LIFE IN VENICE

Last Tuesday saw the much anticipated inauguration of the new Australian Pavilion in the Giardini at Venice. This is the first 21st century building to be constructed in the the Giardini and was designed by Melbourne architects Denton Corker Marshall. It is a simple, elegant, supremely confident black box, nestled gently into the landscape at it's approach, cantilevering beautifully over the canal from behind. The importance of Australia now having a permanent pavilion at Venice cannot be underestimated – it will serve as a monument to our increasingly confident contemporary culture but more importantly as a space for Australian artists of all genres to show themselves and their country to the world. The unveiling was presided over by Rupert Myer, Chair of the Australia Council for the Arts, and speeches were made by the project's visionary and fearless leader Simon Mordant, the architect John Denton, Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia, and the sublime Cate Blanchett. A smoking ceremony was offered by indigenous performers which included didgeridoo by William Barton. The pavilion was teaming with Australian artists and supporters as well an many international onlookers, all very apparently pleased what they saw,

The next day marked the official opening of Fiona Hall's epic show. The show is powerful, rich, oozing with messages about our culture today and beautifully put together in collaboration with curator Linda Michael. The reaction so far by collectors and the international art press has been incredible. Well done Fiona! 

Fiona Hall delivers her speech at the opening of her show in Venice

TALES OF THE CITY

As Sydney blew a massive gale last week, I was hunkered down at Mascot airport, waiting for my flight to be cleared for takeoff to San Francisco. Let’s just say i got to know Sydney Airport rather well – and after thirty hours I finally got to SF for what turned out to be a whirlwind visit. I’d been invited by a new client, a 30 year-old venture capitalist with a passion for young startups and a predilection for my kind of architecture. He’s a great guy, someone I know rather well so getting into the swing things was a non-issue. We spent the weekend hanging out at his new digs, getting a real sense of what is still a functioning service garage but will soon enough be a brick and mortar incubator for young talent. And San Francsico, as always, didn’t fail to excite!. The cliché has it that it’s a lot like Sydney, and for its harbour location that’s true. But there’s a genteel grittiness to this West Coast city that I find truly endearing. It palpitates with its Haight-Ashbury hippie past, its 1970s gay activism, the eeriness of its iconic Twin Peaks. But at the same time it is alive with the nervous energy of the nerds, the kids who gather at places like The Battery and spend hours pitching each other – and any entrepreneur who’ll listen – new ideas. The space we’ll be reconfiguring, and where I stayed in SoMa (South of Market street) is a turn-of-the-century red brick block of a building on a street that also houses an art gallery, a commune, an S&M warehouse and a dance academy. Ever niche you can imagine, it’s there, in a state of happy cooexistence. I guess it feels like Surry Hills, 25 years ago. Gee, but it’s great to be back home. At least until I leave for Venice for the Biennale – tomorrow.

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a National Press Club symposium. I’d never been to one of these before, and it was truly awesome. Packed to the rafters, a lot of media, a lot of politicians, many great curators and gallerists including directors of many major public institutions from numerous states. I took Samson and Griffin along – it was a sit down lunch, televised live, the boys behaved perfectly! Simon Mordant, Commissioner of this year’s Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, was very impressive. Clearly a great statesman, Simon did a great job of pulling together the massive amount of work we've doing in the lead up to Venice. He also had the task of overseeing the vernissage of the new Australian Pavilion designed by Denton Corker Marshall, the coordination of the Biennale opening, the seven Australian artists who will be in the main show, the 35 or more other artists who will be in other recognised shows in Venice at that time. In a sense, Simon personifies the importance of private philanthropy for a rich and creative culture – he really brought home, in a major way the message about the importance of the arts in any country. Great stuff. After the lunch, his Commissioner's Council held a private tour of James Turrell show, which is truly fantastic – and it awesome to see it through the innocence of our kids’ eyes, too. We stayed at Hotel Hotel again. It's so cool, but it’s a shame it's in Canberra! We need one in Sydney, tout de suite!

NOT ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

I first saw the Petersen Tegl brickmakers’ spectacular ‘Kolomba’ brick collection when I was studying Peter Zumthor’s museum of that name, on the site of the former Saint Columba church, in Cologne. Like all of Zumthor’s work, there is a deep authenticity about it, in this case the bricks are a contemporary extension to the various brick structures that came before it, their colour speaks to the muted urban fabric of millenia-old Cologne. So when I was in Denmark last month, I decided to pop in meet the man himself, Christian Petersen the seventh generation master brick maker of a company that was founded in...1791!

