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Architecture

March

The clock room’s feature wall.

Hidden under Central Station lies a clock collector’s paradise

A secure chamber in the catacombs of the Sydney rail hub holds a decade-old collection of timepieces. It’s worth thousands – but rail bosses are unsure what to do with it.

AFR AFR Architect Michael Lavery says Brisbane 2032 stadium planning needs to avoid the mistakes of the 2003 Suncorp Stadium/Lang Park upgrade that failed to accommodate public and active transport (eg cycling/walking) connections to the venue. Photo: Peter Wallis

10 March 2025

How Brisbane Olympics can avoid Suncorp Stadium’s mistakes

The Olympic host city is about to announce new venues. They’ll saddle the city with long-term costs long after 2032 if not done right.

February

The new building (right) follows the curve of the 2003 building; a new sculpture park meandering between.

One couple’s decades-long devotion to Australian art has a new home

The Eva and Marc Besen Centre is a state-of-the-art gallery and storage space where back-of-house and front-of-house are one and the same.

Views from outer eastern suburbs in Melbourne.

Slater & Gordon email reveals CEO’s mansion excesses

Senior executives celebrated Christmas at the outer Melbourne mansion with a private chef last year.

The rooftop pool feels a million miles from the city.

This new Sydney hotel is the ultimate urban oasis

Dazzling design, stellar dining and a tropical rooftop pool are just the start of what you can expect at the hotly anticipated Eve Hotel.

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Stairway to amenity: A key feature authorities will be unwilling to see removed as Beulah tries to cut costs from the Sth Bnk development is the Sth Bnk Steps, which rise up to a public park between the two towers. 

Beulah to cut ‘hundreds of millions’ from tallest residential tower

The developer of Sth Bnk, to be the tallest apartment tower in Australia, aims to reduce its $2 billion construction bill, putting it in a tussle with authorities.

January

David Droga’s ‘menacing’ Tamarama mansion gets court go-ahead

The Adman’s planning application triggered a battle for the 1101-square-metre site over what character housing should have in the prestigious area.

Films such as ‘Megalopolis’ don’t show the reality of architecture, which is inevitably contingent; it is about working with existing realities, acknowledging the world as it is and its imperfections.

What the movies get wrong about architecture

Oscar nominee ‘The Brutalist’ and Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ perpetuate a colossal cliche: the image of practitioners as lone, tortured geniuses.

The slanted roofs and simple lines of  Kavillo villas recall to mind structures like shearing sheds and lean-tos.

The architect inspired by shearing sheds and tents

Mudgee-based Cameron Anderson honours the beauty of humble rural structures and rustic materials in his designs.

Nigel Bennett at the Barbican, London.

This star British gardener has big plans for Melbourne

Horticulturalist Nigel Dunnett is about to embark on his first project outside Britain – the Laak Boorndap garden in the new Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Room to move - and watch: The Australian Open has a large pool of flexible space to use for events and uses separate to the actual tennis matches.

What the Australian Open can teach Brisbane 2032

Like grand slam tennis, the biggest challenge the Olympics faces is to attract people who may not even care for the sports themselves. But that needs space.

The CPKC Stadium, home to the Kansas City Current, under construction ahead of opening day in Kansas City, Missouri, US, on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. This weekend, players will take the field for their season opener in a brand-new, $117 million stadium that its backers say is the world’s first for a women’s professional sports team.

World’s first stadium designed for women’s sports takes the field

The CPKC Stadium in Kansas gives one team a permanent base while providing inspiration for other women’s clubs in an increasingly expensive era of stadium development.

A home destroyed by the Eaton Fire stands in front of a home that survived in Altadena.

Why did these homes survive the LA fires?

Amid the destruction some houses in Pacific Palisades and Malibu were left intact. Their fire-resistant features will be crucial to redevelopment.

December 2024

Notre-Dame refurbishment gif

How Notre Dame was reborn

It took about 250 companies, 2000 workers, about $1.4 billion, a tight deadline and a lot of national pride.

November 2024

With a 236-square-metre footprint, the average size of an Australian house in 2020, this country has the biggest houses in the world.

How much does that big house really cost you?

A new exhibition challenges thinking about houses at a time when Australia’s homes are the biggest in the world.

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Just 10 metres wide: The Ferrars & York apartment building occupies a 610-square-metre site between a  tram line and a main road in South Melbourne.

How to build housing on urban wasteland

An apartment building sandwiched between a road and railway line has set a new standard for what can be done with once-derelict sites.

October 2024

An atrium inside 1 Elizabeth, the new headquarters for Macquarie.

Macquarie’s new home is one to admire for its smarts

The investment banking and trading giant’s new office at 1 Elizabeth Street in Sydney brings building materials, and a metro station, to the fore.

Nina Maya designed the wellness space at GWS Chairman Adrian Fonseca’s Bellevue Hill home.

How the wellness revolution is transforming luxury property

Integrated spa facilities and health-enhancing spaces on par with the world’s best hotels are the new norm in high-end house and apartment projects.

Plan to save Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper isn’t going well

Once a buzzy hub of business life, and briefly occupied by Phillips Petroleum, the 19-storey tower has struggled for many years to find an anchor tenant.

September 2024

Each of the six homes occupies three levels, with a top, middle and bottom level sunk below the ground plane and having a courtyard entryway.

An old London bridge? No – it’s a new housing development

In Camden borough, a row of tall brick arches gives the impression of a Victorian viaduct. But they’re something else altogether.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/architecture-jaj