Interview: Aaron Roberts & Kim Bridgland of Edition Office

Aaron Roberts and Kim Bridgland forged a shared perspective on social issues and interests as pertaining to the architecture industry, first as Masters students and later as co-workers. Realising their aligned intentions led the pair to found Edition Office, with the Melbourne-based practise gaining accolades for their forward-thinking projects, particularly those that are residential, ever since.

Beyond meticulous design, Roberts and Bridgland have a multifaceted and highly considered approach to their work, perceiving not just the aesthetic and function of a project but it’s cultural impact and significance, too. They aim to influence positive change on the people that interact with and are inevitably influenced by the spaces they create.

Counting collaborations with artists such as Daniel Boyd and Yhonnie Scarce as some of their most significant professional privileges to date, Roberts and Bridgland look to continue working with creatives from other disciplines, while seeking opportunity to broaden their portfolio with other building typologies. Read on for more about their industry vision, goals, and how they maintain the day-to-day running of Edition Office!

See more projects from Edition Office on Yellowtrace here.

Hawthorn House, Victoria (2016). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ Hello Aaron and Kim, welcome to Yellowtrace! Could you give us a quick introduction on yourselves and the path that lead you to establish Edition Office?

We met while studying our Masters together and although we were both at different places in our own lives at the time, we soon came to realise that we had a shared set of interests and influences, both cultural and architectural. Several years later we began working together in a previous practice with different roles and responsibilities yet over a relatively short period these shared influences and concerns for a more thoughtful output led to stronger collaborations between us within the practice. We felt the need, or perhaps the possibility, to have a public voice on social and cultural issues with the design and architecture industry in Australia and wanted our work to begin to speak to some of these concerns. There came a point at which we felt we needed to take a leap and begin a new studio together in order to clarify our intent and to practice architecture in our own particular way, hence the founding of Edition Office.

Point Lonsdale House, Victoria (2016). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ What is your main priority when starting projects? Is there something that is fundamental to your practice – your philosophy and your process?

We begin each project with the understanding that no matter what we decide to pursue in terms of a design framework, the outcome will always in some way be both a political and cultural gesture. This is because any project will exist within a landscape which has a colonial legacy that is yet to be resolved; will exist within a spectrum of wealth inequality; will exist within a deeply destabilised climate; and will also exist within a culturally loaded space, because we as the people who interact with buildings have a wonderful capacity to project and to generate meaning and significance in everything that surrounds us.
It may not be the project’s purpose to explicitly engage with these issues, but we know going in that they will be embedded within the final outcome. This is how we have come to see architecture as a kind of modifier, as an element that will have a reciprocal influence on its place and on the people that interact with and experience it. We then begin with a review of what might be possible within a particular typology and aim to create a refined framework within the architecture, reviewing how it can be used, how it’s experienced and how it’s viewed, and consider design outcomes that address a positive change. This is what I would call our baseline for starting any new project, however there are of course many influences and points of inspiration which breathe life into our work and allow them to find their own personality.
Our broader design process includes documentation of each project in a particular way where by each project is seen as a new edition to our total body of work, which adds to an ongoing archive. Each project includes a series of elemental components, important in relation to cataloguing within the archive; a key site portrait, a model and a diagram, each of which aim to capture an essential aspect of the project, which also reminds us that each project has different truths, and different ways of being seen. Projects can be complex, whether large or small, and obviously not everything can be captured through this method, however we feel it’s important to represent the work in this way to enable particular readings of a project within the studio. These readings are to enable an understanding of a key intent, or an experiential quality, or a unique attribute about a project. The Archive allows an ongoing cumulative review of the language we are using to enable the outcomes we seek through the architecture.

National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander War Memorial, Canberra (2018), in collaboration with Daniel Boyd. Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ For having only been established a few years ago, Edition Office has won an impressive series of awards and accolades. How do you foresee your practice evolving, and how do you approach growth and changes in the architecture industry?

We’re humbled and incredibly grateful by the industry support of our work over the last three years. Receiving recognition allows a growing confidence that there is interest in the way we are creating and thinking. Although we have only been established a short time, the two of us together with our excellent team have had many years of experience within the field of architecture, art and design which has enabled us to begin the practice with a very clear understanding of what we’d like to achieve, and also allows each project to begin with a clear intent.
We have established our practice on the creation of residential architecture and much of our earlier collective experience has been within this space. We have a great passion for this kind of work and in the wonderful intimacy and trust that is developed with our clients. We’re of course very excited to see these projects of domesticity continue and to evolve, however as the practice moves forward we are certainly interested in being involved in other typologies, particularly public or cultural buildings where there is an opportunity to interact with a broader community audience and allow our work to develop a stronger civic voice. Given this interest it’s likely the practice will evolve over time in a way to support larger scales of this kind of work. The architecture industry in our experience is always changing, adapting to social, cultural, political and environmental shifts. It is both an exciting and also urgent time to be practicing architecture, particularly given both the climate emergency and what we see as an increasing sensitivity and respect towards our indigenous culture, the traditional owners of the land in which we practice.

