Shane has always been driven by a desire not to be mediocre and even as an architecture student at Queensland University of Technology, where he graduated in 1979, he “felt it was a privilege to be able to practise a profession that spends other people’s money to make large buildings.” He grew up in a typical Brisbane suburban lifestyle – running around bare-foot, playing footy, surfing, and dreamed of flying jets. There was no tradition of great cultural or academic history in the family; his parents were “both from a blue collar background,” but he says, “They encouraged my brothers and me to follow our own passions, dreams and ideas.” On leaving school, he joined the RAAF, but was dismissed – his only major rebellious act – after an argument with his officers about having his hair cut.

At school Shane had always pursued technical drawing and was drawn to architecture because it seemed interesting and exotic. It wasn’t until his second year at QIT (now Queensland University of Technology (QUT) that he had ‘an epiphany’, at a structure on the work of Corusier, the Swiss-French architect. “All of a sudden the giant gates of architecture opened for me and I have never looked back. It was a moment of seduction.”

Registered in 1981, Shane initially established his own practice on the Sunshine Coast, before joining Noel Robinson Architects as an Associate Director. In 1987 Shane became a Director of Bligh Voller Nield (BVN) and three years later an adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland. The list of projects he has built, worked on or directed is impressive and testament to his enduring passion for his work. They range from apartments and airport terminals (Rockhampton, Bundaberg) to re-designing universities – the QUT campus at Carseldine has recently been transformed under Shane’s aegis and given a new heart with the affectionately named Red Building.

Shane considers the Faculty of Arts building at the University of the Sunshine Coast as a major achievement. An energy-efficient and sustainably designed building, he says, “We wrote the book on how you do buildings in the sub-tropics and it worked.” Resembling a monolith, with an earthy character the building is aesthetically related to the savannah landscape and has received widespread recognition. In 2002 he was awarded the Robin Boyd Award for Lavarack Barracks in Townsville. “This was the first time a multi-residential building had won that award,” he says. “It was difficult to give the Barracks a rich context of character, rather than an institutional feel.”

Tenacious and stubborn, yet with considerable depth and poise, Shane Thompson says it is his empathy towards people that underpins his work. “I really want to make architecture that creates an emotional response in people. It’s almost an unobtainable ambition but it’s what keeps me interested. There’s a feeling that I can do something important… everyday you can exercise your life skills and experiences, and invest them in something, and that is very rewarding.”

Viewing architecture as ‘a calling’ gives Shane the ability to synthesize his varied interests – art, music, theatre – and channel them into his work. He sees an analogy in surfing and architecture. “Undertaking a project is like riding a wave. You don’t get to pick the wave, you have to ride it the best you can, as you find it. In the same way architecture is a performing art where you have to work with the clients and the materials that you have. You can’t make excuses. You have to continue to be inventive and respond to the conditions as you find them.”

Working as one of ten principals for BVN, each with a ten percent share in the practice, gives Shane the freedom to focus on his special area of expertise – residential, resorts, education and cultural buildings – “with a bit of involvement and lots of projects and a deep level of involvement in some of them.” But building is only one aspect of his job, there’s also the “business of architecture… onerous professional responsibilities and obligations.” Since the merger ob BVN between 1997 and 199, the company has grown to nearly “two hundred staff, spread through four offices – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra – with three or four studios of people in each office, each led by a partner” and an annual turnover of $22million. Acclaimed internationally, BVN is currently masterplanning the impressive $60million soccer and rugby stadium in Venice, designed to seat 30,000. The vision and ethos of the company, “is that quality design is our life blood” and every year, to maintain innovation and originality, BVN has four major design reviews.

Shane sees Brisbane’s potential as not so much the way things may look in the future, but the unique lifestyle that can be created. “Cities tend to be associated with very urban interior lifestyles… the way Brisbane has developed is to have been more suburban than urban. Usually in a city to achieve privacy you have to be inside. We have the opportunity with the vegetation which grows very thick and lush here, and through the creation of the semi-indoor space and outdoor living room, to create a very informal, sensuous relationship with the landscape within a big city.” He cites larger balconies for apartments and larger outdoor living spaces as crucial to make the most of this “relaxed lifestyle within the sub-tropical environment.” He has now published his ideas in Making a Sub-tropical Architecture.

Shane lives in Chandler with his wife Sally in a little old renovated 1950’s farmhouse where most of his time is spent on a covered deck area with a view over paddocks where his horses graze. He drives a metallic blue Porsche 911 and paints, holding solo exhibitions of his work. For twenty-four years, he and Sally have been consummate art collectors and their collection numbers over one-hundred paintings and sculptures.

In his work, Shane sources his creativity from ‘the problem’. He tries to find the quirkiness in the site, views, aspect, trees and the personality of the client. Sometimes, Shane finds a tight and constrained budget can also inspire! In a more abstract way, it is ‘the Australian cultural imprint, nature, the old Australian attitude of making do. Creating the extraordinary out of the ordinary,” that inspires him.

He admires strength of conviction and optimism in oneself and believes in the power of language as a way to resolve conflict and be truly understood. “I think you’ve got to enjoy the successes but don’t take the losses too seriously. Being a good architect you’ve got to be a journeyman. It isn’t about success but about creating a life and an approach that enables you to enjoy every day because the enjoyment of your life is the sum total of all those days.” He says Confucius summed it up best ‘Before success chopping wood. After success, chopping wood.’

How long have you been in Brisbane?
All my life. Except for five years on the Sunshine Coast and six months in Europe.

What do you love about living in Brisbane? The freedom to be yourself. This is mostly a very unpretentious city, unlike Sydney and Melbourne.

How’s business in Brisbane? Excellent, I am busier than ever and generally people are polite and professional. I enjoy working here a lot.

How would you improve business in Brisbane? By encouraging people to realise that the best of what they need, including the best people, is probably right here and that they don’t need to go elsewhere.

Describe your vision of Brisbane in 2010? An exciting blend of old and new architecture, greener gardens, cleaner air, creative and even friendlier people with an abundance of cultural activity.

What do you think makes Brisbane so liveable? Brisbane’s a good size, easy to get around, people are friendly, there is very little of that big-city cynicism about the world. The river, the trees, the weather and the great football teams.

What would make Brisbane more liveable? Better public transport, more bridges across the river and less big shopping centres.

What is the most exciting thing currently happening in Brisbane? The new architecture. This generation of architects is easily the best we have ever had and we are developing a rich and unique sub-tropical modernism which will be the envy of the world.

Only a local would know… How fantastic a walk on the mud-flats on Nudgee Beach is at low tide.

Describe a uniquely Brisbane lifestyle? A hot summer’s day, an open house, a gentle breeze, a lush garden, fantastic views, kids playing on the lawn, pink sunsets over Mt Coot-tha, the Go-Betweens CD on the stereo, some friends on the deck, a BBQ and a cold beer.