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Vision’s Peter Hyatt spoke with architect Ilana Kister about
her grand rescue of the old and creation of the new:
Are you the better architect or client?
I’m a better architect. Definitely. I prefer the
role of architect to client. Clients are very difficult on
architects. They’re always ‘nothing’s perfect’, nothing
is ever what you think it is going to be and you just have
to roll with it. As an architect you see your full vision
and the amazing light and space, but you don’t anticipate
how beautiful it could be in every different light mode.
As the client, what do you see? You see defects.
You see challenges. You see variations. You see negatives.
To see past all that to the positive is a challenge to the
client until the last moment, and then they see it.
It’s a challenging process but the architect enjoys
every minute.
VISION
ILANA KISTER
How intense is the process of designing with
yourself as client?
The process of building and outcome is absolutely like
the birth of a baby. Design is not my only obsession, but
it is very difficult to turn off during the design process.
You might be driving the kids to school, or making dinner
and people are talking at you, but all you’re doing is
trying to resolve a corner junction. Every single corner
matters, right? Every single detail is crucial to the whole
outcome. If you don’t focus on the detail and make the
building the best you can, you are not going to get the
finessed building that you see.
This is a prismatic result where glazing beautifully
contrasts bluestone and concrete.
Glass was critical and the reason being was that
originally the church was so dark with bricked-in
archways. Without opening up the archways we
wouldn’t have achieved such an amazing effect inside
the church. To marry a heritage building with a
contemporary building is almost impossible without
glass. Glass is the critical element, the link connects
the church and house to create this beautiful moment.
Without glass, solid against solid hides the original detail.