of the house and to offset the formal density of the house itself.

'Beautiful Minds', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Iam Moore's National RAIA conference is reviewed.

Reinmuth, G, 2003, 'Beautiful Minds', Monument,October, p.104.

Paddington House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

The site is a thin, two-storey terrace located in the inner-city suburb of Paddington. The terrace consists of an original front section two rooms deep and two levels in height. This "cube" is attached to two, one-storey high boundary walls that extend for the full 30 metre length of the site. The existing program - sleeping in the rooms above and living spaces on the main level - will remain unchanged by the reconfiguration of the house.

This existing masonry component is understood as a "marker" within the greater landscape, defining the place of habitation of the inhabitants. The potential exists for an understanding of the site as a "landscape" experience - as a metaphor or model of the greater landscape - rather than the conventional, and claustrophobic, inner-city experience of a precisely bounded domain subdivided into cellular spaces, animated in turn by set furniture arrangements. This project is intended as a critique of this "interior" mentality.

A new wall is inserted the length of the site, replacing the currently fragmented plan with a single element that unifies the house and courtyard, establishing a monumental scale appropriate for the evocation of a greater landscape connection. Conversely, the intimate scale of the existing terrace is addressed in the complex manipulation of the wall, addressing programmatic requirements while implying smaller spaces along its length that approximate to the rhythm of the existing terrace. The wall terminates at the end of the courtyard by turning to meet the existing masonry wall, detailed such that this existing wall disappears past it for an "infinite" distance beyond.

Opposite this new element, the existing boundary wall is left in-situ as an orthogonal counter against which the articulation of the landscape wall can be read. This wall too is animated by artwork, positioned to best exploit the most favourable presentation and lighting of the artwork and its relationship with the landscape wall opposite.

Nic Fabrizio

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:07:21 +0000

Senior Technician

Nic has more than 30 years experience across all types of projects, including aquatic, education, office and industrial projects. This substantial experience is utilised in the documentation and procurement of all major projects in TERROIR and in an ongoing teaching role throughout the office.

Nic Fabrizio joined TERROIR in 2003 after an already long and distinguished career in the production of architectural projects. Nic brings to TERROIR significant experience in all aspects of project procurement, from developed design, documentation management and production, contract administration and project management generally.

Prior to joining TERROIR, Nic enjoyed over 20 years of experience at senior Tasmanian practice Blythe Yeung & Associates, where he progressed to position of Associate Director. Nic worked on major commercial projects, many of which have won architectural awards. In addition, Nic was employed for 2 years up to 2003, as Project/Account Manager at SEMF Holdings in a Project Procurement role.

Contact Nic: fabrizio@terroir.com.au

Paul Sayers

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Since joining Terroir in 2003 Paul’s wide ranged skill base has been utilised on a variety of projects. His introspective and intuitive methodology has led him to become specialised in residential and small commercial projects where a more intimate and reflective environment is the desired outcome.

Contact Paul: sayers@terroir.com.au

'Creative Tension', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews Dale Jones-Evans' project Metalika, a residential development in Sydney's Surry Hills.

Reinmuth, G, 2003, 'Creative Tension', Monument, V. 55, p.58-63.

Tinderbox House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

This house is for a couple who purchased the crown on Tinderbox Hill as a base for their monthly visits to Tasmania.

Tinderbox Hill is aptly named - on numerous occasions it has been witness to bushfire including the notorious 1967 bushfires which routed much of Hobart's outskirts. The hill itself lies at a crossing point of numerous walking tracks and is home to some rare wildlife, including the 40-spotted pardalote and sea eagles. This matrix of issues - bushfire, walking paths, wildlife, infrequent visitation - coalesced to inform the design of a complex timber box.

The form of the box is derived from the path system in and out of the site and to specific places within the site where key vistas are obtained. Thus, the house is not so much a destination but a point of intensity within the monthly journey taken to the site.

Given the house is located adjacent to a public path through the site (the clients have gazetted their land as a wildlife reserve with a path through it) the monthly visits raise security concerns. These are addressed by the timber shutter system which locks down completely when the house is unoccupied. This shutter system in turn addresses issues of birdlife management with the absence of glass limiting the potential for birds to fly into clear glass areas. Finally, the closed form of the house is an excellent fire prevention method in case of bushfire, with fires likely to pass over and charr the house rather than explode the glass and incinerate it.

