Leading Australian architects have joined Declare Australia to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency.
The Architects Declare Australia website was launched on Thursday 25 July.
Architect and Architects Declare Australia Spokesperson Caroline Pidcock says responding to climate change requires the work of all architects throughout the country.
“Challenging times demand strong responses,” says Pidcock.
“Today, a group of Australia’s acclaimed architects are putting up their hands to be instrumental in creating the future we need. We hope many more practices and individuals will follow their lead.”
Australia is the third country in the world to launch Architects Declare and the first to include reference to Indigenous peoples.
Architects Declare was first launched in the UK and included winners of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Stirling Prize - David Chipperfield Architects, Foster + Partners and dRMM - as founding signatories.
In Australia, the declaration has 30 founding signatories, including firms leading firms such as Woods Bagot and Hassell.
All signatories of the declaration commit to raising awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for action amongst clients and supply chains. They also advocate for faster change in the industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
“Signing this declaration is a further step in our practice’s ongoing commitment to sustainable design,” says Hassell’s managing director, Steve Coster.
“The declaration provides another impetus for critical conversation, innovation and challenge within the design, property and construction industries on how we can mitigate climate impacts through better and more sustainable design practices.”
“At Woods Bagot we have a new consciousness that responds to the call for unprecedented action on climate change,” adds Woods Bagot CEO, Nik Karalis.
“We’ve actively changed the fundamentals of our architectural process to make the entry into every project via the lens of climate change impact analysis.”
