Responsive urbanism: The Architecture Symposium, Sydney presents a curated line-up of contemporary Australian architects whose projects make explicit and lyrical contributions to the framing of the public realm. These are projects where a more engaging and responsive civic conversation is being staged. Discussion will be shaped by a number of themes, investigating approaches to elements from urban and landscape design, large-scale city quarters and infrastructure, to the architectural definition of streets, parks and arcades, down to the intimacy of the city's finer grain.
Header Image
Maitland Riverlink by Chrofi. Photography: Simon Wood.
Program.
8.30 am
Attendee arrival
9.00 am
Acknowledgement of Country
9.10 am
Opening comments Curators Laura Harding, Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects,
and Adam Haddow, SJB
9.25 am
Urban campus Ninotschka Titchkosky, BVN (Kambri cultural precinct, Australian National University).
Nigel Bertram, NMBW (RMIT University precinct).
10.00 am
Urban ensembles Victoria Reeves, Kennedy Nolan (Nightingale Village).
Penny Fuller, Silvester Fuller (Loftus Lane).
10.35 am
Civic catalysts Tai Ropiha, Chrofi (Maitland Riverlink).
Rodney Eggleston, March Studio (Kingborough Community Hub).
11.10 am
Morning tea
11.40 am
Aggregate urbanism Jared Webb, Richards and Spence (Cornerstone Stores).
Kerstin Thompson, Kerstin Thompson Architects (Balfe Park Lane).
12.15 pm
Civic evocation Aaron Roberts, Edition Office (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial).
Angelo Candalepas, Candalepas Associates (Sydney Modern Project competition entry).
12.50 pm
Accretive architecture Michael Banney, M3architecture (Sibyl Centre and Langley Building for the Women's College).
Peter Elliott, Peter Elliott Architecture and Urban Design (Parliament of Victoria Annexe Building).
1.25 pm
Lunch
2.25 pm
Urban punctuation Adrian Iredale, Iredale Pedersen Hook (Highgate Primary School).
Suzannah Waldron, Searle x Waldron Architecture (University of Melbourne, End of Trip Facilities).
3.00 pm
Architectural edges Ilana Freadman, Freadman White (Whitlam Place).
Tony Chenchow, Chenchow Little (Waterloo Apartments).
3.35 pm
Dissection A panel discussion with Lee Hillam (Dunn and Hillam Architects and former principal design advisor and acting director of design excellence, Government Architect NSW), Andy Fergus (urban designer, City of Melbourne), and curators Laura Harding and Adam Haddow.
4.05 pm
Closing comments Katelin Butler, editorial director, Architecture Media
Aaron Roberts is a director of Edition Office. Aaron established the practice with fellow director Kim Bridgland in 2016. The practice operates as a cultural agent amongst a diverse design and arts community within the intersections of architecture, culture and politics, and has contributed to numerous lectures and publications across Australia.
Angelo Candalepas graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 1992. He was made a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects in 2019.
In 1994 he established his own architecture studio which, in its first months of practice, won an international competition for housing in “The Point” in Sydney’s Pyrmont. The project was the recipient of several awards. Since then, Angelo has won and been shortlisted for several national and international competitions.
Ilana Freadman is a managing director and principal architect of Freadman White. Ilana has extensive experience in the delivery of quality single and multiple residential and education projects. Ilana is responsible for the overall performance and delivery of the project and oversees the project team, providing strategic analysis and direction.
Jared Webb established the Brisbane-based J.AR Office in 2022. This emerging design practice is passionate about sculpting spaces that captivate people and engage communities. Each project is approached with consideration of context and cultivates an inventive sense of creativity. Making thoughtful gestures and using simple, honest and nostalgic materials, J.AR Office creates calm and cohesive spaces that foreground life and people.
Kerstin Thompson is principal of Kerstin Thompson Architects and an adjunct professor at RMIT and Monash Universities. A committed design educator, she regularly lectures and runs studios at various schools across Australia and New Zealand. In recognition for the work of her practice, contribution to the profession and tertiary education, Kerstin was elevated to Life Fellow by the Australian Institute of Architects in 2017, appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022 and awarded the Gold Medal – the Australian Institute of Architects’ highest honour, which recognizes distinguished services – in 2023.
Nigel Bertram is practice professor of architecture at Monash University and director of NMBW Architecture Studio, established in Melbourne with Marika Neustupny and Lucinda McLean in 1997. The team’s architectural work has been widely published and awarded across categories, including urban design, single and multiple residential designs, small public works and adaptive re-use of existing buildings.
Co-CEO, Strategic Champion Digital Innovation and Robotics, BVN
Ninotschka Titchkosky is co-CEO and Strategic Champion of Digital Innovation and Robotics at BVN. She is passionate about the role architects play in shaping our interactions, communities and cities and continually seeks to effect change through projects. She is leading BVN’s research into robotics.
