Australian Ugliness

Author: Robin Boyd & Christos Tsiolkas

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $14.95 AUD
  • : 9781921922442
  • : Text Publishing Company
  • : Text Publishing Company
  • :
  • : 0.212
  • : October 2011
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • : Australia
  • : 12.95
  • : May 2012
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Robin Boyd & Christos Tsiolkas
  • : Text Classics
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • :
  • : en
  • : 300.00
  • : 304
  • : AMC
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  • :
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Barcode 9781921922442
9781921922442

Description

Fifty years after its first publication, Robin Boyd's bestselling The Australian Ugliness remains the definitive statement on how we live and think in the environments we create for ourselves. In it Boyd railed against Australia's promotion of ornament, decorative approach to design and slavish imitation of all things American. "The basis of the Australian ugliness," he wrote, "is an unwillingness to be committed on the level of ideas. In all the arts of living, in the shaping of all her artefacts, as in politics, Australia shuffles about vigorously in the middle - as she estimates the middle - of the road, picking up disconnected ideas wherever she finds them." Boyd was a fierce critic, and an advocate of good design. He understood the significance of the connection between people and their dwellings, and argued passionately for a national architecture forged from a genuine Australian identity. His concerns are as important now, in an era of sustainability, suburban sprawl and inner-city redevelopment, as they were half a century ago. Caustic and brilliant, The Australian Ugliness is a masterpiece that enables us to see our surroundings with fresh eyes. This handsome anniversary edition is complemented by Robin Boyd's original sketches for the book and a new afterword by major contemporary architects.

Author description

Robin Boyd (1919-71) is arguably Australia's most influential architect. He was an idealist, a visionary, who believed that good design would improve the quality of people's lives. He designed more than two hundred buildings and wrote such classics as The Puzzle of Architecture and Australia's Home.