In the early nineteenth century, the small house in its own garden formed a crucial image of agricultural reform in Britain and in the aspirations of those leaving for North America and Australasia. The material and social technologies of the ‘cottage’ became not only equipment for the colonial enterprise, but a kind of colonization of the home by a new kind of family. These issues are apparent in J. C. Loudon's Encyclopaedia where the whole gamut of architecture is re-examined as a subject of interest to agricultural reformers, colonists, democrats and homemakers, especially women.

The 1930s in the United States marked a turning point in the relationship of the architectural profession to both the government and corporations. The federal government and large corporations, began to hold design competitions to stimulate the building industry during the Depression. This caught the American Institute of Architects unprepared and led to the transformation of the profession from one grounded in the ideal of the architect-artist to one whose survival depends, in part, upon business acumen, technical competence, and public relations skill.

Healing gardens have been widely used in healthcare settings, but rarely to heal the psychological illnesses of youth in inner-city neighbourhoods who have lost friends and family to violent deaths. The Urban Ecology Sanctuary in a courtyard of Du Sable High School in Chicago serves as a model of what such a garden might be like, providing places in which young people can reflect upon their loss, regain a sense of purpose, and reconnect to the natural world. This Sanctuary shows how architecture and landscape architecture can buffer the worst effects of social disruption.

Kenneth Frampton, architectural critic and Columbia University professor, responds to the criticism that has been levelled at his notion of the ‘tectonic’ in this interview with Paulo Martins Barata. Frampton views the tectonic as a way of resisting both the ‘speculator’ economy of mass-produced construction and the ‘atectonic’ architecture of Post-Modernism and Post-Structuralism. At the same time, he acknowledges the quixotic nature of an idea that is ‘a kind of rearguard response to the commodification of architecture’. The interview is set in context by Martins Barata.

Two buildings constructed in early twentieth-century Shanghai, one by a U.S. bank, the other by a shipping company, and both designed by a New York architect reveal the complex aesthetic and cultural issues that architecture must address in a global setting. These issues go beyond the buildings' facades to their construction, use, layout, leasing, and imagery. These two examples suggest that more comprehensive analyses of early twentieth-century commercial buildings in many global settings should lead to a clearer understanding of their significance.

Systems of proportion provoked much controversy in the 1950s. Recent research has moved away from the study of musical theory, to that of number. Applying Classical arithmetic techniques to analyze Alberti's Tempio Malatestiano, this paper demonstrates that its design corresponds to Alberti's system based on geometrical features of the cube depicting ‘natural relationships that cannot be defined as numbers’. For today's practitioners, the paper asserts that architectural works are geometric constructs and reminds them that CAD is based on the arithmeticization of geometry.

Convinced that his father's work was arranged around an underlying structure, Robert Lutyens, in 1944, posed the challenge that ‘…someone will someday discover my father's system of applied geometry’. Drawing on an analysis of the ground floor plans of 40 English country houses designed by Edwin Lutyens between 1889 and 1913, this paper considers Robert Lutyens's ‘Armature of Planes’, a theory which he closely associated with the development of his father's work. The analysis reveals Edwin Lutyens's consistent use of ratios to structure his work.

Modern environmentalism originates with the recognition of ecological connectivity and the negative effects of technological intervention. This paper examines critical concepts developed by the architect Frederick Kiesler and the critic-historian Sigfried Giedion for their relevance to that discourse. Kiesler's principle of Correalism and Giedion's appeal for Equipoise offer both a prehistory to the current mandates about sustainability and cautions about its limitations. The sustainable is ultimately a social condition that cannot be applied therapeutically nor ever wholly institutionalized.

The resignation of the Sydney Opera House architect, Jørn Utzon, marked the culmination of an increasingly frustrating phase of the project. Utzon had intended a partnership between designer, consultant, contractor and subcontractor to develop technical design solutions which would not have been possible under normal competitive tendering. The government rejected this. Here are examined the issues which underpinned the relationship between the architect seeking technical perfection and the manufacturing engineer seeking the fullest artistic expression of his product.

Prefabricated wall systems are becoming a popular element of building construction, lending themselves to streamlining construction schedules and reducing overall construction costs. They also offer the potential for increased quality due to assembly in controlled factory environments. This paper reviews basic principles and concepts for the design of waterproofing systems for prefabricated brick wall panels. Using a project case study, the author shows that failure to adhere to certain proven conventional practices can have serious adverse consequences.

Aalto's Viipuri library and Terragni's Como kindergarten were built at about the same time in two very different climates. Architectural theory rarely considers environmental moderation as part of the task of architecture and yet the spatial and poetic stances and attitudes to natural light in these two buildings are, in part, informed by their response to very differing climates. Today, when so much environmental moderation is self-conscious and explicit, these buildings show how it can become an enriched part of a wider spatial and compositional whole.

CAD systems provide convenient tools for the creation of simple geometry by direct manipulation on the computer screen. They work well enough for two-dimensional construction, but are often inadequate for creating doubly-curved three-dimensional surfaces. The solution proposed here is to use the in-built programming language provided in most CAD systems for direct creation of geometry. Developed for didactic purposes, the stunning reconstructions of Gothic vaults suggest a method of working likely to be of great value to the geometrically adventurous architect.

Cambridge University and Microsoft are planning a shared computer research and teaching laboratory on a green-field site to the west of the city. The clients wished to use Internet based communication between themselves and their architects, including email, a website and virtual reality. We explain how this is to be achieved, and describe experiences during the first half of a two year project. Particularly successful has been the use of games software (Quake II) for 3D presentation of the emerging building design.

The relationship between architecture, the body and the computer is considered in this paper. Whereas the body has been related traditionally to architecture through concepts of geometry and proportion, the computer also brings to light the valorization of craft, McLuhan's philosophy of the changing sensorium, the projection of digital utopias, Freud's construction of the relationships between repetition, obsession and the uncanny, and the residence of the body in concepts of mind. The examination of these issues is productive in the context of the design studio.

Globalization, while extensively theorized and empirically studied by economic geographers, has yet to be seriously investigated in architecture. There are multiple forms of architectural practice in the United States and some significant changes are under way. In addition the local politics of urban architecture discloses a counterweight to balance globalism's homogenizing tendencies. This paper proposes strategies for a more experimental architecture that partakes of the global-local dialectic.

The AERC provides a focal point within Australia, on issues of indigenous housing and architecture for academic, government and community sectors. It fulfils three functions as: an undergraduate and postgraduate teaching centre, a research practice, and an archive incorporating an extensive collection of literature and images. The allied consultancy practice delivers services ranging from architectural design and settlement planning, to anthropological research, and has worked with numerous indigenous agencies, as well as government and private sector clients. Contact: Assoc. Prof. Paul Memmott, Director