Alison Alder and Mini Graff: Some Posters / Local Positions — 6 March to 18 April 2015

Alison Alder and Mini Graff: Some Posters / Local Positions — 6 March to 18 April 2015   

On Friday 6 March at 6pm Julie Ewington opens an exhibition by Alison Alder and Mini Graff, 'Some Posters / Local Positions' for Future Feminist Archive presented by Contemporary Art and Feminism for the 40th Anniversary of International Women’s Year.
Talks by Mini Graff and Charles Pickett, curator and historian, Saturday 21 March.

Exhibition dates: 6 March to Saturday 18 April 2015.

The exhibition Some Posters / Local Positions aims to blur the line between studio, street and social/political art practice. A modus operandi of artists Alison Alder and Mini Graff is to use a fluid community residency to engage with social justice issues; their print and poster works or stencils often pose puzzling, persuading or provoking questions. Both artists are also renowned high-end printmakers and teachers.
 
Some Posters / Local Positions contributes to Future Feminist Archive, an expanded project for the 40th Anniversary of International Women’s Year (1975) comprising exhibitions, symposia and artist talks. The Cross Art Projects is making a yearlong contribution to the anniversary and will help investigate some of the many forms that a Future Feminist Archive might take — real and virtual, activist action! Some Posters / Local Positions pays homage to the feminist artists who worked with community groups pre-empting what is now called socially engaged art practice and is working with the group Women in Public Housing.

The artists have created new works about the struggle by a small public housing community in Millers Point and The Rocks to save their homes. A former maritime community’s battle against a cruel upheaval and state social cleansing has created a national scandal and is emblematic of the real-life impacts of the housing affordability crisis and its disproportionate impact on the aged, single women (estimated at over 60%) and single parent families as smaller inner-city housing estates are now high land value areas.

Mini Graff, Pipped at the post (Dominos), 2015. Acrylic screen print on 100gsm litho. Pipped at the post (Dominos) responds to the public housing sell-off in Millers Point and The Rocks and the greater issue of public housing and housing affordability in Sydney and NSW, especially for the elderly, women and children.

At Millers Point and in The Rocks, developers are likely to be given access to a fire sale of historic properties and it seems they may even be able to purchase consolidated lots of housing. Meanwhile, in adjacent former docklands, the vision of a gambling billionaire and Lend Lease corporation’s $6 billion Barangaroo South high-density housing project is openly facilitated by government as an ‘engine of growth’.

Some Posters / Local Positions is an intergenerational project: Alison Alder was a major force in political poster making in the 1980s and beyond in remote Aboriginal communities. Therefore, classic works, such as Alder’s ‘Even a man can do it’ (1981) and Mini Graff’s response two decades later, are included. The artists have undertaken several prior dialogical projects at Megalo in Canberra and have both worked independently on housing issues: Alison in Wollongong with Redback Graphix and Mini around the Green Bans that saved several historic Australian inner cities.

Alison Alder worked in the traditional screen-printing workshops of Megalo Print Studio (Canberra 1980–1982 and 2008–2014) and Redback Graphix (Wollongong and Sydney from 1985 to 1993) known for high visibility full colour blasts on bleak streets. Pink power heralded their 1985 International Women's Day poster (Alison Alder with Leonie Lane.) Later Alison worked within Indigenous organisations in the Northern Territory, primarily for Julalikari Council in Tennant Creek.

As street posters and protests waned and gentrification picked up speed, printmaking moved to low-tech stencils with Mini Graff's whimsical or satirical posters and stencils appearing as fleeting messages — sometimes about the satirical corporations Grab and U-Spend — and occasionally in projects such as the ‘Green Bans Art Walk’ (2011). Mini’s style owes much to the power of the dot-screen and mass media images. Mini's art work extends to touring with the Mays Lane project and regional workshops (Lake Macquarie City Gallery and Megalo Print Studio) and, recently, 'Behind this smile', a project about racism and cultural stereotypes (Hobson’s Bay area in Victoria).

What is saved is not always safe. Post-Green Ban Sydney has been shaped by three decades of anti-union political rhetoric and a move away from public housing to more aesthetic-sounding and more selective corporate management as signaled by the rising towers of Barangaroo with its generic arts precinct. In a battle for survival, inner city arts institutions are played off against each other — the MCA against the nearby Powerhouse (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences). Meanwhile Sydney’s streets and habitats are rendered contraband for art (political posters, stencils) other than the facade of polite and conforming streetscapes and public sculpture.  

Mini Graff, Pipped at the post (Dominos), 2015. Set of 6 posters.	Mini Graff, Pipped at the post (Dominos), 2015. Set of 6 posters. Pipped at the post (Dominos) responds to the public housing sell-off in Millers Point and The Rocks and the greater issue of public housing in Sydney and NSW.

Mini Graff, Pipped at the post (Dominos), 2015. Set of 6 posters.	Mini Graff, Pipped at the post (Dominos), 2015. Set of 6 posters.

Alison Alder, Real Estate, 2015.	Alison Alder, Get Out Quick, 2015.	Alison Alder, Goodbye from Sirius, 2015.

Alison Alder, Anyone Can Do It, screen print on multiple paper bags, 2013.

‘No Surrender’: Background to a Public Housing Fire-Sale


In a media blitz on 19 March 2014, the Minister for Family and Community Services, trumpeted that the New South Wales state government will auction off 293 high-value public housing properties in Millers Point, Gloucester Street and the Sirius building in The Rocks. They would relocate the 590 evicted residents.

