Home truths: how personal idiosyncrasies shape architectural thinking

The Architecture Symposium: Truth or Dare? provided a much-needed opportunity for the architectural community to set aside the day-to-day weariness of viruses, rising building costs and interest rate hikes for a day of sharing and discussion. The subject was “how personal idiosyncrasies and curiosities have shaped architectural thinking to create poetic homes that respond to people and place.”

Co-curated by Rachel Nolan (Kennedy Nolan) and Karen Alcock (MA Architects), the program was presented under its slightly cryptic title and accompanying graphic of curatorial heads on classical sculptures, hinting that the eight architects invited to speak would be revealing something about themselves … but what? Thrown into the mix was a quote from Björk: “The more digital we have, the more naked skin and rawness we will want.”

As it turned out, the “truth” was a sketch or drawing of a place that meant something to each of the presenters, while the “dare” was a mistake that each had made that informed their subsequent practice.

Presenters from Brisbane (Morgan Jenkins of Nielsen Jenkins), Newcastle (Warren Haasnoot of Curious Practice), Sydney (Kirsten Stanisich of Richards Stanisich, Will Fung of Co-Ap, Qianyi Lim of Sibling and Anthony Gill of Anthony Gill Architects), and Melbourne (Clare Cousins of Clare Cousins Architects and Stephanie Burton of Lovell Burton) offered the audience a series of different drawing styles to depict spaces that didn’t so much describe an architecture as invoke a memory of a special time or place. Perhaps more importantly, these drawings illustrated a group of people – usually family – that provided an insight into the presenters’ backgrounds and a hint of what was special to them (their “truth”).

Across the day, as each of the 10 presenters shared stories of key residential projects – in different locations and environments, with different budgets and during different career stages – the commonalities of “home” started to emerge. Events were illustrated with drawings and old photos: memories of a childhood home where the kids thought the hallway was haunted; of a lockdown playtime with two young boys in their makeshift cubby house; of cups of tea, and beers in the back shed. Of three generations sharing one house, with meals taken in shifts around the table, through to the passing of grandparents in the family home. These stories were all recounted fondly, with hints of love, tiredness, humour and sadness. The architect stripped bare – or at least made human – was a welcome shift from the way the aesthetic work of a talented group of architects might normally be presented.

The mistakes that the presenters “dared” to divulge included not backing their instincts; not saying “no”; and coming to the realization that the completed project is not the architect’s own property but instead belongs to the client, whose sensitivities must be considered when we talk about and publish projects. The issue of how much waste results from the decisions we make as architects was aired, as were those details that, in hindsight, may not have been as great an idea as first thought. Although some skirted around the issue of patent errors, everyone shared something a little less curated than they normally might – a snippet of first-birthday parties or homes shared with teenagers, or an insight into what didn’t make the final cut from the photo shoot (sock and undies were generally out).

There were plenty of examples of exceptional housing as well, with multigenerational urban homes featuring alongside beautifully photographed holiday houses. New builds and alterations showcased exquisite detailing that was sometimes finely calibrated, other times wonderfully rudimentary. The truly radical work of Bill Lucas, and his death-defying investigation into the human condition in his own house – as tested by Anthony Gill and his family – rounded out the day.

Stretching across 10 degrees of latitude, the work that was shared was expansive, as were the experiences of designing and making homes for people. However, this symposium wasn’t really about the differences in the way the presenters practised and delivered architecture; rather, it was about the similarities that tied the projects together. Despite the range of houses discussed, the commonalities on display offered everyone in the audience a space in which to place their own experiences of architectural practice and contemporary housing design in Australia.

The Architecture Symposium: Truth or Dare? is a Design Speaks program organised by Architecture Media, publisher of ArchitectureAU.com, and supported by major partner Planned Cover, supporting partner James Hardie and hotel partner Ovolo.