The business of architecture
In my casual surveys of architecture students from first year to final, I've been surprised to discover how few engage professionally with social media. While Facebook is ubiquitous and many have Instagram accounts jammed full of selfies, there is little interest to extend this activity into the professional sphere. This is the 7th of eight articles exploring the major social... Continue Reading →
This is the 12th of twenty-one lessons for design students, gathered from the combined experience of being a student, and teaching students. I will published one lesson each weekday until they're done. 12. Learning is a two way street Masters level design studios involve two 3 hour sessions of contact time per week. Across the 12 weeks of... Continue Reading →
This is the 9th of twenty-one lessons for design students, gathered from the combined experience of being a student, and teaching students. I will published one lesson each weekday until they're done. 9. The teacup principle Today is not the first time I've written about this principle here. I first discussed it four years ago, within an article inspired... Continue Reading →
Dear design students, Let me share with you an important piece of hard truth: most of you will not produce a great design project this semester. While I hope that you will all begin with aspirations of greatness, I know that many of you will stumble somewhere along the way. In the past four years of teaching a... Continue Reading →
Three years ago, I reviewed an exhibition of John Wardle Architects and NADAAA's new Melbourne School of Design. Even at that early stage in its development, I was captivated by their proposal. It felt like it would respond well to Melbourne University's urban campus, would engage meaningfully in its architects' aspirations for a built pedagogy, and was sure to be finished with all of JWA's usual... Continue Reading →
Who is he? An italian architect and "urban change agent"[1] who divides his time between Carlo Ratti Associati, the innovation and design studio he runs from Torino, and SENSEable City Lab, the research laboratory he leads out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. Ratti's design and research work overlap significantly, both focussing on the transformative effect of new technologies on... Continue Reading →
San Sebastian Kindergarten, Münster 2013 What was it? A national lecture tour presented by the Australian Institute of Architects' 2013 Gold Medal recipient, Peter Wilson. In eloquent symmetry, Wilson returned last month to his alma mater the University of Melbourne to present the final lecture of his 10 day tour. The Carillo Gantner theatre was filled... Continue Reading →
Sir Thomas Gresham by Anthonis Mor van Dashorst (1565) What is it? A paraphrasing of Gresham's Law, an economic principle proposed in the 16th Century by adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Thomas Gresham. The law, bad money drives out good, described the devaluation of the precious metal content in circulating coins. When new, low... Continue Reading →
Dunescape by SHoP Architects, New York, 2000 What was it? The second Dean's Lecture for 2013, courtesy of the University of Melbourne’s faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. Held on Tuesday night last week, the speaker was Gregg Pasquarelli, one of the five founding directors of SHoP Architects based in New York. He presented a selection of... Continue Reading →
This is the 7th instalment in a series of 10 articles where we attempt to categorise chronologically and thematically the list of things you will need to start your architecture practice, and furnish it with the glimpses of insight we've accrued during the first three years of our architecture practice, Mihaly Slocombe. 7. Cashflow When: Soon Importance: Moderate to... Continue Reading →