Architecture
on the Web:
Annotated
Guide
history |
buildings
| collections
| architects
This project gathers and annotates web resources on the architecture of Melbourne, Australia.
- Project Scope
- Melbourne remains one of the world's greatest Victorian-era cities. Built following the gold rush of the 1850s, its confident, elegant, elaborate cityscape is still intact. Today new buildings pop bright colors and diagonal lines through the graceful historical fabric of brick, stone, and glass.
- The city was laid out on in 1837, and its regular grid and wide streets still characterize the contemporary city. This grid, as indicated by the red dashed line on the city map, is relatively small, about 1.8 square kilometers (.7 square miles). This small area constitutes the actual city of Melbourne, and because it has long been the financial, governmental, cultural, and transportation capital of the area, many significant buildings can be found in these few blocks. This project centers on buildings and architects of the city core, although notable suburban structures are also included.
- Because the project focus is on the built environment, historic sites with no standing buildings are not included. This criterion unfortunately rules out many of Melbourne's Aboriginal sites, although certainly Aboriginal peoples are connected to and share in the history of many of the structures and topics discussed. While doing research for this project I have come across several web resources on Aboriginal heritage, such as this introduction to Aboriginal sites in Melbourne or the Another View Walking Tour featuring works by a variety of visual artists. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website includes information on conferences, geneaology research, publications, and web links.
- The city was laid out on in 1837, and its regular grid and wide streets still characterize the contemporary city. This grid, as indicated by the red dashed line on the city map, is relatively small, about 1.8 square kilometers (.7 square miles). This small area constitutes the actual city of Melbourne, and because it has long been the financial, governmental, cultural, and transportation capital of the area, many significant buildings can be found in these few blocks. This project centers on buildings and architects of the city core, although notable suburban structures are also included.
- Materials
- Websites are an increasingly relevant resource in the study of the dynamic, visual, design-oriented field of urban architecture. Quick updating, color images, interactivity, and free access make them an important alternative to expensive print volumes, journals, and foreign newspapers. Websites also enable libraries to highlight or build in topics outside the major collection areas without straining resources. For exmaple, print-based research on Melbourne's architecture in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library is difficult - the catalog lists nine items under "Architecture - Australia" and only one for "Architecture - Australia - Melbourne" and "Architecture - Australia - Periodicals."
- While I did find many web resources for learning about and researching Melbourne architecture, certain areas are not currently well represented in this format, notably women architects, historical architects, and certain historical periods. I have attempted to include enough meta-sites, collections, and guides that users will have a starting point to do further research on other topics of interest to them that are not included here (such as landscape architecture, architecture theory, and the built environment of other locations in Australia).
- Audience
- The intended audience of this guide is anyone with an interest in the architecture of Melbourne. Most of the selected resources are written or designed for general readership rather than for professional architects. Some familiarity with architectural terms is helpful but not necessary. This site will also be useful to readers knowledgeable of history, structures, and styles in Europe and North America but unfamiliar with these topics in the Australian and Melbourne city context.
- My favorite thing to do in a new city is simply wander around, taking in the built environment and coming to understand its community contexts and uses. Many of the selected sites were ones I used when researching my recent trip to Melbourne - and ones I discovered when doing further research upon my return from this beautiful city.
Essential Sites
If you only have time to look at three sites, look at these!- The Age archive on the Melbourne Museum
- Primary resource materials tell us so much about a building's life, as well as the lives of those who use it and live with it.
- L'Erma dB Design Melbourne Project Index
- More than any other resource, it captures the feeling of being in and interacting with the city's built environment.
- Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Aardvark Guide to Contemporary Melbourne Architecture
- As its introduction states, this is really a program rather than a website, and it has been designed above all for use. Look things up, find facts, answer questions, make connections, draw opinions - you can do it all on Aardvark.
Links will take you to my review of the site.
Sources
Call numbers and locations are for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library unless otherwise noted.
About This Site
Created by Beth Watkins for LIS414, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science, November 2001. All images on this site © Beth Watkins, August 2001. Last updated September 2003.
For a tourist's view of the city, visit my Guide to Melbourne.