Discussion

A World Heritage Centre in the Jabiru Masterplan by Common and Enlocus.

Masterplanning in the form of a ‘yarn’

14 Nov 2023, Christine Phillips

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
UNESCO revoked Liverpool’s World Heritage status over concerns its cultural value has been compromised by new buildings.

‘Beauty’ in architecture can’t be enforced – but design competitions could help architects strive for it

13 Nov 2023, Gethin Davison

How can governments regulate and codify “beauty” in the built environment? University of Birmingham associate professor Gethin Davison says the answer lies in Sydney.

Discussion
Maggie Edmond.

Recognising Maggie Edmond, 2003 Gold Medallist

9 Nov 2023, Vanessa Bird

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.

Discussion
The Alder Centre by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

Humanizing healthcare design

6 Nov 2023, Alison Huynh

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.

Discussion
The Robin Boyd Foundation’s Affordable Housing Matters forum at Kensington Town Hall.

The aspiration of affordable housing

26 Oct 2023, Georgia Birks

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.

Discussion
Parliament House of Australia by by Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp.

Design governance: Leveraging the value of architects

26 Oct 2023, Susan Holden, Kirsty Volz

Kirsty Volz and Susan Holden ask: how can architects leverage their value and impact through positions in government?

Discussion
Thirty more Surry Hills: The genius of the terrace house

Thirty more Surry Hills: The genius of the terrace house

24 Oct 2023, Elizabeth Farrelly

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.

Discussion
Leah Lang, government architect of Queensland.

Roundtable: Government architects in Australia

24 Oct 2023, Susan Holden, Kirsty Volz

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.

Discussion
Participants in the opening ceremony parade march in traditional costume, 20 October, 1973.

Fifty years of Sydney Opera House in 50 facts

19 Oct 2023, Linda Cheng

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.”

Discussion
The transformation of Monash University’s Clayton campus, including the Northern Plaza by TCL and MGS Architects, has relied on the commitment and culture of high ambition of the university’s leaders, supported by a regime of effective design governance.

Preconditions for successful precincts

5 Oct 2023, Katherine Sundermann, Michelle Tabet

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.

Discussion
Antwerp Provincial Government Building by Xaveer De Geyter Architects from Open Call 2101.

How innovative government procurement transformed a country

4 Oct 2023, Susan Holden

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.

Discussion
Pridham Hall, by Snøhetta and JPE Design Studio and Jam Factory, came into DR with a strong governing idea behind the design.

Design review panels in action

3 Oct 2023, Susan Holden, Kirsty Volz

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.

Discussion
Kristiina Kuusiluoma (left) and Martino De Rossi of Helsinki-based Collaboratorio.

Pioneering simplicity in Helsinki

3 Oct 2023, Sarah Lebner

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.”

Discussion
Fossil Fables exhibition at Tin Sheds Gallery.

Fossil Fables: Using architecture to analyse the impact of resource extraction

2 Oct 2023, Daniel A. Barber, Matthew Darmour-Paul

An exhibition exploring the impact of extractive industries highlights the complex and interconnected relationships between economy, infrastructure, community and ecology.

Discussion
A spread from Migrations from Memory by Stuart Vokes and Aaron Peters.

Migrations from Memory

28 Sep 2023, Silvia Micheli

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.

Discussion
The Architecture Symposium: Acts of Generosity, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 8 September.

Acts of generosity: Expanding the boundaries of civic design

28 Sep 2023, Tania Davidge

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.

Discussion
The roundabout demands of the road user a level of cocky self-advocacy that many – the old, the weak, the slow and the timid – cannot and should not have to supply.

The roundabout as an instrument of the devil

26 Sep 2023, Elizabeth Farrelly

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.

Discussion
Lacaton and Vassal: Living in the City.

Lacaton and Vassal: Living in the City

20 Sep 2023, Hélène Frichot

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.

Discussion
Purpose Built exhibition at the State Library of Queensland.

How good design can improve the way we all live

18 Sep 2023, Kirsty Volz

An exhibition at the State Library of Queensland explores the value of genuinely fit-for-purpose design that connects architecture, people, place and ecology.

Discussion
Bundanon Art Museum by Kerstin Thompson Architects.

Kerstin Thompson’s pioneering approach to landscape and interconnectivity

12 Sep 2023, Louise Wright

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.

Discussion
Marysville 16-House Police Station by Kerstin Thompson Architects.

Kerstin Thompson’s inventive responses to context

11 Sep 2023, Conrad Hamann

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.

