The culture of living closer together

in Print

#4: The Architecture of Wellbeing

Space – built, social or symbolic – is fundamental to our psychological, physical and ecological wellbeing. How and where do we find this space? Issue #4 collects inspiring people and projects who encourage interconnectedness with the world around, during our era of high-speed globalisation.

Made in Metropolis

Loose Leaf: adapt and evolve

Nestled in the backstreets of Collingwood is Loose Leaf, a one-of-a-kind space dedicated to flora. Owners Charlie Lawler and Wona Bae take inspiration from permaculture and continue to evolve their business accordingly. A serene escape from the grey surrounds of the wintery city, Anna Hickey speaks to Charlie, one half of Loose Leaf.

Made in Metropolis

Self-made: Arts Project Australia

Since 1974, not-for-profit organisation Arts Project Australia (APA) has been championing the talents and wellbeing of artists with an intellectual disability through its open philosophy of agency, freedom and collaboration through art. On a wintery Thursday, Grace McQuilten visited our Northcote neighbours at Arts Project HQ to speak with Executive Director, Sue Roff.

Utilitarian You

Swarm Traps: The Hive Mind

Australia is currently experiencing a golden age of backyard beekeeping. This is, arguably, one of the last golden ages of European honey bee (Apis mellifera) honey production – anywhere in the world. Nic Dowse of Honey Fingers, takes us through the importance of caring for our bee populations, the basics of backyard beekeeping, and how to build your own swarm trap.

This Vertical Life

The Commons: Raise the Roof

Designed by Brunswick-based Breathe Architecture, The Commons is a considered alternative to the rapid-fire inner city multi-residential developments of the 1990s and early 2000s. Environmental and social sustainability is at the core of The Commons’ architecture, so much so that Breathe’s Jeremy McLeod has moved not only his practice, but his family, into the building.

Environment

Pasona: Plant Life

In Tokyo’s downtown business district of Nihombashi, the Pasona HQ building's exterior and interior hosts more than 200 varieties of plants. In addition to enhancing the working environment for the company's employees through the inclusion of decorative and edible greenery, the building’s built-in urban farm marries conventional and progressive approaches to agriculture.

Less is More

Sawmill House

Balanced along the edge of a former gold mine quarry in Yackandandah, Victoria, Sawmill House is a poetic example of young Melbourne and Hobart-based studio Archier’s belief in open, culturally responsive design. Sawmill explores the adaptable reuse of a major by-product of the building industry – the thousands of tonnes of waste concrete that goes into landfill each year.

Assemblage

Otherworldly Architecture: AL_A

Melbourne will play host to its own AL_A project over summer: the 2015 MPavilion, the second temporary architectural structure in the Naomi Milgrom Foundation’s series to grace the Queen Victoria Gardens. Rain or shine, Maitiú Ward finds the prospect of an open air AL_A MPavilion an intriguing one.

Blueprint City

Last stone left: wellbeing and Aboriginal placemaking in the city

Melbourne is home to the Wurundjeri and Boonerwrung peoples of the Kulin nation, who have cared for this landscape for thousands of years. Timmah Ball reflects on cities as sites of cultural significance, in which contemporary and traditional Aboriginal knowledge combine to promote space for greater wellbeing, revealing the underlying ecology of our city.

Living not Decorating

Jane: house in the clouds

Jane Caught is an architect and co-founder of multi-disciplinary collective, SIBLING. Recently, SIBLING relocated its Melbourne studio to Curtin House, a short stroll from Jane’s rented apartment in the Jackson Clements Burrows-designed, and Piccolo-developed, Upper House. Tom Ross visits Jane at her 75m2 apartment on the 14th floor, before the SIBLING workday begins.

Assemblage

Social Structures: Takaharu Tezuka

“Architecture is consciously made to support those cultural activities and social structures that are unique to human beings... it may be described as the nexus for all human activities.” Takaharu Tezuka speaks with Maitiú Ward about the enduring influence of Richard Rogers and the importance of the humble roof as a social structure in the work of Tezuka Architects.

Blueprint City

De Ceuvel: from concept to community

In Amsterdam, second-hand houseboats are practically free – no one wants them. Katherine Sundermann speaks to space&matter’s Sascha Glasl, whose collaborative De Ceuvel project has transformed a former shipyard in Amsterdam’s north into a sustainable cultural community.

Assemblage

Hawapi: Outside in the Anthropocene

HAWAPI is a site-specific art residency held in a different location in Peru each year: from post-earthquake Pisco to the remote Pariacaca, a tropical glacier above Lima. In the lead up to this year’s edition, Eugenia Lim asked festival director Maxim Holland about HAWAPI’s philosophy of art with purpose and poignancy.