A Melbourne CBD intervention achieves warmth, intimacy and a 50 to 75 percent reduction in embodied carbon through keeping what already exists. Across Australia’s major cities, the pressure to reposition ageing commercial assets has become one of the defining challenges of the built environment, and all too often the default response is demolition, a cycle […]
More than a decade after it was founded, RJ Living continues to grow by staying true to the philosophy that built it: furniture shaped by materiality, proportion and everyday use, designed for the way Australians actually live. “RJ Living started with a simple idea – to create beautifully designed furniture that feels considered, timeless and […]
Maeve Mullane is a Sydney-based interior designer who focuses on human-centred work and is led by material choices. As a member of Australian Design Review‘s 30UNDER30 for 2025/2026, she excels at challenging conventions through the use of offbeat colours, unconventional forms and unexpected textures. Australian Design Review: What do you enjoy doing in your spare […]
Miele unveiled its latest design concept, ‘Designed to Move with You’, at Milan Design Week 2026, presenting a vision of the kitchen as a flexible, intelligent living space that adapts to modern lifestyles rather than remaining a fixed functional zone. Showcased at both EuroCucina and the newly redesigned Miele Experience Centre in Milan’s Brera Design […]
Faena Hotel’s New York outpost immerses guests in decadent and flamboyant design, from its gilded ceilings down to its floor art by Designer Rugs. Opening to fanfare in September 2025, Faena New York is the third location for the hotel chain that first opened in Buenos Aires in 2005, followed by Miami Beach in 2015. […]
This week Humanscale is hosting Designing Comfort: The Art and Ergonomics of Seating, a livestreamed discussion, with Alan Hedge exploring the ways to combat common posture mistakes, including hunched ‘shrimp’ sitting, and their effects on muscle fatigue, breathing, circulation and musculoskeletal strain. I’m going to be honest here. When you’ve been working in a certain […]
From sculptural furniture and glowing glassware to First Nations storytelling and radical material reuse, this year’s Melbourne Design Week 2026 (MDW) arrives with an expansive program that pushes design beyond object making and into culture, community and conversation. Across 11 days and more than 400 events, exhibitions and installations, the festival will transform galleries, warehouses, […]
Having recently joined Grimshaw, following a stint at AJC Architects, Simone Carmody continues to be driven by her passion for the environment, for promoting regenerative and sustainable design, and for designing spaces that connect people, place and the planet. As a member of the 2025/26 cohort for Australian Design Review‘s 30UNDER30, she says she’s proud to […]
Following the apartment tours from this year’s Milan Design Week, ADR highlights the top exhibitions we visited during this year’s event. The Factory of Light presented by Aesop For its third appearance at Milan Design Week, Aesop presented The Factory of Light, a multisensory installation at Milan’s Santa Maria Del Carmine. Designed by Australian architect […]
The pioneering podcaster, graphic designer, educator and author is coming to Vivid Sydney in June for an exclusive keynote, imparting wisdom gleaned from decades in practice and more than 700 conversations with creatives. Debbie Millman has breathed deeply with Marina Abramović, discussed humanity with Gloria Steinem, and once had a heated argument with Richard Saul […]
Architectural spaces should sound as good as they look. To achieve this perfect balance of design, form and function, it comes down to the right expertise to bring an architect’s vision to life. europanel saw the need for quality architectural wall and ceiling panelling that challenged the existing ‘one-size-fits-all’ market. This led the business to […]
Senior architect and urban designer at Brisbane City Council, Ben Hovav, studied in Milan and Delft, and founded a design research collective in Rotterdam before returning to Brisbane, where he also currently teaches at Queensland University of Technology. As a member of the 2025/26 cohort for Australian Design Review‘s 30UNDER30, he’s relishing the opportunity to […]
Opening last month to a substantial fanfare, Brisbane’s newest performance space, Glasshouse in the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, certainly catches the eye. Arguably more visually impressive than Port Macquarie’s 500-plus seat entertainment space with which it shares a name, but opened 17 years before it, the new Glasshouse Theatre is part of the Queensland Performing […]
Understanding residents before drawing a single line is Helen Kuo’s secret to build to rent success Australia’s build-to-rent (BTR) scene is waking up to a new kind of ambition as architects and developers move past templated briefs toward design shaped by evidence, behaviour and the real lives of future residents. FK partner Helen Kuo sits […]
In challenging times, lasting 50 weeks can be cause for celebration. So when a practice clocks up 50 years, it’s definitely a reason to hang the buntings out. Co-founded on 1 April 1976, SJB has not only survived but is thriving and looking to the next generation of leaders to keep its flame burning brightly. […]
Isabella White studied architecture and worked in graduate positions before discovering her skills were needed elsewhere. She has since segued into communications roles – most recently as digital content lead at Architectus – and amassed tens of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, where she creates content under the moniker of ‘architecture’s biggest advocate’. […]
Late last month property developer Fortis opened a new permanent space in the affluent Melbourne suburb of Toorak. Designed in partnership with Studio Kennon, The Gallery is intended as a new way to explore off-the-plan purchasing of properties. Taking over a large empty corner building, Studio Kennon and Fortis have created a bespoke destination. Evolving […]
Ava Kim is an Adelaide-based architect at Grieve Gillett Architects whose work moves between built practice and urban research projects. Named as a member of Australian Design Review‘s 30UNDER30 for 2025/2026, she approaches every project with a desire to lead more sustainable outcomes and embed long-term thinking and care into the built environment. Australian Design […]
A new mixed-use development at 9 Wilson Avenue in Brunswick, Melbourne, aims to turn a Sydney Road backstreet dominated by cars into a pedestrian-focused locale. Designed by Richmond-based architecture studio MA+Co and delivered by design-led development group Neometro, the project marks the latest chapter in the urban renewal of Jewell Station Village. The site was […]
New South Wales delays its uptake of the National Construction Code 2025 by 12 months, giving builders, designers and developers time to adapt without derailing housing delivery. Architects, builders and developers working across NSW will have until 1 May 2027 to comply with the new National Construction Code (NCC), after the NSW Government announced a […]
As Australia’s build-to-rent (BTR) sector grows, it is changing what renters and investors expect from housing, according to a new report from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). GBCA launched Keys to Change: Unlocking better, greener Build-to-Rent housing at its TRANSFORM 2026 conference last week. The report finds more than a third of Australia’s […]
A carpenter turned construction veteran, John Hill has spent a career absorbing the lessons of great architects, and has finally applied them to one measured yet disruptive house on a north-east Victorian farm. There are builders who work for architects, and then there is John Hill, a man who spent four decades absorbing their thinking […]
Zac Vassallo is an industrial designer at Reef Design Lab, a company that develops marine habitat infrastructure for a range of research and commercial applications. It’s a perfect fit for someone who has a firm conviction that “man-made creative objects should justify their existence in the world”. Named as one of Australian Design Review‘s 30UNDER30 for […]
Nissie Bungbrakearti, a computational designer at COX Architecture, has the advanced skills to solve complex challenges using data and design. However, it hasn’t been an easy road from shy young practitioner to being named one of Australian Design Review‘s 30UNDER30 for 2025/2026. Below, Bungbrakearti shares some early career lessons. Australian Design Review: Why did you […]
Bringing Australia’s architecture and design community into focus since 2009.