COVID RETROSPECT A Reconsidered Residential Habitat
EXHIBITION
COVID RETROSPECT A Reconsidered Residential Habitat
EXHIBITION THURSDAY 3 MAR - TUESDAY 22 MAR 2022
Image: Alexander Possingham via Unsplash
CONTENTS 07
Foreword
09
Organisers
10
Beth George
14
Jessica Spresser
18
Katica Pedisic
22
Kirsty Volz and David Toussaint
26
Luke Hayward
30
Matthew Eagle
34
Tom O’Shea
38
Rachel Hurst
42
Urtzi Grau and Guillermo Fernández-Abascal
46
Anna Tweeddale
Image: Alexis Chloe via Unsplash
6
AEcLab
FOREWORD After each transformative global moment in history, whether it be war or economic decline, a period of reflection and change in the built environment and its practices immediately follow. The COVID-19 pandemic, among other things, asks us to consider how to counteract perceived states of isolation and expand the potential of residential architecture in the absence of a civic life. The COVID Retrospect: A Reconsidered Habitat Exhibition aims to encourage this change by inviting ten Australian architects to test constructed residential environments using their new pandemic lens and develop alternative conceptualisations to the home in a speculative design project. The AEcLab has both curated and simultaneously contributed to the exhibition by creating an artistic response which distills the exhibition theme and supports the creative works of the exhibition.
AEcLab
7
Image: Joanna Derks via Unsplash
8
AEcLab
ORGANISERS Architecture Et cetera Lab (AEcL) is a practice-based research initiative established in 2020. The Architecture Et cetera Lab (AEcLab) operates within Griffith University. Its founding mantra - Research in Reality - states the mission of the group. The aims of the group pivot around fostering pioneering design solutions which directly influence architectural practices; communities in their appreciation of the worth and impact that architectural artefacts have in their everyday life; and the future generation of built environment practitioners. The AEcLAb’s members, Cecilia Bischeri, Jessica Harris and Zuzana Kovar, are academics and designers aiming to promote an agile and prolific exchange between research and the making of architecture. The AEcLab is interested in promoting design-led research methods in a way that ensures that the lab’s research and skills become widely accessible & practically usable.
AEcLab
9
BETH GEORGE University of Newcastle Beth George is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle. She is an educator and practitioner in architecture, with a focus on urbanism, design, and drawing. Beth has a PhD from RMIT in urban curation and cartography. Beth researches through book chapters, journal articles and papers, competitions, and exhibitions. Whether in architecture, drawing, or urbanism, her work is concerned with extending useful fictions from a close study of contexts. Her drawing practice focuses on the double-meaning of drawing: to pull (as one draws blood) and to push (to deposit or mark-make) – a process entailing memory, analysis, and speculation. Her works combine analogue and digital media, two- and three-dimensional components, and techniques from mapping to life-drawing. Beth is a registered and award-winning architect who has directed diverse practices in architecture and urban activation. She has received prizes and commendations for both her teaching and architecture practice.
10
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT COVID INTROSPECT These are imagined modifications to the rented townhouse
How glorious it would be to imagine a pleasurable side to
in which I spent most of the pandemic, including 66
the global pandemic: a universal outbreak of imaginative
consecutive days of lockdown.
attention.
The walls of the house defined my world, and having moved
In this project, sunlight, reflected light, the passage of
to this town only a year before the pandemic began, my
time, the sounds and movement of living organisms,
sense of isolation was amplified. Unlike others living with
the wind, are invited inside the house to make dynamic
family and children, whose houses had to swallow the
compositions together. To help oneself feel connected
program of school, day care, workplace, and all things,
to things beyond their home.
my life became hermetic. It takes a sliding door suite, two skylights, some paint, a The first lockdown period in Newcastle happened in the
piece of coloured glass, and a play on an ordinary gutter.
autumn of 2020. From inside our homes, many began to document fragments of our days through images
I ran experiments that tested the two interventions, making
that reflect a renewed sense of attention: low-angled
a laboratory of my home. Makeshift approximations
light moving through textured glass, through blinds, past
though they were, the effects were wonderful: my study
mullions and houseplants, to land shadows on gritty walls.
felt like the ocean, I knew the time of day by the wiggling
Visual media channels were replete with such household
reflected line that began on my ceiling at 1:50pm and
marvels—it seems the phenomenon of the ordinary, the
ended just before sunset, and two currawongs, One-Eye
secrets of the dwelling—that usually play out while its
and Flapwing, began to visit every afternoon.
