This must be the place: How where we are informs who we are
RoundThis must be the place: How where we are informs who we are
As antipodean creators, we spend a lot of time in dialogue with ideas and criticisms concerning the concept of place. To be citizens of this corner of the world is to be on the cusp of many place identities – and to wrestle constantly with this balance.
20.12.2023
Geographically, we're aligned with Asia. Culturally, we skew toward America. And historically, we need to reckon with a colonial legacy of displaced and dispossessed Indigenous cultures.
This discordant relationship between competing identities has helped us develop a deeper understanding of where place intersects with culture –whether expressed as a product, brand or experience.
How these forces combine to spark new ideas, opportunities and outcomes has become one of the consistent through-lines of our output as a studio.
Darling Square
20.12.2023
Geographically, we're aligned with Asia. Culturally, we skew toward America. And historically, we need to reckon with a colonial legacy of displaced and dispossessed Indigenous cultures.
This discordant relationship between competing identities has helped us develop a deeper understanding of where place intersects with culture –whether expressed as a product, brand or experience.
How these forces combine to spark new ideas, opportunities and outcomes has become one of the consistent through-lines of our output as a studio.
Darling Square
Maree Clarke working on a possum skin cloak
The spaces in between
For example, we explored these thematics in our collaborative work with Maree Clarke, a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung/Wemba Wemba artist and maker.
The identity we created for the Australian pavilion at the 2020 Venice Biennale of Architecture focused on strengthening cultural connections and understanding between non-indigenous and First Nations peoples.
Already a daunting task, this project was also designed to be experienced outside of the geographic bounds of Australia – adding a further layer of place considerations.
Maree's creative work involves extending a lineage of traditional making. Creating possum skin cloaks is a practice that has been repeated for thousands of generations by Indigenous Australians. Sewn patchwork-style, these cloaks are adorned with marks that tell the stories of place, community and belief.
Together, we honed in on these marks and re-created them digitally – overlaying them with a textural application drawn from a dialect map of Indigenous languages spoken across Australia.
In this way, our output was rooted in both symbol and language, place and displacement, dialect and dialogue. Now, these symbols live on in digital formats – untethered from the physical world yet still intimately tied to a specific place and culture.
Maree Clarke working on a possum skin cloak
The spaces in between
For example, we explored these thematics in our collaborative work with Maree Clarke, a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung/Wemba Wemba artist and maker.
The identity we created for the Australian pavilion at the 2020 Venice Biennale of Architecture focused on strengthening cultural connections and understanding between non-indigenous and First Nations peoples.
Already a daunting task, this project was also designed to be experienced outside of the geographic bounds of Australia – adding a further layer of place considerations.
Maree's creative work involves extending a lineage of traditional making. Creating possum skin cloaks is a practice that has been repeated for thousands of generations by Indigenous Australians. Sewn patchwork-style, these cloaks are adorned with marks that tell the stories of place, community and belief.
Together, we honed in on these marks and re-created them digitally – overlaying them with a textural application drawn from a dialect map of Indigenous languages spoken across Australia.
In this way, our output was rooted in both symbol and language, place and displacement, dialect and dialogue. Now, these symbols live on in digital formats – untethered from the physical world yet still intimately tied to a specific place and culture.
The semiotics of place
Whether aware of it or not, we're constantly making choices about signs and symbols to express who we are and what we believe in.
The clothes we wear, the objects on our shelves, the colour and make of our car or bicycle are all loaded with semiotic significance that helps us understand others and broadcast our self-perceptions.
Place brands are similarly coded, and careful and deliberate decision-making is essential for semiotic coherence within a given environment.
As a practice, this nuanced and refined understanding of visual signifiers is ingrained in our approach to framing and interacting with the wider world.
Creating a place for people people
It's an expertise we've brought to a multitude of place brands – but is perhaps best encapsulated in our approach to Hotel Hotel – in which many branded touchpoints – from paper receipts to in-room fixtures – were created with deadstock paper and construction waste 'borrowed' from other sources.
Our approach of negating individual identity in favour of plurality, underscored and emphasised the hotel's commitment to sustainable design.
This was a place built on the discarded waste of other such places. By reappropriating these existing materials, we radically altered their context – giving them a new life and significance.
Hotel Hotel
Hotel Hotel
The semiotics of place
Whether aware of it or not, we're constantly making choices about signs and symbols to express who we are and what we believe in.
The clothes we wear, the objects on our shelves, the colour and make of our car or bicycle are all loaded with semiotic significance that helps us understand others and broadcast our self-perceptions.
Place brands are similarly coded, and careful and deliberate decision-making is essential for semiotic coherence within a given environment.
As a practice, this nuanced and refined understanding of visual signifiers is ingrained in our approach to framing and interacting with the wider world.
Creating a place for people people
It's an expertise we've brought to a multitude of place brands – but is perhaps best encapsulated in our approach to Hotel Hotel – in which many branded touchpoints – from paper receipts to in-room fixtures – were created with deadstock paper and construction waste 'borrowed' from other sources.
Our approach of negating individual identity in favour of plurality, underscored and emphasised the hotel's commitment to sustainable design.
