Hello readers, it is exciting times here at Archistartup, as the Startup is almost one year old! We are not yet quite sure how to celebrate, but stay tuned as you never know what we will do to mark the occasion.
Just to update you, in the interests of continuing to punch above our weight, we recently put in a bid for the Western Front Interpretive Centre, to be located at Villers-Bretonneux in France, which is a project being sponsored by the Department of Veteran Affairs, Office of Australian War Graves. I am sure some of you responded to the Commonwealth Government's brief as well, it is an exciting one to contemplate, building in the shadow of the Lutyens memorial (seen above).
To consolidate and strengthen our bid, we pursued an arrangement of Architects in Association with Parisian architect Véronique Descharrieres, who is Bernard Tschumi's principal director and collaborator in France, as Mr. Tschumi is based in New York. Mme. Descharrieres is a highly esteemed and awarded architect, and is a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, as awarded by the French Ministry of Culture.
Also on our team, and essential to our bid is the involvement of a former Director of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. We will keep his name confidential for now, but taken together, with a raft of other specialist subconsultants including Aspect Studios for Landscape, we believe we have a strong 'underdog' bid. We will keep you posted. It might be a long shot, but as they say - nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Regardless of our impending success or otherwise with the bid, we strongly believe that collaboration is the essence of advancement, and we welcome the opportunity to make new friends and associates across the world and of course throughout Australia.