Residents immediately received a letter titled 'Moving To A New Home' promising a 'comprehensive relocation strategy’ and housing preference in the closest social housing allocation zones. The people who built the city were being evicted from it to make way for the new upper middle class.
When Mike Baird became NSW Premier in April 2014 he said: 'I have a deep respect for every single person in this state. And I will serve every single one of them with every ounce of my being'. (Sean Nicholls, News Review, Sydney Morning Herald, 26-27 April 2014, p 35. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/mike-baird-the-new-man-at-the-top-20140425-379jy.html#ixzz301lOkrTA)

Yet, a year into the government’s 2-year 'relocation' plan and the building of the massive towers of the Barangaroo development encroach on this national heritage-listed precinct as residents are still stalked by ‘relocation officers’ and assaulted by the noise and dust of often around-the-clock construction. On 4 August 2014 the government’s inhumanity was brought to the United Nations' Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (5th session), by Kim Boettcher, solicitor for The Aged-care Rights Service (TARS) who drew attention to the plight of tenants of social housing at Millers Point and The Rocks, and of other older persons, and a Women in Public Housing steering committee was formed to highlight the particular need to house women, the aged and single families.

There are over 55,000 people on the waiting list for public housing. Since coming to office, the NSW State Government has sold more public housing properties than it has built, using proceeds from asset sales to pay for maintenance on existing properties rather than funding the construction of new dwellings. Sydney Council, meanwhile, downgraded its ‘affordable housing’ target from 10% to 7.5% of new dwellings. The 2014 NSW State Budget forecasts a net increase in the number of people supported in social housing of zero.

On 20 August 2014 the Barangaroo Authority lost its Supreme Court appeal over $1 billion in developer contributions by the developer Lend Lease for the site. On the same day Millers Point residents were holding a vigil outside a Sydney real estate office that was reportedly selling off state-owned Millers Point properties. Lend Lease has been in talks with non-government housing managers about meeting their affordable housing targets for the Barangaroo development off-site. Millers Point is seen as a potential site, presumably with the more high-value Georgian and Victorian terrace houses being saved and the early twentieth century model workers housing demolished.
The sell-off of public housing assets speeds the divide in Australia’s cities — between young and old, rich and poor, the outer suburbs and the inner city. If unchecked these sales have real consequences for our future.

Reg Mombassa created the  ‘No Surrender’ logo of a beret-wearing firebrand for the tenants and many visual artists and photographers are quietly participating in the struggle.

 

Future Feminist Archive, artists, activists, curators and locals for 40th Anniversary of International Women's Day. Lineup at XAP: Women in Public Housing members Allana Walton, Wendy Ford and Eddie Lloyd (ALP candidate for Sydney) with opening speaker Julie Ewington and artist Alison Alder.	Future Feminist Archive, artists, activists, curators and locals for 40th Anniversary of International Women's Day at XAP.

Alison Alder, 'Get Out Quick', 2015. Alison Alder, 'Goodbye from Sirius', 2015. Alison Alder, 'Real Estate', 2015.	Alison Alder, Even a Man can do it, 1981. Silkscreen on paper bag. Courtesy CCAS Collection.

Installation view, Mini Graff, Pipped at the post (Dominos), 2015. Set of 6 Acrylic screen prints.	Installation detail: Mini Graff, Sorry, 2015. Set of 5 Acrylic screen prints.

 
 
Links

Alison Alder at http://alisonalder.com/
Mini Graff at http://minigraff.com/

History and Background: Millers Point  A community under the hammer
SMH Interactive Millers Point Community History Site  at http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/place.html
Tenant News, Tenants Union, November 2014 > Download pdf
Read the Sirius history here

Campaign Updates

The Official Millers Point, Dawes Point and the Rocks Tenants is https://www.facebook.com/millerspointsaveourhomes
The Brown Couch at http://tunswblog.blogspot.com.au/
Tenants Union Clearing House Page - http://clearinghousetunsw.blogspot.com.au/
Edwina Lloyd - https://www.facebook.com/Eddie4Sydney
Millers Point and the United Nations at http://tunswblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/millers-point-and-united-nations.html and
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rats-plague-vulnerable-elderly-of-millers-point-un-told-20140802-zzf72.html
Barangaroo a plague on all their houses, SMH, August 25, 2013 at http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/barangaroo-a-plague-on-all-their-houses-20130824-2sied.html



http://crossart.com.au/home/index.php/archive/272-some-posters-positions-for-future-feminist-archive
 

Nile is godsend for Millers Point residents

August 13, 2015

By CHRISTOPHER HARRIS

 The long battle for Millers Point residents against the state government to remain in their homes might be coming to an end, with early signs suggesting the residents may be the victors.

