Architecture Australia, January 2023
Architecture AustraliaProvocative, informative and engaging discussion of the best built works and the issues and events that matter.
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The public living room: Architecture for everyday urban life.
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Maintaining the buzz: City universities as shared assets
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.
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.
Phive – 5 Parramatta Square
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.”
Collingwood Yards by 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.
New Farm Neighbourhood Centre by 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.
Walyalup Civic Centre by Kerry Hill Architects
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.
Riverside Green by 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.
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Renewal by 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
Nicole Kalms examines how an intersectional approach to design, which recognizes the value of lived experience, can ensure that minoritized people can safely access public amenity.
What is cultural safety and how do we design for it?
The built environment can play a pivotal role in improving cultural safety for everyone. Danièle Hromek explores the concept from a First Nations perspective.
Revisited: State Library of Queensland
The State Library of Queensland has become one of Australia’s most cherished public living rooms. We asked several people with different connections to the library to reflect on their experiences of the building and its spaces.