Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Best New Architecture Of 2017

How culture shapes madness. The dominant mode of psychiatry is one of brains, genes, and drugs. But what if schizophrenia is less hard-wired and more variable than we think?... Kulture Vultures 

Elizabeth Farrelly: Sometimes I  think you Sydney natives don't deserve this gorgeous town. You don't appreciate her properly. Certainly you don't treat her nice. Sometimes I think we newbies are your Gaugins, here to point out just how drop-dead sexy the joint is. And how desperately she needs your protection.

Strangely it took a surprise ticket to Monday's Paul McCartney concert to remind me of this. All you need is love, belted the maestro from somewhere deep inside the Homebush wastelands – as if to note that our callow instrumentalism, destroying everything for speed and money, isn't the only approach to city-making. Love? How completely (I thought) we've expunged such romantic idealism from our city, our lives. And what a profound loss it is.

All Sydney needs is love and protection - The Sydney Morning Herald


New Gosford ATO office:  Czech meaning of word Doma is "to be at Home"

99 Georgiana Terrace, Gosford NSW - Doma Group CanberraDoma Group Canberra


Gosford ATO office listed, under offer





Hello ! 👋 We’re talking about supporting local  and tax agents at the first ever community event in our new Gosford office 🏢 

Image result for Member for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks, speaking at the Hello Gosford event at the new Federal Government building in Gosford


Member for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks, speaking at the Hello Gosford event at the new Federal Government building in Gosford     Architecture ATO Office at Gosford - call centre staff will be the largest group of ATO employees


Australian ‘shed’ wins German design  award


Our Great Modernist Landscapes Are Under Threat


Just as chokers and platform sandals are cool again, designers are expressing renewed interest in successful 1990s postmodern landscapes, like Wagner Park or Pershing Square. Despite their significance, these parks are now threatened by thoughtless development. … [Read More]

   2017 in architecture 


    

The Best New Architecture Of 2017


"This was the year when postmodernism, for long derided as the gimcrack style of shyster capitalists of the 1980s, was well and truly rehabilitated. (In this it followed on the heels of brutalism, which was long derided as the inhuman style of arrogant socialists of the 1960s.) Historic England started listing postmodern works. Books were published. Playful reincarnations of the style – post-postmodernism, perhaps – appeared at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. In truth, the late lamented architectural practice FAT was doing much of this before the turn of the  millennium, but it takes time for the rest of the world to catch up with true visionaries." … [Read More]


Linda Cheng


Linda Cheng



Linda Cheng



Linda Cheng






Is It Art Or Arson? It’s Both, And The Artist May Go To Prison For It


"[Russian photographer] Danila Tkachenko's 2017 Motherland project documents the annihilation of villages, the plight of small farmers struggling to compete with big corporations, and 'a state over-reliant on oil, which has shown no interest in developing agriculture'." …[Read More]





Nicholas Gruen's three-part series: Detoxing Democracy.
What is the case for deliberative democracy, and why would we put ourselves through ‘sortition’?


Departmental secretaries: how the pecking order really works.
It’s to Australia’s great credit that just about the only time the Table of Precedence is adhered to is when the Queen is in earshot.



DIAMONDS, they say, are for ever. They can be pricey, too. On December 5th 173 lots of jewels auctioned by Sotheby’s raised $54m. They included several pieces belonging to Sean Connery, known for playing James Bond. The following day a car favoured by Bond, the Aston Martin DB5, was auctioned for $2.7m. It was among 24 classic vehicles that together fetched $45m. The sales in New York last week by the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, also involved fine wines, watches and other luxuries. Between them they sold $200m-worth.
The Economist has compiled price indices for many of these items—diamonds, classic cars, fine wine, art, watches and other curios—and grouped them in a “passion” index. The index is weighted according to the holdings of high-net-worth individuals (HNWI)—defined as people with more than $1m of investable assets—as reported by Barclays. Our passion index has dropped by 2% a year, on average, for the past...Cars, jewels, wine and watches have been good investments


OECD warns of money laundering through Australian real estate | afr ...