Talking Adelaide Architecture

The evolution of our suburbs continues, sometimes with striking developments like the new zinc clad “A”-shape geometric modernism in Baliol St. College Park but more frequently with bland boxiness and beige rendering that smothers the earth and pays no heed to energy efficiency. Is this the suburban landscape we want? Is it the suburban landscape we deserve? How much should be left to the individual’s requirements and how much influence should planners have? Where do individual’s requirements, community standards and planning needs intersect and how much should they be allowed to diverge? Is there an Adelaide aesthetic to be proud of? What will a future version of Adelaide: Light and Stone look like?

I don’t always find it easy to decide if a new building has a good aesthetic, or even an old building for that matter! So I have been thinking about my personal values for a while, particularly as I accumulated photos to include in Adelaide: Light and Stone.

Deciding if a building is good is not always a straightforward decision and goes beyond personal preference. For me, a building can work because it is interesting rather than beautiful. Sometimes when it contrasts with its surroundings rather than blending in.

For now, I have adopted the approach of looking at a building and imagining making a postcard to send to friends overseas. Would I choose to include the building or would I go out of my way to avoid including the building as part of the image? This certainly brings a finer focus to the decision making…. And sadly, as I walk around our streets, the answer is too frequently “avoid”. Frequently not because the building is astonishingly ugly, but because it is depressingly bland (although one could argue the difference!).

So when you are thinking about constructing a new building or just painting your existing one, use some ruthless honesty and try imagining it on a post-card. Is this an image that stirs emotion and admiration from the viewer? Enough to make a stranger want to visit your city or suburb? If it doesn’t, is there an alternative affordable alternative? It does not have to be an expensive solution. It could be a change of colour or the plants in the garden. Take some inspiration from places you have visited and why you enjoyed looking at the buildings. Why you might have photographed them! Together we can create an environment we enjoy living in and one that we are proud to display to visitors.

Carp with no fear

I have heard carp called “rabbits of the river”. I have heard they are bottom feeders. That they stir up the mud and disturb the habitat of our native fish. ‘Tis said there are too many in the River Murray. I have even caught a few and heaved them onto the river bank thinking I was making a small contribution to the local ecology. But I was unprepared for the sight that greeted me on a recent Thursday when I strolled down to the water’s edge.

I have been visiting Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island in particular for over forty years and rarely has the muddy bottom been visible like it is now. Where there is normally a meter or so of water, now there are several meters of flat gray mud along the shore line.

However, on Thursday the wind changed direction, pushing the water back creating a shallow covering a few centimeters deep. Here a dozen carp were feeding, plowing their fat lips through the mud. Most of them over forty centimeters long. Their sagging, unsupported fins and glistening scaly backs breaking the water surface. I ran for my camera.

Carp feed by sucking in the mud and filtering out the invertebrates and a little of the plant matterwhich they prefer. Here they were gorging themselves seemingly without fear of predators. Not a pelican within a hundred meters. “Are the pelican’s over fed?” I wondered.

On Friday when the waters retreated again, the evidence of their activities was exposed. If I had not been there to witness their foraging I would have been mystified at these strange thick squiggles in the mud. Here is the evidence of what a few carp can do in just a short time to disturb the riverbed.

At first I thought the Carp were gone, but as I scanned along the river I could see a several Carp breaking the surface in the distance. I had regretted not taking the opportunity to catch a few, for the benefit of the river as it were. I then tried, but the line was old and easily broke. I left frustrated but certainly intrigued by what our sadly depleted river had revealed.