VISION Issue 27 | Page 12

VISION 27 — THE OCTAGON LIVING AREAS In many ways it’s a program about interior design, but it’s also a program about the potential of architecture to be re-born. That structural, bigger eye and hand is definitely involved, even though some people might consider The Block merely superficial and all about wallpapers, furnishings, finishes and drapes. Of course the show is about the contestants and sponsors and all of the machinations of chucking people into the frying pan. I’ve always had an agenda to reveal to the greater public what is achievable in an architectural sense. While my brief is to definitely make the building look good, because it has to sell, I take that brief very seriously. I also add to that brief in my own mind and the way I approach it is meant to be readily accessible by viewers. The architecture and interior design aren’t disconnected. One needs to belong to the other in the way steel beams intersect, glazing is used and the lamp sits in the context of the room. As each Block project unfolds we gradually see those relationships. It’s definitely a case of the knee-bone’s connected to the thighbone. It’s all part of the single whole. Again, that’s part of the beauty of finishing these things and the great reveal. It goes a bit further with the idea of architecture that carries through this environmental and sustainable brief. 12