The interior is a continuation of the external expression with a fully timber-lined volume adjusted via a series of inflections related to views and spatial progression and which are mapped in the external form.

Kontrapunkt, Denmark

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

June 2003, GERARD REINMUTH IS INVITED BY FILIP LAU TO LECTURE ON THE PRACTICE AT LEGENDARY DANISH DESIGN FIRM, KONTRAPUNKT.

Hazards Resort Competition

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

TERROIR wins competition for a new resort on Tasmania's Freycinet Peninsula.

Glenn Murcutt and Wendy Lewin

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Wendy Lewin and Glenn Murcutt have generously assisted TERROIR in a mentoring capacity in their competition entry for the Hazards Resort in Tasmania.

Wendy Lewin was born in Sydney in 1953. She obtained her architectural degree from the University of Sydney. She established her private firm in 1993, working as a sole practitioner and in association with Glenn Murcutt. She has taught at the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and Hong Kong University.

Glenn Murcutt was born in London in 1936. He received his Diploma of Architecture from University of New South Wales Technical College in Sydney. He received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002. Among his major works are the Marie Short House (1975), Magney House (1982), the Arthur Yvonne Boyd Education Centre (1999) in association with Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark, and Bowral House (2001). He has taught at a number of schools around the world since 1970.

Tolmans Hill House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Placed within an array of houses exhibiting individual "expressions", a fundamental organizing system was sought for the project. Continuing investigations within the practice into paths and lines within the landscape led to the consideration of a path from the road below, up to the garage and entry and then winding around back on itself to run along the contour to an elevated position. This path thus provides an invisible armature around which the house itself is formed and is underlined by a key wall running the length of the house. Behind this wall, service spaces are located as "poche" elements that, combined, create a major thickening to the rear wall of the house in contrast to the thin razor-sharp line of the wall to the view.

The visual "noise" of the adjacent houses resulted in a reflective response - a "house as shadow". A decision was made to respond to the hillside development by the simplest formal response and colour palette possible. The house cranks around the contour, offering little resistance to the natural landform and at the rear cradling a group of mature eucalypts that anchor the house. The clipped nature of this diagram - a single container with a clearly defined boundary and minimum threshold - reinforces the defensive relationship to the adjacent suburb.

The front of this cranked form is clad in slate grey metal decking to completely disappear into the bush, while the rear of the house and courtyard is anchored by a masonry base. The front elevation is embellished by a series of metal "sticks" that recall the silver trunks of the adjacent trees and provides an abstract identity for the dwelling from the approach.

2005 Tasmanian RAIA Awards WINNER Residential New Award.

Photography by Brett Boardman

'Rebuilding Ground Zero', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth channels Slavoj Zizek in this broadside against the competition process and schemes for the Ground Zero competition.

Reinmuth, G, 2003, 'Rebuilding Ground Zero', Monument, May, p.40.

TERROIR lecture at the RAIA, Tusculum

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The first lecture by TERROIR (Gerard Reinmuth) at the RAIA headquarters in Sydney.

RAIA, Tusculum

School of Architecture, University of Tasmania

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

The first lecture by TERROIR at their old school, the University of Tasmania.

U2 / Landmark Tower (competition)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

A landmark building was required for U2 on a prominent dockland site in Dublin. In this project, an understanding of the surrounding context and proposed uses provides the basis for such a landmark. An unusual, remarkable building in the form of a giant "U(2)" is subsequently proposed as a major new contribution to the Dublin city and skyline.

The proposed tower provides not only a landmark, but defines and describes the gateway or threshold at the cusp between the River Liffey and the docklands beyond. This gateway condition suggested more than a simple vertical tower, but a "portal" as an essential new component of the Dublin skyline. The form of the proposed tower describes this gateway condition.