City Hub can reveal last Thursday NSW Christian Democrat MLC  Fred Nile, who holds the balance of power, visited some of the 100 residents and said the government must allow them to stay in the area.
Speaking to City Hub, he was critical of the government’s “lack of humanity” in how they had handled the issue.
The move comes after Social Housing Minister Brad Hazzard wrote to Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich on August 4, stating that the relocation of certain residents and alternative options could be reconsidered due to “extenuating circumstances”.
“While the timing of relocations remains geared to making properties available for sale as quickly as possible, following representation and discussions of which you are well aware, I am actively considering the question of whether there should be exceptions, extensions or alternative measures for tenants in particular extenuating circumstances,” Mr Hazzard wrote.
Mr Hazzard’s office did not respond to City Hub’s questions.
The Baird Government started selling off homes in the suburb last year, on the premise that the revenue from each house could build three new social housing dwellings.
But the decision about evicting the remaining tenants could be out of the government’s hands, as Mr Nile said he was committed to helping the group of mainly elderly residents.
He said the most import issue surrounding the sell off of property in Millers Point was to accommodate and allow the remaining residents to continue in living in that area.
He said one option was to make to Sirius building be made available to residents.
“The Sirius building that they’re cleaning the residents out of, which is a very strong, well built building, could be used to maintain that village atmosphere for remaining residents of Millers Point,” he said.
“That would be my proposal for the remaining 100 or so residents that they should either live in their homes or be transferred to the Sirius building.
“[It should] be maintained and painted white as it was originally designed by the architect, instead of in that very dirty grey colour which it is at the moment.”
He said it was a cruel situation that current residents who had been moved by Housing NSW to Liverpool and Bankstown were travelling back every day to visit friends and be around the remaining residents.
“I am pretty critical of the government’s lack of humanity in how they’ve handled this entire issue,” he said.
Chairman of the Millers Point, Dawes Point, The Rocks and Walsh Bay Resident Action Group John McInerney wanted to know the details of the minister’s exceptions and extenuating circumstances, and welcomed the visit from Reverend Nile.
“We believe we recently had a victory after a visit from Fred Nile and it was very productive, and he has told us he is going to help all those remaining,” he said.
“We haven’t actually heard any positive results up till now from all our proposals and suggestions, and this is first time we have indication of possible positive response.”
He said the government will have difficulty moving the remaining residents because they were committed to staying in the area.
“So they will have to be physically ejected from their houses, particularly if it’s a 70 year old woman. Are they going to throw her out on the street?”
“The bulk of remaining residents are elderly and dependent on the current community for physical and emotional support, and they will have difficulty getting that if they’re forced to move to a new area, because it is hard to get new connections at that age.”
Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich welcomed the political actions and said forced evictions was a dangerous move.
“Millers Point has been a safe and stable home for many tenants who are aged, frail and have complex needs. Forced evictions of these tenants would cause avoidable harm to their health and mental health,” he said.
“I appreciate the time the minister [Brad Hazzard] has taken to meet with and hear from the residents of Millers Point and his compassionate consideration of alternatives that could keep some tenants in the community they have built.”

RESOURCED: http://www.altmedia.net.au/reasons-for-hope-for-millers-point-residents-as-nile-opposes-eviction/108633 

The last remaining residents of Sydney’s landmark Sirius building hit out at public housing sell-off

 James Gorman August 12, 2015 12:00AM      

Only seven residents remain at the Sirius tower in Millers Point. Source: News Corp Australia

         

IT IS one of Sydney’s landmark buildings but today, the Sirius public housing block — with its stunning vistas of Sydney Harbour — is a lonely ghost town. 
        

There are only seven tenants still living in the 79-unit complex, the rest having already moved out ahead of the State Government’s controversial sell-off.


Dimly lit, empty hallways echo as you walk through them, while signs taped to the walls notify residents that the building’s once-bustling communal facilities are no longer accessible.  

Cherie Johnson, Myra Demetriou and Maureen Hansen have refused to budge from their homes. Picture: Danny Aarons Source: News Corp Australia

Security guards are a constant presence, questioning any visitors.

Sirius was purpose-built in 1979 to accommodate social housing tenants displaced by redevelopment in The Rocks, a famous victory for union leader Jack Mundey’s Green Ban movement.


But more than 35-years later, history is repeating itself as the State Government moves forward with its plans to evict the entire Millers Point public housing community, including Sirius, in an act described by State Independent MP Alex Greenwich as “social cleansing”.




Cherie Johnson, 59 who has lived in Sirius for 35-years said she would be unable to cope with the loss of her community if forced to leave.

Notices in the building advise that locks have been changed. Source: News Corp Australia

  “I can still remember when my mother and I first moved here and it felt like we had won the lottery, we had always lived together, we were mother and daughter but also like sisters,” she recalled.

“She recently passed away but the only saving grace is that she didn’t have to go through this.


“I feel as though if I am forced to move to another place I will curl up into a little ball and die.”
Like Mr Greenwich, Ms Johnson said the State Government’s Millers Point sell-off amounted to a social cleansing of the historic area.


“It is with great arrogance that they have treated us, as if we are not worthy of living here anymore,” she said.


“We were worthy many moons ago … now they are realising they can make money by kicking us out. It is like a social cleansing and it is a heartless and soulless move.



The once-bustling common area is now deserted. Picture: Danny Aarons (and below) Source: News Corp Australia

       



The entrance foyer is also empty. Source: News Corp Australia

       

Deserted hallways in the Sirius. Source: News Corp Australia

   

“People talk about the views here but that is all secondary, for us it is the community. We all love and care about one another.


“We need a mix of people living in Sydney otherwise it is them and us with classes and that is not Sydney, that is not Australia, that is not who we are supposed to be.”


MINISTER GIVES HOPE TO MILLERS POINT RESIDENTS


HERITAGE FEARS OVER MILLERS POINT RENOVATIONS


The Sirius building is causing a rift between the State Government and the Office of Environment and Heritage, which argues the apartment block is of historical significance because of its design and the fact that it was associated with the Green Bans of the 1970s.


Family and Community Services opposes a heritage listing saying that it would deprive the state of sale proceeds.

MYRA REFUSES TO BUDGE

One of Millers Point’s oldest residents says she has no intention of leaving her historic home after 54 years within the pioneer precinct.


Having started a family in Millers Point, raised her children, Ruth and James, and buried her husband, Nicos, 88-year old Myra Demetriou, who is now legally blind, simply wants the right to age in peace within her Sirius apartment.


