Making: 2014 – Just the Start

Making: 2014 has been successfully completed in Perth, Western Australia! Festivities began on Wednesday and Thursday of last week with local architectural tours, walking tours of Perth, and of course the official opening party, making: an entrance. Above is a capture of the large format 11×17 inch programs for the conference as well as the name tags and conference passes. The tags are all acrylic and amazingly were all laser cut at the University of Sydney by a couple of volunteers over the course of 2 days. There were three tag colors that each represented a conference registration type (yellow, pink, orange for Full, Friday only, or Saturday only). And the nifty, smaller blue tag was access to a BlueScope Steel sponsored lounge for staff and special guests.

On Thursday when I arrived, I popped into a SONA Scavenger Hunt and Master Class competition for emerging professionals (images below) with local city officials and architects reviewing the charrette outcomes. In the evening, SONA and EmAGN members attended one of two rounds of a local bar tour. It was a unique bar tour model where the architects of the bars/restaurants spoke about the design process with the emerging professionals and architects in attendance. Great food and drinks, plus some education to add to the entertainment. It was a great twist on a “bar tour” and made it a truly intimate and worthwhile experience compared to similar events I’ve attended. Following the tour, I attended the SONA (Student Organised Network for Architecture) opening party with my Australian colleagues and met students, grads, and young architects from across the country. Similar to the American Institute of Architects’ history of the Emerging Professionals Reception, individuals such as the Australian Institutes’ COO Ross Clark stopped by the celebration to welcome students and architects alike. I should mention here that with all of this time spent with emerging professionals, I did miss the official opening party, so unfortunately no photos to share. You’ll have to paint some mental pictures for that one. But in case you’re curious, the making: an entrance event was held at Perth’s State Theatre Centre of Western Australia in Northbridge.

This is all just the beginning. Stop by tomorrow to find out how early I had to be up on Friday to kick-off the day’s events!