Six degrees of innovation

Architecture firm Six Degrees is known for reinvigorating Melbourne’s laneways and bar scene through the design of bars such as Meyers Place.

A new exhibition in their alma mater faculty about their work, Greatest Hits 1992-2012, focuses on Six Degrees’ first 20 years, featuring drawings, sketches, documentary photography and film, art projects, self-built work, archival material and built works.

The opening of the show saw Six Degrees staff and several students pour a concrete bar in the exhibition space to highlight their bar design work.

The exhibition is part of ABP’s Alumni Retrospective Series. Five of Six Degrees’ founding directors graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1989.

The founding directors of Six Degrees are Craig Allchin, Mark Healy, James Legge, Peter Malatt, Dan O’Loughlin (all alumni of the University of Melbourne, 1989) and Simon O’Brien (RMIT).

Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Professor Tom Kvan says the exhibition series celebrates the work of graduates of the faculty.

“It highlights their contributions to Australia’s design culture and our built environment,” he says.

James Legge, of Six Degrees, says the company had always been based on a democratic, business friendship.

“Enduring ideas are an interest in craft, detail, clear planning, blending of public and private space, and recycled or re-valued materials.”

Several Six Degrees projects have become city icons including the City Square and the Boatbuilders Yard at South Wharf. Seminal projects such as the self-built Meyers Place Bar and the Public Office attest to an unconventional approach to design and the creation of architecture from minimal means.

Founding director Peter Malatt says the team’s years at the University of Melbourne were characterised by idiosyncratic lectures by permanent staff and dedicated sessional tutors, many of whom are now industry leaders.

“We learned how to behave in a collegiate way with each other, how to research a subject, and how to share knowledge, all skills which we use every day in practice.

“We learned to be frugal, while also understanding history, tradition and innovation. 

“Most of all, we learned from Peter McIntyre, our Head of School, that anything is possible if you band together and really try.”

The exhibits include ephemera, from business cards and party invitations to material prototypes, found objects, and sketches.

Mr Malatt says the Six Degrees team worked partly in an eclectic way, drawing material from other ages and sources, and the exhibition reflects this broad taste. 

“There is a continuing interest in memory, durability, and the effect of age on the perception of a material,” he says. 

The practice has been awarded for their hospitality, tertiary education and residential work, as their designs focus on people and the way architecture is used, as well as an emphasis on sustainability and cost-effective design.

Six Degrees’ awards include Australian Institute of Architects awards at state and national level, national interior design awards and a Victorian Premier’s design award.

Mr Malatt said the relationship between the directors, who were friends before they were colleagues, had positively influenced the firm.

“Business is like marriage, a life-long commitment between consenting adults.You spend about one quarter of your working life with your colleagues: it’s nice to like them as friends first, as well as respect their respective skills and abilities,” he says.

Greatest Hits 1992-2012 is on show until 23 November, Wunderlich Gallery, Ground Floor, Architecture Building, University of Melbourne. 

www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/events/six-degrees