DRAWING FIRE
A passion for ink rendering set architect Luigi Rosselli on a trajectory to building success.
I INTERVIEW MILAN-BORN, Swiss-educated architect Luigi Rosselli in a beehive, or rather The Beehive – his Surry Hills’ studio in Sydney. Its honeycomb facade was a joint effort with his architect son Raffaello, who is also interested in sustainability and re-use. “We were exploring different materials when I suggested using terracotta roof tiles discarded from a client’s house,” says Luigi. The resulting pattern is mesmeric, with the elemental warmth of the irregular tiles adding a rustic informality to what is a highly calibrated design practice. This duality runs through his approach. His hand drawings of buildings tend to be loose and lyrical but also capture the essence of the finished scheme. He values a sustainable approach while being sought after by A-list clients, and he has a distinct architectural language that still allows for the collaborative input of others.
His studies at École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne included high-level internships, such as a stint with Mario Botta on his Fribourg State Bank project in Switzerland, then in New York with Aldo Giurgola, known for his winning design for Parliament House in Canberra. Luigi was dubbed ‘chief inker’ for his skill in ink drawing – a requirement for the design entry none of his US colleagues could do. Such are the minutiae on which careers pivot. His stay in Canberra gave him a taste for Australian life. “We were involved in the most important project in the city but every weekend we’d do something different – skiing or visiting Sydney,” he says.
While he went back to Lausanne and finished his degree (winning the university prize) he soon returned, this time to Sydney, working in the small practice of Furio Valich in an office shared by architects Allen Jack+cottier and Neil Burley, before setting up on his own in 1985. With retail and office fit-outs his bread and butter, a notable break into high-profile residential came for Luigi with a commission by Andrew Farriss of INXS to build a house at Cottage Point. ‘House for a Rock Star’, for Farriss’s band mate Kirk Pengilly, in Sydney’s Cammeray followed and Luigi’s trajectory was set.
A recent project that sums up much of his oeuvre is Halas House in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill, a reimagining of a modernist house built in the 1960s by George Reeves who channeled the aesthetic of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. “We called the house ‘Homage to Oscar’ because of the organic shapes and fluid lines,” says Luigi. The brief was to open up the compartmentalised rooms to larger contemporary spaces and link the interior with the garden. “We worked with William Dangar, who understands the subtropical landscape, and interior designer Romaine Alwill, who was sensitive to what was right for the house,” he says, cognisant of the value of a complete design solution for clients beyond the structure itself.
His architectural language tends to the organic with softened forms and building edges without aggressive geometries. “I like to open a building up to lateral views, to round off the corners and join with the square building in an empathetic and logical way,” he says. To Luigi a sharp corner is like taking a knife to a view. This plays out in luxury multi-residential projects such as Triplex Apartments in Bellevue Hill where generous offset balconies extend the living space towards views and greenery. “I take a humanist approach ... to stimulate the perception of a building through the sensory – tactility, light and materials,” he says. This is relevant to a recent project in the Pilbara: the Great Wall of WA. The brief was for musterers’ accommodation for contract cowboys with 12 small units sited under a sand dune with rammed earth walls used as natural air-conditioners.
“I always try to understand the character of a site, to be sensitive to its traditions, whether it is urban, suburban or rural,” says Luigi. With its undulating form, and the way it locks into its site, it becomes more landform than structure and when you look at his initial drawing it is all there – fully resolved. luigirosselli.com
“I always try to understand the character of a site, to be sensitive to its traditions ...”