Sam Crawford (BSc (Arch) ’93, BArch ’97) is a Sydney-based architect and Director of Sam Crawford Architects, which he established in 1999. Under his leadership, the firm has grown and developed a reputation for design that is environmentally and socially responsible.
His work has been widely published, nationally and internationally, and has been the recipient of numerous local, state and national architecture awards. Alongside the recognition for his built work, he is a regular speaker at architectural forums and universities around Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Insitute of Architects (AIA), an examiner for the Board of Architects NSW, a member of the Northern Sydney Region of Councils Design Excellence Review Panel and the Liverpool Council Design Review Panel, and Chair of the AIA (NSW Chaper) Awards Working Group.
What sparked your interest in architecture?
I have always been interested in how things work, how a mortice and tenon joint is made, how a river flows the way it does, and how cities function. By the time I was a teenager, studying architecture when I left school seemed inevitable. When I was seven years old, my parents took me and my six siblings out of school for a year to travel.
Arriving in the bleak London winter of Feb 1979, they bought a bright orange VW Kombi van, crossed the channel, drove south, and spent the year traversing Europe and north Africa, visiting countless hill towns, castles, museums and art galleries. “The trip”, as we referred to it, exposed us to other worlds, and changed the course of our lives.
How did your time at the University of Sydney shape your early career?
During my time at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, I received a wonderful design education – with a strong emphasis on social impact and respect for the environment – people, purpose and place. In the 1990s, Col James was still teaching design and working with the local Aboriginal community, and on student housing.
Professor Jennifer Taylor was teaching the theory and history of architecture. We had inspiring design and professional-practice tutors and lecturers including Ric LePlastrier, Rod Simpson, Squizzy Taylor, Craig Burton, Harry Seidler, Tone Wheeler, Nick Murcu, Andrew Nimmo, Annabel Lahz, Peter Stutchbury, Paul Pholeros, Alec Tzannes, Lawrence Neild and Anna Rubbo.
Next door to the faculty building was the Tin Sheds – where we took art classes – and in the faculty basement, a well-equipped and staffed wood-and-metal workshop, providing us with the opportunity to make furniture, screen print, paint, draw, and throw clay on the wheel.
We enrolled in electives within the Arts Faculty, to study philosophy and feminism. When we first arrived at university, most of us were really just children – 17 or 18 years old. By the time we left, our way of thinking and seeing the world was changed forever. Each week we pinned up and presented our ideas to our fellow students and design tutors. Each week our ideas were met with robust criticism. The process, whilst often painful, built resilience and focused our minds, to develop strong ideas that we were willing and able to defend.
Working with Indigenous knowledge holders and collaborators reinforces and enriches the best aspects of the work that we do. What is good for Country is good for all of us.
Sam Crawford (BSc (Arch) ’93, BArch ’97)
Director, Sam Crawford Architects
Was there a defining project or moment that confirmed you were on the right path?
In my second last year of study, I was given the opportunity to design a real project – a house for my sister and her family. As the prospect was terrifying, I invited fellow student Emili Fox to join me. Two years out of university and the house was built. My sister and her husband were delighted. The project was published in the SMH Domain lift-out – a popular residential architecture supplement. Completing the house and then travelling on my own in India and Nepal, gave me the confidence to start my own practice.
What’s one thing you wish you’d known as a student architect?
I loved university and I hated it. We worked ourselves extremely hard. Throughout each semester, we were at the drawing board or making models all weekend and late into the night. I wanted it to end. It seemed that it never would. It did, and I found that being an architect makes for a wonderfully challenging career. It was all worth it.
Your work is guided by the idea of the ‘common good.’ How does that philosophy shape your approach to designing homes and community spaces?
As architects we are responsible to our clients, AND to their land and community. Seen through an Indigenous lens we are responsible to Country, AND to our clients. Country is a term and a way of seeing the world that non-Indigenous Australians were not familiar with in 1990s Australia. Yet the ethos of our architectural education reflected many of the same principles of respect for people and the environment, albeit without the depth and breadth of understanding that the oldest living culture on earth encapsulates in Country. For me, designing a family house, or a space for the broader community, draws upon the same principles, and requires the same amount of care.
How do collaborations with artists and Connecting with Country consultants enrich the cultural and material layers of your projects?
Working with Indigenous knowledge holders and collaborators reinforces and enriches the best aspects of the work that we do. What is good for Country is good for all of us. Working with artists helps us to see our work from a different vantage point. As with Indigenous collaborators, artists broaden our thinking and allow us to explore aspects of a design that might otherwise have not been revealed.
After 25 years of practice, what’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned about architecture’s role in community life?
Architecture shapes lives. Being a citizen, being part of a community, the thing that binds us all, is care for each other and our environment. Being considerate. Architecture done well is an act of love. We’ve seen during the last 25 years of practice how well-designed spaces transform lives. It brings us great joy to see families delight in their thoughtful, sustainable renovation, the improved connection to each other and the garden in a new house, or diverse groups coming together in response to one of our community centres. People see the investment in an architect is about enhanced living, both now and in the future.
How do you deal with Sydney’s housing crisis as an architect?
Architects have a role. We must champion quality design outcomes in our cities with greater density of housing. That need not translate into high-rise residential towers, divorced from the local streetscape, from the public domain, from nature. High density living can be achieved with mixed-use buildings that sit, grounded, and within the tree line – five or six storeys high – near employment, amenity and transport, contributing to the public life of the city.
My practice, Sam Crawford Architects, was selected to deliver a terrace house pattern for the NSW Housing Pattern Book, which is a collection of low-rise adaptable, sustainable and affordable pre-approved housing designs which can benefit from an accelerated approval pathway. The Government Architect of NSW has also more recently announced patterns for mid-rise housing development – up to six storeys – for the NSW Housing Pattern Book – another great initiative to tackle the housing shortage, whilst delivering high amenity to the community.
What advice would you give to others who aspire to follow this path?
There are plenty of occasions when it all seems too hard, when the odds of achieving a quality design outcome, paying your staff and making a decent living seem stacked against you. Be it a client not paying your fees on time, an approval authority or another vested interest blocking your path – stay on it. It is a rewarding path to follow.
Hero image - Design: Sam Crawford Architects. Photography: Brett Boardman.
The design of a new pedestrian and cycle bridge in Centennial Park was inspired by the ‘bara’ eels and their migration to the Pacific Ocean from the very pond it traverses. The shape, movement and colour of the long-finned eels is reflected in the form and materiality of the bridge design. Design: Sam Crawford Architects. Image: Brett Boardman
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