The role spans real estate and architecture, as well as helping manage a small portfolio of properties.  The successful candidate should be social (meaning you like human beings), highly organised, and have the ability to think abstractly.

Please send an email (no resumes) to jobs@secretagent.com.au and attention it to Paul.  Tell us a little about yourself including your background, your hobbies and why you think this role could suit you.

This month we explore Melbourne’s post-war architecture: Art Deco, Brick Veneer, Modern and Contemporary.

Click to download your copy of the report. 

At TEDx Sydney recently I was lucky enough to witness presentations and performances from some incredible forward thinkers and doers. Among lawyers, activists, mathematicians, archivists and political scientists was Joost Bakker; a Dutch born creative operating out of Melbourne. I say creative because Joost’s range of skills are hard to pin down with one word. With a beginning in floristry, he is now designing structures, as well as concepts for ‘closed loop’ sustainable restaurants.

No one needs to be reminded of the devastating affects of bushfire in this country. Sitting at the Sydney Opera House surrounded by water on a cool day, it was hard to imagine the intensity of CSIRO’s fire test on one of Joost’s projects… until he showed us the fire test carried out on his straw house prototype. Reaching external temperatures of 1000 degrees celsius after 30 minutes of ‘major fire front’ testing, the internal temperature peaked at only 35. This classified the straw building as a bunker.

Magnesium oxide board was used to clad the straw house, and the 38 metre square structure was erected in only 7 days. The test was carried out to get the go ahead for a home being built By Joost in the Victorian Otways, an area prone to bushfire.

You can read more about the test, and watch the video here.

From Lauren Bezzina, Secret Agent Communications. 

However, it has a few more challenges than conventional property buying, these include the level of deposit required, as well as the type of property allowed to be acquired.

We’ve found a list of unacceptable properties that will stop a bank or lending institution providing credit for a Self Managed Super Fund Property purchase:

• Units or apartments with less than 45 square metres of living area
• Converted Hotels or motels
• Churches or places of worship (Converted or otherwise)
• Residential property with a commercial content or used for a commercial purpose
• Commercial or industrial property
• Relocatable homes
• Leasehold other than Crown Leasehold
• Any property in excess of 50% per borrower in any one completed development that has a maximum of 8 properties in the development (duplexes are acceptable), or any property in excess of 4 per borrower in any one completed development where there are more than 8 properties in the development.
• Boarding houses or hostels
• Brothels
• Specialised student accommodation
• Any property subject to a rental guarantee (display homes and State and Federal government properties are acceptable however)
• Any property that is subject to a ‘two tier’ market
• Home units attached to management rights of the complex
• Any property located in a flood zone greater than 1:100 year frequency
• Any property located on a contaminated site, or land holding greater than 40 hectares (100 acres)
• Any property that is used for the purpose of farming
• Specialised or unique dwellings
• ‘Over 55′s’ dwellings
• Property with a capital value less than $60,000 (land and improvements)
• Any property that will require developments of more than two dwellings on it
• Boundary of property located within 50 metre of high voltage transmission lines
• Properties with partly finished construction work
• Serviced apartments
• Studio apartments or bedsitters
• Any property located on a island that is not accessible by road
• Any property with a ‘lease for life’ convenant on the title

Self Managed Super Fund purchasers should seek advice before committing to a property contract, as the rules are tight.

As always, do your homework!

Paul speaks with Rebecca Thistleton from the Financial Review about the trends in the property market. Click here to see the full story!

We have started to see a string of interesting architecture and design projects come out of Spain in the recent months. This trend is in spite of the countries economic woes, with Spain now battling a youth unemployment rate of 56.5%.

The struggling economy has pushed young architects and designers to make the best of a bad situation. With a rich architectural history exemplified in the work of Santiago Calatrava and Enric Miralles’s expressive buildings, there is fertile ground and a bold point of departure for today’s architects.

Niu Architectura is one such firm, their recent Calvià Running Track is an exercise in restrained yet exciting design. Simple materials used well – it is exciting to see such thorough it’s use of transparency and volume. The dramatic cantilevers and sunken spaces make this humble sports pavilion a real gem.

The Girder House by CSLS Arquitectes is a whimsical and light approach to residential accommodation. A bright, white fitout provides a brilliant backdrop for life within the building. The small footprint is negotiated with a hidden kitchen and foldaway bed. It’s a approach that works well with the warm spanish climate, a climate not dissimilar to ours in Australia.

Johnston street has always been the traditional home of Spanish culture in Melbourne, and I wonder if it’s any coincidence AJAR has recently opened a furniture store on Johnston – primarily importing the Spanish Arlex brand. Designed and produced in Barcelona the quality is on par with the established Italian brands. At a competitive price point due to the depressed Euro, AJAR look like they are onto a winner. 

Project Images © José Hevia

Kent Larson architect and director of MIT’s House_n research group presented at TED last year. He outlined his group’s design ideas to approach the worlds inner city population explosion, of which Melbourne is a participant.

The House_n groups proposals question the nature of what we build and how we occupy our spaces. The current glut of high rise apartment stock is at odds with the strong demand for other typologies of small housing near the city. This suggests that the current apartments offer isn’t attractive to people looking to enter the market.

His lab is investigating sensor networks that will inform a adaptive and responsive architecture inside the apartment shell. Walls, partitions, joinery and lighting that move and alter. Accommodating radically different uses of the space throughout the week.One can’t help but think that this is a particularly ‘west coast’, overtly technical approach to the problem. A couple of Aussie architects have recently completed studio apartment fitouts with our lifestyle in mind. Architecture Architecture turned their hand to a fitout in the Cairo Apartments, located in the heart of Fitzroy. The 1930′s era 24sqm space is made neat and functional with a well designed joinery unit.

 

 

Last years Potts Point apartment fitout by Anthony Gill Architects, looks at another studio apartment under 40sqm. It manages to provide accommodation for young family, small child and their library within the tiny footprint.

 

 

 

In part it’s a return to old ways – both these projects inhabit apartment shells that were built in the past. These small studios with outlook, light, amenity and character look to be the way of the future as well.

 

 

Introducing Julian Faelli to the Secret Agent Team. Julian comes from a strong background in architecture, industrial design and project management. He is the head of our design and construction division: Create by Secret Agent.