Habitus Magazine | Issue 21

The late Leslie Marchant was a great scholar of Chinese history and of French maritime exploration in Australia. He was also my teacher at the University of Western Australia where he never tired of reminding his students that “There is no such place as Asia”.

Here at Habitus we speak of the Region – roughly meaning the AsiaPacific – which narrows things down a little, so I hope Les won’t hold it against us.

But like Les, we at Habitus aim to encourage engagement with our near northern neighbours. Actually, for its part South East Asia doesn’t require any encouragement as those countries see themselves as part of a geo-political ecology, anyway. So, the issue really is whether Australia wants engagement. Arguably – and notwithstanding recent political rhetoric – Australia is less engaged now than at any time since the War. In fact, it was the War which forced Australia to engage and, to the credit of some enlightened politicians, this was sustained after the War through things like the Colombo Plan, other aid programmes and SEATO. There has, of course, been a huge increase in trade since restrictions on the export of iron ore were lifted in the late 1960s. But trade is not the same thing as engagement. It may simply be a case knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Yet, in this issue we feature two Australian architects who have embraced the values of Asian (sorry, Les) cultures with astonishing results. Scott Whittaker went to Bangkok more than 20 years ago for a two year stint. He is still there and running an amazingly successful international, multi-disciplinary design practice. His new home in Bangkok (a make-over of a shophouse) is a beautiful fusion of modern functionalism with a traditional building, while also being the perfect neighbour in a very Bangkok precinct.

Then we look at the splendid new monograph on Kerry Hill who grew up and trained in Perth, but left in 1971 and who has been living in Singapore since 1979. Hill’s elegant and serene work is as good as ‘tropical modern’ gets. But what makes it stand out is the way in which Hill goes beyond replication or even analogies of South East Asian design, to embody the spirit of every place where he builds.

In design, as in anything else, what matters is to go beyond a materialistic relationship, and engage in a spiritual relationship because only in this way can we put meaning into our lives. In architecture this is often the result of an understanding of materiality. And this, in turn, is not just about using gorgeous materials, but more to do with how we inhabit a space. Kerry Hill, Ernesto Bedmar and Boonlert Hemvijitraphan are three examples who immediately spring to mind of architects who work with light and shade, texture and the silence of space – a special kind of music – to create a spiritual amplitude in their buildings. This is true materiality.

Just as modernism was never a style, so ‘tropical modernism’ is not a style, but an approach to creating appropriate architecture, engaging with the spirit of a place and the people who live there. Engagement across cultures is a means to greater cultural richness, but is at the same time its own reward.

PAUL MCGILLICK | EDITOR