Silvester Fuller is an architecture and interior design studio based in Sydney, established in 2008 by Jad Silvester and Penny Fuller. A commitment to discover the hidden potential within each project is at the core of their design process. They share a rationality of thought, often with surprising outcomes.
Peter Elliott is a Melbourne architect and recipient of the 2017 Gold Medal from the Australian Institute of Architects. He is currently an adjunct professor of architecture practice at the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture at Monash University. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Architecture by the University of Melbourne.
Suzannah Waldron is director of Searle x Waldron Architecture (SXWA), a Melbourne architecture studio focused on designing innovative public and community projects. Co-founded with Nick Searle, the practice is interested in the potential for civic architecture to do more and be a specific response to place.
Tai Ropiha is a partner of CHROFI, established in 2000. At the time, the practice's founding design, TKTS in Times Square, was widely recognized for its design excellence and innovation from fields as varied as planning, architecture, branding, public space and tourism.
Tony Chenchow is a founding partner of Chenchow Little Architects. His projects have won the highest Australian awards, including the National Architecture Awards Robin Boyd Award and the New South Wales Aaron Bolot Award for residential architecture.
Victoria Reeves has worked with Kennedy Nolan for more than fifteen years and has contributed to the practice both in her delivery of many high-quality design outcomes, as well as to the broader culture and strategic direction of the practice. In recognition of her invaluable contribution, Victoria was appointed director of architecture in 2017.
Adrian Iredale has made a significant and sustained contribution to the profession of architecture at state and national levels. His participation in Australian Institute of Architects awards juries, both as a member and chair across Australia, has maintained a high level of critical discourse and clear advocacy for the impact that quality architecture can have in our community.
Michael Banney is a founding director of M3architecture.
Like his projects, Michael Banney’s approach to practice draws from unexpected sources. In his "Circumstantial Aspects of Arson" (1955), William H. Hopper provides tips for young prosecutors:
We must always look for both the usual and the unusual. And as we pick up the individual strands of circumstances, and weave them into our rope of evidence, we should check each strand for its strength. We want to weave a pattern around the defendant, such that they will have the utter feeling of hopelessness. It is not easy to fashion a circumstantial case of arson. Circumstances are part and parcel of every facet of life, including an arson investigation, and we should strive to know, understand and utilize the circumstances which will furnish evidence of probative value …
For Michael, this is equally a handbook for architectural practice – building up cases for projects based on anecdotal evidence – anecdotes that corroborate one another and reveal a conviction for a project around which architecture can be formed.
Collectively, the projects of M3architecture confirm its practice conviction based on managed multiplicity, that has now produced almost two decades of interesting work.
Rodney Eggleston is a founding director and leading design architect at March Studio. Since March Studio’s inception in 2007, Rodney has contributed to over 90 projects, ranging in scale. Highlights include eighteen stores for Aesop skin care around the world, Hotel Hotel in Canberra, which in 2015 received the World Interior Award at WAF in Singapore, and four AIA Award winning houses, including The Compound House which last year received the the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award
Lee Hillam is co-director of Dunn & Hillam Architects, which was founded in 2001 with Ashley Dunn and is established as a practice with specialist expertise in heritage, regional towns, arts and culture and sustainability.
From October 2016 through to April 2019 Lee worked in a variety of roles at Government Architect NSW centred around Design Excellence and was instrumental in producing the Design Guide for Heritage for the Office of Environment and Heritage.
Andy Fergus is an urban design critic, commentator and practitioner. He is an urban designer at the City of Melbourne, co-director of Melbourne Architours and studio lead at Melbourne School of Design and through these roles Andy engages with the community, government, design industry, and students to advocate for more inclusive, ethical and high quality environments. Andy’s multi-disciplinary background encompasses urban design, urban planning and architecture, often acting as a translator between these disciplines.
Adam Haddow is a Sydney-based architect and director at SJB. He is interested in what makes cities vibrant, connected, and civic and has built expertise in urban density, multiresidential design, and the intersection of public and private space.
Adam’s design achievements have been recognized with numerous awards including the Australian Institute of Architects' National and New South Wales Chapter Architecture Awards, the Urban Taskforce Awards, and the UDIA NSW Awards for Excellence. He is a Churchill Fellow who investigated alternatives to conventional models of urban design, resulting in a research project entitled “Shall We Dense,” an examination into the state of modern density living in Australia that led to successful collaborations within the professional and architectural realms.
Laura Harding is a Sydney-based designer and critic who has worked with the studio Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects since 1996. Her work encompasses a wide range of urban, multiple housing and architectural projects, many of which have received industry awards. Laura’s architectural writing and criticism has been widely published in a range of architectural journals, news media and monographs, and she was awarded the Adrian Ashton Prize for architectural criticism in 2013.
