Born in Germany, living in Sydney and working in Beijing, architect of the moment Chris Bosse is making waves with his revolutionary bubble-based designs.
It’s rather fitting that Sydney architect Chris Bosse says he’s “riding the crest of a wave”. Water, bubbles and all manner of aquatic motifs have become recurring themes in his work and personal life. The 34-year-old German-born designer, who works for PTW Architects, is part of a team building what many consider the most revolutionary structure ever made: the Beijing Olympic Swimming Centre. Previously the complex form was considered to be an engineering pipe dream. For Bosse it’s just creating what comes naturally.
“I would be happy if it comes across that I’m not a big star designer,” says Bosse up front when we meet for coffee near his office. Dressed in the prerequisite architect uniform of black on black, he’s gentle, humble and goes to great pains to explain that his current success is the result of many other talented individuals. “None of my work comes out of me and goes straight to construction. It’s collaborative - which is quite new to architecture. Traditionally you have a master architect doing amazing drawings and there’s 30 people following them. We don’t work like that.” In spite of his many accolades and prodigious talents, the only reason he can offer as to why he’s in demand is his natural inquisitiveness. “I guess I can bring creative thought from walking through the world with open eyes,” he says. His curiosity led him to travels throughout Europe and Asia before landing in Australia three years ago. “I came here out of curiosity and since then I found that Australians are quite appreciative of art, architecture and design.” Professionally speaking, Bosse feels he’s arrived at the centre of the known world. “Once you’re in Australia everything is around the corner. We’re strongly linked to the Asian market, where some of the most exciting commissions are currently happening.” He also loves Sydney’s local Asian flavour. “Try finding Vietnamese food in Frankfurt. There might be one or two restaurants, but in Sydney there’s so many. It’s fantastic.” He thumbs through a small mountain of glossy architectural journals all featuring work he’s had a hand in and finally settles on a page displaying a computerised image of Beijing’s Olympic Swimming Centre, appropriately known as “The Watercube”. The stunning building resembles a cross section of bubble bath foam: a mesh of metal struts reproduces the exact proportions you’d see if you looked closely at the way soap bubbles stick to each other. “As a designer you’re limited by your imagination and drawing skills,” says Bosse. “Often when you look at nature you find that it’s far more interesting than anything anyone could design”. Inspecting The Watercube more closely, it’s apparent that the round fluid look has been created using only straight lines. “That’s right,” he exclaims happily when I point it out. “In nature bubbles join with straight lines too. It’s a geometric riddle: how can you describe the packing of soap bubbles mathematically?” The answer has been puzzling mathematicians for hundreds of years. Now, thanks to powerful computing (and genius engineering of PTW’s partners ARUP and CSCEC + Design) the bubble structure is capable of being built. “As little as five years ago it wouldn’t have been possible - we could only fantasise about it then,” Bosse says. Before moving to Australia, Bosse studied in Stuttgart at the Institute of Lightweight Construction. The school had been investigating naturally evolving systems like coral reefs and spider webs for 30 years. In an early experiment they dipped wires into detergent and watched how the soap bubbles stretched between the peaks. The building that resulted from this simple observation was the 1972 Olympic Stadia in Munich. “It’s still one of the most beautiful structures,” Bosse says,” but it’s not really designed as such. You couldn’t have said ‘I want this pole here and this curve here’. It had to organically develop.” One of Bosse’s own early experiments using Mother Nature as his drawing board (
can find out the principles behind it.”
Futuristic architectural ideas don’t get turned into reality without adventurous clients prepared to create the buildings and weather the criticism. He commends the Chinese government for being courageous enough to commit to projects that many countries might consider too unconventional. “Beijing’s new TV tower, the main stadium, the airport by Norman Foster… all these buildings are ground breaking projects.” Not only are the structures dramatic/esoteric in design, they’ve also used cutting edge engineering on a massive scale never seen before.
His hope is that some day soon Australia will catch this carefree spirit. “There’s a lot of debate about the problem Australia has commissioning adventurous international buildings. Basically, the argument [among architectural luminaries] goes that Australia hasn’t built anything significant since the Sydney Opera House. “It’s true there’s not a lot of inspiring architecture here compared to Japan or Italy or New York,” he says. “But I find in the last few years - particularly at universities and art galleries and museums – Australians really want to do something about it. It feels like it’s about to change.” Even now he sees an upside to a country bursting with many frustrated local designers. “A lot of Australian architects concentrate on creating very elaborate, beautiful interiors in nightclubs, restaurants, bars.” He points to Sydney’s vast, multi-storey Establishment Hotel as one good example worthy of praise for it mix of minimalism and ornamentation like chandeliers and Persian rugs.
So what kind of building does an architect with such a refined aesthetic choose as his own home? “The building I live in [in Tamaramma] is a big white block that many people might think is ugly,” he laughs. When he moved in, he didn’t realise it had been designed by legendary Australian architect, Harry Seidler. “I just chose it because it was on the ocean - looking at the sea is very inspiring. The whole idea of Seidler’s philosophy was to put 200 people in a large building like ours and keep the space around it communal. The reality is that on the same area of land, our neighbours live in six bedroom mansions and are all millionaires. In my building there’s architects, photographers, artists - all sorts of people.” His roommate Craig Ruddy won the Archibald Prize last year. “None of us could afford a view of the ocean if it weren’t for this building. Seidler’s philosophy is very egalitarian.”
Sydney’s obsession with water has also given him a new perspective. “When you’re sailing on the water past the Opera House, it’s the most beautiful thing - you realise why Sydney was built. Last weekend we chartered a boat and went fishing. It’s not a thing that comes very naturally to me. But we were way out beyond the heads and we caught so much we couldn’t even eat it.”
Maybe it’s the sea air but it seems Bosse is becoming more Australian than he realises. Enough anyway to be asked to contribute to that most Aussie of all sporting events: the Melbourne Cup. In designing the marquee for Möet & Chandon he looked a little beyond nature for his inspiration. “Möet has a very traditional product and their point of distinction is their association with fashion so we looked at the design of Christian Dior. In particular the dress Marilyn Monroe wore while singing happy birthday to President Kennedy. It is a very classical dress in a way, but it’s also very elegant.” The resultant white on white space has the characteristic fluid style and the taut lines but was superimposed with bubble motifs. It’s as if he captured and enlarged the exact moment a bottle of Möet is uncorked.
His current project is a more personal one: a competition entry for the Tsunami memorial in Khao Lak, Thailand - one of the areas affected worst by the disaster. “My girlfriend, Nel Wijetunga, who he met at Icebergs in Bondi,is an occupational physician
born in Sri Lanka. When the tsunami hit she went over to do emergency work. Probably what I should have done was to quit my job and volunteer as manual labour. It’s what I thought at the time but, I guess, really doing it is a second step. This memorial doesn’t save any lives but it’s what an architect like myself can do to contribute.”
His trademark motifs of water and bubbles are eerily appropriate. “Water seems a suitable design element but you always have to be careful not to be too literal with these things. In the tsunami there were three physical waves and a gradual flow of information over time so my design is going to be a memorial journey rather than a statement piece.”
If, come December 15, he wins the competition and his memorial vision is accepted, it will be constructed high up on a rise overlooking the bay that was completely flattened by the tsunami. As Bosse says, “You can learn so much from nature.”
Words by Adam McCulloch. Originally published in Sunday Magazine. The format has been altered to suit Tumblr.
