20101115

Expanded Architecture, was an architectural film night held at Performance Space Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Architecture Film Festival on Saturday Nov 6th 2010. The evening formed part of University of Sydney student Sarah Breen Lovett’s PHD thesis, an exploration into the relationship between architecture and film. Sarah’s supervisor Dr Lee Stickells was also instrumental in curating the film exhibition, sourcing films relating to architecture from international sources, including the US, UK and Europe. The films had one common theme; their relationship to architecture. Standout films included ‘Surface a Film From Underneath’ by Varathit Uthaisri (2009), which graphically portrayed the city streetscape from underneath and the storylines of its users. The visual appearance and jagged pace gave the impression of shadow puppets, further distorting the imagery. (http://surfacefilm.com/) The evening culminated in a discussion of between academics from Syndey University which added literary weight to the event.

20100621

Photo of the Amsterdam canals taken by Monica Earl.

20100618

Caroline Pidcock; The Architecture of Zero Emission Housing

About the talk

Caroline will talk about the issues that are emerging from her Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship research, which is looking at "The Architecture of Zero Emissions Housing". She has recently completed the first stage of her travels and will talk about what she has found so far. In particular, she has been looking at the regulatory environment that is supporting this in the UK and Europe, as well as the technical and design issues being encountered. Is such an approach to housing relevant to Australia? And if so, what should we be thinking about.

About the speaker
Caroline Pidcock is an architect who is interested in how our profession can take a more proactive and positive part in developing a sustainable future for us all to live in. After spending many years working in her practice as well as contributing to the wider profession and academia, she is making time in 2010 to research areas of related interest. Importantly, Caroline is focusing on how her practice should evolve to showcase such ideals.


Lecture by Caroline Pidcock from Pidcock Architecture + Sustainability describing where she's up to in her Byera Hadley travelling scholarship submission.

  • Uk is planning for zero emission housing by 2016
  • London Olympics will have 70% of their embodied energy in new buildings
  • Sustainable approaches may include;
  • Getting builder involved in the building process earlier, creating less division between the different fields of the built environment
  • Community consultation, eg. principals involved in school design
  • Governing bodies need to stop hypothesising about sustainability and enforce regulations, if we are to move forward.

20100517

Urban Explorers

The city as body, contains a superficial skin and underneath that skin lies a labyrinth of arteries, veins and nerve endings which are vital in the smooth running of the organism. These are the man-made tunnels and caves which Urban Explorers risk life and limb to survey. The cool, wet paint of their graffiti tag is the only remaining evidence of their journey...

Time for Drawing

Rena Czaplinska-Archer is a practicing Architect in Sydney rena.net.au Her essay entitled Time for Drawing describes her theory of the connection between sketching and sensory awareness as it relates to the role of the Architect. She states that by learning to block out the over-whelming sensory environment of the world around us, we are able to connect to our body and the spaces that surround it, therefore “experiencing” Architecture. This defines a re-connection to our kinaesthetic sense.
“Drawing, especially easy and messy scribbly sketching drawing helps to think, feel, helps to clarify and allow for insight and new understanding to emerge, helps to analyze and helps to synthesize, it allows to tap into body memory and intuition, it allows to play with chaos and ambiguity.”
Rena’s essay can be found at timefordrawing.rena.net.au or in pdf
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-a5mRsTaynTYzJlYzE1NjctNzE5Yy00Y2UxLWE2OWYtMTlhYzcxYTQ4M2Vl&hl=en, she also runs weekend workshops and teaches at Sydney University Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning.