Discussion

Jon Hazelwood, a principal at Hassell, uses imaginative details produced by AI to spark conversations about the public realm.

Researcher Susan Beetson believes that the use of emerging technologies to digitize cultural Knowledges will empower First Nations communities in built-environment design and beyond. Georgia Birks speaks with Beetson about the implementation and impacts of these technologies on First Nations communities.

Australian states and territories are not meeting infill development targets. Neil Sipe considers methods for overcoming infill development obstacles.

M. Casey Rehm, a principal of Studio MMR in Los Angeles, explains how the studio applies cutting edge AI and platform thinking to architecture, design and media.

Co-founder of UK-based Automated Architecture Gilles Retsin explains how the company is using data-driven learning and generative design to build a distributed micro-factory network for sustainable timber housing.

At an Australian Institute of Architects’ conference in nipaluna, trail-blazing practitioners and community leaders shared their experience working within the intersection of Country, culture, community and the built environment.

The humble bathtub is fast disappearing from our dwellings. Elizabeth Farrelly explores how the ritual of bathing is being erased through design.

The House of Green presents the residential work of architectural practices that are treating the built and natural realms as one cohesive entity rather than as separate and unrelated features of a home.

Wardle has used a wide range of AI tools to support visualization processes, including image upscaling and post-processing AI, content-aware relighting and texture map generation. Wardle partner James Loder explains.

The upcoming generation of architects and designers is not waiting for the phone to ring; it’s quietly (re)making practices fit for today’s world. Rory Hyde describes this distinct approach.

In Ornament is Not a Crime, the “less is more” design mantra is rebuffed and replaced by a delightful assortment of bold colours, daring forms, dramatic curves and scalloped edges.

Energy efficiency policies for homes has not led to falls in the predicted energy requirements, researchers found. They argue that Australia’s housing energy policy requires a radical rethink.

Described as a “coffee table trojan horse,” 100 Women: Architects in Practice is both a celebration of exceptional practitioners around the world, and a rallying call for a different kind of practice.

As machines behave in increasingly “human-like” ways, questions of ethics arise in relation to the design and use of AI technologies. Architect and academic Nicole Gardner explains why it’s vital for designers to understand the fundamental principles of AI systems.

Talk of increasing the supply of housing to increase housing and rental affordability is only pedalling private financial interest and obfuscating the real problem.

The lack of aesthetic discussion has impoverished everything, especially architecture, writes Elizabeth Farrelly. We need to understand the dynamic of beauty – and of ugliness.

Together by Design: The Art and Architecture of Communal Living by William Richards explores the architectural, social and health advantages of living in a communal setting.

House Cat by Paul Barbera with Rafael Waack, explores how cats and interiors interact, and how cats become a fundamental part of the home.

Andrew Nimmo speaks with Jon Clements and Monique Woodward about ongoing shifts in the role of the architect, the management of fees and the procurement of work.

Natalia Krysiak unpacks how Australian cities are approaching designing for the well-being of younger generations.

In the past few years, First Nations engagement in architecture has markedly changed. Michael McMahon asked Craig Kerslake and Marni Reti to reflect on these changes and suggest how engagement might be maintained and increased in the future.

This year is predicted to be a big year for space exploration. Elizabeth Farrelly considers the architectural proposals for extraterrestrial habitats, questioning whether storming off to new planets a valid response to having wrecked this one?

In an optimistic roundtable, Philip Oldfield spoke to the founders of three “next gen” practices that are taking a different approach to material selection and, despite the obstacles, gaining increasing traction in the industry.

In her latest column, Sarah Lebner explores the key motivations that keep architects going in the face of mounting challenges.

“Next gen” practices are finding their own ways to gain work on public projects. Ten years after setting up a small practice with Amelia Holliday, Isabelle Toland reflects on the many different directions they have travelled to reach their goals.

Alistair Sisson, a research fellow from Macquarie University, reflects on the YIMBY movement, its adversary: the NIMBY movement, and how these movements are reshaping the landscape of housing politics in Australia.

Senior researcher at Western Sydney University’s Urban Transformations Research Centre, Ehsan Noroozinejad, and associate lecturer in architecture at Western Sydney University, Parisa Ziaesaeidi, consider the significant role that prefab modular construction could have in addressing urgent global issues.

Following the commencement of a two-year, domestic-use tiny houses trial in Victoria’s Surf Coast Shire, course chair in building design and senior lecturer in built environment at Victoria University, Hing-Wah Chau, considers Australia’s tiny house movement.

With Australia’s “second-tier” cities undergoing rapid growth, an emphasis on small-scale projects is vital to improving quality of life and defining city-wide identity.

Landscape architect, design researcher and editor of Landscape Architecture Australia magazine, Emily Wong visits (This is) Air on two occasions – resulting in two “radically different” experiences.

Senior lecturer in architecture at the University of Adelaide, David Kroll, and architecture lecturer at the Atlantic Technological University, Susan Galavan, explore whether “pattern book” development is a viable solution for increasing housing supply.

Jack Gillmer, an architect from the Worimi and Biripi nations, explains how, in partnership with Country and First Nations communities, architects and urban designers have the opportunity to co-create a uniquely Australian vernacular.

Architecture studio lead at the University of Melbourne, Chris Barnett, considers whether Melbourne’s ageing public housing buildings can have their lives extended, avoiding the need to re-house thousands of existing tenants, or is it time to pull them down?

Architect and urbanist Roderick Simpson joins Alanna King in a discussion exploring the opportunities, tactics and roles that allow designers to best effect meaningful urban change in the context of the climate crisis.

Andy Fergus and Felicity Stewart asked urban practitioners with a seat at the decision-making table to reflect on their diverse agendas and the techniques they employ to influence the shaping of our built environment.

This month, Elizabeth Farrelly, ponders the aesthetic of Christmas, its disconnection from meaning and what that says about the environment we make for ourselves.

University of Melbourne’s associate professor of urban geography, Ilan Wiesel, and professor of social epidemiology, Rebecca Bentley, explore the concept of designing for dignity in delivering accessible buildings, and question whether the current standards should be improved.

Internationally recognized John Andrews had a significant impact on architecture and design in Australia. In this account of Andrews’s career, Paul Walker and other contributors consider his legacy of pragmatism, environmentalism and advocacy; Michael Keniger reviews.

In her A. S. Hook Address, Kerstin Thompson, reflects on the foundations of her work and practice, including the value of the go-between, the importance of clarity of intent, and the celebration of “why here is not the same as there.”

Julian Raxworthy considers the evolution of the Australian university upon reviewing Campus: Building Modern Australian Universities, edited by Andrew Saniga and Robert Freestone.

Design writer Heidi Dokulil has released a new book called Sydney Brutalism.