Detail, connection and experience

I first met John Wardle in the early 2000s when I visited his office soon after beginning my career in architectural publishing with Artichoke magazine. John Wardle Architects (JWA) had recently moved into a smart new studio space in Bogle and Banfield Associates’ 1960s Total House, a CBD enclave for Melbourne’s architectural community. Here, John had commissioned artist Peter Kennedy to create And So … Illumination 1 (2003), a striking neon artwork framed by the silhouette of the building’s floating office block. This text-based work operated at the scale of the object and the billboard, collapsing the distinction between room and city. Over the past 20 years, the studio spaces of JWA have led double lives as exhibition and event venues.

My most recent visit to the office was to the Rokeby Street Studio, a