terroir.com.au articles

Tornhuset (Sweden)

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:49:08 +0000

TERROIR, in association with Kim Utzon Arkitekter, have won a 2-stage competition for a new headquarters for the United Nations affiliated World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden.

The project is a +/-2500 sq.m. extension to an existing building called the Tornhuset (Tower House). This building is a freestyle piece which is quite unusual compared to the Danish public buildings across Oeresund, and so presented some interesting challenges in terms of designing an extension. Of great interest to us is the ambiguity between the wall and tower elements (one growing into the other) and the roof which, at first glance looks conventional, but is actually an unexpected formal play which starts in a simple gable logic but then embellishes as it responds to the geometry of the building below.

Our approach to the extension was centred in an urban response, and our awareness that the building is something of an “urban hinge” located at a key corner on a road which extends from the old city centre and across the canals to the Malmo docklands. This “hinge” quality was explored in the design, and used as a provocation to explore a folded plate language for the new building which started with this hinge form and then was further embellished on the basis of required views and light access to the program within. The cladding of the building is painted metal sheet, a traditional material in Swedish architecture. The colour of the roof sheet is related to the roof on the adjacent building.

The interior of the building is in two parts – a stack of floors with various classroom and research spaces and a void between this stack and the adjacent building. The stack of floors is set back on every level as it rises from the street, to open this void to the maximum extent possible to the sky. The resulting space will be bathed in a beautiful light for which southern Sweden is known.

The project is to be documented between now and mid 2012 and completed by the end of 2013.

Canary Island Biennale 2012

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:54:43 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been invited with Anthony Burke as Guest Curators for the 3rd Architecture, Art and Landscape Biennale of the Canary Islands.

The title of the 2012 event is "Towards another reality. Paths and Detours".

This Biennale will lend particular weight to the idea of the journey, as both action and destination, which constantly renegotiates the landscape. The Head Curator of the event notes that the "journey covers, recovers and discovers the construction and project of the landscape as well as the dialectics of its fiction, through the path and detour the subject traveller embarks on. Therefore, the journey is the vehicle that allows us (on getting to the bottom of it), to discover what lies “behind” landscape.

Based on these parameters, different itineraries will be selected to provide a framework for the exhibitions and activities, also emphasising how the concept of landscape redefines the idea of space, offering new physical and conceptual dimensions as a consequence of certain transformations that require new tools for analysis and new perceptual frameworks. We must go beyond Euclidean-Cartesian parameters if we wish to propose and institute a new paradigm in consonance with this convulse contemporary era."

The Biennale is a year long project concluding in October 2012.

Denmark: Venice Biennale

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:54:42 +0000

TERROIR ApS (Denmark) have been selected as part of a team to represent Denmark at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture.

TERROIR have teamed up with the editors of CONDITIONS magazine and Boris Brorman Jensen, Danish urbanist and teacher at the Aarhus School of Architecture.

The Danish Pavilion exhibition will be titled FUTURE GREENLAND and features five Danish practices working with five Greenland practices to develop visions for a
sustainable development of Greenland through this period of a sensational paradigm shift.

Our team suggested that a research project was needed to inform, critique and contextualise these interventions.

In our submission we suggested that "there are two competing concepts in play as to how architecture and urbanism might assist in the rejuvenation of Greenland. It is convention to suggest that a place is defined by its physical presence - that is, its buildings, open spaces and transport networks. An event such as the Biennale can reinforce seeing things from this point of view with its high focus on the formal and material aspects of architecture and urban design.

The concept which we championed for this exhibition, "is one which defines a place as the systems necessary to organize society and ensure we have the capacity to (re) produce and project themselves". Our proposal is to explore these systems as they exist in Greenland today and innovate within these systems with a transformative ambition.

Central to the proposal of new architectural and urban futures that respond to these innovations is an understanding of the spatial intelligence which defines Greenlanders view of the world and the form of their towns and cities as models of their spatial relation to each other and the surrounding landscape."

Autrement Interview

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:48:45 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been interviewed by Marc Armengaud of AWP in the French magazine Autrement.

The interview focused on issues of sustainability and cultural values of signficant landscapes.

Formations: Venice Biennale

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:51:51 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Anthony Burke have been announced as Creative Directors for the Australian Pavilion for the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture. The exhibition they have proposed will be called FORMATIONS: New Practices in Australian Architecture.

Their concept is to explore and celebrate the nature of innovative configurations of architectural practice in Australia today and the desire for a renewed form of architectural agency which drives them. It is their intention both to stimulate critical disciplinary commentary on a range of new types of Australian practices and their potentialities while also exciting a public audience with a spatially dynamic and thought provoking exhibition.

These ambitions stem from the fact that this interest in new forms of practice is perhaps the hottest topic on the international architectural circuit today. Symposiums, articles and blog postings are fuelling an increased interest in and knowledge about these alternate forms of practice as global economic, social and political conditions have thrust attention away from “starchitecture” and toward a more socially engaged and far reaching type of practice. They are not interested here in opportunism or novelty in practice but will focus on those practices or practitioners who are making a substantial and consequential impact in the field and well beyond it because of their reconfiguration of the idea of “the architect”.

Central motivating questions for the project include;

· How might we characterise (and spatialise) the nature of new external pressures on our discipline?

· How are creative architects restructuring their ideas of what it is to practice through designing new forms of practice itself?

· What do these new forms of practice design and make as architecture as a result?

· How do innovations in practice give rise to new forms of agency for architecture in shaping the design of the built environment and cast new futures for the discipline?

· How do we educate the future profession in light of such innovations in practice and the potential for the discipline they embody?

· How do you engage a public with these forms of unexpected architecture?

Their intention is to highlight new forms of architectural practice, their spatial consequences and transformative potentials across Australian architectural design culture and the built environment. By foregrouding Australian practice in this way the hope is to avoid a jingoistic or parochial response but rather to demonstrate how an internationally relevant issue within architecture today is addressed by Australian practitioners.

Juan Jose Cruz Martinez

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:58:10 +0000

Juan Jose joined Terroir in 2011 to work on the Royal Hobart Hospital Project.

He completed his Architecture education in the University of Seville (Spain) to later study Master of Design at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney. As part of his degree, he studied Architectural Design and Landscape Architecture for one year in Florence (Italy).

Juan Jose worked for 5 years as an Architect and Urban Designer in Spain, and later in Australia. Over those years, he entered in a number European Architecture competitions and has been awarded internationally. He has been a guest lecturer at his home university and a tutor for the postgraduate program at COFA.

Before joining the office Juan Jose has worked in residential, commercial and institutional projects and he played a leadership role in the construction of the NH Hotel in Gibraltar Bay, Spain. His skills involve strong conceptual design that can be carried all the way through documentation stage and construction.

Lynge Pallesen

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:05:12 +0000

Finished my bachelor degree from The Department of Architecture, Experiment and Technology at The Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen June 2011.

Before starting on my masters I wanted to advance my skills and get a more “hands on” approach through practice work.

My approach towards architecture has throughout my studies been simple and picturesque. This approach comes from my lifelong experience in drawing and painting. My studies at The Royal Danish Academy has taught me to see the phenomenological qualities in architecture, and respect and emphasise the context in which we build. These three values combined – picturesque, phenomenologic and context-awareness – is an essence in my architectural work.

Mette Amstrup Fast Pedersen

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:44:46 +0000

Mette holds a Bachelor of Art in Architecture and is currently finishing her master degree at Aarhus school of Architecture. Despite being enrolled in Aarhus school of Architecture in Denmark Mette has managed to spend most of her time in Australia. Her Australian venture has included a semester at Sydney University, a semester UTS, work experience with Landscape Architect Phoebe Pape, Pape and Stutchbury, and of course her employment at TERROIR Pty Ltd from June 2011 to present.

Before Mette got involved in Architecture she did a 3 year around the world trip. Her travels were sponsored by working on private yachts in the Caribbean, Central America and Mediterranean. This was when she first experienced working alongside a team of Australians.

Traveling is still Mette's main passion. Her recent trips have included Papua New Guinea, Namibia and Iceland. Anyone who has any good travel advice can contact her on: Studentsyd02@terroir.com.au

Building the Future

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:07:52 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth's views on the future of the profession continues to attract attention and comment.

First articulated in full in Conditions magazine, Gerard's position is that the spatial intelligence of architects should be an essential part of any city-making project.

The article was then re-presented in a short format in Australian academics website The Conversation. Gerard has now appeared on BY DESIGN, the ABC's long-standing weekly show about design and architecture issues.

Listen to the interview here.

Affirmative Architecture

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:02:21 +0000

Scott Balmforth will be a speaker at the second Affirmative Architecture Symposium in Perth on August 20 and 21. The Affirmative Architecture Symposium is a two-day event convened by Dr Martyn Hook of the Design Research Institute at RMIT University, Melbourne and Simon Pendal and Dr Stephen Neille of Curtin University. The event follows the first Affirmative Architecture symposium in Melbourne in August 2010 and seeks to define an emergent trend amongst young architects to re-engage with the potential for architecture to improve life.

TADA

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:07:35 +0000

Scott Balmforth has been appointed to the jury for the inaugural Tasmanian Advertising & Design Awards (TADA).

TADA aims to establish and nurture a uniquely Tasmanian commercial creative vernacular; to raise standards in commercial creativity, and to celebrate the very best of what we do.

For more information on TADA visit;

http://www.tadawards.com/

Home for All

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:29:07 +0000

TERROIR have responded to an invitation from Akira Suzuki, Toyo Ito, Riken Yamamoto, Kengo Kuma and Kazuyo Sejima to provide an inspirational image for a "home for all" affectedd by the Japanese earthquakes earlier this year.

The proposition from this team of Japanese architects for the sketches is as follows:

"The massive March 11 earthquake-tsunami wrought unprecedented damage to northeastern Japan. Over 100,000 people lost their homes and were forced to take shelter in relief centers and temporary housing.

The relief centers offer no privacy, scarcely enough room to stretch out and sleep, while the hastily tacked up temporary housing units are little more than rows of empty shells—grim living conditions either way. Yet even under such harsh conditions people try to smile and make do, using empty boxes for dining tables, staging amateur concerts in cramped quarters. They gather to share and communicate even in extreme circumstances, a moving vision of community at its most basic. Likewise, do we not see here the very origins of architecture: the bare minimum shaping of places in which to commune. Is not an architect someone who can make such places for meager meals and shows a little more human, a little more beautiful, a little more comfortable?"