occupants are elsewhere, found an attuned audience. I drew and modeled my house while inside it. I worked So, what if the role of the house for the confined is to
away on its simulacrum in digital space. I was making
bring the world inside? What if small design interventions
a physical model of my study as I sat in it: a strange
could seek to create significant moments of aesthetic
magnification of an already contracted world.
immersion? AEcLab
11
12
Pre COVID Plan
Post COVID Plan
Pre COVID Section
Post COVID Section
AEcLab
Post COVID Section
AEcLab
13
JESSICA SPRESSER SPRESSER Jessica Spresser is an emerging Australian architect. Her studio SPRESSER engages with built and speculative architectural work, object design and fine art. She has practiced internationally in London, Tokyo and Venice. Jessica holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Queensland, where she was awarded the Karl & Gertrude Langer Memorial Prize for Design in 2011. In 2020, Jessica won a national competition for a public pavilion on Sydney Harbour alongside Peter Besley, which is currently underway. Jessica remains a sessional design tutor, guest critic and PhD Candidate at the UQ School of Architecture.
14
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT
environment for small business owners, a small family
COLLECTIVE PRAXIS
Dwelling 3: A three-bedroom dwelling occupying the top
A Post-Pandemic Dwelling in the Multi-Nodal City
floor of the existing house, which relies on a parasitic
or shared accommodation.
structure at the rear of the building for vertical circulation
“The nomos (Greek law - the walled city) limits actions
and garden access. This structure is a triangular north-facing
and prevents them from dissipating into an unforeseeable,
addition which has been designed to accommodate dense
constantly expanding system of relationships, and by
planting and outdoor living. It can be used collectively by
doing so gives actions their enduring forms.” Hannah
all three dwellings, or solely by Dwelling 3. The dwelling
Arendt, The Promise of Politics (1993).
contains a studio for 6+ people and may be suitable for a family with a small business, shared accommodation,
A once single-family dwelling of 445m2 is transformed into
a small agricultural trade or a hybrid.
three independent spaces, each with a separate point of entry. This retrofit caters to varying demographics,
Pandemics encourage the decentralisation of inner-city
promoting diversity in what is currently a dormitory
occupants, resulting in the formation of smaller enclaves
suburb in Brisbane.
which do not rely on a city centre to operate. Former dormitory suburbs are transformed into mixed-use urban
Dwelling 1: A one-bedroom ground floor dwelling with
places in which commuter fluctuation is greatly reduced.
level access to street and rear garden. May be suitable
Collective Praxis is a prototype for an unconventional yet
for a retired person or couple, professional person or
productive multi-dwelling household, from which occupants
couple, student or person with a disability.
can live and work in a post-pandemic environment.
Dwelling 2: A two-bedroom dwelling spanning across two levels with stair access and a small shop, library
Original design:
or showroom at ground floor. Level 1 contains an office
Appia House (2019)
and an outdoor terrace. May be suitable for a live-work
Peter Besley and Jessica Spresser
AEcLab
15
Dwelling (325m2) Semi-External (120m2)
Dwelling (325m2) Semi-External (120m2) Dwelling (325m2) Semi-External (120m2)
Pre COVID Occupancy Diagram
Pre COVID Ground Floor Plan
Pre COVID Long Section
Pre COVID First Floor Plan
Pre COVID Cross Section
Ground Floor Plan (Pre) First Floor Plan (Pre) Second Floor Plan (Pre)
1:200
Pre COVID Second Floor Plan
16
Centric City (Pre) Ground Floor Plan (Pre) First Floor Plan (Pre) Second Floor Plan (Pre)
1:200
Centric Ground City Floor(Pre) Plan (Pre) First Floor Plan (Pre) Second Floor Plan (Pre)
1:200
Occupancy Diagram (Pre) Long Section (Pre) Cross Section (Pre) North-East Elevation (Pre)
Pre COVID North-East Elevation Occupancy Diagram (Pre) Long Section (Pre) Cross Section (Pre) North-East Elevation (Pre) Occupancy Diagram (Pre) Long Section (Pre) Cross Section (Pre) North-East Elevation (Pre)
AEcLab
Dwelling 03 + Studio + Garden (270m2) Dwelling 02 + Studio (180m2) Dwelling 01 (120m2)
Post COVID Ground Floor Plan
Post COVID Occupancy Diagram
Post COVID Long Section
Post COVID First Floor Plan
Post COVID Cross Section
Post COVID Second Floor Plan
AEcLab
Post COVID North-East Elevation Ground Floor Plan (Post) First Floor Plan (Post) Second Floor Plan (Post)
1:200
Occupancy Diagram (Post) Long Section (Post) Cross Section (Post) North-East Elevation (Post)
17
KATICA PEDISIC University of South Australia Katica is an academic, architect and artist. She is a Lecturer at the University of South Australia, teaching studio and research practices in the MA program. Her research explores sites of architectural interest through drawings and digital animations, her work being exhibited internationally at the Bartlett and Royal Danish School of Arts and RMIT Hub Gallery, Melbourne and SASA Gallery, Adelaide. She has spoken at conferences at KADK and the Bartlett as well as invited public colloquia such as the Parlour salon series and most recently MPavilion’s MTalks (Storey/Story) on new narratives of storytelling in architecture and public space. She has won prizes for teaching excellence as an Early Career Academic and was a finalist for the AASA Education Prize for Early Career Academics. Her practice focuses on small-scale residential projects, and whilst Associate at Con Bastiras Architects, their work was published internationally and received numerous AIA awards for excellence.
