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Twelve principles for ‘next gen’ architectural practice
The upcoming generation of architects and designers is not waiting for the phone to ring; it’s quietly (re)making practices fit for today’s world. Rory Hyde describes this distinct approach.
DiscussionAustralian homes are getting bigger and bigger, and it’s wiping out gains in energy efficiency
Energy efficiency policies for homes has not led to falls in the predicted energy requirements, researchers found. They argue that Australia’s housing energy policy requires a radical rethink.
Discussion100 Women: Architects in Practice
Described as a “coffee table trojan horse,” 100 Women: Architects in Practice is both a celebration of exceptional practitioners around the world, and a rallying call for a different kind of practice.
DiscussionArtificial intelligence and design: Questions of ethics
As machines behave in increasingly “human-like” ways, questions of ethics arise in relation to the design and use of AI technologies. Architect and academic Nicole Gardner explains why it’s vital for designers to understand the fundamental principles of AI systems.
DiscussionWe need a different conversation about Australia’s housing supply
Talk of increasing the supply of housing to increase housing and rental affordability is only pedalling private financial interest and obfuscating the real problem.
DiscussionThe uglifiers: How the decoupling of beauty and goodness has blighted our cities
The lack of aesthetic discussion has impoverished everything, especially architecture, writes Elizabeth Farrelly. We need to understand the dynamic of beauty – and of ugliness.
DiscussionTogether by Design: The Art and Architecture of Communal Living
Together by Design: The Art and Architecture of Communal Living by William Richards explores the architectural, social and health advantages of living in a communal setting.
DiscussionHouse Cat by Paul Barbera with Rafael Waack
House Cat by Paul Barbera with Rafael Waack, explores how cats and interiors interact, and how cats become a fundamental part of the home.
DiscussionGeneration exchange: Fees and procurement
Andrew Nimmo speaks with Jon Clements and Monique Woodward about ongoing shifts in the role of the architect, the management of fees and the procurement of work.
DiscussionPlayful expectations
Natalia Krysiak unpacks how Australian cities are approaching designing for the well-being of younger generations.
DiscussionGeneration exchange: Indigenous cultural knowledge
In the past few years, First Nations engagement in architecture has markedly changed. Michael McMahon asked Craig Kerslake and Marni Reti to reflect on these changes and suggest how engagement might be maintained and increased in the future.
DiscussionNew frontiers, old behaviours
This year is predicted to be a big year for space exploration. Elizabeth Farrelly considers the architectural proposals for extraterrestrial habitats, questioning whether storming off to new planets a valid response to having wrecked this one?
DiscussionCustodianship over consumption: Shifting the architectural process
In an optimistic roundtable, Philip Oldfield spoke to the founders of three “next gen” practices that are taking a different approach to material selection and, despite the obstacles, gaining increasing traction in the industry.
DiscussionMaintaining momentum in our challenging profession
In her latest column, Sarah Lebner explores the key motivations that keep architects going in the face of mounting challenges.
DiscussionThe many pathways to public work
“Next gen” practices are finding their own ways to gain work on public projects. Ten years after setting up a small practice with Amelia Holliday, Isabelle Toland reflects on the many different directions they have travelled to reach their goals.
DiscussionThe YIMBY movement is spreading around the world. What does it mean for Australia’s housing crisis?
Alistair Sisson, a research fellow from Macquarie University, reflects on the YIMBY movement, its adversary: the NIMBY movement, and how these movements are reshaping the landscape of housing politics in Australia.
DiscussionA prefab building revolution can help resolve both the climate and housing crises
Senior researcher at Western Sydney University’s Urban Transformations Research Centre, Ehsan Noroozinejad, and associate lecturer in architecture at Western Sydney University, Parisa Ziaesaeidi, consider the significant role that prefab modular construction could have in addressing urgent global issues.
DiscussionAustralian councils are opening the door to tiny houses as a quick, affordable and green solution
Following the commencement of a two-year, domestic-use tiny houses trial in Victoria’s Surf Coast Shire, course chair in building design and senior lecturer in built environment at Victoria University, Hing-Wah Chau, considers Australia’s tiny house movement.
DiscussionRegional visions: Putting together the small pieces of a large puzzle
With Australia’s “second-tier” cities undergoing rapid growth, an emphasis on small-scale projects is vital to improving quality of life and defining city-wide identity.
Discussion(This is) Air: Buoyant and benign or chaotic and unpredictable?
Landscape architect, design researcher and editor of Landscape Architecture Australia magazine, Emily Wong visits (This is) Air on two occasions – resulting in two “radically different” experiences.
DiscussionWhat is pattern book development and how can it help ease the housing crisis?
Senior lecturer in architecture at the University of Adelaide, David Kroll, and architecture lecturer at the Atlantic Technological University, Susan Galavan, explore whether “pattern book” development is a viable solution for increasing housing supply.
