AA May/Jun 2013 preview

Architecture Australia May/Jun 2013.

This issue of Architecture Australia is guest edited by John de Manincor and Sandra Kaji-O’Grady, the creative directors for Material, the 2013 National Architecture Conference. The issue is a companion to the conference, which will be held in Melbourne from 30 May to 1 June 2013, and previews the ideas about material in architecture that the speakers will explore.

De Manincor and Kaji-O’Grady’s ambitions for the conference are articulated in the issue’s introductory essay, Making, Matter and Meaning. The interviews and essays in the Dossier sample their research and scope a number of additional areas of material research.

Alongside these insights the issue reviews seven projects from across Australia, each demonstrating the ways in which materials contribute to the creation of innovative architecture. These projects include:

• Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum. Cox Rayner Architects transforms industrial materials to create an unusual museum in the Queensland outback, reviewed by Haig Beck and Jackie Cooper.
• I Love Todd Sampson. An interactive theatre work by Sydney’s Living Room Theatre is brought to life through set design by teams of architects and designers, reviewed by Lee Lewis and Benedict Anderson.
• Gadigal Avenue, Victoria Park. A multiresidential project in Sydney by Collins and Turner Architects provides a shimmering counterpoint to the city’s prevalent stack-effect apartment buildings, reviewed by Tone Wheeler
• Stawell Steps. A brick spillway by Hiroshi Nakao and Monash Architecture for a Victorian town straddles the concurrent demands of architecture and landscape, reviewed by Brett Seakins
• ABC Brisbane. A restrained design by Richard Kirk Architect for the new ABC headquarters in Brisbane speaks to the organization’s role as assiduous messenger, and to its surrounds, reviewed by Michael Keniger.
• Red Lantern. A compact addition to Sydney’s Chinatown by Lacoste and Stevenson demonstrates the strengthening role of small-scale interventions, reviewed by Lucy Humphrey.
• South Melbourne Market. A pragmatic and elegant roof by Paul Morgan Architects for an iconic Melbourne market speaks directly to the local vernacular, reviewed by Anna Johnson

Cameron Bruhn, Editorial Director, Architecture Australia

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