Clarity and serendipity: Negotiating the in-between
Just as Kerstin Thompson Architects’ built projects revolve around interstitial spaces, Thompson’s cultural contributions have influenced “the grey zones of invention and possibility,” countering myths and opening up spaces for discussion.
Early in 2001, Kerstin Thompson presented the work of Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) at a public lecture at the University of Melbourne under the title “Gradient architectures.” She spoke eloquently of the practice’s interest in the in-between and the interstitial; of “building the moments between opposites”; of incremental change, visible seams and stepped calibration; of an architecture “activated through occupation.”
Recently arrived in Australia, I sat in that darkened theatre, entranced. The glowing images showed a compelling body of work, but what really captured my attention was the rigour and care of the discussion. This framed the work, seeping into and around the projects shown and promising much more. This was not theory twisted out of shape to justify form-making. Here was the post-structuralism that had informed the architectural education of our generation used intelligently to underpin strategies for architectural thinking and acting, and ways of being in the world.
As the new assistant editor at, I asked Kerstin if we could publish the talk – and convinced my boss that it was important.Over the following decades, I have watched her career flourish. I
