Duality

So many thoughts swirling around my head about the series I’m sharing here. I thought it was going to be a fixation to begin with but this is bigger. I’ve long pondered what draws me to the intersection of contradictions; new and old, natural and built, dark and light, straight and curved and so on and thought it was just a matter of visual interest. What I’ve come to realise through much reading, talking and searching is that it’s much deeper than that. It’s a desire to understand the contradictions, the dichotomies, the dualities within myself. There’s too much to say on this to say it all here, but I’ll leave you with this. For all the time I’ve been looking at places where the natural environment meets the built, I thought, as someone who loves and respects nature, that I was cheering for the nature, when actually my heart lies with the built, in this case the house. My metaphor was back to front.

*Side note. There are too many photos here, I know, but in my defence I spent time with this house on two seperate days and took close to 300 photos. It was hard to choose!

**Side note two, I could have done a fixations series on the lacy curtains alone.

Fixations 2

A long-time and very dear friend paid a visit to Melbourne in recent months. In one of our many, deep and artful conversations we came to the subject of my “Fixations” posts. She (who will know who she is when she reads this) suggested that you might like to hear about what it is exactly that I am fixating on in these images, what it is that caught my attention.

So. This next fixation, I happened upon when working in Hobart earlier this year. This little scene stopped me dead and only got better the more I moved in. It’s the strong lines and repetition in the facade of the building, it’s the patterns in the paving of the road and footpath, it’s the symmetry of the shiny silver bike thingys (what do you call those?), it’s the way nature gently but firmly disrupts the man made perfection with organic, uneven and unpredictable lines. It’s colour - green on stone, the hint of red in the speed sign, the coloured paint on the pavement, the bolt of yellow from the adjacent carpark and the pastel yellow of that strange little, sticker covered, industrial box, which doesn’t belong and fits in all the same. It’s the sense of isolation, the absence of people. I could go on… it’s all of that and more.

For those that are interested it’s the former Reserve Bank building which was designed by the Commonwealth Department of Works and constructed in 1977.

Obake Gardens at Secret Garden House

Seeing as though we’re out in the garden I thought I’d share some additional images shot for Obake Gardens from Secret Garden House by Amiconi Architects.

Mieke Pattison has done a stunning job of creating a secluded oasis and productive garden in one.

The Hive by Heatherwick Studio

Not only did I take myself off to Kampung Admiralty in January; I headed to the other end of Singapore to see “The Hive” by Heatherwick Studio at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The Hive or Learning Hub is a building designed to challenge traditional learning environments and provide a dynamic mix of social and learning spaces for students. There are twelve towers (of dim sum baskets, so says the taxi driver) holding tutorial rooms that surround a large atrium of curved, greened terraces, which offer informal spaces for students to gather. I could go on about the environmental considerations, concrete construction, passive air-conditioning and generous greening but I’ll just show you the pics instead. Another remarkable, architectural highlight in my travels. Oh and it was Saturday, if you’re wondering where all the students are!

WOHA's Kampung Admiralty - 2018 Building of the Year

I was fortunate to take a quick trip to Singapore earlier this year and more fortunate still to sneak away for a few hours to shoot WOHA Architect’s Kampung Admiralty - named 2018 World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival. And rightly so. The building is mixed-use, combining social housing with commercial and retail spaces (food, medical etc) and includes a remarkable, terraced green roof. The stacked terraces include a kids playground, an outdoor gym, peaceful gathering places and a community farm, together providing a community park for residents and visitors. I barely scratched the surface in the few hours I spent there but impressed I was. Hot, but impressed.