Reading Architecture brings together articles from our suite of publications. Articles that you may or may not have seen before along with newly curated material, launching from April 2021. With a long-established history of more than 90 years documenting architecture as critical practice, new projects and design, our content is authored by people from the built environment sector with subject expertise spanning academic, professional and popular, written, not in the continuum of infinite change and flow, but at a particular moment in time.
City skylines increasingly feature roofs and walls that are covered in foliage to trap stormwater and moderate internal climates. This approach to greening is now creeping below the waterline as ecologists and designers come together to co-create living seawalls.
Held to the whim of rapidly changing trends, it is not uncommon to find kitchens barely five years old discarded or stripped from homes. In 2018, 78% of home improvements were for kitchen renovations, (according to the Home Builders Association). Off-cut kitchen is a physical manifestation of our local deconstruction and reuse network. While there are endless examples of aesthetic experimentation within the architectural interior, the materials are almost always the same, melamine, MDF, veneer and natural stone. Our question became, how can we construct a kitchen using only materials destined for landfill?
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.
Located on a busy neighbourhood artery, Do Residence by Chindarsi Architects is a substantial renovation to an existing brick home. But from the street the extension is nearly invisible, and the streetscape is preserved.
The gardens of Autumn House are not only instrumental in gifting the clients the tranquil home they desired, but also act as an offering of urban generosity to the laneway and street. Described as two restorations and an addition, Autumn House integrates new and existing heritage elements within the addition, creating a home that “engenders the cohesion of spirit that a new house should have”.
If you were restricted to using a single adjective to describe Casa Mia, the self-designed home of Adrian Iredale and Caroline Di Costa, you may well settle on ‘considered’.
Principal and creative director, Nic Brunsdon discusses the potential of carbon offsetting for supporting local projects and how certification fits into a broader system of values-driven initiatives that work towards ethical practice.
Vivienne Hinschen and Ben Peake from Carter Williamson met with the Australian Institute of Architects to talk about the studio’s carbon neutral journey, supporting cleaner power, local ecologies and projects led by First Nations peoples.
Core Collective Architects have taken their practice carbon neutral. Associate, Emily Ouston sat down with the Australian Institute of Architects to chat about in-house auditing, sustainable specifying and the power of collegiate knowledge-sharing.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.