BVN • 100 Years

Yes.

So even though none of us have been around for 100 years, I did work out that I've been here for almost a third of that in one form or another.

And when you put it like that, it's quite terrifying, actually.

At least you're

young enough, yes.

Um, yeah, it's the, yeah.

Yes.

It's the clean living.

Yeah.

Um, so there's over the past couple of years, there's been a lot of research that's been done with history of the practice and how it all came together.

And definitely the practice goes through epochs and it isn't a straight narrative that Arthur started in 926.

And here we are a hundred years later, and there's a continual sort of linear process.

Actually, the, the history is far richer than that.

And, um, It's actually about intermingling of different versions of the organization, different personalities, different types of work, different experiments, different successes, different failures, et cetera.

And how there was always a kind of a human ambition, but not a kind of ambition that was... arrogantly crushing of others.

The practice has always been quite in its approach to doing the work, even when you go back into some of the earlier stuff.

So the first couple of decades, you know, the strictures of the Second World War and what that meant and then, you know, material shortages, the development of the Brisbane practice and the changes to the city that were happening at that time and how the practice grew, how other personalities started to appear, how the second generation of the organisation started to appear throughout the 50s and 60s.

And as you moved into the 70s, and 80s for the original founders starting to um retire or move on and and during the 80s there was a real kind of energy came into the practice and it's not really we don't really talk about it that much but i one of my views is that one of the key projects of the practice of that era was um the expo in south bank in brisbane in 1988 which uh parts of the organization did a joint venture with others.

And suddenly it's this very big, quite interesting project, these giant tents.

And, and, you know, I remember it as a kid, it was like a real thing.

You know, you went to it from other parts of Australia and then moving into nineties, the big recession, the practice and, and, um, And then through some kind of alchemy, through the 90s, the practice was able to reinvent itself, won some pretty serious work in Sydney and in Canberra, including things like Stadium Australia, the new, what is now T2 at Sydney Airport, and various other projects, and merged with Lawrence Neild and Grace Bradley, who had been part of the practice and had left to come back.

So there's this kind of It's complex interweaving of these personalities and how they get together, they fall out, they get back together again.

It's family dynamics, a lot of it.

And the past 20 years, by and large, has been a story of continual success, I'd say, really, and growth across lots and lots of different project types.

And one of the things that BVN has failed to do is ever define itself by project types or limitations.

Yes.

So even though none of us have been around for 100 years, I did work out that I've been here for almost a third of that in one form or another.

And when you put it like that, it's quite terrifying, actually.

At least you're

young enough, yes.

Um, yeah, it's the, yeah.

Yes.

It's the clean living.

Yeah.

Um, so there's over the past couple of years, there's been a lot of research that's been done with history of the practice and how it all came together.

And definitely the practice goes through epochs and it isn't a straight narrative that Arthur started in 926.

And here we are a hundred years later, and there's a continual sort of linear process.

Actually, the, the history is far richer than that.

And, um, It's actually about intermingling of different versions of the organization, different personalities, different types of work, different experiments, different successes, different failures, et cetera.

And how there was always a kind of a human ambition, but not a kind of ambition that was... arrogantly crushing of others.

The practice has always been quite in its approach to doing the work, even when you go back into some of the earlier stuff.

So the first couple of decades, you know, the strictures of the Second World War and what that meant and then, you know, material shortages, the development of the Brisbane practice and the changes to the city that were happening at that time and how the practice grew, how other personalities started to appear, how the second generation of the organisation started to appear throughout the 50s and 60s.

And as you moved into the 70s, and 80s for the original founders starting to um retire or move on and and during the 80s there was a real kind of energy came into the practice and it's not really we don't really talk about it that much but i one of my views is that one of the key projects of the practice of that era was um the expo in south bank in brisbane in 1988 which uh parts of the organization did a joint venture with others.

And suddenly it's this very big, quite interesting project, these giant tents.

And, and, you know, I remember it as a kid, it was like a real thing.

You know, you went to it from other parts of Australia and then moving into nineties, the big recession, the practice and, and, um, And then through some kind of alchemy, through the 90s, the practice was able to reinvent itself, won some pretty serious work in Sydney and in Canberra, including things like Stadium Australia, the new, what is now T2 at Sydney Airport, and various other projects, and merged with Lawrence Neild and Grace Bradley, who had been part of the practice and had left to come back.

So there's this kind of It's complex interweaving of these personalities and how they get together, they fall out, they get back together again.

It's family dynamics, a lot of it.

And the past 20 years, by and large, has been a story of continual success, I'd say, really, and growth across lots and lots of different project types.

And one of the things that BVN has failed to do is ever define itself by project types or limitations.