Ivanhoe Urban Architecture On the main intersection on Upper Heidelberg Road in the middle of the Ivanhoe shopping strip, stands this building that I think is all about the real estate agency on the first floor – meaning I suspect the real estate is also on the upper floors. On the ground floor are two … Continue reading Councils and high street architecture
local bank makes a statement Upper Heidelberg Road as it runs through Ivanhoe in Melbourne has many buildings of interest. The street has a general people friendly feel to it. In among them is this bank building. Isn’t it wonderful!!
Infill would be more embraced if it was well designed There were several announcements by the ACT government at the end of July with most by the chief minister, Andrew Barr.
Saturday 30 July was a sunny day that encouraged a walk somewhere else in the city, besides the usual meander through the local streets.
NCA challenged on suburban design When you think of planning and development and who is making a mess of this city, attention usually turns to the dark arts as practised by the ACT Planning Directorate.
What is the ACT Government’s attitude to good architecture and good landscape design? That’s easy. It does not consider such things important.
Back in 2013 plans were announced for the next stage of Canberra’s Constitution Avenue.
“Call us dull, call us sellouts, call us gentrifiers – just don’t call us copycats” Our lust for originality is wrecking the city, delivering a rash of formally new but ultimately anti-urban hideous skyline baubles reducing city-making to a spectacle of super-size billboard branding gestures while inhibiting the multiplication of good ideas. Click here
Good article by Miguel Córdova Ramírez on the teaching of architecture.
Architecture and all that spin If there is one occupation that I could not imagine doing, it is being an ACT Government planner who spends most of the day looking through development applications (DA) for commercial developments.
The Problem Isn’t Architecture, It’s Urban Design Interesting read – but I think they let the architects off too easily. Click here.
Frank Lloyd Wright Is Not Who You Think He Is Click here for the story
Talking to locals in the last weeks there were stories of that knock on the door and the offer to buy the house. The reactions were a little different and also similar.
Do we have examples of good residential architecture in Canberra?
Real sustainability arrives in Canberra A wonderful sign of things to come.
Northbourne Ave, Chief Minister, architecture, landscape, trees, planning
How to waste public money The saga of the proposed Garden Bridge over the Thames in London has been well covered in the UK press. It is indeed a saga. It is about a folly.
Bland heralded as exciting The local press has done its usual things and come on board with the government and the developers to spruik the imminent construction of buildings in the centre of Canberra.
2017 in Canberra began with announcements that so many new buildings are about to change the city’s landscape.
Architectural vandalism at Parliament House They have tried before and have failed–but this time they have got their way.
Click on the image for the story about the Arts District development along L.A. River
Parliament House lawns again! They have tried before and I am sure they will keep trying till they get their way.
London, Paris, architecture, Jonathan Jones, The Guardian
award for the worst architecture Now here’s an idea. Should we recognise the worst architecture?
architecture, developers, developemnt, tall-buildings, architects
Architecture, Tate Modern Switch House
Architecture, Venice, Biennale, 2016
Architecture and the Venice Biennale 2016
Has Portland Lost its Way?
Architecture, house, housing, suburbs
Book Review Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry
Architecture and Civic Square Canberra
Most people normally go to a speech or presentation expecting to enjoy themselves and possibly to learn something or to be challenged by a set of views put forward. Here’s one presentation that mystifies!
The failure in domestic architecture in Canberra
Architecture and good design
UTS Gehry eyesore
Review The Goods Line, Ultimo Sydney
Architecture: Northbourne heritage
Architecture: Shotgun houses of New Orleans
Architecture: The Gehry Building at UTS, Sydney; Dr Chau Chak Wing Building | University of Technology
Review – Constructing Worlds: photographs that redefine our cities
Architects realise something is wrong with cities
Paul Costigan comments on architects and their awards
Paul Costigan seeks the name of the architect for a building behind the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne
Paul Costigan comments on landscape art
Paul Costigan reviews the architecture of The Solomon Islands High Commission in Canberra
Paul Costigan notes the publishing Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment, 2014, Author: Henri Lefebvre
Paul Costigan comments on the archicture of the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane, due to open in late 2014
Paul Costigan comments on tA-Mazing Vertical Garden, Da Nang City, Vietnam
Paul Costigan comments on the short listing for the 2014 World Architecture Festival Awards
Paul Costigan comments on Awards for Architecture
Paul Costigan’s review of Canberra Architecture, Andrew Metcalf, Watermark Architectural Guides, 2003
Paul Costigan poses the question: Is architecture is failing contemporary Sydney?