From her 10th-floor apartment, which displays the iconic SOS lights synonymous with the Millers Point sell-off, Ms Demetriou said she wouldn’t give up without a fight.

Myra Demetriou in her 10th-floor apartment. Picture: Danny Aarons Source: News Corp Australia

“I was very angry when I first heard that Sirius was under threat and I did all the right things — I answered the letters straight away and I got notes from my doctors who said that I can’t move away from the area due to my health,” Ms Demetriou said.

“This is my home, my children went to school here, and I know everyone. This whole thing has been pretty badly handled by the government; it is going to take a lot more to beat me — this is my home and this is where I am going to stay.


“Millers Point is the oldest white settlement in the country and it should be preserved with the people.”


Ms Demetriou said her ties to Millers Point stemmed from community bonds with residents.
“I am so close to everything I know, and I get to meet so many lovely people,” she said.



Ms Demetriou said while she was dubious about Social Housing Minister Brad Hazzard’s recent comments promising to examine “exceptions” to the forced sell-off, she remained hopeful.

Minister for Family and Community Services and Social Housing Brad Hazzard. Source: News Corp Australia

 “I am glad he made those comments — any hope is good hope,” she said.

Mr Hazzard said his department would continue to work with the remaining tenants on their relocation needs.


Since launching the sell-off more than a year ago, the NSW Government has sold 23 former public houses, earning more than $50 million. Another six homes are scheduled to be auctioned on August 25.


The government is using the money raised from the Millers Point sales on new social housing projects within the Sydney area.

RESOURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/the-last-remaining-residents-of-sydneys-landmark-sirius-building-hit-out-at-public-housing-sell-off/story-fngr8h22-1227478645349 

Minister considers relocation exemptions for some public housing residents at The Rocks

By Jayne Margetts and Thuy Ong  Fri 7 Aug 2015, 8:28am    

Photo: Residents of the Sirius building want the State Government to halt the relocation process. (ABC News: Jayne Margetts)      

 

Public housing tenants facing eviction at The Rocks in inner Sydney are calling on the New South Wales Government to stop the relocation process while alternative options are considered.

The State Government is selling off homes at Millers Point, including the Sirius building, to fund the creation of new housing across the state as the waiting list for public housing in NSW tops 59,000.
The Sirius apartment complex was built over 35 years ago for ageing public housing tenants displaced during the 1970s when the area around The Rocks was being redeveloped.
Resident Cherie Johnson is one of the seven residents left in the Sirius apartments and says she does not want to leave the community.
"We all love, care and respect one another in this community. If anything goes wrong we band together and that's the way it is, it's like a little country town," she said.
"The first day we moved here [we went] the following morning to Miller's Point to buy a newspaper and ladies in the town [said] 'good morning' and I thought how beautiful is that."

Photo: Myra Demetriou (centre) with friends in her Sirius building apartment in The Rocks. (ABC News: Jayne Margetts)

Minister for Family and Community Services Brad Hazzard said he was considering exemptions for some residents.

"It'll be full steam ahead for the sales at Millers Point of the vacant properties, but I'm certainly talking to a number of people down there who have raised particular issues with me and seeing if there is any possibility to finding some balance to the issue," he said.
In a letter to independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, the minister said: "Millers Point tenants have first choice of any available social housing property across NSW".
But he acknowledged individual circumstances could mean finding a suitable property would be more difficult for some than others.
He said he would continue to consult with community members and other stakeholders to hear feedback over the course of the project.
"It's just on your mind all the time, to destroy and pull apart, tear apart this beautiful community, loving community that we have," Ms Johnson said.
I can't believe that it's happening. I'm devastated."

National Trust considering heritage-listing for Sirius Building

Amid the tussle between the residents and the government is another bone of contention — the National Trust is considering a proposal to have the building heritage listed with public submissions closing next month.
Myra Demetriou, who is blind and injured from a fall, returned to the Sirius apartments today for a visit and said it was important for her that she is allowed to stay.
"I dream about my place every night and I wake up and think 'Oh I'm still in the nursing home' so it's very nice to be here," she said.
"I'd like to see them try and put me out."
The Sirius apartment building was built for people on low incomes who needed a place to move to and wanted to stay in the community, said its architect, Tao Gofers.
He is backing calls from residents for the State Government to keep some of the apartments as public housing.
"I think a reasonable compromise would be for them to sell some of the units and use the money from those units to support the other special units like the handicap units and the aged pensioner units, so that you have an actual mix," he said.

RESOURCED: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-06/the-rocks-public-housing-residents-relocation-halt-alternatives/6678638 

We've lost our inner larrikin and bland is the result

August 5, 2015  Elizabeth Farrelly






Illustration: Rocco Fazzari.

                                 Australians. We flatter ourselves as larrikins, carousing like noble loons across the culture-scape but, actually, we're tame as. We think we're individuated and diverse but, in fact, we're staggeringly conformist.  We imagine ourselves so "out there" but are, in fact, so quiet. Ssh. Sleeping here.

Take Sydney's current development boom. You don't hear much about it. Mostly what you hear is housing shortage, desperate need, just build it. But the consequent boom, with an anticipated $30-$40 billion 10-year development spend in the city alone, is probably the biggest ever. Demand and supply are both intense – queueing renters and rocketing prices, cranes and noise and dust.
You might expect such market euphoria to produce an equal exuberance of product, a wild sushi-train of choice, sized, cut and garnished to every nuance of need and taste. But a simple Saturday stroll around the latest show homes demonstrates one overwhelming fact. Across the land, from Blacktown to Dover Heights, the new Sydney dwelling is exactly – weirdly – the same.
It's as though one pencil – one design-mind – were behind the lot. And in a way that's true.

