Table of contents for Issue 62 March 2018 in Artichoke

The human experience is an inherently sensory one. We feed off multiple stimuli, including touch, light, sound, depth and movement, in order to formulate emotional and physical connections with our environment. Without the full spectrum of these sensory elements, truly visualizing designs is hard, especially if you are not well-versed in translating 2D plans into accurate mental depictions of a space. Thankfully, architects and interior designers have the newfound ability to communicate the experiential essence of a design by developing 3D designs they can truly trust and engage with through virtual reality (VR) – a vital step in embodying the needs and desires of stakeholders and future inhabitants. Improving client engagement and boosting collaboration One fundamental benefit of immersive technology is its ability to garner accurate feedback much quicker and…

Craft Victoria premises by Karen Abernethy Architects The new home of arts and design organization Craft Victoria, designed by Karen Abernethy Architects, is a 300-square-metre space in the basement of 171 Collins Street in Melbourne, housing a purpose-built exhibition gallery, retail centre, offices and storage. Craft Victoria represents more contemporary craftspeople than any other organization in Australia and these craftspeople have been considered first and foremost in the design of the space, with a pared-back, minimal design ensuring the artists and their displayed work are the protagonists of the space. Photography — Tatjana Plitt Karen Abernethy Architects — karenabernethy.com Rooftop Bar and Cinema by Techne Architecture + Interior Design Melbourne’s iconic Rooftop Bar and Cinema has been reinvigorated following a major redevelopment by Techne Architecture + Interior Design.…

Before the new Curtin Connect opened at Curtin University in 2017 – taking up residence inside an imposing brutalist building that has been stripped back to reveal its original splendour – students had to visit several offices across the campus to engage with representatives from multiple departments to resolve administrative queries. Now, several back-of-house departments have been accommodated inside one building and their public face, Curtin Connect, is located next door, thereby streamlining processes for students and staff. Curtin was founded in Perth as a technical institute and was laid out in the 1960s by public works architect Vin Davies. He masterplanned the buildings and sports fields within the grid of a pine plantation that had occupied the site since the 1930s, and his signature architectural style – buildings constructed…

Restaurateur Simon Kardachi is behind some of Adelaide’s most exciting new restaurants. He’s had a hand in reactivating various pockets of the CBD and his latest hospitality offering brings a Japanese-Korean flavour fusion to trendy Leigh Street in the city’s West End. It also signals the second project in Kardachi’s collaboration with design firm Studio-Gram, after working together on the divine Osteria Oggi. Studio-Gram directors and co-founders Dave Bickmore and Graham Charbonneau looked to Japan for inspiration in realizing the minimalist scheme for Shobosho. “The space adheres to a very simple yet strict material palette, which is in keeping with traditional principals of Japanese aesthetics,” says Bickmore. Their material of choice is Baltic pine and it’s effectively used throughout the space in both a charred (shobosho directly translates to “fire…

How do you distil the luxury of time and relaxation, the rituals of pampering and the supposed medicinal effects of mineral spring water into one abbreviated experience of the day spa? In his design for RNA Day Spa, architect Stephen Cameron of Cameron & Co has created a sense of ritual and relaxation with elements that subliminally harness ideas of health and hygiene. Instant gratification has become a syndrome of new millennium living. Social media platforms distribute images of our lives in small and inspiring doses to our fans and followers, memes provide humour and critique, and political comment can be bound up in 280 characters. We are reminded constantly that we have little time to spare and attention spans to match. The day spa is the Twitter version of…

This Is A Voice exhibition at Powerhouse Museum in Sydney explored the elusive nature of the voice “before and beyond language,” and the exhibition space similarly evoked an elusive quality. Through materials, illumination and physical forms, the subdued exhibition space had rhythm, shade and layering to take visitors on an “acoustic journey” guided by line, light and sound. First held in London in 2016, This Is A Voice is a Wellcome Collection exhibition produced in partnership with Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences (MAAS). The exhibition explores the power, physiology and psychology of the voice with a display that intersects art and science. Sydney-based Studioplusthree designed the Sydney exhibition space and worked with local sound artists and vocalists to create specifically Australian content and to give their works physical presence.…

2017 South Australian/ Northern Territory DIA Awards The awards recognize excellence across three disciplines: Built Environment, Object and Communication. Premier’s Award: Orthopaedic Surgical Depth Gauge by John Nicholl UCI Award: Williams Burton Leopardi Studio by Williams Burton Leopardi Collaboration Award: Viet Next Door by Genesin Studio Built Environment – Student Gold: Studio 7: Drop-In Drawing Studio by Rani Elmer; and Studio 7: Atmospheres (Lady Grey’s) by Mara Morton Built Environment – Commercial and Retail Gold: Williams Burton Leopardi Studio by Williams Burton Leopardi Silver: Walter Brooke Studio by Walter Brooke and Associates Built Environment – Education Gold: Flinders University Student Hub by Woods Bagot Silver: John Bray Centre for Performing Arts, St John’s Grammar Senior School by Walter Brooke and Associates Built Environment – Hospitality Gold: Viet Next Door by…

State government auditing is a serious affair: the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) is committed to the public, and as such, its orientation is outward. Its focus is not on the spaces in which it works. Fortunately, this concern belongs to Baumgart Clark Architects, the team behind the office’s highly responsive fitout, which has embedded the principles of dignity, professionalism and public service into its design. A key aspect to the brief – in addition to a very tight turnaround of seven months – was to communicate the function and ethos of VAGO without corporatizing its space. This is something that public sector workplace design has often failed at. There are no generic white walls, transparent glass meeting rooms and boxy partitions here. “A key aspect to the brief ... was…

Isle of Voyage by Design Theory Located on the island at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Isle of Voyage restaurant by Design Theory is housed within the relocated heritage building Florence Hummerston Pavilion, built in 1928. The design focuses on quality materials, such as solid oak furniture and Liberty London fabrics, and the harnessing of natural light with a layered, white interior. Details inspired by the heritage tearoom are reinvented to interact with both the interior and the island. The result is a heritage-meets-contemporary dining establishment that embraces views over the river and the city. Photography — Jack Lovel Design Theory — designtheory.com.au Earl Canteen by Troupe Studio Earl Canteen by Troupe Studio activates a cavernous, scalene-shaped floor plan on the ground level of 360 Collins Street, Melbourne offering…

Parallels can be drawn between the way that physiotherapists work with the body to help it adapt to change and the way that designers Russell & George have worked with the brand of Western-Australian-based company Life Ready Physio and Pilates to help it adjust to its newest setting. The Camberwell clinic in Camberwell, Melbourne is the first iteration outside of Western Australia, and the interior needed to be dynamic and flexible enough to be customized to a number of possible future sites and scales. Russell & George developed the conceptual roots of the project well before the physiotherapy studio’s shell had been selected, testing the articulation of forms across multiple floor plans. While logistically these plans would need to work when applied to long, short, wide or narrow sites, the…

Lisa Cooper sends me a bouquet of flowers almost every day. I confess that I receive it along with thousands of others as an Instagram image. Nevertheless, I’m grateful for it. It’s a moment of stillness in a day, an opportunity to stop and appreciate something beautiful. The arrangements she composes are beautiful, certainly. And there is a deeper, more intangible layer – something sublime and darker. She says, “I was never a tiptoe-through-the-tulips kind of girl as a child. I was much more ... ” Thoughtful, perhaps? A myriad of influences and memories swirl through her work – the symbolism, rituals and aesthetics of her Catholic upbringing; the guiding portrait of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux that has hung over her bed since she was a child and hangs there…

Early on in Building No. 2’s development, a freedom of information request yielded a hefty file of hand-typed correspondence, annotated documents and architectural drawings that traced the building’s history as the home of CSIRO’s printing and publications division. Under the purview of one Betty Doubleday OBE – CSIRO’s pioneering chief librarian from 1954 to 1973 – Building No. 2 was constructed in the 1960s and housed an array of publications and typesetting, letterpress and lithographic printing equipment. After thirty years in CSIRO’s service, the Collingwood site was sold off to a private buyer in 1990 and entered a new life as a commercial property. The freestanding building was sectioned up into individual lots, though – fortunately – the original built form remains largely intact. While this sort of building is…