18
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT SUN TO SUN (NEVERDONE) Sun to sun (neverdone) details the renovation to the
roles to domestic settings when a family works, relaxes,
architect’s 1967 mid-century home in the Adelaide
eats and schools in the same spaces. Orthographic
foothills. Starting early 2020 when the pandemic was
and speculative drawing techniques attend to these
taking shape, with final 1:20 joinery drawings completed
familiar, yet strange passages of time: work, leisure, rest,
at years’ end 2021, the design process corresponded
eat… (rinse, repeat), the ubiquitous dining table evolves
with the introversion and isolation of several lockdown
into work plane, replicating across multiple locations.
periods. Whilst modest in scale, the design nonetheless
Unfolding surfaces describe key joinery elements, with
addresses the home’s original (deteriorating) traditional
the recurrent process of painting each individual square
heart: kitchen, dining and laundry and will provide direct
of the gridded sheet reflecting the units of measure under
connection to the garden. The project’s evolution highlights
constant consideration throughout the repetitious design
changing and challenging contemporary circumstances,
process as well as the ‘measures’ of weeks-end cocktail
aptly observed by Jean Little: men work from sun to
hour. Neverdone narrates the physical properties of these
sun, but a woman’s work is neverdone. Working from
spaces as well as the embodiment of our diurnal and
home has not only blurred traditionally discrete spatial
eternal occupation, acknowledging how our days can
functions, but inadvertently reintroduced gendered
feel both fleeting and endless.
AEcLab
19
20
AEcLab
AEcLab
21
KIRSTY VOLZ & DAVID TOUSSAINT Toussaint & Volz Kirsty Volz and David Toussaint established architecture and design practice Toussaint and Volz in 2014. Their work encompasses traditional architectural services. We perform research that informs evidenced-based approaches to planning and built environment legislation. They also enjoy working with communities to strategise their design built environment aspirations, which includes writing grant applications for funding. Providing these expanded architectural services means that they work with a range of clients including private owners, local governments, and community organisations.
22
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT IF ONLY...A HOME 0.01% of Australians live in residential aged care facilities and yet account for more than a quarter of COVID deaths. In 2020, aged care residents accounted for three quarters of COVID fatalities. Aged care residents experienced significantly longer periods of lockdown, separated from family and friends, than any other demographic. The biggest area for reform in the post COVID era will be the aged care sector. The outcome should be new policy and legislation for housing that promotes ageing at home. We intentionally designed the Two Pavilion House for multigenerational living, with the inverted granny flat located in the front pavilion. However, we did not design the house for a relative who may have high care needs. Our post COVID home is re-designed to ensure the ground floor areas of the home are accessible and designed for supported living. We have maintained the aspects of the home that worked well during COVID, including the strategies for passive ventilation and small break out spaces for working from home.
