Welcome: A Fun Day at Craigston for Brisbane Open House 2013

What a great day it was!

After months of planning, and some slightly frantic last minute efforts, Craigston opened her doors on Saturday as part of this year's Brisbane Open House.

We showed off our new studio, and two home owners graciously opened their fabulous homes to over 70 lucky people who had been victorious in gaining a place via ballot.

The calm before the storm... and our guests doing the Craigston Time Warp.

Amalie and Richard spruiking the finer points of the studio design.

Chatting with Open House visitors.

It was an honour to host you all here at Craigston, and we hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did.

A huge thanks must go to Charles Rowe, our BOH volunteer, who valiantly manned the welcome desk, and Nicole Phillips, who helped us in the studio whilst also taking these great photos of the day. An even bigger thanks is due to human dynamo Ann Rainbow, who manages Open House so brilliantly on behalf of the Office of the Queensland Government Architect. Days like this would not be possible without the efforts of people like Ann.

Now it's over to you.

Did you manage to get along to Open House? What buildings were stand-outs for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

If you're in Queensland, don't forget that Maryborough Open House is on again next weekend. It was a huge success last year, so get in quick if you want to see some of the beautiful buildings on show.

All images ©Nicole Phillips. 

Confessions of a Sellout: Future Park is Launched

It’s not every day dozens of people call you a sellout, right to your face, and all you want to do is wrap them up in a big ol’ hug.

Well that’s how I felt last Wednesday night when Avid Reader sold out of my book on the night of the Future Park launch.

I was sitting at the signing table (there was a signing table!) when the word started coming down the line (the line – there was a queue!). “They’re selling…they’re nearly all gone…they’ve sold out!”

In moments like these you feel that your heart will just burst with gratitude.

For me it would have been enough to have my crazy wonderful family there, spread across the entire front row.

It also would have been enough to have them joined by my fabulous friends, some of who had travelled from the other side of the country (no mean feat in Australia) to be there.

But they’re your friends and your family, so of course they’re going to be there, right?

What I hadn’t expected was the support of so many of the wonderful landscape architects, architects, and other great people with whom I’ve worked, taught, tutored, burned the midnight oil and laughed over many years. Quite frankly it reflects poorly on me that I was so surprised – you are all the best of the best and I was honoured by your presence.

Then there were many of my wonderful neighbours, and, amazingly, people I'd never met before. These are folks who support their local bookstore, support local writers and are generally passionate and curious - an ideal bunch to have around!

But wait, there’s more. I was so happy to see Rosemary from the Centre for Subtropical Design and Judith from mecu, the two ladies responsible for the travel bursary that set me along this path.

Also there was my publisher, Ted Hamilton, from CSIRO Publishing, who revealed to the crowd how he’d ‘discovered’ me late one night in a radio dead zone, when an interview I’d given on By Design was replayed for the entertainment of insomniacs, and, apparently, commissioning publishers! Ted has been a huge supporter of the book right from the get-go, which is pretty much what you want from a publisher, so I’ve been very lucky he was awake that night.

Centre screen: Mr Ted Hamilton, our man at CSIRO Publishing.

Taking a short break from MC duties Shaun Walsh press-gangs another innocent landscape architect into purchasing a book.

Mark Fuller, my co-panellist, wowed the audience, not just with his jaw-dropping CV, but also his calm eloquence: I swear the man could tell you you were going to have your head cut off and you’d think it was a good idea. And thirdly Malcolm Middleton, who launched the good ship Future Park out into the world, with enormous kindness and generosity. Top blokes the lot of ‘em.

"And it's good night from me...". Malcolm Middleton, Queensland State Government Architect, moments before he smashed a bottle of Cristal across Future Park to send her on her way. Mark Fuller, landscape architect, architect, artist, gentleman farmer, and captivating speaker looks on encouragingly. Or is he just wondering "Now where did I hang my teapot?"

Finally, how good is Avid Reader? Krissy Kneen put aside her best-selling author hat for the evening and, with her team, expertly wrangled guests, food, drinks, audio, social media, customers, drop-ins, weirdos, stragglers and me, creating an event that crossed West End casual friendliness with military precision.

Ka-ching! Krissy and Krew helm the counter as the vast stockpile of books rapidly diminishes.

The audience...restless with anticipation.

To all of you my very deepest thanks.

See below for more pics from the event. Images: Nicole Arnett Phillips.  

Visit Landscapology at Brisbane Open House

This week I happily attended the launch of Brisbane Open House 2013.

It's inspiring to see how the event has grown in only four years, now covering a full weekend, with 71 buildings open to the public free of charge.

What's even more exciting is that Landscapology is also throwing open its doors!

Landscapology HQ is tucked into a tiny corner at the bottom of Craigston, in Spring Hill.

Welcome.

The studio design has been a rewarding collaboration between myself and Richard Buchanan,  a crazy-good designer, and (lucky me), my partner. We (well...our great builders, Rob and Chris Hogerheyde of RAM Constructions, actually) have been hard at work transforming this former caretaker's dungeon and then solicitor's office into a cabinet of curiosities, and place for reading, thinking and creating. Here's a sneak peek, just before the books and papers and pens move in...

Shifting planes.

Getting ready to introduce the collection to its new home.

A warm and cavelike space at the bottom of the building.

It's been a fun journey, and now we'd love to share our efforts with you.

Jump on the Brisbane Open House website (updated this year, and looking great) to add your name to the ballot.