The docklands and its maritime context abounds with buildings, machines, seagoing and land-based craft that are instantly identified by their conspicuous shapes, mass, juxtaposition of large and small elements, colour and graphics as part of a "docklands" context. The arrangement of these objects in relation to one another is equally distinctive - individual objects related only through associations of use, eschewing ideas of "urban character" or "streetscape".

The Landmark Tower takes on the uncanny quality that results from the juxtaposition of activities, objects and machines within the docklands.

'Product Lines', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews a recent John Vella exhibition, a collaboration with Visy Packaging.

Reinmuth, G, 2002/2003, 'Product Lines', Monument, December/January, p.93.

'Last Word: Gerard Reinmuth', Specifier

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth features in "Last Word" in Specifier Magazine.

2002, 'Last Word: Gerard Reinmuth', Specifier (Architectural and Interior), no. 45, p. 96.

'On Wilderness', Archis

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe reviews some recent projects in the Tasmanian wilderness and in doing so stakes a position for further incursions into this contested zone.

Blythe, R, 2002, 'On Wilderness', Archis, December.

Great Debates at the Museum of Sydney

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been invited to curate and chair three debates regarding development and architecture within Sydney.

Speakers include Davina Jackson, James Weirick and Richard Goodwin.

Castle Hill Surgery

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

A family medical practice had occupied the existing fibro cottage on this site for over a decade - one of the last such buildings remaining in a suburb that has been transformed by low-grade commercial development - but required a refurbishment to accommodate an increased practice size and contemporary technology and servicing requirements. The strategic possibilities of the project were severely limited by the existing cottage and site, local authority parking requirements and budget.

Subsequently, a design strategy was based in the decision to retain as much as possible of the existing fabric and to augment this with the addition a small-scale extension.

The project was designed in collaboration with Richard Goodwin (architect/artist) who for some time has been exploring the notion of the "parasite" in urban contexts through a series of works that blur the boundaries between sculpture, architecture and infrastructure. When melded with our own interests in the relationship between pre-existing "archaeological" and (con)temporary additions, Goodwin's focus suggested possibilities for addressing the wider issue of "the extension" - a building type often considered as tedious and inferior in architectural practice.

Thus, a parasite was developed which looked to the existing cottage for both its formal and material cues, developing in turn a new language that was re-applied to the existing building in its refurbishment. In urban design terms, the new element was understood as a fragment that relates neither in scale or form to the larger scale commercial buildings adjacent. The result is a hybrid composition consisting of 2 elements, neither of which is completely "new" or "old" but lie somewhere between the two.

Photography by Brett Boardman

Image of Richard Goodwin's 'Exoskeleton 2' courtesy of the artist.

'Review: Geometries of Power', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews Chris Johnson's recent book on the imperial cities of Delhi.

Reinmuth, G, 2002, 'Review: Geometries of Power', Monument, October/November, p.111.

'An Audience in Rome', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited to interview Glenn Murcutt by Monument in celebration of his Pritzker Prize.

Reinmuth, G, 2002, 'An Audience in Rome', Monument, August/September, pp.42-46.

'The Politics of Art', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth reviews the 2002 Documenta in Kassel, Germany.

Reinmuth, G, 2002, 'The Politics of Art', Monument, August/September, pp.100-104.

Simon Currant

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Simon Currant AM has been the leading tourism developer in Tasmania over the past two decades. Starting with the Cradle Mountain development in the 1980s, Simon went on to transform Strahan Village into a world-class experience tourism destination. Following this Simon developed Peppermint Bay and is currently working on the realisation of Pumphouse Point. This string of successful developments all emerged from innovative thinking and an ability to see the potential in each place well before more established developers.

Simon was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 and was named Tasmanian of the Year in 2004 after the completion of the successful Peppermint Bay development. In 2006, Simon was admitted as a member of the Order of Australia.

Simon currently serves as Chairman of the Tourism Council of Tasmania and a Director of TT-Line Pty Ltd.

For Simon's current ventures go to www.peppermintbay.com.au.

'Royal Connections', Monument

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe reviews the first Hobatr project by H2O, a Melbourne-based practice headed by Hobart-born Tim Hurburgh.

Blythe, R, 2002, 'Royal Connections'. Monument. August/September, pp 94-98.

