Design-lovers en-route to Hobart contemporary architecture with prominent writer Stephen Crafti
Prominent architecture writer Stephen Crafti is en-route back to Hobart with an entourage of design-lovers keen to explore the city’s hidden gems.
Tasmania
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PROMINENT architecture writer Stephen Crafti is en-route back to Hobart with an entourage of design-lovers keen to explore the city’s hidden gems.
It’s the second time Crafti has run a tour of the best architecture in Hobart, the Tasman Peninsula and Bruny Island via high-end cultural tourism operator, Australians Studying Abroad.
He said Hobart, similar to Auckland in New Zealand, had “really strong” contemporary architecture – if you knew where to look.
“I don’t know what it is about islands,” Crafti said.
“I found the contemporary architecture in both places, they speak of the place.”
“I think people have the idea that contemporary just means loud and wanting to be seen, but to me contemporary is something that is of now, but also really responds to the site.”
Crafti also said Hobart architects seemed to understand that heritage buildings could be enriched by “going softly rather than going hard”.
“It’s not just about being heard, it’s about creating something that’s quite magical.”
Crafti said Hobart was blessed by the architecture of the late Esmond Dorney, who designed the “humble masterpiece” of Dorney House at Fort Nelson.
He said the tour would visit Dorney House – and be accompanied by his son, Paddy Dorney – but would also visit Esmond Dorney’s final house.
The Fisher House, in Lower Sandy Bay, was completed after Dorney’s death in 1991 and was designed for a ballroom dancing couple.
“It includes a ballroom and ballgowns. How extraordinary,” Crafti said.
“It’s not just what something looks like, it’s an experience.”
He said the tours were about opening minds and igniting ideas.
“It’s not just about having a gaze and being voyeuristic, it’s about learning,” he said.
The tour, which will also be accompanied by award-winning architect Robert Morris-Nunn, will visit a range of spectacular Tasmanian properties, including the Glass House on the Tasman Peninsula, The Barn in Battery Point, and Coopworth on Bruny Island.
The $5860 tour, which will host its attendees at the MACq 01 Hotel, will run from February 5 to 12.
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