Wind-weathered (all that sailing), silver-haired, Petersen has clearly lived well. At three years-old his grandfather told him he would run the company one day. At 10 his father said he’d had enough school for “a brick guy", and he began to learn the trade. At 21 he undertook an engineering degree and upon graduating he worked for the Swiss giant Laufen, who made bricks and ceramic products.

After his father’s death in 1961 it was Christian’s turn to step up to the plate. At that time Petersen Tiegl was only making extruded bricks, and it wasn’t long until the young visionary realized that the only way to survive was to move away from what the competition was doing and become super niche, become the world’s specialist in hand-made bricks. When I say hand made, there are different products and many are assisted by machines, but still have a hand component and unquestionably a hand made quality, their form pleasantly irregular, their surfaces flecked, ridged, pocked and varying in colour.

Probably the most outstanding thing about this guy and his philosophy is that nothing is a mistake, authenticity is everything, the ‘error’ becomes the unique quality of the work. It's a very Wabi Sabi approach. For Petersen, quality is paramount and working with top architects to make incredible buildings is critical.

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, business really started booming and they progressed to build their own sales and distribution office – one more thing their competitors did not have. Then came Zumthor and the church in Cologne, the defining moment for the 21st century Petersen bricks.

The church was destroyed in WW2. The earliest relics found on the site date back to 70AD, there are walls of an earlier church dating back to the 7th century, and a Roman cemetery. The church was very rich and ran a design competition to convert the religious building into a museum, to be run administered by the Archdiocese of Cologne. The space created can only be described as grand ethereal – the serene fabric of the bricks, many storeys high, bathed in the soft light carefully controlled by Zumthor through the various penetrations and perforations.

Since then, at Tobias Partners we’ve used these bricks on our project in Bondi (more on that later) and are planning to use them on our religious building in Sydney's East, the Chevra Kaddisha.

Petersen Tiegl, not just another brick in the wall.

ISLAND LIFE

Of all sports, sailing has to be one of my absolute favourites. So when I was invited up to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, I leapt at the chance.

Day 1

Flying in over the Whitsundays is a spectacle in blues and greens and blazing white sand – and the brightly coloured spinnakers of yachts sailing around the islands. I was met at the airport by staff from the Qualia luxury resort, and whisked off to the hotel in an Audi S8 – growl! – to find my bags waiting for me in my pavilion nestled among the trees. The ‘pavilions’ are enormous, but still manage to give a relaxed, laid-back – very Australian – vibe. To have such quality service in the middle of tropical forest, is an incredible experience.

As was having my own Mr Porter buggy to get around in! With time to myself, I went paddle-boarding in the pristine water, looking for whales. Then, after a long bath and grooming I session headed to the Audi/Kylie Kwong dinner at Pebble Beach. Kylie’s food is so perfectly balanced, simple, wholesome and authentic. It’s always a treat.

Day 2

After a relaxed breakfast on the beachfront, it was off on the paddle board once more. Then a quick duck into the Qualia Spa stocked full of my favourite Sodashi products. I really like the Clay Cleanser with Lime and the Calming Skin Boost gel (both smell strangely manly). Then to the Mr Porter x Charles Heidsieck lunch. It was very glam, some 250 people – a mix of locals, yachties, and a lot of Sydney and Melbourne types. I was wedged between Nicky Tindal (Nicky’s grandfather Bob Oatley is the grand patriarch, the owner of Hamilton Island, and of course the maxi yacht Wild Oats XI) and Alison Veness, editor or the Australian edition of 10 magazine – she’s always a pleasure)

After lunch I headed for a quick meditation/re-fuel at the pavilion, then to Pebble Beach for drinks on the sand, then out on Andiamo with drinks, DJ, a select gang. It wasn’t so much ‘gin palace’, more champagne and vodka and a group of the youngest, hippest and most adventurous on the Island – many of whom were finishing a week of Island racing before heading to Burning Man. This boat is built for entertaining – it’s wide, it’s flush from inside to outside, and it’s trimaran hull makes it very stable!

Day 3

Race day! I headed out on Wild Oats XI. What a machine! This is the seven-time winner of the Sydney to Hobart, 100 ft of the highest tech, lightest weight, sailboat ever. It's like a giant sled, so fast! Skippered by legendary captain Mark Richards (who also created and founded Palm Beach Boats. Even Bob Oatley (aka Popeye) was aboard. When it comes to racing no one comes near Wild Oats, it was nearly lonely way out front there! Except for some whales teaching their calves some tricks. The fact the crew were so 'in sync' they were nearly silent added to that wonderful feeling of being alone on the ocean. Bliss.

