Reviews

How a University Quadrangle Encourages Social Exchange
A university quadrangle is more than an open space between buildings. Its proportions, pathways, seating, planting and edges can influence whether students…
The Art of the Video Game Cutscene
A video game cutscene is a strange kind of film: it borrows the grammar of cinema while remaining attached to a system of rules, inputs and player expectation.…
How Street Furniture Design Can Reduce Littering and Graffiti
A bench, bin, bollard or bus shelter is easy to overlook until it becomes damaged, overflowing or covered in tags. These ordinary objects shape how people move…
A Clear Guide to Art Deco and Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau and Art Deco are often grouped together because both transformed interiors, buildings, furniture and visual culture during periods of rapid social…
How mall music quietly shapes the way we shop
A shopping centre is designed to feel like a place where decisions happen easily. Bright shopfronts, polished floors, food aromas and carefully placed signs…
How Architects Use Light Wells To Bring Nature Into Deep Buildings
In a deep building, daylight can disappear within a few metres of the façade. Rooms become dependent on electric lighting, air-conditioning and mechanical…
How Independent Bookstores Are Designing Interiors to Foster Discovery
Independent bookshops have always offered more than shelves of printed matter. Their appeal lies in the possibility of finding something unexpected: a novel…
Why Dance Floor Layout Shapes Movement And Interaction
A dance floor is often treated as an empty surface waiting for music, yet its arrangement quietly directs almost every social exchange that takes place on it.…
The Guide to Reading a Building’s Facade Like a Historical Document
A building’s facade is more than a weathered surface or an attractive frontage. It records decisions made by owners, builders, councils, designers and…
How Native Planting Is Rewilding Australia’s Urban Lots
A vacant urban lot can look like a gap in the city, but garden designers increasingly see it as a living opportunity. With careful planting, compact sites can…