Art Bank, Victoria (2018). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ How is your studio structured? i.e. How many of you work in the studio, what types of skills do you have in-house, is there anything you are outsourcing, and how many projects do you handle at any one time?

Our studio has a fairly simple structure, currently with 8 staff. Alongside the two Directors and an office manager our staff are all experienced architects w ho bring with them skills and processes that they have developed in other studios. Typically we also have a student or recent graduate whom we hope to impart with knowledge and skills, which is something that we both felt the great benefit of. Being a small studio, we rely enormously on each of our talented project architects to be good multi taskers and to take on a lot of responsibility in managing our projects from start to finish. We complete everything in house with the occasional out-sourcing of the more photo-realistic rendering when we deem it important or it’s required by a client. We are working on 20 – 30 projects at various stages of design at any one time.

Hawthorn House, Victoria (2016). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ How do you organise and manage the competing demands of modern business and life? Do you have any tip or tricks you could share with us that help you in your day to day (i.e. software, online tools, shortcuts, task management, cheat sheets, advisors, anything!)

Like many in the industry and small business generally we find it a challenge to manage life / work balance with the demands of contemporary life. We hope that as the practice becomes more established we can better align this balance, but it is incredibly important to us that we respect our team and to stay within regular business hours and that our staff all leave no later than 6; however there is the, thankfully occasional, time that we stray outside of these hours. Our team all have their own individual lives to lead, and its vital that we’re all allowed to grow and be nourished as people first, and only then can we all practice good architecture.
Like any business we look for ways of streamlining administration so we can focus on the key aspects to the practice, which for us are design and construction activities. We have been reviewing since the inception of the practice how to better integrate systems to enable a streamlining of repetitive admin tasks, which could allow for more time on briefing and design. Our processes are still evolving, however systems like Coincraft which is a project, human resource, and cashflow software allows a good overview of the practice and areas requiring improvement. Using other cloud based accounting also has benefits and makes administrative tasks more efficient, software such as Xero, workflow max and the like.
We have found that there is a great deal of time re-working design to meet the best outcome for a project and that this process can be shortened by creating a very detailed brief from the beginning of a project and allow this brief to be a live document throughout the design process. This keeps the focus in line with the brief during the life of the design process. All of this is meaningless without a cracking and inspired team of architects to support the work. This is a priority.

Point Lonsdale House, Victoria (2016). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ What do you consider to have been a turning point or defining moment in your career as architects thus far? Has there been one project, one client, or an important set of skills you’ve developed that has changed the course of your practice?

We were both practicing prior to forming edition office, however deciding to form this new studio has been an important and challenging shift for us both. The ability to begin with a fresh mandate, to question the way we have practiced before, to allow an alternate language and method to re-shape our thinking has been incredibly valuable and energizing.
Perhaps one of the most important skills we have gained as architects is an ability to communicate well, to our clients, our team and collaborators, our builders. There are so may hands on a project and so many external forces that influence a project. Being able to navigate these with good communication is so important and often hard to maintain. In a way we spend more time doing this than any other task.

Gertrude Contemporary Gallery, Victoria (2018). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ What do you feel is the most challenging part of being an architect today? And if you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

The speed of practice is challenging. There appears to be less possibility to pause and reflect on a design or the practice direction generally before moving to the next stage in the design process or project. Decisions feel more rapid in the current climate. It’s important to allow for these moments of reflection, to recognise when a project or the practice is deviating from it’s core values. What one thing would we change – in contrast to the previous point, perhaps like many industries, we believe there is an over reliance on having had proven experience in a particular field of work in order to be considered for a project. This is a slow pathway. We believe this stifles innovation and new language. We know of so many young practices in Australia who would deliver remarkable buildings beyond the scale of a house for instance but won’t be offered larger public projects because of the way tenders or EOI’s are geared towards established practice with a proven track record in these particular project types. This is born of a risk adverse tendering process. It’s very hard to generate great architectural outcomes without some risk. Changing this requirement from experience in type to “are they talented?”, or have they delivered great results in other types? If so they’ll likely deliver a great outcome. Or partner them with a “mentor” practice if in doubt. This would also enable more voices with far greater diversity to be engaging in and leading the conversations that shape our cities which can only allow for a more sophisticated evolution of our towns and cities.

Fish Creek House, Victoria (2016). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ What are your main sources of inspiration and references you are drawn to regularly – i.e. books, magazines, websites/ blogs, podcasts etc.?

