Cassandra Fahey
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Cassandra Fahey (born c. 1972) is an Australian
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...
er residing in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. She is Director of the architecture firm "Cassandra Complex". She emerged in the public spotlight in 2000 because of the controversial 'Newman House', located in St Kilda, designed for media and football identity
Sam Newman John Noel William "Sam" Newman (born 22 December 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). A talented and athletic player who served his apprenticeship unde ...
. She is also known for her works on "The Smith Great Aussie Home" and the BHP Billiton Healesville Sanctuary "Platypusary". Her work has received a number of awards as well as being featured in many local and international publications.


Career

Cassandra completed the Bachelor of Architecture at
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...
(RMIT) in 1998. During her studies she traveled internationally to produce a documentary on Architects practicing at the turn of the millennium. Among these were
Sir Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. His ...
,
Peter Eisenman Peter David Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect, writer, and professor. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his high modernist and deconstructive designs, as well as for his authorship of several archi ...
, and
Jean Nouvel Jean Nouvel (; born 12 August 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of ''Mars 1976'' and ''Syndicat de l'Architecture'', France’s first labor union for architects. He has ob ...
. Whilst in New York she met Richard Serra and was influenced by his sculpture in its original setting in a converted New York City garage. The effect of this can be seen later in the design of her own house, "Chameleon". Back in Melbourne, in her earlier career she received guidance from Tom Kovac and Edmond Corrigan and soon registered her own practice which she named the Cassandra Complex. In 2005 Fahey was engaged in a Masters in Contemporary Art at the
Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus ...
in Melbourne. Fahey developed a unique approach to architecture using different styles in each of her projects rather than developing a common theme. Her influences within this "no one way" approach have been "so-called nature",
Emily Kame Kngwarreye Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1914-1996) was born in her Ancestral lands, Alhalker located in the Sandover region of the Northern Territory, Australia. One of the world’s most significant contemporary painters to emerge in the twentieth century Kngw ...
and the "whole bang lot".


Notable works


Sam Newman House

Fahey was given a completely open brief for the Sam Newman House—named White Noise after Robert Venturis Term 'Billboard Façade'—in St. Kilda West, Melbourne. It features Cassandra's 9 m by 8 m façade design comprising patterned glass and contains a Pamela Anderson mural, with a garage door opening at her mouth. Post-modernism co-habits seamlessly with minimalism. It was completed in 2001 and its mural received the Best New Residential Building in the RAIA Victorian Architecture Awards. The design of the house's exterior was controversial however, encountering objections and incorrect planning applications. It became known as the house that Melburnians love to hate.


BHP Billiton Platypusary

Platypusary at Healsville sanctuary (also known as BHP Billiton Platypusary) was opened to the public on 12 May 2005. Its façade comprises gold panels with inscribed leaf shapes and encloses a ponds of water running like a native creek. The passing of sun over these leaves casts complex shadows and reflections onto the marble ground of the platypusary. The movement of the water through the pools provides different refractions cast upon the gold panels, reiterating the constant connection and reflection. Awelye represents ceremony in aboriginal culture of Australia.


Smith Great Aussie Home

The Smith Great Aussie Home was designed for the self-made businessman Darren Smith. The $1.6 million "trophy home" is located at Black Rock, Melbourne, Victoria.


New Gold Mountain Bar

Designed by Fahey in 2003, New Gold Mountain is a bar located in Melbourne's CBD. Fahey's concept surrounds an old tailors studio on the outskirts of the city's Chinatown district with a space replicating the unique theme of an opium den. Distorted images of opium smokers form repeated patterns, wallpapering the walls and soft furnishings. Upstairs tantric red wallpaper and sectioned caverns create a strong mood for conversation and company. There are glistening beads, pink opium moments and multi coloured skirts hanging from the ceiling.


Other notable works

Husk Boutique, Melbourne, CBD
Crowning Glory, Monash Museum of Art
Chameleon warehouse conversion,
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

Josh Abrahams House, Brighton
A bathroom for Jonathan Mills
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery,
Russell Street, Melbourne Russell Street is a main street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly north-south and was laid out as a core feature of the Hoddle Grid in 1837. Russell Street is named after John ...

Breamlea House
Menorah House, Hawthorn (unbuilt)


Awards

* 2007 Bulletin Smart 100 – Best Australian Designer 2007 * 2007 Marion Mahony Interior Architecture Award – New Gold Mountain,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
* 2007 Residential Architecture – Houses Award – The Smith Great Aussie Home,
Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...
* 2007 Interior Commendation – National Award – The Smith Great Aussie Home, Blackrock * 2006 Institutional Architecture Award – BHP Billiton Platypussary,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
* 2006 Commercial Architecture Award – HUSK Collins Street, Melbourne * 2006 Dulux Color Awards – Chameleon (Warehouse conversion),
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...
* 2004 Residential Architecture Award – Chameleon, North Melbourne * 2004 The Interior Award – National Award – Chameleon, North Melbourne * 2004 IDA Interior Design Awards – Chameleon, Refurbished Residential Interior * 2003 Residential Architecture Award – Sam Newman House, St. Kilda


References


External links


Cassandra Complex
(broken link)
RMIT Architecture -




* The Colour {{DEFAULTSORT:Fahey, Cassandra Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian women architects Architects from Melbourne RMIT University alumni 20th-century Australian architects 21st-century Australian architects 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women Australian interior designers