Our image is based in the idea that architecture mediates between ourselves and the world around us. After a disaster, architecture can frame human life and activity in a way that minimises the impact of this event and maximises hope for a better future.

The image will be exhibited with others at the Sendai Mediatheque and Toyo Ito Architecure Museum in Imabari in July, 2011.

Future of Practice

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:09:46 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has contributed a major article to the new issue of brilliant Norwegian architecture magazine, CONDITIONS.

The article addresses the stress architects feel as their profession faces massive changes in the way cities are made, leading to a reconsideration of the role of the architect in this context.

The article proposes a new architectural educaton built on a fusion between Betsky's "architecture beyond building" and van Schaiks "spatial intelligence" as a way of teaching architects to reconsider thair abilities and potential in making rhe city.

CONDITIONS, Issue 08, Preparing for the Unknown, July 2011

Hospital of the Future

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:15:27 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has written an article in Danish architectural monthly, ARKITEKTEN, on the Hospital of the Future with specific reference to our role on Bispebjerg Hospital.

The article discusses the unique procurement process at Bispebjerg and the foregrounding of city-making in what is normally considered a dry and technically-driven building type.

Reinmuth, Gerard. Fremtidens Hospital. Arkitekten, July 2011, Vol 113.

FLUX Student Congress

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:22:16 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is speaking at the National Student Conference, FLUX, held in Adelaide from July 6-10.

The conference theme centres around the idea of crisis in architecture and practice and involves speakers who work at many levels within society from the city to humanitarian causes.

Gerard will discuss his latest views on the reconfiguration of the profession, to be further explored in his up-coming article in CONDITIONS magazine.

For more details, go to http://www.flux2011.com/home.html

Terroir Sydney Office Move

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:36:37 +0000

TERROIR's Sydney Office moves from June 30 to a new studio in Chippendale closer to UTS and some of our favourite creative haunts.

The studio is located in the same building as AJ+C, insitu, Ammnesty International and others.

The new office is located at Level 2, 79 Myrtle St, Chippendale and our new phone number is 02 9698 2198.

Henriksholm Masterplan

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:56:08 +0000

TERROIR, CUBO Arkitkekter and SCHØNHERR landscape architects have completed a masterplan for the Henriksholm old military site in (Vedbaek) Sjealland in Denmark. The site is close to the coast and mid way between Copenhagen and the Louisiana Art Museum.

The project called for over 20,000sq.m. of new housing and civic development to be designed in a way that foregrounds the landscape in all key decisions.

Our proposal was based in a reading of the landscape in its larger context. Key patterns in the landscape were determined as a result of these mappings and resulted in the organisation of the site into fivekey landscape types: the forest, the gardens, the clearing, the edge and the park. Each of these five landscape types then suggested modes of housing appropriate to each - from tight Utzon-inspired houses on "the edge" the larger Australian Pittwater-like houses in "the gardens".

The project was underyaken in a "parallel competition" alongisde three other teams: Vandkunsten with SLA, Johnny Svendborg with Lisbeth Vestergaard and 3XN with Kragh and Berglund.

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:56:13 +0000

TERROIR are Architects in Association with John Wardle Architects for the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Hobart.

In establishing IMAS the University of Tasmania (UTAS) has recognized the importance of this field of scientific endeavour in the context of a sustainable future - both local and global. The new building will be a portal into an institute that brings together researchers from a number of parallel groups to create what will become an internationally renowned global research hub. Responsive to this vision, the new building will underpin the social, cultural and economic life of the City of Hobart.

Set in the highly contested public realm that is the historic Hobart waterfront the design for the new building recalls the scale and pattern of the traditional wharf structures and responds to the nature of the working port. With a view to engaging with the public realm the new building exposes the activities within, and invites interest through making a substantial exhibition space and theatre accessible to the public.

The 7,130M2 building will accommodate academics and researchers from UTAS, IMAS, CSIRO, Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACECRC), and the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). Higher Degree Research students will be dispersed through the building to benefit from direct engagement with this diverse group. Undergraduate students will experience the collaborative learning and teaching laboratory spaces located at the ground floor. These spaces will also be visible from the public thoroughfare.

Laboratory facilities will be certified by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service to QC2 requirements. These spaces have been carefully planned to achieve flexibility and serviceability well into the future. Ultra cold rooms operating at -23° will accommodate the precious ice cores that are collected from Antarctica and transported back to Hobart. The Antarctic supply and research vessel Auroa Australis will berth at the adjacent Princes Wharf over the winter months.

In keeping with the greater vision for a sustainable future the new building will be heated and cooled by water drawn from the Derwent River. Inherent to the prominent site selected by UTAS this represents the single most significant opportunity to reduce energy consumption. The project will achieve a 5 Star Design rating assessed by the Green Star Education tool (V1)

Qinhuangdao

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:09:41 +0000

In early 2011, TERROIR, in association with Melbourne practice Minifie van Schaik, were engaged under RMIT University’s Master Research Services Agreement with Tianjin for the concept design for a Super Yacht City at Qinhuangdao, China.

This significant development comprises civic, residential, marina and commercial functions over a 350Ha site with an anticipated project value of RMB 10Billion.

Chris Clinton

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:46:22 +0000

Chris joined our TERROIR Hobart office in 2011 to work on the Institute of Antarctic and Marine Studies (IMAS) in which TERROIR are Architects in Association with John Wardle Architects.

Prior to working with TERROIR, he most recently worked for Hobart practices and local government. Prior to moving to Hobart, Chris worked in Melbourne with practices including Gregory Burgess Architects and Graeme Gunn Architects (The Australian Institute of Architects 2011 Gold Medalist).

Chris has been a Registered Architect since 2004 and brings a range of project experience to TERROIR, from single houses to major institutional and public projects.

Bispebjerg Hospital (DK)

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:53:39 +0000

In mid 2010 TERROIR were engaged as Client Advisor for the redevelopment of the Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen. This (AUD)$1BN project is set to transform both the hospital and this area of Copenhagen over the next15 years.

Our initial role was to provide input into the specific architectural challenges and opportunities of the project, as a complement to the research being done by the hospital into the latest healthcare innovations.

This work prepared the ground for the first stage in the redevelopment, an international competition for a Masterplan for the project. From February 2011, this Masterplan Brief is being prepared. TERROIR are now working on this phase with an expanded team that includes process managers Kuben and Urban Quality Consultants, Gehl Architects.

To know more about the project, click here to access their Facebook page.

Dansk

Terroir blev ansat medio 2010 som rådgiver for udviklingsprojektet Bispebjerg Hospital i København, - et projekt med et budget på omkring 5 Mia.DKK. der skal transformere både hospitalet og den omkringliggende bydel over de næste 15 år.

Vores indledende rolle var at analysere og tilføre viden omkring de særlige arkitektoniske udfordringer og muligheder der ligger i projektet, samt tilføre et internationalt perspektiv - som et supplement til den forskning, der udføres af hospitalet selv indenfor det nyeste sundhedsbyggeri og innovation.

Dette arbejde dannede grundlag for projektets første fase, en international masterplan konkurrence, som efter planen igangsættes i marts 2011.

Fra Februar 2011 bliver udarbejdelsen af konkurrenceprogrammet igangsat. Terroir arbejder i denne fase med et større team af rådgivere der inkluderer bla Byrumskonsulenter GEHL architects samt procesledere KUBEN managment.

For at vide mere om projektet – klik her for at komme direkte til deres Facebook profil.

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:14:48 +0000

TERRIOR’s design for the redevelopment of the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park in Cairns.

Tjapukai is located at the point where the flat plains of Cairns meet the Macalister Range. A new roof is proposed, which addresses both the plains and the mountains, allowing a threshold between them to be understood. The new roof emulates the Rainbow Serpent, a significant and common motif in the art and mythology of Aboriginal Australia. The design also features indigenous artwork on the surfaces of the cultural centre, showcasing the Djabugay people through a variety of scales (large and small) with the utmost respect to their ancient history.

Aarhus Housing (DK)

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:11:56 +0000

TERROIR's successful partnership with CUBO Arkitekter has been recognised in our win in a competition for a new residential project in the north harbour area of Aarhus. The project will be the second new development to be built in the redevelopment of this harbour area and thus is a significant project for the city.

The tower will be primarily residential in use and is intended for young residents who will make use of the recreational opportunities at this harbour, one of the largest in Northern Europe.

The judges commented on the building as follows: “The building’s architectonic main grip is connected, complex and rich in experiences. The architectonic expression is of a timeless monolith clad with concrete elements into which large cuts are made. The formal expression is intellectually challenging and genuinely original and atypical and beyond historical reference. The judging committee finds the dynamic dialogue between the building’s stringent monolithic form and the cheeky diagonal cuts which open the box to show its varied and colourful inner confirms this as a building for young people in the new part of the city.”

Other shortlisted teams included the major names in Danish architecture including Dorte Mandrup, CF Møller, Arkitema and ADEPT.

Dansk
Terroir's succesfulde partnerskab med CUBO Arkitekter er blevet anerkendt da vi har vundet konkurrencen om et nyt ungdomsboligprojekt på havneområdet i Århus. Projektet bliver det andet der skal bygges på havnen, og er dermed et væsentlig udviklingsprojekt for byen. . . .continued below . .

Taarnet er en boligbebyggelse til unge beboere der forhaabentlig vil kunne goere brug af de rekreationelle muligheder der ligger I havneomraadet, der er et af de stoerste I Nord Europa.

Uddrag af dommerbetænkningen: "Bygningens arkitektoniske hovedgreb er sammensat, komplekst og oplevelsesrigt.

Projektets arkitektur peger tilbage på teamets aflevering

til Ringgårdens første havnekonkurrence, men nu med et udtryk der har forladt det rationalistisk, historisistiske til fordel for en mere tidløs monolit beklædt med prægede betonelementer og med store “udskæringer”.

Det arkitektoniske udtryk er dog stadigvæk intellektuelt udfordrende, ubestemmeligt originalt og atypisk, både frem- og tilbage-skuende. Bedømmelsekomiteen finder at netop den dynamiske dialog mellem husets lidt strenge monolitiske form og de “frække” skæve udskæringer, som åbner kassen og viser dens varierede og farvestrålende indre, er med til at gøre det til et markant ungt hus i den nye bydel."

