Founder and director of LAB Architecture Studio, Donald Bates is the chair of architectural design at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne. He has been widely published, has taught across six continents and has sat on numerous juries for international architecture prizes.
Donald Bates's Latest contributions
Surveying Unsettling Queenstown
Donald Bates reviews the Australia Pavilion exhibition for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale and confronts a “lingering dissatisfaction” with the way architects exhibit their work.
A fitting bookend: Luxembourg National Library
The new national library of Luxembourg is a complex and multifaceted structure where the deftness of the architect’s illustrative hand has resulted in a flowing sequence of spaces that beckons the community.
Alison Brooks talks architecture’s ‘role in making people feel valued’
Alison Brooks, principal and creative director of Alison Brooks Architects, sat down with Donald Bates to discuss her career beginnings, philosophy, and her award-winning projects.
Donald Bates: Why I support an Apple flagship store at Federation Square
Donald Bates, whose practice Lab Architecture Studio originally designed Federation Square, explains his reasons for supporting the Victorian government’s decision to demolish part of the square to make way for an Apple retail outlet.
Risk 2015: Architecture of the guarantee
In preparation of the 2015 National Architecture Conference - Risk, Donald Bates asks: can architecture guarantee an outcome and should it?