wardcarter,who?,where?,what?

Karen Ward and Dennis Carter are Artist and Architect Directors. We live, work in Bendigo, central Victoria, Australia, the driest Continent on Earth. See maps. Frosty winters, hot, dry summers. 19th century Gold city. Present population about 100,000. Australia’s fastest growing inland City. Could be a solar city…  

Karen’s ‘Art’ explores the meaning of ‘Home’ , shelter, protection, haven and the layers and implications therefound; on paper and in sculpture.

Dennis’s Architecture comes from a lifetime, nearly 67 years of love for ‘Nature’, the pristine, and a growing comprehension of Man’s ‘Place’ . An experiential life of small explorations, risk-taking, and the consuming interests of gradual learning. Fishing, trout, painting, angling history and literature, acoustic guitar finger picking – Mississippi John Hurt to Chris Smither and Jollie Holland – One’s own music. Architecture – from childhood huts to Rodofski, Paul Oliver (who also writes about Blues) and their writings, images of anonomous ‘architecture’. To Bauhaus purity, and Buckminster Fuller’s structures from nature and Prouve’s Folded steel – each using the minimum of materials for the maximum enclosure.

The  formation of one’s own philosophies, born from the above, and changing daily with the changes that confront us. Leading to notions of the poetics of minimalism.

We like our buildings to be appropriate to locale/context; energy efficient while functionally and creatively meeting our client’s needs. We like to do so, ECOnomically – frugal, fuss free, honest in the use of appropriate building technology and materials To be environmentally and philosophically sensitive, to innovate and fundamentally, to produce an architecture that nurtures the soul.                                                                                                                             

And never, possibly in history, as economies of growth and greed implode, governments reel and chaos threatens, has there been a greater need for the optimism, respect for ‘nature’ and the lateral thinking and problem solving inherent in the creative mind.

Artists and Architects have the capacity to design, design and design, to problem solve and innovate. Think about it. And remember life doesn’t get any better than the modesty and majesty of sitting with the one you love in the wake of a precious sunset. Romantic ? Of course.

Our small practice of 3 architects, one older mentor, Dennis, artist Karen, husband and wife, Rim and Rachel, architectural technologist Willem and the ever smooth-talking Ben, recognize today’s economic fragility and uncertainty and are blessed with an enthusiasm and the inborn need to collaborate democratically, creatively and ECOnomically. Check us out.

We also collaborate with Willaims Boag Architects and will work with you on projects with modest to significant budgets.

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