We once had a very direct relationship to our energy use, as with most animals today, it was directly related to our metabolic rate. Asleep we require about 90 watts of energy to ‘run’, to subsist in the Amazon as a hunter gatherer requires about 250 watts. With the rise of civilisation and technology, the modern middle class human in the developed world requires around 11,000 watts to live, which, as physicist Geoffrey West “is more watts than a blue whale … the biggest animal that has ever existed.”
Today we associate guilt with our energy footprints. In the post-carbon world of New Order we may instead embrace our animal avatars, giving them names and identities of their own. Come and introduce yourself.

In collaboration with Katja Novitskova
Hosted by Mediamatic.
Part of New Order, an event and exhibition series on energy, economy and art in a post-carbon world. From March 9 to May 6 2012
Thanks to Hsien Yu and Carlos for helping build it.
Photos: Simone Schoutens

Shortlisted submission for the role of Creative Director of the Australian Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. Collaboration with Justine Clark and Kate Rhodes.

Project text:

‘Opportunistic’ is defined as ‘taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit.’ It is also related to the word ‘opportunity’, or ‘a chance for success or advancement’.

It is between these two definitions – one devious and one admirable – that the Opportunistic Architect operates. Opportunistic Architects ‘do not wait for the phone to ring’. They are pro-active, entrepreneurial, nimble, industrious, intelligent and ambitious. Opportunistic Architects are motivated both by a latent urge to ‘do good’ – increasingly prevalent among architects today – but also by the need to make money, the will to succeed, and to see their visions realized.

The Office for Opportunistic Architecture is a temporary, productive office housed in the Australian Pavilion. It is simultaneously an ‘office’ and ‘exhibition’, exhibiting people at work and the work they create, by hosting teams of Australian architects working on the key spatial challenges facing Australia today. It offers a chance to step outside of standard practice frameworks and explore the social agency of architecture.

Pyramid (working title) in collaboration with artist Melanie Bonajo. Colours change in response to individual levels of conductivity in the skin, creating a personal experience of intense colour saturation.

Concept: Melanie Bonajo.
Design and construction: Rory Hyde and Melanie Bonajo.
Exhibited at the Rijksacademie Open Studios, November 2010.

An installation produced for the 2010 AIA conference in Sydney.

The trouble with conferences is the imbalance between pontification and discussion. Speakers project their opinions, and panel sessions rarely succeed in a genuine conversation. We sought to redress this imbalance in response to an invitation to design an 'action' for the AIA conference in Sydney.

12 chairs with very large backs made from common building insulation are arranged to form a small interior in the foyers of the conference venue, providing a space for more intimate unpacking of ideas, far away from the stage. These chairs can be freely repositioned to form different sized clusters for different kinds of forums.

The backs of the chairs also formed an exhibition of the concept of Unsolicited Architecture, each presenting one of the 12 steps. In addition, the bootleg issue of Volume was tied to each chair, creating an informal reading room.

With Timothy Moore and Anneke Abhelakh. Thanks to Mel Dodd, Nicholas Braun and Qianyi Lim.

Hear the interview we did with Sam Jacob of FAT *inside* the work.

Installation design for catwalk presentation of the Tunnel collection by Melbourne fashion label S!X (Denise Sprynskyj and Peter Boyd). Presented as part of the 2007 Motorolla Melbourne International Fashion Festival, in the vacated tunnel underneath Hero tower, Russell St.

Exposed fluorescent tubes running the length of the space in a simple zig-zag pattern formed the only lighting for the show in a simple yet dramatic intervention, highlight the rawness of the collection.

Installation produced with BKK Architects for the Pavilions for New Architecture exhibition at the Monash University Museum of Art.

The pavilion seeks to exhibit architecture at its most essential and immersive. The suspended structure is composed of hexagonal cells radiating from a single point. From this point of projection – when standing on the black step – only the edges of the cells can be seen, dissolving all depth, creating a sense of infinite expansion. The viewer is the centre of their own sphere of sight; the origin of their own micro universe.

Designed using parametric software, each hexagonal cell is formed from a unique template, cut from card, folded, and simply stuck together with double sided tape.

Team: Rory Hyde and BKK Architects (Tim Black, Simon Knott, Julian Kosloff) with Lotte Starr and Christian Froleich.
Curators: Max Delany and Geraldine Barlow.