Moustachioed Maestros

Richard Philipson and Nathan Hones
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As an architecture student, who or what inspired you?

RP: On the way here today, I thought to myself, he’s going to ask me that question and now I’m glad I thought about it. For me, it’s easy, it’s a guy called Aldo Rossi. He was a rationalist architect.

I studied at Liverpool University and for our BArch, 19 of us hired a red double-decker bus and drove around Europe. During that time, I saw my first Rossi building, it was the Cemetery of San Cataldo in Modena [Italy]. It was a pivotal moment in my architectural career. It was very evocative, very emotional and that marked the first time that a building affected me that way. At that moment, Aldo Rossi became my guru.

NH: My inspiration came from a not dissimilar source. I went to Sydney University and we also took a tour around Europe on two buses and we visited a lot of modernist architecture. We started in Paris and worked our way down to the south of France. We stayed in some of the most amazing examples of architecture; things that had been designed by Le Corbusier, for example. We went to [Notre Dame du Haut] Ronchamp, which is one of my favourite buildings. I heard a service sung by a priest in Ronchamp with the light coming through the windows and it was amazing. If that can’t lift your spirits then nothing can. Most of the stuff we saw on that trip was mind-blowing.

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RP: Rossi’s Cemetery at Modena.

NH: One that responds to the place. One of my favourite Australian architects is a guy called Glen Murcutt, who often talks about the genius loci of a building or ‘sense of place’. I honestly think a building needs to be of the place.

What three words describe you as a person or as an architect?

RP: Friendly. Accessible. Mentor.

NH: Organised. Approachable. Innovative.

As an architect or as a person, what is something you love?

RP: Open space.

NH: My family. The sense of family.

What is something you hate?

RP: Lack of order. And, I have to say, moustaches. I’ve just seen myself in the mirror and I look ridiculous.

NH: I don’t think I really hate anything. I have some immense dislikes of some things but I’m not sure what I hate. I guess I really dislike when someone is unhappy about something but then they don’t do anything about it. If you’re at a point in your life where something is bugging you to that extent, change it, do something about it. Increase your knowledge base; expand your network; change your environment; do something.