Read on for some more information about lovely Craigston, courtesy of the BOH program book:

"A Wickham Terrace landmark since its construction in 1927, Craigston was the city’s first high rise residential building, a symbol of progress in a time of rapid growth and improvement in Brisbane’s CBD.

It was the brainchild of Dr Sydney Fancourt McDonald (the first paediatrician within the UQ Faculty of Medicine), who introduced  to Brisbane the concept of a co-operatively owned, multifunction office and residential block, comprising professional chambers on the ground floor and apartments above. It was built by a group of doctors, who had their consulting rooms on the ground floor, and private residences above.

The building was controlled by a company, Craigston Ltd, of which McDonald was the first chairman. Each owner purchased shares in the company entitling them to ownership of their apartment.

Architect Arnold Conrad of prominent Brisbane firm Atkinson & Conrad designed Craigston in 1926 as the first reinforced concrete framed multi-storeyed building in Brisbane. It was erected in 1927 by builder and engineer Walter Taylor, under the supervision of architect T B F Gargett."

Craigston, the loveliest lady on the Terrace.

"The completed building was eight storeys high with a basement car park and rooftop garden accessible by all tenants. The exterior was designed in a popular contemporary style known as Spanish Mission, with rendered walls, ornamental gables, arches, cordova tiled roof and a corner tower. Floors contained a single large apartment each (except for floor 6 which was divided in two), and featured silky oak paneling and generous sized rooms.

When completed, Craigston was a landmark building with stunning views. Over time most of the floors have been subdivided into smaller apartments and all have undergone renovations. The former balconies were enclosed with windows shortly after the building’s completion. Despite being surrounded by more recent high-rise buildings, Craigston still stands out as an attractive example of elegant 1920s style."

There'll be more updates on the studio in coming months, but if you're in Brisbane on the 12th of October be sure to check out Craigston and all the other delights on offer throughout Brisbane Open House.

ps: know an architecture or design-loving friend? Consider passing this info along to them too, if you think it would be of interest. Looking forward to seeing you at Open House.

Rust and Shadows - landscape wonders of the Asia Pacific Triennial

A whole exhibition dedicated to the way artists from different cultures and places see their landscape – few things could be more enticing for your Landscapologist. So it is with great excitement I bring you my completely biased personal faves from APT7.

APT is officially The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, and it’s on until April 14 at the Queensland Art Gallery.  Sure, sure, it’s not described in any catalogue as a ‘landscape’ exhibition. But that doesn’t change the fact that nearly every single one of the pieces on show in this epic cultural event represents a deeply physical, emotional and sensory connection to place and landscape.

Let’s start with Shirley Macnamara’s gorgeous Wingreeguu 2012. At first glance it looks like a chance breeze has blown it, ready formed, into place in the gallery, and yet it tells so wonderfully of a very particular place - spinifex land of far western Queensland - and its role in the lives of both Shirley’s traditional people and the later grazing community. It’s as if the artist has reached back through time and plucked out the heartstrings of a thousand generations, and then woven in the tough grass to encircle the work.

You can see the same re-imagining in Lorraine Connelly-Northey’s stunning pieces.  Crafted from salvaged farm and building materials, they reinterpret the traditional fibre practices of her mother’s Waradgerie people. Couldn’t you look at the patina of rust for hours? No matter what distance you’re at the surface resembles it’s own richly detailed landscape of tiny textures and colours.

I’m not sure if it was the way they were hung, or the overcast sky when I visited, but these works would have been doubly delicious for me had they been lit to throw shadows.  As a long-time shadowphile I was heartened to discover that several other APT offerings definitely gave good shadow.

These elegant beauties were cast by Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi’s Kulasi; crisp geometries and such rich, strong colours humming as the taut cylinders floated against a dark background.

Richard Maloy’s Yellow or Blue?  both consumes space and creates it anew. The enormous cardboard installation suggests a landscape of rugged, impermeable terrain that all the same could collapse at any moment. Is it perhaps reminding us of the dangers of hubris? That humanity’s great edifices remain standing by chance rather than design? And what's with the yellow? Is Mr Maloy tipping his hat to The Vault, Melbourne's much maligned 'Yellow Peril', or am I reading too much into things?

Around the corner, Parastou Forouhar’s Written room uses clouds and dust storms of Arabic script to create a swirling, pulsating landscape that writhes off the walls to embrace the viewer.

The urban landscape is not forgotten either.

Both Nguyen Manh Hung’s Living together in paradise and Paramodel’s How to make a paramodel use accessible, almost whimsical techniques to comment on today’s cities and pose questions about the future of the metropolis in Asia Pacific countries.

Phuan Thai Meng’s jaw-dropping realistic painting in The Luring of [ ] draws us into the in-between spaces of the urban landscape.

Finally, Yuan Goang-Ming’s Disappearing Landscape – Passing II  is a wondrous video installation across three screens that evokes the urban landscape of Taiwan with great delicacy, compassion and genuine curiosity. I loved it.

If this was all the APT7 had to offer it would have been enough. Luckily for us, there’s way more on offer. If you’ve been along, tell me which artist most moved you, or most clearly evoked a different landscape? If not, when have you experienced an artwork that powerfully spoke of a place or landscape?

Art shares with landscape the power to move, inspire, comfort, awe and amaze us. I hope they continue to do so for you.

See the APT while it lasts or check out the QAG website for more details on the artists and the show.