Lawrence Nield BLIGH VOLLER NIELD

Lawrence Nield
Bligh Voller Nield

11 York Street
Sydney NSW 2000

www.bvn.com.au

An urban design architecture and sports planning enthusiast, Lawrence Nield has seen his fair share of the world, working in Australia and New Zealand, Greece, China, Vietnam, Italy, France and Britain. Having been appointed head of masterplanning for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in 1994, he contributed to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and the Buenos Aires Olympic bid. Nield was the Professor of Architecture at the University of Sydney from 1992-1996, and is now an Adjunct Professor at the University of NSW. He founded the firm Lawrence Neild & Partners in 1976, which merged with Bligh Voller in 1998 to form Bligh Voller Nield, of which he is now a Principal. His designs have won numerous awards, including the RAIA Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Buildings in 1997.

In your opinion, what personal qualities make a good architect?
An ability to roll with the punches.

Who would you most like to design something for?
A client with real architectural values.

Favourite tool of the trade?
A pencil.

Your greatest extravagance?
A Motoscafi from the airport in Venice.

Your greatest achievement?
Still to come...

Best architectural holiday destination?
Venice.

An upcoming international architectural project that excites you is?
Venice Stadium.

What are you afraid of regarding the future?
The continuing advancement of thoughtless Post-Modernism.

Best vista?
Also my most treasured possession (as above).

Worst blight?
The unrolling of the suburban carpet with ever continuing McMansions.

If you could meet one person alive?
Ms Arundhati Roy, Author.

One artwork that inspires you is?
Giorgione’s ‘The Tempest’.

The greatest hero from the history of architecture?
Luciano Laurana.

The dastardly villain?
Albert Speer.