DIGITAL DYNAMICS 2001–2020
After 2000, many Australian architects joined an international surge of neo-Mannerism. This was a period of intense focus on ‘non-standard’ forms, intricate details and elaborate surface treatments that was broadly enabled by the ever-increasing powers of computer systems, mediated through electronics aboard satellites. Meanwhile, the conservative mainstream reviled ‘blob’ buildings to revive and refine the boxy aesthetics of 20th-century modernism.
Saffire Freycinet resort, Tasmania, architect Peter Walker/Circa Morris-Nunn Walker, 2010.
Topics surveyed in Chapter 10 of Australian Architecture are:
—Combating climate change
—Green-star office buildings
—Federation Square
—Cultural and leisure architecture
—Architectures of conciliation
—Women architects ascend to administration
—Reviewing architectural education
—Educational buildings
—Sports and health facilities
—Heritage revisions
—Urban regenerations
—Hospitality destinations
—Apartment buildings
—Splendid and small houses
—Pastoral sheds
—Art by architects
—Secure compounds for overseas diplomats
—Australian architects abroad
—Forecasting futures