Of all of the wonderful things I could say about riding the new Sydney Metro last, it was the public art that spoke to me.
Inspired by the theme 'Storyline', 19 artists were selected to create public art for the City and Southwest Metro line. This one below by Callum Morton at Gadigal is a stunning addition to Sydney with a beautiful sight line from the Park Street public domain.
These new cultural landmarks will surely become symbols of the city.
Great time chatting with Stephen Burton of POMO on the Placemakers Podcast recently. Summary written by Stephen:
“What's the relationship between placemaking and property marketing? From a property developer's point of view, placemaking is a often looked at as a way to differentiate their offering in the market. Is there still a role for community in this process? How does it intersect with branding and place visioning? As a leader in this field, Tom helps us understand the way placemaking is defining our privately made public realm.”
Check it out on Spotify here.
Back in London a couple of months ago I visited Battersea Power Station, Coal Drops Yard and The Standard (one I worked on back 2015). These adaptive reuse projects entice people to visit. They’re bold. They tell a story.
The bricks and mortar honour the past, but the playful elements like chimney lift shaft, themed bar, encircling shared street and basketball courts engage with the city in a contemporary way.
We’re lucky in Sydney: we can learn from international projects like these (the pros and cons) to apply thinking to White Bay Power Station, Newtown Tram Sheds and North Eveleigh, to name a few. Heritage isn’t a burden, but an opportunity to reinterpret and reimagine.
“On a recent trip overseas, I finally experienced the spectacle of the city of Hong Kong. Sipping on a beer from an upper floor bar, I was engrossed by immense, vertical cityscape – made even more intriguing by thick layer of fog below. I was guided up narrow stairwells to rooftop parks and podium bars, seemingly hidden from its meandering streets. I watched kids playing cheerfully in inner city parks, next to teenagers during an intense game of basketball. The word “vibrant” sprang to mind. Although I promised myself to stop using it.
I thought back to life in the Sydney CBD. It seemed dull by comparison. Suits by day, commuters by night – scrambling to get home before the peak hour rush. Yes, a few bars with a steady flow into the evening. But surely it could be so much more? I imagined ascending Sydney’s tallest towers for live music, swimming pools with panoramic harbour views, dazzling art installations hanging from grey infrastructure, and colourful playgrounds set in-amongst the buildings ensuring play, fun and joy isn’t just something for the weekends.
Surely, Sydney could be so much more. And why wouldn’t it?…”
Blog post written for Hoyne about Sydney from some recent insights from Hong Kong. Read the full article here.
I remember as a kid, Mum’s car would sit idling in traffic as the Glebe Island Bridge sat cantilevered open for boats to pass through. I’d sit fixated on the construction of the monstrous pylons next door that would soon become the Anzac Bridge.
Anzac has since become iconic - serving in films and commercials and becoming a much-loved part of the city’s skyline. But it’s limited by its own height. Cars are suited to grade separation and steep inclines, but pedestrians and cyclists move better closer to the ground plane.
Glebe Island Bridge has sat a disused relic. But imagine it was re-instated: connecting cyclists and pedestrians across one of our harbour’s most loved Bays. One of Australia’s last swing bridges, its historical significance is physical - but it’s also deeply rooted to Sydney’s cultural identity. Particularly that of the inner west.
Excited that these two beautiful bridges could one day operate side-by-side.
(Image courtesy NewCorp)
Covid-19 has sent Australia’s creative industries into distress, and the damage has been severe. More than half of the jobs (53%) in this sector ceased to function during lockdowns, resulting in hundreds of thousands of job losses across Australian cities. But what if we actively invest in making places more unique, exciting and creative? Could we make domestic travel more appealing – or even – make Australian cities the envy of the world?
Thought-piece I’ve written for RobertsDay - you can read online here.
Perth artist Matt Adnate’s work of celebrates Aboriginal culture. Photo courtesy Juddy Roller/Nicole Reed.
It was the summer defined by smoked-filled air and underlying anxiety, as NSW dealt with some of its worst bushfires on record. But for a lot of Sydneysiders, life went on: beaches were full, and joggers were out each morning braving the haze.
