Humanitarian architecture, transitional shelter, temporary shelter, emergency shelter, settlements, humanitarian engineering, humanitarian response, disaster, shelter - all of these terms sound like the same thing, right? Yes and no. They are about housing people in need of shelter because their communities have been devastated by an environmental disaster or by persecution. But each term has … Continue reading Want to design humanitarian shelter? Better know what you’re talking about.
A charrette to change the way we design our cities
In February 2020, 121 multi-generational professionals from 60 built environment design and senior living organisations rolled up their sleeves and got to work in sixteen cross-disciplinary creative teams to explore what longevity looks like in the built environment, and the extent that baby boomers will change the landscape of living, learning, working and playing. Three … Continue reading A charrette to change the way we design our cities
What makes a sustainable Sunshine Coast building?
As part of a background scoping study for a technical design guide for Sunshine Coast Council, I asked the experts what makes Sunny Coast buildings climate-responsive, liveable, affordable, resilient and sustainable. All the locals I interviewed nominated the 'living landscape' as the number one quality they look for. Climate responsive design is centred on creating … Continue reading What makes a sustainable Sunshine Coast building?
The Future of Glass Skyscrapers
"Does the glass skyscraper have a future?" Last year as architects around the world declared the Climate Emergency, the AIA's Emerging Architects and Graduates Network (EmAGN) interviewed me along with others. While it seems office and apartment towers with walls of glass have not yet had their day in Brisbane, I note that elsewhere around … Continue reading The Future of Glass Skyscrapers
Next Generation Apartment Buildings: The Dunbar Fellowship Report
My report on Next Generation Apartment Buildings is now available here: R Kennedy Dunbar Fellowship Report 030619 V2 This version, posted 3rd JUNE 2019 corrects two inadvertent errata in the version posted 23 May 2019 and supersedes that version. Corrections are noted on Page 2. I recently had the pleasure of presenting the results of research I … Continue reading Next Generation Apartment Buildings: The Dunbar Fellowship Report
Louvres
In his collection of poems The Daylight Moon Les Murray calls up life in the lightweight timber and tin buildings of Australia’s “louvred latitudes” and describes the “…handbreadth shelving open and shut, it is ruled across with lines…”. Vale Les Murray 30 April 2019
Call this an ‘upgrade’? $600,000,000 later, BYO shade at South Bank Station
It's now over two years and $600,000,000 later, and maybe some of the promised $6 million for the station upgrade is still in the kitty, but it's not looking good for the 60,000 passengers who must struggle through this place out of necessity rather than choice.
