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Specifier Magazine Issue 80

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  Joe Colombo - Inventing the Future

  Avuncular in his casual suits, pipe fixed in his mouth, Joe Colombo’s jovial form seems strangely at odds with his iconic sci-fi designs. But then he sits down, relaxing into his furnishings, and somehow the opposition is reconciled and he begins to look more clearly like the eccentric inventor of a utopian techno-future. His designs spring to life and suddenly seem comfortable, livable, present, as he presides over them with a calm sense of proprietary. Even the knowledge of his untimely death in 1971, on his 41st birthday, barely dampens the sense of a lively, lived-in future that emanates from these photos. read more »
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  North Adelaide Residence

  Bruce Harry & Associates
  
  Adelaide lives in our collective conscience as a place of churches, tramlines and the seaside, and while it is most famously known as the City of Churches, it is perhaps more aptly associated with the charming Colonial and Federation sandstone architecture which gives the city its quintessentially Australian aesthetic. read more »
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  Eyelid House

  Fiona Winzar Architects; South Yarra, Melbourne
  
  In the inner city suburb of South Yarra, an earthy, solid looking Victorian terrace house features an extension that is at once bold and humble, forwardlooking and rustic. The salient feature of the extension, the Colorbond-clad ‘eyelid’, isn’t merely an appropriation of the pitched corrugated iron roofs of neighbouring heritage houses, but a testament to the architect’s interest in synthesizing randomness and order to craft a space that is natural and familiar. read more »
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  Balaam Residence

  Arkhefield, Brisbane
  
  Brisbane practice Arkhefield has grown rapidly in the ongoing into a confident, mid-sized firm of 40. Founded on a genuinely process-based, discursive form of architecture that actively works with the client, Arkhefield don’t come armed with a strong house style to impose on projects. What they do bring is general principles – on engagement with the environment and with the region. read more »
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  Eaglemont House

  Kennedy Nolan Architects, Victoria
  
  All demure federation brick cottage up front, Kennedy Nolan’s Eaglemont House is all unexpected grandeur and soaring sensuous curves from behind. It’s a combination something akin to a highpowered Bentley streetcar, or an extremely well-cut Armani suit: the rear extension billows out unexpectedly like a swathe of black satin, an effect at the same time subtly monumental and coolly impressive, emanating quiet charm from the front, and refined luxury upon closer inspection. read more »
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  Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland

  Architectus, Brisbane
  
  The last round of RAIA National Awards seemed to prove that innovative, welcoming and democratic public architecture in Australia is the preserve of two cities – and Sydney isn’t one of them. Brisbane’s selfconscious boosterism, its steady flow of southern state refugees, and its significant investment in public works and public art, has made it Melbourne’s nearest rival for cultural vibrancy. read more »
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  Cities Within Cities

  How to urbanise, industrialise and modernise
  
  As the world lauds Shanghai as a model of exciting urbanism, University of Leeds’ Professor Justin O’Connor has noticed something disturbing. “What,” he asks, “is exciting other than a vicarious reliving of the West’s own innocently brutal days of early industrialisation and modernisation?” Somewhere between dystopic science fiction and this innocently brutal past, Chinese cities hold the West’s gaze with their images of booming growth, teeming masses and environmental apocalypse. But the fact is that nineteenth-century London translates poorly into twenty-first century eco-anxiety and is unimaginable on China’s staggering scale. This is China’s great problem: how to urbanise, industrialise and modernise when the Western model – the only one seriously available – seems to imply Armageddon?

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  Mourning in Mexico City

  Pascal Arquitectos, Mexico City
  
  Pascal Arquitectos have perhaps perfected the art of adaptability, displaying an innate responsiveness to the mood and intention of a project’s end users. Minimalist to the extreme, yet welcoming and anything but stark, Mourning House (2006) is a far cry from their Pedegral Shopping Centre, all futuristic neon highlights and avant-garde honeycomb façade. But then, this building has a very different purpose compared to that of a shopping centre, and its users approach it with a very different mindset, a fact that Pasqal Arquitectos have truly taken to heart. read more »
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  Bodega by Design

  Wineries by Frank Gehry, Foster+Partners and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
  
  The landscapes of northern Spain's millenia-old wine-growing areas are changing. Amidst the stone and the vineyards, there are now flashes of titanium, parabolic arcs and low-lying trefoils. Vineyards that pride themselves on the age of their vines are erecting structures whose most salient characteristic is their novelty. And while locals might approach the trend with scepticism – Frank Gehry's latest structure is hailed dubiously as la cosa, “the thing”, by villagers – the winemakers themselves show no signs of losing interest. read more »