25 Aug
With our CEO, David Parken, taking a well-earned break this month, it is my pleasure to let you know about some great events, decidedly tropical in nature, that are taking place in the coming months.
This year our National Architecture Awards presentation is taking place in Darwin on 6 November. This celebration rounds out a strong year for architecture in the territory. In March, two Territoreans, Phil Harris and Adrian Welke from Troppo were awarded the prestigious Gold Medal at the Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards, and launched their Gold Medal Tour in Darwin. In addition, following the National Awards presentation, the city plays host to a unique conference: AusIndoArch – Tropfix. Themed ‘shaping healthier tropical cities’, this two-day conference explored Indonesian and Australian responses to living and designing for the tropics – the similarities and differences in approach. This is a welcome spotlight on a region that we should all be looking to for guidance on sustainable, responsive approaches to design – and living. This week we profile one of the speakers: Wendy Djuhara. Read on for the article.
Incidentally, the Gold Medal Tour is travelling around the country in September and October. Driven by a desire to produce socially responsible architecture, Adrian and Phil founded Troppo in Darwin in 1980, and have since grown the practice to include offices in Perth, Adelaide, Townsville and Byron Bay cultivating a portfolio of over 2500 projects ranging from tiny remote buildings to full-scale city design. Their ethos epitomises the importance of building for place and people: producing work that is sympathetic to the land, using locally relevant materials to create settings that work for the informal Australian lifestyle.
The tour starts Sept 25 in Perth, visits Brisbane, Townsville, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and ends Thu 30 Oct in Melbourne. Visit the website for more information.
I also wanted to remind you that the CPD survey that was sent around two weeks ago is due to close this Thursday. If you do have a few moments today, please let us know what you think about our CPD program. Your views are very important to us and will go towards shaping the program for the next couple of years. Click here to access the survey and to go into a draw for a chance to win a $200 Architext voucher.
Kind regards,
Ross Clark
Acting CEO/Chief Operating Officer
