urban design

Parliament unites to champion urban design excellence in Australia

Designed to drive positive change, promote sustainable practices and cultivate inclusive communities, the recent launch of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Design will champion the role of urban design in shaping the nation’s identity.

Ideas

Six things we learned in London

To start the new year, our editor was on the ground in the UK to meet some of London’s leading architects. What are the relevant insights for Australia and the Asia-Pacific?

News

Dining in the wilderness with Pig Design

With a material palette limited to stone, exposed aggregate, recycled wood board, metal and paint, there is a poetic simplicity to Pig Design’s realisation of Wild Back that ties it succinctly to nature.

Ideas

Three essential changes: NSW AIA criticises the state’s Affordable Housing Strategy

The NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, led by president Adam Haddow, voices concerns about the NSW Affordable Housing Strategy, citing a risk of abuse for financial gain. The Institute advocates for permanent affordable housing, management by registered non-profits and a restriction on development approval times to deter land banking.

People

Sustainable, livable and naturally urban: Sydney’s future at the VIVID Collectivity Talks

While Sydney’s VIVID celebration is typically associated with stunning visuals and light shows, it is also a place to ponder the futures of the harbour city.

People

“The missing middle”: Contemporary terraces and the future of urban density

SJB is well versed in designing residential architecture and, while Ashbury Terraces might be a relatively small project in relation to Sydney as a whole, it provokes some fundamental questions about the future of Australian cities.

Projects

CapitaSpring is vertical urbanism done right

Designed by Bjark-Ingels Group in collaboration with Carlo Ratti Associati, CapitaSpring is a perfect case study for a biophilic skyscraper in the city.

Projects

Working where the grass is greener: Turner Studio’s Norwest Business Park

This Sydney business park by Turner Studio has its own amenity-rich mixed-use precinct – a slice of CBD life in the ‘burbs.

Projects

City Gather Park: Where art, nature and people come together

In the City Gather Park in Changsha, China, Chengdu-based Dean Design merges natural ecology and urban life with installations to create a memorable and poetic respite in the heart of the city.

Ideas

Wellness-driven cities can be an antidote to loneliness

What makes a healthy town centre in 2022? HDR director, Alex Wessling, comments on how important it is for architects to place wellness at the very centre of neighbourhood and town centre design.

People

Hassell’s Richard Mullane on the future of urban design

Taking up the reigns of Managing Principal for Hassell’s Melbourne Studio, Richard Mullane says: “We plan to build a more inclusive, sustainable future for communities – and create a more socially and ecologically resilient world.”

Home

How can privately owned public space transform our cities?

From 1960s New York when private developers were incentivised to create civic space in the public realm, to today: where POPS tread a fine line between the private and the public. Denton Corker Marshall looks at how we can bridge the two.