JOHN WHATMORE
ABOUT ME
I have enjoyed working as Architectural project leader on projects of national significance throughout my career, both in Australia and overseas.
The latest phase of my career has been at Architectus during a period of substantial growth and transformation for the practice. My role on major projects, working mainly with Principal Luke Johnson, has been to lead the architectural and consultant teams from inception through to SSDA and Tender Packages. Three substantial projects from this phase are either complete or nearing completion towards the end of 2022.
The Sydney Modern Project
Macquarie University Central Courtyard Precinct
Cranbrook School Redevelopment
Growing up in Brisbane and studying at QIT (now QUT) was a great primer on the importance of passive environmental design as an essential response to the ever-present sub-tropical climate. Study at Uni for designing for the energy economy and the potential of renewable technology pathways brought together complementary themes discovered in high school with strong performances in both sciences and arts subjects.
Working as Project Architect on an important and long lived part of Expo 88, The Boardwalk, led to an interest in major events and the obligatory overseas working experience. Lobb Partnership London (now Populous) were focused on major sports facilities, including horseracing, football stadia and cricket grounds. A number of "pinch-me" moments occurred for a keen Aussie (recreational) cricketer to be presenting architectural schemes in the boardrooms of The Oval, Lords Cricket Ground, and Wimbledon.
Coming home to Sydney in the mid 90's, in a JV between Lobb and Bligh Voller, we won the privilege to design the Sydney Olympic Stadium. By the time of the games we had designed more elements of the event than any other practice, including the extensive temporary Overlay Works. Bligh Voller became BVN after the merger with Lawrence Nield and Partners. The simple elegance we brought to the Olympic Tennis Centre attracted the Sulman Medallion, the top AIA prize for public buildings in NSW.
After the Games, design work for events generally involved overseas travel; with a family to consider, I moved to a role as Design Manager with Multiplex (builders of the Stadium). This work was mostly within the development arm of the multi-streamed business, involving large multi-stage mixed use projects. Our small internal design unit did benchmark designs on sites prior to acquisition, ran design competitions and selecting consultant teams for projects, and managed the design teams on major PPP bids such as Barangaroo and the Sydney Convention Centre.
Architectural Career
ARCHITECUS Sydney
Project Leader
August 2015 - current
My role, working with the Design Principals, has been to lead the Architectural and Consultant teams on major projects, from inception through to preparation of SSDA submission and tender docs. Projects include:
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Sydney Modern Project, AGNSW
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Macquarie University Central Courtyard Precinct
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Cranbrook School Redevelopment
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Barker College Maths Building
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Central Precinct Renewal Program
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Metro Martin Place North OSD
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New Bankstown Hospital
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Health Translation Hub UNSW
MULTIPLEX Sydney
Design Manager
June 2003 - Dec 2012
My role was leading / working within a design team in the Development Division as a national resource. Tasks included evaluation of existing design proposals, development of benchmark designs prior to site acquisition, selection and management of consultant teams, development of design guidelines. Major Projects include:
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Barangaroo bid
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Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre bid
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1 Shelley St, Sydney
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Portside Wharf Brisbane (Mid Stages)
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Port Adelaide Redevelopment (Mid Stages)
BVN Sydney
Principal, Architect
August 1993 - Feb 2002
As a Director of Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture, my portfolio of projects included:
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Sydney Olympic Stadium (a BOOT project)
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Sydney Olympic Tennis Centre (with Lawrence Nield, winner of the Sulman Medallion)
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Olympic Overlay Temporary Works (at SOP and Darling Harbour)
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National Stadium of Vietnam, Hanoi
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Wellington Stadium, New Zealand (with Warren and Mahoney)
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Docklands Stadium Melbourne (with Daryl Jackson)
LOBB PARTNERSHIP, London
(now Populous)
Project Architect
May 1988 - May 1993
As Project Architect, my projects included:
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The Oval Cricket Ground Members Pavilion Redevelopment, London
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Cheltenham Racecourse Master Plan and Stage 1, UK
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New Selangor Turf Club, KL, Malaysia
AB+M, Brisbane
Graduate Architect
May 1986 - May 1993
As a graduate Architect during a boom period, I had the opportunity to step up to responsible "senior" roles on several projects, working in commercial, hotel and healthcare projects. Of particular note was the opportunity for semi-autonomous design and documentation of the "The Boardwalk" at Expo 88, which led to an interest in design for major events. The Boardwalk remained in use for around 20 years after other elements of Expo were removed.
Education
QIT (now QUT), Brisbane
B.App Sci. Blt. Env.
Grad. Dip. Arch.
1981-1988
The Bachelor of Applied Science Built Environment was a broad three year full time design course providing entree to a range of design streams from Architecture to Landscape and industrial design.
The Graduate Diploma was a three year part time course, involving night classes and 4.5 days per week in an Architects office. I worked at Thomson Adsett and AB+M during these years of study.
Board of Architects Prize
1983
Awarded to the top student at completion of the B. App. Science course.
MacGregor High School, Brisbane
1976-1980
Macgregor is a large 1,600 student State High School in Brisbane's south, where I grew up. I did well at school and was awarded a number of year-subject prizes:
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Year 8 - Science
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Year 9 - Science
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Year 10 - Art
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Year 11 - Technical Drawing
In Year 10, I achieved 5 scores of "7" in my 6 subjects (Radford Scheme 1-7 using Bell Curve).
Year 12 Tertiary Entrance Score was 985 (range 660-990 in 5 point increments).