ArchiPro Australia is launching 22 October 2021, with tailored Australian projects, products and professionals. With a mission of simplifying the building process and a belief that architecturally designed spaces should be more accessible, ArchiPro is the platform transforming the architecture and building industries by seamlessly connecting those within it.
ArchiPro will launch in Sydney in 2021, with a glamorous opening event (subject to Covid-19 restrictions) designed specifically to showcase the ArchiPro experience to the Australian industry so they see first-hand the benefits of partnering with the platform.
Last year 70,000 people from Australia used ArchiPro, representing 110% in user growth when compared to the previous year. It’s evident that Australians love using ArchiPro and we are now committed to growing this audience by providing our Australian users access to a curated pool of trusted businesses operating within their local market.
ArchiPro’s deeply rooted commitment to simplifying the end-to-end building experience and to the disruption of the traditional and expensive advertising industry remains our core business objective.
With 106 Architects already in bed with ArchiPro in New Zealand showcasing Residential, Recreational, Community and Masterplanning Projects, we are excited to be a Foundation Partner with the Australian arm.
“It’s great to be a foundation partner in Australia to support the launch of ArchiPro. Our partnership aligns with the 106 Architects’ national presence in NZ and recent expansion to Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast – together we’ve got ANZ covered! The platform is such a great resource, is easy to access, and with an amazing visual interface, I am sure our Australian audience will enjoy the curated site as much as our NZ community. It’s wonderful to see others mirror our commitment to the value of the digital world in what we do – welcome to Australia ArchiPro!” – Dion Gosling – Director, 106 Architects + Third Place Thinking™.
ArchiPro will also be partnering with Woods Bagot, one of the world’s largest architectural practices, which will supercharge the adoption of ArchiPro in the Australian market. This partnership is an exciting collaboration that will accelerate ArchiPro’s opportunity to digitally transform the architecture and building industries in Australia.
Here’s what they had to say: “An incredibly useful resource ensuring our teams are at the forefront of intelligent research and sourcing of exemplary products, ensuring only the best for our projects and clients,” – Tracey Wiles, Principal Australian Interior Design Leader, Woods Bagot.
With many opportunities for our clients and our collaborators, we are excited to be involved with this launch and look forward to supporting ArchiPro’s journey in inspiring people to build architecturally designed spaces through their beautifully designed and simple to use platform.
For more information on our Foundation Partnership with ArchiPro Australia, contact:
The Sports and Play Industry Association (SAPIA) has advised that 106 Architects (Studio106 Architecture Pty Ltd) has become a member in its Professional Services Division.
106 Architects is an award-winning community and sport-specialist architecture and design practice dedicated to connecting and strengthening communities across Australia and New Zealand, led by Olympian and Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist Dion Gosling.
The practice advises that we have a “track record and experience cover(ing) multiple codes and sports, across a wide range of projects – from park amenities to regional stadia; elite high performance training and competition venues, regional indoor arena, to local, community facilities and sportsfields.
“(We have) the skills and capability required to help you take your project from concept to final occupation … we live for sports, leisure, and community facilities – having been focused and immersed in fields, courts, tracks, jumps, indoor and outdoor play spaces – sport infrastructure – all our life.
“We are currently working on a range of quality sports and education related community facilities across Australia and New Zealand providing sports-specialist design and technical knowledge.
“Our track record and experience covers multiple codes and sports, across a wide range of projects – from park amenities to regional stadia; elite high performance training and competition venues, regional indoor arena, to local, community facilities and sportsfields.”
Dion Gosling, as Director of 106 Architects, has an innate understanding of the subtleties and technical requirements of outdoor sports fields and indoor sports halls bringing perspective from the athlete, administrator, coach, management and Board level.
Since 1990 when travelling the world as part of the NZ Men’s Hockey Team, Gosling has grown knowledge of global international best practice in order to apply locally. Through roles with the NZ Olympic Committee and now as Chair of the Oceania Hockey Federation Competitions and Events Committee, Gosling is a leader in the holistic assembly of outdoor and indoor sports facilities development.
