If we establish the Tandem design went through planning 6-8 months before construction began, I think any claims of plagiarism can be firmly put to bed.

PS Lucy Liu….you were rubbish in Charlie's Angels ;-)

Shepperd Robson’s Lighthouse still is one of the most looked at sustainable housing units. And, as it’s the first Code 6 in the UK, it has been massively advertised by the press. It is hard for me to believe that the BRE Lightohouse does not deserve credits for this design or, at least, that it has not been inspirational…

The crowded inner city context; which included a 4 meter high wall running the length of the site on the northern (sunny) side; the very particular planning constraints that govern buildings in Melbourne; the low cost of timber and the high level of skill available in the local building industry – informed the building’s massing, the profile of the curved cross section, neighbouring setbacks and material resolution.

Our aspiration was to maximise light penetration throughout. The sunshells, along with the translucent danpalon panels in the facade and the central courtyard facilitate this. The additional benefits of cross ventilation encouraged by the building’s shells further developed the cross sectional profile.

We certainly researched buildings of this typology; but Sheppard Robson’s prototype was not among them. The thread concerning authorship of a curved sectional profile is absurd; implying forms as simple as an elegant response to the sun, wind and rain are somehow copyrighted – and that as architects we work by assembling a three dimensional pastiche of fashionable projects rather than thinking about our work from first principles.

For the record – we didn’t copy anyone – we researched carefully – we applied what we learned – we responded to the site at an intellectual and intuitive level – and we crafted a site specific response that is intrinsically tied to the projects’ context.