Sowing arch-peace seeds in Sydney…

Sowing arch-peace seeds in Sydney…



The Melbourne- like weather (“four seasons in one day”) on Monday augured well for a day devoted to presenting, questioning and discussing ideas about the built environment, sustainability and the future of the city.
The second Sydney Architecture Festival was held at Circular Quay, with the majority of activities taking place at Customs House and the Opera House. The festival is presented by the organizers as a forum discussing the past, present and future of Circular Quay, its architecture, urban design and its place in the public imagination. The program included formal and informal talks, exhibitions, the Iron Architect competition, tours, heaps of activities for children, and information stalls at Customs Square, one of which was shared by Architects for Peace, Architects without Frontiers and Engineers without Borders.

The of the festival atmosphere was casual and invited contact and engagement, in this way it was a good forum for Architects for Peace. The day was well-attended (the lego city brought in the crowds), and not only by architects – the best thing, in my opinion was that the majority of participants were not architects, but everyone - all manner of people genuinely interested in finding out stuff and having a chat.

We had non-stop conversations in our stall, and while we may not find many new members from the day’s activities, we certainly got many good wishes and “thank god you exist”s….
I’m sure Architects for Peace will have a greater presence in Sydney after this event. Thanks to Jamie, Jack and Carol, and our fellow stallies AWF and EWB.


For anyone interested, the headline talk Circular Quay - Gateway to Sydney by Paul Keating, Richard Leplastrier, John McInerney and Elizabeth Farrelly will be podcast next week on Radio National’s By Design program http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bydesign/

Eva Rodriguez Riestra
Architects for Peace Sydney