Selected Services and Reference Projects:
Masterplanning
Namatjira Park Masterplan (in collaboration with theCommunityCollaborative.) – a sports and community masterplan incorporating an existing 12.1 hectare reserve site and a 634 hectare wetlands catchment area in Clayton South. The Park provides diversity of opportunities including social, family, sport, recreation, play and environment experiences with a single oval, single tennis court, sporting pavilion, bowls club and bistro, skate park, playground, tennis wall, basketball half court, and dog off-leash park
Colin Maiden Park– a broad masterplan review for tennis, football, rugby, netball, cricket, AFL, hockey along with commercial sports sector support services, including the new two-turf artificial hockey development as a multisport shared club facility
New Plymouth Multisport Hub – a 38 hectare multisport redevelopment over an existing racecourse to include 14 outdoor netball and multiuse courts, artificial football/rugby field, artificial hockey turf, wight outdoor natural grass fields incorporating artificial and natural cricket wickets, cricket training nets, informal play and social zones for events and day-to-day community activities
Nga Puna Wai Sports Hub – a 32 hectare sports field development including full IAAF-certified athletics track, warm up track and dedicated throws high performance centre, 3 FIH Global Elite hockey turf surfaces, community sports fields, 24 hardcourt tennis courts, NRL-standard rugby league facilities
Indoor Arena and Sports Halls
New Plymouth Multisport Hub – a new six-court indoor regional facility incorporating capacity for 3,000 seating for international netball and basketball events, hosting and media facilities, as well as local club-level multicode shared amenities as part of the wider sports park development
Matamata Indoor Community Sports Centre – a new two-court local community development to be located on the Matamata College grounds. The facility serves as a key partnership between school, community and sports users
Fraser Park Sportsville – a new multisport centre located amongst the existing community sportsfields. The facility includes a 600 metre² multiuse indoor activity zone, six squash courts, café, gym, offices, meeting and social function rooms. 8 changing rooms service the outdoor sports of rugby, hockey, football, cricket and an artificial multiuse 3G turf
Outdoor Active Zones & Informal Play Areas
Namatjira Park Masterplan (in collaboration with theCommunityCollaborative.) – a sports and community masterplan incorporating a new skate park, playground, tennis wall, basketball half court, pick-up-play areas, parking and dog off-leash park connected to an existing bowls club and natural wetlands area
The Boroughs’ Basketball Courts – a new five-court outdoor sports project on sites across Auckland. The project aimed to engage youth with outdoor recreation activity using basketball as the catalyst. The project was a public-private commercial partnership between Auckland Council and SPARK (telecom)
Learn to Ride Track – a disused area of hardcourt asphalt – the size of two netball courts – was converted into a temporary Learn to Ride adventure course for the local community. A concept for design was generated by the rich history and cultural characteristics of the local community – the track created simply by the use of road paint
Artificial Turf Sports Fields
A number of artificial sportsfields have been project managed and delivered by 106 Architects – Colin Maiden Park two-turf hockey field development; Metro Park artificial hockey field; Hamilton Boys’ High School artificial tennis, rugby/football, hockey field development project; Bill McKinlay Park artificial football field; Mt Roskill Grammar School artificial hockey turf and natural fields development; Auckland Grammar School artificial hockey and rugby/football field development.
Click here for more information on the Sports and Play Industry Association.
Images: The Nga Puna Wai Sports Hub (top) and 106 Architects’ Dion Gosling (below).
A reflection by our Founder + Director, Dion Gosling
I believed the creative industry – at least in NZ’s small-medium design operations – to be nimble, progressive, innovative and collaborative. Essentially culture-driven and design-led, responding to markets and people.
An article heartened me in late-2010 – an interview with Dean Poole and Ben Corban of Alt Group – discussing the value of design-thinking as a key component to the operating culture of their business. They of course, believed it should be part of the operating environment of our country. It’s been a common theme in many of their media profiles.
Design-thinking is more about thoughts and actions; method and process as a way of operating, than objects or a short-term output-based focus. Poole and Corban’s approach resonated well with my own thinking – I have always believed that if you engage with your audience (client, team, family, etc), listen and understand, establish the relationship, build the programme, but also lead, educate and share your passion, you are more likely to get a satisfactory outcome because the everyone has contributed and enjoyed themselves. A design outcome then, is larger than just the end, built form. It is the experience and the journey that matters.
I would suggest that in architecture, this mode of design-thinking and operation is the modus operandi for the minority of New Zealand practices. Put it down to a tough business climate, competitive challenges, or the need to generate a quick-buck, I am not sure. I am not convinced that being design-led costs any more than not being. Those that do it well, by nature have a point of difference, and are more likely to benefit from a complete culture – the eventual output and current working environment.