AEcLab
23
1
Legend
1
6
7
3
2
4
5
RG
6
7
3
2
9 4
5
10
8
RG
9
10
8
Pre COVID Ground Floor Plan 1:200
Pre COVID Ground Floor Plan
11
14
12 13
11
12 13
18
14 15
19
18
16
Pre COVID Legend
20
19
20
17 15
16 17
Pre COVID First Floor Plan 1:200
Pre COVID First Floor Plan
12
11
2
14
3
4
18
5
6
9
1. Entry Path 2. Car Port 3. Bathroom 4. Integrated Granny Flat/Office 5. Outdoor Dining 6. Entry Walkway 7. Entry 8. Kitchen, dining and laundry 9. Lounge 10. Back Deck 11. Front Deck 12. Bedroom 13. WC 14. Bathroom 15. Linen Closet 16. Bridge 17. Hallway 18. Bedroom 19.Study 20. Void over Lounge
10
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Entry path Carport Bathroom Integrated granny flat/office Outdoor dining Entry walkway Entry Kitchen, dining and laundry Lounge Back deck Front deck Bedroom WC Bathroom Linen closet Bridge Hallway Bedroom Study Void over lounge
Pre COVID Section 1:200
Pre COVID Section The Two Pavilion House Pre-Covid
24
Widest section of the house and living spaces open up to collect pleasant South Easterly breezes
Internal courtyard provides access to natural daylight and natural ventilation for all internal spaces. It also separates the pavilions for multi-generational living
House is set back from both side boundaries exacerbating the narrowness. The house is only one room wide and this promotes cross ventilation. Setbacks also help promote natural ventilation for our neighbours
AEcLab
Legend
1 1
1. Entry Path 2. Outdoor meeting space Legend 3. Room 1. Sitting Entry Path Legend 4. Bathroom 2. Accessible Outdoor meeting space 1. Entry 5. 3. Bedroom SittingPath Room 2. meeting space 6. Outdoor dining 4. Accessible Bathroom 3. Sitting Room 7. Entry 5. Bedroom 4. Bathroom 8. Accessible Kitchen, dining dining and laundry 6. Outdoor 5. Bedroom 9. 7. Lounge Entry 6. dining 10. Back Deck 8. Outdoor Kitchen, dining and laundry 7. 11. Front Deck 9. Entry Lounge 8. dining and laundry 12. Bedroom 10.Kitchen, Back Deck 9. Lounge 13. WC Deck 11. Front 10. Back Deck 14. 12. Bathroom Bedroom 11. Front 15. Linen Deck Closet 13. WC 12. Bedroom 16. and study nook 14. Bridge Bathroom 13. WC 17. 15. Hallway Linen Closet 14. Bathroom 18. 16. Bedroom Bridge and study nook 15. Linen Closet 19. 17. Study Hallway 16. Bedroom Bridge andLounge study nook 20. Void over 18. 17. Study Hallway 19. 18. Bedroom 20. Void over Lounge 19. Study 20. Void over Lounge
7 7 RG
2 2
3 3
2 2
3 3
2 2
3 3
RG
1 1 5 5
4 4
1 1
6 6
7 7
RG
7 7
RG
RG
4 4
5 5
6 6
4 4
5 5
6 6
8 8
RG
8 8 8 8
9 9
10 10
9 9
10 10
9 9
10 10
Post COVID Ground Floor Plan 1:200 Post COVID Ground Floor Plan 1:200 Post COVID Ground Floor Plan 1:200
Post COVID Ground Floor Plan
11 11
12 12
11 11
12 12
11 11
12 12
14 14 13 13 13 13 13 13
14 14 15 15 14 14 15 15 15 15
18 18 18 18
16 16
18 18
16 16
19 19
20 20
19 19
17 17
20 20
19 19
16 16
Post COVID Legend
20 20
17 17 17 17
Post COVID First Floor Plan 1:200 Post COVID First Floor Plan 1:200
Post COVID Floor Plan 1:200 Post COVID FirstFirstFloor Plan
11
12
14
18
11
12
14
18
14
11 2
3
12 5
2
3
5 W01
2
3
Post COVID Section 1:200
6
18
19 19 8
19
9
10
6
8
9
10
6
8
9
10
D05
5 W01
D05
W01
D05
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Entry path Outdoor meeting space Sitting room Accessible bathrom Bedroom Outdoor dining Entry Kitchen, dining and laundry Lounge Back deck Front deck Bedroom WC Bathroom Linen closet Bridge and study nook Hallway Bedroom Study Void over lounge
Post COVID Section 1:200 Post COVID Section 1:200
Post COVID Section The Two Pavilion House Post-Covid The Two Pavilion House Post-Covid The Two Pavilion House Post-Covid
AEcLab
Narrow foot print of house maintained. Set backs shifted Narrow foot print of house from both edges of the site to maintained. Set backs shifted Narrow foot print of house provide greater set back to the from both edges of the shifted site to maintained. Set backs North, while still retaining a reduced provide greater to the from both edgesset of back the site to set back to the South. This increases North, while still retaining reduced provide greater set back toa the private outdoor space for the Granny set back to the Thisa increases North, while stillSouth. retaining reduced Flat and increases separation between private space for Granny set backoutdoor to the South. Thisthe increases neighbouring dwellings. Flat andoutdoor increases separation between private space for the Granny neighbouring dwellings. Flat and increases separation between
Internal courtyard maintained for access to natural daylight Internal courtyard maintained and ventilation for access to natural daylight Internal courtyard maintained andaccess ventilation for to natural daylight and ventilation
Sheltred outdoor space for family to visit elderly Sheltred outdoor space relatives. Space is large enough for familyoutdoor to visit elderly Sheltred space for social distancing and relatives. large enough for family Space to visit is elderly outdoor settings mitigate for social Space distancing and enough relatives. is large the spread of Covid. outdoor settings mitigate for social distancing and the spread of Covid. outdoor settings mitigate the spread of Covid.
