The Grand Section – an odyssey

What happens when two architecture students decide they need more from their architectural education than hypothetical briefs and clients of their school studios? 

If you’re University of Newcastle Students Owen Kelly and Bobby Bailey, the answer is you dream up an epic journey across the country, inspired by Australian architects before them Phil Harris, Adrian Welke and Paul Pholeros, to “purposefully meander” through towns and landscapes to engage in understanding how places are made by people for the landscape they’re in.

At each town they aim to stay a little while and prepare an exhibition of their learnings in participation with local communities in the town, sharing their lessons with the people who showed them their way. 

Their trip is across the 360 days, along the latitude 25 Deg (about half way through the country east-west) on bicycles (!!), sharing their journey along the way on their blog and social media. 

Awarded the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship for this trip, they’re about half-way through their epic journey and are always asking for further help in the form of travel advice, book purchases or donations to keep their legs churning. We think this is a journey well worth supporting, not only for the important observations Bobbie and Owen will emerge with, but also how invaluable their lessons will be for many architects after them. The more building professionals thinking about people and environment as the basis for their practice, the more likely we are to see further shifts in environmental health for all.

Click here to download their entertaining and very informative zine on the town of Birdsville. 

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