The business of architecture
The Robin Boyd Foundation's winter open day was held last month, with ten recent Australian Institute of Architects award winning projects open to visit. The unseasonably warm August Sunday was filled with at least 600 architects and architecture lovers roving around Melbourne, enjoying houses and apartments converted for the day into temporary museums. With our 3 year old and 7 month... Continue Reading →
Who was he? The name, Robin Boyd, should be known to every Australian architect. He was a Melbourne architect prominent in the postwar era, but many decades ahead of his time. He was a proponent of an environmentally sensitive and locally specific adaptation of modernism, a teacher, a writer, an ambassador for the profession, and... Continue Reading →
Farrah Tomazin, The Age, p. 13, 18th November 2012 architect \ˈär-kə-ˌtekt\ 1) a person who designs buildings and advises in their construction 2) a person who designs and guides a plan or undertaking In Australia, there are many who claim ownership of the name, architect, but who among them truly deserve it? First of the aspirants are... Continue Reading →
Interior looking through kitchen with cosy nook to right What is it? A house by Neeson Murcutt Architects for clients Jo Nolan and Luke Hastings, and the subject of the Our Houses architectural talk on Wednesday night. The series is unique in inviting both architects and their clients to discuss their projects, attracting not only... Continue Reading →
Walsh Street House by Robin Boyd, 1958 What are they? The antithesis of the contemporary urban environment, whose sturdy handrails, warning decals and fluorescent yellow strips are tenderly coddling us in bubble wrap, anxiously protecting us from every possible bump, scrape and bruise. By dangerous, we do not so much refer to cliff edges nor shark-infested... Continue Reading →
Walsh Street House by Robin Boyd, 1958 What is it? Originally introduced in 1947 by architect Robin Boyd, the Small Homes Service was a method by which good architecture was made accessible to that section of the general public interested in design but otherwise unable to afford it. According to Boyd, at its peak this... Continue Reading →
Farfor House (original design), 1968 What is it? An event run by the Robin Boyd Foundation last Sunday that permitted public entry into four of Boyd's residential projects from the 1960s. All four of the houses are located on the Mornington Peninsula: Farfor House (Portsea, 1968), Shelmerdine House (Cape Schanck, 1966), McClune House (Frankston South,... Continue Reading →
What is it? A free lecture organised by Melbourne Open House on Tuesday night that explored the works of seven established Melbourne architects. Run in collaboration with the Department of Planning and Community Development, the architects presented residential projects that have been selected by the DPCD as Good Design Case Studies. In addition, each nominated... Continue Reading →