VISION 37 — THE BLOCK 2016
B AT H R O O M S
One aspect here is that when you walk through the
space, it just all appears to flow quite easily and
logically. That trick of making it all look easy is a bit
like being a ballet dancer. They make it appear
effortless, but you try and you fall over.
The Devil’s in the detail. Good modernist architecture
is in the edges. But that’s only part of it. Really, it’s
about the planning behind the scenes to make it flow
correctly. There’s no torture in design here. There’s
a logical flow from the front door, the revolving door
downstairs, right the way through to the balcony
or the roof terrace upstairs. There’s a logical public
space. There’s a logical entry door that’s private
enough to each apartment.
Is the destiny of the contestants predetermined by
the apartment they receive, or can they create their
own destiny by simply being the best?
We’ve learned over the years that there’s no real
formula. The penthouse apartment isn’t necessarily
the best apartment. We find buyers downsizing who
gravitate to a ground floor apartment where there’s
a garden. Of course talent comes into it. You can
have the best apartment and completely stuff it up
or a ground-floor apartment which traditionally wins,
or gets very close to winning, and still stuff it up.
So really, grabbing defeat out of the jaws of
victory is a reality.
What would you take from this project that you
might export to future projects?
We’ve been building on The Block’s reputation for
quite some time. We started the interview off talking
about adaptive reuse and sustainability. It’s about
being constantly reassured that we’re on the right
track. The new owners of these fabulous apartments
show that everyone’s on board with that message in
terms of one aspect of sustainability. I’m rapt to be
able to say I am involved in that particular genre. Let’s
call it adaptive reuse. I really do and I would like to
take the strength of that message to the next Block,
and the next Block and the next Block.