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Look at last week's makeover proposal for the Sirius building in the Rocks. This fine building, designed in 1978 by Tao Gofers for the Government Architect, is a rare Sydney instance of mid-century Brutalism. The makeover, by Chris Bosse​ for the developer lobby-group Urban Taskforce, purports to "save" it but is actually worse than demolition. Bosse is a fine architect, but the scheme is an insult.
You may not like the Sirius. That's OK. Brutalism is an acquired taste – and that's the problem. No-one bothers to acquire taste any more. These days, you like it or you don't. Being an acquired taste is the kiss of death. Race you to the bottom.
But Brutalism should not be so lightly dismissed. Key fact: Brutalism is not brutal. Its manifesto – articulated in The New Brutalism (1966) by to-die-for writer Reyner Banham​ – shows a style striving for heightened contrast, material authenticity, compositional verve and intellectual control.
My personal genre faves are Howell Killick and Partridge's gloriously textural 1956 terraces at Hampstead Heath, Atelier 5's coolly concrete Seidlung Halen​ housing in Berne (1961) and Le Corbusier's disciplined theatrics at Maisons Jaoul​ at Neuilly, Paris (1956).
All exhibit a delicate equipoise between solid and transparency, order and disorder, discipline and play. But above all, they show a mastery of light, finessing its fall across texture, material and form.
Sydney had few Brutalist buildings; now it has fewer. The best was the State Office Block, in which Premier Robert Askin effectively sacked Jorn Utzon​. Designed by Ken Woolley in 1964, it skilfully juxtaposed glass, concrete and bronze with a naivety and sophistication worthy of the Japanese. But the government flogged it, Lend Lease demolished it and now instead we have Renzo Piano's Aurora Place, 1997. At least it's lovely.
Bosse's defacing of the Sirius is a less good deal. Bosse has form in re-facing Brutalism. A previous scheme wrapped UTS' much maligned tower in slinky white cobwebs; an idea they should devoutly resist. Now it's the Sirius, up for sale or demolition or both by yet another government that gives not a hoot for history, architecture, social housing or city texture.
The Urban Taskforce proposal smooths and sanitises this gruff, square Bauhaus TV stack into a celestial bridal vision in lace and taffeta, all snowy render, anodised glazing and a full clacking set of Gold Coast duckbill balconies.
Saved? It's like saying, "Darling I love you, and if you could just straighten your nose, shorten your thighs and triple your boobs, I'm yours forever."
It isn't just about visuals. It's about the strategic erasure of a textured, varied and responsive world view for one of anonymous blandness. Soon the whole of Sydney will look this way.
The Sirius was designed to rehouse public tenants displaced by demolitions in the Rocks. A rambling 12-storey stack, it was moulded in a way unheard of today, around long interviews with particular tenants, accommodating their needs in a variety of flat-types that ranged from one-to-four-bedroom apartments, split-level units and two and three-storey walk-ups.
These days, we design not for humans but for work-bots sans books or pianos, mess or children; sans strange habits, filthy visitors, unforeseen emotions, weirdnesses, wildness or whims. No departure from the minimum bedroom, quick shower, stand-up marble breakfast, rush to work. Definitely no larrikins.
In today's development paradigm – those zillions of white-gridded glassy soulless things with some fake timber and focus-group names like Ikon, Marq, Sparq, Altitude, Latitude that are spreading like a disease across the metropolis – the mix is determined not by demand but by profit. So it's 90 per cent studios or one-bedders, a few twos and almost nothing that could remotely accommodate a family as proper cities do.
This paradigm comes straight from a 2002 document, the Residential Flat Design Pattern Book – aka The Yellow Book – now the Apartment Design Guide. It was part of a push by Chris Johnson, then government architect, for "design-led planning". Responding to Bob Carr's hatred of Anzac Parade's famous redbrick walk-ups, it wanted everything white and glassy. Oh, and it banned non-architects from designing apartments.
Johnson argued for uniformity. "Just visualise Rome, Paris or Venice," he wrote. "It is the consistency of the buildings that gives these cities their character." He didn't mention the cultivated proportion, generous space, quality build and noble patronage that make those cityscapes feel wonderful. Or that Sydney, by contrast, thrives on diversity.
Have laced up the straitjacket, Johnson jumped fence to head the Urban Taskforce. There, he's done more to accelerate the current boom than any other person: consistently talking up the housing shortage, lobbying for ever-more density, pushing strata reforms to ease demolition, pressing to shrink one-bed minimums from 58sqm to 50sqm. And commissioning the Sirius' wedding shroud.
In cities as in behaviour, our choice is stark: do we want uniformity, preventing the worst but also the best? Or do we want freedom-to-fail, flavour and personality, larrikinism and genius? What's it to be, riotous light-and-dark, or two-and-a-bit tasteful shades of grey?


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/weve-lost-our-inner-larrikin-and-bland-is-the-result-20150804-girrs5.html#ixzz3i6I7b8Bz

State Government departments lock horns over Sirius building

The Sirius building was originally designed for social housing. Source: Peter Wald, Wikicommons

 August 6, 2015 by Christopher Harris

By EMILY CONTADOR-KELSALL

Contention continues to rise over the future of the Sirius Building as state government bodies and the local community are locked in an argument over heritage, development potential and revenue.

Architect Chris Bosse released plans for the Rocks building last week that included the addition of balconies onto Sirius, adapting its current design.

The plans were commissioned by Urban Taskforce who asked Mr Bosse to create “a new layer for Sirius that respects the original design while improving amenity”.

