Burramattagal Contemporary: Towards Other Institutions II documents a group of University of Sydney Masters students reimagining what a museum could be — using John Andrews's endangered Octagon Offices in Parramatta as their site of speculation and intervention.
About This Book
The Octagon Offices in Parramatta — designed by John Andrews and currently at serious risk of demolition — provided the provocation for this studio project, in which Masters students from the University of Sydney conceived alternative museum typologies for the site. The resulting publication is not a straightforward documentation of student work: through short critical texts by Hannes Frykholm and Olivia Hyde, and two visual essays by photographer Hamish McIntosh, it opens a genuine dialogue about the institutions we collectively build and the values embedded within them. For practitioners and educators thinking about adaptive reuse, heritage at risk, and the role of the museum in a post-colonial context, this is a precise and thoughtful object.
Key Features
- 77 pages of student project documentation, critical texts, and photography
- Texts by Hannes Frykholm and Olivia Hyde; photography by Hamish McIntosh; design by Samson Ossedryver
- Edited by Guillermo Fernández-Abascal and Charles Curtin
- Focused on the Octagon Offices, Parramatta — designed by John Andrews
- Published by USYD
What You'll Discover
- How Masters-level architectural thinking can reframe a heritage building under demolition threat as a site of institutional reinvention
- The specific spatial and cultural propositions students developed for the John Andrews-designed Octagon Offices in Parramatta
- Critical frameworks from Hannes Frykholm and Olivia Hyde for rethinking what museums are and what values they instantiate
- How Hamish McIntosh's visual essays use photography to do conceptual work alongside — not merely illustrate — the written and drawn material
About the Author
The publication was edited by Guillermo Fernández-Abascal and Charles Curtin, with contributions from Olivia Hyde and Hannes Frykholm. Photography is by Hamish McIntosh and design by Samson Ossedryver. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 77
- Dimensions: 28.5 × 22 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781763628618
- Publisher: USYD
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architecture students and educators, heritage and adaptive reuse practitioners, curators and museum theorists, and anyone invested in the future of John Andrews's work in Australia.