Tamara Donnellan - ASSOC DIR

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:07:58 +0000

Tamara joined TERROIR in 2000, and worked for the practice until her departure for international experience (Scotland) in 2002. In 2003 and 2004, Tamara worked as a Senior Architect in major British practice, RMJM, working on the design, documentation and contract administration of the School of Music, Performing Arts & Media for Newcastle College – a University project containing a theatre, music venue, studio theatre, TV studio, radio studio, recording suites plus rehearsal, general teaching areas and foyer/bar area. Tamara also worked on the design and documentation of the School of Beauty, Sport and Tourism and the project management of the Higher Education Centre for the same client, before returning to Australia and TERROIR in 2005.

Since rejoining TERROIR, Tamara has worked on a variety of projects during this period including; retail projects management and the design, documentation and contract administration on a range of residential, commercial and hospitality projects.

As Project Architect of 86-88 George Street and Canberra Kiosks, Tamara has exhibited a high skill level in the resolution of client requirements and the detailed client interface needs of public clients. Tamara’s focus as leader of the design team is in the protection of a design through the procurement process and in particular the coordination of consultants and detailed resolutions of servicing requirements. A key aspect of this work has been in the value management of design, performance, servicing and budget issues to achieve a satisfactory outcome.

This has led to Tamara’s keen interest in the area of professional practice where she is establishing leadership and knowledge rarely found in younger practitioners.

Tamara was made associate of TERROIR in 2006 and in late 2009 elevated to Associate Director.

Contact Tamara: donnellan@terroir.com.au

Gerroa House (unbuilt)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:29 +0000

Gerroa is located on the NSW south coast, thus sharing Sydney's warm climate. However, the site itself faces south east and therefore bears the full brunt of the most brutal weather patterns as they move up the coast. The views to the sea and of these storms in particular are dramatic and make for a powerful setting.

The house is designed for a couple who have lived in another house on the site for 8 years and who therefore have an intricate understanding of the potential of the site. The design developed in part from an evaluation of these well-established patterns of use - a key aspect of which is the internalised mode of occupation of the existing house as a place for observing the landscape beyond. This led to the consideration of the house as a solid austere block form within a street that features the worst examples of the suburban brick-veneer type. The erosion of rocks by the actions of the sea in such a harsh climate was a departure point for the development of the limited openings within the block form. The face of the block is capped by a sculptural mask as a "finished" facade that establishes a monumental scale for the building within its suburban context.

Internally, the block has been conceived as a passionfruit in plan, with the clear outer layer giving way to a complex interior world where large scale joinery installations provide a layered relationship between inside and out.

'Architektur Archipel Australien', Baumeister

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Periodical on Terroir

Goad, Philip, 2002, 'Architektur Archipel Australien', Baumeister, no. 3, pp. 46 - 53.

'Celebrating Women in Architecture', Architectural Review Australia

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Richard Blythe reviews a recent publication celebrating the role of women in Australian architecture.

Blythe, R, 2002, 'Celebrating Women in Architecture', Architectural Review Australia, No.80, p.14.

University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth invites Richard Goodwin to speak with him at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany.

Lauderdale House

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

This house is located in a suburban street running parallel to a band of sand dunes and alongside new residences failing to exploit their proximity and visual connection to the beach setting. The formlessness of the flat street and adjacent housing gives way to a sense of the particular at the dune landscape where a well-worn path marks an irregular route from the site to the beach.

The clients see the house as a retreat from their daily work routine. This "retreat" quality is best explained in their requirements for a blank-wall facade featuring secret door, through which cars pass and disappear. Having precisely defined a private domain, the clients are then free to occupy their "compound" as they wish, without exposure to the adjacent houses. Contrary to the primary function for a retreat, the clients wish to also harness a sense of exploration from their private domain - to the dunes and beach beyond, privately accessed from the front of the house. Thus, the diagram for the house suggests a "funnel" oriented to the beach as opposed to a complete enclosure.

Arkiteckskolen i Aarhus, Denmark

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:48:28 +0000

Gerard gives the first international lecture on the practice at the architecture school in Aarhus, Denmark.

Arkiteckskolen i Aarhus, Denmark.