Discussion
Masterplanning 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.
DiscussionHumanizing healthcare design
The 2023 Health Care / Health Design forum explored the role of empathy in healthcare design, which can empower patients and staff in decision-making, reduce stress levels and provide tailored care journeys.
DiscussionThe aspiration of affordable housing
The Robin Boyd Foundation’s Affordable Housing Matters forum looked to inspire new solutions and advocate for a coordinated effort across disciplines to address the current housing crisis.
DiscussionDesign governance: Leveraging the value of architects
Kirsty Volz and Susan Holden ask: how can architects leverage their value and impact through positions in government?
DiscussionThirty more Surry Hills: The genius of the terrace house
Elizabeth Farrelly explores the reasons why the once reeking slum of inner-Sydney Surry Hills is now seen as a blueprint for the future in tackling the housing crisis.
DiscussionRoundtable: Government architects in Australia
The Government Architects Network of Australia is a vital means of support and exchange across the country. Here, they discuss resourcing, value measurement, public sector career path options and other pertinent issues.
DiscussionFifty years of Sydney Opera House in 50 facts
The Sydney Opera House celebrates its 50th anniversary on 20 October 2023. We look back at some of the key moments that defined “the eighth wonder of the world.”
DiscussionPreconditions for successful precincts
Urban designer and architect Katherine Sundermann and urban strategist Michelle Tabet explore the vital but often-overlooked skills and perspectives of those delivering the “pieces of city” where everyone wants to be.
DiscussionHow innovative government procurement transformed a country
The Flemish Government Architect’s Open Call procurement method has contributed to overturning Belgium’s reputation for ugliness. Susan Holden finds out what Australian can learn from this program.
DiscussionDesign review panels in action
Design review panels can be important mechanisms to improve the quality of our built environment. Three experienced practitioners present case studies that demonstrate the valuable contributions that these panels can make.
DiscussionPioneering simplicity in Helsinki
In her first column for ArchitectureAU, Sarah Lebner reflects on her meeting with Finnish studio Collaboratorio, where she found a couple of enterprising architects who are building their practice “as a machine for making it happen.”
DiscussionFossil Fables: Using architecture to analyse the impact of resource extraction
An exhibition exploring the impact of extractive industries highlights the complex and interconnected relationships between economy, infrastructure, community and ecology.
DiscussionMigrations from Memory
A new book from Vokes and Peters is an ode to the intimacy of the house and an opportunity to glimpse into the practice’s vast repertoire.
DiscussionActs of generosity: Expanding the boundaries of civic design
The Architecture Symposium: Acts of Generosity explored how designers are developing ways of working that support community and society, deliver public benefit and place people first.
DiscussionThe roundabout as an instrument of the devil
Far from a symbol of egalitarianism, the roundabout is neoliberalism in action, argues Elizabeth Farrelly. For the old, the weak, the slow and the timid, it’s rampant social Darwinism.
DiscussionLacaton and Vassal: Living in the City
An exhibition of the work of French Pritzker Prize laureates Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal offers many lessons for urban housing and the value of spatial and material politics of everyday life.
DiscussionHow good design can improve the way we all live
An exhibition at the State Library of Queensland explores the value of genuinely fit-for-purpose design that connects architecture, people, place and ecology.
DiscussionKerstin Thompson’s pioneering approach to landscape and interconnectivity
As we increasingly recognize the incompatibility of buildings and ecological integrity, Kerstin Thompson’s work offers “deeply convincing guidance” in how we might create physical forms that participate in their sites’ ecosystems.
DiscussionKerstin Thompson’s inventive responses to context
All Kerstin Thompson Architects’ designs offer a new combination of references, with a remarkable sense of encounter in the moment, and with surprise, delight and a sense of unexpected value.
DiscussionThe unimaginable imagined: Liam Young’s Planetary Redesign
Part science-fiction, part “story-telling through space,” architect Liam Young’s cinematic works embody of the “dark matter” action required for us to tackle urgent planetary challenges.
DiscussionNo blank canvas: A companionship of old and new
A layered approach enables Kerstin Thompson Architects’ designs to recognize existing buildings and landscapes, bring in First Nations histories and stories, and operate in a more sustainable manner.
DiscussionThe legacy of a 10-year Australian-Danish exchange
Jennifer McMaster reflects on the “messy magic” of Sydney Opera House’s Multidisciplinary Australian-Danish Exchange, and the legacies it has left her.
DiscussionHow do we get urban density ‘just right’? The Goldilocks quest for the ‘missing middle’
Metrics of density can be inaccurate, biased or confusing. Researchers Elek Pafka and Merrick Morley argue, “We need a better understanding of the different conceptions and metrics of densities and how they relate to people’s everyday experiences.”
DiscussionSix ways to Indigenize practice
We look back at six Indigenizing Practice articles from Architecture Australia that detail the myriad ways incorporating Indigenous knowledge can enrich the built environment.
DiscussionDomestic habits and the public dwelling
Coinciding with this year’s Houses Awards, The Architecture Symposium: Reset took place at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on 28 July 2023.
DiscussionHousing affordability will require a deep cultural shift
Elizabeth Farrelly pitches in on the housing affordability debate, following the recent release of a national housing plan.
DiscussionLismore Encore: Exploring new modes of occupation in a flood-prone city
Director of Büro Two Architecture Justin Twohill reviews Lismore Encore exhibition, which was displayed at the Lismore Regional Gallery from 20 July until 19 August 2023.
DiscussionBid-rigging is rife in Australian construction, but the process itself is partly to blame
Tendering processes have become so onerous and convoluted that the costs of tendering in relation to the potential gains may now be reducing rather than enhancing competition, writes Geoff Hanmer.
DiscussionMelbourne Now: Civic Architecture
Fundamentally, civic architecture expresses the way we want to live. This exhibition highlights five projects that challenge traditional approaches to our cities’ civic centres, transforming communities as they do so.
DiscussionDidjerigura (I’ve had enough now – over to you)
If we come to Country and culture with the right intentions and actions, there’s a place for all of us to belong.
DiscussionDo not overdesign
Leave space for Country to do its thing in the design. Practise nudge stewardship.
DiscussionLearn from the stories, lessons and lore
For First Nations cultures, stories are a teaching mechanism. From them, we learn what is important about a place and how to design there.
DiscussionIn which the middle goes missing
We could easily end sprawl altogether, doubling and quadrupling our density while still creating lively, walkable streets and habitable dwellings. Why do we fail?
DiscussionBuilding houses in factories for the Commonwealth Games was meant to help the housing crisis. What now?
Around half of the new dwellings for the Victorian Commonwealth Games were to be prefabricated. So is cancellation of the games a blow for prefab construction in Australia?
DiscussionWork with the landscape
Resist the urge to straighten, flatten, organize.
DiscussionSlow down
This may mean slowing down architectural processes so that the community can be meaningfully involved.
DiscussionEnoughness
While “enoughness” may be an Indigenous economic theory, it can also be considered in ecological and architectural projects as a response to sustainability.
DiscussionRecognize cultural safety and cultural load
Learn what these terms mean, and how you can increase cultural safety and reduce cultural load in your work.
Discussion