Architecture Australia

Ask architects which Australian magazine they choose to read or to publish their work and the answer is most likely Architecture Australia. If you want to be up to date with the best built works and the issues that matter, then Architecture Australia is for you. Its commissioned contributors are independent, highly respected practitioners, architectural thinkers and design commentators and each article is supported by images from leading architectural photographers. Provocative, informative and engaging – it is the national magazine of the Australian Institute of Architects.

A built legacy with equity at its heart

At home in the public domain

Architecture Australia

The “public living room” and its role in contemporary urban transformation • The pandemic has sharpened our awareness of the social role played by public space. The new generation of civic projects emerging across the country is bringing together multiple municipal activities as well as providing space for spontaneous gathering, writes Mel Dodd.

Design Inc with Lacoste and Stevenson, and Manuelle Gautrand Architecture • Amidst Parramatta’s sprouting field of skyscrapers, the city’s sculpturesque new civic centre and library building cantilevers over the public square and carves out its own space, creating “a stage for the theatre of community life.”

Fieldwork • In repurposing the derelict site of an inner-Melbourne technical college, this project seeks to embed arts in the community, provide affordable studio space in an otherwise unaffordable area and create public amenity that is welcoming to all.

Vokes and Peters with Zuzana and Nicholas • With its alterations and additions to an inner-suburban Brisbane Queenslander, a local design team created spaces that work together like an ensemble cast to encourage human habitation and celebrate the community’s daily routines.

Public living rooms at the financial and urban interface • At a time of ongoing environmental and economic disruption, how can we design and fund public places that deliver long-term value to all stakeholders? Dhiren Das explores the benefits of co-funding models and the features common to the most successful examples.

Maintaining the buzz: City universities as shared assets • With technology enabling learning from anywhere and university administrations increasingly focused on facilitating strategic partnerships with industry, city campuses are changing. Helen Lochhead asks what universities need to do to remain “sticky” and investigates how architecture can restitch the campus into a community-friendly urban realm.

Kerry Hill Architects (KHA) • On a challenging site in the heart of Fremantle, KHA’s design for a multifunctional civic centre demonstrates that modernism can be used to restore civic urbanity, celebrate a place of historic significance and craft an engaging space for public enjoyment.

Hassell • Ostensibly a simple sequence of spaces, Riverside Green is a skilfully designed facility in Brisbane’s South Bank Parklands that is adaptable enough to allow the public to curate its own urban experience.

ARM Architecture • In a surprising yet entirely appropriate intervention, ARM Architecture has worked with a diverse team of experts to improve acoustics, access and mechanics in one of Australia’s most iconic heritage buildings.

Not neutral: Diverse and inclusive public spaces • An intersectional approach to design challenges outdated “neutral” urban design principles to ensure that minoritized people can safely access public amenity. Nicole Kalms explains the steps in such an approach, which recognizes the value of lived experience and relies on co-production.

Cultural safety: What is it and how do we design for it? • The built environment can play a pivotal role in improving cultural safety for everyone....