While the plans have been applauded, architect and chairman of the Millers Point, Dawes Point, The Rocks and Walsh Bay Resident Action Group, John McInerney, does not think the

plans “do justice to the quality of the building”, which has long stood as social housing.

“[If Sirius was heritage listed] I don’t think it would ever be allowed to be changed to the extent that Chris Bosse has shown it,” he said.

The state government has been gradually emptying the Sirius Building alongside many other social housing tenancies in Millers Point. Mr McInerney told City Hub that the government has continued to “move people out the extent that there are only about 15 left in the whole complex”.

The building is an example of the brutalist school of architecture and was built to rehouse public housing tenants who were moved out of The Rocks during its redevelopment in the 1960s and 70s.

The resident action group is fighting to have the Sirius building heritage listed, which would affect any potential changes and development of the site.

A spokesperson from the Office of Environment and Heritage said the National Trust of NSW nominated the Sirius Building for listing on the State Heritage Register.

“In mid July the Heritage Council formally notified their intention to consider listing the building,” the spokesperson said.

If the building were to be listed, any proposed changes, including Mr Bosse’s design, would need to follow the approval process and would be assessed on merit, according to the spokesperson.

Despite the office’s consideration of Sirius’ heritage status, the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) does not support the Sirius Building being listed on the State

Heritage Register, according to a statement provided to City Hub.

The FACS statement said the reason for this was missed opportunity for proceeds to build new social housing.

Minister for Social Housing Brad Hazzard also opposes the proposed heritage listing, according to the same statement, because of its impact on the revenue from the sale of the site.

 “Any decision to put a heritage order on it would reduce the value of the building and of course the multi-million dollar views which the government wants to turn into multi-million dollars worth of public housing.” Mr Hazzard said.

But Mr McInerney said he disagreed “with the presumption, that [heritage listing] will reduce the value”.

“I don’t see how Brad Hazzard’s office, presumably his office or him… how they can come to that conclusion.”

Also against Sirius’ heritage listing was Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson, who said in a statement that the taskforce is concerned “that state heritage listing will simply freeze the current raw, brutal look of the building and minimise the amenity for future residents”.

Mr Bosse’s design under Urban taskforce “demonstrates that the building can become more friendly in its appearance while respecting the original design intention,” according to Mr Johnson. 

 

RESOURCED:

Social Housing Minister Brad Hazzard will consider ‘exceptions’ to forced eviction of Millers Point tenants

James Gorman August 05, 2015

Minister for Family and Community Services and Social Housing Brad Hazzard. Source: News Corp Australia

 

Social Housing Minister Brad Hazzard has given hope to the remaining public housing tenants of Millers Point by conceding there may need to be “exceptions, extensions or alternative measures” to the State Government’s plans of selling-off the area’s housing stock.         

In a letter to Independent State MP Alex Greenwich, Mr Hazzard said he would review the sell-off process.
“While the timing of relocations remains geared to making properties available for sale as quickly as possible ... I am actively considering the question of whether there should be exceptions, extensions or alternative measures for tenants in particular extenuating circumstances,” Mr Hazzard wrote in a letter dated August 4.

Hopeful: Independent State MP Alex Greenwich. Source: News Corp Australia

    

Mr Greenwich welcomed Mr Hazzard’s commitment to re-examine the sell-off process.

“This is the most encouraging new since the campaign to preserve Millers Point began and since the Minister got to meet first-hand some of the locals and hear their story,” Mr Greenwich said.
“It is clear that it’s had an impact on him and he has said he is actively considering exceptions, extensions and alternative measures.
“It is a great victory for the community that they have been able to get their story through to the Minister. I am encouraged to keep fighting this campaign to see what we can do to retain some of the community in Millers Point.

MILLERS POINT BEAUTIFICATION ANGERS TENANTS

MINISTER LISTENS TO ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL

Mr Greenwich said despite the good news the fight to save Millers Point was far from over.
“We hadn’t received any correspondence from the Minister since he met with the community and I forced the point during question time in Parliament and he spoke openly about the people he had met,” he said.
“It is my hope this consultation continues and ends with the retention of some of the community that helped build Millers Point.”

Protesters outside the first of the Millers Point public housing auctions. Source: News Corp Australia

     In his letter, Mr Hazzard said his department would continue to work with the remaining tenants on their relocation needs, with Millers Point residents having first choice of available social housing properties in NSW.

Since launching the sell-off more than a year ago, the NSW Government has sold 23 former public houses, with most selling between $1.6 million and $2.5 million.
Combined, the sales have totalled more than $50 million.
Another six homes are scheduled to be auctioned on August 25. They include two 19th century terraces on Trinity Avenue and four additional terraces on Kent St, the oldest of which was built in 1871.

One of the homes up for sale in the next round of auctions later this month.

 

RESORURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/social-housing-minister-brad-hazzard-will-consider-exceptions-to-forced-eviction-of-millers-point-tenants/story-fngr8h22-1227471322149  

Sydney Control Tower at Barangaroo to be demolished and replaced by ‘historical display’

Brett Thomas July 30, 2015

Sydney Harbour Control Tower will be demolished from its iconic place at Barangaroo. Source: News Corp Australia

 THE 82m-high Sydney Harbour Control Tower at Barangaroo has been consigned to the scrap yard.         

The tower, which stood watch over Sydney Harbour from 1974-2011 to enable a 24-hour a day supervision of shipping movements, is now considered an eyesore as the Barangaroo development transforms the former port zone into a millionaire’s playground.




