Philip Thalis is one of the nation’s leading architects and urban designers, with comprehensive knowledge of Sydney’s architectural history. He has just been awarded the Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal for 2024. I spoke with him on Thursday.
Fitz : Congratulations on your honour , Philip, essentially a lifetime achievement award in your chosen profession. When did you conceive the passion to be an architect? Philip Thalis, recepient of the 2024 Gold Medal of the Australian Institute of Architects. Credit: Nic Walker PT: I grew up in a red-brick, three storey, walk-up block of flats in Maroubra, three boys in 100 square metres, surrounded by similar flats and, as a 10-year-old, I would walk around and think “We must be able to do something better than this”.
And as we had Airfix blocks at home – a precursor to Lego – I used to make streets lined with buildings on the floor with my brother. Much later I graduated from Sydney Uni in Architecture by the mid-80s – focusing on public space, city-making and how architecture contributes to it with urban housing, rather than the more typical pathway of private houses – and went from there. Fitz : What was your first gig? PT: I was poached with several other graduates by Sydney Uni’s Dean of Architecture to work on what was then the new Darling Harbour scheme.
But we all left within six months because we thought it was dire. Fitz : Do you still think that? “Darling Harbour was a failure then, and it.