Evelyn Reynolds

The Fishwick House by Walter Burley Griffin in Sydney’s Castlecrag is on the market for the first time in nearly half a century since it was purchased by its current owners in 1976.
The house was designed in 1929 by eminent architect of the Chicago Prairie School Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony, the first registered female architect in America.
Built on the newly developed peninsular suburb of Castlecrag at the end of a cul-de-sac, the site is identified by its irregular shape that falls steeply from west to east. On the wedge-shaped block with panoramic views over the peninsula, the Fishwick house has become a canonical instance of early-twentieth-century residential architecture and has even been attributed with the birth of modern architecture in Australia.
The house has been built predominantly out of sandstone, quarried from the natural rock escarpment onsite and on a site nearby. Rock-faced stone has been used for external walling to give the house the appearance of rising out of the rock on which it is built. This stone has also been used to form the internal walls, the grand fireplaces and the chimneys.

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The large entrance hall features floor-to-ceiling pillars, painted the deep greens and browns of Australian eucalypts, with metallic gold highlights. Image:

Tamara Graham

As well as its sandstone rockface, the home is renowned for its split floor levels and its boundary-pushing interior design innovations. Its notable features include open planning, a spacious colonnaded reception area and a sunken study.
The study can be opened fully to the entrance hall through a pair of double glass doors – a concept that did not become popular until mid-century. In the large entrance hall, floor-to-ceiling pillars were painted the deep greens and browns of Australian eucalypts, with metallic gold highlights.
On the first floor are four bedrooms and two bathrooms, including the master bedroom, which incorporates a unique semicircular design with a row of north-facing windows that provide ample natural light and bush views.
Added to the NSW State Heritage Register in 2006, Fishwick is a rarity as one of only 13 remaining Griffin-designed houses. It was carefully restored over more than 30 years and will require regular maintenance in future.
The home will be listed on the Modern House website, with viewings available by appointment. More

The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the shortlisted for the 2023 Dulux Study Tour. Thirty early career architects will progress to the next stage of judging: Lavanya Arulanadam – City Design, The City of MelbourneGabriella Avenia – HassellMontgomery Balding – ArchierEdwina Brisbane – Cumulus StudioEllen Buttrose – People Oriented Design PODJames Connor – Card […] More

Final designs have been completed for an expansion project of the Godinymayin River Arts and Cultural Centre in the Northern Territory, and a local construction company has now been appointed to carry out the upgrades. Designed by Darwin-based Troppo Architects, the expansion encompasses a new outdoor amphitheatre and upgraded facilities, a new office annex, a […] More

Buchan will lead the design for the Australian Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka on behalf of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT). The World Exposition is held every five years as a global gathering of more than 150 countries, dedicated to finding solutions to pressing contemporary issues. Countries are invited to build pavilions […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the creative team for Australia’s exhibition for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Anthony Coupe, Julian Worrall, Ali Gumillya Baker, Emily Paech and Sarah Rhodes were selected by the Institute’s Venice committee for their proposal “Unsettling Queenstown.”
The exhibition proposal explores ideas of decolonization and decarbonization, coupled with regeneration and revitalization, which responds to the overall theme for the Biennale set by curator Lesley Lokko, “Laboratory of the Future.”
Taking the example of Queenstown in Tasmania, emblematic of a settler town “built on resource extraction and labour exploitation”, the exhibition ponders the post-colonial future of this town and similar examples around the world.
Australia’s pavilion at the Giardini will be transformed into an immersive experience with a floating “ghost” in Tasmania’s colonial history.
“Queenstowns are real places but they don’t even have proper names. They are just outreaches of the monarchy and colonialism,” explained Anthony Coupe.
“They are resource driven places and some of them are collapsing – the resources have run out and you’ve got communities that don’t know what to do with these towns,” he continued.
“Particularly at the end of this second Elizabethan age, it’s cast a whole spotlight on the monarchy and what it does and what the legacy is for Australia.
“The whole of Europe is based on the low labour rates of colonial outposts. These are the global issues that we like to think about. We also like to think about how they play out at a local level.”
The exhibition will comprise four elements centred around an “ethereal and uncanny” replica of the arched belvedere of the colonial Empire Hotel in Queenstown, which will be reconstructed in woven mesh and will float above the floor of the Australian Pavilion.
“We’re unsettling Queenstown by chopping it off at the foundations, so to speak,” Coupe said.
The creative team will also seek oral histories from First Nations peoples and Queenstown residents whose voices will play through the ghost of the Empire Hotel.
“We’re very much interested in this area around temporality and narrative. So to some degree it’s about understanding that past in a different way and rethinking its history so that there’s possible different futures,” Coupe said.
On the floor will be the a layered map of Queenstown “with streets, buildings, and mining infrastructure inscribed on the underlying landform with its topography, waterways, and vegetation, overlaid with an abstract net of property boundaries, cadastral grids and survey points.” Aboriginal place names will be projected onto this ground layer.
On the walls will be projections of landscape photography of Country as it has changed over time, and an “open archive” of “exemplars and techniques from contemporary architectural practice, assembled in response to a call and response, gathered and interpreted by the Creative Directors.”
Coupe explained, “What we’re trying to do is invest ourselves and Australian architects in a conversation around what decolonisation might mean in architecture.
“Our callout, our survey of work is focused on tactics rather than exemplar projects. This is our ‘laboratory of the future’ to some degree. It’s a conversation.
“We’re calling out for projects that deal with ideas of incorporating First Nations knowledge, that provide listening and dialogue, that make spaces that are inclusive, that connect with time, memory and experience, and incorporate processes to enable change. As we do this we uncover what the tactics are and this can inform a framework.” More