A recent picture of the completed Barangaroo Point reserve with the tower now considered an eyesore. Sou rce: Supplied

 The NSW Government approved a development application from the Barangaroo Delivery Authority to remove the former Harbour Control Tower today. The BDA application seeks to remove the tower in order to achieve a naturalistic form and character for the reserve that is consistent with the site’s concept plan.

The view from the controller’s level inside the Harbour Control Tower before it was decommissioned. Source: News Limited

It will be replaced by “an interpretative historical display”, focusing on maritime history and Millers Point.

The approval follows a decision by the Heritage Minister to not list the tower on the State Heritage Register.

The view across the city towards the Opera House and beyond from the controller’s level. Source: News Limited

    The Office of Environment and Heritage had previously described the tower as being of state significance “for its pre-eminent role in the history and maritime operation of the Port of Sydney”.

“The Tower demonstrates 35 years of 24/7 operation in the Port of Sydney from 1974-2009 as the Port Operations and Communications Centre providing supervisory control over the many thousands of shipping movements in Sydney Harbour every year,” the Office said in its previous listing of the tower as a heritage site.

The controller’s room showing the distinctive angled windows at the top of the tower. Source: News Limited

    

Even the bathroom had a view of the western side of Sydney Harbour. Source: News Limited

     The tower, at the northern end of Barangaroo, has been gathering dust since Sydney Ports relocated its harbour control operations to Port Botany in May 2011. Plans for the tower were drawn up in 1972 after two ships collided in the shipping channel near Millers Point.

This image taken in 2002 shows the view of the old working port area which has now been completely transformed into Barangaroo Point reserve.

 RESOURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/sydney-control-tower-at-barangaroo-to-be-demolished-and-replaced-by-historical-display/story-fngr8h22-1227463061830 

Academic and feminist Eva Cox named patron of Millers Point as public housing sell-off heats up

James Gorman July 30, 2015

Eva Cox at Millers Point last week. Picture: Craig Wilson Source: News Corp Australia

FEMINIST and academic Eva Cox has taken a stand alongside embattled Millers Point public housing residents, signing on as a patron following in the footsteps of historic defender Jack Mundey.         

Known for her advocacy of feminist causes and the rights of the Aussie battler, Cox was awarded Australian Humanist of the Year in 1997 and received the Order of Australia in 1995 for her services to women and welfare.
The author said her sympathy for the plight of Millers Point and its residents dates back to the 1970s when she witnessed first-hand Jack Mundey leading the Green Bans movement to save the historic precinct.

An embattled community: (L-R) Joe Fitzpatrick, Eva Cox, Flo Seckold, Myra Demetriau, Sally Parslow and Geraldine Thomas at Millers Point. Source: News Corp Australia

Mundey and the NSW Builders Labourers Federation fought to save The Rocks from redevelopment between 1971-75, saving historic buildings and protecting the low-income, working class residents.

“I was a graduate student at the University of NSW and I was given an assignment to go down and work with Jack Mundey and I got to see how he worked to fight for the community,” Ms Cox said.
“I have been involved in politics ever since. I became friends with the community and I have been keeping my eye on it.
“We saved it from the government once before and now that it is under threat again I want to do what I can because it is so important we retain this housing within the community.”

STRUGGLE STREET IN CENTRAL SYDNEY
NEW MILLERS POINT OWNERS SUBMIT FIRST DAs



And being arrested at The Rocks in 1973. Source: News Corp Australia

Green Bans unionist Jack Mundey today. Source: News Corp Australia

      

Cox accused the State Government of failing to comprehend the consequences of selling off one of Australia’s older historic public housing communities.
“The government has now just decided to start selling off Millers Point once again, a community that has been here for more than 100 years,” she said.
“We don’t have any old communities like this left in Australia — it is literally a part of our history.
“I think Sydney is going to become a very ugly place some day if it is just full of glass skyscrapers and the very wealthy.
“And it scares me because I have met some of the older women in the community and they are frightened about moving out of the area; they have relatives there, families and it is all they know.”
“We are going to lose this community and what people need remember is that our history and our past is not just about the buildings, it is also about the people.”

One of the homes on Trinity Ave included in the State Government’s latest auction listing. Source: Supplied

Meanwhile, six more Millers Point public housing properties have been listed for sale by the State Government.

The heritage-listed properties are due to go to auction August 25 and include two 19th century terraces on Trinity Ave and four additional terraces on Kent St, the oldest of which was built in 1871.
Government Property NSW chief executive Brett Newman said the six homes were released at once to take advantage of strong market conditions.
Since launching the sell-off more than a year ago, the NSW Government has sold 23 former public houses, with most selling between $1.6 million and $2.5 million.
Combined, the sales have totalled more than $50 million, which will be used by the government to build new public housing in other parts of Sydney.

RESOURCED: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/academic-and-feminist-eva-cox-named-patron-of-millers-point-as-public-housing-sell-off-heats-up/story-fngr8h22-1227461490916

Sydney Harbour Control Tower at Barangaroo to be demolished‏

 July 30, 2015          Leesha McKenny



Due to be knocked down: The Sydney Harbour Control Tower. Photo: David Porter                                

 

Former PM Paul Keating wanted it gone, and the National Trust fought to save it.
One proposal even suggested the oft-derided structure could become a bungee jumping "adventure tower" in the centre of Australia's largest city.

Capturing history: artist Jane Bennett paints the scene in March. Photo: Steven Siewert                                

 But fate of the Sydney Harbour Control Tower at Barangaroo was sealed on Thursday when the state government granted approval to knock it down.

