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@ThompsonKerstin
Founding Principal - Kerstin Thompson Architects; Adj Prof- Monash/RMIT University; AM; AIA 2023 Gold Medal. Also @kerstinthompson.bsky.social
With profound appreciation I thank the AIA & my peers for this recognition. An acknowledgement of past achievements yes but also a future challenge to continue leading through practice, advocacy, education. Thank you to the many who have supported & contributed along the way.
‘Sublime work’ scores Melbourne architect 2023 Gold Medal dlvr.it/SnRp4J
Can’t understand why the Australian Parliament begins each term with a church service. How is this appropriate for the multicultural community it supposedly represents?
Never enough women’s toilets. Meanwhile men’s empty…the sooner we go all gender the better. #melbourneairport
“The myth I’d like to dispel is that creativity is somehow hampered by thinking about business. The days of just holing away in a studio & never thinking about money - we’re just not living in that time.” James Blake’s fight against ‘free music’. True of all creative industry
The battle for Los Angeles (Financial Times UK), 14 Jun 2025 “In these vibrant neighbourhoods…this hybrid mixture of languages and customs, cuisines and ideas, energy and ambition, fuels the country for its global challenges.” digitaleditionapp.ft.com/i9DX/f0xli6kp
Enjoying reading one right now, more so knowing I can leave it - for a month, a year, who knows - and return where I left off. No expiry. The ultimate reader freedom.
The good thing about physical books—no glitching. Ever. No reliance on fragile global infrastructure. No dependence on undersea cables. No crashes, no paywalls, no losing tabs. You need to be physical books maxxing
“As you read, a line might hit you. You feel struck. You pause. Here’s where close reading happens. Hold up. Linger with that line. Read it again, a few more times. What gives it its force here in its immediate moment? Work out its power.” defector.com/close-reading-…
How about a “great government of allies”? Excellent thinking here from #richardflanagan
Sharp & needed perspective by author #richardflanagan on unexpected outcome thrown up by Aust election. Through a combo of LNP disfunction, complexities of preferential voting…& luck, Labor finds itself with oh so comfy majority. 1/3rd of nation who voted otherwise 1/10th seats
Interesting density stat from The Conversation. Worth a read.
Councils have made it hard to build more townhouses and apartments in the suburbs. That's why these planning reforms are needed. @BrendanCoates @joeybmoloney theconversation.com/victorias-plan…
“If Melbourne’s middle suburbs - those between two & 20 kilometres from the CBD – were as dense as those of Toronto, that increase in density alone could accommodate all of the 800,000 extra homes the state government plans to build over the next decade.” theconversation.com/victorias-plan…
Tonight on @SBS Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes. Interesting timing.. #Auspol2025
It should be easy to obtain a planning permit for a new house such as this, regardless of heritage overlay. When heritage drives the design of new buildings we risk poor patterns being replicated. Better to thoughtfully reconfigure to reflect today’s living/amenity expectations.
Fascinating diagrams of the shift from major parties to independents
This humble little triangle explains the big shift in how we vote over 50 years. My latest for @abcnews abc.net.au/news/2025-04-2…
Bandaids rather than wider reform of the major issues facing the nation - climate, housing, inequity etc - apparently enough to retain government because there is no competition. The serious problem of no serious opposition. thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/…
Stupid. Isn’t the purpose of an Aus standard to set out specifications to help make products/services safe & reliable? Why then accommodate vehicles that increase injury to pedestrians & cyclists? Increase applicable tax not space for these beasts that btw kill streets too.
Truely regressive move by Standards Aust to increase both parking spaces & aisle widths to cater for these gross vehicles. They’ve ignored; -more tarmac & so urban heat -less landscape -bigger excavation, so more truck movements & concrete -more construction cost -more tech in 🚗
“Tradition is not something that is received as a legacy, but rather something that is built everyday.” - Gae Aulenti. Aulenti’s adaptive re-use projects are more and more pertinent to our everyday. Eg her masterful transformation of a railway station to Musee D’Orsay.
House Australia too. Make Melbourne a City of ‘Yes’. Balance risk & opportunity to ease adaption of existing buildings to house people. BVN hosted a terrific session last week at MPavilion - #citiesofyes - around just such possibilities. houseeurope.eu/19-join-now
Clifton Towers. 1963. A wedge shaped block of 9 apartments by Architects Lewis Martin and George Porter. One of several excellent towers along Oriental Parade in Wellington, NZ.
Almost there: 144 new dwellings in Richmond for Homes Victoria. Architect designed for high amenity, high performance, safe, secure, accessible & modern public housing. 1, 2 & 3 bedrooms. We hope it offers a welcome & inclusive homecoming to its community.
Important research by the @pewtrusts shows that 4-6 storey apartments with a single fire stair do not put residents at any greater fire risk (as compared to 2 stairs) Single stairs are also cheaper, and could allow much more housing to be built! pewtrusts.org/en/research-an…