Past Programs
Design - 2008
Philip Cox's Australian style
26/11/2008
Philip Cox is now one of the elder statesmen of Australian architecture. He really started his career in the middle of last century, at Sydney University in the late 1950s, and then his first practice in the 1960s. His buildings have influenced the way Australian cities look. Lets find out why and meet the man himself, Philip Cox, on the eve of a new publication - Cox Architects and Planner 1960-2010 - about his life's work.
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.
Wunderlich - a very rich history
05/11/2008
Ernest, Alfred and Otto Wunderlich began importing zinc roofing during the 1880s. Wunderlich has since become a synonym for decorative metalwork, but there was more to this famous Australian company. Through its production of tiles, terracotta and asbestos-cement (fibro), Wunderlich had a profound influence on the style and design of Australian domestic, public and commercial buildings. The talk will detail the story of Wunderlich, its people and products.
Trends and Products: jewellery and medicine
05/11/2008
By Design's Trends guest this week is Leah Heiss, who is developing jewellery that has a therapeutic purpose. She has designed pieces that help the diabetic, and pieces that you might need in an out of the way place - practical and discreet way of taking arsenic and bacteria out of water. These pieces form her show Liminal, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne.
Aussie Beach Shack inspires New York
22/10/2008
Australian architect Jeremy Edmiston lives in New York, and has for nearly two decades. With US architect Douglas Gaultier he created the BURST House, which is on show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This house was chosen from over 400 world-wide to be one of five houses at the show Home Delivery: Fabricating The Modern Dwelling, curated by Barry Bergdoll, curator of architecture at MOMA.
The orginal BURST house was built for its client, an Anglican minister and his family, in North Haven on the mid-north coast of NSW, near Port Macquarie. In 2006 it won the NSW Wilkinson Prize for Residential Architecture.
Trends: the 14-hour city
22/10/2008
Our Trends guest this week is James Calder from the architects Woods Bagot, who work now pretty much across the globe. Woods Bagot is an interesting firm in that they have been doing a lot of research and thinking about culture, about cities and about how we live our lives.
James has put forward the concept of a 14-hour city -- the argument being that most of the our buildings lie dormant for half the day -- and the weekends -- and that most of our lives now are too complex to revolve around a 9 to 5 existence.
Originality
08/10/2008
Whether it's Antique Roadshow or the Collectors on ABC TV, what people often most want to know about the item being discussed is whether it's an original or a rip-off. And of course if it's an original then how much it's worth.
Whether we collect Renaissance art or 20th century classic chairs, we put great stock in it's being the real thing.
In this feature, writer and journalist Alkarim Jivani asks why we value originality, from Roman villas to so-called original features beloved of estate agents.
And he visits Warsaw to discuss the beautiful fake that is the town centre, flattened by the Germans in the Second World War and painstakingly reconstructed in the 1950s.
Along the way, in his investigation of the concept of originality in design, Alkarim considers homage, tributes, remakes, restorations and renovations.
Function and meaning: the key to good design
01/10/2008
Artefacts (including works of architecture) play dual roles; they simultaneously perform functions and they carry meaning. For instance, columns support roofs, but while the sturdy Tuscan and Doric types traditionally signify masculinity, the slim and elegant Ionic and Corinthian kinds read as feminine.
Trends and Products: blogging
24/09/2008
Blogging is making its mark in the design world, rapidly becoming the fastest and most effective way of getting your message out. Find out why.
John Denton on UK Stirling nomination
24/09/2008
John Denton is part of the Melbourne-based, now global, architecture firm Denton Corker Marshall. You may be familiar with their work. They designed the entry to Melbourne, those 'sticks' that welcome you on the highway in from the airport. They also designed the Governor Phillip Tower in central Sydney, a place many Sydneysiders will have visited or walked past en route to Circular Quay. Now they have made the short list for the UK's top architecture award -- the RBIA Stirling award -- the first Australian firm to have done so. The building is the Manchester Court Complex, the first law court complex to be built in the UK since the Royal Court 100 years ago.
