Acclaimed architects and design commentators reflect on the cities, eras, inventions and trends that have inspired them.
Craig Allchin is an architect and urban designer, director of Six Degrees and adjunct professor of design, architecture and building at the University of Technology in Sydney. He works across a range of scales, from individual buildings to city master plans in Australia, China and the Middle East.The city that provides endless inspiration for an architect… Shanghai – an urban laboratory where competition has led to a lot of experimentation. The result is a built form and skyline showing the dynamics of the new economy – communism with capitalist traits.
The precinct with the most notable examples of fine architecture…
The Netherlands. Its limited land, much of it below sea level, has driven innovative solutions to how and where people live and work.
Most useful design trend of the past decade…Buildings are quoted as generating 40-50 per cent of all CO
2 emissions. Rethinking energy performance in existing and new buildings through simple or traditional methods of cooling and heating will continue to be the basis of the next revolution in architecture.
The period that most chimes with you… The late 1920s – era of the grand hotel, New York skyscrapers, Berlin bars and an intense urban life.
Image: Shanghai
SkylineSource: Qantas The Australian Way July 2009