Earlier this month, the Architects Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA) 2013 was held in Kathmandu. Themed ‘Spirituality in Architecture’ and ‘Architecture and the Image of the City’, the event sought to capture the essence of the region’s historic and traditional architecture as well as the contribution of contemporary architecture in forming an image of the city.
It was a great chance to hear from the representatives from ARCASIA’s 18 member institutes, as well as to discuss with them the future of Asian architecture. It was special too, to witness first-hand the natural beauty, the traditional architecture as well as the emerging skyline of Kathmandu valley. For us, a major reason for attending the event was to promote our bid for Melbourne to be host city of the UIA Congress in 2020 and we received very positive feedback and encouragement. We lodge our formal bid in a couple of weeks and will present it at the UIA General Assembly meeting in Durban in August 2014.
On the subject of international endeavors, if you’ve practised abroad or done business with overseas-based clients, we would like to hear about your experiences.
The Institute has been working with the University of Adelaide to develop a survey that looks into the experiences of Australian architects and architectural firms in undertaking business overseas. I encourage you to take the time to complete the survey as your feedback will inform a research project that seeks to examine the constraints and enablers faced by Australian architects in doing business overseas.
It is anticipated that the findings from this research, which will be made available, will help inform the profession about the factors that influence the internationalisation process of Australian architectural firms, and the role of contacts and networks.
Kind regards,
David.
David Parken, CEO