Upon returning to dock, I headed out for a trail run up to Passage Peak (the highest point on the island, in fact, of the Whitsundays). I meditated on a rock looking over the islands and ran back for some quiet time in the pavilion before heading out for the Net-a-Porter fashion show. It was an incredible set up by The Projects with the catwalk going over the pool, great tunes, blazing beauties, and the clothes were good too! It was overall a pretty social event as you can imagine with a lot of lingering and chatting afterwards.

Thank you so much to Sophie Baker for inviting me, The Oatley Family, Qualia and Hamilton Island for making the stay a real gem. It was amazing to witness the Oatley vision in all its glory, it has to be seen to be believed.

COPENHAGEN DAYS

Copenhagen is a modernist’s delight. Of course, the old town is charming and its origins as a Viking fishing village fascinating, but it’s the 20th century city that I find most compelling. The phenomenal Grundtvig’s Church in the Bispebjerg district is an exceptional example of Neo-Gothic expressionism. Designed by Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint, it was completed in 1940 – and set the tone for Denmark’s mid-century aesthetic. Constructed from yellow brick, it seems to glow in the northern light. Breath-taking.

In fact, most of Copenhagen is built from hand crafted brick (more on my visit to the Pietersen brick works in a later post). And dotted about this pristine city, which like so many of the locals we got around in by bicycle, are streamlined mid-century modernist gems. Arne Jacobsen’s Danish National Bank is a graphic black glass block perched upon a marble platform. It exudes security and protection of assets – it is actually a hollow block, with a lush interior courtyard.

In terms of contemporary architecture, the Opera House is obviously the most spectacular, not least because it is a gift from the A.P. Møller & Chastine McKinney Møller Foundation to the Danish people. Designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen, it’s a behemoth in German marble, capped with a slick curvilinear roof that cantilevers over a canal on which it is apparently meant to seem to float. To my eyes, it looks too heavy, too blockish to do any such thing. Call me jingoistic, but I much prefer another opera house, designed by another Danish architect on the other side of the world. Speaking of which, it was my great Sydney friend Mika Utzon Popov – grandson of Jørn Utzon – who gave us the best tips on visiting his ancestral city.

Like New York, Copenhagen has repurposed its Meatpacking district, converting it into a vibrant complex of restaurants, galleries and nightclubs. Unlike New York’s district which is a series of individual buildings, Copenhagen’s packing industry was centred in one immense market hall and this lend the district an incredible visual coherence. Built in the 1930s, its a low-laying two storey structure with a dramatic saw tooth roof enabling an enfilade of skylights. The buzz is palpable, especially on the terraces in the warm summer evenings. Bio Mio is amazing – you order directly from the open kitchen in the middle of the room. Kobyen’s Fiskebar and Nose To Tail are also awesome.

And then, of course, there’s Royal Copenhagen porcelain – I couldn’t resist a set, perfect to top our rustic dining room table back home.

Danish architect Henning Larsen's Opera House.

Arne Jacobsen's Danish National Bank.

The ex-Meatpacking district is now a vibrant complex of galleries, cafés and top restaurants.

Bio Moi.

Grundtvig’s Church is constructed entirely of hand made bricks.

CUCKOO CLOCKWORK

Zurich exists under a cloud of clichés so thick, from a distance it’s hard to get any real idea of Switzerland’s largest city. But once on the ground, it’s only too apparent that the city chicly nestled on its expansive namesake lake is a hotbed of contemporary culture. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the monolithic Löwenbräu Kunst, a shining example of how a rich, vibrant art community can be encouraged to grow, and a clear indication that Switzerland is about more than just metronomic clockwork.

The converted Löewenbräu brewery has been the go-to art destination since its initial conversion in 1996. But its more recent renovation two years ago, a collaboration between Gigon/Guyer and Aterlier ww has seen the sprawling 1897 building expand upwards with a startling black residence tower – a phoenix, rising in glory from the ashes. It now houses the Kunsthalle Zürich and the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, two of the most important museums for contemporary art in Zurich, as well as an impressive lineup of contemporary galleries including Westbau, Galerie Freymond-Guth  and Hauser & Wirth. At this last, I saw an extraordinarily moving installation of works by Louise Bourgeois, L’araignée et les tapisseries. It was a continuation of her well known Spider series, exploring the spider as a mother figure, carefully and patiently working, waiting and caring. But extended with the introduction of figurative tapestry pieces which, for me introduced a much more haunted aspect. This part of the work appears to be dealing with deep pain and a need to purge and repair.

