How this architecture firm is making its mark in 21st-century Canberra

Of course it all started with Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who along with wife Marion Mahony Griffin laid out the foundations of the nation's capital.

This plan has particularly resonated in recent months as the garden city concept, with well-connected green spaces has made it less risky for Canberrans to go outside during the coronavirus pandemic.

From the 1920s to 1940s, government architects dominated the city as workers cottages were built across Forrest, Griffith, Barton, Kingston, Ainslie and Reid.

But perhaps it was the 1960s where Canberra's architecture came into a world of its own.

The Italian-born Enrico Taglietti arrived in Canberra in the mid-1950s where he saw a blank canvas and over the preceding two decades he would paint his brutalist-style brush across Canberra - designing both public and private spaces.

Then there was the likes of Robin Boyd, Roy Grounds and Harry Seidler, who brought mid-century modernism architecture which would rival that of California.

Mid-century modernism and brutalism would then be reflected in the national institutions - the High Court, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.

Fast forward to the 21^st century and Canberra has seen a shift to higher density and urban infill. One architecture firm has already started to make its mark in the capital in the new millennium.

Melbourne-based firm Fender Katsalidis was approached by Molonglo Group in 2001. The Canberra-based developer had acquired a prime block of land in Acton five years before, which housed a heritage-listed hotel and other smaller, derelict buildings.

Molonglo had a vision that over the next 15 years would ultimately be fulfilled by Fender Katsalidis director David Sutherland. This would become the New Acton precinct.

The precinct helped to re-brand Canberra's image, as its cutting-edge design brought with it an energy which would make Canberrans more used to the idea of high density.

But this didn't come quickly or easily, and during the design process Sutherland says there were many back-and-forth negotiations with the National Capital Authority.

"For the first five years we were going through a bit of an exploration of what was possible because what we achieved in the end was not possible at the start," he says.

"What we had to do is have various conversations with organisations and authorities, about how we could take the sensibility about what could be achieved on that site from where it was to where it should be."

By this, Sutherland means the building height, given the existing site was a low-density heritage area.

"We started to think about Canberra not relying so heavily on the car but Canberra relying heavily on the life coming out of pedestrians," he says.

"How do we start to have a city where street life is about people rather than vehicles moving on them?

"That would necessitate more than three storey buildings, which is essentially what they were talking about at the time."

Sutherland says there were many discussions with the National Capital Authority about how older buildings could relate to newer ones and how a higher density precinct could be created while the Griffin legacy was maintained.

"We bought with us, I suppose, a Sydney-based urban design sensibility, which for us is always about people, the interactions between people, the interrelationships, the many voices and many conversations one has in the urban environment and that's very much a sensibility which drives our work," he says.

"We were thinking about how that could be bought into Canberra, and at the same time, the National Capital Authority was thinking about the plan of Griffin and how it was very much based on a fantastic urbanity, which had been lost throughout the decades and they were wishing to bring that urbanity back into Canberra through the Griffin legacy."

Sutherland had obviously impressed the planning authorities in Canberra, as he was invited onto the design review panel for the former Land Development Agency. He was a panel member for about eight years and throughout that time he had met many industry stakeholders. Authorities had also invited him to undertake planning studies.

As a result, Fender Katsalidis' work would catch the eye of other developers. The firm would develop 2-4 National Circuit in Barton, a government office block, which housed the former Patents Office.

Sutherland says they were recommended to the project's developer, ISPT as being the best architects in Canberra.

"I was intrigued and excited we were considered local architects in Canberra," he says.

The vision for this was to bring life into Barton, Sutherland says.

"Our drive towards community drove us to consider this precinct being the heart of a broader precinct," he says

"We are concerned in Barton, people tend to drive rather than walk because there is very little interest for pedestrians. The buildings didn't deface with the street that much, they tended to be far more individual and isolated, surrounded by cars but not by life.

"What we tried to do here and succeeded was to create buildings which are related to the street, so to create an environment of enjoyment for pedestrians, which provides linkages for people walking around Barton."

A lot of Fender Katsalidis' designs have yet to appear in Canberra's skyline as some of its prominent projects will be built in the coming years.