UK practices David Chipperfield Architects (DCA) and Assemble, and Australian landscape architect Jane Irwin have created a masterplan for an interconnected residential neighbourhood on a former dairy farm in Canberra.
Dairy Road is a 14-hectare site between the suburb of Fyshwick and the Jerrabomberra Wetlands. In 2021, the state government rezoned Dairy Road, expanding its existing industrial activity to allow for commercial, light industrial, residential, creative and cultural activity.
Since rezoning, develoepr Molonglo, DCA, Assemble and Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture have been developing a masterplan for a new community neighbourhood, interconnecting the assets of the site from industry to living in one “ecosystem”. “Light industry, working, living, recreation, retail and entertainment will take place in a restored landscape,” a spokesperson for the developer said.

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Dairy Road residential neighbourhoods designed by David Chipperfield Architects, Assemble and Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture. Image:

Courtesy of Molonglo

The site currently features the adaptive reuse of two existing industrial warehouses, dating back to the 1970s, augmented with architectural insertions by Craig Tan Architects and Oculus Landscape Architecture and a pavilion by Chilean practice Pezo von Ellrichshausen. Dairy Road is presently home to a community of makers and producers including a brewery, distilleries, coffee roasters, creative co-working, a gallery, and an industrial design studio.
Over ten years, the developer proposes to build ten new flexible warehouse buildings to support a spectrum of activities, from work studios to community centres. Housing will entail 13 buildings by DCA, between three and four storeys, accommodating 700 future residents arranged around a restored wetland.
Landscape will be central to the design, responding to the sensitive ecosystem of the existing neighouring wetlands.
The first new buildings are expected to be completed in late 2024. More

The federal government has released the first budget of its parliamentary, in which it is aiming to address the supply of sustainable social and affordable housing.
In announcing the National Housing Accord, the government outlined an ambition to build 1,000,000 well-located homes over the course of five years, beginning in mid-2024. This includes $350 million in the budget for 10,000 new affordable homes over 5 years, with state and territory governments to deliver up to another 10,000 additional homes.
The budget allocation comes on top of the 30,000 affordable and social homes to be delivered via Housing Australia Future Fund, which was announced as part of the government’s election platform.
The Australian Institute of Architects has welcomed the treasurer’s announcement, stating this allotment in the budget is a first step in delivering a generational plan for affordable and social housing.
The Institute said that problems with the current housing model relate not only to supply, but the frequency of overcrowded dwellings that are costly to run due to low energy efficiency, and are unresponsive to people’s needs relating to ability and inclusion.
The Institute’s national president Shannon Battisson said that housing is a basic human right and should be recognised as such through fiscal policy and a solid supply chain.
“A decades-long, funded strategy will help to overcome the challenges of housing stress and unaffordability, and ultimately make Australia a better society where everyone has a home,” said Battisson. “Bipartisan support is necessary to make this happen.”
The Institute said it also supports the government’s action on climate change, with additional funds set aside for clean energy projects.
“We note the announcement to establish the National Reconstruction Fund including investment to support the manufacture of technologies that drive renewables and lower emissions,” said Battisson. “We hope for a national construction supply chain focus on increasing Australia’s capacity to manufacture high-quality and sustainable building materials, components and fittings.”
The Institute added that Australia should have a national construction supply chain strategy to increase sovereign capacity and ensure the ready availability of high-quality, low-carbon construction materials.
“With better local manufacturing capacity and government oversight, Australia can be a world leader in the development and manufacture of sustainable products. This will help to accelerate our vital transition to a low-carbon industry, while reducing our reliance on international products.” More

The Australian Institute of Architects has joined the calls for the South Australian government to reconsider its choice of site for the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital citing heritage concerns. Recently released draft plans by Woods Bagot with Bates Smart, Jacobs and UK practice BDP, proposed to build the hospital in Thebarton on the site […] More