what really makes a good architect? Eero Saarinen

"Ask Eero what made an architect great and he thought for a few minutes and he said: "You know my father Eliel would have said outgoing, out do other architects, that you do more work and you out do them and you do it better. I think that I would have to say sisu, the Finnish word for guts, it takes the guts and courage to go forward with your conviction with others around you may die, I think that is what really makes a good architect."

Architecture and Urbanism, April 1984 Extra edition, 234.

Symmetry in landscapes

I was just walking towards the city when i noticed this elegant hedge winding along the pathway and thought to share it.

It’s quite beautiful to notice the effort people work on their landscapes, that this effort is acknowledged and respected. Well, at least I’d think that everybody who walks past this point see’s the effort and understands somebody’s pride in creating out of the control over nature, which a hedge of this type is. It’s something that could of been left to grow wild and untamed, but in this case it is controlled and set in place, formalised and clear.

Placefocus: Urban Design Acreditation

I think that the accreditation process is important as it creates a level playing field. In terms of understanding, it creates the key needs required. I could imagine that their would be key core competencies that could be met, ones that are shared. In Landscape Urbanism, it is the power of the landscape over the buildings that are the focus of creating places from spaces. Can creating a structure stifle the bureaucratic nature of the future development of a field that is emerging, but also potentially threatening the control of Architects, Landscape Architects and Town Planners.

To view the Placefocus article: http://goo.gl/Gd84m

Half of the Architectural Story

I've been looking at a lot of sketches by Architects of late and I've come to a few conclusions.

1. Are buildings just modernest caves?

2. If the scale between buildings and their surrounds match, they look natural.

3. The spaces between, most commonly called negative space is called that because it doesn't have a positive building there.

Which really is only half of the story of peoples lives, as they don't just exist in a building but also in the community outside. As an urban designer, we try to meld and appreciate the other half of the story. A story that is hardly ever seen or noted and glorified as Architecture is.

Grand Design Australia

I'd have to say I'm a fan of Grand design, a show about the more expensive side of Architecture. I find that he show itself draws upon a strong style of Architectural language, that attempts to part that information and focus. It is an interesting insight to the way projects are managed and the way that they battle the odds.

Now, with that in mind, think of what would happen when you translate that to an Australian Version. I'm sorry to say it, but honestly they've lost the mark and the point of the show, from phallus doorstops, to crude language.

It falls into the same realm of Australian Iron Chef, and Australian Wipeout. Just plain rubbish, they totally miss the translation from the original.

Why is it that.....

I've had an interest in Architecture ever since I was aware of buildings, well they where not "buildings" but my house and the surrounding neighbourhood around me. I lived in the south of Brisbane, in a suburb called Inala.

I was, in my youth never aware of class, money (as in the cost of things like buildings), or even that houses can look different than from my area. It was only until we moved away to Underwood, I started to realise class and to a lower extent, money.

What I really liked about Inala, was the connections made between my needs as a child. I needed friends (Bobby from across the road) Mr Bosen, the owner of the 4 square store. and surrounding creeks and play fields that entertained my curiosity as a child.

Oddly enough, I still remember when my father ran a red light and the police booked him, I wondered why the car didn't stop for it. This was because I thought cars where controlled automatically by a wire in the road and the driver was only used to turn the car on and off.

I really had a great time, from elephant beetles in the poinsettia, from getting fly in my eye, from helping my sister do a science project on the Chinese elm tree. From making lego filled balloon craft, jumping of the roof several times, using an orbital sander as a cool new car. Although, one memory will be with me.

It's the time when we where playing cricket. The ball had gone over a hardy plank fence that my father had built, we (when we had parties and we seemed to have a few) had a string of light bulbs that where strung over the fence. I went over the fence, and got the ball, came back over the fence, and swung my leg over and hit the infra red lamp. This lamp, and I still remember it now, had paper thin glass, and even now looking at that picture, brings back memories. When I hit the bulb, it exploded into several pieves, of which a slither had gone into my leg. It had cut it open and I immediately jumped from the fence into the pool. `I looked down and saw red blood dance into the water like a red sea slug I had seen on "The world Around Us".

My father came to me and pulled me directly up and he drove me to the hospital, but on the way he saw an ambulance and from there rode to the Mater hospital. I remember the doctor looking at my leg saying 'That'll need some stitches", of which at the time I though was a bit obvious. I looked into the crevice that was my leg and saw something that resembled the mouth of a whale, stringy and white. I really did not feel comfortable as the doctor started to sow my leg up. They organised several orderlies to hold me down. I was bed (and sofa) ridden and the use of my leg was really hard as I had lost strength there. To be continued..