Hearing Architecture

By: The Australian Institute of Architects
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  • Summary

  • Hearing Architecture is a podcast featuring professionals from within the built environment, sharing what they do, and why it's important. In this podcast, we'll be interviewing architects, builders, and designers from around Australia who will tell us about the work they are doing to improve our cities and neighbourhoods.
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Episodes
  • Maarten Gielen - There's a Void Somewhere Else

    Maarten Gielen - There's a Void Somewhere Else
    Sep 25 2024
    The Hearing Architecture podcast, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, presents Again and Again and Again, a mini-series hosted by Hilary Duff. Each week we bring you interviews and conversations as we seek better ways to understand, harness and deploy the expertise and knowledge of professionals currently within the design community, at home and abroad. Our guests are all experts on circularity within the building industry and share the aim to display that waste is not an accident, but the consequence of decisions made at the design stage. Here is our opportunity. We as designers have an opportunity to do better. In this episode I speak with Maarten Gielen. Martin is an award-winning, Brussels based designer, researcher, professor, and leading practitioner changing the way materials are used in architecture, construction, and engineering. His curated exhibitions, including the 2010 Belgian pavilion of the Venice biennale, the groundbreaking 'Progress' with Rem Koolhaus (2011) and 'Behind the Green Door' for the Oslo Architecture Triennale (2013), underscore his ability to provoke critical dialogue and inspire change within the industry. Maarten, along with Tristan Boniver and Lionel Devlieger, co-founded Rotor in 2006—a collaborative design practice with a specific focus on material flows. Originally conceived as a private yet 'activist' studio aimed at influencing policy and driving change in Brussels' material economy, Rotor has since expanded its impact through various publications, exhibitions, and lectures, contributing significantly to the broader industry. In 2014, Maarten co-initiated commercial spin-off: Rotor Deconstruction, which dismantles, salvages, and sells reused building materials. Here he acted as director, growing the company to around 25 employees, until late 2023 when he shifted his focus to new projects and processes. His latest initiative, 'Halfwerk,' explores the potential for reusing sheet metal and other materials, challenging traditional notions of waste and promoting local value chains. Maarten's expertise extends far beyond mere practical considerations. He approaches architectural sustainability from a holistic perspective, examining entire systems and supply chains to understand the broader implications of construction materials. He asks us to consider construction material as an object, with the same rigor in which we should consider the void in the landscape from which materials are extracted. To consider the transportation, the storing, the fixing, and the materials at the end of its first considered life. He suggests that construction materials are cultural products whose value extends far beyond the technical. At the heart of Maarten's work lies a deep interest in reimagining the organization of the built environment. His concern regarding the tremendous quantity of materials we barely use and quickly waste has led to his determination to challenge the status quo and adapt the conventional business model to facilitate material salvage, waste reduction, and the establishment of a circular economy. Through our conversation, we explore pressing questions surrounding the infrastructure and actions needed to prioritize reuse as a viable alternative to virgin materials and we query what kind of industry we need to build to allow architects to specify second hand materials with the same ease as new materials. This has been Again&Again&Again, a mini-series of Hearing Architecture, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, made possible with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation This episode was recorded during a period of residency with the SIM Icelandic Arts Association in Reykjavik. Thank you so much for listening and thank you to our international guest Maarten Gielen of Halfwerk. Thank you for sharing your proposals relating to the new economic models in the material flow register of the building sector and to helping us consider the city as resource. Let’s watch this space and we look forward to speaking with you again in the future. Our sponsor Brickworks also produces architecture podcasts hosted by Tim Ross. You can find ‘The Art of Living’, ‘Architects Abroad, and ‘The Power of Two’, at brickworks.com.au or your favourite podcast platform. If you’d like to show your support please rate, review, and subscribe to Hearing Architecture in your favourite podcast app. If you want to know more about what the Australian Institute of Architects is doing to support architects and the community please visit architecture.com.au This is a production by the Australian Institute of Architects Emerging Architects and Graduates Network, in collaboration with Open Creative Studio. The miniseries Again&Again&Again is proudly supported by the Alstair Swayne Foundation. The Institute production team was Madelynn Jenkins, and Claudia McCarthy, and the EmAGN production team was Daniel Moore. This content is brought to you by the Australian Institute of Architects ...
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Daniel Bell - Materials are Heavy, Ideas are Light