We both have a love of books, monographs and essays. Anything which allows deeper insights into our own thinking. Critical journals are also an important influence, Real Review for instance being an excellent example. Artists and art institutions continue to have an important influence on our work. Online, dare we say it, Instagram is an important link to the people and institutions we follow, to our peers and friends in the industry and arts, allowing us to stay connected to their current outputs. In many ways it has replaced some of the blogs or websites we used to follow more regularly, as it’s a tailored list of influences and interests in one portal. Yes it can be a shallow or surface reading of others output, however we have found that it is more a prompt, to then dive deeper into a particular project or issue of interest that has presented through the network. Podcasts too are great for the time poor! Late night Live, the paris review, the minefield. Nothing really compares to opening a great book though right?

Mount Martha House, Victoria (2016). Photography by Ben Hosking.

+ Who or what are some of your influences? What other designers, peers and creatives, in general, do you admire?

As mentioned we love a good book, and someone like G J Ballard will always seem relevant, but the writing of anthropologist Michael Taussig opened us up to a more playful use of language and taught us to be open to as wide a range of references and sources of knowledge as possible, not just the architectural. Artists such as Theaster Gates are an influence, as his work and his ethics are inseparable. His work definitely teaches you that each action you take exists within a pre existing political and cultural system and it’s up to you to figure out what that system is and whether you want to support it or challenge it. Being blind to the context that you work within simply enables and reinforces the status quo of that system, so it’s best to be sure that you really want to do that.
Closer to home it’s been such a privilege to work with and to learn from artists Daniel Boyd and Yhonnie Scarce. We’ve been such big fans of their work for years and we’re incredibly proud to have had the opportunity to work side by side with them both on projects of such deep significance.

+ What advice would you give to emerging architects? What was one of your biggest lessons learned since starting your practice?

Go out and meet people, the people you want to work with, your peers, organisations and institutions that you feel may support the kind of work or direction of your practice. It won’t just come to you, or if it does it will likely take a lot longer. Architecture is equally about relationships, teams, networks, collaborations as it is the work or the project. We love a good collaboration! This and have a business plan. But equally, learn deeply, and learn widely. We make architecture but we make it for people who are wonderful, idiosyncratic and complex, not for other architects, never forget that. Be true to yourself and have the courage to develop work that is meaningful and authentic, which will always give you more satisfaction than trying to stay in trend.

In Absence NGV Commission, Victoria, in collaboration with Yhonnie Scarce. Renders by Edition Office.

+ What would be your dream creative project or a collaboration?

We’d love the opportunity to work on a larger scale cultural or public building. Although we’re only small, it would be a dream to be the creator behind projects such as the new NGV Contemporary, or at the other end of the spectrum, to design a home for a thinker & writer such as Arundhati Roy or perhaps go back in time and design a house for the late Walter De Maria.

+ What’s next – can you share with us your vision, some of your goals (and some of your current projects)?

We’re looking to continue our collaborations with artists and creative thinkers from other disciplines while seeking opportunities to broaden the kinds of building types we’re involved in. Equally we are seeking new methods of practice, material investigation, specification and social interaction to allow for a far more sustainable and circular approach to design and our built outcomes. This is now critical for all practices.
We are finishing a number of exciting projects this year, one of which is the 2019 NGV Architectural Commission, designed in collaboration with artist Yhonnie Scarce, due to open early November.

Kim Bridgland and Aaron Roberts of Edition Office. Photo by Peter Tarasiuk.

Edition Office studio space. Photo by Peter Tarasiuk.

LET’S GET REAL!

+ What’s the best mistake you have ever made?

AR: Starting a practice, making mistakes, learning, starting another.
KB: Leaving a very excellent bottle of whisky at my soon to be wife’s apartment before I even knew who she was.

+ Best piece of advice you’ve been given?

AR: Travel as much as you can.
KB: Trust yourself.

+ Your most treasured belonging?

AR: This kind of question tends to lead me to a belonging that holds memories, the more the better. Although it’s gathered a solid level of dust in recent times, a guitar that my father had made for me is high on my list, linking to memories of him alongside many gigs and rehearsals with friends during a more carefree youth.
KB: The old and worn out dining chairs that used to belong to my mother, I want to somehow keep these going forever. I’m also particularly fond of a beautiful old steel framed trestle table that I found on the side of the road.

+ What’s one thing other people may not know about you?

AR: Early in my career I naively tried to open a studio in Osaka. It turns out an apartment, or rather a hallway on the eighth floor sandwiched between three levels of highway and a fire station is not conducive to clear thinking or gaining new clients.
KB: I came into architecture quite late. Due to poor health I never finished high school and it took me a long time physically to be in a position to even contemplate something as enormous as studying.

+ It’s not very cool, but I really like…

AR: Disappearing and reading sci-fi ; A glimpse to a potential future.
KB: Staying at home for an entire weekend! I’m a classic introvert, and sometimes the best thing I can imagine is to say no to everything and just stay home and recharge.