More from this Issue
The Re-humanising of Water
Ecologically sustainable development is a stated aim of our national and state governments. Unless we can stimulate a higher and more sustained level of discussion on what this means, our progressis likely to remain fitful and unfocussed. Hopefully this article will stimulate the debate!
Let There be Light and Power
Berwyn Lewis talks to solar physicist Bruce Robins. Imagine 6 billion people simultaneously turning on lights and electrical appliances. This apocalyptic drain on power would plunge us into an eternal blackout with devastating effects on the environement.
The Essential Gift of Ceremonies: Towards a Poetics of Scarcity
"In modern architecture we find difficulty in managing the relation between the physical presence of a building and its intimations of the mental and spiritual. Our architectural objects rarely serve as objects of intermediation between the ordinary, the physical and the present on the one hand, and the mystical, the spiritual and the abstract on the other...."
Designing from the Inside Out: Women, Design and Architecture
'Choose a woman architect - there is a difference!' proclaim a multitude of stickers all over Sydney. Constructive Women, the Sydney based association of Women Architects and Planners decided it was time for a new approach.
Earth-Sheltered Building using Timber
Earth sheltered housing is not new. The most common way of keeping the soils at bay has been with reinforced concrete and masonry walls and roofs.
Material Re-Creation
A new paradigm of design is starting to emerge as a result of the efforts of those members of the design community who are concerned with the extent, as well as the underplaying, of our global environmental crisis.
Frogs and Serpents: Re-colonising the Suburbs
That the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia are part of the world thought is evidenced by Wonambi, the Rainbow Serpent....
Supporting Remote Places
Today's temperature will be around 37 degrees. At 6 am the relative humidity was 94%. The Monsoon winds haven't found their bearing to the north west, and the prediction is that el nino will prolong the build up this year - a late wet>
Aleks Danko: Day In Day Out
Two recent shows in Melbourne of installations by Alex Danko have investigated issues indirectly referring to architecture and the private and social body within the Australian environment.
Gateways Project
..the response to a site was very much tied up with the way humans had mediated the experience. Yes trees and forests were sacred but that didn't mean that you couldn't touch them. Our mediation of course must be sensitive - be fearless yet thoughtful... Series of black and white photographs accompany the article.
Look See. Gnarogin Park
The headbutting syndrome which is normally associated with the oppositional mental locations of the engineering versus the environmental are here reconciled in the combined communities' new park. It should become their most treasured recreational amenity. Located two hours south of Perth, Western Australia.
Prospect: Building on its Imagination
In these days of environmental awareness it is pleasing to see a growing awareness of the need to improve urban environments. This is not to say that we should, yet again, be looking after the concerns of people over and above the needs of the natural environment.