Spending a lot of time at Bondi’s North Rocks this summer, I thought about the incredible value that these places give to the city... They offer respite - but are also social and leisure spaces where people gather to exercise, talk and spend time with their families. Sitting next to what are sometimes $7, $8, or $9 million dollar private properties, its nice to remind ourselves that we have some of the world’s best public spaces right along our coastline. And perhaps the importance of our beaches was even more apparent this summer as people sought fresh ocean breeze to avoid the ever-present smoke.
A couple of summer snaps below.
“It might be wondered looking at it… whether people’s monuments accurately reflect their natures; whether this sheery mess, this hollow gesture, this smiling shrug of the ideals we trade, is a mirror of its makers. Likely because of its brilliant outside is likely now to bring them universal calumny. And it might be wondered too whether such things never come to pass. Because they require the cooperation of fallible men and the leadership of inspired men who can only finally repel because of their obsession. But, it stands a frosty, glad symbol of whatever you like. Destroyed by cussedness. Betrayed by cowardice. Brought to this quietus by the politics that giveth and the politics that taketh away. Hallelujah, we guess. Hosanna, to whatever’s possible, in the best of all possible climates. She’ll do mate. Or will she? “
In 1968 an Aussie in London called John Weiley decided to make a film on the construction of the Sydney Opera House. He pitched his idea to young film maker, David Attenborough, who thought it was an amazing idea. Despite Australian ABC’s opposition, they managed to interview some of most of the key designers and politicians at a point when the entire project was in shambles. The film was super critical of the NSW government and was supportive of Utzon - the architect who had just lost his job on the building. After 2 years of scripting, interviewing, filming and editing, Weiley finished his project and took a trip to Greece. Upon his return to London, he learned that it had been destroyed. There was no trace of the reel and no one would tell him where it went. To this day he doesn’t know what happened, but suspects foul play.
… Almost 45 years later in 2012 an email showed up in Weileys inbox asking if he was the man who made the Opera House film. Collecting archived footage in London, someone had stumbled across a reject reel. It was pieced together and broadcast in 2013.
Here it is in all its glory. One of the best docs I’ve ever seen.
Last week I managed to fit in another quick trip over to Copenhagen. There are a million reasons why I love this city so much, but mainly because it's not an aggressive, traffic heavy, overdeveloped city... People are friendly, bike riders are respected and encouraged, the architecture - old and new - is elegant, nightlife is fun, and the Baltic is clean (swimming in the harbour ... amongst the ferries is fine).
There seems to be a simplicity, pragmatism and calmness that I haven't experienced in any other city. It's no wonder it's architects and urban designers are in demand in around the world.
This year my friend Mark and I rode our bikes up north and crossed over into Sweden for a couple of days. Awesome little trip and as always - can't wait to get back.
A few holiday snaps below. :-)
I met with urban design legend Mikael Colville-Andersen in 2015 at the launch of a new street in Copenhagen. Here is what he had to say about Istedgade in the neighbourhood of Vesterbro.
Often a city's ugliest buildings are its most controversial.
The Fred Wigg and John Walsh Towers in London’s were loaded up with missile launchers during the London olympics - making the tenants inside a potential target. Now, at the forefront of the gentrifying east end, it’s likely that the towers will soon be demolished and redeveloped. The tenants, however, still don't know how long until they will be 'decanted'.
The speed at which this city changes constantly amazes me - but unfortunately - affordable housing tenants are too often left in limbo during the development process. I'd love to see these buildings recreated into something beautiful. I'd also love to see space made for existing tenants who have spent decades building a life within the community.
Either way, it looks like these buildings will soon be cleared from London's landscape, or - at least - remade into something new. I made the images below to document their place within amongst the skyline before they're no more.
Last week I was making a trip from Sydney to London so I decided to stop off in the south of Sri Lanka for a few days. Colombo was incredible: people, street food, construction, colour and chaos. I also jumped on a train south to check out Galle and Unawatuna, where I had a great time surfing.
The thing that struck me most about Colombo was the tall building construction boom. It seemed that everywhere I looked were towers being built. The entire southern edge of the city has been earmarked for development and will soon be the "Colombo International Financial Centre'. China is investing US$1 Billion into the project, which will include at least 3 60 storey towers.
Across the city dozens of other tall buildings are now reaching into the sky. It'll be super interesting to see how Colombo evolves over the next decade. Street photos and a short film below.
