ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- If you just want one comprehensive but accessible volume on Australian architecture, then I think this is the one. I've always enjoyed looking at buildings, not as an architect or student, just as someone interested in styles, structures and materials, so I like a book that explains and gives insights into the many expressions of regional and historical architecture. It starts very briefly with the structures of First Nations people, then tracks chronologically from colonial tents and huts and onwards through the various styles of the nineteenth century, the revolutions of the twentieth and on to the innovations of recent times. It is fully illustrated with varying sizes of black and white, and coloured photographs, more than sufficient to illustrate the text, which is clear and informative. Dip in and out, or read from beginning to end, this is a must-have for anyone interested in our architectural heritage. Lindy
From First Nations gunyahs and First Fleet huts to 21st century eco-pavilions and skyscrapers, Davina Jackson surveys the evolution of architecture in Australia.
Dr Davina Jackson is an international writer of books, exhibitions and websites on architecture, technology and urban geography themes. She edited Architecture Australia from 1992 to 2000, and was a founder of annual city light festivals in Sydney and Singapore. After a multi-disciplinary design professorship at the University of New South Wales, she has guest-lectured at MIT, Cambridge, TU Munich and other universities in America, Europe and Asia. Her publications earned a PhD from the University of Kent in 2019 and fellowships of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of New South Wales.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- If you just want one comprehensive but accessible volume on Australian architecture, then I think this is the one. I've always enjoyed looking at buildings, not as an architect or student, just as someone interested in styles, structures and materials, so I like a book that explains and gives insights into the many expressions of regional and historical architecture. It starts very briefly with the structures of First Nations people, then tracks chronologically from colonial tents and huts and onwards through the various styles of the nineteenth century, the revolutions of the twentieth and on to the innovations of recent times. It is fully illustrated with varying sizes of black and white, and coloured photographs, more than sufficient to illustrate the text, which is clear and informative. Dip in and out, or read from beginning to end, this is a must-have for anyone interested in our architectural heritage. Lindy
'Australian Architecture is not just a comprehensive architectural history. It is a social history of Australia and how our buildings shaped our lives.' - Sydney Arts Guide 'Davina's book covers more than buildings, it examines who we are, who we have hoped to be and who we are now.' - Daily Telegraph 'It is over 50 years since the publication of Freeland's ground breaking Architecture in Australia. Davina Jackson's new Australian Architecture not only extends its scope, beginning with Aboriginal shelters to include the radically new urban present, it converts a hugely important many-faceted culturally complex story into a highly readable narrative that will long serve as a classic in its field.' - Philip Drew, architectural historian 'Will enlighten and engage the reader, and best of all, it will open the door to our world of architecture - where we have been, how we have changed and what has been achieved.' - Indesignlive