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Alex Njoo architect in conversation with
Edi Menegas, EVM Architects The role of architects in the Design and Construction industry has experienced dramatic changes in the past decade or so. As the industry has become more and more litigious, so has the economic environment within which architects practice. The emergence of project management is a case in point. No longer do architects occupy the leading role in major projects. With a vacillating economy, often the architects’ role is confined to design the way buildings look rather than an overarching control of their complex processes. The multidisciplinary nature of the industry requires a host of other expertise that defy conventional architectural practice. For instance, manual drafting has given way to computerised documentation, site supervisions have become in most cases, the province of project management.
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otwithstanding these radical changes, for every major practice that turns out computer generated building images executed by armies of outsourced consultants, there are hundreds of small practices throughout the country that maintain the long-held tradition in the way buildings are designed and built. The Melbourne practice of EVM Architects is one such company. I recently discussed the myriad of changes in architectural practice with Edi Menegas, director and founder of EVM Architects. Australian-born
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Menegas’ parents arrived in the 1950s from the North of Italy, where the country borders Switzerland and Austria. “My father,” says Menegas, “for most of his working life was a self-employed concreter and my mother worked as a laboratory technician and seamstress. Most of our family friends were families of concreters, bricklayers, plumbers, carpenters and painters. You can imagine the amount of testosterone that was generated during family gatherings such as birthdays and anniversaries. I remember spending my free weekends tinkering on projects that involved
carpentry, patching cracks in plaster walls, ceilings, painting and tiling, getting involved in whatever renovation was required in our family home or helping out the relatives.” Menegas believes that the environment he grew up in has nurtured his career pathway or as he says, “pointed me to the direction of architecture and the construction industry as a career. I chose architecture studies at RMIT. I was part of that group of architects who cut our architectural teeth in the legendary Gossard Building in Franklin Street. While exploring the theory and practice of design, my interest in carpentry led me to interact with Interior Design students who shared the building spaces.” While studying at RMIT, Menegas obtained part-time employment with a small architectural firm that specialised in residential alterations or additions. “The opportunity to travel came in 1983,” Menegas recalls, “a European Study Tour organised by Joe Bradley, one of life’s dynamic and passionate history lecturers. We spent a total of four months travelling through England, France, Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy and returning via the US. We were completely embedded into the history, culture and lifestyle of each country we visited. So much so, coming home to Melbourne was an anti-climax at the time.”