Houses Australia — February 2018

WORKING WITH

AN ARCHITECT

On a 300-acre farm in northern New
South Wales, CHROFI’s design for a
public/private home offers a sense of
stillness and embededness. Here, Trisha
Croaker talks to the owners, Deirdre
and Andy, about their successful
collaboration with architect John Choi.

Words by Trisha Croaker
Photography by Brett Boardman

Trisha Croaker: Why did you engage

an architect?

Andy:Weknewwehadsomething

importanthere.Iwantedtofindsomebody

with a veneration for architecture, who

understood what has been important over

the past two thousand years and who would

bring a serious perspective to any endeavour.

It’s not just about designing bathrooms

and kitchens; it’s finding “the other,” the

essence. I don’t know what that is, and

Idon’tknowifanyonecananswerthat

question, but I was looking for somebody

who actually thought of it as a serious

question. I needed to find that foil of

expertise, someone who could take my half-

bakedideasandreinterpretthem.Someone

we could push ideas back and forth with.

TC:Howdidyoufindyourarchitect?

Deirdre:Wehadnoideahowtofindthe

rightone!Weapproachedseveral,looked

at local architects and asked a long-term

architect friend for suggestions. Then

an agent suggested John Choi, and we

are eternally grateful.

Andy: I’d gone through four or five

architectsanditwasn’tworking.Iwas

doing business with Colliers in Sydney

and asked, “How do you find an architect

• someone you can work with?” They
  suggestedJohnChoiandTaiRopiha,who’d
  done the TKTS booth in New York City. I’d
  seenandadmiredthat,soIcalledJohnand
  sent the brief. Bless his boots, he read it.

TC: How did you prepare for

your meeting?

Andy:IputtogetheraPowerpointpackage.

Itwasabitofatossedsalad.IknewI

couldn’t just take pictures of houses and

say,“That’swhatIwant,”butIcouldsay

that there were aspects of the houses that I

liked. I talked about suturing, stitching and

embeddedness; really big picture stuff.

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