Talking Architecture & Design

Jean Graham is an architect, Founding Director of Winter Architecture, a collaborative architecture practice located in Fitzroy and Torquay in Victoria that has won quite a few awards in its relatively short existence. 

Jean is also the winner of the Emerging Architect of the Year at the 2018 Sustainability Awards.

In this Shortcast, she talks about how designing for longevity is both cost-effective as well as being sustainable.

This Shortcast is with the current Mayor of Wollondilly Shire Council, the honourable Matt Gould. 

Located on the outskirts of greater Sydney, the south-west LGA is currently the subject of immense development, namely at the greenfields developments at Wilton and Appin. 

Here, Gould discusses the opening of Worklife Picton, a new co-working space in the Shire's heart, the current housing crisis and the need for infrastructure for the developments within his local area.

Interview by Jarrod Reedie.

Judy-Lea Engel is a textile scientist and Product Developer for floor and carpet specialists at GH Commercial.

She cuts through the jargon and explains the importance of good flooring design in both the general commercial and more specifically, the education sectors, and what are the key principles when designing flooring for student and teacher success.

This podcast is brought to you in association with GH Commercial proud sponsors of our 2023 Commercial series of podcasts.

The Sydney Opera House is one of our nation’s most treasured cultural landmarks. With almost 11 million visitors per year, the Sydney Opera House illustrates how even the largest organisations can take creative approaches to energy and waste management to address the climate crisis.

As environmental sustainability manager at the Sydney Opera House, Emma Bombonato helps determine the trajectory of the iconic institution’s sustainability program. 

The Opera House is a world-leader in sustainability. It was the first heritage building in Australia to achieve a 5-star green rating and achieved carbon neutrality five years ahead of schedule. Bombonato and her team are currently focussed on making the building and organisation climate positive.

She talks exclusively to Jarrod Reedie about how sustainability is key to the Sydney Opera House's performance and ongoing status as one of the world's most iconic heritage and entertainment sites and what the ultimate goal of this sustainability focus is, now on the 50th anniversary of its completion.

From building Lego cities on a pool table to building homes and schools in Africa, it’s been an adventurous ride for this Australian architect who wears multiple hats – urban designer, social entrepreneur, philanthropist, community advocate, humanitarian, and author.

Educated at Deakin University and later at the University of Nottingham, Landy has always been one to progress from challenge to challenge. The tertiary phase of his life saw Landy volunteering on international humanitarian projects, an experience that laid the foundation of his future ‘purpose driven’ career in architecture and design. 

He returned to Deakin to complete his degree and joined ClarkeHopkinsClarke, where he leads the design and delivery of some of Australia’s largest and most ambitious urban developments, including town centres, mixed use projects, and urban renewal precincts. 

Landy is also the founder-director of One Heart Foundation, an Australian ‘for purpose’ organisation working in Kenya to alleviate poverty by building and operating schools, children’s homes and skills training centres.

Looking back on where it all began, Landy recalls how as a 19-year-old student in Nottingham, he felt the drive to learn a little bit more about the bigger world around him. 

Interview by Jarrod Reedie

Llewellyn Regler is the National Technical Manager for facades at Network Architectural. He helps to ensure that all products we deliver to the façade market are safe and of high quality.

Matthew O’Neill has 10 years engineering and consulting experience in the façade industry. Leveraging his commercial and residential design experience, Matthew has expanded his expertise to include facade remedial works in the existing building space.

In this wide-ranging and revealing interview, Llewellyn and Matthew explain the intricacies of facade design and what is and isn't the right way to address the issue of flammable cladding and where do we need to be in the very near future.

This podcast is brought to you in association with Network Architectural.

Based in Clontarf, NSW, James Cooper has been implementing the principles of sustainable design for over 25 years and brings his knowledge of passive solar and climate conscious design to his client base primarily in Sydney, but also in regional VIC, NSW and QLD – providing high end design solutions with a built in focus on thermal performance maximisation.

James has won many awards over the course of his career. He is a Multi-time National Award winner of Environmental and Energy Efficient Building Designs and Multi Time National Design Award for New Residential and Commercial Building Designs. 

 Most recently in 2022, James won the National Design Award for Heritage Buildings/Adaptive reuse  for  Laureston House in Gladesville NSW.

He talks with us on the differences between passive house, passive solar and passive design and also how and why location / orientation, façade materials, shading, and window/door glazing considerations affect house design.

This podcast is brought to you in association with AWS, proud sponsors of our 2023  Sustainable series of podcasts.

Richard Hough has been a structural engineer with Arup for over 40 years, including periods as a Director in Arup’s London office, as Managing Principal of Arup’s California practice, and as Managing Principal of Arup New South Wales.    

He joined the Sydney office in 1970 during the final stages of design of the Sydney Opera House, then led the Arup team during the 2000’s assisting Richard Johnson and Utzon’s office on the Opera Theatre Renewal Project. 

On the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Opera House, Richard Hough talks exclusively about some of the lesser-known facts of building this global icon.

Jan Kwak is Managing Director of Australia and Asia at Hatch.com, an award-  
winning multidisciplinary leader in engineering, operational and development projects in  the metals, energy and infrastructure industries. 

Jan oversees an estimated 1000 staff on  more than 200 projects, and has managed every aspect of the design, construction, commissioning and operation of large-scale mines over 25 years. 

Jan has been a vocal advocate for building sustainable communities around mines. He explains how  building such communities can improve the quality of life of mine workers and their families, as well as provide long-term economic benefits to the local area.

Professor Chimay Anumba is a Professor and the Dean of the College of Design, Construction, and Planning at the University of Florida. 

 He has over 500 scientific publications to his name and has also supervised 56 doctoral candidates to completion and mentored over 25 postdoctoral researchers. 

He is the recipient of the 2018 ASCE Computing in Civil Engineering Award and is  also a member of the US National Academy of Construction (NAC).

Professor Anumba talks about the growing influence of Digital Twin technology in the design and build sector across the world.