Is architecture is failing contemporary Sydney? Part One There is no doubt that the City of Sydney and its harbour are magnificent to behold. (click on the photo to enlarge). The mix of built structures really makes for a view that demands you take the time to stare, contemplate and to just enjoy … Continue reading Sydney Urbanity & Architecture
Paul Costigan and Architecture Marketing and The Iconic Australian Houses at Museum of Sydney till 17 August 2014
Review: Book The Butt-Ugly Allure of Post-Soviet Architecture The photographs of architecture of the Post-Soviet era. There’s a review in WIRED online of a book. To quote: Frank Herfort moved to Moscow with no intention to make a book. Like all photographers, the German-born artist always keeps one eye open for potential subjects, but making … Continue reading Post-Soviet Architecture
Notice of Exhibition An exhibition at the Getty in LA on the link between photography and architecture. Check it out and note the partly illustrated check list at the bottom of the page. click on the image for the Getty site
A sad tale of not being transparent I refer to what looks at first as if it is another informative article in the Guardian Australia. Click on the image below. Unfortunately this great online newspaper has been infiltrated. The author of this piece has not declared a very close interest in the project.
Opinion Piece on the state of Australian Architecture Awards It was while standing in front of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), that it occurred to me that the extension, which includes the new entrance, had not figured in awards. I am fully aware of the controversies about how these extensions came about. Should any … Continue reading Architecture & Awards
The wonders of Ivanhoe heritage design Somewhere in the past decade, the original Ivanhoe Town Hall had a complete make-over and the council delivered a well designed complex that consists of a new style library (a great facility), a small gallery (ok but not great), the meeting rooms for the council, and the main building … Continue reading Weird Heritage
the property industry looks for sympathy You have to cringe when you see how easily the property lobby take the public for ride with misleading information published as serious article in The Age – being Melbourne main newspaper.
April 2025 in regional Victoria April 2025, and on a first visit to Daylesford in country Victoria. It is a country town with not a lot to distinguish it from many other country towns in Victoria and NSW.
On Saturday 26th October we went for a walk around the top end of Fitzroy in Melbourne along Gertrude Street. There was some art to be seen as well as the fun of the street.
what priority given to urban aesthetics? The October 2024 local government elections provide Melbourne residents with the opportunity to examine the record of their councillors on the key issue of development and the reshaping of the amenities and aesthetics of their suburbs, the place they have chosen to invest in for the rest of their … Continue reading Councillors who fence sit their constituents
Ivanhoe Urban Architecture Political spin justifies anything Recently in The Age (19th July 2024) several local politicians and a few ‘experts’ spoke of the coming of apartments towers to the central areas of Ivanhoe with the emphasis on those sites nearer the railway station.
Graffiti as aesthetic rubbish – not art Melbourne, in particular inner Melbourne, has a serious problem with graffiti. (Image above – a composite photo- captured from two train journeys).
Museum of Australian Photography exhibition An opinion piece about exhibitions, the visual arts, and things. Always up for a drive out to the Museum of Australian Photography at Wheelers Hill – in Melbourne, we drove out through the suburban streets (rather than the freeways) for the pleasure of taking in a range of suburbs on … Continue reading MAph Built Photography
This piece was originally uploaded in May 2023 Back in 1982, when the construction of the National Gallery’s building was completed and had been handed over to become operational as a gallery, there was an open day for people to see what there was to see – that being lots of empty spaces.
The ACT Green’s Building the Better Normal policy Recently I was sent a real estate advertisement for a rooftop unit on Northbourne Avenue Canberra.
On the afternoon of Tuesday 28th March, Canberra Liberal Peter Cain rose to his feet in the legislative assembly to deliver a brief speech about an aspect of the chief minister’s planning reforms.
Minister for Canberra Planning re-asserts his authority The Minister for Canberra Planning has reassured residents that the minister has read the hundreds of submissions that hard working Canberra residents have submitted about the so-called planning reforms.
When the ACT chief planner was appointed in April 2017, he explained his theoretical approach to planning. In April 2019 I used those statements to set out ten performance indicators and then scored how he was doing.
In the last twelve months, many in community councils have had to spend too much time reading through fairly dense planning reform documents.
