This final week of the lecture series, Anthony Gill, of Anthony Gill Architects spoke to us about his practice as a designer, about some of his projects including restraints Berta, Vine and his home in Sydney. This lecture was particular interesting because it discussed ideas that are not brought in other aspects of the course, such as working with real money, time and council restrictions that can affect the design.
The first project he talked about was a restaurant in the city called Berta. The location of this project was on the bottom level of a re-developed warehouse and is on a quite, abandon laneway in Elizabeth Street and Liverpool Street. The client had more money than the above project and wanted to create an open feel for the restaurant and incorporate the laneway witch was previously not engaged with and the city of Sydney recognized it needed to be rejuvenated. One of the challenges was that with this space was it had a 15-meter narrow entranceway witch made it an awkward space for function – which a restaurant so heavily relies on. However this was used as a transition space between inside and outside.
Anthony Gill used strategic shelving that was used as a divider between the kitchen and dining area but also used for storage for wine and other objects that needed to be displayed but also stored. This allowed for them to be accessed from both sides, by waiters in the dining areas and my chefs in the kitchen. These shelves allowed transparency to be created throughout the space, but still create separate spaces, and its allows for people to see through the separated areas. This was an important aspect in the design as it allowed customers to be aware of the kitchen and that there food being freshly prepared. And creates a theatre in the ritual of dining. Another element of transparency that was created was that wire mesh was used as a way of separating and dividing the space into usable areas and created a ‘working wall’.
The building creates a series of unforseen changes through the rear windows that open the building up to look at the dilapidated view of the street frames by the windows. The council restrictions came into the design, as originally Anthony wanted to open up the restaurant into the street as outdoor seating, however the council would not allow this (although he told us the council had reviewed the site and was inconsideration to be open for the restaurants use). By the addition of the two oversized windows he felt bright as much of the outside, inside as possible.
The final project he talked about was his own home in the Harry Sidler building in Pots Point, Sydney. This design came about when he and his wife decided they needed more space, yet wanted to keep there apartment. His apartment was a small space, yet through using design well he was able to create enough space for his family. The space he created was through joinery, similar to Berta. Essentially what we wanted to create for the space was more privacy, more light and more storage.
Through the use of book shelves he was able to divide the apartment into different areas, such as the kitchen and living room – yet the light would still be able to come through, and the book shelves were open cubes, again with the idea of the working wall that could be accessed from both sides. The bookshelves could run along a wall and turn from storing book, to plates and then into a pantry without allowing maximum use form the space with out separate bookshelves, which would create empty unusable spaces in-between. Budget was a factor in redesigning this space as the family were not interested in living her long term, but only saw they had a few more years in the apartment. Plywood was used because it was strong, cheap and also gave warmth in the wood texture, which broke up the geometric cubes of the bookshelves. Plywood allowed Anthony to do much of the construction himself as well and he beloved the designs needs were more important than the surface – space before surface. Another space saving section of the design was by the addition of the bed in the living room, which could be rolled into the wall under the stairs when they family were entertaining. His daughter’s bedroom upstairs also used these space saving principals. His daughters bed was build from a plywood construction which had the option of adding another plywood board into it to create a standard height desk turning to bedroom into a study for when they came to sell the apartment.
Anthony Gills designs where thought provoking and made be think how simplistic and functional design were a successful resolution for the problems that make people redesign in the first place. The lecture made be think about budget, faction and the real problems that can be solved. By thinking about materials I can think of ways that storage and simple elements can become part of the buildings construction and allow the users to make the most of a small space.
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