Despite years of campaigning from heritage groups and architects, the bulldozers have moved in. The demolition of Robin Hood Gardens is now well underway. The western block is in partial ruins. The eastern block is still occupied and is set to be razed in the new year.
Completed in 1972 Robin Hood Gardens features rows of elevated walkways, famously known as 'streets in the sky'. The only housing estate designed by husband-and-wife duo Peter Smithson (1923-2003) and Alison Smithson (1928-1993), it's protection was supported by some of the world's most prominent architects including Richard Rogers, the late Zaha Hadid and Toyo Ito. Many, however, including the head of heritage listings and Historic England, considered it 'bleak'.
Camera in hand, I recently explored London's Kensington and Chelsea - home of Grenfell Tower. A distinct socio-economic divide between the north and south, the Borough epitomises the inequality that exists across wider London.
On the 14th of June 2017, West London watched as a 24-storey public housing block was engulfed in flames. Fear and panic gripped the streets below as hundreds screamed for help from inside.
At least 71 people have been confirmed dead. A a 2015 study showed that the neighbourhood surrounding Grenfell was among the top 10% most deprived areas in England - those who perished were some of the London’s poorest and most vulnerable.
Just two kilometres south-east of Grenfell sits Victoria Road - Britain’s most expensive street - where house prices average at £8 million ($14,000,000). As I walked past the rows of immaculate terrace houses, security lights clicked on, a tell tale sign that the owners live abroad. Nearby shopping districts epitomise glitzy consumerism - Mercedes Benz cars, shopping bags and botox. With so much money pouring into the local council, it’s no wonder it holds a reserve in excess of £274 million ($466 million).
Kensington and Chelsea is a microcosm of divided London, and unfortunately, the local authority has been a representative of only its most elite residents. Although those in Grenfell had complained about fire safety issues for years, their voices had fallen on deaf ears. It’s recently been argued that had fire extinguishers been installed, 99% of those in the building would have survived.
The tragic events of the 14th of June have shocked this beautiful city to its core, yet early indications suggest that it hasn’t been in vain: the council leader soon resigned and an investigation has begun to determine if corporate manslaughter has been committed; we’ve seen conversations regarding deprivation and inequality rise to the forefront of political discussion, Jeremy Corbyn has called the disaster a product of the ‘brutal’ system of inequality; and the city’s Mayor, Sadie Khan, has proposed that the Prime Minister appoint a social housing Tsar.
In the wake of Grenfell commentators have pointed to the resonance of contemporary London with the one Dickens describes in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. The echoes are hard to ignore, and the city’s wealthy are being warned of a social uprising from classes below. It seems London’s eyes have turned their focused on the government’s response to Grenfell. If systemic housing policy changes are not initiated, social discontent will surely intensify.
"The late 20th century was a unique period in architectural history in which buildings where designed to serve a social purpose. Brutalist buildings used the most basic material to keep costs down, and were most commonly built to house low-income residents or institutions.
Unlike 18th-century houses, their importance is about historic interest, rather than an aesthetic interest. Sirius, just like Trellick, Balfron and the Barbican in London, illustrates important aspects of the nation's social and cultural history."
Last week I had an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald on brutalist architecture in Sydney and London. You can read the full article here.
Photo by Jessica Hromas via SMH
A couple of weeks ago Saal Digital asked me to review one of their book products... Eager to start seeing some of my images in print, it was a great chance for me to self-publish quickly and easily without the hassle of understanding the ins and outs of graphic design and printing.
Read MoreI sat down with East London based figurative painter Lorna May Wadsworth to talk about her studio space, gentrification and the future of artists in the city.
Read MorePhotographer
Nicholas Gascoine spent his mid 20's in New York City. There, he would work alongside some of the most prominent fashion photographers, often flying to exotic locations. The move back to Australia had followed an exciting period of work, and Gascoine found the body of water lapping onto Sydney's Eastern beach fronts restorative.
Read MoreA series of 9 photographs from a walk in the emerging, Kings Cross precinct in London.
Read MoreMy friend James and I decided that we were going to cycle to Paris... Wasting little time um-ming and ah-hing, we decided to plan for the fastest route (London-Newhaven-Dieppe-Forges-Les-Eaux-Pontiose-Paris) and a couple of weeks later we were off. A quick run down below with some few black and white shots taken en-route ...
Read More