Andre udvalgt hold omfatter store velkendte navne i dansk arkitektur, herunder Dorte Mandrup, CF Møller, Arkitema og ADEPT.

Tasman Smith

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:05:24 +0000

Having completed a degree in Environmental Design with the University of Tasmania in 2010, Tas has decided to take a break from study and has taken up the student position in the Hobart office for the year.

Tas’ role includes assisting project leaders with various tasks including model making, research and drafting.

Tas is intending on completing a Masters in Architecture in the not so distant future.

Practice Transformations

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:14:10 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth will give his inaugural lecture as Professor of Practice at UTS, Sydney, on March 9.

TERROIR have always practiced architecture as a broad intellectual and cultural activity, whereby the knowledge built up on a range of activities, exhibitions, lectures, writings and other forms of engagement with the discipline has been deployed in a suite of buildings. This has resulted in a suite of buildings nearly all of which have been published in Australia and internationally.

The lecture - titled Practice Transformations - will trace the evolution of TERROIR from a traditionally organised architectural practice to a collective endeavour which spans building, practice, education, advocacy and critique.

This new role at UTS will see the deployment of Gerard’s focus in the potential of architectural practice in an academic environment, providing the opportunity to work through important questions faced by the profession in the complex globalised environment in which we now operate. This lecture will provide an overview of how Gerard’s work over the past decade will inform this new role.

Wednesday, 9th March 2011. Location to be confirmed.

Article image from Gerard's collaboration with Richard Goodwin for the Venice Biennale, 2010, titled Sydney 2050: Fraying Ground.

Leichhardt in Vogue Living

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:03:01 +0000

Our Leichhardt House project has been featured in the Autumn 2011 edition of Vogue Living.

Aarhus Book Launch

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:50:18 +0000

The book on the Aarhus School of Architecture's new program, edited and co-authored by Gerard Reinmuth - titled A Beaux Arts Education for the 21st Century - was launched at the school on February 22 and at the Dansk Arkitektur Center in Copenhagen on February 24.

The Aarhus events saw the attendance of the students of 09-10 whose efforts made the book possible.

Thanks to Kari Haugang Engberg from DAC for the images of the DAC launch and to Louise Heebøll for those from the Aarhus event.

A 21st Century Education

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:17:15 +0000

Gerard Reinnuth has edited a major new book on the Aarhus School of Architecture.

Titled "A Beaux Arts Education for the 21st Century" the book reviews the reconfigured first year program at the school. The book is substantial written by three contributors - Gerard Reinmuth and the two academics responsible for the program - Anders Gammelgaard Nielsen and Anne Elisabeth Toft.

The book will be published in February 2011 and distributed internationally,

The book addresses the question of how a school of architecture whose practices are firmly planted in the Beaux Arts tradition respond to the conditions we face at the start of the 21^st century?

In 2008 Torben Nielsen, the Dean of the Aarhus School of Architecture, selected a group of academics from the school who had varying research interests and pedagogic approaches and tasked them with reviewing the School’s education from top to bottom. The group was then asked to consider how the Bachelor degree might be reformed in light of a perceived disjuncture between education, research and practice at the school and to start implementing these changes in the first year program. The first year education at the school has subsequently been rebuilt over the past three years, culminating in the first complete test-drive of the new education in 2009-10. This book is a record of the context within which this occurred, the steps that led to the development of the new curriculum and of the work undertaken in that year.

First year is a formative experience in the student’s education and often reverberates throughout their career. First year is often a shock, given the transition from a structured high school education to the demands of a higher education degree - particularly in regards to architecture where the curriculum and pedagogical models can be vastly different to anything students have previously experienced. First year is the moment when students first encounter formal lectures about architecture and where they initially come into contact with the enormous range of techniques and skills that will be developed and refined over their careers. Of equal importance is the immersive nature of the program. First year is the site where students encounter the work ethic of an architect in practice for the first time. This cocktail of information, sensory and at times physical overload leaves a strong impression which has a profound and continued effect on the way in which students develop an approach to design and the idea of the profession as a whole.

This book attempts to problematize these changes at Aarhus and in doing so hopes to offer other schools a suite of questions and provocations to stimulate their own course development. It is intended for a wide readership – from those considering where to commence an architecture degree to academics in other institutions who are wrestling with similar issues. In addition to these specific audiences, it is also hoped that the broader profession will find the content relevant as they continue to reflect on their own practices in conjunction with their own educational experiences.

Professor of Practice UTS

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:27:20 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been appointed as the inaugural Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

The role is part of a strategy to position UTS as the key institution in Sydney dealing with the future of practice and in particular the engagement of the profession with the making of the city.

This is a role which focuses on research but also includes the direction of the professional practice programs at UTS. The role will occur alongside Gerard's continued position as Director in charge of TERROIR's Sydney and Copenhagen offices.

Gerard will also retain his position as a Guest Professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark where he has recently completed a book on architectual education and has established the inaugural International Studio at the school.

New Copenhagen Office

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:29:36 +0000

TERROIR's Copenhagen Office moves from January 31 to a new studio adjacent to the pentagram-shaped military compound between Copenhagen's centre and harbour, Kastellet.

The studio is located in a workshop at Osterport Station, opposite the Kastellet complex. Recently fitted out by Kim Utzon, the studio combines 50% architecture studio with 505 clear space for model-making, artwork, installations and parties.

The office is shared with Kim Utzon Arkitekter, Jeppe Utzon, and a group of like-minded architects working individually and in association as required.

The new office is located at Folke Bernadottes Allé 25, 2100, København Ø. All other contact details will remain the same.

Tye Cobcroft

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:52:16 +0000

Tye Cobcroft started work in our Copenhagen office in early 2011. Since that period he has worked on a range of projects in both Denmark and Australia, including the competition for Tjapukai in Cairns, a major urban development project in China and a masterplanning competition for the redevelopment of the Henriksholm military site north of Copenhagen.

Prior to working with TERROIR, Tye worked in Australia with our friend at Iredale Pedersen Hook, in both their Perth and Melbourne offices. At IPH Tye worked on a range of projects from high-end single houses to public and infrastructure projects.

Aarhus Tower (DK)

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:50:41 +0000

TERROIR ApS with CUBO Arkitekter received second place in a competition for a new tower at the harbour at Aarhus.

The project was a design and construct tender run by Herning construction company CC -contractor A/S who worked with the CUBO-TERROIR team throughout the design. The engineers are Moe and Brødsgaard.

The tower will be primarily residential in use and is intended for younger residents who will make use of the recreational opportunities at this harbour, one of the largest in Northern Europe.

The first stage of the competition was be completed in December. Other shortlisted teams included Nord, Aart and White Arkitekter from Sweden along with major Danish practice Arkitema who have also proceeded to the final round.

The project will be the first new development to be built at the harbour and thus is a significant project for the city.

Dansk

Terroir ApS og CUBO Arkitekter modtog 2. plads i konkurrencen om aktive ungdomsboliger i et punkthus på havnen i Århus.

Projektet var en totalentreprise-konkurrence, ledet af Herning entreprenøren CC-Contractor A/S som har arbejdet med CUBO_TERROIR igennem hele processen. Ingeniører på projektet er Moe og Brødsgaard.

Den første etape blev afleveret og præsenteret i starten af december 2010. De prækvalificerede teams inkluderede AArt, Nord, White arkitekter fra Sverige samt Arkitema der er den anden udvalgte tegnestue der blev udvalgt til 2 etape.

Projektet bliver det indtilvidere højeste byggede på de bynære havnearealer og er derfor et vigtigt projekt for byen.

Kate Manning

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:04:45 +0000

Kate has joined TERROIR after recently completing her Year 12 studies. Kate is TERROIR’s new Administrative Officer based in the Hobart office, currently undertaking her Certificate III in Business Traineeship. She completed her Certificate II in 2009.

Kate has taken over the position of Emma Quinn who was the previous Administrator.

Deepwater

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:41:13 +0000

Deepwater is a site on the Georges River in Sydney's south west currently used for recreational boating. This project, for the Sydney hospitality group Doltone, seeks to capitalise on this beautiful setting as a location for a major function venue.

The existing building provides a framework around which new elements are added to transform the clubhouse into a top-tier function venue. These elements include a new entry and services area to the rear and a new roof and facade which address the riverfront. These two elements are both abstractions of their adjacent sites - the services area being related to the adjacent trees via a vertical screen while the glazing to the riverfront captures the reflections and light of the river in direct sunlight.

The project was submitted for a development application in December 2010 and should commence documentation in mid 2011.

Sustainability Lecture KTH Stockholm

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:43:32 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been invited by the Swedish Institute of Architects to give a lecture in Stockholm on Thursday, January 13 on sustainability practices.

The lecture will be held at the architecture school, KTH, in Stockholm.

The event is part of The Sacredness of sustainability (Uthållighetens helighet). A series of events dedicated to discuss and question the issue of sustainability in planning and architecture. Mark Isitt (journalist and former editor of forum AID magazine) has been asked to follow the events to comment and summarize.

Svensk

DEN HELIGA UTHÅLLIGHETEN – Gerard Reinmuth.
Kl 18.00. Arkitekturskolan KTH, nedre ateljén.

Gerard Reinmuth är en av grundarna av det australiensiska kontoret TERROIR. Han är för närvarande gästprofessor vid universitetet i Aarhus. Föreläsningen är den första i serien Den heliga uthålligheten, föreläsningar och diskussioner och ifrågasättanden av begreppet uthållighet inom planering och arkitektur. Stockholms Arkitektförening har bett Mark Isitt (arkitekturkritiker på GP och fd chefredaktör för Forum Aid) att följa föreläsningarna för att kommentera och summera.

"I skenet av den frenetiska rebrandingen av allt vi använder och äter som 'uthålligt' måste vi minnas att uthållig konsumtion i sig är något av en oxymoron." -Gerard Reinmuth.

Web:
http://www.arkitekt.se/s61883
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6566558930#!/event.php?eid=114559315284016

Emerging Architect Interviews

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:59:56 +0000

The January-February issue of Architecture Bulletin has a feature on emerging architects, centred around Tamara Donnellan who won the inaugural NSW Emerging Architects Prize.

