Past Programs
Craft - 2008
Mornington Peninsula's creative architectural heritage
12/11/2008
A new show at the Mornington Peninsula Art Gallery pieces together the important architectural innovation and heritage of the Mornington Pensinsula, just outside Melbourne.
Here architectural experimentation has always played a role -- a life away from the restraints of city life. Many of the features we take for granted in houses nowadays were encouraged along the Mornington Peninsula -- bold structural statements, glass-curtain walls and the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor space. The show is called Out of the Square: Beach Architecture on the Mornington Peninsula.
Sandra Kaji O'Grady: conversation 2
01/10/2008
Today we tackle the topic of how today's buildings have forged their way in the world by looking dramatically different to anything that has come before and, as a result, have been very focused on image. Running parallel is a societal concern about the future of the environment and our concern with sustainability. A building's performance -- its technical function -- has had to find different ways of being assessed.
The humble brick
10/09/2008
The humble brick is the subject of author Ron Ringer's The Brickmaster 1788 - 2008. The first alluvial clay was actually found in the first two weeks of European settlement at Sydney's Cockle Bay. Now it's known as Haymarket and Chinatown, where ABC Ultimo is based and from where By Design is broadcast each week. While the brick industry started in Sydney, the brick revolution spread quickly across the country. Perth is often referred to by old brickmakers as the brick capital of the world. And in every small town there was a brickworks. If not, a 'travelling' brickmaker would often set up at the edge of town.
Conversation: teaching 21st century architecture
30/08/2008
Sandra Kaji O'Grady is head of architecture at the University of Technology in Sydney, an architecture school deliberately positioning itself right at the edge of the latest ideas in the world of architecture and design. Sandra is part of By Design's Conversation series, where leaders in the world of design and architure talk about their ideas. Sandra Kaji O'Grady's topic and interest is focused on what skills students need to learn if they're to become good architects for the 21st century.
Prize-winning Qld house: 2008 Robin Dods winner
23/08/2008
Bligh Graham Architects are a relatively new firm in Brisbane. Their work is starting to attract attention and this year they won the 2008 AIA Robin Dods Award for the best domestic architecture in Queensland. This is a very modern Australian house—significant and unusual in that it generates (theoretically) enough electricity from the solar panels on its roof to supply the street in which it is situated. The owners are selling electricity back to the grid. The attention to detail in this house is at the highest level. The craftsmanship is evident at every point—the plastering, the woodwork, the flooring, the door handles. The house is short-listed for the Australian Institute of Architect (AIA) national award, the Robin Boyd Award, which will be announced on 30 October.
- Watch presentation of the prize-winning house.
- Download our presentation of the prize-winning house.
Parliamentary architecture
16/08/2008
Winston Churchill famously said that 'we shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us', and the question of how buildings help shape parliamentary business, in particular Australian parliamentary business, will be the subject of a roundtable discussion to be held next Friday at Parliament House, Canberra.
Friday is the 20th anniversary of the beginning of parliamentary operations in the new building, and 9 May was the twentieth anniversary of the official opening. To mark the opening, Dr Clem Macintyre of the University of Adelaide delivered a lecture on parliamentary architecture and political culture and he talks to By Design about his ideas.
Small moments in design - Oki Sato
26/07/2008
Oki Sato his way into design through architecture. It was a trip to Milan's Salone Mobile in 2002 that turned his thoughts to how much was possible in the world of design. He acted on his positive emotional response and founded Nendo, based in Tokyo. His success was immediate. He has been picked up by a number of manufacturers, and was a keynote speaker this month at Melbourne's Design Capital event, part of the State of Design Festival.
Skin Deep: Facades
19/07/2008
In the architecture business a new specialisation has emerged - one that just deals with facades. Making a significant mark worldwide in this area is Front Inc, based in New York. Since Front began in 2002 the firm has worked with all the world's pre-eminent architects - Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Tadao Ando. In the design world they are the façade consultant of choice. They have worked with OMA (Rem Koolhaas's firm) on the CCTV building, opening soon in Beijing.
Trends - Contemporary Jewellery
12/07/2008
Trends and Products is the part of the show where each week we focus on developments in a particular part of the designed world. Today our focus is on Australian contemporary jewellery.
No longer just about precious metals, such as gold or silver, modern jewellery is just as likely to be made of cloth or recycled plastic.
