global studio

One of the stellar bricks + cartwheels founders, Georgia Bowen, has recently returned from The Global Studio in Johannesburg. Georgia speaks of the amazing opportunity the studio provides to explore participatory approaches to design and planning that can improve people's lives and alleviate poverty. Georgia is inspiring the bricks + cartwheels team with her experiences.

Click here to read about Georgia and Global Studio in an article from The University of Sydney.

film review - out of africa

bricks + cartwheels watched Sydney Pollack's 1985 film "Out of Africa" recently; some of us for the first time, some of us for the first in a long time. But it was a discovery all the same, of a beautiful place filled with colour, and love, and life. Based on a true story, it tells the tale of Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), a Danish woman who moves to Kenya in 1913 and the many years she spends there after that. Her journey is shared with Denys Finch-Hatton (Robert Redford), a hunter who challenges her mind as well as her emotions. Whilst she believes in the freedom to learn, with her love for adventure set alongside the rhythm of Africa, she learns about freedom.

This film captures the idyllic nature of a country that is wild and beautifully poetic. It truly is captivating. If you do get the chance to see it, we hope it touches you as much as it did us.

on solid ground - sydney design festival

Last week bricks + cartwheels took a field trip to the Powerhouse Museum to see 'On Solid Ground: Quake-Safe Adobe and Earth Building Today' as part of the Sydney Design Festival. Quake Safe is a low cost building construction system for application in the developing world. We visited a scale model of a mud brick prototype building, constructed in the courtyard of the Powerhouse. Go and have a look!

Click here for more information.

monument - giving a damn

So, it is last month's issue- but we stumbled across it in the Powerhouse gift shop. Monument dedicate an issue to address architects’ response to social and environmental sustainability. The issue covers Arup's emergency housing in Sri Lanka, social housing projects in Europe by Peter Cook and David Chipperfield, Iredale Pedersen Hook's aboriginal community housing in Western Australia and profiles the work of Architecture for Humanity.

bricks + cartwheels think it is a must read!

Click here for more information.

vanity fair - the africa issue

This month Vanity Fair is all about Africa. Guest edited by Bono, the issue includes articles detailing Jeffery Sachs vision to eradicate global poverty; Africa's access to anti-retroviral drugs; Brad Pitt interviews Desmond Tutu and Bill Clinton shares his experiences with Nelson Mandela.

An interesting look at Africa through a pop culture medium - have a look at the website.

Click here for more information.

designer drinks

bricks + cartwheels had their first fundraiser last Tuesday evening at the University of Sydney. We hosted designer drinks at the faculty of architecture. It was a great night, with a slide show, a few drinks and lots of good discussions with everybody about our current project in Kenya. It was so nice to see that so many of our university class mates and teachers are interested and excited about the project.