Design-thinking in architecture is lacking to such an extent that this is one reason, I believe, behind the general poor quality of our architectural landscape and the environments in which we create this landscape.
Why? Because design-thinking and approach is a way of life. It is not a machine, a production line, a template, a formula, a modified predecessor. It is not driven by bottom-line as a first-principle. I believe so much of what we are building is.
And I get the sense people are over the “ordinary” and the mundane and being controlled and living in poorly designed community structures. There is more to our well-being than this. These attributes are not conducive to creativity and exploration and happiness.
But how does this relate to the practice of architecture?
I recall job reviews in the past when I enquired about the future direction of the practice: the type of work we could develop, what contribution we could make, and more importantly, whether there was value in reviewing and developing the culture of the practice in order to grow. To my mind, the culture values within an environment reflect and transcend across every aspect of performance and output. Improving the culture and design-thinking environment would be manifest, eventually, into our projects, retention and growth of staff – bottom-line as a by-product. Plus we’d create a really enjoyable experience.
The response was that I was too ambitious. And when coupled with “do your time”, there was cause for reflection. This was such out-dated performance criterion, I thought. I didn’t think that sort of attitude still existed in the creative world – it was hardly the inspirational leadership for any mode of creative environment. I took it as output-driven and insular.
Not wishing to discount the feedback, I became interested to explore the idea of ambition, not only in exploring the truth (or not) to the review comments, but also to architecture, as a way to understand my own short-comings and those of the industry sector. Reviews like this allow the questioning of our outlook and process – a critique of development and knowledge. After all reviewers are more experienced and knowledgeable and charged as mentors for our industry – there was something to learn here, or so I respected.
Under these terms, I read ambition as a negative characteristic; a stunter to growth and value. Maybe there was truth to this. Ambition may be aggressive, threatening even, to others. Overt or extreme ambition could indicate insecurity or lack of confidence – quite possibly on both sides of the review table. Dulling ambition, I concluded, was a mechanism for protection and control, the fear of losing a commanding or hierarchical position; of being exposed.
Oscar Wilde referred to ambition as “the last refuge of failure”. In the Wilde context ambition could be construed to mean that the act and display of ambition was to cover a fear of failure. This was in part undoubtedly true, but a design response may have been more around “how do we construct a support network and create an opportunity to test this question of existing practice culture?”. Simply, “how can we help?” and “are we gaining the best out of our environment?”
Ambition can be also be present as a subtle undertone and of a quiet self-confidence. A desire to capture an idea, present it, challenge it, inspire others with it, build it, grow it. A steady and consistent belief operating in the background.
In architecture, ambition has been represented as loud, large-scale (as in ancient Roman structures) and in detail (as in Scarpa) for both a notice for non-failure and self-confidence. Ambition is also present in the passing of the vision from client to architect, to consultant team (we refer to them as the “design team” for a reason), to contractor, to sub-trades. A process bedded in actions and thoughts, and the sharing of culture values across the lanes of design.
I believe as architects we have a responsibility to contribute a design-led culture to our projects and the teams we work in. No one else in the team will introduce it nor will they be inspired to follow if we don’t present it at an intrinsic level. It is not about adding objects or frivolous fanfare – that will only get cut by the QS and Project Manager – it is about creating process everyone can take part in and something that becomes part of the underlying fabric of the brief. It is not an applied condition. It is not as a result of technical repetition – it can’t be – because almost everyone else on the team will be looking to extract it at the first review. If design becomes part of the reason and basis for how the unique and specific team works – the culture – ambition may well be subtle enough to be present in the built outcome.
Quite simply, a Sports Architect is an architect specialised in sports facilities and related structures. Buildings from arenas to community centres and playgrounds to training venues all fall within their scope of expertise. Often the stewards of Third Place Thinking™, Sports Architects like Dion Gosling are committed to providing neutral and inclusive places for social gatherings and community togetherness.
What you may not realise is many good Sports Architects have a personal connection to the work they do. A lifelong involvement in sports sometimes leads individual architects down this particular path. After all, who knows the ins and outs and subtleties of our sports facilities more than experienced athletes? A Sports Architect combines professional expertise with personal fervour for the best of both worlds and a love of Third Place.
How do Sports Architects differ?
