designing with value and purpose

In 2015, during a mid-semester critique, I was asked how I could distinguish myself as an architect. My proposition was simple, my architectural currency would be value, in which my projects would exhibit a soul – its essence and character, have vision – my future intentions, ­and belief – in fearlessly pursuing my ideas and agenda.

I believe that through the application of these values to architecture, buildings and spaces are capable of enhancing our personal experiences, and improving the lives of individuals and that of our wider society.    

Five modes of working continue to be employed throughout my architectural projects, Site context + observation, reading + translating, precedent + art + media, model making + drawing, and diagramming. These modes are interwoven and explored in the navigation of my architectural design and practice.

As a child of Vietnamese refugees who settled in Australia in the 1980′s, dad drove us around in his second hand 1980 Toyota Carona. I went to gymnastics, to Vietnamese school on Saturdays. There was a shed and a hills hoist, herbs growing in the backyard, a dwarf lemon tree always struggling to grow. A hybrid of cultures, one heritage grafted onto another.

Transitioning into architecture, my application to RMIT contemplated a speculative project to green and clean up Melbourne’s laneways and increasing public space through embracing sustainable recycling technologies, developing mixed used café spaces and street accommodation.

The Climb, from the By-Product Studio with Jas Johnston and Chris Gilbert, is a high density residential building and bicycle hub in Brunswick. The project engages with the role of entrepreneurship in architecture, focusing on opportunities to rejuvenate communities.

Site context and observation has allowed insight into the urban and cultural fabric of Brunswick. Observing and recording not only the built environment and its materiality, but extending this into the field of data, statistics and trends, providing clues and inspiration to design for local bicycle users: a ramp, a two sided elevator, storage units adapted to suit to its context and its purpose.

Common Ground, from the Vertical Backyard studio with Mel Bright and Todd De Hoog, is a low density residential project in Collingwood, draws upon the ideas of the local and the shared space. Inspired by The Commons by Breathe Architecture, Common Ground applies the principles of the Nightingale model, a blueprint for: affordability, transparency, sustainability, deliberative design and community contribution.

Space is a function of time, evolving over the life cycle of a resident. Village moments promote interaction at the shared laundry, exercise spaces double as a bookable dining area, and the suburban backyard is reinterpreted, folded, and transformed vertically as communal roof gardens.  

Again, the principles from the Nightingale model are reflected materially, onsite bricks are re-used where possible, local timbers are sourced from sustainable hardwood plantations, and exposed services become the design aesthetic. Modular living areas and shared spaces reduce the building footprint and cost per square metre. The democratic and equality are values which protect the environment and enhance social cohesion.

Our First Nation’s peoples used Dreaming to share a vast culture spanning an entire continent, whilst preserving knowledge from one generation to the next.