    Daniel Bell - Materials are Heavy, Ideas are Light
    Sep 18 2024
    The Hearing Architecture podcast, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, presents Again and Again and Again, a mini-series hosted by Hilary Duff. Each week we bring you interviews and conversations as we seek better ways to understand, harness and deploy the expertise and knowledge of professionals currently within the design community, at home and abroad. Our guests are all experts on circularity within the building industry and share the aim to display that waste is not an accident, but the consequence of decisions made at the design stage. Here is our opportunity. We as designers have an opportunity to do better. In this episode I meet with Daniel Bell of Atelier Luma, based in the Camargue region in the South of France. Daniel graduated as an architect from the Glasgow Mackintosh School of Architecture and has since practiced as an Architect in France, Ireland, and the UK. Since 2018 he has worked at Atelier LUMA; a design and research lab located in Arles. His role here is a slight deviation to the traditional role of an architect, yet he is often working with built space and materials. At Atelier Luma he has joined a team of designers, engineers, scientists, and experts from the fields of culture, craftsmanship, humanities, and social sciences and innovation, to explore the potential of non-extractivist, and often discredited, local materials. Their research subjects vary across areas including invasive plants, agricultural coproducts, algae, and industrial waste. Each project has a hyper local focus. I visited Atelier Luma back in June 2023 shortly following the opening of their new headquarters: Lot 8. Sited within a heritage park of 27 hectares, Lot 8 sits within a campus collection of architectures, with neighbours such as Frank Gehry and Annabelle Selldorf, and a series of historic railway industrial buildings dating from the 19th century. The site is now inhabited by functions including a modern art gallery, and a series of exhibition spaces. The Atelier adds a new function to the park; a semi-public and most fascinating research hub of bioregional design, operating out of a building or rather, one large prototype of what the Atelier researches and investigates. In Spring 2023, Lot 8 opened as a result of a three-year large-scale, experimental building project, designed to serve as a pilot program in the field of renovation. Designed by and for Atelier LUMA, it is the teams’ workplace. A research and prototyping space that consists of a biolab, wood, ceramics, textile and research workshops, office spaces, a dye house, a material testing lab, and a functional plant garden. Le Magasin Électrique is built and equipped with the results of Atelier LUMA’s research, in collaboration with BC architects & studies and Assemble, London. From the coating of the façade to the crystal salt door handles. Structural elements such as walls and partitions were produced from waste earth and minerals, and agricultural coproducts. The acoustics and the finishing of the interiors were done with panels of sunflower fibres, rice straw, and soil from the bioregion. The terrazzo floor, bathroom tiles, stains, door handles, and light fixtures are the result of years of research into algae, salt, bioplastics, earth, and enamels in collaboration with local partners. In the following interview, Daniel and I discuss how the building was conceived as a pilot project for an architectural process celebrating craftmanship, collective experimentation, site specificity and the development of biomaterials. In this case the process is anchored in the Arles or Camargue bioregion and the designers tapped into a network of local and international expertise, in order to share acquired knowledge. We discuss the need to move from a globalised, extractive supply chain, towards regional ecosystems of materials that help regenerate the environment. How it is imperative for designers to question the way materials can be assembled, reassembled, or reconfigured to contribute to its adaptation to changing environmental and social conditions. It was wonderful to see a project where the design team identified opportunities, possibilities, and poetics, over waste. This has been Again&Again&Again, a mini-series of Hearing Architecture, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, made possible with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. This episode was recorded during a period of residency with the Danish Arts Association in Copenhagen. Thank you so much for listening and thank you to our international guest Daniel Bell of Atelier Luma. Thank you for exemplifying how through investigating the resources and know-how in our bioregion, and connecting different fields of expertise, we can develop local solutions for ecological, economic, and social transition. Let’s watch this space and we look forward to speaking with you again in the future. Our sponsor Brickworks also produces architecture podcasts hosted by Tim Ross. You can find ‘The Art...
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Nicolas Coeckelberghs - From Earth to Architecture

