The Flip Flop House design was named the winner of the inaugural 10 Star Challenge organised by the Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV). Designed by Crosby Architects in association with Lifehouse Design.
You’ve said “Good design is a messy business, and if it isn’t, it should be suspect”. What makes good design such a messy business?
I worked for Guilford Bell when I was a student. He had me getting vent pipes symmetrically aligned within a roof space. I learnt a lot from him but I also saw how detrimental obsessional architecture could be.
I think that buildings can obviously enhance the way we live or they can be detrimental. The detrimental ones can be at fault through lack of thought, but they can also be over designed. We make mistakes and we believe in things that turn out to be wrong or inappropriate to the situation. Design is a relational occupation so of course it will be messy. I also said that I do not think design starts or finishes. Maybe the authors change but buildings keep evolving to new situations. If they are too tight and sewn up it’s hard for them to adapt.
What was the first project you ever designed which you were paid for?
I designed a Motel in Williamstown in Melbourne in 1988 before I graduated. Luckily it never got built. It was a two-storey courtyard building and you drove in under the entry. It was influenced by an apartment building in St Kilda Road from the 1940s that I knew. It had windows the shape of windscreen wipers in the lounge wall above the entry — very pomo and pretty ugly really.
The next building did get built and was in a remote part of Victoria. I stayed on-site in a caravan for two weeks while designing the building and I think it was successful because of that. I quickly developed a philosophy around design and its context, which I have stood by ever since.
What has had the biggest influence on you personally and architecturally?
The obvious answer to this is children. As I sit here I know I have limited time. I need to be at a parent teacher interview for my five year-old at 2:30. Kids affect how you work and why you work, and that has been true for me with three boys. Since I have had kids I have been much more interested in community engagement and participation. My partner, the artist Nicola Loder, has also been a huge influence. She is such a rigorous thinker and has always kept me on my toes, so to speak. Not always the most comfortable of positions, but worth it every time.
Being in a rock band for five years is another big one. I guess interacting with people in groups has always been influential. My tendency is to work alone so the dynamics of group engagement has made me think a lot about the role of the architect and how it can be used to instigate and invigorate change without dictating what that change should be. A lot of my work these days is not just about getting buildings built but feeding visions and growing expectations.
