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This is our submission to the City of Sydney for a New Century Garden – an urban space and landscape proposal involving the reinterpretation of a Chinese garden by creating two distinct zones:

- a new hard landscaped urban space, created by a framing series of progressively shrinking moon window ‘veils’ that act as giant screens available for customised light projections according to the event

- a new soft landscaped green garden space, away from busy Ultimo Road and accessed via the smallest moon window veil

The proposal seeks to contrast the congregational Chinese outdoor experiences of hawker food stall freneticism with the tranquility of a traditional garden. It uses two motifs as repetitive elements to compose the design:

- the chinese character for person – ‘ren.’ The shape of the character is beautifully elegant, easily recognisable and reductive in form. As a built form, it has two splayed ligatures that allow for the structural distribution of load, as well as a confident rising gesture that may be used to display signage as a wayfinding device.

- the moon window – another recognisable element in the Chinese landscape idiom, this moon window is used as a facade to Ultimo Road to define the beginning of the site (referencing the neighbouring heritage through maintaining parapet heights), as well as define the outdoor rooms and the progression south west along Thomas Street towards the tranquil garden.

This was a collaboration with Michael Darmadi, graphic designer (and my cousin!) working in Sydney. This has been submitted to City of Sydney, and we await feedback from the jury of whether we have progressed to Stage 2.

The guys from Rooftop Honey are bringing bees back into the city. Why? to help pollination in a growing urban environment. I’ve found they’re great on Twitter, and seem to get a write up in every online blog/journal. And you can buy the local honey to reduce your food miles – taste the difference between Northcote honey compared to West Melbourne! Would love to do a bee garden design with them :-)

http://rooftophoney.com.au/

A group collaborative effort has birthed Melbourne Architours: guided architectural tours in the Melbourne CBD by those in the industry. It is run by myself, Mark Skiba – landscape architect with Tract Consultants, and Andy Fergus – urban designer at Hansen Partnership and current architectural student. We have banded together to showcase all that Melbourne has to offer by devising 3 different tours within the Melbourne CBD:

  • Settlement to Marvellous Melbourne
  • Federation to Art Deco
  • Modernism to Contemporary

These will be run monthly at $30 a pop per tour, with a coffee or a beer (depending on the time of the tour!) at the end to discuss the built environment with tour attendees. This, for me, is the most valuable time to engage with the public and hear their thoughts about the evolution of the city and the discourse of architecture.

Check us out at Melbourne Architours.

I’m doing these tours for a reason, and you need to know where I’m coming from. I’m a big proponent of the architectural profession and the value of its services to produce shelter that exceeds the client brief and is responsible for the sustainability of the planet, housing affordability through clever design (not excessive specification of products), education to the client about new models of housing and possibilities of social/familial interaction for a changing demographic. I believe good architecture should address social, environmental and economic factors simultaneously.

For this reason, I am appalled to think that 3% of all new housing in Australia is designed by architects. I was taken aback to learn that the average Australian house size is 216sqm. In saying this, I was pleased to witness the amount of people that flooded through the doors of Lyons, Hassell, Bates Smart and other architectural offices during Melbourne Open House earlier in the year. People are interested in architecture, yet the average person still views it as a luxury profession for the elite. These tours, in the simplest way, are intended to bridge the gap of architecture by communicating it to the general public, making it accessible, relatable and understandable. I don’t believe this is dumbing it down or discrediting the intellectual thought that has gone into each building design. If more people are aware of the value of architects, then more people would be inclined to use them. The discussion at the end of the tour is the real gem.

A team of 16 people from all over Australia converged in Phnom Penh at the start of July to undertake a building adventure as part of a Global Village team for Habitat for Humanity. Armed with only garden gloves and no power tools, we engaged with local skilled workers, future home owners, Cambodian Habitat staff and loads of other locals to put together these two houses brick by brick (FYI, I was crowned best brickie!).

These houses were only 54sqm – the size of a good one-bedroom apartment in Australia. To put this into context, the average house size in Australia is over 200sqm – we have officially overtaken the US in housing obesity. In Cambodia, 54sqm is for an extended family – parents, kids, grandparents, cousins, aunties, uncles, etc. Sewerage is via septic tank that gets pumped from time to time. Water is delivered via large vats into stone jars, and there is no gas – cooking is done using camping-style stoves with refillable butane canisters. Electricity is provided through low slung overhead wires.

Having said this, the difference of their new house compared to the old slum village is vast. Slum lords would require payment of rent of $5 per month for their elevated house above watery land. The one-room self made shack of found materials (the only purchased materials is corrugated roofing) is made from bamboo and green timber branches, ventilated bamboo floors, sheets of hessian, tin and other gems for walling. Electricity is also supplied here at an inflated rate; the bathroom and toilet is outside next to the stone jar of water.

An amazing experience with an equally amazing team of Australians – no egos, no bragging, just a few mates hanging out to build a house. Couldn’t recommend it more – thanks for the memories guys! Hope it leads onto even greater things – the best is yet to come.

I had the pleasure and privilege of hosting a dinner for a few friends in the fabulous common room – this was the inaugral ‘Dinner for Humanity,’ and hopefully will be a repeat effort.

On a wintry Saturday night in Melbourne, we shared a south-east asian inspired meal to fundraise for the upcoming Habitat for Humanity build trip in Cambodia. Starting with appetisers of duck and tamarind salad and prawn and viet herb salad, we progressed to a dinner of roast pork belly with caramel vinegar and coconut rice, finishing with pulut hitam, all with wines to match. 11 of us enjoyed a briefing on what Habitat for Humanity does, and how their giving will be used.

I must say that I was touched by the generosity of the amazing company I’m lucky to have around me – a total of $587 was raised! So much encouragement – huge thanks to those who came, those who gave, those that helped. There will definitely be another one of these.

And here are some visuals to entice the ones that couldn’t make it, and to whet your appetite of things to come soon.

-Esther xo

And the inevitable clean up