Jon Voller recently joined Marchese and Partners.

One of the founding members of BVN (Bligh Voller Nield), he has also worked in Macao, China, where he was a senior advisor to the government.

A&D spoke to Voller about why CAD isn’t the future for architecture, instructing a five year-old to become an architect and why he’s a ‘big job junkie’.

You helped establish what is now one of the major architectural firms in Australia — BVN. What was your vision for the firm in the beginning?

Like many other Australian practices, by the early 1990s we were exploring work opportunities offshore. However, unlike others we found the cost and risk of these activities too high and made a deliberate decision to make our priority the growth of our practice in Australia.

The vision for the firm was to grow beyond Brisbane in order to create a sustainable architecture and interior design business that could deliver the level of service and outcomes expected by clients.

You spent two years in Macao, China, where you worked with the government. How did you come to work for the Chinese government?

It was an opportunity that presented itself to me in late 2003 through an architect friend based in Shanghai. The reputation that the practice had gained internationally for sports architecture work, in particular the work for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and those projects that I had close personal involvement with … meant I had the appropriate experience for the position.

What was that experience like and how does it compare to working as an architect in Australia?

This proved to be an exciting and challenging experience with areas of capability that I hadn’t realised I had were brought into play. It also soon became clear to me that it provided me with the right opportunity to ‘retreat’ from my practice and palpably demonstrate to those younger associates at the time that there was ‘room at the top’ if they stepped up to become principals of the firm. The ongoing success of the firm in the hands of these younger principals demonstrates to me with hindsight that this was the right decision at the time.

I also learnt to respect the capability of the Chinese construction industry whose builders would tackle any building type and technology and were capable of completing projects quickly and to a reasonable standard.

The media has reported you instructed Dan Sparks of Sparks Architecture to become an architect when he was five years old. What was it that you were able to see in such a young child as a future architect?

Perhaps I suggested to Dan that he consider a career as an architect rather than instructing him! Dan was a friend of my boys through kindergarten and school and his parents remain friends. He was someone that we saw often and I suspect that my comments to him when he was five were made through friendship rather than insight. However, seeing the quality of the work Dan now produces one can see that the suggestion has paid dividends for both his clients and our industry.

What personality traits do you think makes a good architect?

There are many different traits that make or point to someone’s suitability to become a good architect. I don’t believe it is an imperative for someone to possess any or all of the traits listed below in order to be successful, but a good mix of them would make a great foundation:

  • being an approachable and caring person
  • a high level of personal integrity
  • an ability to clearly express one’s thoughts
  • freedom of thought and a willingness to entertain other peoples’ ideas
  • an interest in both old and new things
  • a love of pattern making and colour
  • an ability to clear one’s mind of preconceived ideas.

You have over 40 years experience in architecture. Where do you see the next 40 years of architecture in Australia heading?

It is a long time since I graduated in 1967! During this time I have witnessed the almost universal adoption of CAD in architecture, however for me, ‘computer aided design’ is a misnomer. I believe the design process remains a cerebral and intuitive one — not one that can be given over to and processed by a machine!

Perhaps this position will change in the next 40 years.

However, a much more important challenge for architects in the next 40 years will be the design of sustainable living environments for the world’s burgeoning population. Finding a way to break down the large conurbations that have developed so that people can live happily in more remote locations may become one of the greatest challenges for architects.

You’ve described yourself as a ‘big job junkie’. What is it about large projects which makes you so addicted to them?

Big projects have a ‘life’ of their own in which one becomes absorbed. They demand and receive proper management and allocation of resources and thus allow one get on with what you are good at. They tend to run over a long period of time and thus allow a practice to forecast and budget financially for the future with confidence rather than being distracted by short-term money management issues.

Outside of architecture, what are you passionate about?

My lifetime interests remain architecture, cars, family and friends. The priority given by me to these different interests has vacillated over time with the pressure demanded by one meaning sacrifices with others. I confess that it has been the demands of the practice of architecture which I have found easiest to give in to, sometimes to the detriment of what I now realise to be the most important passions in one’s life — my family and my friends. I have learnt that an appropriate life balance makes for the more complete person.