I approach architecture and design as way of addressing challenging issues. It’s a way of thinking about problems and what we can do to provide considered, personal solutions. It’s about being innovative in this problem solving, without forgetting how we came to this point. Above all, it’s a way of providing better experiences for those who come in contact with the design.
Advanced Design 1: ‘Synthesis’ is a design studio I supervise at the University of Auckland in the first semester of the M.Arch(prof.) program. This page will function as a space for the publication of student works and experiments through the course of the studio. It will also function as a hub for learning resources and notifications.
The Aerial Theatre project for the 2011 OISTAT Theatre Architecture Competition has won third prize out of entries from 44 countries. The Aerial Theatre was a collaborative project with my long time co-conspirator Patrick Loo and some new collaborators Yun Kong Sung, Adrian Kumar and Mel Pau. Great work team!
Paper sky was an installation artwork that was constructed for Urbis Design Day 2010 at the Poggenpohl Kitchens showrooms in Auckland, New Zealand. The project called for a transformative intervention into the space which allowed for an alternative viewing of the display kitchens, while providing an immersive experience for patrons of Urbis Design Day.
The distinction between audience and performance is entirely constructed, and as such is reconfigurable. The divide between the audience and the performer that exists in many conventional theatres denies the opportunity for the audience to become performers in their own right. That is to be active participants in the narrative.
Designed to address the issues surrounding the degradation of the Rice Terraces of the Philippines, this project examines how conservation of environmental and cultural resources are dependent on the establishment of Social Sustainability.
Since forming Atelier Bow-Wow in 1992, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima have been producing some of the quirkiest and most subtly nuanced work of their generation. Their seemingly light hearted name masks what is an extremely insightful research based practice.
Architecture has the power not only to frame significant moments within our lives, but to actively project our values and support us within these moments. One of these moments is the fare welling of a loved one. This project examines the architecture of grieving within the context of landscape and context. It aims to examine what factors must be taken into account in the design of contemporary architecture on sites which exhibit a palimpsest of cultural, landscape and socio-economic histories.
Great News! I’m off to the Archiprix International workshop at MIT in June this year! Archiprix is an invitational competition which recognises the world’s best architectural graduating projects. This year the workshop will be held in Boston, followed by the awards ceremony at the Guggenheim in New York. Its going to fantastic!
Okoshi-ezu are a traditional form of japanese model making. The construction of such a model requires the re-drawing of the building to exemplify the planar nature of the technique. It is an example of deconstructive origami and requires that the design of folding method is considered in the same breath as the unfolding method.
Recently I was asked, with my OH.NO.SUMO. colleagues, to be part of the international touring exhibition, FAX. The exhibition calls for participants to fax a work to the gallery that discusses the position of the fax machine within society and as a drawing too. Our submission speculates on the pop culture aesthetic of obsolescence while engaging with the idea of machines as more than static, singular mode devices.
Far from being just lucky, Klein Dytham has shown the particular skill of being able to extract the most from whatever opportunity is presented to them. Mark Dytham discussed culture, practice and humor with us on a recent visit to Auckland.
Stefan Stagmeister, that legendary and polemic figure of graphic design, is said to take regular breaks from practice. When I say regular, I mean a few years on, a few years off. For the whole office. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Surely the work of a (financially secure) genius, right?
Oh.No.Sumo has been awarded joint winner of the Open Section in the recent Cavalier Bremworth Architecture Awards organised by the Auckland Architecture Associationfor our project the Cupcake Pavilion. The awards were judged by Camilla Block,Aaron Patterson and Simon Twose. The other joint winners were Architects Patterson for their project on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