25
LUKE HAYWARD Atelier Luke Luke Hayward is an Australian Architect and Japanese 1st-class Kenchikushi (architect and building engineer). His practice, atelier Luke, collaborates closely with local craftspeople to create uniquely personalised and culturally sensitive designs. Built work by atelier Luke has been recognised with multiple awards and frequent publication globally in magazines, newspapers and books. In 2021, Luke was the inaugural recipient of the Emerging Architect Prize at the Australian Institute of Architects International Chapter Architecture Awards. The Award Jury cited atelier Luke as “a remarkable international practice between Australia and Japan producing outstanding work of a unique sensibility, reflecting both cultural influences.”
26
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT THINGS ABANDONED Part rant, part lament, part design proposal, ‘Things abandoned’ examines what we too readily left behind in the race to feel safe from COVID. Without frank reflection on our responses to this pandemic, it is impossible to contribute to future solutions with true compassion and understanding. The work aims to explore what is lost when we move our lives ever more into the digital realm; where we are failing as architects during the pandemic; who we have knowingly sacrificed; and how we might remake closer and more resilient communities in a post-pandemic built environment. Through two contrasting pre and post-COVID panels; comparative physical and digital models; plus online content; the work deviates slightly from the brief for ‘COVID Retrospect’ whilst adhering closely to the spirit.
AEcLab
27
9 9 A 2 B 8 Loft Plan
0
1:100
1
Section A
3m
Pre COVID Loft Plan
4
1:100
4 A
2 8
5
3
7
B 1 1:100
0
1
Pre COVID Ground Plan
28
5
Pre COVID Section A
6
Ground Plan
6
3m
7
6
Section B
1 1:100
Pre COVID Section B
AEcLab
SCAN FOR CONTENT
atelier Luke
AEcLab
29
MATTHEW EAGLE ME Architects Matthew is director and founder of architecture studio ME and teacher at the Abedian School of Architecture Bond University on the Gold Coast. Matthew established ME in 2013 and is based at Jellurgal, Burleigh Heads on the lands of the Kombumerri people of the Yugambeh language group. ME has since developed a portfolio of widely published and awarded projects. ME is a studio based architecture practice that emphasises design, research, making and teaching as the primary areas of focus. Together with their clients, community, consultants and craftspeople they investigate and seek to understand the cultural, ecological, societal and historical narratives of place. This is in search of the making of authentic, sensitive and climatically astute spaces and places.
30
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT SUBURBAN SURGERY Rethinking the Coastal Suburbs of the Gold Coast
Our homes, gardens and streets have become places of play, social interaction, education, commerce, employment and
Under the city plan our suburbs are defined as –
farming. How do we unlock these potentials and support
low intensity, locally serviced suburban neighbourhoods
the social, environmental and economic generators of
that offer a high level of amenity and a sense of openness,
our suburbs? The physical walls we have been erecting
with buildings that present well to the street and are set
over the last few decades have now become our biggest
amongst generous landscaping
barriers to engaging and unlocking the potential of our city in a post COVID world.
Unfortunately the actions – the stuff built in the past few decades – do not match these words with increased built
We propose a series of surgical like interventions that
density of pseudo garages and solid high level fences
increase density, retain the existing built fabric and
built to all boundaries, little to no landscape, over scaled
increase the collective social, economic and environmental
airconditioned dwellings, no engagement with the street
capacity of the city in an authentic manner.
or neighbours and no response to place. COVID has dramatically changed our patterns of behaviour – working from home, socialising with neighbours, less dependence on the car, valuing access to natural light and ventilation, greater appreciation of the outdoors and buying local – all against the backdrop of the climate crisis.
