The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the 2016 Gold Medal Tour Dates with ARM founding directors and 2016 gold medallists, Ian McDougall and Howard Raggatt to begin their eight-city tour in Sydney on 3 August.
The two ARM architects (along with the late Stephen Ashton) were announced as the 2016 Gold Medallists at the Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards in Melbourne.
The Jury Citation reads:
“ARM is a practice that has been a genuine leader, influencer, provocateur, culture builder and disseminator of ideas for nearly three decades, and at the core of the practice are three outstanding architects who have created some of the most extraordinary buildings in the short post-colonial history of this country.
“Ashton, Raggatt and McDougall's work has had an impact across the national design landscape: in Western Australia with the Perth Arena, in Queensland with the new Gold Coast Cultural Precinct, in Adelaide with major works to the Adelaide Festival Plaza, in Canberra with the National Museum of Australia and most recently in Sydney where they have been appointed to undertake the refurbishment of the Sydney Opera House – a cultural heartland project if ever there was one. And it is in their home city of Melbourne that one can most fully experience their contribution. A walk down the Swanston Street civic spine might start at the recently completed (and controversial) William Barak building, past Storey Hall at RMIT University (also controversial at the time) and the major redevelopment of the Melbourne Central shopping precinct, to the recent refurbishment of Hamer Hall on the banks of the Yarra River and the extraordinary Melbourne Recital Hall and Melbourne Theatre Company Theatre, before finishing at the practice's decade-long reconfiguration of the Shrine of Remembrance.
“Outside of their work on commissioned projects, Ashton, Raggatt and McDougall have played an equally significant role as national ‘culture builders’. Through their multiple exhibitions, lectures and contributions to national conferences, they have never shirked a responsibility to publicly explain or proselytise about their design work - or architecture more generally - as a critical cultural endeavour. As an extension of this they have also been erudite teachers, including professorial roles, with a deep commitment to supporting and nurturing the next generation of design thinkers.”
2016 GOLD MEDAL TOUR DATES
Wednesday 3 August: Sydney, 6pm at Tusculum
Tuesday 9 August: Darwin, 5.30pm at Christ Church Cathedral
Thursday 25 August: Canberra, 6pm at The Shine Dome
Wednesday 31 August: Hobart, 5.30pm at UTAS, Medical Science Precinct
Tuesday 4 October: Adelaide
Thursday 6 October: Brisbane
Tuesday 18 October: Melbourne
Monday 24 October: Perth