The issue also includes interview with Gerard Reinmuth and John Choi of Choi Ropiha Fighera - a great practice in Sydney and friends and colleagues of all of us here at TERROIR.

Elizabeth Street Pier Services Building

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:48:29 +0000

In 2009 TERROIR were engaged to upgrade facilities on Hobart's Franklin Wharf for the Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority. The project was led by Melbourne-based landscape architecture practice Oculus. Part of this larger project was the modification to the existing Services Building in the forecourt to the Elizabeth Street Pier.

The task was to "cut and shut" an existing services building while at the same time increasing pedestrian amenity along the water’s edge.

An identifiably new folded steel element painted in an identifiably Tasmanian green colour was placed over the existing building to provide a new identity to the mundane services enclosure with relatively minimal means.

The street end is complimented with a continuation of the steel element which provides shelter over existing public services such as bicycle parking, vending machine and general waiting space.

Design Award for Landscape Architecture, 2010 AILA Victorian Chapter Awards

Leichhardt: Different Angles

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:39:16 +0000

Leichhardt House has been featured in The Australian newspaper's Wish Magazine. The magazine covers a range of lifestyle issues of interest to this major newspaper's readership.

The article was written by Rob Bevan - the best architectural journalist in Australia and a long-time colleague of the practice.

The Australian Wish Magazine, No 57, November 2010.

Richard Blythe: Bartlett Lecture

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:14:14 +0000

Richard Blythe gave a lectue at The Bartlett School of Architecture on 17 November titled Glide: design, indeterminacy and the specificity of the contingent.

Richard explains his lecture topic as follows: "There is a moment that paddlers and rowers all know, the pause between one stroke and the next, a kind of suspension of things when trajectory takes over from purposeful endeavour and the future belongs to the gods, or, to be more precise the designer of the hull. A good hull glides. A poor one does not.

The glide exists also in other, even social forms. At the end of a good dinner party there is a similar moment, a sort of social version if you like, an unspoken understanding that the party is over even if it is not quite ended, time to move on.

We recognise that we know these moments most intensely in the awkward presence of those that have not yet understood that it is time to leave.

The occupation of such moments is critical, how to move from one purpose to the next, to move between purpose, without disturbing the glide from one place to another.

Architecture passed through the end of a century, leaving behind it a splash of empty isms, and entered this one in a glide. Our digitally enhanced and technologically advanced cultures suspended. Not frozen but caught in a trajectory, a propelling forward, a movement beyond some edge.

We’ve entered a new space, one that is not yet a place that we recognise. How is it possible to design as gliders of our indeterminate condition?

In the second year of this century the architectural practice Terroir completed their first significant commission Peppermint Bay, a restaurant project set in a stunning estuarine landscape on the south eastern cost of the Australian island Tasmania that hangs on the extreme southern edge of the globe.

This year, the practice completed a paper maker’s gallery on the northern coastline of the same island in a town called Burnie. In between these two projects the three practice directors - Gerard Reinmuth, Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe - undertook practice-based design research higher degrees that drove key developments in the way these designers grappled with their practice. This paper will chart the design journey from one project to the other exploring how a new practice discovered a way of working as gliders of our digitally enhanced globally challenged condition."

George Street in Steel Profile

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:40:44 +0000

TERROIR's 86-88 George Street public space and canopy has been featured in Steel Profile's November 2010 edition.

The article is written by respected arts and architcture critic, Paul McGillick.

Venice Biennale in eVolo magazine

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:07:39 +0000

TERROIR's collaboration with Richard Goodwin and Andrew Benjamin (RAG Urbanism) for the Venice Biennale has been featured in the fall/winter issue of US magazine eVolo.

This editiion of the magazine is titled "Cities of Tomorrow" and features a range of propositions for urban futures from around the world.

SNM Shortlisted!

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:03:11 +0000

Our Statens Naturhistoriske Museum (SNM) has been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards program, in the Future Projects Category.

The WAF Awards are held in Barcelona in early November. Gerard Reinmuth from TERROIR will be there to present the project.

This is great recognition for the project, with Stage 2 of the SNM competition yet to commence.

Emerging Architect's Prize

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:02:47 +0000

TERROIR Associate Director, Tamara Donnellan, has been awarded The NSW Emerging Architect Prize for 2010.

The Emerging Architect Prize has been developed to acknowledge an individual emerging architect’s contribution to architectural practice, education, design excellence and community involvement, which advances the professions role within the public arena.

The award was presented on Friday 5^th November by Australian Institute of Architects NSW AChapter President Brian Zulaikha as part of the Sydney Architecture Festival.

Practice of Practice

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:37:43 +0000

The Practice of Practice is the latest voluime to be published by RMIT on the Invited Masters and PhD programmes.

Leon van Schaik has run these programmes for almost 20 years - a period during which many of Australia's most notable practitioners have undertaken the program.

TERROIR were proud to be invited in 2004 to undertake the Masters research and completed the program with an exhibition on our design approach and processes in 2007.

This book brings together TERROIR's work alongside other peers who completed the research in the last 4-5 years. Like all van Schaik's publications, The Practice of Practice is a key contribution to the area of research-by-design.

Venice Biennale-Arkitekten (DK)

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:12:17 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has written a critique of the Danish pavilion for the 2010 Venice Biennale in Danish magazine, Arkitekten.

The critique calls for a retreat from overt marketing strategies and instead suggests that there is enough content and quality in Danish architecture to enable more inquisitive, reflective, and critical exibitions.

Leichhardt House: Residential Wonder

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:26:30 +0000

Leichhardt House has been featured in MONUMENT magazine, issue 99 - a special edition on Residential Wonders of the World.

MONUMENT have reviewed the house in a very considered and comprehensive way, the highlight being an insightful piece of writing by David Burns.

Teneil van Dyck

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:15:28 +0000

Teneil joined TERROIR in 2010 to work on the National Capital Exhibition in Canberra.

She has a Masters in Architecture from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) where she also completed her Bachelor. Teneil also has a degree in interior design from the Sydney Institute of Technology. Her strengths range across the full spectrum of architectural skills from abstract thinking and writing to detailed design and documentation.

Teneil's previous work experience includes a substantial periods at Woodhead and DEM Architects in Sydney.

Contact Teneil: VanDyck@terroir.com.au

Maitland in ClubLife

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:44:21 +0000

Maitland City Bowls has been featured in Club Life magazine - the client-group magazine for Clubs in New South Wales, Australia.

This positive report on the project confirms the value of architectural input to projects such as this which act as catalysts for changing cultures in the organisation and/or patrons.

International Studio: Aarhus

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:53:38 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is teaching the first International Studio at Arkitektskolen i Aarhus, in collaboration with Niels Park Nygaard and Mads Tholstrup.

The studio is a response to the requirements of the Danish Culture Ministry that both Danish schools teach a Danish Masters degree, in English.

The project for the studio is set at the decommissioned jail in Horsens, Jylland, nicknamed "Slottet" (the castle) by locals. The question is how the constraints of this existing structure might affect or suggest a major transformation that re-sets the building in the context of the future of Horsens.

It is important to understand Horsens not as a singular urban entity, but as a node in a 100 km long, densely urbanized strip along the east coast of Jutland, heavily interconnected in terms of infrastructure, labour market, housing, education, services etc., called ‘The East Jutland Million City’. Politically the region sees itself as a counterpoint to the Copenhagen area, being its equal in size of population, and the idea is that the region - as an alternative to the high brow culture of the Capital –becomes a center for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Burnie Makers in C+A

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:51:25 +0000

Burnie Makers has featured in issue 14 of C+A magazine.

This Australian industry publication features work of high quality and with specific innovations in the use of concrete. Also featured in this issue are SAANA’s Rolex Learning Centre and McBride Charles Ryan’s Yardmasters.

New Town Primary School

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:34:22 +0000

TERROIR’s classroom extensions, new kindergarten and library refurbishment at New Town Primary School (Tas) were completed in August 2010.

The vibrant colour scheme used in the classroom extensions is reflective of the School’s colours, mediating from yellow to green externally.

Writing Art and Architecture

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:31:52 +0000

TERROIR's Prague Library project has been featured on the cover of a new book which collates Andrew Benjamin's recent writings on art and architecture. The Prague Library article was first printed in Architecture Review Australia.

Dark Side Club

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:42:26 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth attended the Dark Side Club at the 12th International Architecture Biennale in Venice, at the invitation of TERROIR supporter and friend, Bjarke Ingels of BIG.

Bjarke was the curator of the evening, titled "Sci-Fi Urbanism". A fantastic group of people was assembled for this discussion, including Winy Maas, Colin Fournier, Jurgen Mayer H., Gary Bates and others.

Venice Biennale 2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:55:01 +0000

RAG Urbanism - a team featuring Gerard Reinmuth (TERROIR), Richard Goodwin and Andrew Benjamin - have been selected 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:

In order to plan the development of Sydney to 2050 there needs to be a number of points guiding both the analysis and the subsequent planning. RAG Urbanism’s project overriding idea has two components:

i) The city, the block and the building are part of a dynamic process that contains a potentiality for generating its own future: Sydney in 2050

ii) That potentiality is realised through a process of remapping and drawing across all scales.

The future is a condition of the present. The future occurs to the extent that the present allows for its own transformation. The project consists of investigations at all scales in which drawing and mapping and thus the reinvention of terrains and grounds will continue to produce sustainable interventions. Part of the project will be the investigation of a new urban strategies which because they incorporates the process of ‘fraying’, ‘knotting’ and ‘parasitism’ are able to operate at all scales.

Affirmative Architecture

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:30:47 +0000

Scott Balmforth will be a speaker at the Affirmative Architecture Symposium at RMIT on August 20 and 21.

The Affirmative Architecture Symposium is a two-day event convened by Dr Martyn Hook of the Design Research Institute at RMIT University, Melbourne. The event seeks to define an emergent trend amongst young architects to re-engage with the potential for architecture to improve life.

For further information, click here.

About Face

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:32:20 +0000

About Face is an industry-run competition, seeking innovatve proposals in regard to urban development in Australia.

TERROIR designed the competition in consultation with the industry in 2007. This year, we have been invited to enter.

The idea that architects, via design proposals, can change the fundamental desires of the Australian population to live in the suburbs in houses of ever-increasing scale is a myth.

