Life Architecturally is a movie about an Australian husband and wife architectural team and their business,
McBride Charles Ryan. Robert McBride, an architect, and Deborah Ryan, interior designer live in Melbourne and their buildings are known for their interesting shapes and use of colour. The movie follows them for a year showing their work style and the struggle to strike the right balance between family life and work. They stay true to their design aesthetic and work collaboratively to come up with amazing and ground breaking designs. It is a very personal movie and shows that creativity permeates every part of their life together.
One of the projects they are working on in the movie is their design and pitch for the billion dollar Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Melbourne. All the hard work pays off when they are awarded the job. When this building is completed this year it will be the largest cancer care centre in the Southern Hemisphere. Cancer is an illness which has touched their lives with the diagnosis and treatment of Robert and the death of Deborah’s father from the disease.
Some of their well-known projects are the spiral Klein Bottle House, The Cloud House and The Quays apartments. Their innovative school building designs make our New Zealand school buildings look very boring indeed. A thought-provoking and creatively challenging movie. And I mean that you should be challenging yourself creatively after watching it. They prove that virtually any idea can be built and it doesn’t need to be grey or beige.
Want to see more? Want to know more? Take a look at www.mcbridecharlesryan.com.au
Diane Hume-Green
Diane is a longtime Tauranga resident who participates in a wide range of community, social and cultural activities which she sharew with ARTbop readers.