Dealing with the complexities of Greenslabor planning reforms has been an unpleasant experience for those reading the badly written documents that were drip-fed to the public last year. There is nothing positive about what is being proposed.
NCA questionable contracts and the future of the National Library Lombardy Pines The National Capital Authority (NCA) has important national functions to do with stuff about administration, the national plan, the government of the day and the care of national assets.
On Saturday 5th November 2022 I wrote an online piece for Canberra City News that received positive feedback from readers as well as directly from friends.
Hopefully members of our community groups are not reading planning documents but instead are checking on the tomatoes, spending time with friends, or watching the magpies forage through the neighbourhood.
Visiting Cedric Bryant’s garden Unsettling thoughts should not enter your head when you are admiring a beautiful garden. This happened recently.
proposals to cram more into the suburbs Inner north Canberra community members have been swamped with major development proposals that, according to the planning directorate, need to be commented on in a very short timeframe. The Bureau of Meteorology could not have forecast this inundation of paperwork.
A Great photograph can bring about a myriad of memories as well as pose more mundane questions such as why political movements fail.
How the NCA keeps getting it wrong! The National Library of Australia forecourt should be a well-designed open space welcoming people to a key national institution. It is, sort of – but not quite!
Where does the money go? Three presentations at the Inner South Canberra Community Council’s (ISCCC) September meeting made it very clear how this ACT Greenslabor government is not aligned with the aspirations and values of the residents of this city.
Greenslabor planning in Canberra is a mess With the August 30 announcement by the chief minister that the building of a new sports stadium in Civic is not feasible, what followed was the media-generated screams about this backflip – let down – bad decision.
The mess that is planning in Canberra The decline of architectural design solutions and the loss of political will to deliver good urban design in Canberra was clearly illustrated through the presentation to the North Canberra Community Council committee.
the mess that is planning in Canberra Residents shudder when they contemplate how much of their lives has had to be allocated to dealing with development applications that, according to the government’s own rules, should not have been approved.
The ACT Greenslabor government regularly makes re-announcements about commitments to sometime soon provide homes that are sustainable.
When the national Gallery opened in 1988, the exhibitions and their café became frequent destinations – a meeting place for locals, to take in the latest exhibitions while seeing old friends – the fabulous works in the permanent collections.
You need to see this for yourself There’s a residential development at 18 Darke Street, Torrens, that is beyond belief. This is happening because the city’s planning system is broken and totally corrupted.
planning in Canberra gets worse People were shocked to hear the realities of the behaviour of the ACT government as set out clearly by two speakers at the June meeting of the Tuggeranong Community Council.
For a city with the international standing for being well designed (thank you, Walter and Marion), it is embarrassing to witness the shambolic efforts by the ACT government’s planning bureaucrats to come up with something resembling a 21st century planning system.
Ben Ponton, ACT Development Authority, ACT PLanning reforms, ACT Greens
There are architecture tours of the city of Chicago conducted (when it is not frozen over in winter) to admire the wonders of design incorporated into the city towers. It would be doubtful that there would ever be architecture tours of Woden’s town-centre towers.
ACT heritage minister is missing Houses of heritage value often cause problems for ACT Heritage Ministers and their planning chiefs.
NCA called on to be sensible! In this city with the ever-increasing towers, as encouraged by the developer-friendly chief minister, the major issue is not just the towers themselves, but the lack of planning guiding the appropriateness and logic of their size and the location.
and how it is being lost When Marion Mahony Griffin provided those glorious drawings for the submission to design Canberra, she included a distant view of the mountains.
Downer residents confronted with 25 metre pines The trees along Bradfield Street, Downer, have been the subject of debates in Downer for at least a decade.
ACT hides its real intentions on planning reforms This year’s planning reform announcement was accompanied by the usual spin (sorry, media release) and another misleading online document (sorry, progress report).
Here’s some news the ACT Labor/Greens coalition government may not appreciate. The model they use to enable for development and for getting the tram done, builds on the way trains and trams were introduced in and around Sydney in the late 19th century.
The ACT political parties have had enough time since the October, 2020, elections for voters to see what they are about.
Time to duplicate the Urambi Village model A lot has been said about the folly of the ACT government’s Demonstration Housing Projects. The bureaucratic spin has been frequent and blatant.
On Wednesday, September 15, the ACT’s planning bureaucrats issued their decisions on an application for re-consideration for the second stage of the development of the Manuka hotel-residential cinema complex by Liangis Investments Pty Ltd.