The architectural excellence of the Löenbrau conversion is indisputable; it’s totally fit for purpose, a best practice case study in adaptive reuse. But what really makes the Löwenbräu Kunst complex shine is the quality of the tenants – ranging from great galleries to interesting shops to creative offices. Clearly, there is a commitment on the part of the developer to not only revive, but to enrich this part of town with an almost ideal mix of businesses. Such visionaries are rare, and to be prized.

PUGLIA RULES OK!

Puglia sits in the high-heeled boot, running right up the Achilles’ tendon of Italy. As a civilization it dates back to the Bronze Age, with signs of Ancient Greece and the Roman expansion all around. The Baroque architecture is stunning in its excellence, but also in its sheer quantity! The drama and the exuberance of the carved stone façades of churches and public buildings is mind-blowing; in the UNESCO listed 18th century port town of Lecce, of course, but also – albeit in more modest manner – in almost any of these Southern Italian towns. I particularly enjoyed discovering the discreet charm of small town Gallipoli. Clearly, Puglia had a rich history, and if today it seems more humble it’s no less spectacular for that fact. In fact, the rustic aspect forms a very large part of its charm. The lay of this rocky, dry land is breathtaking, its myriad tiny ports and private inlets (‘grotti’) sparkle like brilliant jewels – and the beauty of it is that even at this time of the year you get the sense they sparkle just for you. It’s very easy to get away from the maddening crowd, down here. But a buzzy Lido (or beach club) experience is not to be missed – the Italians give good beach. I loved the Beija Flor in Santa Caterina – super chic, teaming with antique aristocratic villas, fantastic food, great music (almost non-stop Dylan, which is kinda crazy when heard interspersed with all these southern Italian dialects!) Puglia is definitely on the cool crowd’s map.

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!

Rome’s Circus Maximus is the perfect venue for the greatest show on earth – the Rolling Stones, larger than life! The Stones are like one giant family who roll together, and this time we rolled with them, black vans dashing from hotels, through barricaded streets, into back entrances and heavily guarded areas well before the ‘concerto’. The guys were surprising chilled, I think they’ve done it before – I was actually the nervous one, the build up was extraordinary! The main men: Keith, relaxed, quiet, but a force. Charlie, light, divine, sharp wit. Ronnie, a legend, the technical whizz, the elf. Mick, absolute focus and other worldly presence.

The set up is huge, technicians, musicians, security, all running everywhere. The stage set, perfect for a venue that is more than half a kilometre long, the band were blown up on huge screens to be 70-80 feet tall….epic!

As for the concert – extraordinary! The sound great, the energy incredible. The Romans had been entering Circus Maximus since about lunch time. The Stones came on at 9.50pm, as scheduled, opening with Jumping Jack Flash a light and pyrotechnics show. Mick was absolutely in control the whole time, so many of those wild gestures signaling tweaks to pace, volume, balance; he’s the conductor, the pied piper and everyone follows. Keith, a true showman positively loves being up there. Ronnie, the glue between all of them, played perfectly. Charlie nails the drums – and looks so smooth. The back-up singers, Lisa and Bernard, holy cow! Tic Tac on the Sax, the bass player used to play for Miles Davis so I’m told. The odd performance by Mick Taylor, still like a Jedi on his Strat.

During Brown Sugar (pre-encore), we were whisked off, back to the vans and out of there with the grande famiglia. What a night. After a few night caps to wind down, it was off to bed. Today we’re back chilling in Puglia.

VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE

The name Rem Koolhaas is on everyone’s lips at this Venice Architecture Biennale. As curator of this massive show he has titled Fundamentals, Rem has declared it has “nothing to do with design” and expressed his wish to disconnect with contemporary architecture altogether, focusing instead on the elements – stairs. ceilings, elevators, doorknobs and toilets – that combine to create buildings.

There’s a visceral sense of a ground swell, of an imminent shift in the way we think about architecture today. But while waiting for the dust to settle, it was great fun looking around this 14th International Architecture Biennale. It’s full of nostalgia for me, since Venice is one of the key cities that formed part of my cultural ‘grand tour’ before setting up my practice in Sydney 15 years ago. (It’s also, incidentally though not negligibly, where I bought my first-ever pair of Prada pants!) It’s also where I’ll return next year, to represent Australia in the Commissioner’s Council for the art biennale.

