Australian Architecture: a history by Davina Jackson

A comprehensive narrative history of building and design styles in Australia, from traditional Aboriginal gunyahs; to the local interpretations of northern hemisphere trends; to the sustainable, climate sensitive and high-tech constructions of the 21st century. Dr Jackson explores how early colonial building designers like James Bloodworth, Francis Greenway and John Lee Archer interpreted classical European styles using local stone and timber. She examines how medieval and Renaissance monuments influenced leading architects during the 19th century, until the fresh winds of modernism and demands for a unique Australian style took over in the 20th century, with environmental challenges and technological innovations driving change in recent years. Over two and a half centuries, our architects and builders have responded to the fierce Australian sun with verandas, porticos, colonnades, screens and Asian-inspired shade pavilions. Jackson explores these and other distinctive aspects of Australian design, why gold-boom architecture consistently impressed Victorian visitors, and the achievements of modern luminaries like Walter and Marion Griffin, Harry Seidler, Jorn Utzon, John Andrews, Glenn Murcutt and John Wardle. Illustrated throughout, Australian Architecture traces our distinctive and internationally acclaimed domestic, commercial and institutional buildings, with overviews of the main design influences and key examples to visit. Dr Davina Jackson is an international writer. She edited Architecture Australia from 1992 to 2000, and was a founder of annual city light festivals in Sydney and Singapore. She has guest-lectured at MIT, Cambridge, TU Munich and other universities in America, Europe and Asia. Her publications earned a PhD from the University of Kent in 2019 and fellowships of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of New South Wales.