In our technological age, when so many of our social experiences are virtual, the role architecture can play in the experience of real-time situations is increasingly curious. How does architecture affect…
Different perspectives drive the making of architecture.
Cassandra Complex, Sampling The City, Incubator Installation, photographer Peter Bennetts
There are layers of mythology around what architects actually do in conceptualising and making architecture. These misconceptions are fed by popular architectural stereotypes of 20th-century culture, such…
We’ve been told to get used to flooding. Whether or not the latest floods were caused by climate change, this winter has reminded us that floods are and will continue to be a fact of human existence, especially…
Sections of the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles in London’s British Museum.
Matthew Fearn/PA
Several members of the cast of the film The Monuments Men made headlines for expressing the view that the British Museum should return the Elgin Marbles to Athens after their “very nice stay” of 200 years…
Planet Krypton? Nope, it’s the Shanghai skyline.
Sparkjet
For me, one of the most exciting features of Superman’s comic strip adventures would occur when he travelled into the Fourth Dimension to visit his parents Lara and Jor-El on their planet Krypton. He would…
Trees cool cities down, naturally.
emmett anderson
Air conditioners across the country are running on full this week as Australia battles a heatwave – but are we missing an obvious, leafy solution? Trees, which provide shade and act as natural air conditioners…
Cycling advocates are not united in praise for the SkyCycle proposal.
Foster + Partners
Elevated bike routes have been proposed for many cities, including Chicago, Toronto and Sydney. But when the grandest proposal so far – 220 kilometers of bicycle highways in the air above London’s rail…
If overnight temperatures are due to fall below your inside temperature, open the house as much as possible from late afternoon.
Image from shutterstock.com
Should you open or close your house to keep cool in a heatwave? Many people believe it makes sense to throw open doors and windows to the breeze; others try to shut out the heat. Listen to talk radio during…
The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute building may inspire architects and scholars globally.
Peter Barnes
Is it a spaceship piloted by a friendly alien, a metallic pine cone or a giant cheese-grater? No, it’s Adelaide’s South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (the SAHMRI building for short…
US architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed Fallingwater, believed that appropriate architecture would save the US from corruption.
Via Tsuji
In 1966, a British planner called Maurice Broady came up with a new term for the architectural lexicon: architectural determinism. This was to describe the practice of groundlessly asserting that design…
The Sydney Opera House, an icon of Australia’s creative and technical achievement. It has won worldwide acclaim for its design and construction.
Linh_rOm
What do the façades of the National Gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square and the Sydney Opera House in Australia have in common? Most people would suggest the two buildings have few similarities – the…
Don’t hate McMansions just because you’re supposed to.
Edward Corpuz
Let me declare myself unambiguously: I do not hate McMansions, just because they’re easy to hate. For quite a few years now, anybody who writes about these oversized single family homes has consistently…
Crowds flock to the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania, as much for its unique architectural spaces as its exhibitions.
Sam Granleese
Only a quarter of a century ago, art museums in Australia were generally thought of as stately enterprises authoritatively disseminating knowledge of high culture to respectful devotees. That was reflected…
Are there examples of inspiring contemporary architecture in Australia?
mugley
What makes one space adorable and engaging? What makes another unfriendly and inhospitable? You might think that after two millennia of architectural discourse, we’d have ready answers. And not just answers…
The Perth Arena was one of the big winners at last night’s awards.
ARM & CCN, Peter Bennetts
The winners of the National Architecture Awards were announced last night at the Sydney Opera House – that iconic public building Australians initially struggled to accept but now boast of as a national…
Architects such as Glenn Murcutt tailor their designs to the Australian landscape.
Anthony Browell/AAP Image
The Sydney Opera House celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. This Australian icon was, of course, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, as a result of an international design competition held at…
The celebrated New York Highline is one of the world’s urban redesign success stories. Formerly an abandoned railway, it is now an elevated park running past, over and through the buildings of Manhattan…
Transplanting the suburban house to a bush setting needs a rethink.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
As we are currently witnessing, transferring the suburban house into a setting susceptible to bushfires causes a lot of problems. Put simply: if you are going to live in a bushfire area you should expect…
The LEGO Architecture range has been good for the company’s fortunes.
lilivanili
Virtually any kid who picks up a bucket of LEGO bricks will start by making a house, usually in mismatched, rainbow colours, maybe featuring a few of the little plastic minifig people. It seems almost…