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A statement from the office of Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the Barangaroo Delivery Authority sought to remove the tower "in order to achieve a naturalistic form and character for the reserve that is consistent with the site's concept plan".
"The proposal was exhibited last year and submissions were carefully considered," the statement said.
The tower would be replaced with a "interpretive historical display" focusing on maritime history and Millers Point, it said.
Variously called a "concrete mushroom", "the Pill", a "hypodermic in God's bum" or just an eyesore, the tower has been an 87-metre high landmark at Barangaroo since 1974, when it was installed to control berths in the harbour.
It was closed in 2011 when vessel control services were moved to Port Botany.
But the National Trust argued the tower symbolised more than 200 years of shipping trade in Sydney and should be conserved.
The NSW Heritage Council recommended that it be listed on the state heritage register, affording it the highest level of protection. This push was recently rejected by Heritage Minister Mark Speakman.
The council's advocacy set it on a collision course with the former prime minister, who is such a champion for the headland park that in April its lead landscape architect referred to him as the site's "client".
In December, Mr Keating said a government report outlining other potential uses for the tower, commissioned on behalf of the heritage council, was a "complete abuse of process" and the "sort of exercises that truly give heritage a bad name".
This had proposed re-use options including an adventure or viewing tower, plus a restaurant with sweeping views over the harbour.
"[The tower] does not have a shred of heritage about it," Mr Keating said at the time.
The National Trust's Graham Quint said on Thursday the detractors had "won out again and Sydney is the worse for it, for losing its industrial heritage".
"Unfortunately, because the building is an example of industrial heritage, a lot of people just don't like the look of it," Mr Quint said, nominating Garden Island's Hammerhead Crane as another case.
"We'll have no evidence of Sydney ever being an industrial port, and it's very sad that we just can't keep that sort of history."
The Department of Planning and Environment had recommended a number of conditions to address impacts resulting from the demolition, Mr Stokes' office said


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-harbour-control-tower-at-barangaroo-to-be-demolished-20150730-ginjj4.html#ixzz3hLEB4e31

Architect Chris Bosse's plan to keep the Sirius building in The Rocks

Sue Williams 29/7/2015



The controversial Sirius apartment building at The Rocks – loved by some, loathed by others – could enjoy a new lease on life with a modern makeover designed by one of Sydney's leading architects.

Architect Chris Bosse's plan for remodelling The Sirius building at the rocks. Photo: Supplied

 ebate has been raging over whether the 1970s building, lauded as a fine example of 'brutalist' architecture and originally constructed to provide affordable public housing during the period of the green bans, should be heritage-listed or demolished. But now the novel plan has already won backers, including from the original building's architect and developers, as well as stirring "interest" from one of its most ardent supporters.
 

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Award-winning architect Chris Bosse, director of LAVA, an adjunct professor at UTS, and a key designer of the Beijing Watercube, has released drawings of his vision for the 79-apartment stepped block. He sees its future as a much more contemporary re-adaptive re-use with clipped-on curved balconies providing residents with a more "friendly" Sydney lifestyle.
"Rather than freezing architecture for an eternity, I think it's much better to adapt it to current circumstances," Mr Bosse said.

The Sirius building at the rocks, as it is now. Photo: Supplied

 "Lifestyles and circumstances change, and buildings should change with them. This is a way of preserving a building in a fabulous location and giving it a whole new life. The social housing issue is an emotional topic and a completely different question; this is about the building itself."

The original architect of the building, at 36-50 Cumberland Street, Tao (Theodore) Gofers, is also enthusiastic about the proposal. "I think adding balconies would be a very good idea," he said. "That's much better than demolishing it which would upset me a little bit."
One of Sirius's greatest champions, Millers Point conservation activist Mary Sutton, has been shown the proposal by Fairfax Media and said she was also looking at it with interest.



The Sirius building is a classic example of Brutalist architecture. Photo: Steve Lunam

 

"I like the idea but I'm not totally convinced – yet – but the concept is one that deserves further study. A heritage listing wouldn't preclude such a scheme, and this is a rare example of brutalist architecture, but it's certainly much more promising than a tall steel and glass structure in its place!"
In October 2014, a nomination for listing the Sirius Building on the State Heritage Register was received by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage from the National Trust of NSW, and earlier this month the Heritage Council formally notified their intention to consider listing the building and called for public submissions.
A spokesperson from the Office said that part of this process involved informing residents of the nomination and encouraging them to make comment, with the call for public submissions closing on September 8.
The Heritage Council believes the building may be of State Heritage Significance as a rare, representative and fine example of the Brutalist architectural style, especially in its use of off-the-form concrete and the stacking of cubic components to create a harmonious whole. It says it's also significant as an early example of rooftop landscape gardening in NSW and Australia.
But Mr Bosse's scheme has already been applauded by developers' lobby group the Urban Taskforce. Its chief executive Chris Johnson said he would not like to see the building either heritage listed – which would keep it in its current form – or demolished to make way for a new building. The Bosse design, he believed, was an excellent alternative.
"It's a way of upgrading the building to give it a lot more amenity, while still working with the original structure," he says.
The director (advocacy) of The National Trust of Australia (NSW), Graham Quint, however, has examined the design and has reservations. While he said the process of public consultation needed to run its course first, and only later could such schemes be considered, he was not sure how practicable such an adaptation could be.
"It's heartening that developers aren't planning a complete demolition of the building, but this is a little premature," Mr Quint said. "And if cantilevered balconies were added on, that could be a massive amount of work for every single unit and the cost could go through the roof.
"It certainly changes the whole character of the building, too."

RESOURCED: http://news.domain.com.au/domain/domain-news/architect-chris-bosses-plan-to-keep-the-sirius-building-in-the-rocks-20150728-gim85a.html