Antique: the David Roche Collection
28/06/2008
There are people who are addicted to watching repeats of the BBC series Antique Road Show, now running on commercial television, even though they do not collect antiques themselves. And the same people will tell you that Friday nights on the ABC means watching Collectors.
Although we might not indulge ourselves, there is an abiding fascination with old things. And especially beautiful old things that display a level of craft and expertise that belongs to a slower era than these times of mass-production.
Today we're looking at the appeal of antiques through the prism of one remarkable collection, pieced together over a lifetime by Adelaide's David Roche.
Vince Frost: what look is now?
14/06/2008
By Design talks to Vince Frost about his approach to design -- in his favourite room, a converted textile factory in Surry Hills, Sydney. He also talks about today's look, the aesthetic of our time. VIDEO: To view video click into this story, then follow links.
Vince Frost is a UK-born, Australian-based graphic designer. For him graphic design is not just drawing, it is a larger way of thinking about space and about the way we construct our lives. Vince Frost is a member of the Australian architecture curatorial team chosen to represent Australia at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, which opens in Venice in September. The Australian team comprises three of Australia's top architects, Kerstin Thompson, Neil Durbach and Wendy Lewin; and two of Australia's top designers, Vince Frost and Gary Warne.
Why architecture is NOT building
14/06/2008
The 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale opens in September. The director this year is the internationally acclaimed USA-based writer, historian and curator Aaron Betsky, who believes architecture is not building. For him architecture is ideas, pure and simple. Out There: Architecture Beyond Building is Betsky's theme for the 2008 Biennale. Listen to Aaron Betsky next on By Design
Trends and Products: Yves Saint Laurent
07/06/2008
Yves Saint Laurent changed the world of 20th century fashion with his design and his use of fabric. He is famous for inventing the re-invention of the pants suit for women. Carla Bruni, wife of President Sarkozy, wore one of his pants suits to the funeral in his honour.
What makes a good opening sequence?
03/05/2008
Danny Yount has an interesting job in the world of design. He says of himself that his 'primary focus is main title design'. Today on By Design we look at the magic of designing the 'look' of a film, the power of the opening sequences, for example, the way a trailer is designed to hit the mark. Danny Yount is the man who designed the powerful opening sequence of Six Feet Under, and his work on this cult TV show earned him an Emmy.
Trends and Products: Design Island:Tasmania
03/05/2008
Design Island gets under way in Tasmania this week—the annual design festival that features some pretty important discussion about design in Australia. Guests this year include Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, senior curator at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. Currently he is preparing retrospectives on Rudolf Steiner and Humberto & Fernando Campana. Mathias Schwartz-Clauss is a consultant to the summer academy of Boisbuchet in France, writes for various design journals and lectures internationally.
Trends: Milan International Furniture Fair
19/04/2008
Now trends and products, and this morning we go to Milan where the most important event on the global design calendar, the Milan Salone Internazionale del Mobile (as well as the SaloneSatellite), is underway.
New meets old: reinvention at University of Sydney
29/03/2008
John Wardle is a Melbourne-based architect with a national and international list of projects under his belt. He is well known in Victoria for his commitment to domestic architecture, but increasingly he is finding himself designing large commercial and public projects.
In Sydney he is about to embark on the new Westfield Centerpoint Tower retail renovation in the CBD, but he is currently in the final months of completing the new extensive USyd Central for the University of Sydney, which will be the heartbeat for the university's retail outlets and the student union activities. It also includes the new Scitech Library and bridge over City Road, linking the old university Wilkinson buildings with Wardle's new centre. And all this coinciding with a Thames and Hudson publication of all of John Wardle Architects' buildings.
Conversations 2008: Collaboration
15/03/2008
Collaboration is one of the new buzzwords in the design world. As design becomes more complex, and more design is now done three dimensionally, rather than two dimensionally, the skills needed to bring a building to life are increasingly specialised. So what does it mean to collaborate? How are decisions made and what happens if there is a dispute.
Who is Hedi Slimane? What's he got to do with me?
15/03/2008
Hedi Slimane worked for Dior and changed the shape of men's suits -- and fashion. Blame skinny jeans on him. David Meagher has interviewed some of the world's top designers as a way of understanding what makes fashion tick. Many of these designers are the reason some of the top fashion companies make as much money as many of the world's top resource companies. In other words fashion is a very serious business.
Slow Home Movement
08/03/2008
The slow home movement takes its cue from the slow food movement: like ingredients, houses must be carefully considered, nourishing and thoughtful. This is about finding a house that suits you, rather than buying what others think suits you.
