2019 Year in Review
2019 was a momentous year for our practice with many exciting new projects, collaborations and a new office. Here’s a snapshot of the year that was.
Chau Chak Wing Museum
We began working with the University of Sydney to deliver three exhibitions in the new Chau Chak Wing Museum, set to open in 2020. The museum will showcase the University’s rich and diverse collections from the Macleay Museum, Nicholson Museum and University Art Gallery.
Design of gallery spaces offer us an exciting opportunity to participate in storytelling. We look forward to engaging with the ideas and histories behind these significant artefacts from one of Australia’s oldest university collections.
Image © University of Sydney.
Courtyard House
This year saw the completion of our Courtyard House in Sydney’s Western suburbs. A labour of love between our clients, consultants, makers, labourers and us, the project is an ode to its context - one of suburban brick houses and a lush forest of gum trees.
This project is due to be published in Issue 71 of Green Magazine, out January 2020.
The Backhouse
We received DA approval for this delightfully small development in the inner-west suburb of Darlington. Occupying the back of an inner Sydney terrace, the Backhouse is an independent unit accessible through the back lane. This project encapsulates our ongoing interest in building for density in Sydney and to do so in a manner that is precise, affordable, environmentally sensitive and with carefully crafted spaces within.
New Office
In July, we moved into our new HQ at the Joynton Avenue Creative Arts Centre. A former nurses’ quarter, this award-winning building, refurbished by architect Peter Stutchbury in 2017, includes many thoughtful and considered architectural details. We also share this space with other creative practices from the field of arts, graphics, poetry and design providing us with many interesting stairwell conversations.
Matt Nix
Matt Nix joins our team to help deliver high end concepts and graphics across a range of exhibitions for our cultural work. Matt brings with him many years of experience working in the cultural sector, 8 years of which he was a graphic designer at the Art Gallery of NSW. He is the recipient of the gallery scholarship that took him on a global tour to study digital strategies of leading cultural institutions. Matt is also an ace baker, famous for his sourdough loaves.
Facing Equality Campaign
Our director Belqis was featured in the University of NSW’s ‘Facing Equality’ campaign. Her portrait was inaugurated as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations at the university to bring more visibility to “a wide range of alumni role models and thought leaders”. She is humbled to join an inspiring and diverse group of alumni from across the university.
Pictured left to right: Belqis Youssofzay, Annie Tennant, Diane Jones & Natalie Galea. Image courtesy of UNSW.
Engaging Women in the Built Environment
Belqis was invited to speak at the annual Engaging Women in the Built Environment event hosted by the Dean of Built Environment (UNSW) Professor Helen Lochhead. This talk was an opportunity for Belqis to share the story and evolution of her passion for cultural work in architecture and speak about her advocacy for equality, diversity and representation in the field.Through her teaching, writing and practice she his hoping to engage in an alternate architectural discourse as a means to empower and include those who have been left out of the singular story of architecture; women, minorities, migrants and people of colour.
Image courtesy of UNSW.