ASPECT Studios creates playful curvaceous sky park in Chengdu

ASPECT Studios has designed a multi-level linear sky park filled with curved pools and impromptu performance spaces in Chengdu, China. Dubbed the HyperLane, the 2.4-kilometre park links the Chengdu fast train station with the city’s music and arts university district. The site in China’s Sichuan province was originally a series of “derelict walled spaces” that […]

How the post-viral city can “bounce-forward” in urban greenery

Constant through the escalation, peaks and stagnations of COVID-19 has been a society-wide rumour mill about what a post-viral world might look like.  Predictions and questions have ranged from the logistical to the philosophical. Will remote work become commonplace, having been stress-tested by the pandemic? Will our healthcare infrastructure learn this period’s tough lessons? How […]

The rise of the pergola, water gardens and Australiana: landscape design trends for 2020

April is World Landscape Architecture Month. We’re sheltering in place, but we can still celebrate by taking a look at upcoming landscape design trends with two of the country’s top designers. Carolyn Blackman has presented landscape design and gardening talkback radio on alternate Saturday mornings with Libby Gorr on ABC 774 for 22 years. She heads up […]

“We’ve declared, but what’s next?” – Architects Declare to hold a series of talks in Melbourne and Sydney

Architects will join academics and campaigners to consider how the industry should respond to the climate emergency at two Architects Declare events next week. The first meeting is in Sydney on 18 February 2020 at the Hassell Studio, and will feature a talk by outgoing International Living Futures Institute CEO Amanda Sturgeon. The organisation is behind […]

Design for a changing climate – fire and community resilience

Communities in Australia and California share connected experiences as they face climate-related threats, especially fire. But how much have we really learned about designing places that will serve us well during times of disaster? Californian RCH Studio’s director Greg Kochanowski and Hassell’s San Francisco principal Richard Mullane discuss how the global design community can support disaster […]

Are laneways the answer to densifying our cities beautifully?

Last year, green magazine and MINI invited architects to explore the potential of laneways as part of MINI LIVING – INVERT 3.0. The architects were provided with a brief to design an independent dwelling on a piece of land carved from a suburban Melbourne block. The goal was to create affordable housing in the inner […]

“Do you really need a laundry?” – James Legge, pondering the future of Australia’s cities

It’s the Aussie dream to have the big house with all the amenities, a garden and a pool, but in our current property market, James Legge from National Sustainability Award winning-practice Six Degrees says for many of us, it’ll never be anything more than that – a dream. In the latest ABS Residential Property Price […]

William Chan – Ownership builds better communities

Sydney-based Cox Architecture designer and UN Sustainable Development Solutions Fellow, HY William Chan realised early on that our built environments are vastly improved by directly including locals in the design and innovation process. Travelling to South Africa and India while studying at university, HY William Chan met with vulnerable slum communities on the very fringes […]

Six projects tackling climate change and setting the agenda in sustainable design

The World Architecture Festival shortlist of Future Projects features a handful of designs committed to creating a more sustainable future.  From a tower that uses algae to produce clean air to the world’s first energy-positive airport, these projects illustrate how architects are grappling with some of the world’s most pressing challenges. They come as practices the world over […]

You could do better – thoughts on the built environment and its impacts on quality of life

In this opinion piece, David Constantine discusses what we can expect from an increasingly urbanised environment and how we can make it work for us. Through my professional practice, I spend a good deal of time considering the opportunities presenting at the intersection of property, the built environment and social impact. Over recent months I’ve had a number […]

Australia’s first Passive House apartment building completed

Australia’s first Passive House (Passivhaus) Certified apartment building, located 300m from Redfern station, will be officially launched by the Lord Mayor of Sydney on 17 September. Called The Fern, the 11 one-bedroom serviced apartments are the first in the country to be built using the German approach to home design that uses a combination of high-performance […]