This was a place built on the discarded waste of other such places. By reappropriating these existing materials, we radically altered their context – giving them a new life and significance.
The Otways coastline near Brae
Serving place on a plate
Alternatively, when working with chef Dan Hunter, we had the opportunity to speak to an extremely specific place.
Brae resides in Birregurra, a small town in regional Victoria with a population of fewer than 1,000 people. When we were approaching the identity, experience philosophy and interiors for Brae, we looked at how we could manifest Birregurra on a plate – figuratively and literally.
The restaurant grows the majority of what’s served from the kitchen on site, sourcing the remainder from local organic farmers and producers. They also grow their own wheat, which is milled on-site to produce bread, and brew beer seasonally. The plates used in the restaurant are made from clay sourced from the on-site dam.
We’ve collaborated extensively with the Brae team, alongside artists, architects, interior designers, textile manufacturers and web designers to ensure Brae is Birregurra.
The Otways coastline near Brae
Serving place on a plate
Alternatively, when working with chef Dan Hunter, we had the opportunity to speak to an extremely specific place.
Brae resides in Birregurra, a small town in regional Victoria with a population of fewer than 1,000 people. When we were approaching the identity, experience philosophy and interiors for Brae, we looked at how we could manifest Birregurra on a plate – figuratively and literally.
The restaurant grows the majority of what’s served from the kitchen on site, sourcing the remainder from local organic farmers and producers. They also grow their own wheat, which is milled on-site to produce bread, and brew beer seasonally. The plates used in the restaurant are made from clay sourced from the on-site dam.
We’ve collaborated extensively with the Brae team, alongside artists, architects, interior designers, textile manufacturers and web designers to ensure Brae is Birregurra.
A place for community
While we're endlessly fascinated by place as an expression of brand and product, we're equally energised by considerations of those who'll ultimately inhabit and activate a given space.
In this sense, we can define 'community' as the intersection of people and place – a junction where ephemeral ideas meet tangible outcomes, successfully or otherwise.
While older modes of thinking would suggest that capital investment is the most important driver of cultural output, anyone who's spent even fleeting time in an airport or casino would likely disagree.
Our approach focusses on working closely with the people or parties who have the foresight to see the potential, the long-term commitment to see a project through and the means to invest in the betterment of the community –generally through physical infrastructure like train lines, shopping centres, restaurants, bars and other amenities.
Creating commercial entities and civic infrastructure helps further define a place, which can foster new communities or strengthen existing ones.
Our goal is always to identify what needs to be created to ensure a community thrives and prospers – not just economically (although that’s often a key success metric) but also culturally in terms of arts, hospitality, entertainment and education.
A place for community
While we're endlessly fascinated by place as an expression of brand and product, we're equally energised by considerations of those who'll ultimately inhabit and activate a given space.
In this sense, we can define 'community' as the intersection of people and place – a junction where ephemeral ideas meet tangible outcomes, successfully or otherwise.
While older modes of thinking would suggest that capital investment is the most important driver of cultural output, anyone who's spent even fleeting time in an airport or casino would likely disagree.
Our approach focusses on working closely with the people or parties who have the foresight to see the potential, the long-term commitment to see a project through and the means to invest in the betterment of the community –generally through physical infrastructure like train lines, shopping centres, restaurants, bars and other amenities.
Creating commercial entities and civic infrastructure helps further define a place, which can foster new communities or strengthen existing ones.
Our goal is always to identify what needs to be created to ensure a community thrives and prospers – not just economically (although that’s often a key success metric) but also culturally in terms of arts, hospitality, entertainment and education.
QIC's Eastland shopping centre
Everything in its place
Our approach to the future-state of places is best captured in our long-term work with partners like QIC, on 80 Collins, and Lendlease, on Darling Square. Or, more recently, with Vicinity Group as we work to redefine an understanding of the traditional shopping centre its function in people’s lives.
Generally, these institutions take on the role of long-term custodianship of a place. This allows us to identify in granular detail what we believe the community needs to thrive and roadmap a path to achieving this.
The key is holding multiple perspectives in play simultaneously to achieve beneficial outcomes for all involved: economic results for our clients and cultural outcomes for those who will ultimately move through, work at and reside in these environments.
In turn, this cultural value translates to richer, denser more nuanced experiences that will not only drive results – but create places where people genuinely want to be.
Everything in its place
Our approach to the future-state of places is best captured in our long-term work with partners like QIC, on 80 Collins, and Lendlease, on Darling Square. Or, more recently, with Vicinity Group as we work to redefine an understanding of the traditional shopping centre its function in people’s lives.
Generally, these institutions take on the role of long-term custodianship of a place. This allows us to identify in granular detail what we believe the community needs to thrive and roadmap a path to achieving this.
The key is holding multiple perspectives in play simultaneously to achieve beneficial outcomes for all involved: economic results for our clients and cultural outcomes for those who will ultimately move through, work at and reside in these environments.
In turn, this cultural value translates to richer, denser more nuanced experiences that will not only drive results – but create places where people genuinely want to be.
QIC's Eastland shopping centre