Kieran Wong’s
interview
with Alan Ricks is full of the sort of sharp observations that make you want to pull out a journal and write them down for later. Ricks is a Founding Principal at Boston-based MASS Design Group, a not-for-profit architectural studio with a radical approach to practice and projects.
The interview is the first in a
series
curated in lieu of the 2020 National Architecture Conference.
We did a study of how others were doing socially impactful work, and we tried to figure out how to hack the system.
‘We believe that architectural wit and intelligence, agility and diligence, cheekiness and humour, restraint and flamboyance, ethics and goodwill can all be deployed to maximize advantage… we wanted to explore the untapped opportunities for impact and to examine how practices are already finding ways to create progressive change well beyond the convention of our discipline.’
In the latest edition of
Architecture AU
, Emma Williamson, Kieran Wong Maryam Gusheh and Justine Clark launch a series of discussions on the idea of ‘leverage’. These discussions are in lieu of the face-to-face interviews they had planned as creative directors of the 2020 National Architecture Conference.
Justine Clark, Maryam Gusheh, Emma Williamson and Kieran Wong will be creative directors of the 2020 National Architecture Conference that will take “Leverage” as its theme.
“The role of the architect and architectural knowledge in contemporary society is shifting from a service provider to new roles that have the potential for transformative influence,” said creative directors Justine Clark, Maryam Gusheh, Emma Williamson and Kieran Wong. “This fluidity is hallmark of contemporary culture as rigid boundaries are increasingly blurred and challenged. Architecture appears uniquely positioned to extend its reach and amplify its impact. This is the ripple effect, the ability for architectural thinking to leverage positive change.
Where do we find our leverage, as individuals, as practices or organisations, as a profession? How can we exploit our contemporary professional circumstance, training and knowledge to instigate positive change well beyond our disciplinary remit? How can architectural wit and intelligence, agility and diligence, cheekiness and humour, restraint and flamboyance, ethics and goodwill maximise (social, environmental, economic) impact and advantage? How can we play with and agitate the rules to sustain our culture while we embrace new associations? What are the levers, large and small, at our disposal? How do we find them and how far do they need to be moved to make a difference?”
The conference will be organized around four streams: Policy and Politics (leverage through advice, strategy and negotiation), People and Partnerships (leverage through discourse, argument and education), Practice and Projects (leverage trough speculation, process and production), Publishing and Polemics (leverage through discourse, argument and education).
The creative team represents “intersecting fields of research, advocacy, agency, practice, production and teaching.”
Justine Clark is former editor of Architecture Australia and co-founder and director of Parlour: Women, Equity, Architecture. Maryam Gusheh is associate professor and deputy director of architecture at Monash University. Emma Williamson and Kieran Wong cofounded The Fulcrum Agency in 2018. The pair were previously directors of Cox Architecture and CODA Studio. Williamson is currently chair of the Design Advisory Committee for the City of Canning in Perth. Wong is also immediate past national president of the Association of Consulting Architects.
The 2020 National Architecture Conference will take place in Perth from 7 to 9 May 2020.
* This article was first published in ArchitectureAU on 2 July 2019.
We’re thrilled to announce that our two Principals, Emma Williamson and Kieran Wong, along with academics, activists and writers, Justine Clark and Maryam Gusheh, have been appointed as the Creative Team behind next year’s AIA National Architecture Conference!
We hope you’ll join us in Perth next year for LEVERAGE.
