Illawarra Festival of Architecture & Design
Cave House - Architect: Mike Vail, Photography: Sallie Moffatt
The inaugural Illawarra Festival of Architecture & Design brings together local architecture innovators to explain and discuss the changing approach to designing homes and communities.
Words Penny Keogh @eaves.content
We all know what it feels like to live in a home that needs a little work. To watch the Block or Grand Designs and love the idea of doing just that. Looking around the suburbs lately, with more and more people moving in, there are more and more clever and beautiful homes going up. But who is designing these magnificent homes? How do they come up with these ideas? Do you think the owners would let you look inside?
It would seem you’re not the only one with these questions. As the post-pandemic perspective on life and work evolves, so too has our interest in our homes and how we live locally within a closer community.
Speaking about the first inaugural Illawarra Festival of Architecture and Design to be held on 25 November, Bulli architect Kate Rintoul says that’s why it’s such a good time to be talking about local architecture.
“I feel like we’re in an exciting period and there is a lot happening in Wollongong at the moment,” said Kate. “With so much growth it’s a good time to reflect on what it means to be a homeowner and landowner.
“To ask important questions about what people value and how we create and recreate this landscape.
“Resilience only occurs through consistent, ongoing adaptation done in the context of community”
“There is an increasing awareness in the community of what land means to aboriginal people and what it means to use our land with the environment in mind.
“There is a lot of room to grow in our understanding and talk about the collective impact of our actions.
“There are more architecture firms and urban designers getting involved in those conversations,” continued Kate. “They have a key role in working with clients and communities to ensure that when we begin a design process, we consider more than just the people at the table, even if they’re the ones paying the fees.”
Kate goes on to explain the double meaning of this year’s IFAD theme of ‘Out of Practice’, reflecting on the challenges the Illawarra is facing currently.
“Resilience only occurs through consistent, ongoing adaptation done in the context of community,” said Kate. “Through COVID we keenly felt the lack of that everyday communication with people, and perhaps became out of practice with solving problems as a collective - although the need to do so was perhaps never more apparent.
“Architecture and design fail when it exists in a vacuum, as an object without consideration of how it is used or impacts its context,” continued Kate.
“Architects can get lost in their own worlds, so in their practice they can forget their projects exist for people who live in them, walk past them on the street, or view them from a window.
Getting out of practice might be just the shake-up we need to generate better conversations between designers and our community about how to build in ways that make the most of the richness of this place we live here in the Illawarra,” continued Kate.
The ambitious program of house tours and panel discussions welcomes all architecture and design fans to meet a range of people involved in the future of our built environment in the Illawarra.
Covering all bases from residential homes to precinct scale developments, Kate says there’s something for everyone in this first IFAD event.
“In the house tours and panel program we invite people to meet local architects who’ve recently built award-winning homes in the Illawarra and hear some wonderful stories about their inspiration,” said Kate.
Interior design personality, Deborah Hutton and Dr Saul Griffiths, of Electrify 2515 and Australian Story fame, have also put their hands up to add their architectural anecdotes to a panel discussion about building and designing with community in mind.
Coledale Ave - Design: Alex Urena Design Studio, Builder: Jason Miles Builder, Photography: Shaw Photography
“Beyond small scale residential architecture, there’s important discussions worth having about how we define and enhance the values of place when we set out to transition large areas from one use to another, like rural land to mixed use urban release, or industrial areas to medium density residential,” said Kate.
“How do we honour those inherent values whilst still allowing areas to change?
“How do we express those values through the architecture and use it to make connections that contribute to a place where a new community will feel grounded in a story that did not begin with them,” said Kate.
“Our third panel will have representatives working on major developments locally who will discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in designing for large-scale change in the Illawarra.
“The Festival is a chance for the community to get involved in a discussion about the built environment in the Illawarra,” said Kate. “It’s a forum to talk about how we work in the design profession to make housing and our shared areas more meaningful, affordable, and more accessible.
Butterfly House - Architect: Dane Taylor; Builder: Greensmith & Co, Photography: Daniel Mulgeran
Also included in the program is a partnership with UTS which will include a design studio display and discussion about the students’ design of the Civic Hub at the existing development site of the former Corrimal Coke Works.
“It comes back to how we all want to live, and I look forward to what kind of discussion results from the amazing local people on our panels and the community who’ll join us at the Festival,” said Kate.
The inaugural Illawarra Festival of Architecture and Design will be held on 25 November.
Register your interest to attend at www.ifad.net.au