The world’s first dedicated coral conservation facility is planned for Port Douglas in Far North Queensland, the gateway to the 2300-kilometre-long Great Barrier Reef. Developed in collaboration with the non-profit Great Barrier Reef Legacy and a number of the best scientific minds and educators, The Living Coral Biobank, if built, would spearhead the conservation of vital marine ecosystems that are under threat from climate change, severe storms and coral disease. “Current approaches to securing the health and biodiversity of corals are not working,” says a statement from Great Barrier Reef Legacy. “With each coral bleaching event we are losing vulnerable coral species and reefs around the world.”

Facing the tramline on High Street in Thornbury, Prior is a chic neighbourhood cafe that opened its doors to the inner Melbourne suburb in early 2020. Observing the eatery from the street, the building, a former print shop, is crowned by typically Art Deco detailing. Dramatic black windows frame the entrance of the 130-seat cafe while an equally theatrical awning is emblazoned with the single word ‘Prior’, positioned front and centre as if to indicate its strength as a headline act in this neck of the woods.

Scheduled to open its box office to audiences later this year, the captivating Guangzhou Show Theatre is currently under construction in the Huadu District of Guangzhou, north of Macao in southern China. Introductory illustrations of the theatre’s imposing facade demonstrate how London-based firm Steven Chilton Architects has engineered the building to express the mesmerising fluidity and drape of a luxurious silk scarf, a garment which has well-established connections with the region’s past.

The highly regarded competition for the title of Australia’s best architecture in 2020 has moved a step closer with the announcement of the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards shortlist.

Revolving brass arms held aloft by concrete columns mark the passage of time on the corner of James and Doggett Streets in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. A symbol of civic connection, clock towers like these are usually reserved for train stations and city halls. Here, this timepiece announces the civic intentions of recently completed The Calile Hotel. It also marks a cornerstone in the comprehensive body of work realised by its architects, Ingrid Richards and Adrian Spence of Brisbane practice Richards and Spence.

In an act of rebellion against the shrinking footprint of traditional green spaces among cityscapes, towering vertical gardens are clambering onto the agendas – and facades – of high-rise developments around the globe. And it’s a welcome sight. After all, the concrete jungles of the world are damn hot, pretty ugly and rather unpleasant to inhabit without them.

Raffaello was project architect, and Luigi his “informed client”. Having acquired an empty infill site in a heritage row, they started looking for a material waste stream with no existing re-use market. Raffaello’s emerging practice is dedicated to material re-use in construction, furniture and linings. “I wanted to take things further, and integrate a recycled […]

We’ve all been there. Miles from home – or just far enough – and the urge to, ahem, ‘go’ strikes. But there are two factors that prevent most people from willingly seeking out the nearest public restroom. "The first is cleanliness," explains Shigeru Ban, one of the ‘creators’ invited by The Nippon Foundation to participate in The Tokyo Toilet project. "The second is whether anyone is inside".

Overshadowed by visions of cramped living quarters, squeaky bunk beds, shared amenities and a sprightly clientele with the predisposition to party hard, there's no denying that the humble hostel gets a rather bad rap. But the ongoing popularity of hostels around the world suggests, to a certain extent, that travellers are prepared to surrender some of life’s little luxuries in order to benefit from a hostel’s price point, prime location and community atmosphere.

Broadcast live from the Brickworks Sydney studio last Thursday evening, episode one of the all-new architect speaker series inDETAIL is now available for catch-up viewing.

For the inaugural episode of inDETAIL, Alec Tzannes AM, founder of architecture practice Tzannes, took to the stage to deliver a compelling presentation, titled Architecture for Sydney: Are we at the threshold of a new design era?