VENEER

issue 02. 2024.

CIRCA discovered its first layer through “Orientation”, which has paved the path to discovering our next theme “Veneer”. A “Veneer” is something that is at once:

made, and made with;

worked and worked on

It forms and is formed.

Veneer is a critical yet ubiquitous skin, coating our past, present, and future. Tracing it, we hope to peel, unearth, and rediscover all that (pre)informs and shapes our worlds and our ways of being oriented within them. Veneers of myth, mythology, materiality, and modernity are some of the many layers that are woven into the fabric of society.

In First Nations languages, there is no concept of veneer. Instead, in Dharug, it translates as Bugi and Bagi, bark and skin. We want to leave you with the question of whether these veneers are the shedding of bark or the growing of a second skin. Join us as we set out to question whether these layers are a product of progress, a present from history, a form of deception, or a communal celebration of solidarity

Elle Davidson
A Balanggarra woman from the East Kimberley and descendant of Captain William Bligh, Elle Davidson describes herself as being caught in the cross-winds of Australia’s history. With a passion to empower the voices of First People, Elle combines her Town Planning and Indigenous Engagement qualifications to navigate between two worlds. She understands the importance of deep listening and building a strong platform of trust for working together with the community. Elle uses her planning and engagement skills to facilitate a co-design process that leads to culturally informed outcomes. Ultimately she aims to create a space for reviving and enabling culture to exist in a contemporary society.
Peter Willett
Peter established Peter Willett Associates in 1992, after gaining a broad range of architectural experience both in Australia and internationally. Peter is interested in how a house can conform to an urban typology yet also present a unique solution for each client. He sees that the delicate task of striking a balance between a project's relationship to the streetscape and its individual expression creates both a fascinating challenge at the outset and significant rewards at the end.
Matthew Darmour-Paul
Matthew Darmour-Paul is a researcher and designer based in Sydney, Australia. His work explores architecture’s entanglement within political ecology, ruralisation and the financialization of nature. He is a cofounder of Feral Partnerships, a collective focused on re-claiming architectural knowledge in an age of rapid biodiversity loss and species extinction as spatial practices in the pursuit of multispecies flourishing.
Liza Walling
Liza Walling is a researcher and educator based in Sydney, Australia, originally from the Midwest. Her teaching and research interests include public health, critical spatial practice, and ecology. Liza is guided by the belief that theory and practice are inseparable, as articulated by Bell Hooks in "Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom."
Workshop 2023
Workshop 2023 is a return to drawing and process, inspired by the discovery of a mysterious Drawing Machine at the Tin Sheds, a space once used for military experiments. This student-led exhibition by recent Master of Architecture graduates Caleb Niethe, Sarah Anstee, Kevin Hwang, and Carmelo Nastasi transforms the Tin Sheds into a facility for creativity and experimentation, inviting both students and the community to explore ideas in a space of iteration and discovery. The curators have authored a documentation of their process, providing insight into the design and creation of this unique and engaging event.
Sarah Thomson
Antony Fenhas
Junyi Li
Miriam Osburn
Alicia Mardones, Jinu Park, Georgia Reader, Angela Xu
Pierre Dalais, Olivia D’Souza, Lauren Li, Christian Sheridan