Mparntwe Speaks

As part of the series on Central Australian housing and architecture, Owen Kelly, director at Dogspike Design & Architecture spoke with 8CCC's Kate Lyons-Dawson on the importance of orientation in building design, especially in our harsh climate in the arid interior. He also spoke about resources that can help achieve better outcomes.

Mparntwe: When You Come To Another Country, the inaugural architecture conference in Mparntwe has wrapped and Owen Kelly dropped into 8CCC Brekky to tell us of its success. "Coming to Mparntwe asks for that same attentiveness. This is not a metaphor. This is another country. Mparntwe sits at a fraught crossroads, where Country meets colonisation, and history folds over itself. Here, culture, climate, and community are entangled— stitched together with both tension and care. Regional and remote places, by their nature, connect people with place, offering value that is often felt rather than explained." RAA website

Launching a regular commitment to highlighting housing and architecture unique to the Centre, 8CCC has teamed up with the local design legends who present Mparntwe Speaks, a series of local events and talks at the Old Hartley Street School. This week, Owen Kelly from Dogspike Design and Architecture joined 8CCC's Kate Lyons- Dawson for the inaugural talk, focused on housing guru Paul Pholeros. A gifted architect, he understood very early in his career the impacts that living environments have on health conditions and this led to Healthabitat. His work continues since his death, thorough Healthabitat and the Paul Pholeros Foundation.In the lead up to the Regional Architecture Association experience in September the series will continue.