GTAQ Keynote - Ideas from Floods

Below is the abstract of one of the Keynote Speakers at the GTAQ conference. More information on the Keynote Speakers can be found by clicking on the following link.

Presented by Associate Professor Peter Skinner, Director of the Master of Architecture Program at University of Queensland

The 1974 Brisbane River flood injured 300 people and took 14 lives. It swept away 56 houses and damaged 6,700 homes. It was undoubtedly a major catastrophe for the city. It also inflicted extensive damage on the wharves and small industrial properties on the South Brisbane riverbank.

The Government of the day saw an opportunity to rebuild the Queensland Art Gallery on the riverbank in South Brisbane. The Performing Arts Complex, the Queensland Museum and the State Library followed to complete a complex known as the Cultural Centre. The adjacent riverfront was resumed for the staging of Expo’88, and subsequent redevelopment as South Bank Parklands. South Bank attracted the Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Conservatorium of Music and the College of Art. The success of South Bank precinct encouraged the Millenium Arts project of major extension to the State Library and the new Gallery of Modern Art. The success of GoMA triggered construction of the Kurilpa Bridge to complementing the successful Goodwill Bridge. Today, the ABC headquarters is under construction in arguably the liveliest and most attractive urban cultural precinct in Australia. This may not have happened but for Cyclone Wanda and the 1974 Flood.

The Flood of Ideas project* arose from an ambition to tap the collective community engagement that followed the January 2011 Brisbane River flood emergency and its remarkable volunteer response. More than 150 illustrated submissions were submitted answering a call for design ideas for better preparedness for future floods. Responses ranged from the practical to the fanciful and from heroic mega-projects to humble home improvements.

The question is posed, if the 1974 floods created the conditions from which South Bank grew, are there equivalent opportunities following the 2011 deluge? Have the receding floodwaters uncovered latent traces of a possible new geography of the city?

Associate Professor Peter Skinner is Director of the Master of Architecture program at the University of Queensland and is Queensland President and a National Councilor of the Australian Institute of Architects. Growing up in regional Queensland, he has experienced significant floods in Longreach, Gympie and Mt Isa and has spent too many days camped beside a flooded Bruce Highway. His first week of study as an architecture student in 1974 was spent recording flood damage to houses in Graceville and Chelmer. He is an active critic and commentator on architectural and urban design issues, notable in recent years for opposition to the North Bank project. He is a co-creator of the Flood of Ideas project and on behalf of his profession has contributed to Brisbane City Council and Queensland Government flood and disaster responses.