streetchat

In Profile

An Interview with our Founding Directors

A special interview with Darrel Conybeare and Bill Morrison about the beginnings of Street Furniture Australia. Image: Classic Plaza Seat, first designed in 1974. Darrel Conybeare – Founding Director Can you tell us a bit about your background? I graduated in architecture with first Class Honours and the University Medal at the University of Sydney in 1962. I then went on to gain Masters degrees in Architecture and City Planning in the Civic Design Program at the University of Pennsylvania. I’ve worked in American architectural practices Wallace McHarg, Roberts & Todd, a local government planning department as Marin County Urban Designer and in the office of Ray & Charles Eames as the Project Design Director of the National Fisheries Centre and in the Australian architectural practices McConnel Smith & Johnson, Collard …

  • 4 apr 2012
  • 0
read more

In Profile: Ari Anderson

Ari Anderson is the director of Insite Land Solutions. Insite consults to architectural, landscape architectural and heritage practices, municipal authorities, property developers, community organisations and private residential and commercial clients. Anderson is also on the Steering Committee of the Park to Pacific project. Can you tell us about yourself. What are your interests? Born and bred in Bondi. Always loved the surf and always loved pens and paper. I was a bit obsessed with geometry from a young age and remember doing lots of drawings with compasses from the age of 8 or 9. I got so involved in my drawings that I once called my high school art teacher ‘Mum’ in class. I thought that the patterns created by a harmonograph that I saw in Canberra in the early …

  • 9 feb 2015
  • 0
read more

In Profile: Benjamin Driver

In a new Q&A series with Australia’s pre-eminent designers for the public domain, StreetChat interviews Benjamin Driver of Hill Thalis. Tell us about yourself. What are some of your interests? I’m a Sydney boy, born and bred. I’ve always had a connection to both the natural and man-made world – textures, leaves, stones, trees, as well as creatures. I’m an avid gardener and will always find myself at home outside collecting, observing and absorbing how things function. Although I have a Masters degree in Architecture, I most often describe myself to people as being an ‘urbanist’ – having a keen interest in how cities grow, function and provide for us all. From the macro set-out and alignments of city structure to the quality and pattern of the paving on a …

  • 26 mar 2015
  • 0
read more

In Profile: Blake Farmar-Bowers

Street Furniture Australia chats to Blake Farmar-Bowers, landscape architect and Associate at ASPECT Studios in Melbourne. Tell us about yourself. What led you to pursue landscape architecture? In searching through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre guide as a high school student, RMIT’s Landscape Architecture course was the only course that clearly stood out. Fortunately for me, intake was via interview so I strove to learn as much as I could about landscape architecture. As a year 12 student I attended ‘The Culture of Landscape Architecture: Edge Too’ Student Conference held in Melbourne in 1992, which became the start of my landscape architectural education. I realised here that landscape architecture was a young, energetic and exciting profession to become a part of. In hindsight, this career path isn’t such a surprise, …

  • 17 aug 2015
  • 0
read more

In Profile: Damian Schultz

Street Furniture Australia chats to Damian Schultz, co-director at landscape and urban design firm Taylor Cullity Lethlean (T.C.L.) in Adelaide.  Tell us about your path to becoming a landscape architect. I was very fortunate at the young age of around 12 years old to realise my passion for the built environment and design. I focused my school studies in art, design, physics, geography, woodwork, metalwork, plastics, agriculture and technical drawing, as well as maths and English, to prepare myself for a career path in architecture, landscape architecture, graphic or industrial design. Any part-time work I undertook was also related, working in hardware stores, paint shops or labouring (paving, landscaping or painting) to develop such skills I deemed appropriate. I was privileged to enrol in Architectural Studies at university and then …

  • 14 sep 2015
  • 0
read more

In Profile: Nathalie Ward

Nathalie Ward, director of Brisbane’s Lat27, shares with StreetChat her love of the craft, working locally and abroad, and creating a new home for the Ekka. Tell us about yourself. Why did you pursue landscape architecture? Four colleagues and I established Lat27 five years ago, looking to create a practice focused on contextually based design; hence our name. Over the past 20-plus years I have lived and worked in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia and am passionate about the role that design can play in revealing the story of a place and in creating places that are environmentally responsible and inspire people. Landscape architecture is deeply ingrained in my family. My great-grandfather and grandfather were both garden designers and artists, my father was a landscape architect, as is my brother. My earliest memories include nature walks …

  • 25 oct 2015
  • 0
read more

load more