1990 - 1999

Proposed Melbourne Institute Contempory Art

THE NINETIES
Not long after the fall of the Berlin wall we saw the reunification of Germany and the establishment of the European Union, the Twin towers New York suffer there first Bombing and Sydney hosts the summer Olympics. Technologically we see a commercial start to the World Wide Web, email, mobile phones and texting. Steve Jobs returns to Apple. Architectural software becomes more sophisticated with early parametric platforms becoming available creating a fundamental shift in the delivery of design. At home we have Jeff Kennett elected as Premier of Victoria, with that we see the relaxation of trading hours, licencing laws, the introduction of Post Code 3000 and the Good design guide. Major projects are announced for a Casino, new Exhibition building ,Museum and the demolition of the Gas and Fuel towers and there redevelopment into Federation Square. Fosters Hong Kong Shanghai bank and Gehry's large scale projects are notable from this period. Nationwide architectural practices emerge with early forays into Asia for Cox, DCM and others.

I arrived in Melbourne at interesting times, the previous salary in pounds was now in Australian Dollars and there was little or no work around. I had several irons in the fire. I took a leap of faith and worked with Edmond Corrigan, to work on RMIT Building 8. It was a good choice and introduced me the new Melbourne critical thinking architects. Through this I was introduced to the Half Time Club which was, forging an alternative Melbourne. This decade saw me working with ARM, Katsalidis Architects, Spowers and NFK. there was a brief stint with Merchant Pacific, developers.It was a time of exceptional projects, many of them ground breaking and award winning. During this period I ran a unit at RMIT, tutorials at Melbourne University and was a visiting critic at both and the University of Canberra. During my tenure Katsilidis was shortlisted for the Melbourne Museum, Spowers for the International Wagga Wagga Civic Centre and NFK won the Circular Quay Competition. This was an intellectually invigorating period. It was for me a period that started with a beach house and RMIT Storey Hall and finished with Eureka and World Square in Sydney.