“This installation re-presents past works produced by PHOOEY Architects and develops a useful dialogue which will influence the processes for their future projects.

The second exhibition in our ABP Alumni Retrospective Series for 2010 profiles the practice and vision of one of our most exciting graduate architects – Peter Ho. Established in 2004 with Emma Young, PHOOEY Architects aims to create zero waste and is entertained by the sobriety of global warming. The practice has received international awards and publication worldwide for their Children’s Activity Centre at Skinners Playground. This exhibition also includes a sporting pavilion that tries to start a mexican wave; a high-rise residential tower constructed from recycled shipping containers; affordable houses; a hair salon growing a surreal hair chandelier; four rivers flowing through a primary school; and a prototype bicycle shed due to be rolled out at train stations across Victoria.

As Dr Alex Selenitsch writes, “Theoretically, pure installations cannot be relocated like a framed painting or freestanding sculpture. This installation by PHOOEY will be. Its material origin is in the abundance of carpet tiles. At the end of the exhibition they will be removed and used elsewhere, and possibly not as flooring. While tattooed with images of PHOOEY’s architecture, the tiles are a real here-and-now materialisation of the architects’ strategies. The tiles set the questions and provide a context in which PHOOEY’s built work can be considered, but the true nature of this exhibition will only be evident when the carpet bits are taken away, re-used, perhaps separated into a number of subsequent locations and projects. This could happen for some time and across many locations.”

The exhibition presents a rare opportunity to stand on the impressive and progressive projects of this important Australian architectural practice.
The ABP Alumni Retrospective Series is intended to highlight the extraordinary range and contribution to the urban environment of alumni from all professional programs of the MSD within the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, both recent and past.”