Humans have a primal connection with fire, so it's understandable that people might have some reservations about moving away from cooking over an open flame; a human tradition over a million years in the making. But there's something else that is as synonymous with humankind as making fire and that’s tools and technology. Our bodies are arguably the least furnished in the animal kingdom - we survive because of our minds, and it's our minds that enable us to create what other animals cannot, so fear not the cooktop revolution! While many still swear by their gas cooktop, the reality is that induction cooking is superior, but it's actually not anything new...

The various types of insurance relevant to a building project can cause confusion as there is no “all encompassing” insurance. Each type will cover a different thing and they are often provided by various people, sometimes the owner, sometimes the builder, or there may even be an option for either party to take out the insurance which should be clarified prior to signing a building contract to avoid disputes.

Listening to Glenn Murcutt talk about architecture gives you a sense that this is not only somebody who understands deeply the intricacies of architectural design and construction but who also understands the landscape within which an architecture sits. A person who can look at the contours of the land and explain how they have come to be and how they influence the winds and how that might inspire a response from architecture to create a ‘sense of place’.

Bamboo is a mystical plant: a symbol of strength, flexibility, tenacity, and endurance. Throughout Asia, for centuries bamboo has been integral to religious ceremonies, art, music, and daily life. It can be found in paper, the brush, and the inspiration for poems and paintings. It is a material that had interested me for a long time and I yearned to know more about it.

This last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the Deerubbin Architecture Conference on Milson Island in the Hawkesbury River, a weekend of good architecture and good people all together. There were no VIP events that speakers were whisked away to following their presentations, everyone mingles around drinking coffee and enjoying lunch with one another - and this was no lightweight conference either, three packed days of presentations from both internationally and locally acclaimed architects including Peter Stutchbury, Richard Leplastrier and Gabriel Poole. Also in attendance were architecture legends Glenn Murcutt and Juhani Pallasmaa.

Timber is a wonderfully familiar material that delights our senses, whether touch, sight, smell or sound. It is one of the most fundamental materials with which we make things and is inseparably connected to the history of mankind.

I have prepared this post to assist those seeking to find an Australian hardwood that is right for them and right for the application...

Good design is neither magical nor mysterious - it is the inevitable result of consistently applying the correct basic fundamentals. It was one of the great pioneers of modern architecture, Meis van der Rohe, who said “I don’t want to be interesting. I want to be good”.

I believe that if you focus on getting the fundamentals of a design correct, everything else will fall into place in time. This is by no means an exhaustive list as there are endless factors to be considered (...and I also don't want to put myself out of work!!) but the following will highlight some of the key factors to consider...

Most architects, if fact, most people would like to find themselves taking part in a project to help underprivileged societies at least once in their lifetime, so when I was invited by another local architect to join them in taking part in a project run by a small Australian charity, ‘Books Over The Sea’, to build a new library for the school children of Vacalea Primary School in Fiji, I jumped at the opportunity...

Blackwater is a polite way of describing sewerage and includes not only sewerage from toilets but also the water from kitchen sinks and dishwashers due to the presence of pathogens and grease. The idea of recycling blackwater may be something that repels many people at first, but read a little further and you may see that this crazy idea isn't as crazy as you might first think...

Grey water is probably better described as 'used water' such as the water from wash basins, baths or showers. Although not clean enough for consumption or food preparation, with proper treatment greywater can be put to good use...

One of our most important resources on this planet is water, without it life would not be possible. What many fail to acknowledge is how many people on this planet are deprived of access to clean drinking water; you may be amazed at just how many cities around the world it would be unsafe for you to drink the water from the tap! For this reason, and many others, we should all consider ways in which we can make better use of this precious commodity...