ACA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate, COX Architecture )
Brad Hooper is a sole practitioner with a shopfront in the main street of Maldon in regional Victoria. In a town where everyone knows everyone, he is the go-to person for anything from new residential builds to professional advice on heritage overlays and building approvals and even single screen doors. He is embedded in the community, is full of anecdotes and stories peppered with good advice, and loves his life as a regional architect.
"How does an architect work in the bush? We're like country vets, country solicitors. We're a different layer of tradespeople and I use that term very deliberately. We are traders on the main street. We are as valuable to the community (but not more than) the butcher and the baker and the newsagent. We are just part of the rich mix of service providers in a community. Along the way I've had the chance to craft some beautiful buildings for some lovely people. I've done some reasonably good sheds. I've helped people with fences. I've given quick advice to people who walk in the door. There's an enormous variety of work in the regions."
Brad Hooper started doing drafting work for projects around Williamstown and Newport when still a student at RMIT. At the time, the course was three years full time and three years part time while working in practice. Brad picked up work through word of mouth, often from patrons of the front bar of the Steampacket Hotel. He was living in student digs in West Brunswick and his first desk was a secondhand door with the hinges still on it, tucked into a corner of his student room. He would often talk to clients from the public phone box around the corner.
Brad Hooper has been a member of the ACA for four years and joined the ACA VIC/TAS Committee in 2022.
"I was attracted to the ACA because it's all about the business of architecting. It's no bullshit, straight to the core issues. What do I need to pay people? How can I be efficient in business? It's accessible. It's economical. And it's just as valid for a sole practice as for a large practice with a payroll," he says.
As an ACA Committee member, Brad would like to be able to share his experience, to "spread the wisdom that I've learned in almost 50 years of putting buildings on sites, especially with architects who are willing to operate out of a briefcase."
Job Titles:
- Director, Architects & Co )
Gary Edwards was a valued member of the ACA Committee in Victoria for many years, providing professional practice advice to architects and architectural businesses. His time with the ACA followed many decades of service to the Australian architecture profession, including years of active involvement with the [Royal] Australian Institute of Architects, including as Victorian Chapter Councillor; more than 32 years as an examiner of Architectural Practice on behalf of the Architects' Registration Board of Victoria; and time as a Senior Lecturer in Professional Practice at RMIT.
Gary was an Associate and Senior Health Facility Planner of Stephenson and Turner, with responsibility for many major health facility projects throughout Australia and internationally. Some of his projects included the planning, documentation, contract administration and commissioning of major developments for The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital; St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne; Ballarat Base Hospital; the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, including its Baker Medical Research Institute, Monash Medical School and other facilities; the Melbourne Clinic; St John's Park Nursing Home, Hobart; Grace McKellar Rehabilitation and Aged Care Centre, Geelong; and for many other interstate and overseas hospitals and aged care facilities.
Gary was a Partner and Director of the architectural firms Health Facilities Consultant Architects, Health Planners Australia Pty Ltd and ArcHealth Pty Ltd, all specialising in health, education and other institutional projects across Australia and Internationally. Gary's health facilities design work included the development of health facility models for optimum functionality, quality of care and cost effectiveness. Projects directed, planned and undertaken by Gary include the HMAS Cerberus Navy Hospital, Dental and Medical Centre; and the Royal Children's Hospital's Emergency and Ambulatory Paediatrics Departments, among many others.
Gary was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, with a long list of achievements and a lifetime of service to the architecture profession and other community groups. Retirement from practice didn't slow him down, with many years of honorary charity and community work to follow. In 2020, Gary and his wife Kay were both awarded Order of Australia medals for service to the community through a range of organisations.
Several of Gary's friends at the ACA had the following comments to make:
Gary was not only a valued colleague and friend but someone we considered an elder statesman of the profession. His knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the architecture profession were contagious and he was a valued member of the ACA Vic/Tas Committee. One of his last legacies was the introduction of the ‘Retired Architect' category to the ACA constitution. Gary sought to ensure that architects at any stage of their career could retain the ability to stay involved and contribute to both a better profession and community. He was a man that contributed to the profession and society in general in such a quiet and humble manner but with a wonderful sense of humour.
Job Titles:
- President
- Qld / NT President
Job Titles:
- Associate, Gresley Abas )
Job Titles:
- Director, Whispering Smith )
Job Titles:
- Associate Claire Humphries
Job Titles:
- 5 October 2019
- Principal of KTA
- Value of the Architect
Kerstin Thompson's recent presentation for the ACA - SA was a thoughtful reflection on the business of design, busting some stubborn myths about architectural practice, and emphasising the need to balance design quality with business practice excellence, financial strength, thriving people and workplace health.
What is the value that design quality brings? Who benefits from this value? How do we deliver this value? In starting to answer these questions, I hope to articulate the indelible link between quality design outcomes and a sustainable business model. And along the way challenge a handful of myths that strike me as an impediment to good business and good design.
Kerstin Thompson is Principal of KTA and Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Monash Universities. A committed design educator she regularly lectures and runs studios at various schools across Australia and New Zealand. In recognition for the work of her practice, contribution to the profession and its education, Kerstin was elevated to Life Fellow by the Australian Institute of Architects in 2017. She plays an active role promoting quality design within the profession, and the wider community, through her position as Panel Member on the Office of the Victorian Government Architect's Design Review Panel and Board Member for Melbourne Housing Expo, a research group led by The University of Melbourne.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Meyer Shircore )
The ACA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land and waters of Australia.
Job Titles:
- Director, MCG Architects )
The ACA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land and waters of Australia.
Ron Edgar was a long-term and valued member of the ACA, including as a member of the NSW Committee and a period as treasurer. Former NSW/ACT President Steve Kennedy and Ingrid Pearson FRAIA reflect on the life and work of Ron Edgar, who recently passed away.
Job Titles:
- Is Director of Sean Godsell Architects
Steve Pearse (Steve Pearse Architecture+) Agi Sterling (Sterling Architects) Justin Loe (Studio JLA) Jennifer Crawford (Our new home coach) David Springett (Paragrid)