AEcLab
31
Dudley Street
E
C
F
A
D
B
Pre COVID Ground Floor Plan 1:200
Pre COVID Ground Plan
B
A
C
D
E
F
Pre COVID Edge Conditions 1:200
32
AEcLab
Legend Outdoor Room 2.
Storage / Communal Library / Compost
E
4.
Reconfigured existing / new dwelling
1. 2.
Office
Dudley Street
4.
1.
1.
2.
2.
C 3.
3.
4.
1.
5.
F
2.
1. 2.
1.
5.
1.
A
1.
3.
1.
4.
B
D
1.
4
3.
2.
ost COVID Ground Floor Plan 200
Legend
Post COVID Ground Plan
Legend Legend Legend Legend Outdoor Room Outdoor RoomRoom Outdoor Outdoor Outdoor Room Room
2. 2. 2. 2.
Storage Storage // Communal Communal
Storage Communal Storage////Compost Communal Storage/Communal Library/Compost Library Library Library / Compost Compost
E E E E
4. 4. 4. 4.
Library / Compost
Reconfigured existing // Reconfigured Reconfigured dwelling Reconfigured existing existing existing/new / Reconfigured new dwelling existing /
1.1. 1.1. B
new new dwelling dwelling
C
D
AEcLab
Dudley Dudley Dudley Dudley Street Street Street Street
ost COVID Edge Conditions 200
4. 4. 4. 4.
1.1. 1.1.
1.1. 1.1.
C C C C
2. 2. 2. 2.
new dwelling Office Office Office Office
E
Office
1. 1.1.1.1. 2. 2.2.2.2. 3. 3. 3. 3.3.4. 4. 4. 4. 5. 4.5. 5. 5.
New landscape New landscape New landscape New New landscape landscape
5.
Communal vege garden
F
New hardscape
New hardscape New New hardscape hardscape New hardscape New lane New New lane lane
New lane New lane New New swale swale New New swale swale
Communal vege Communal vege garden garden New swale Communal Communal vege vege garden garden
33
1.
New landscape
2.
New hardscape
3.
New lane
4.
New swale
5.
Communal vege garden
TOM O’SHEA Five Mile Radius Five Mile Radius is a Brisbane based design studio exploring Australia’s construction materials. We create projects, products and educational content that imagine a world built on a respect for material resources. Founded in 2016, the studio is the collaborative effort of a group of architects, tradespeople and educators passionate about testing new ideas for Australia’s built future. Five Mile Radius uses pilot projects to prototype ideas, often turning projects into products that allow for continued experimentation. Funds generated through the Five Mile Shop are used to fuel additional materials research and create educational events and content. The studio works with both recycled and natural materials and is seen as a local leader in closed loop thinking, waste reuse and bioclimatic design. Thomas O’Shea has developed much of the core principles within Five Mile Radius through ideation, design and project implementation while working on his own residential focused design practice. The residence selected for the exhibition is one of his early projects and reflects
34
his focus on material rawness and simplicity in design.
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT THE MATTER OF HOMES Five Mile Radius have redesigned a pre-COVID suburban home renovation built in 2017. This is a character home in the inner suburbs of Brisbane which capitalises on an expansive suburban outlook. With a post COVIDlens, the design lacks an interface with the street, and lacks flexibility of work/living arrangements. Materially the pre-COVID home is a hybrid of local materials and conventionally sourced materials. The COVID retrospective design presents ideal alternatives to these conditions. Firstly, the revised design encourages a civic life on the street and on the front lawn. The lower level frontage acts as a catalyst that contributes to life on the street, while keeping the rest of the house private. Secondly this is a locally sourced, healthy house in response to the greater amount of time spent at home. Using local materials helps reduce problems with supply chains, delays and cost increase. The materials are salvaged, reconditioned, and locally sourced timbers, clays, minerals and building products. They help to clean the air, or reduce pathogens, are easy to clean and omit less harmful compounds.
