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Sydney City Council has announced the winner of the architectural competition for Sydney’s new Green Square library and plaza. But does it make sense to spend big money on a branch library?

The public don’t get much say in the selection of designs for major public buildings even though they’re the main users, but there’s a case for them having a bigger role

Former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says the ‘architecture’ of foreign relations needs to look more like the work of Frank Gehry than the formal Greek of the Parthenon

Architects are brilliant visual communicators but when it comes to words some can’t resist resorting to dense, obscure and pretentious “archibabble”

Architecture and building would benefit from more demanding assessments, but architectural reviews aren’t critical. They’re a “peculiar act of collusion between architect and reviewer”

Monash University announced this week that it’s commissioned famous international architect Moshe Safdie (this report calls him a ‘starchitect’) to design its new $80 million Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at the entrance to the university’s Clayton campus.

Those outside the industry rarely get just how complex the business of architecture is. Most think of a major new building in terms like “yeah, I like it” (or not), invariably referring to its appearance. Opinions are largely based on a few passing sightings or, at best, a visit or two.

It might be hard to believe but this isn’t an historic building that’s been saved from the wrecking ball and retro-fitted for a new life. It’s actually a brand-new building (see exhibit). If developers proposed something like this in Barangaroo or Docklands I suspect they’d be pilloried by intellectual and aesthetic elites. It’d likely be [...]

A team of US and French researchers reckons it has distilled the architectural essence of Paris – that je ne sais quoi. They say the “look and feel” of a city like Paris doesn’t come from a few famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. Rather, it derives largely from “a set of stylistic elements” that [...]

According to my young hipster architecture advisers, Myrtle and Beryl, there’s a great big Architectural Metaphor underlying the appearance of the Melbourne Recital Centre. Before reading on, look at the exhibit for a couple of moments to see if you Get It (there are two buildings there – it’s the white one on the right). Personally, [...]