By Tina Perinotto 5 April 2012 – When Gunter Pauli fronts up to the audience it is like a sudden burst of (renewable) energy and excitement has gushed into the room. At a forum organised by Arup and AFR Boss at Arup’s Sydney office on Wednesday, Pauli, a Belgium-based economist, says our efforts need to be directed to a highly efficient, Read More  
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3 April 2012 – The Venice Biennale’s new Australian face will be a dark box of the utmost simplicity Denton Corker Marshall has signalled a new view of Australian architecture with a geometric dark charcoal box in its winning design for the Australian pavilion for Venice’s Giardini della Biennale that will replace Philip Cox’s “temporary structure” built in 1988. Read More  
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By Ed Cotter 30 March 2012 ­ – Back in September 2011, BioRegional and the Centre for Design at RMIT University, hosted a two-day workshop that looked at how the principles that underpinned the BedZED EcoVillage could be brought to Melbourne. Read More  
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By Lyn Drummond 29 March 2012 – Suters Architects has embarked on two major projects. It is partnering with ARTAS Architects on Tasmania’s $22 million Blundstone Arena, Bellerive redevelopment project and has been appointed to the $210 million Gold Coast University Private Hospital scheme. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 22 March 2012 - Engineers for the façade of the new UTS building in Sydney, designed by Frank Gehry and this week approved for construction, at one point considered robots to achieve its crumpled paper-bag look. Read More  
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8 February 2012 – Treehugger has highlighted resilient building and living in what it terms as a subtle shift in focus from sustainability to resilience in two published articles. One says walkable communities and older buildings are resilient; they can cope better when the power goes out, and you can walk to the store when the car is out of gas. The other asks if resilience is the key to making  sustainability mainstream.  From community nut tree plantings to neighbourhood energy action groups, the transition movement has pioneered community-focused resilience initiatives. But it’s not just activists or community groups getting in on the action. Pure self-interest can build resilience too. The rise of the sharing economy does not just mean less stuff going to landfill. Read More  
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By Amy Kelly Michael Rayner is one of Brisbane’s most high profile architects and contributor to the city fabric. After the recent floods he has also come up with strong ideas about how to interact with the city’s “snaking river.” 6 May 2011 – It was an unfortunate irony that Brisbane architect Michael Rayner’s family home was damaged during the January floods. As the man who has done most to promote Read More  
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By Lyn Drummond 14 December 2011 – Jack Evans  Boat Harbour, Tweed Heads,  designed by ASPECT Studios in collaboration with Tweed Shire Council won the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects NSW medal as   “an outstanding example of transformation in a regional coastal town,” the judging panel said. Read More  
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By Scott Willey 30 November 2011 – Victoria’s Eco-Innovation Laboratory is pushing boundaries and taking a lead from the private sector. Experimentation brings uncertainty, and uncertainty, risk. Read More  
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By Lyn Drummond 28 November 2011 – Almost three years since being destroyed in the Victorian bush fires, the new timber Narbethong Community Hall was opened on Saturday, 26 November, by the Governor of Victoria, Alex Chernov. Read More  
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By Lynne Blundell 8 December 2011 ­– DeisgnInc has won this year’s National Award for Sustainable Architecture in the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards for its work on The University of Adelaide Innova21. Innova21, which is part of the University of Adelaide’s North Terrace Campus, was South Australia’s first education building to receive a six star Green star rating. It is designed to be used as a teaching tool with high environmental sustainability and building performance monitoring equipment. Commendations for sustainable architecture also went to Wolveridge Architects for Hill Plains House in Victoria and Morrison & Breytenbach Architects for Tarremah Hall in Tasmania. The awards were announced in a ceremony at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart on November 3. This year’s jury chair, Karl Fender, said the jury was impressed with the high standard of design of public spaces in this year’s awards and the emphasis... 