Trends and Products: future of the internet
17/09/2008
The internet is dynamic. What happens when English is not the world's most used language on the internet? What happens when most of the readers do so from right to left, instead of the current left to right? Research is underway between USA's Intel Corporation and Melbourne's Swinburne University to identify the main shifts in the way we use the internet.
Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack and the Bauhaus in Australia
10/09/2008
The Bauhaus was the school - the name means "House of Building" or "Building School" - founded in Weimar by Walter Gropius in 1919. It combined arts and crafts and had an enormous influence on Modernist art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and typography. The Bauhaus closed with the coming of the Nazis in 1933.
And this is where Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack comes into the story. He was a student and later a master at the Bauhaus, and taught their first seminar on colour. But, being partly Jewish, he fled Germany for England, where, when war came, he was first interned as an enemy alien but was eventually deported to Australia in the famous Dunera. He became art teacher at Geelong Grammar School, where one of his pupils was Daniel Thomas.
Now a distinguished art historian, Daniel Thomas talks to us about the influence of the Bauhaus on Hirschfeld-Mack and the influence of Hirschfeld-Mack on Australia.
Project houses in Australia
03/09/2008
Most new houses built in Australia are bought off the shelf -- in other words people want houses they have already seen -- and they then feel confident buying and building these project homes, which in some cases today have become large McMansions. This passion for buying designs off the shelf has been a long tradition in Australia, especially after WW2 when the project home really took off and the designs offered were very modern and very stylish.
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.
Le Corbusier
23/08/2008
Le Corbusier Le Grand is a book so heavy that it's like a concrete block. But perhaps that was the idea, because it's about one of the greatest architects of the twentieth century, who really did use concrete in new and creative ways.
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was not only the creator of some of the most impressive buildings of the last century, he was also an accomplished painter, sculptor, furniture designer, urbanist, and author. His work and social theories continue to be a dominant force today, and his elegant manner, typified by his iconic round, black eyeglasses, is still the signature look for architects around the world.
This morning, we talk to one of the book's authors, Jean Louis Cohen, who divides his time between Paris and New York, where he's Professor in the History of Architecture at the Institute of Fine Arts.
Design Anthropology
23/08/2008
What can designers learn from anthropologists?
Our guest today believes they can learn a great deal. In fact, she has married the two disciplines and is a leading exponent of what has come to be known as design anthropology.
She believes successful design begins with carefully observing human nature, whether it be how high-heeled shoes affect natural ways of walking or how participation in the design process empowers marginalised communities.
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.
Big idea for Australian architecture? Diversity
09/08/2008
In June By Design spoke to Aaron Betsky, the director of this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, which opens next month. Betsky's Biennale is about ideas, not buildings, and he controversially put forward the idea that architecture is not about building, it is about ideas. Architects Kerstin Thompson and Neil Durbach—two of the five-member Australian curatorial team—talk with By Design about Australia's event. Team Australia's big idea is diversity. You can view By Design's video interview with Vince Frost, also a member of the Venice curatorial team, by clicking on the links.
Trends: urban forests
02/08/2008
This week Trends and Products is about urban forests, with physicist Dr Peter Fisher, who emailed us in response to our Conversation in June with the Melbourne City Council's Rob Adams. Dr Fisher has a passion for old-fashioned shade from trees and plants, and is lobbying hard for urban forests. He is a climate change consultant and research fellow at the Central Queensland University.
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.
Perfecting PowerPoint and presentation
05/07/2008
Garr Reynolds is one of the leading lights in the world of PowerPoint presentations, and the world of communications. He has a number of clients in the Fortune 500. Find out how Steve Jobs (CEO Apple) perfected his communication skills, and why Bill Gates (founder Microsoft) still has a lot of lessons to learn. And what's design got to do with all of this?
Trends: murketing, the new marketing
05/07/2008
Trends and Products this week looks at the way in which our shopping and consumption patterns are the touchstone to understanding who we are. In his new book, Buying In, author and journalist Rob Walker declares marketing an outdated concept. He suggests murketing be the new description of how brands are made and marketed. The relationship now is interactive, between consumer and what is consumed.
Australian Pavilion in Venice
28/06/2008
The Australian Pavilion in Venice—the one used for the Venice Art Biennale and the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale—is the subject of a show that opens today at Melbourne's Heide Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition has 11 finalists, shortlisted from an international competition, that give options for a new Australian Pavilion.