An Architect is a licensed professional driven by technical skill, practical understanding, analytical ability plus creative flair. They collaborate with clients and community members to help transform environments for the better.
As dedicated designers for sport, recreation and leisure, a Sports Architect is a specialist at heart. They explore, interpret, guide, support, and lend technical expertise to architectural projects for sports and community outlets.
For 106 Architects’ Founder Dion Gosling, his elite high-performance hockey career and grassroots community involvement granted him worldwide access to sporting facilities. These experiences inform his architecture to consciously connect sports and community.
Sports Architects recognise how expertly designed sporting facilities can enrich the entire community, especially the lives of our youth. With that in mind, they focus on projects that have the power to connect communities via the universal language of recreation activities. They overlay and imbue intimacy, scale, volume, texture, history and tradition while considering client and users’ unique cultural values.
Why hire a Sports Architect over a normal Architect?
Unlike a typical architect, Sports Architects have devoted much of their careers to sport and leisure. Their portfolio of related projects highlights successful examples of sports venues and spatial solutions in 3D. Some may choose to subspecialise in particular building types or sporting events depending on personal preference.
You may also find that many architects specialise in one area or another to set themselves apart. Just like any other industry, someone with years of skilful experience is perfectly positioned to deliver. A generalist may meet qualifications, though the level of nuance and subtle understanding doesn’t compare. If the devil is in the details, hiring a specialist is your ticket to success.
What kind of services does a Sports Architect provide?
A Sports Architect provides all manner of sports-related services. They avail themselves to communities, groups and individual clients for sports and spatial counsel. For example, a Sports Architect may meet with community members to conceptualise the transformation of a sports park through a Masterplan. Understanding a space’s current uses and limitations from the users themselves helps steer sustainable future design.
Beyond individual considerations, a Sports Architect is often tasked with meeting the needs of various stakeholders. For example, a large sports stadium may need to accommodate athletes, coaches and spectators while heeding community concerns. Their role is to honour the perspectives of various voices when developing a Third Place and collective venue.
As is often true of public spaces, local government also has a say. Sports Architects work in tandem with city council members, university staff and other authority figures. These facilities must adhere to local and national regulations and meet all planning requirements. Beyond this, detailed design and documentation along with project management are skills in the long list of service offerings.
What does a Sports Architect do?
Fundamentally, a Sports Architect fulfils all the responsibilities of a traditional Architect for sports-related and community projects. They conceptualise a building or facility from early sketches to final blueprints and oversees project completion. Everything from building materials to budgetary considerations is added to a Sports Architect’s list of responsibilities. As with all architectural projects, the specific nature and duration of tasks vary by project.
A Sports Architect is also responsible for understanding the needs and options of their client and end-users. Many sports-related buildings are designed as public and/or community spaces with various activities and people in mind. Some facilities may serve as leisure centres for families and the general public, while others target specific professional leagues. No matter the project, a Sports Architect outlines purpose and priority when creating Third Places.
As mediators themselves, Sports Architects balance the needs of various stakeholders for any given project. A company may contract a Sports Architect to build an arena, which, in turn, will be used by local sports teams. Parents, team members and local government officials offer unique perspectives, and a Sports Architect creates a mutually beneficial design. These creative professionals combine form, function and finesse for the greater good.
Who would be the main customers/clients of a Sports Architect?
Sports Architects serve many populations, though their projects involve community interests. For example, a Sports Architect may partner with a university or school to build a facility for its student body. In that case, the client itself would be an institution and their community, a smaller segment of that group.
In other instances, Sports Architects may serve the needs of local government interested in building or renovating a community space. A local parks department may wish to add a building for leisure or recreational use to its property with the general public in mind. It might also create a community space meant for a particular sport or population whose needs would shape the building design.
At what point in the process would we get a Sports Architect involved?
In many ways, Sports Architects are like any other Architect—they’re involved in a project from the very beginning. A Sports Architect can work with Recreational Planners and other strategic thinkers to prepare an early needs analysis or feasibility for a project. There are sites to assess, people and groups to get to know, uses and collective visions to understand long before construction begins. A Sports Architect stays with you from project conception to completion.
Remember that Sports Architects are there to help, so you need not know everything before getting started. Consultations are often helpful for clients who wish to explore project feasibility at an early stage. As with any other project, architectural planning starts early.
Contact your Sports Architect – Dion at 106 Architects + Third Place Thinking™ – as early as possible to maximise your options.