The drivers behind our suburban life relate to deeply-ingrained cultural and social attitudes and cannot be changed by the demonstration of alternate models. In fact, many such models exist which, despite their positive reception by the architectural community, have had no impact on the suburbs. To suggest again that a proposal for an alternate project home can change society attitudes is naïve.

The only models that have been successful have been for inner-city urban sites where the clientele are architects or similarly educated groups within the population. While these boutique projects may have been successful among those groups, the greater question of the project home for the wider population remains unchanged.

We therefore propose a direct answer to this brief in the form of a new project home which offers not so much an alternate model to what exists but a transformation. This transformation works within the current project home typology and as such responds to the desires for scale, space and site coverage which drive the project home industry.

CURRENT HOUSE TYPE

The project home has been getting bigger and bigger over the past decades. A perusal of many project home providers will reveal that many homes on the current market exceed 400 sq.m. in size.

This situation is not going to change without major regulatory intervention by Government or a massive change in consumption patterns by the general population. The relationship between the greater emergence of environmental issues and consumer behaviour over the past decades confirms that little will change without Government intervention.

We therefore start with the existing project home size and look for the potential WITHIN this model rather than proposing new ones.

CURRENT PLOT SIZE

Despite mounting evidence that increasing land releases at the fringes of our major cities is further eroding food supply, stressing infrastructure and limiting the mobility of those who live there, both sides of Government continue to place land releases as the centre of their affordability policies.

CURRENT SUBURBAN LANDSCAPE

This combination of large houses and small sites has created a brick landscape which is firmly placed in the minds of the population as their ideal image of a suburb and where they would like to live. Therefore, we have accepted also this idea of a brick landscape as the basis for our project.

A STEALTH APPROACH

Given the above, we propose a STEALTH approach to the problem, working on the project home from within the system rather than suggesting alternative versions to it. By adopting this approach, we take a more realistic view of the current situation - far from the misplaced idealism that a new project home can transform cultural and social patterns which show no sign of change.

Core to this approach is a recovery of what we have lost over the past two decades of project home development. By looking inside the current project home for these opportunities, we hope to make a radical transformation precisely because we start with exactly the same template.

This transformation is driven by an examination of the current project homes as outlined below.

SUPERSIZE ME

During our childhood, project homes were relatively small, and outside space was plentiful, both in backyards and in remnant woodlands that sat undisturbed between the suburbs. The suburb was considered a safe place where children roamed free and neighbours chatted over the back fence.

However, these memories of summer evenings playing cricket on the street have given way to desolate streets where all activity occurs inside the ever-increasing project home. Neighbours no longer have an easy contact given the privacy of current housing types and children are never seen on the street. The car reigns supreme and some suburbs now do not even have footpaths.

Inside the project home, an ever increasing array of theatre rooms, multi-purpose rooms, and massive bedrooms, have become the play spaces of the suburb. Cricket and running around the street have been substituted for Playstation. Child obesity continues to increase while our political landscape increases in a conservatism borne of the possibility to shut out anyone but your own kind from your suburban world.

Chernikov Prize

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:11:47 +0000

TERROIR have been nominated for the International Prize run by the The Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation (ICIF).

The Prize was established in 2006, and is run as a biennial award. The 50,000 Euro prize is given to the best among the contemporary architects of the young generation – up to 44 years old - for a body of work which demonstrates "the most original, authentic and innovative concept of architecture".

This year's curator is Stefano Boeri, editor of Abitare. Previous curators were Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher in 2006 and Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio in 2008. The curators are assisted by a panel of international "experts". TERROIR was nominated for the prize by pne of thse experts, Tom Kovac.

Previous winners were studio DOGMA in 2006 and Junya Ishigami (Junya Ishigamy+Associates) in 2008.

This year's prizewinner will be announced in November.

Maitland in Steel Profile

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:51:42 +0000

TERROIR's Maitland City Bowls project has been featured in Steel Profile, Australia's leading industry magazine.

The building makes an innovative use of steel structure to engage with the existing building. So far, stages 1 and 2 of the Maitland project have been completed while the existing building remains occupied and in operation.

The Steel Profile article discusses this and other aspects of the design and its realisation over the past few years.

Steel Profile, Issue 106. August 2010.

Makers' Steel Award

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:58:40 +0000

Makers' Workshop has been awarded for the design of its steel structure in the Australian Steel Institute awards program.

The award recognises the design of the steel structure, by TERROIR and engineers Gandy and Roberts, and the contribution of the makers involved: Fairbrother (Head Contractor); Danmor Engineering (Steel Fabricator), Strucdraw (Steel Detailer); and Dulux (Coatings Suppier).

Clareville House

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:20:08 +0000

The project is currently under construction.

Clareville is a beautiful part of the greater Sydney area, featuring large waterways and waterfront property.

The project commenced in an exercise in mapping the natural site and views out from and back toward 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.

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. This path is 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.

BRW Interview

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:26:39 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been interviewed for BRW (Business Review Weekly). The interview focuses on the TERROIR business, its ambitions, and strategies for future growth.

Business Review Weekly, July 29, 2010.

Contextual Surface at UTS

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:19:09 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth and Tamara Donnellan are running a Masters Studio at the University of Technology, Sydney from July-November, 2010.

The subject for the studio is Villawood Detention Centre - the first point of contact for many asylum seekers with Australia and Australians. Current plans to increase capacity at the centre are used as a springboard for this project, which suggests that the current security paradigm - detention cells surrounded by a clear perimeter and chain wire - could be challenged. We propose that the new project should contain all program in the 1.7km long boundary of the centre, forcing students to address a range of issues relating to Australia's irrational and disproportionate fear of asylum seekers.

The project arises from the writing and work TERROIR has done with the concept of the "contextual surface"

"The tool we use in order to generate this internal consistency for each project is what we call the contextual surface. In TERROIR, this is often referred to as a machine (in Deleuze’s terms, an abstract machine) which is constructed anew for each project and which provides a mechanism for making the various prioritizations and negotiations particular to it and where the project itself is understood as a constellation of coincident interests (developer, end user, public). Each new project results in a contextual surface unique to it, such that attempts to discern enduring ethical foundations across projects are thwarted by the very fact that each project challenges our own positions and to some extent re-forges how we see the world."

Winery, Great Wall

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:50:08 +0000

TERROIR were invited to design a Winery on a prominent site and one of the first projects for The Great Wall Cultural Resort Development in Ji County, Tianjin in China.

Overlooking the Huanxiu Lake, the site has a breathtaking hill-side setting, incorporating the subtle stone wall-terracing of hillsides that is commonplace in the region and which have enabled sustainable farming practice over many generations.

To place a contemporary project within this setting requires an appreciation of the responsibility towards history and the environment.

We looked to the fundamental character of the site – the rock-wall terracing method of subtly changing the landscape – to inform this proposal’s primary architectural element of gabion-basket enclosures. With these cages of loose-stacked stones we have established a commonality between the new and unfamilar and the old patterns and practices extant at the site.

The valley leading up to the Huangya Gate of the Great Wall is a dramatic, powerful landscape, with steep mountainous terrain rising on either side of the meandering Ju River. The Winery site occupies a portion of the overall valley region and within its subtlety and sensitivity should project itself conceptually to be an integral part of the entire resort area comprising in excess of 200 square kilometres. The commanding, linear forms of the proposal slide out from the hillside as though they have seemingly been “revealed” rather than placed on to the site. Its intended that this new building is seen as part of the ground and infact part of the powerful landscape in which it occupies.

Terroir’s work is the beginning of a broader relationship between Ji County and RMIT University’ School of Architecture and Design who will draw on their international renown to bring together collaborative design partners to work as a community rather than a series of individuals on The Great Wall Cultural Resort Development Master Plan.

This project represents a special opportunity to bring together an innovative design effort to address challenges that while particular to China, are none the less also faced in other parts of the world including demographic change, rapid urbanization and the global challenge of living within our means.

Pavilion, Great Wall

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:22:02 +0000

TERROIR were invited to design a centre-piece Pavilion for The Great Wall Cultural Resort Development project at Ji County, Tianjin in China.

Situated in the heart of the Ju River valley, the site has views in all directions so the surrounding mountainous landscape - none more compelling than the view over the sweeping river and plain below to the Huangya Gate of the Great Wall in the distance. The site also marks the midpoint between the planned traditional Chinese town district and Western town of The Great Wall Cultural Resort.

The project has emerged from our observations of the powerful surrounding landscape and related cultural practices within that place.

The building resembles a “basket” – a subtle reinforcement of Ji County’s renown as a “garden” of China. The basket seemingly rests lightly on the site, with the main projection to the Great Wall view cantilevered off the existing terraced platform.

The "basket" concept emerged from an observation that cuttings from the common fruit trees are often used for fencing. In this proposal the “twig” cuttings are deployed in a horizontal arrangement forming a continuous external skin to the building which constitutes the basket. The building’s interior will be awash in dappled light through the permeable basket perimeter, except for key moments when the skin is peeled back or spaced apart to acknowledge key vistas.

The physicality of the landscape itself has also impacted on the Pavilion form. The profile of the surrounding hillsides has seemingly been exaggerated to effect the shape of the Pavillion – pushing in on three sides to form the unique tri-winged shape. Each wing thus corresponds to specific site circumstance: visitors will enter through one wing which is a natural extension of the access road already up on to site; while the main cantilevered wing provides a frontal relationship to the valley view to the Great Wall; and finally the remaining wing kicks around to enable visitors to look down the river valley.

Terroir’s work is the beginning of a broader relationship between Ji County and RMIT University’ School of Architecture and Design who will draw on their international renown to bring together collaborative design partners to work as a community - rather than a series of individuals - on The Great Wall Cultural Resort Development Master Plan.

Maitland City Bowling Club Stage 2

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:47:30 +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.

Tasman District School

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:05:30 +0000

The new prep classroom at Tasman District School was developed as part of the Australian Government's Building the Education Revolution [BER] scheme and was completed mid 2010. TERROIR was engaged to design the new prep classroom which replaces a temporary ‘terrapin’ building, and is located in the school’s early-childhood area, sharing an outdoor play space with the kindergarten classroom opposite. The prep classroom features a large cantilevered roof which acts as an ‘outdoor classroom’, providing a flexible learning environment.

Externally, the building relates to the surrounding weatherboard buildings. Internally, the ceiling transforms into a rainbow which continues from the exterior to the interior of the classroom. The banding of colours helps to differentiate the functions of the classroom in the open internal space.