Discussion
The Great Endeavor (still) offshore storage well by Liam Young.

The unimaginable imagined: Liam Young’s Planetary Redesign

11 Sep 2023, Dan Hill

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.

Discussion
Melbourne Holocaust Museum by Kerstin Thompson Architects.

No blank canvas: A companionship of old and new

7 Sep 2023, Stuart Harrison

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.

Discussion
The 2014 Australian MADE scholarship winners. L–R: Laura Craft, Robert Martin, Olivia Savio-Matev, Jennifer McMaster, and Matthew Wells.

The legacy of a 10-year Australian-Danish exchange

7 Sep 2023, Jennifer McMaster

Jennifer McMaster reflects on the “messy magic” of Sydney Opera House’s Multidisciplinary Australian-Danish Exchange, and the legacies it has left her.

Discussion
How do we get urban density ‘just right’? The Goldilocks quest for the ‘missing middle’

How do we get urban density ‘just right’? The Goldilocks quest for the ‘missing middle’

5 Sep 2023, Merrick Morley, Elek Pafka

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.”

Discussion
Elders, including Aunty Jacinta Tobin, lead a group out on Country where, as if guided by Ancestors, they discovered three scar trees.

Six ways to Indigenize practice

31 Aug 2023, ArchitectureAU Editorial

We look back at six Indigenizing Practice articles from Architecture Australia that detail the myriad ways incorporating Indigenous knowledge can enrich the built environment.

Discussion
Block Party by Spacecraft Architects.

Domestic habits and the public dwelling

29 Aug 2023, Alexis Kalagas

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.

Discussion
The real, deeper question is whether developer-led housing can ever deliver “affordability" without more fundamental legislative change.

Housing affordability will require a deep cultural shift

29 Aug 2023, Elizabeth Farrelly

Elizabeth Farrelly pitches in on the housing affordability debate, following the recent release of a national housing plan.

Discussion
Air Oasis by Virginia san Fratello.

Lismore Encore: Exploring new modes of occupation in a flood-prone city

28 Aug 2023, Justin Twohill

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.

Discussion
The original design for Charles Darwin University Education and Community Precinct by ARM Architecture with interiors by Geyer and landscape architecture by TCL.

Bid-rigging is rife in Australian construction, but the process itself is partly to blame

22 Aug 2023, Geoff Hanmer

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.

Discussion
The exhibition represents five civic projects using typical architectural communication conventions displayed alongside large-format photographs that capture everyday use.

Melbourne Now: Civic Architecture

11 Aug 2023, Nicci Dodanwela

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.

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Didjerigura (I’ve had enough now – over to you)

31 Jul 2023, Danièle Hromek, Uncle Greg Simms

If we come to Country and culture with the right intentions and actions, there’s a place for all of us to belong.

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Do not overdesign

31 Jul 2023, Siân Hromek

Leave space for Country to do its thing in the design. Practise nudge stewardship.

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Learn from the stories, lessons and lore

27 Jul 2023, Theresa Bower

For First Nations cultures, stories are a teaching mechanism. From them, we learn what is important about a place and how to design there.

Discussion
The Australian city diagram is a faded photocopy of mid-(last)-century America: a glassy, highrise clump, moated by a spreading puddle of homogenous, atomized suburbia, writes Elizabeth Farrelly.

In which the middle goes missing

25 Jul 2023, Elizabeth Farrelly

We could easily end sprawl altogether, doubling and quadrupling our density while still creating lively, walkable streets and habitable dwellings. Why do we fail?

Discussion
Prefabricated housing construction.

Building houses in factories for the Commonwealth Games was meant to help the housing crisis. What now?

25 Jul 2023, Louise Dorignon, Trivess Moore

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?

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Work with the landscape

24 Jul 2023, Kaylie Salvatori

Resist the urge to straighten, flatten, organize.

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Slow down

24 Jul 2023, Andrew Lane

This may mean slowing down architectural processes so that the community can be meaningfully involved.

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Enoughness

20 Jul 2023, Robyn Hromek, Carlos Porras

While “enoughness” may be an Indigenous economic theory, it can also be considered in ecological and architectural projects as a response to sustainability.

Discussion
Danièle Hromek's 14 principles for what non-Indigenous architects can do to Indigenize practice.

Recognize cultural safety and cultural load

18 Jul 2023, Carroll Go-Sam

Learn what these terms mean, and how you can increase cultural safety and reduce cultural load in your work.

Discussion