JOURNAL/ Media

Former Bates Smart Chairman Roger Poole discusses Bates Smart McCutcheon's prolific contribution to the new genre of curtain-walled office buildings, he is joined by writers and academics including Conrad Hamann and Philip Goad. Watch the video here

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Why did you write the book?

I was a young journalist in 1989 when I entered the world of place making in cities as a heritage activist. Elected to the Adelaide City Council and soon becoming Deputy Lord Mayor I was made to feeI I had trespassed into men’s business. Later Wakefield Press encouraged me to write my story about the battles to conserve the colonial heritage of inner city Adelaide.

Looking back over two decades working as a policy maker and place maker, I was aware that the stories of women’s contribution to making great places in our cities were interesting and had not been told. I had the idea that by telling women’s stories of place making in Australian cities, I could show the influence and impact women can have in the future in a more equal sharing of the design of places in our cities.Why do you think it is important women have equal influence as shapers of our cities?
Urbanists speak of female-friendly cities, recognizing that if cities work for women they work for everybody. Women as nurturers will innately design places that are not hostile to women and children. Women are good listeners and to meet a community brief is to hear what the community is truly asking for. Women are good mediators in contested environments — they start with sorting family issues and bring this skill to other contested arenas.

How do you think urban life would be different if women played a greater role in city design?
Our cities would become kinder places. The idea behind this statement is to create, through sensitive design, the comfort and shelter of home in the public places of our cities — places that offer balance between the made and the natural world. As decision-makers, so many women have been behind the making or renewal of wonderful public places and not afraid to question design that seems insensitive to community life. Women as nurturers take a long view, acting as intergenerational custodians for their children, tomorrow’s children, and they care what happens to strangers. The glass ceiling on architecture traditionally led to more women designers choosing landscape architecture and urban design as a profession. Through this women bring a holistic focus, designing public space to create a sense of ‘House and Garden’ to make comfortable, delightful gathering places in the city.

What more can be done by industry and government to help women achieve an equal voice in the making of our cities?
There needs to be affirmative action. As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said of why he appointed a 50 / 50 gender balanced cabinet - it’s 2016 and women need to be equal in every sphere of life. Work structures remain geared towards men being at work and women being a primary carer. That’s still seen as normal though it’s changing.

Systems need to shift so that in the intensive early child-rearing years women and men can shift gear for a period, but come back to leadership roles. The rhythm of women’s careers should be recognized and accommodated through designing ways to work. Men stepping up and changing that pattern and sharing more equally with architect wives is one practical solution, given that many architects partner with architects. Equal recognition for women for their contribution is another. Women architects need to remember what the late Zaha Hadid said: “I am sure that as a woman I can do a very good skyscraper.”

What interesting things happened along the way?
As I shared what I was doing there was quite a bit of push back from male architect friends who couldn’t see that women had been left out, and who also questioned what difference it would make. However I always found when I talked with women architects there was huge enthusiasm, and they would tell me another story about a woman who had done something significant that was not well known.

I discovered most people are interested in how cities take shape, and that people outside the design profession found the idea that we occupy cities designed largely by men a fascinating observation and interesting to consider how a gender shift in that would change things.

More information on Places Women Make by Jane Jose

Clare Kennedy writes features on architecture, books and design for various newspapers and magazines. She has a special interest in the impact of design on human behaviour.

Joachim commented:

"The opportunity for us as designers with regards to robotics - lies within the processes of Mass Customization and design to fabrication. The adoption of digital fabrication in the creative industries continues to accelerate as the potential for innovation and creative expression using robotics is harnessed."

The team at Bates Smart is very interested in extending the spectrum of architectural services - offering a continued role following the design process – leading into a production process. We are currently part of a design to fabrication process as part of the Collins House project. The project relies heavily on prefabrication strategy and we are able to be part of that process using our BIM capabilities.

Image by 'Stressed Skins', Bespoke Geometry