Every week, we highlight one of our 300+ Untapped Cities contributors worldwide. This week, we’re featuring William Feuerman, an Untapped city correspondent based in Sydney.
What’s your “day job”?
Day seems to blend into night these days as work has become a balancing act between three main roles:
1. I am the director of the undergraduate architecture program at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) which involves teaching first year and masters architecture students, a lot of meetings, coordination of curriculums, and therapy sessions with students.
2. I am the principal of Office Feuerman, a Sydney-based design office where I am currently working on a series of practice-based research projects including a house, an experiential installation in the city and a series of architectural objects that distort one’s perceptions of space.
3. I am a father to an 11 month old, which fills all the gaps and tends to be my best distraction.
What’s your favorite Untapped spot in your city?
McElhone Place, a tiny laneway on the periphery of Surry Hills that has evolved overtime, almost effortlessly, into an urban oasis. The lane’s residents have covered the sidewalk in planters of different sizes and types filled with plant life, colorful flowers, along with kitch garden sculptures, and several benches randomly dispersed. It’s a special and unique condition in the city.
Favorite piece you’ve written for Untapped?
Every piece provides me with another chance to explore a new part of Sydney, which even after three years feels fairly new for me, but I would have to say, “Off the Grid, Exploring the Sydney Laneway” as it shows a bit of grittiness in a city that just isn’t very gritty.
What’s your favorite Untapped place you’ve visited while traveling? Where do you want to visit next?
I recently visited Tasmania, Australia’s only Island state, once a maximum security convict prison. Green rolling hills dotted with grazing sheep; impressive mountain ranges (Cradle Mountain) where wombats and kangaroos roam freely; sandstone cliffs covered in multi-colored (sometimes bright red) lichen; and, the bluest and clearest water I have ever seen (Freycinet National Park). It’s undiscovered territory. Best of all though, Tasmania is home to one of the most unique museum collections I have visited, David Walsh’s Museum of Old and New Art, located in the capital city, Hobart.
I hope to do more travelling around Australia (there is a lot to discover) as well as take advantage of my distance to Asia (next stop Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam…)
What’s your favorite obscure fact about your city?
Sydney is a bustling urban jungle. It always surprises me. Dust storms, moth plagues and migrating bat colonies are commonplace. The deadliest spider in the world, the Funnel-web spider, which has venom so powerful it can kill within two hours, is regularly found in Sydney’s back yards.
Best Celebrity Sighting?
In high school two friends and I crashed the Emmy Awards. A very long story short, we were seat-less but accommodated in a standing space just next to Jay Leno. We met (stalked) everyone that night from Ellen to George Clooney to John Goodman to my highlight, Kramer (Michael Richards). I have pre digital photos to prove it!
What are some of your favorite websites?
Untapped Cities, of course… I typically browse The New York Times, Designboom, Dezeen, and Archinect.
Get in touch with William @OfficeFeuerman. Join our community of Untapped Cities contributors around the world by contacting us here.