The result is a project which elicits wonder and excitement among the pupils, as a contrast to the usual prosaic or more "adult" school buildings.

Metropolis Laboratory 2010

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 07:18:25 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth will be a keynote lecturer at the 2010 Metropolis Laboratory in Copenhagen. The 2010 Laboratory will focus on issues of spatial transformation, gaming and art practice in the transformation of our cities.

Other keynote speakers include Steve Graham, Dr Cameron Cartiere and Drew Hemment.

Using examples from his native Australia and its multicultural cities, Gerard will contend that cultural sustainability is a spatial issue, particularly in Scandinavian contexts where new cultures literally move into spatial frameworks envisaged and constructed for extremely homogenous populations. He will also discuss these issues in the context of the push to brand cities as they compete on an international market.

For further information, click here.

Gerard also spoke at Metropolis 2008.

4 Contexts

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:48:25 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth is running a workshop with students at Arkitektskolen Aarhus students to end the 2010 spring semester.

Titled "4 Contexts", the workshop takes students to the west coast of Jylland where they will work in and around the WWII bunkers built for the German forces occupying Denmark at that time.

By placing and re-placing the same 4 elements in 4 different contexts, students will be made aware of the importance of and variations in context, even within a very small area. In this case, the site stretches barely 100 metres from land to sea yet encompasses dunes, bunkers, a beach and the water's edge.

Makers Workshop awarded

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:30:52 +0000

Makers Workshop has received the major public building award for the Australian Institute of Architects (Tasmania).

Renowned Australian architect Ian Moore chaired the jury which awarded Burnie Makers the Alan C Walker award for Public Architecture. The jury noted:

"This is architecture with an arresting attitude to vision – looking out pointedly at different aspects of its setting – port, town, hinterland, ocean and built context – just as it demands to be looked at from different vantage points, distances and times of day and night. Completed on a stringent budget within 15 months from initial briefing, the Makers’ Workshop is a testament to lucid architectural intent and direction."

For more information, refer to the Australian Institute of Architects website.

Brandbjerg Manor, Denmark

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:59:36 +0000

TERROIR developed a proposal for Brandbjerg Manor in the Real Dania competition, titled "Tomorrow's Manor". The proposal was carried out in close cooperation between Brandbjerg College which is based in Brandbjerg Manor (Simon Lægsgaard Madsen, Director) and architects Alex Poulsen Arkitektkontor A/S.

This project aimed to set a strategy that could be used in many of these similar buildings across Denmark, where new interventions are required, while also addressing the specific needs of the existing college.

A new architectural language was deployed to frame and highlight the beautiful and evocative aspects of the original building in a sort of tango - so that the contrast between the two is constantly experienced simultaneously and through one another. The new and the old would thus reinforce each other and through this play create a contemporary setting for events in close contact and respect for the context, both in the exterior and interior.

Generally, we attempt to open up the spaces by removing most existing interior walls as a way to broaden the experience of building extent, allow for flexible spaces, and giving space for existing elements - such as the beautiful ceiling with rows of narrow arches - to read clearly.

This new open space creates new possibilities for the separation of functions in the school workshop between the two zones, hunting and mechanics - blood and oil . Between them, and centrally located in the room is a connection to the upper level - a breakthrough feature that connects the different spaces and functions but also acting as a light-shaft which becomes a sculptural, room divider and structural element.

The existing building is re-connected to the context by a framing of three new openings where new and old meet and are presented externally. A new floor surface establishes a new datum for future activities and unfolds and transformes into stairs, shafts and other elements of enclosure.

The sequence ends with a series of skylights or "snorkels" which direct and distribute the light. Some of these allow a glimpse of the sky, while in the workshop and art room there is a focus on the interior such that the experience of the light in these rooms is for abstraction and thinking.

Dansk

Terroir har i foråret 2010 udviklet et forslag til Brandbjerg Herregård i forbindelse med idekonkurrencen ”fremtidens Herregårde”. Forslagets løsning er udført i tæt samarbejde mellem Brandbjerg Højskole som er hjemmehørende på Brandbjerg Herregård , ved forstander Simon Lægsgaard Madsen og arkitekterne fra Alex Poulsen Arkitektkontor a/s.

I projektet fokuserer vi på at synliggøre forskellen mellem NYT og GAMMELT. Vi ønsker at bruge de NYE arkitektoniske elementer til at indramme og fremhæve det smukke og stemningsfulde af det oprindelige som i en tango hvor man hele tiden tager afsæt i det GAMLE men svarer eller modsvarer med NYE indsættelser således at oplevelsen hele tiden veksler, men konstant opleves samtidigt og i kraft af hinanden. Det NYE og det GAMLE vil på den måde forstærke hinanden og ved denne leg med kontrasterne skabes der således en nutidig ramme om begivenhederne i tæt kontakt og respekt for konteksten, både i eksteriør og interiør.

Et nye forløb af gulvflader hæftes til den eksisterende ved 3 nye åbninger: hovedindgange til bygningen, det sted hvor NYT og GAMMELT mødes og præsenteres udadtil.

Generelt tilstræbes det at åbne etagerne ved at fjerne de fleste eksisterende indervægge for på den måde at udvide oplevelsen af bygningens udstrækning, give plads til fleksible rumligheder, og skabe stemning ved mulighed for gennemlysning og ikke mindst lade de stærke elementer træde i karakter, fx det smukke loft med rækker af smalle buehvælv der minder om fortidens staldlofter.

I dette nye åbne udstrakte rum etableres nye muligheder for adskillelse af funktioner, i værkstedet mellem to zoner, jagt og mekanik – blod og olie – imellem dem og centralt placeret i rummet skabes en forbindelse til 1 salen – som et gennembrydende element der sammenbinder de forskellige rum og funktioner, som centrum i en cirkulation de både transporterer mennesker mellem rummene men også virker som lys-skakt der i eet og samme optræder som skulpturelt, rumdelende og bærende element.

Forløbet ender med i en række ovenlys af skulpturel karakter, vi betegner dem snorkler, der leder og fordeler lyset, nogle steder tillader kig til himlen, andre steder lader lys strømme ud gennem udskæringer, i Ide – værkstedet og i Kunstrummet fokuseres således på interiøret, og kontakten til bygningens ydre udviskes, der gives plads til oplevelse af lys, abstraktioner og tankevirksomhed.

Other Islands, Tenerife

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:03:31 +0000

Scott Balmforth and Gerard Reinmuth will be giving a keynote lecture at an architecture conference at Tenerife, Canary Island, on June 10/11.

Titled, "Other Islands: Architecture in Insular Contexts", the conference will bring together speakers from Iceland, Norway, Ireland, the Canary Island and Tasmania.

The TERROIR lecture will respond to this theme, and is titled "The inner-outer - Being Tasmanian in a global context".

Other speakers include Alessandra Kosberg (JVA Arkitekter, Norway), Paulo David (Madeira) and Studio Granda from Iceland,

Stockholm växer!

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:55:49 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth lectured at a symposium at Färgfabriken on May 25 titled "Stockholm växer!"

The symposium is one of a number of iniatives being taken by Färgfabriken to increase their focus on and participation in urban development issues. TERROIR are very excited to be part of their team.

The seminar was held in collaboration with Stockholm City Planning Department and explored issues such as environment, migration, new housing requirements and broader conceptual issues such as the city identity itself in the context of the Stockholm Vision 2030. In particular, Färgfabriken asks the question - "How do we work to make projects in the suburbs to have the same weight and quality as often more high-profile projects in the inner city?"

Gerard is one of a group including future scientists, architects and economists - headed by Stockholm Deputy Mayor Kristina Alvendal who debated these issues.

The event was at 11-17 on the May 25 followed by dinner and after party.

Svensk

Stockholm växer!

Välkomna till en eftermiddag med korta föreläsningar, debatt och diskussion med utgångspunkt från den nya översiktsplanen.

Hur ska Stockholm gestaltas?
Vilka behov behöver vi uppmärksamma när det gäller miljö, inflyttning, nya boendeformer, värderingar och identitet? Vilken stad vill vi se i framtiden?
Stockholms stadsbyggnadskontor i samarbete med Färgfabriken bjuder in till en eftermiddag där ni träffar och lyssnar på debattörer, framtidsforskare, arkitekter och ekonomer.

Dagen avslutas i Färgfabrikens nyrenoverade bar, där röster och åsikter ventileras i ett öppet samtal.

Tider:
Tisdag 25 maj kl 11-17, sedan bar och samtal fram till 21.

OnLine Exhibition

Tue, 25 May 2010 07:20:40 +0000

TERROIR was invited to participate in the OnLine exhibition at the Tasmanian School of Art, Centre for the Arts in Hunter Street, Hobart.

The exhibition is open daily from 12 noon to 5 pm until Friday the 18th of June.

OnLine is the third in a suite of exhibitions (The ON series) that invites artists, designers and architects to develop works in response to a particular medium/ object, in this case fishing line.

Vic Bike Shelter Competition

Tue, 25 May 2010 06:49:38 +0000

TERROIR was shortlisted to provide a new design strategy for bike shelters in Melbourne.

The idea of the new bike shelters is to allow and encourage cyclists to ride to transport hubs in Melbourne, safely lock up their bikes and get onto public transport.

TERROIR proposed that the existing structure of the shelters is retained and re-clad in a new precious skin. This would be achieved by arranging expanded metal mesh in different gauges and different angles across the structure.

ArchDaily

Fri, 21 May 2010 15:47:31 +0000

ArchDaily is one of the world's largest online resources for news and information about architecture.

Our Peppermint Bay project has featured on their project archive. It is great for us to see this project still generates some interest even though it was our first public building.

Burnie Makers in IW Magazine

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:12:47 +0000

Burnie Makers Workshop has featured in the May, 2010 issue of IW, the major architectural magazine from Tawian.

The same issue also featured our Sheldon Place House.

Building Blocks

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:00:45 +0000

TERROIR have participated in an exhibition titled "Building Blocks" at Färgfabriken in Stockholm, opening on April 24, 2010.

The exhibition brings together 9 international architects, each with their own client in the form of a young child. The image accompanying this posting if of our client, Alma, making a critique of our developed design proposal.

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.

