KAIN AND ABLE

“THE BUSINESS OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE DESIGN OF ARCHITECTURE ARE TWO FUNDAMENTALLY CONNECTED ELEMENTS AND THERE’S TOO MUCH ARCHITECTURE THAT ENDS UP IN DRAWERS.“

There are many architects who discover their love for design and the built environment in childhood and Gavin Kain is no exception. But his interests were always diverse and much more far-reaching than architecture alone.

He goes so far as to describe himself as something of a nerd in his passion for reading books about history, geography, society, economics and environmental issues. But certainly architecture was included in that list early on. “Architecture was always a dream,” he recalls. “At about 11 years of age there was a development on the coast in Adelaide and for some reason I had a particular interest in it. I started collecting everything in newspapers and magazines I could find on architecture and worked out what I needed to study to get into university.”

Following his studies and time spent teaching both in Australia and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver his first job was with Noel Robinson Architects. (The practice now uses the acronym NRA, but adds Collaborative NRA…)