Before turning to your winning project, The Bunjil Place, let’s talk a little bit about you. You were born and raised in Australia I assume. How and when did you find out that you have a passion for architecture and design?

My passion for architecture is a combination of chance, the choice to study architecture which at the time was somewhat random, and the result of study and experience, from which a great commitment developed.

What are your main sources of inspiration and motivation in your work?

Primary inspirations comes from the site, the rich physical, landscape and social complexity of a place, and equally the purpose, vision and aspiration behind the endeavour and sometimes silent in any brief.

What do you think is the secret for a successful architecture project, and what is the main philosophy behind your company, fjmt? How do you stand out from the crowd?

Our studio is dedicated to design excellence and the enhancement of public domain. No matter who commissions us, our ultimate ‘client’ is the community, in this sense every project is a public project. Our studio attracts like-minded designers aligned to our values and the direction of our work. The studio is a place of mutual high expectations and commitment but also a very open, collaborative, supportive and enjoyable workplace.

The Bunjil Place is a versatile community place in the City of Casey near Melbourne that serves many roles and incorporates a lot of different ideas. How would you describe this project in a few words and what were the main challenges involved?

Bunjil Place is an example of a new form of community and civic building. It is not a single use, or single facility that tends to divide and separate a community by interest, education or culture, but an inclusive hybrid form of public building, reflecting and embracing our diversity. It is a library, a performance theatre, a public gathering space, a place of exhibition, gallery and display, a flexible and experimental space for events, lectures, debate and celebration, it is a help point, a service centre and a place of work and collaboration. Above all perhaps, it is a place where all of this overlaps and interconnects and at the centre is the interconnecting fluid form of the foyer gathering space, a nonhierarchical space that unifies the complex. Bunjil Place is an outstanding example of complex timber structures, incorporating a number of challenging architectural and structural issues. The building provides a multipurpose integrated facility with each function owning particular design requirements that needed to be addressed by the engineering team. The outcome is a range of innovative bespoke solutions that address the constraints and deliver an exciting new facility that is a benchmark for future developments. The roof shape in particular created challenging issues in the analysis, design and construction stages, with detailed modelling in RHINO to create the shape, wind tunnel testing to optimise the wind loads, and many of the connections for the steelwork having to be specifically modelled using finite element programs to assess potential plasticity within the joints. Each separate area of the roof required detailed consideration of wind, thermal and earthquake effects.

The word Bunjil comes from the Australian aboriginal mythology, referring to a creator deity, a wedge-tailed eagle that served as the engine for the whole concept of the Bunjil Place. How can an architectural project successfully embrace such a philosophy? How did you make use of this traditional notion in a modern building?

We looked at the land, history and nature. A central theme was the interpretation of the land in the culture of Wurundjeri, Bunurong and Boon Wurrung people, the traditional owners and inhabitants of this land. Two stories inspired us: the “The Meeting of Many Paths” and “Bunjil” the Eagle. We began to conceive this project as an extended public ground plane and a broad sheltering roof, below which we could gather the hybrid uses of library, theatre, exhibition and also gathering itself.