Key to this issue of authorishop was the client brief. Our brief can be summarised as follows:

Like many six-year old girls, Alma is excited by a world of princesses and castles. Her idol is the Queen of the Elves.

What is interesting about this is that, across all western cultures, a clear and consistent image exists of what a house or castle for the Queen of the elves might look like - a robust building with a drawbridge and turrets topped by spires.

Attics and Basements

When asked what her favourite places are, Alma suggested the attic and basement. She understood the attic as a “beautiful” space, while the basement was something more mysterious and challenging, a place where “the big kids” hang out.

It is a short jump from Alma’s comments to Bachelard’s Poetics of Space and his discussion of the attic and cellar as two of the most important spaces in a phenomenological sense – spaces lost in the contemporary city where “from the street to the roof, the rooms pile up, one on top of the other.”

A secret world of slippery dips, trampolines and hiding places

“One can imagine a building which would consist only of a gigantic circular staircase, with elevators taking us to the top . . “ Slavoj Zizek

Alma completed her brief by discussing a world between the walls and floors. She suggested that in her perfect house she would live in the attic, a friend in the basement, and they would meet via of a slide between one bathroom and the next, with each slide ending in a trampoline.

What is astonishing about this is the way that Alma has tapped into one of the most compelling aspects of architectural organisation, poche. Nowdays, poche has been reduced to an instrument that provides for the passage of excrement, water, and power networks in the narrow spaces between walls and floors such that the potential of this space is now rarely realized.

But taken as a potential space as opposed to pure service routes, poche becomes the space where the indeterminacy between inside and outside is negotiated. It is s wondrous space, a space that exists outside the rules of living rooms and bedrooms, it can be a place of horror but also of play.

Our project is but one of nine intriuging explorations of the exhibition themes. The full list of participating architects is below:

Helen & Hard (Stavanger), Hollmen Reuter Sandman (Helsinki), J&T architects (Dakar), Kjellander + Sjöberg (Stockholm), Kod arkitekter (Stockholm), TERROIR (Sydney/Copenhagen), The AOC (London), Veronika Valk, Zizi&Yoyo (Tallin), Wilhelmson arkitekter (Stockholm).

Children and Space

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:50:47 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was asked to write an article on children and spatial experience for the catalogue of the Building Blocks exhibition at Färgfabriken in Stockholm.

Til Bords

Mon, 17 May 2010 12:09:14 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth was invited to give a speech on architecture as the centrepiece of a play "after Kakfa" - titled KAAKF (alias FKAAK, alias AAKKF) - at the Skuespilhuset in Copengagen.

The play is in two parts. Part One, directed by Anders Paulin and featuring Maria Rossing, Jannie Faurschou and Anders Mossling, addresses themes in Kafka's work via a range of explorations into the concepts of fear, identity, foreignness, power and hierarchy.

The second half of the play has been shared by a range of creatives from Copenhagen - including architect Lene Mirdal - who were asked to explore these themes using techniques from their own discipline.

Lene's work, titled "Til Bords" (to the table) turns the stage into a giant dinner party with a 3 course perfume menu. At the mid-point of the dinner, a specialist from a range of fields - from philosphy to architecture - gives a speech which explores Kafka's themes in their own work.

Gerard Reinmuth discussed Zizek, the Tasmanian dams debate and environmental and cultural sustainability as he moved through the themes of fear, identity, foreignness, power and hierarchy, concluding with a reference to the masterclass currently underway in Aarhus.

TERROIR Masterclass, Aarhus

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:38:49 +0000

TERROIR are conducting 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.

The project is a new mosque on the site adjacent to the oldest church in the city. The political, phenomenological and psychological potential of this project - in a city rife with debate over multiculturalism and from where the infamous Mohammed cartoons originated - are significant.

Makers' Workshop; AR Australia

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:51:25 +0000

TERROIR's Makers’ Workshop in Burnie (TAS) is the cover image and has been featured in the April/May 2010 issue of Architectural Review Australia.

The review was written by Marcus Trimble, Director of Super Colossal.

Photographer: Brett Boardman

Aarhus to Broken Hill

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:12:52 +0000

The final chapter of the visit of 120 students from Arkitketskolen Aarhus to Australia - as part of Gerard Reinmuth's Visting Professorship at the school - was a visit to Broken Hill.

By travelling due west from Sydney to Broken Hill by train, the students were able to grasp the scale of the Australian continent and the many shifts in landscape type. This experiece was cemeted by a dawn march on the first day in Broken Hill, walking the 25 kilometres to Silverton.

Once in Broken Hill, the students undertook a collaborative Land Art project which involved all 120 students and 10 teachers in the making of the final work.

There was considerable interest in the project, including from the ABC.

Photos from Jesper Henrikson

Burnie Clean Beaches Award

Wed, 05 May 2010 11:59:16 +0000

TERROIR’s Makers’ Workshop was instrumental in the city of Burnie (TAS) claiming two environmental awards.

Burnie's West Beach claimed two awards at the 2010 Keep Australia Beautiful, Australian Clean Beaches Awards announced on the 25^th of March.

Dr David Moy (judge) said “West Beach displayed a rich cultural heritage that told the stories of the city and port…the new Makers’ Workshop helped the community and visitors learn about the history, industrial heritage and culture of Burnie”

Burnie Mayor Alvwyn Boyd said it was exciting the Makers Workshop had been a key element to Burnie claiming the Energy Innovation Award. “According to the judge, our Makers’ Workshop ticked all the ‘Green Star’ requirements, which is a great honour at a time where energy efficiency is important”.

Architecture Awards ACT

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:44:24 +0000

Gerard Reinmuth has been selected as a juror for the 2010 Architecture Awards in the Australian Capital Territory.

Other jurors are Bruce Townsend (Chair), Obelia Tait, Gay Williamson, Katherine Campbell and Erik Innes.

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.

Jellingstenene

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:52:35 +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.

Unfortunately, the result was something of a disaster in our view, nicely summed up by Kjeld Vindum in Arkitekten. You can download this article by clicking on the link below.

The difficulty in the 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.

Architecture Bulletin Cover

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:56:45 +0000

TERROIR's proposal for the Sydney Laneways installations series has appeared on the cover of Architecture Bulletin (March/April 2010) which covered the event.

Also appearing in the issue is an article by Jennifer Hill on the various public projects commissioned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority over recent years, including our project at 86-88 George Street.

Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Competition

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:49:47 +0000

Bridging the Void

A memorial for the Holocaust in Atlantic City is both an exemplar of the idea of contemporary culture and memory and an opportunity to demonstrate ways forward. The idea of culture has become uncertain, in the sense that in our globally interconnected reality, the very idea of culture as a stable, shared condition is fundamentally questionable.

This uncertainty presents difficulties in regard to the idea of harnessing collective memory via symbolic gestures, such that memorialising an event such as the Holocaust in a way that is universal and enduring presents significant problems.

This project works via the deployment of a “poetics of wonder” – a wonder which occurs in the middle zone between the familiar and the unknowable or unthinkable. This poetics appears through the combination of the phenomenological experience of the material condition and the psychoanalytical impact of the commemorative moment. The bringing together of the specifics of site and commemoration creates an inner- outer condition, inspiring visitors to look at their world anew.

A diagonal line running through the site points directly toward the camps of Poland and East Germany. Thus, the site of the memorial is directly connected to the sites understood by all to be key places in the history of the Holocaust. The diagonal line forms 2 places – one connected to the boardwalk and city and one connected to the sea – thus describing in physical terms the void that exists between the city and the sea.

The star is extended into section to further emphasise this split. The base material of the memorial is concrete, linking it to the sandy coastal context in which it sits. Over this concrete base, the boardwalk is extended to physically bind these two locations, bridging the void between the boardwalk and memorial, binding the two together.

A void along this diagonal split symbolises the void of compassion and basic human rights which is fundamental to our understanding of the Holocaust. This void holds the city and sea apart. A glass bridge spans across this void, focusing us on the delicacy of this space and the need to preserve at all times a desire for human rights. Inscribed within the glass are site of the Holocaust and/or texts from survivors that preserve in material terms this memory. The haptic quality of this glass text bridge encourages reflection upon the unknowable nature of the Holocaust.

Having crossed the glass bridge, views are available out to sea over the concrete base as it merges with the sand. In this base, the presence of 6,000,000 LED lights provide immediate connection with the scale of the Holocaust and describe the void that can never be bridged due to the loss of individuals, families and generations.

The Opera in 3 acts

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:11:32 +0000

120 students from Arkitekskolen Aarhus in Denmark visited 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.

In a period when studying architecture involves less and less study of actual buildings, the ambition of this studio has been to engage the students with the Opera House in physical terms, studying it, drawing it, mapping these phenomena and reflecting on these findings. The results of the studio are 180 separate assignments which test and prod and question the building, developing in the students an awareness of what can be learnt from exemplars from our own discipline.

Less tangible is the cultural exchange – in terms of the culture of two countries and of two schools – which has taken place. The final such exchange will take place on Friday night at the studios.

The images with this listing are from the first week of student activity, site visits, and social events. An exhibition was also held to conclude the event.

Photographs by Gerard Reinmuth, Zuhal Kocan and Louise Heebøll.

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.

Brick Masterclass

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:47:56 +0000

The Brick Masterclass was a program for the 12 most talented young bricklayers in Australia organised by Think Brick - www.thinkbrick.com.au and www.brickmasterclass.com.au The masterclass took place at the end of February with part of the masterclass being to build 3 brick seats designed by Innovarchi, Choi Ropiha and TERROIR.

The seats are placed in the heritage site of Chowder Bay. The site is a former military base and its European history as a base goes back to 1788. In 1979 large areas of the Defence land became national park and in 1998 the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust took over most of the vacated buildings.

The brief was to design a seat of only one pallet of bricks with a maximum size of 3m x 3m and for it to be constructible for a team of 4 bricklayers during the master class programme of 5 days.

Of the three sites ours was the central site known as ‘lovers’. This position gave possibilities of views to both the city and along the cliff into the harbor.

The masterclass participants working on the seat were Will Briggs QLD, Adrian Callipari VIC and Taurean Thompson QLD

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.

CONDITIONS Magazine article

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:23:36 +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.

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

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:55:44 +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.

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

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.

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.

Färgfabriken

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:03:54 +0000

Färgfabriken is one of Sweden's foremost arts organisations. In addition to art exhibitions and events, Färgfabriken is noted for hosting a range of networks, incubating discussion and connections between an extremely diverse range of artists, architects and thinkers.