In the meantime, here are a few highlights from this year’s (no matter how much Rem Koolhaas would like otherwise) Architecture Biennale…

Construction of the Arsenale shipyards began in the 12th century, it’s where the Venetian Republic built up and moored its massive naval fleet.

Modern and Classic: Sven Ferr’s magnificent Nordic pavilion and the Classic Danish pavilion.

Japanese Pavilion. A model of an off form concrete building by Tado Ando – made of off form concrete!

Discussion panel at the Swiss pavilion. (Just in the shade, wearing black-on-black,Jacques Herzog of Herzog  de Meuron.

Kosovo’s dramatic installation made from traditional stools.

LE NOUVEAU CHALET

The Alpine ski chalet is probably one of the most reconizable architectural tropes around. The steep pitch of the roof, the pronounced rafter overhang, the use of insulating massive stone blocks and roughly hewn timber. It’s also one of the most ecologically sound structures: everything is sourced locally – hence the change in material from region to region. Skiing Lech, Zürs and St Anton, I noticed that the traditional genre is being quite skillfully adapted to a more modern aesthetic. A more refined pitch, a more horizontal plan, timber shingles in place of rustic logs. One of the most inspiring of these featured a structural supporting wall extending beyond the plumb line – and filled with logs to be used in the open fireplaces. As the season continues, the log supply would become depleted, creating an ever-evolving sculpture. Those clever Austrians!

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

Skiing in Corvara was absolutely spectacular! Perfect snow conditions and amazing blue skies meant the setting, with those amazing rocky outcrops of the Dolomites, was truly breathtaking. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and quite rightly so – there’s nowhere else like it, in the world. Being on the border of Italy and Austria, it’s got this cross-cultural groove going on – the locals speak a language called Ladin, a kind of dialect of Italian and the Tyrol, and the food is also a bit of a mix (though luckily veers more to the Italian than the Austrian.) Corvara is part of a group of villages which are all around the base of this part of the mighty Dolomites. They’re connected by road but if you get a Dolomite Superski pass to ski all areas connected by the Sellaronda (linked runs and lifts on top of the mountains) it means the skiing is nearly endless!

HALL OF FAME

The announcement that Fiona Hall is to represent Australia a the 2015 Venice Biennale is great news indeed! A seasoned artist, and an excellent sculptor, Hall has the gravItas we need to make a robust impression on this most prestigious of international art stage. There’s a certain Australian-ness to Hall’s work – which nonetheless sidesteps jingoism or cringe. I love the way she transforms the everyday, making ordinary things express extraordinarily supple ideas about consumerism, colonialism and the global condition. The show will be curated by Linda Michael of Heidi Museum of Modern Art in Victoria. And it will be the first to take place in the new Australian pavilion at the Giardini, designed by Denton Corker Marshall. Me? I’m a member of the Commissioner’s Council, active in an ambassadorial, strategic and support role. Venice 2015 – bring it on!

HOTEL, MOTEL, HOLIDAY INN…

I am really excited to be among the jury of world travelers to elect Wallpaper* magazine’s Best Urban Hotels 2013 list. The jurors – including Gordon Vene Klasen, director of Werner Gallery (New York), Cynthia Chua, the founder of Esprit Group (Singapore), Thornsten Schmidt, chef and owner of Aarhus (Copenhagen), Guglielmo Miani, president and CEO of Larusmiani (Milan) – have clocked up thousands of air miles and stayed in dozens of top-notch hosteleries in a variety of countries around the globe. We’re meant to represent the discerning traveler, the one who wants a real experience in a fabulous setting that somehow represents something special about the culture we are visiting. The days of the mammoth brand, mono-cultured chain hotels are over! At the same time, we want efficiency and ease – WiFi and a house spa are no longer optional extras, they’re a must. The shortlist is out now, and it includes some tried and true favourites – the Palazzo Gritti in Venice, the Shangrila in Mumbai, the Copacabana Palace in Rio… – but also some nice surprises like the Hotel de Nell in Paris, the Park Royal on Pickering in Singapore and London’s Café Royal. Sadly, only one Sydney hotel made the grade; the QT Hotel, on Market Street. Surprisingly, a hotel that doesn’t rest on the laurels of a harbour view. Worth thinking about, Sydney!