Two thirds of China’s 900m rural residents are moving to cities. Now, architects are finding ways to preserve their built heritage, before it disappears.
From building blocks made of fungus to self-healing concrete, architecture is using biotechnology to make buildings come alive.
A Royal Victorian Small Homes House, designed in conjuction with The Age newspaper, 1955.
Photo: Wolfgang Sievers. Pictures Collection, State Library Victoria
Renewed interest in mid-century modern houses is more about substance than style. They represent the emergence of a new spirit and a coming of age in postwar Australia.
In 1924, Canberra’s civic planners placed a ban on front fences to stop people forming ghettos.
Randy Fath/Unsplash
In a time of populist momentum to ‘build a wall’, your front fence says more than you think.
John Lander Browne’s hillside house at Church Point might have been Sydney’s first notable postwar interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic principles.
Max Dupain (c.1948)
The proposal to redevelop Jamestown would not only occupy a prime site with historical significance, it would displace a large community along with their heritage, skills and traditions.
New York restricts the growth of glass skyscrapers.
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Ancient Rome and its empire had the concept of asylum at its heart. Its legacy provided inspiration for centres of power around the world, but today outsiders are no longer welcome.
Meals are prepared for protesters at Khartoum’s military headquarters.
EPA-EFE/STRINGER
For two decades, a competitive design process pioneered by Sydney City Council has been transforming the city skyline and, new research shows, raising standards as it goes.
As MPs flounder over Brexit, rain is leaking into the House of Commons. Was there ever a more fitting time to discuss what this building is for and what it should look like?
Size and distance are difficult for the brain to work out at the same time.
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Optical illusions appear when our brains have trouble moulding raw sensory data into shapes and patterns. Designers have been exploiting this process for centuries.
Architect and designer Florence Knoll Bassett poses with her dog, Cartree, in this photograph circa 1950.
Courtesy Knoll Archive
Margaret Re, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Knoll is best known for transforming the design of America’s corporate offices. But she was also on the front lines of a State Department effort to promote American ingenuity and capitalism abroad.
Buildings are responsible for 40 per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Efforts to reduce emissions should no longer be voluntary.