Kerstin Thompson
Architect
Australian architect Kerstin Thompson. Portrait: Jessica Lindsay
Interview by Janne Ryan | photography by Jessica Lindsay, Peter Bennetts, Dan Preston, Zan Wimberley, Trevor Mein, Ying Ang
Good architecture is about the way a building feels, not the way it looks. Putting yourself in a space before it physically manifests, according to Kerstin Thompson, takes a special kind of empathy. This leading Australian architect says learning to trust herself was her game changer moment.
what do you do and why?
That’s so not an easy question. I do what I do because it’s a love of imagining and advocating, and making places of beauty, joy and purpose every day. And a fascination that every building matters, even the smallest, most incidental ones are really important.
YOU’RE A DREAMER?
It’s funny you should ask. I didn’t always want to be an architect. The opportunity to daydream as a child is really important. It’s so much about conjuring up other worlds, whether it’s for escape or the sheer joy of transporting yourself somewhere else. That’s really, really critical.
Tapping in, architect Kerstin Thompson. Photo: Ying Ang
HOW DO YOU TAP INTO THE SPIRIT OF OTHERS?
I think it’s hard to really put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but it’s important to at least try. One of the great arrogances of architects has been to think we know what it’s like for someone else. Good architecture is being able to feel what something will be like before it’s built, and then to try and anticipate its special qualities and experiences.
so – THE WAY IT FEELS, NOT THE WAY IT LOOKS?
Absolutely. Good architecture is about putting yourself in the space before it actually physically manifests, to have a sense of what it feels like, what it sounds like, how warm or cool it is, how dark or light. It’s having a total sense of what it will be. I sometimes think of it as like a special empathy or kinaesthetic empathy. That’s what architects can bring to the act of imagining and then manifesting buildings. It’s very powerful, subliminally, and we can’t underestimate that in the sense that a building might hold you, or have your back. Of course, they can also intimidate and feel alien, you know… all of those things.
The Bridge for creative learning, by Kerstin Thompson Architects, at Bundanon, Shoalhaven, NSW. Photo: Zan Wimberley
“The most interesting parts of a brief are the bits that are not written down.”
HOW DO YOU GET A BRIEF FROM CLIENTS?
We have a wide variety of clients, and the most interesting parts of briefs are the bits that are not written down. Institutional clients, for example, are far more bureaucratic in their briefing. Clients expectations are not always neatly packaged at the start of the process. They can come in quite late, so you have to listen out for them, and respond. You can’t just ignore them.
MANAGING RELATIONSHIPS?
You get the formal relationship with a client, and then you think to yourself, hmm, there’s something else going on. Sometimes you have to hear hard things or things that don't fit with where you thought something was going… and it’s sort of messy, but it's necessary. It’s better to have some short-term inconvenience to avoid a much longer resentment where something is just not right for the client or projects.
Broadmeadows (Vic.) Town Hall by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Dan Preston
a GAME-CHANGER Moment?
Learning to trust myself. I enjoy being a leader. It was important to establish my practice where I could write the rules of how we practice, and where we apply our efforts. It’s a real liberation to be yourself, to set that agenda and not have to adopt a role that someone else has created. Being able to manage yourself, rather than being ‘managed’. It’s being able to go to work and be the same person that you are all the time. It’s definitely an evolution.
Broadmeadows (Vic.) Town Hall by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Dan Preston
“How a leader behaves sends a big message.”
ON BEING A FEMALE ELDER?
I would say to any practitioner – male, female, trans – that understanding diversity and the next generation is very important. How a leader behaves sends a big message. Learning to recognise and challenge things like bullying, for example, is complex and important. It’s about questioning behaviours if they’re not a good fit, and interrogating underlying assumptions.
Broadmeadows (Vic.) Town Hall by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Dan Preston
your strengths & weaknesses?
I am impatient when I am in something that I think could be better (weakness), but I’m usually optimistic and hopeful (strength) that I can make a positive change in a situation. But the flip side of that is that every now and then you realise that the fixed things on a project, the fundamentals, such as values, are just so problematic and embedded that optimism won’t be enough. With experience I have become better at just knowing how to pick our battles.
The Robin Boyd Award-winning East Street House in Albury NSW, by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Dan Preston
how do you like to work?
I find having a lot of responsibility easier than having less responsibility. Understanding who is making decisions and who is responsible for the outcome helps. I value the process by which a good building is made. It’s important that the building is great and but also that the process of making it is a positive experience for our clients, the builders, and the people I work with in the office. That’s not to say it won't have its hard moments.
“You’ve got to deliver a product, but you’ve also got to stay alive to new insights.”
The Stables at University of Melbourne by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Trevor Mein
HOW DO YOU stay focused?
Clarity of purpose on a project is really important, both from a design point of view, and the client’s point of view. There are so many tensions in a project every day, that it’s easy to go off course, although you also need to be flexible when parameters shift. You’ve got to deliver a product, but you’ve also got to stay alive to new insights, new possibilities at the same time.
“There are inevitable leaps of faith that have to be made in architecture.”
The Stables at University of Melbourne by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Trevor Mein
how do you manage risk?
We take risks every day because there are inevitable leaps of faith that have to be made in architecture. Take the Bundanon* gallery in Nowra (NSW). On the one hand it felt like a huge responsibility to work on that, and it felt like there were a lot of risks with it too, and there probably still are. But you just have to put that to the side, the fear of that, and think, well it’s step by step. You have to think through what you do and take care. The risk that seems enormous then becomes manageable, or something you're prepared to do. I mean if you thought every day about what could go wrong, there’s just no way you would do this.
KTA’s concept design of Riversdale for the Bundanon Trust is situated on the 1100-hectare property gifted to the Australia people by artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne in 1993.
Northcote High School (Vic.) by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Peter Bennetts
what challenges you?
It is the challenge of working across a range of building types. But thinking about that broad array is really important. Architecture can be seen as rarified – for special things like galleries and museums. We want to contribute to those special architectural projects, but also to the more everyday ones. We’re doing a lot of social housing projects and everyday schools and the messier stuff like development work. Some of the procurement process is cut-throat, it's value driven, but we need to have a go because it’s a chance to advocate for quality. It means that not every building will be the gem that you might have if you had a very small portfolio where you do an occasional building under quite different circumstances.
“you just have to carefully think it through, step by step.”
Detail of Northcote High School, Vic by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Photo: Kerstin Thompson
How do you push through difficulties or doubt?
I have doubts at the beginning of every project (‘What if we can’t do this or that; what if we can’t deliver?’). But you can’t worry about it, you just have to carefully think it through, step by step. That’s how you get there. If something’s niggling, do something about it, attend to things that could be a problem. If something isn’t sitting right, I invite my clients to talk about it. Things need to be out in the open.
The role of failure?
Every day I think I could fail. There’s always that useful bit of doubt.
“There might be a better way that you hadn’t thought about.”
Your HARDEST LESSON?
That you will not always please people, especially if you’re exerting any level of authority about things. Sometimes you have to deliver hard information. However, you need to stay open to someone else’s point of view. There might be a better way that you hadn’t thought about, and you should always stay open to that.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
Being a generous older practitioner is really important right now, making it possible for others to flourish and to help the next generation.