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By Lynne Blundell 20 October 2011 – Quiet achiever Adelaide is up to its ears in strategic integrated design that could change the shape of the built environment nationally. Adelaide may seem an unlikely centre for an urban planning revolution. It is a city that has a reputation as being refined but perhaps a little staid. But Adelaide is after all Australia’s first planned city and, at a time when pressure on our cities is mounting, Adelaide is leading Read More  
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By Ivan Rijavec 2 November 2011 – Melbourne architect and writer Ivan Rijavec will on Thursday launch a major and startling exhibition* that focuses a searing spotlight on how we view Australian urbanism. Read More  
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26 September 2011– How to transform a commercial building into a medium density residential development is the challenge of the latest Boral Design Awards. With prize money of up to $20,000 for the major winner, the awards are open to architects, building designers, landscape designers and homebuilders as well as architectural and building design students. Boral divisional marketing manager, Glenn Simpkin said “Australia’s need for sustainable, affordable and healthy inner city communities is growing.  The theme of this year’s awards calls for a lifecycle approach to residential design in an urban environment, with entrants asked to preserve and incorporate 50 per cent of the building fabric into their concept.” The awards were an opportunity to consider  benefits of building materials which contribute to sustainability and to create high-quality dwellings that are thermally and acoustically sound, Mr Simpkin said. Entries close 1 March, 2012. www.designawards.boral.com.au  
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20 September 2011 – Lend Lease on Monday night showcased its new six star Green Star Commonwealth Bank Place at Darling Quarter in Sydney in its launch event for World Green Building Week Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 15 September 2011 – Anthony Burke and Gerard Reinmuth have been appointed to head the creative team for the Australian Institute of Architects’ Australian Pavilion at the 13th Venice International Architecture Biennale Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 2 September 2011 – Between the Bellinis, speeches from the dignitaries and the best sushi ever likely to be served outside of Toyko at the opening of 1 Bligh Street in Sydney this week, came the suggestion from a guest that the building’s lead architect, Christoph Ingenhoven, could well be the next  Jørn  Utzon It might be a big call, but the Germany-based Ingehoven is already on the global map of great architects. Read More  
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By David Parken, chief executive officer, Australian Institute of Architects 31 August 2011 – There has been some recent speculation in industry circles about the future of the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Award for Sustainability, sparked by an article in The Fifth Estate. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 24 August 2011 – [Updated] The Australian Institute of Architects has taken the controversial decision to drop its sustainability awards as a separate category, in a move designed to rid the awards of “green bling” and ugly buildings that would not make the grade Read More  
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12 August 2011 – GPT officially launched its new offices on three high rise floors at Sydney’s MLC building on Wednesday with a panel discussion that delved into some of the complex thinking that has delivered a virtually paperless office and six star Green Star ambitions in a 33 year old building. Read More  
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16 August 2011 – The National Heart Foundation has compiled guidelines about food sensitive planning and urban design. Food Sensitive Planning and Urban Design: A conceptual framework for achieving a sustainable and just food system is a framework designed for planners, architects, urban designers, engineers, policy makers, community members and elected representatives to integrate food considerations into urban land use and development. The concept recognises that access to healthy, sustainable and equitable food is an essential part of achieving liveable communities. The Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab which promotes emerging technical, social and organisational innovations that could form part of future sustainable systems and David Locke Associates were commissioned by the NHF’s Victorian division to develop the  resource. It outlines: key areas in planning legislation, policy and processes to realise this outcomes; how meeting people’s food needs contributes to the broader... 
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By Tina Perinotto 3 August 2011 – Following hot on the heels of our story last issue on the mass retrenchment of four staff at the NSW chapter office has come some of the reasoning behind the move and an indication of the pressure architects are facing as a profession. According to chief executive officer for the AIA David Parken the roles made redundant in the NSW chapter last month were not because of any new strategic direction in the institute Read More  
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It’s a story of deep resistance to sustainable change, embarrassing mistakes and scientists at 20 paces. Now the clever people have turned the spotlight to the humble real estate agent. Welcome to the wild world of the residential market. By Lynne Blundell 28 October 2010 – FAVOURITES… The national energy ratings for houses Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 19 July 2011 – NSW Australian Institute of Architects members have been shocked by the sudden retrenchment of four key long serving staff members of the Sydney office. Institute insiders told The Fifth Estate that members were angry Read More  
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6 July 2011 – The new national president of the Australian Institute of Architects, Brian Zulaikha  has called for a government architect position to be established in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.The Sydney-based architect, who is committed to sustainability is a founding partner of award-winning architectural practice Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, He said that he will focus during his term as president on sustainable communities, cities and architecture and influencing planning reform Read More  
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5 July 2011 – BVN Architecture has won this year’s top award, the Sulman Award, at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2011 NSW Architecture Awards for its Brain and Mind Research Institute  – Youth Mental Health Building. Read More  
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28 June 2011 – Melbourne’s AAMI Park by Cox Architecture has won three of the top Victorian Architecture Awards. AAMI Park won the Victorian Architecture Medal, The Melbourne Prize and the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture. The structure was also awarded the Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture, which honours the creative, innovative use of steel in architecture. In the award citation, chair of the Victorian Architecture Medal Jury, James Staughton, wrote: “AAMI Park is a worthy winner of the 2011 Victorian Architectural Medal due to the convincing architectural integration of program complexity, cultural engagement, structural innovation and environmental performance.” Other major winners The Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for Commercial Architecture was won by  NH Architecture for its redevelopment of Melbourne’s Myer Bourke Street building, with its sculpted gold roof, harlequin façade and “raking atrium culminating in what must now be our city’s premier... 
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By Lyn Drummond 22 June 2011 – Relaxing in a sky park 33 storeys above Melbourne’s CBD could start a trend if award winning architect Billy Kavellaris’ urban park is built next year. The Sky Park Tower at 17-23 Wills Street will include a park  Read More  
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21 June 2011 – A Hobart high school has won top honours at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2011 Tasmanian Architecture Awards for what the jury described as a “sensitive and bold” work. Ogilvie High School’s Student Learning Centre in the Hobart suburb of Newtown which won the Alan C Walker Award for Public Architecture was designed by Liminal Architecture. The jury praised the work for “delivering new life and creating a centre for the school, while symbolising contemporary teaching and learning.” In other wins The Allen’s Rivulet House 2 received the Esmond Dorney Award for Residential Architecture for Room 11 architects. The house commands a rise of land at Allen’s Rivulet, just 18 km from Hobart. The jury said:  “The house revels in its unyielding grid and contradictory spaces. Spaces shift around the centrifugal kitchen while they deform the views and vistas.” Other projects receiving honours in the residential architecture category included the Little... 
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21 June 2011 –Debate is heightening on the Treehugger website about whether the 2012 London Olympic basketball venue is the ugliest building yet. One subscriber, Lloyd Alter of the company, Design and Architecture, describes the venue as, “looking like the shrink-wrapped boats you see at marinas in winter. Like a giant bunion pad. Read More  
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