AEcLab
35
Pre COVID legend 16 15
12
13
11
14
10 9 2 6
8
5 7 1
Pre COVID Lower Plan 1:200
Pre COVID Lower Plan
36
4
3
Pre COVID Upper Plan 1:200
1. Garage 2. Multipurpose 3. Front verandah 4. Bedroom 1 5. Walk-in Robe 6. Ensuite 7. Bedrooom 2 8. Bedrooom 3 9. Bedrooom 4 10. Toilet 11. Dining 12. Kitchen Lounge Pre13. COVID Legend 14. Garden room 15. Terrace 1. 16. Garage Pool 2. Multipurpose 3. Front verandah 4. Bedroom 1 5. Walk in robe 6. Ensuite 7. Bedroom 2 8. Bedroom 3 9. Bedroom 4 10. Toilet 11. Dining 12. Kitchen 13. Lounge 14. Garden room 15. Terrace 16. Pool
Pre COVID Section
Pre COVID Upper Plan
AEcLab
19
Post COVID legend
18
10
9
11
8
8
12
7
6
3
17
13
5 4
16
8.
14
2
15
1
Post Plan PostCOVID COVIDLower Lower Plan 1:200
AEcLab
PostCOVID COVID Upper PlanPlan Post Upper 1:200
1. Front area landscaped with street furniture integrated 2. Garage/Workshop/waiting room 3. Downstairs living/quarantine dwelling 4. Multipurpose (work/gym) 5. Laundry 6. Bathroom 7. Bedroom 1/quarantine dwelling 8. Garden room and home to workspace threshold 9. Living room 10. Kitchen Post COVID Legend 11. Dining 12. Bedroom 2 1. Front area landscaped with street 13. Bathroom furniture integrated 14. Bedroom 3 2. Garage/workshop/waiting room 15. Front verandah 3. Downstairs living/quarantine dwelling 16. Bedroom 4 4. Multipurpose (work/gym) 17. Ensuite 5. Laundry 6.18. Terrace Bathroom 7.19. Pool Bedroom 1/quarantine dwelling 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
Garden room and home to workspace threshold Living room Kitchen Dining Bedroom 2 Bathroom Bedroom 3 Front verandah Bedroom 4 Ensuite Terrace Pool
Post COVID Section
37
RACHEL HURST University of South Australia Dr Rachel Hurst is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Architecture at the University of SA, freelance writer and maker. Her research investigates transformative practices in contemporary architecture, including theories of the everyday, analogue craft and curatorial agency. She has an extensive exhibition background in practice-based design, curating and exhibiting locally and internationally in over 25 shows. A contributing editor for Architecture Australia Rachel has published over 100 texts on Australian modernism, architectural criticism and pedagogy. Her PHD at RMIT, The Gentle Hand and the Greedy Eye: an everyday baroque practice in architecture, was awarded three national awards for art book publishing. Recipient of the 2008 Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Neville Quarry Education Prize (commendation) and frequent juror in the AIA Awards, she was a member of the 2009 National Awards Jury. Rachel is a Fellow of the AIA, and in 2021 received the Sir James Irwin President’s Medal.
38
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT BEST LAID PLANS covid cues a new [Q] view During the pandemic, our world shrunk from city and neighbourhood to house and room. Simultaneously, everyday spaces became expanded neurotic realms, occupied day and night. Kevin Lynch’s settings of city, districts, nodes and landmarks became house, room, place and object respectively.1 This project uses speculative drawing to critique how we read space in the time of COVID-19. Superimposing plans and sections at increasing scales, first home, then room, place and thing are layered to recalibrate what draws our attention as we work from home. Extending an earlier project from 2020 based in SA, it responds to a COVID-induced resignation and relocation, to a midcentury house in Kew, Victoria. Three components can be read separately or together: a drawing gathering the orthographic data of two houses; a daily journal of designed things that counter lockdown isolation, and a painting synthesizing house-room-placeobject within the frustratingly near but inaccessible context of new neighbourhood and city.
1
AEcLab
Kevin Lynch, The image of the city (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1960).
39
Kew (Q) Victoria St Peters, South Australia (SA)
1:50 Q House 1:20 Q Room
Q View point
1:50 SA House
40 Laid Plans Drawing 01 Best
AEcLab
AEcLab
Beatrice’s Room Intimate Squared Rooms Part 3 COVID 01_2020 St Peters SA
41
URTZI GRAU UTS, GFA and Fake Industries Urtzi Grau is an architect, academic, Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture at UTS and founding partner of the office GFA and Fake Industries. His research explores the role of architecture in responding to critical challenges impacting the Indo Pacific region, including climate justice, immigration, land rights and extractive economics.
