Resources

She was the American woman who changed Australian history. She broke through barriers for women in architecture and spent 15 years working for Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in the formative years of the Prairie School of Architecture. Then she teamed up with Walter Burley Griffin working with him in winning the design contest for the new Australian capital city, Canberra. She was an architect, artist, environmentalist, social observer and community builder, yet her work has been constantly overshadowed by the famous men in her life. The first biography of Marion Mahony Griffin in her own right, Making Magic tells Marion's story. It dates back to the days of Abraham Lincoln ....

Narara Ecovillage is an intergenerational residential community on the Central Coast of Australia, surrounded by bushland, close to pristine beaches and an hour north of Sydney.

The Ecovillage will have 150+ homes and is to be phased in 3 stages. Stage 1, with houses being built now, includes 42 standard blocks (av 550sqm), as well as 18 townhouse-style homes situated in the heart of the Ecovillage.

Its vision is for an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable world aiming to research, design and build a stylish, inter- generational, friendly demonstration ecovillage at Narara, blending the principles of ecological and social sustainability, good health, business, caring and other options that may evolve for our well being.

With a strong commitment to Sociocracy” –  a governance model based on the insistence that everyone has the opportunity to be heard and that processes are transparent. When all members’ needs and concerns are heard and taken into account, and decisions are made in a way that is truly collaborative, there is high ‘buy-in’ and acceptance from all. This also generally ensures high quality, creative decisions, as the wisdom of the group is pooled and solutions do not depend on just one or two leaders ‘getting it right. Our organisational structure supports, and is informed by, Sociocracy. The pattern is more like a flower than a pyramid with inter-connected circles passing information...

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After a summer of destructive bushfires with temperatures over 50C in our suburbs, we were hit with a pandemic that ravaged our economy. But this isn’t the last hot summer with heightened bushfire risk. The pandemic isn’t going to simply vanish, and what about the next one? How we can use our experience of the summer bushfires and the pandemic to think about how we can move forward by Making Better Places?

That is the theme of the 7th Festival of Urbanism. The Festival will also provide an update on some of the exciting research the Henry Halloran Trust has been doing this year.  Most importantly, the Festival will provide participants with some additional urban tools – whether it’s advice on what to look for when choosing a new apartment, or how to get the most out of reading a government report.

North Arm Cove village of around 450 people lies 200kms north of Sydney on a northern shore of Port Stephens in the Mid North Coast area of NSW. The possibility of railway extension into the region mooted by the 1911 NSW Royal Commission as to Decentralisation in Railway Transit excited many observers including land developers (Fraser 2002:19). The area was considered as a possible site for the national capital before Canberra was chosen. 

Although losing out to Canberra for the prestige of being a national capital, the site was still intended to be developed for another new major city and the New South Wales seaport – ‘the New York of Australia’. While still working on the Canberra design project, Walter Burley Griffin was commissioned.....

SIX Maps (Spatial Information Exchange) is the entry point to view Spatial Services’ interactive images and mapping of NSW, incorporating a range of spatial and property data. SIX Maps is free to view, and users can display whole of NSW imagery and base map data which includes NSW address and property administrative boundaries; Lot, Deposited Plan (DP), Strata Plan (SP) and Local Government Areas (LGA).

The Spatial Collaboration Portal (SCP) provides a secure platform to facilitate the delivery of NSW spatial datasets. The portal allows local, state and federal agencies to deliver spatial data, asset management and visualisation services and enables users to search and discover datasets. Spatial Services will progressively deliver all services through the portal, including SIX Maps.

SEED – the portal for Sharing and  Enabling Environmental Data – has been developed with and for the community of NSW, as a central place for everyone to find data about the environment.

Initially containing publicly accessible land, air and water data from NSW Government agencies, SEED will grow over time as more data are added to the system.

With SEED, you can search for environmental data and view it on the built-in map – meaning you do not require scientific expertise or specialist mapping software. You can overlay different types of data to gain a more complete picture of environmental conditions in a particular location. SEED also provides resources that assist you to understand the data, and links to the data in various formats should you wish to download it.

The Australian Passive House Association (APHA) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which aims to lead change by educating, promoting, and supporting the delivery of Certified Passive House buildings in Australia. Our vision is that all Australians live and work in healthy, comfortable, low energy, resilient buildings.

Passive House is considered the most rigorous voluntary, energy and health based standard in the design and construction industry today, resulting in buildings that consume as much as 90% less heating and cooling energy compared to conventional buildings. Applicable to any building type or design, the Passive House (Passivhaus) highperformance building standard is internationally recognized, science-based and proven.

Imagine a place where the natural and built world exist in perfect balance; where the sounds, colours and smells of Sydney’s bush and harbour meld into a sensual fusion of vitality and mystery. In 1920s Sydney, architect Marion Mahony Griffin, in collaboration with her husband and creative partner, Walter Burley Griffin, created this ideal at Castlecrag, a ‘model residential suburb’ built on the picturesque shores of Middle Harbour.

Today, 100 years after the establishment of Castlecrag, and 150 years since Marion Mahony Griffin’s birth, Paradise on Earth explores Mahony’s extraordinary vision and her ongoing inspiration to artists, architects, historians and urban planners. Dramatic installations, immersive digital experiences and stunning objects illustrate her..