Essay: Roger Poole + Kristen Whittle

Bates Smart: Selected Projects 00-07

Although our practice has a long and distinguished history, our contemporary reputation relies on the work that each person undertakes each day. The outcomes – our buildings and interiors – result from constant dialogue and an increasing focus on research-based design within an open studio culture. This culture is our ongoing work in progress – it is nourished by contributions from colleagues who range from recent graduates to the very experienced, all working within a supportive framework. In essence, it is a shared search for meaning, innovation and excellence in architecture.

Our recent growth is evidence of the fact that clients support our work and the way we undertake projects with which they entrust us... What then defines the DNA of Bates Smart? How is the practice’s design position evolving in response to exposure to new challenges, concerns and people?

Perhaps the best way to illuminate our approach is to discuss some recurrent themes in our studio dialogue.

Balance
Our first major concern is finding the point of balance in a project. To us, that is an active state, an energised state that involves maintaining equilibrium in the face of risk. We liken it to the balance of a gymnast or dancer: rather than being static, it’s invigorated, a moment of stillness in a sequence of actions.

This sense of momentarily arrested movement gives a building its sense of energy and life.

Balance is not a point of rest, but a moment in which all of the competing forces on a project appear to be reconciled, summarised and equalised.

Organic essence
Every project has a unique set of circumstances – an individual site and surrounding environment; a distinctive mixture of environmental constraints; its own social and cultural operational context.

This singularity can be masked or celebrated. We prefer the latter, whereby each project develops an organic essence – a special quality that derives from its particular circumstances. Our research seeks to develop an appropriate expression of these specific conditions; this can sometimes yield unexpected results. For example, our design for 171 Collins Street is an assembly of jewel-like fragments that reflect the fractal geometry of the nearby Cathedral spires, assembled in a self-effacing way to form a kind of skycurtain or backdrop.

Less than a building...
More than a building
By undertaking a study of the particular context, use and form of a project, we arrive at solutions that are both ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ a building. Built works can allow multiple readings that change with the viewer’s perspective: perhaps appearing in the foreground from one angle, or forming an elegant backdrop from another viewpoint.

Our proposal for 171 Collins Street illustrates this well.

As well as fulfilling programmatic functions, the building seeks to contribute to the urban fabric of the city by providing an appropriate backdrop for the spires of St Paul’s Cathedral, as seen from Southbank. Our proposal is quite radical: the fragmented glass façade smooths away the accumulated clutter that currently confuses the reading of the spires.

Through research-based design, validated by Arup’s independent studies, our design appears to have drawn a glass curtain over the structures behind it, which in most light conditions appears to be less than a building. The reflective, refractive character of our building also gives it a jewel-like presence in certain conditions, making it more than a building.

Momentum and its uses
Today’s larger projects build up enormous momentum in an attempt to overcome cost and time barriers. Global communications have changed the way information is gathered and transactions are completed. The design process has also changed, making global collaboration easier. Bates Smart has become involved in many projects in other parts of Australia, as well as in Europe, North America and Asia, and has developed advanced communication tools as a result. These new collaborative platforms have changed the way we work, both internationally and locally.

Le Corbusier once described creation as a ‘patient search’ for solutions. Today’s larger projects are by their nature impatient – clients expect high quality solutions, even remarkable solutions, but don’t want to wait for them. Accelerating project speeds call for constant, active judgement on the appropriateness of design decisions, and for refinement under pressure.

But momentum also has its uses, and can make a positive contribution to projects if three key elements are in place: research, teamwork and technology. If decisions are well understood and clients are actively engaged, fast moving projects can tolerate good, bold decisions and move forward without the homogenising oscillation that may occur in slower moving projects.

Collaboration
Our clients are collaborators in the design process through an increasingly seamless dialogue that extends throughout a project’s life. Today’s architect cannot be a lonely practitioner hidden in a studio. Rather, architects must engage continuously with clients, negotiate the time needed to develop and refine design solutions, and be skilled at arguing the case for those solutions in many forums.

Larger projects often have sophisticated clients and project managers whose experience equips them to recognise potential difficulties and therefore make better decisions. Good initial decisions are essential to create the necessary time for patient refinement – often called design development – of the chosen solution.

To inform these early decisions, Bates Smart sees its design process as a continuing research enquiry that allows the intellectual property of the practice to develop independently of the needs of each project. Our design teams’ active involvement in lines of enquiry that form the basis for our response to particular projects helps us to gain momentum in the early stages of projects, to more easily find the parameters where the solution lies.

Economy of means
We seek an economy of means, a concentration of meaning and effort. We seek solutions that make the difficult appear almost effortless. We try to achieve outcomes where people respond by saying, ‘Of course, that is clearly the right solution to the problem’. Resources are not limitless, and we believe that projects are distinguished as much by what they omit or avoid, as what they include or accept.

We are not seeking just a satisfactory solution. We aim for outcomes that feel and seem right; indeed, almost inevitable.

Saturated form
We define saturated form as a design resolution that resolves myriad problems, meeting all of the important challenges with a single move.

This is not minimalism; rather, the design solution is inclusive. We seek to satisfy a range of expectations and resolve conflicting demands. A saturated form is one that has evolved to a point where it satisfies every critical requirement of the brief, without undue embellishment. In short, it is a rich and simple solution to a complex problem.

Resonance
A resonant solution reinforces the profound appropriateness of the decisions taken in the design process. It commands respect; because the investment of time and attention to detail reveals new layers of meaning, a new richness.

A resonant solution may be simple yet insightful, or it may be complex when the design challenge is difficult. Resonant solutions arise from bold but wise choices that are developed through both quiet reflection and active debate.

The final outcome resonates with meaning when a well-considered solution includes everything necessary to achieve excellence, yet avoids excess.

Communication
Finally, we are constantly improving our tools for exploring and communicating. We use a combination of techniques because we find that people favour different methods to understand our proposals. Educators refer to ‘multiple intelligences’ to describe the way some people prefer graphic communication, while others benefit from verbal explanation, and a third type prefers physical models. Our 3D studio, model making team and graphic presentations combine drawings, precedent images, physical models and animations to facilitate effective conversations with our clients.

When this all works successfully, the momentum of a larger project can lead to rapid and effective teamwork that enables many design solutions to be explored and evaluated quickly. This results in adequate time being available to resolve the final design to a high level, with quality materials and effective detailing.

In summary
The Bates Smart studios have become design laboratories where we are constantly inventing, and refining individual solutions to continuously changing design challenges. Each building, each client, and each site is unique and demands an individual response. These responses cannot be experiments. Our remarkably talented and committed team is constantly stretching its capacity to collaborate with our clients to produce extraordinary results. It is an exciting and very enjoyable process.