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.
Trends and Products: urban sensors
21/06/2008
By Design spoke a couple of weeks ago to Nokia's principal researcher, Jan Chipchase, about the future for mobile phones. You may recall that he mentioned the idea of mobile phones as 'urban sensors'. This week we speak to Eric Paulos, from Intel, about the work he is doing with urban sensors. He says we carry mobile phones with us nearly everywhere we go; yet they sense and tell us little of the world we live in. Look around you now. How hot is it? Which direction are you facing? How healthy is the air you are breathing? What is the pollen count? How strong is the sun? Were pesticides used on the fruit you just bought?
Avant gardeners: what no plants?
21/06/2008
UK author and journalist Tim Richardson is equally at home in an 18th century garden, he says, as in a very contemporary 'conceptual' garden. In his latest book, Avant Gardeners, Tim profiles the work of 50 contemporary landscapes worldwide, and takes us behind the thinking of these gardens. Why make a garden from blue sticks, or a garden full of glass shards? Whatever happened to plants?
Design and the doctor's surgery
14/06/2008
When you visit your doctor perhaps the design of the waiting and consultation rooms is the last thing on your mind. And many doctors might think that aesthetics take a back seat to the primary function of a medical clinic. But should they? Can't design help play a role in making us feel better?
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.
Weak-force architecture: Denton Corker Marshall
31/05/2008
Leon van Schaik has written a rather interesting text that accompanies a new book on the Melbourne-based architecture firm Denton Corker Marshall. Professor van Schaik puts forward a hypothesis on what he calls weak-force architecture and strong-force architecture. Strong force architecture is international and driven by highflying brandname architecture firms. Weak-force architecture is local, organic, slow even -- and it is in this category that he positions Denton Corker Marshall. What does all this mean -- find out on By Design.
2020 Design Summit: By Design panel
19/04/2008
As the Rudd 2020 Summit gets underway today (Saturday 19 April) in Canberra, By Design brings you a panel of design commentators to look specifically at what the world of architecture and design can bring to enrich life in Australia -- what we could be doing better, and how to make sure that Australian cities and design infrastructure are positioned to cope with the incredible shifts Australia in undergoing.
The Endless City
05/04/2008
According to UK writer and critic Deyan Sudjic, the future of the city is the only subject in town. The number of people living in cities is about to overtake those still in the country, so we need to think hard and fast about sustainability, economic policy, transport, law enforcement and much else. The London School of Economics set up a think tank, the Urban Age project, to ponder on these issues and the result is a very weighty volume called Endless City, edited by Deyan Sudjic and Ricky Burdett.
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.
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.
Beijing Bubbles: the Water Cube
23/02/2008
Australian-based designers and engineers are behind the inspiration and collaboration that delivered the innovative Bejing Olympics swimming centre, knows as the Water Cube. Next on By Design meet two of the key players -- Arup engineer Tristram Carfrae, and architect John Bilmon, managing director of PTW. John led the creative architectural and planning team responsible for the Water Cube. Arup and PTW worked in partnership with China-based firm, China Construction Design Institute (CCDI).
Technology and poetics
26/01/2008
Tom Leslie raises a question that comes up more and more in the world of design. What happens when technology gets out of hand, where despite the good intentions of architects, engineers and urban planners, their designs become more complicated, perhaps ever-so-slightly out of control? Does the idea of poetics in a building, or space, matter anymore? Or has our understanding of what is poetic shifted as a result. Is there a new poetic?
This interview was originally broadcast 11 August 2007.
Robert Moses: Shaping the City of New York
12/01/2008
The image of Robert Moses -- the legendary visionary who changed the shape of New York city in the middle of the 20th century with his vision for highways and urban renewal -- is undergoing a revision.
Two academics from New York's Columbia University -- co-authors of a major new book on Robert Moses' legacy -- argue that there has to date been too much attention on what Moses destroyed, and not enough attention on what he achieved and on the economic hurdles he surmounted to get things done.
This interview was orginally broadcast 17 Feburary 2007.