    Nicolas Coeckelberghs - From Earth to Architecture
    Sep 11 2024
    The Hearing Architecture podcast, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, presents Again and Again and Again, a mini-series hosted by Hilary Duff. Each week we bring you interviews and conversations as we seek better ways to understand, harness and deploy the expertise and knowledge of professionals currently within the design community, at home and abroad. Our guests are all experts on circularity within the building industry and share the aim to display that waste is not an accident, but the consequence of decisions made at the design stage. Here is our opportunity. We as designers have an opportunity to do better. Until recently, earthen construction methods were widespread globally, but in the 19th century industrial bricks and concrete revolutionized the construction landscape. This shift ushered in a new era where traditional earth building materials were supplanted by industrial alternatives, leading to a surge in housing production and widespread access to quality shelter. However, industrialization also brought drawbacks such as excessive material usage, pollution, and rising greenhouse gas emissions, particularly noticeable from the 1960s onward. Today, the construction sector bears a heavy environmental burden, contributing significantly to CO₂ emissions, raw material consumption, air pollution, and waste generation. Nonetheless, there is vast potential for the industry to operate more sustainably by incorporating proven materials from our past. Joining us in this episode is Nicholas Coeckelberghs of BC architects, Brussels, an architect dedicated to implementing these changes. Nicholas is an architect and co-founder of hybrid practice, designing and undertaking "acts of building" towards systemic change in the construction sector. BC stands for Brussels Cooperation and points to how BC grew - embedded within place and people. They operate through 3 legal entities registered in Belgium; BC architects (a design studio), BC studies (a non-profit education laboratory), and BC materials (a material production cooperative). BC strive for bioregional, low-tech, circular, beautiful, and inclusive design. They work with their minds and hands, undertaking activities such as community organisation, material production, contracting, teaching, and prototyping. I was lucky enough to visit the workshop back in June 2023. I turned up with my audio interview equipment but somehow ended up elbow-deep in clay and aggregate joining one of the team’s iconic earth construction workshops. This is an example of the enthusiasm and out-of-the-box thinking of the BC crew. Nicholas and I spoke about how the kind of change that is needed to the construction industry is a cultural one. And how transition needs to be learned as a practice. BC has identified that it takes time for construction communities to imbibe certain kinds of knowledge — knowledge more often accrued through learning by doing, and by collaborating. A kind of knowledge that arises from an act of ‘getting close’ to a material or a method, through processes of trial and error. BC Materials is not a normal material production company The studio and workshop operate on a Brussels wasteland in a fully demountable and circular production hall, which can be transported to other locations in the Brussels region. It is governed as a cooperative of workers and other interested parties, reflecting its aim to achieve broad and lasting impact in the construction sector. They do this by building a community and creating capacity around earth construction, and one which does not aim for the fastest possible sale of building materials or for the highest possible profit margins. BC negotiates the balance between a commercial activity and a societal mission and aims to show, and to implement, strategies for a proper transitioning of our construction sector to a culture of local, circular, almost CO2-neutral construction in between craftsmanship and industry. I eventually got around to dusting off and recording with Nicholas. This has been Again&Again&Again, a mini-series of Hearing Architecture, proudly sponsored by Brickworks, and made possible with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. This episode was recorded during a period of residency with the Danish Arts Association, in Copenhagen. Thank you so much for listening and thank you to our international guests Nicholas Coeckelberghs of BC architects and studies. Thank you for your expertise in materials, insights in sustainable and circular building and intensive fieldwork. Thank you for acting on behalf of the generations after us and for encouraging us to quite literally, get our hands dirty with materials around us. Let’s watch this space and we look forward to speaking with you again in the future. Our sponsor Brickworks also produces architecture podcasts hosted by Tim Ross. You can find ‘The Art of Living’, ‘Architects Abroad, and ‘The Power of Two’, at brickworks.com.au or your ...
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    1 hr and 1 min

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