TERROIR is proud to be have been involved with Färgfabriken since 2008.

Recently, TERROIR have been invited to the exhibition Building Blocks, opening on April 24, 2010.

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

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:35:40 +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

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:24:07 +0000

Camilla is the first point of contact for TERROIR in Denmark. Her knowledge of TERROIR’s design process and continued engagement with the office over the past 6 years is a perfect background for her role as interface between Danish projects and collaborators and the current TERROIR team - many of whom she knows well from her time in the Sydney office.

Camilla first worked for TERROIR in 2004 where she was involved with a number of projects, the most significant of which is Leichhardt House.

Camilla has also spent time in the offices of BBP arkitekter and THORA arkitekter in Copenhagen and exhibited a large art/architecture installation at the Charlottenborg spring exhibition in 2008. The project received considerable critical acclaim.

Camilla studied at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen.

Camilla can be contacted on jensen-thorup@terroir.com.au or on +456126 5562

Dansk

Camilla er hoved kontakt for TERROIR i Danmark. Hendes viden om TERROIR's design processer og fortsatte engagement i tegnestuen i løbet af de seneste 6 år er en perfekt baggrund for hendes rolle som bindeled mellem danske projekter og samarbejdspartnere og det aktuelle TERROIR team - hvoraf hun kender de fleste fra sin tid på Sydneykontoret .

Camilla arbejdede for TERROIR i 2004, hvor hun var involveret i en række projekter, hvoraf det vigtigste er Leichhardt House.

Camilla har også arbejdet for BBP Arkitekter og THORA Arkitekter i København og har sideløbende udarbejdet en stor kunst/arkitektur installation på Charlottenborgs Forårsudstilling i 2008. Projektet modtog stor anerkendelse.

Camilla er uddannet på Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole i København.

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

Samt på telefon: +45 61 26 55 62

TERROIR ApS

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:15:47 +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 Folke Bernadotte's Alle, opposite Kastellet, 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: Maitland City Bowling Club Stage 2

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 11:03:50 +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 Ouston

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:04:46 +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: ouston@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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

'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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

'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, 05 Jul 2010 03:11:53 +0000

This refurbishment 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, 05 Jul 2010 03:12:41 +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 implemented 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.

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

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

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.

‘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.

'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.

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'

'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

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.

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

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

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:02:45 +0000

Anthony Burke and TERROIR first met with Anthony's invitation to TERROIR to participate in an exhibition of Australian architects in San Francisco.

Anthony has since become Head of School at the School of Architecture, University of Technology, Sydney and is a Director of Offshorestudio.net.

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

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

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.

Martin Kornberger

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Stockholm Library

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:13:42 +0000

Asplund’s Stockholm Library is of a particular, classical or at least Platonic geometry that brings emphasis to the slight (but never the less significant) shift in alignment of this building with the city.

This difference of line is germane to establishing the axial relation between the dome of the library and the observatory sited on top of the original ridge that divided the city.

Conceptually then this building sits as spatially distinct from the city, the architectural moment of the project is made manifest between two spatial possibilities: the externalizing spatial expanse of the heavens experienced through the observatory (a kind of Unus Mundus or mythological space where heaven touches earth) on the one hand, and the internalizing spatial expanse of human thought textualized in the pages of the artifacts held under the constructed heaven of the library dome on the other.

The trajectory of the observatory is upward, eyes drawn to the heavens, and externalizing. The trajectory of the library is also upward, eyes drawn to the space of the dome, interior and internalizing in the sense that the text opens up worlds within the subject.

This project then, begins in this spatial and conceptual couplet: reader and text - observer and heavens. The construction of the proposed extension must be understood therefore as the construction or constructing of an extended idea as much as it is a matter of adding building material or programme.

If architecture is to be understood as spatial and relational then this proposal draws relations between three spatial figures – the textual inner space of Asplund’s dome, the cosmic externalizing gaze of the observatory telescope, and the sublime space of the contemporary underground – a triptych that extends Asplund’s library as both spatial idea and material object.

This is a temporal response in the sense that Asplund’s library, constructed in the previous millennium, is re-grounded in its current, cosmopolitan city. By establishing a conceptual relationship between three architectural figures, the original artifact is re-valued, reinstated, and re-placed without significant material alteration.

Inherited geometry;
The primary elements and subtle compositional shifts in Asplund’s

Library influence the formative order and aesthetic of this proposal.

Extending place;
The axial alignment from the Observatory through Asplund’s Library manifests a trajectory to a celestial order, beyond the immediate place. The Stockholm

Library has a similar larger-context connection from the Observatory plateau; a connection to the distant natural landscape at Haga park beyond the city, itself part of the Stockholmsasen (Stockholm Ridge) – once a dominant esker through the Stockholm landscape.

The new roof conceptually “completes” the former ridge through Stockholm.

Harald Sohlberg;
Presents us with a sublime view of heavenly, aspirational light washing snow-capped mountains. In contrast, the bleak foreground evokes the Nordic melancholy of a Scandinavian winter.

The painting is indeterminate however, since the melancholy that it inspires reminds us of the presence of an “other” internal world, our own inner world, the thoughtful world of the subjective viewer. This scene then marks out a ground of indeterminacy between our inner and outer worlds.

We propose a ravine, a deep cut, a telluric space that looks down into the ground, uncovering an underworld of the city, a slot cut in the side of the train tunnel so traveler and reader meet eye to eye in this most sublime space of the contemporary terror threatened city – the underground.

Commuters in this city now have a glimpse to the inner space of this architectural triptych: sublime underground, the textual space of the reader and the cosmic space of the viewer. power than the sum of it’s parts.

Inverting program;
The Depository and Media Management facilities are accommodated in a single, new element over the existing Public Library (Asplund’s Library and Annexes) with direct access from remodeled existing lifts. This efficiently solves the vertical and horizontal circulation of book storage and transport in a refurbishment of existing premises without significant disruption. Further, the existing, highly valued buildings are available for maximum public use, free of onerous storage and services.

Contemporary arrival;
Asplund’s Library entry is essential in the ideational and spatial experience – a single ascent through darkness to the inner light of the drum. Stockholm Library needs a complimentary entry sequence, in terms of both experience and idea. To engage with the contemporary city, the Library must open itself to the city. Multiple arrival opportunities – from park, train station, shopping centre or street - are gathered within a vibrant subterranean space which is also highly visible from the passing train and thus “announced” and anticipated within the arger railway system throughout the ity. Movement in Asplund’s Library is in and up. The new movement is in and down inviting exploration of Stockholm’s mystical underworld.

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.

Hobart Waterfront Competition

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:02:53 +0000

01. Hobart is held within a powerful landscape - a landscape which is central to the form, character and experience of the city. Thus, the competition site must be thought of in the context of this greater realm.

02. Hobart exists and negotiates between mountain and river in this powerful landscape. The city developed within the folds in the landscape, between ridges and dictated by the line of the Hobart Rivulet which– suppressed by development during the 60s and 70s – is understood as the ‘centre-line’ or ley line within this (greater) action of the landscape and a literal umbilical cord connecting the two dominant elements of the landscape – Mountain and Water.

03. The site can be understood as the “delta” within this landscape, the moment where the folds of the mountains and foothills open out to meet the sea.

The concrete apron has and continues to operate as the focus of this “delta” into the sea and exists in a state of flux - negotiating time, spatial and use differences but with a continuity in its uncanny nature - a non-place suspended as an artificial topography between the landscape and southern ocean.

04. Once this delta action and the uncanny nature of the open apron is understood, notions such as “axis” recede. These ideas – from a formal city-planning sensibility - are attempts to impose an order onto this place rather than working from the order which exists. The competition site does not constitute an axis like Murray and Elizabeth Streets - streets which cut across the natural ridge to connect city and cove. Rather, it occupies a central position in the hook-like zone where the greater landscape bowl (intensified by the city nestled in the valley) spreads across the river-delta to unite with the cove. Attempts to construct an axis will lose this important sense of the city form.

05. The location of the apron at the delta and its uncanny nature suggest opportunities - working with inherent patterns and qualities, and revealing these with greater veracity, rather than imposing new ones. The character of this place as the “delta” of the larger landscape and historic entry point to the city can inform new work and the juxtaposition of the Gigantic and Miniature, so characteristic in the Tasmanian landscape, is evident here in the points of intensity and use that punctuate this broad uncanny field.

06. Negotiating the breadth of the apron as a pedestrian is often a precarious proposition, subject to the realities of a wide open expanse on the verge of the Great Southern Ocean, where plundering winds blast up from Antarctica. Rather than seeking to temper this reality, new propositions are drawn to negotiating the open apron ‘field’ in a manner borne from the characteristics of the place - the extant infrastructure of derelict cranes working bridges and the like are joined by industrial-scaled set pieces that in “dancing” across the apron in fleeting, jolting action mimics the rush across the open expanse and places to pause for rest.

07. Places where people can access the water or focus on Hobart’s mountain backdrop and thus orientate to the natural context, but by taking one out of the specific – to relate to the larger landscape order – retains the uncanny quality of the apron.

08. Dunn Place occupies a pivotal location. It is the centre of the fanning delta, where the funnelled landscape hooks around and spreads outwards on to the broad apron of the docks. It is an opportunity to contribute to the sequential building stock of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery – thus completing the entire civic block in a coherent use. It demarcates the furthermost penetration of the original waterline in to the landscape, thus – as part of the concrete apron – is the innermost place of “otherness” nestled snugly within a readable topography.

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.

Liverpool Crescent House, Architectural Review Australia: Residential Special Issue

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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

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

2006 RAIA Awards (Tas)

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Liverpool Crescent House is commended in the New Residential architecture section of the awards program.

view Liverpool Crescent House project

'Street Works', Monument

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Fish 349 is featured in Monument.

Gatley, J, 2006, 'Street Works', Monument, April/May, pp. 30-32.

view Fish 349 project

Marcelo Stamm

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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.)

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“Exploring architecture in the post-digital age”

Monday, April 10, 2006, TERROIR Sydney Office

2006 National Interior Design Awards

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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

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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

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"The Oeuvre Complete”

Friday, March 31, 2006, TERROIR Sydney Office

'Land Values'. MONUMENT Magazine

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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

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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