DiscussionAdvocating Country: Voice and collaboration in urban development
Jack Gillmer, an architect from the Worimi and Biripi nations, explains how, in partnership with Country and First Nations communities, architects and urban designers have the opportunity to co-create a uniquely Australian vernacular.
DiscussionThe future of Melbourne’s public housing towers
Architecture studio lead at the University of Melbourne, Chris Barnett, considers whether Melbourne’s ageing public housing buildings can have their lives extended, avoiding the need to re-house thousands of existing tenants, or is it time to pull them down?
DiscussionBeyond the disciplinary straitjacket: Expanding the realm of urban agency
Architect and urbanist Roderick Simpson joins Alanna King in a discussion exploring the opportunities, tactics and roles that allow designers to best effect meaningful urban change in the context of the climate crisis.
DiscussionWho influences urban development, and how?
Andy Fergus and Felicity Stewart asked urban practitioners with a seat at the decision-making table to reflect on their diverse agendas and the techniques they employ to influence the shaping of our built environment.
DiscussionSunshine, snowflakes and city-making
This month, Elizabeth Farrelly, ponders the aesthetic of Christmas, its disconnection from meaning and what that says about the environment we make for ourselves.
DiscussionWhat does a building need to call itself ‘accessible’ – and is that enough?
University of Melbourne’s associate professor of urban geography, Ilan Wiesel, and professor of social epidemiology, Rebecca Bentley, explore the concept of designing for dignity in delivering accessible buildings, and question whether the current standards should be improved.
DiscussionJohn Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense
Internationally recognized John Andrews had a significant impact on architecture and design in Australia. In this account of Andrews’s career, Paul Walker and other contributors consider his legacy of pragmatism, environmentalism and advocacy; Michael Keniger reviews.
DiscussionKerstin Thompson’s A. S. Hook Address: A legacy for everyday dignity
In her A. S. Hook Address, Kerstin Thompson, reflects on the foundations of her work and practice, including the value of the go-between, the importance of clarity of intent, and the celebration of “why here is not the same as there.”
DiscussionCan we build our way into a new future for higher education, or must something fundamental change?
Julian Raxworthy considers the evolution of the Australian university upon reviewing Campus: Building Modern Australian Universities, edited by Andrew Saniga and Robert Freestone.
DiscussionNew book reflects on Sydney’s lost and remaining brutalist structures
Design writer Heidi Dokulil has released a new book called Sydney Brutalism.
DiscussionOn culture and impermanence: 2023 Australian Architecture Conference
In setting the intellectual direction for the profession, the 2023 Australian Architecture Conference explored conversations about culture and science, Country and building, land and possession, permanence and destruction, writes Andrew Broffman.
DiscussionLament for lost niches: The architecture of subculture
In this month’s column Elizabeth Farrelly laments the gentrification and homogenization of our cities. A city’s subcultures depend on cracks and crevices – architectural looseness – and without such eccentricities, the city remains dismal and soulless.
DiscussionFive ways retrofitting cities can help decarbonise our future
The construction industry is geared towards constructing new buildings, however retrofitting rather than demolishing existing buildings would drastically reduce the economic and environmental price we are currently paying.
DiscussionSydney Opera House: an ‘unrepeatable’ masterpiece
The Sydney Opera House story is wrapped in wonder, myth and drama. The Concept, Innovation, Renewal symposium explore the past, present and future of this “masterpiece of 20th century architecture.”
DiscussionWhat are we practising for?
In exploring the effectiveness and impact of architecture, Sarah Lebner suggests that it’s time to move beyond self-limiting fears and default modes of practice and embrace more efficient, innovative and joyful ways of running architecture businesses.
DiscussionAre yarning circles the new decal?
With requests for yarning circles becoming increasingly commonplace in design briefs, Carroll Go-Sam suggests how this element might be more meaningfully and creatively incorporated.
DiscussionDesigning for Fragility: 13 Stories of Humanitarian Architects
Edited by Esther Charlesworth and John Fien, Design for Fragility shares stories of architects working in the rapidly growing field of humanitarian architecture, while reviewer Kali Marnane reminds us of the need for new models of education to teach the skills this field requires.
DiscussionMasterplanning in the form of a ‘yarn’
Christine Phillips considers the masterplan for the former mining town of Jabiru in the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, where Traditional Custodians driving the design process.
Discussion‘Beauty’ in architecture can’t be enforced – but design competitions could help architects strive for it
How can governments regulate and codify “beauty” in the built environment? University of Birmingham associate professor Gethin Davison says the answer lies in Sydney.
DiscussionRecognising Maggie Edmond, 2003 Gold Medallist
The Australian Institute of Architects has retroactively amended 2003 Gold Medal, originally awarded to Peter Corrigan, to include Maggie Edmond. Vanessa Bird reflects on the Institute’s efforts to recognise Maggie.
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