Leo Schofield
The UB sent regrets. Perhaps he would have felt uncomfortable among a group of people dedicated to the enhancement of Tasmania rather than its degradation.
Maybe the ‘Black Tie’ instruction on the invitation alarmed him, although this specified dress code was pretty loosely interpreted. Or he guessed, presciently as it turned out, that some pinko or greenie might mention the environment or the compliance corporation or, perish the thought, urban planning when accepting an award.
Maybe he preferred a quiet Saturday night in front of the tube. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t present among the hundred and seventy professionals who gathered on a blustery Saturday evening for the annual presentation of awards by the Tasmanian Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
He missed a jolly night. The atmosphere in the large function room at the Moorilla complex at Berriedale was one of generous collegiality, the guests exhibiting a palpable shared desire to ensure that Tasmania’s new buildings could stand comparison with best practice on the mainland.
Indeed the whole event had about it an air of radiant optimism with none of the snide bitchiness, the conspiratorial comments delivered sotto voce behind raised hands that are usual at most like industry rituals. And although small in numbers, the quality of the short listed buildings and of the ones that received gongs was pretty damned high.
One would travel a long way and look at a lot of average buildings before seeing one of the quality and imagination of the new chapel at Dominic College, which demonstrated that a good substitute for a bundle of money is a load of imagination.
Imagination and refinement of detail were also in evidence in the lovely extension devised by Craig Rosevear for a fine old Edwardian house in North Hobart. Even the architecturally challenged would respond positively to the beauty and simplicity of another winner, the Historic Centre at Rosny, a glorious example of sensitive adaptive new use of an old building. Basically it’s a barn of the simplest construction but so lovingly restored and with superbly crafted new doors and a ravishing brand new shingle roof, all pure poetry, evocative of the past while serving a bang up to the minute contemporary community purpose.
The Bonnet Hill house by Preston Lane Architect was a particular fave of mine. When I walked into it I wanted to move in. Simple, calm, maximising views to die for, it was another example of the triumph of imagination over available funds.
Then there was the real lulu, another adaptive new use that had the jury in raptures, the inexpensive but exciting, environmentally friendly, imaginative UTAS School of Architecture on the Inveresk site in Launceston. The work of Melbourne architectural firm Six Degrees, it’s a crackerjack of a building that must be a dream for the students who learn there. One of the members of the jury, watching a group of students working in one of its airy, unstructured spaces, said rather wistfully that he might have been a better architect had he had the chance to work in such an inspiring environment.
Praising the Awards, former Governor Sir Guy Green said that he had, over the years of his involvement with them, “come to appreciate the importance of the role played by our architects in complementing and enhancing some of Tasmania’s special and distinctive qualities both as a place and a society.‘ He added that it usually took a couple of decades before modern work came to be generally understood and appreciated and he hope we wouldn’t have to wait two generations before we “begin to appreciate the nature and significance of contemporary Tasmanian architecture.”
Sir Guy also observed, correctly, that some of the entries illustrated ‘’the special strengths of Tasmanian architects in the conservation of our built heritage not as a collection of monuments or museums but as living functional buildings.” The general view is that we have some terrific architects down here and more power to their arms.
That said, it would do neither Tasmania nor the profession any harm to have a major international architect work here. Paris had no problem with Messrs Piano, Pei or Foster building in the French capital. And Sydney now has major buildings by Piano and Foster. Parochialism can be a barrier to quality. A great building by an international architect not only raises the local bar but also implies a sophisticated public.
One of the best examples I’ve seen recently of a modest building is the new Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, designed not by an American architect let alone a local, but by an Iraqi, the formidable Zaha Hadid. Excellent though our local architects are, I reckon they would welcome a world-beating practitioner to their ranks. Temporarily.
…………
It’s not architecture but it’s very Tasmanian. For months now I’ve pondered about a wall across the back of my property. I thought of dry stone. And hawthorn, laid and plaited traditionally as it has been on an estate at Chudleigh. But as I’ve driven up and down the Midland Highway I’ve admired, just outside Bagdad, a wall constructed of sawn logs, not for use as firewood, there’s another rougher wall for that, but as decorative barrier, a kind of Andy Goldsworthy wannabe installation. Just the ticket. About twenty-five metres are completed (only another seventy -five to go) and it looks spiffy. Right choice and pure Tassie.
This column was first published in the Mercury, May 26, 2007.
Earlier: The Philstine
