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Shades of green
This morning’s Background Briefing on RN examined the flaws in home energy rating systems. The show was unsurprising: they found many houses with low ratings and high performance, and vice versa. No prizes for guessing that architect-designed green homes suffered in the ratings department for not under-glazing, and not air-conditioning. The software wasn’t designed to be used like this and it encourages a conformity of design that suits standard project homes. From my experience, it is a bit of a lottery what the software will think of a custom-designed house.
01.04.12 in sustainability
A colourful evening
It was my first journey into the 26 year old Dulux colour awards. This is one of several industry awards in architecture, and this one now covers New Zealand also, so it was a big event. I have to admit the main reason I went along was that it was in the Regent Theatre, which I had never ventured into before, musicals not being my thing. The basement ballroom is a hidden Melbourne treasure, giant in scale, yet detailed to the umpteenth degree in 1920s exoticist splendour. Hundreds of ceiling panels, each individually painted. A late nod to the Marriner Group for bringing this beauty back from rat-infestedness.
28.03.12 in awards
Accent e-book
Hyundai Australia has just published an e-book covering their six blogger-lead tours around Sydney and Melbourne in August last year. I was one of them, and get a double page spread, thankfully with no mugshot. They seemed to like the Ashton Raggat McDougall buildings I showed them the most. Click the image below to view the book.
25.03.12 in books
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Life Architecturally on telly
Life Architecturally (trailer) from Britt Arthur on Vimeo.
22.02.12 in films
Architect / protaganist:
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Panel drop
The National Mutual tower in Collins Street (Godfrey & Spowers, Hughes, Mewton and Lobb) lost a marble facade tile today, clearing the plaza 10 storeys below. The Age has more, mistakenly referring to a fallen ‘concrete slab’, a scary thought.
30.01.12 in buildings
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Trapped in an elevator documentary
“Trapped in an Elevator” is possibly one of the dullest documentaries I’ve ever endured, but it may be of interest to lift buffs out there.
30.11.11 in video-clips
Venice pavilion shortlist yawner
The Australia Council yesterday announced its shortlist for the Venice pavilion competition. As expected, they are playing it safe, with just a couple of smallish practices. Given the level of discontent surrounding the competition, it’s surprising and provocative of them to play it this safe. It’s the competition you have when you’re not having a competition. All blokes who graduated before 1986, so a total lack of Gen X, Y or Z, or XX chromosomes. Of the 67 expressions of interest, the jury of five chose:
24.11.11 in buildings
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The architect & the photographer
John Gollings, Philip Goad, Vanessa Bird, and Alan Saunders spoke at a forum at the State Library of Victoria in July 2011. The transcript and audio are now available. Here’s a snippet.
17.11.11 in photographers audio-clips
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Sustainability - Your laws do not apply to me
Readings sale table, 2011
08.11.11 in sustainability awards
Unbuilt awards close Friday
Architecture Australia’s Unbuilt award nominations close tomorrow, so see if you haven’t built anything, and enter it. UNBUILT
06.10.11 in competitions
A decade
The news caught up with me on the morning of September 12th 2001, when I got to work. I wrote a stunned mullet wikipedia-style post when I got home. I was mainly trying to get to the bottom of how both towers could implode on themselves, using the scant information available at the time. The death toll at the towers was unknown and incomprehensible. A few days afterwards I received an emotional email from the late New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp, touched that people “with kangaroos in Austria” would be thinking of them. The internet was a small place back then.
11.09.11 in buildings
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Designing for the homeless
The question is what can design thinking do to contribute to averting homelessness, mitigating its effects and improving the daily life of those who are homeless and proposing different and longer term pathways to social inclusion, housing, and employment. [ Briefing for DRI 2011:Homelessness competition ]
08.09.11 in cities
Max Pritchard interview
As part of last week’s Plan radio show, South Australian architect Max Pritchard gave a long interview about his career and recent attempts to address the project home, which met with mild success. Worth lending a spare ear to.
05.09.11 in audio-clips architects
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City circuit on a Saturday
Please note that this post is brought to you by the all-new Hyundai Accent *
05.09.11 in tours