Sutherland has been brought onto design a number of projects by Geocon, including the completed Midnight Hotel in Braddon, the Republic precinct in Belconnen, the Garema Place hotel development and the Kingston Arts Precinct.

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This partnership with Geocon began through Sutherland's work with the Design Review Panel. One the planning studies he had done was for the site in Belconnen, which would become Republic.

"Geocon when they bought the site asked who was the architect that had done that and they said FK, Fender Katsalidis, so Geocon contacted me about going forward and we just had a conversation really about what their aspirations were," he says.

"They were trying to work out who we were and what we did and we just talked a bit and then started to work together.

"We brought our design sensibility and they have brought their development nous... their restless spirit and it's been a very interesting and rewarding partnership."

Outside of Canberra, Fender Katsalidis has designed several prominent buildings, including the Museum of Old and New Art, better known as MONA, in Hobart.

Australian Institute of Architects ACT chapter president Shannon Battisson says Fender Katsalidis brought back a renewed energy for not only architecture in Canberra, but also new life.

"I think Fender Katsalidis have done an incredible thing for Canberra, especially with their work in the New Acton precinct," she says.

"They fought hard to get something into the Canberra landscape that hadn't really been seen here before, and they paved the way for others to show Canberra's adventurous heart.

"In our early days we were seen as a place for architectural experimentation and bold gestures, but for a time there we lost that. I think that Fender Katsalidis were one of the first big firms to bring that back and to celebrate that Canberra is so much more than the home of Australian politics, and that we deserve an architectural identity that reflects that."

A reoccurring theme across Fender Katsalidis' work is that of precincts - a series of buildings within a development that have different uses such as commercial, retail, hotel, offices and residential apartments.

Sutherland says this is a great interest of the firm as it allows an architect to have an influence around the human life and activity around the building.

"It takes our work beyond the building as a singular object and being able to create an environment always for people," he says.

"It starts to fold the interrelationships between buildings but more importantly the spaces in between as being highly important spaces, in other words if you are doing a single building, the external space around you can influence part of that but other influences are coming from adjoining buildings or adjoining uses.

"Within a precinct you can start to curate that somewhat better. You can start to look at uses within the buildings and how you see those across the precinct so therefore you can start to places where they are best located to curate a great environment for people with the freedom you simply don't get with an individual building."

While Sutherland has never lived in Canberra, he has formed quite the relationship with the city and its people over the past 20 years.

"In Melbourne, where I have lived for more than 60 years and I never meet as many people on the street as I know as I do in Canberra," he says.

"One of the great things about Canberra it's a very convivial place and so what happens is that because you are meeting and knowing people in Canberra, the place becomes far more memorable and desirable as a result.

"It's not only the physicality of the place, it's the fact of over 20 years I have gained a lot of friends in Canberra and so there's a familiarity and delight. At the same time it's not the place I have lived or worked out of and therefore there's also the joy of discovering."

Sutherland is a great fan of the Griffin Plan, but he also loves the nooks and crannies, the small spaces of the city.

"A lot of the traditional public architecture of Canberra that is just so good and so I always enjoy visiting the classic icons in the Parliamentary Triangle," he says.

"I love the Griffin Plan for Canberra, it's the way it combines what were then symbols of very fledgling symbols of democracy with the landscape of the area is extraordinary and is the best example in the world, I believe.

"What I also love are the small spaces of Canberra... you have little small spaces around Garema Place there and are just so important to the life of Canberra because Canberra has too much of the monumental and the empty and is accordingly bereft of life."

Where Canberra could do better is by lessening its reliance on the car, Sutherland says.

"[Canberra] became so beholden to the car and there were too many spaces which were designed for the speed of the car, rather than the pace of the pedestrian," he says.

"Canberra was typified by very large spaces, which pedestrians, who are the life of the city, would find difficult to negotiate and navigate and so starting with New Acton and continuing with all our works in Canberra, our focus in Canberra has been on not only understanding and responding to the symbolic nature of the built form in Canberra but very importantly creating life for people within those, and therefore we see ourselves creating smaller spaces rather than larger spaces."