Laura’s Dance sculpture

The 1920s German art movement inspiring a new wave of artistic and architectural collaboration in Melbourne

A wonderful and significant sculpture has been created during the Covid lockdowns by multi-award-winning, Melbourne-based female artist, Dagmar Cyrulla, for a residential home in bayside Melbourne.

The sculpture Laura’s Dance was commissioned during the lockdowns by leading Melbourne-based architectural firm, CHT Architects, reflecting the company’s Bauhaus-inspired ethos of incorporating art into the built form.

Rediscovering Bauhaus
Bauhaus was an early 20th Century art movement centred on the idea that embellishing buildings with art was the “noblest function of the fine arts”, and that art was an “indispensable and inseparable component of great architecture”.

Prominently positioned in the central courtyard of the home, Dagmar’s life-size sculpture – which the artist says depicts a “woman dancing in her own space” – can be appreciated from all the internal spaces of the home, instilling a feeling of “life and humanism”.

With Australia experiencing a big post-lockdown increase in the number of people working from home, David Carabott, Founding Director of CHT Architects, believes there is a growing desire among homeowners to “create beautiful, connected spaces in which to work and live”.

Walking the talk
David and the team at CHT Architects ‘walk the talk’ of the collaborative Bauhaus ethos, incorporating the principles of the Movement into its recently completed, nine-storey collective workspace Craftworks in the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Abbotsford.

As well as housing CHT Architects’ Melbourne practice, Craftworks has been designed to welcome commercial tenants from the full gamut of creative fields.
“Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, Craftworks has been designed to support and encourage collaborative thinking,” David said. “It will become an ecosystem of its own in which tenants share ideas, inspiration and momentum.”

Community connectedness
Containing a gallery, theatre, creative hub, café, wellness centre and rooftop gardens, David says Craftworks has been designed to “create a holistic, collaborative lifestyle for businesses who are passionate about their craft”.
The holistic nature and “community connectedness” of Craftworks continues with a “closed-loop” approach to sustainability, inspired by permaculture farming.
This includes the use of sustainable materials and energy attributes such as solar panelling and biophilic elements, as well as a genuine “farm-style ecosystem” that includes a rooftop orchard and veggie garden, chickens, café-food-scrap recycling/composting and even beehives!

For more content - please contact Belinda Attard +61 416 218 8322 or ba@chtarchitects.com.au