GUILLERMO FERNÁNDEZ-ABASCAL The University of Sydney, GFA2 and GFA Guillermo Fernández-Abascal is an architect, Lecturer at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, and founding partner of the offices GFA2 and GFA. Based in Sydney, Australia and Santander, Spain, his recent work destabilises the dichotomy of research vs buildings and includes diagrams, stories, exhibitions, films, prototypes, housing, and public buildings across the globe. His recent projects include the book Learning to Live Together: Cars, Humans, and Kerbs in Solidarity, the exhibition Better Together: Stories of Contemporary Documents, the building for the Enaire Foundation in Santander, and the masterplan for the Machine Khana in Kabul, Afghanistan.
42
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT THE EXTENSION OF THE SUBURBAN BLOCK Campsie, Sydney 2021 A timber pavilion joins four Campsie’s red-brick blocks. It is a common infrastructure for the building’s collective life that includes parking, laundry rooms, gyms and greenhouses. It liberates the streets from parking, increasing the neighbourhood’s public spaces and green areas. Two new circulation cores bring the buildings up to code. They ensure that all the homes are accessible, preserving Campsie’s diverse and intergenerational demographics. The improvements on the blocks’ thermal envelopes decrease Campsie’s overall carbon footprint. The refurbishments provide a variety of climatic spaces for each apartment such as winter gardens, verandahs, greenhouses, cozy rooms and rooftop gardens. New terraces, balconies and porches fulfil the SEPP65 requirements for outdoor space. They also take advantage of Sydney’s mild climate, covering Campsie’s red-brick streetscape with new pot plants and vertical gardens to reduce the heat-island effect. Two new apartments on each red-brick building’s rooftop ensure the viability of the renovation. They densify the neighbourhood yet barely alter Campsie’s friendly scale.
GFA2 and Fake Industries with Mac and Cheese and Choirender. With support from the Alastair Swayn AEcLab
Foundation.
43
Kitchen
Bedroom Bedroom
Bedroom Living
Living
Living
Bedroom
Living Bath
Bedroom
Bedroom Kitchen
Bath
Kitchen
Bath Bedroom
Kitchen
Bedroom
Bath
Bedroom
Bedroom Bedroom
Living
Kitchen
Bedroom
Kitchen
Bedroom Living
Bedroom
Living
Bath
Living
Bath
Bath
Bath Living Kitchen
Bedroom Bedroom
Bedroom
Bedroom
Kitchen
Kitchen
Bedroom
Bath
Bedroom
Pre COVID plan
Sleeping Module
Sleeping Module
Sleeping Module
Kitchen Module
Bathing Module
Common Area
Heating Module Spa Module
Bathing Module
Kitchen Module
Kitchen Module Bathing Module
Kitchen Module Sleeping Module
Sleeping Module
Bathing Module
Bathing Module
Common Area
Sleeping Module
Sleeping Module
Kitchen Module
Post COVID plan
44
AEcLab
AEcLab
Post COVID perspectives
45
ANNA TWEEDDALE Studio Apparatus & QUT
Anna Tweeddale a research architect, urbanist and writer. She founded design-based research practice Studio Apparatus in 2012 in Melbourne and is now Lecturer in Architecture at QUT University in Brisbane. Anna has long held an intense fascination with the complex processes and transformations of cities and their territories as well as the diverse more-then-human ecologies that inhabit them. Her recent praxis research focuses on the relational entanglements of construction materials.
46
AEcLab
ARTIST STATEMENT TRACING DIFFERENCE Architectural designs are usually represented either as projected singular intent or after the fact of transformation. Yet each instance of design and construction unfolds through an assemblage of agencies - material and immaterial, human and more-than-human - that intraact in a constantly shifting dance. The effects (and affects) of the novel Covid-19 virus are making themselves felt throughout these construction assemblages - sometimes palpably and sometimes subtly - such as in clients changing needs and desires, delayed construction, absent labour, material shortages, as well as growing uncertainty and interruption of flow. ‘Tracing difference’ is an attempt trace the contact sites of Covid-19 through an architectural design-in-progress: a studio/carport for an artist/mum/academic… to replace a studio away from the home. In allowing the possibility for attending differently to this process, we might come to know something of how Covid-19, as a novel subject/object in this assemblage, makes a difference…
AEcLab
47
Original plan 1969 Architect/designer no named. Council copy of the approved plans.
Carport addition 1976 Architect: T.W. Smith of Coorparoo, Brisbane.
48
AEcLab
AEcLab
49
WITH THANKS
event partner
media partner
R ESE A RCH
IN REALITY
hello@aeclab.com.au aeclab.com.au
COVID-19 Think Tank