Gold Coast Open House (GCOH), part of the largest celebration of the urban landscape in the world, has welcomed a new Chair and several new committee members for the 2022 festival to be held on the Gold Coast from 15-15 October.

Dr Rosemary Kennedy FRAIA, Director of the Subtropical Cities Consultancy and the partnership of Mulder + Kennedy Architects, has accepted the role of GCOH Chair for 2022. Rosemary brings to GCOH a passion for climate-responsive architecture and urban design. She is the author of the influential design manual Subtropical Design in South East Queensland: A Handbook for Planners, Developers and Decision Makers (BCC, Qld Govt and QUT, 2010). Rosemary was also the inaugural winner of the Australian Institute of Architect’s prestigious Jennifer Taylor Dunbar Fellowship which she used to visit mega-cities of South-East Asia in 2018, deepening her knowledge of high-rise apartment buildings and the social economic and environmental impacts of urban, high density living.

Rosemary said she was delighted to be approached by the committee to join GCOH as Chair.

“I’m a relative newcomer to the city and I am one of those curious design-minded urban explorers that have made the Open House movement a worldwide phenomenon. I thought, what better way to learn about my new city, one of the most fascinating urban environments in the country, and peel back its layers, than to get involved with the local community through GCOH? So, I said yes.”

“What I love most about Open House is that you don’t have to be an architect or designer to enjoy it.”

Rosemary says that GCOH is back this year with some new award-winning buildings, as well as some old favourites opening their doors. A number of architects will also be ‘opening up’ their designs via beautiful films produced by Nikolas Strugar from Ravens at Odds.

“I’m really excited that the public can not only visit local landmarks and experience architecture up close, but also meet the people behind the designs. They can tap into the latest thinking about urban issues through our Design Talks series, join in guided tours, make up their own itinerary, join a local group of urban sketchers, and kids can be an architect for a day at HOTA.”

Rosemary takes over the role of Chair from Pia Willemsen of Willemsen Architecture. Pia was Chair of GCOH from 2019-2021 and steered the organisation through a revamp of its programming and communication  strategy, and through the challenging 2020 and 2021 years of the covid pandemic when Open House tours were cancelled or restricted.

Pia led the innovation of commissioned short films through this period, enabling the public to continue to access extraordinary architecture from our local region, and in the process establishing an accessible archive of our region’s architecture for posterity.

Pia somehow balanced her time as an award-winning practitioner (her family home, HEY House was featured on GCOH in 2021 and won AIA Building of the Year in the same year) and as the Regional Representative of the AIA for the Gold Coast Northern Rivers in addition to her role as as well as Chair of GCOH. Bravo! Thank you Pia for the passion and commitment you brought to GCOH, and the wonderful legacy you established for the current committee.

Joining Rosemary on the 2022 GCOH Committee is:

• Secretary: Francis Greenman, Gold Coast Studio Leader, Cottee Parker Architects (GCOH Committee Member since 2019)
• Treasurer: James McMahon, Senior Cost Manager, Turner & Townsend (GCOH Committee member since 2021)
• Marketing: Kathryn Koch, Director, Anything but Ordinary
• Members:
  • Adrian Carter, Professor of Architecture, Abedian School of Architecture, Bond University (GCOH Committee member since 2021)
  • Amy Degenhart, Director, degenhartSHEDD
  • Philip Follent, Director, Philip Follent Architects. (GCOH Committee Member since 2016)
  • Darren Greenaway, Director, BDA Architecture (GCOH Committee Member 2019, 2020, 2022)
  • Allen Lucini, Director, Lucini Architects
  • Jemima Rosevear, City Architect, City of Gold Coast (GCOH Committee Member since 2021)
• SONA (Student Organised Network for Architecture) Representatives:
  • Ahmad Alwan, Griffith University
  • Susannah Moore, Bond University

Full details about the 2022 committee members can be found on our website here.

We also give our sincere thanks to the following outgoing committee members from the 2021 GCOH committee:

• Wayne Greenland, Principal Architect, Habitat Studio Architects
• Karine Dupre, Associate Professor, Griffith University
• Leah Lang, Queensland Government Architect
• Katherine Rickard, Katherine Rickard Architect
• Rayne Fouche, Fouche Architects
• Jane Strangman, Director, Stranger Strategies
• Matt Johnson, Advisory Leader, Mott MacDonald
• David Gray, Bond University SONA representative

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