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St. Barnabas Church was rebuilt last year after a devastating fire.  The architects - Sydney's Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp - were inspired by the work of another very well known architect for their design. Can you guess who?  The original church, which stood on the same spot on Broadway since the 19th century, originally had a decidedly traditional look to it.  The first stone of this church was laid in 1858. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.  It was famous for its work catering to the poor of Sydney and served a valued social function. It was also famous for its witty battles of words with the pub across the street. The church would often put up a thought-provoking message on its sign board, and the pub across the street would respond in kind. For example, St. Barnabas wrote " Money does not make you happy" and the pub across the street responded with "I'd rather be rich and happy than poor and happy". The colorful dialog was a source of amusement for Syd...

I love Bondi Beach, but it's not exactly the first destination that comes to mind for photographing modern architecture. Sure, there's Icebergs on the south end which is nice - especially since they recently redid it. But beyond that? Uh… Well, the new building for the historic North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club has just built a must-see architectural icon in this little beach community.  This building's organic forms and proportions reference classic modernist designs, such as those of Le Corbusier.   But this project is clearly unique, at the same time. It was designed by the architecture firm of Durbach, Block, Jaggers in association with club member and architect, Peter Colquhoun . The innovative design is really an homage to the ocean, and is specific to its time, site, and function.  I had a free afternoon in Sydney recently, and decided to go out to Bondi to see this building. Since it's a private club, I didn't have much hope of seeing the inside. But one...

I was part of a team that tied for first place in the  AIA San Diego 'Balboa Park Centennial Gateway' Competition . Not bad, considering there were 55 entrants to the competition.  To be honest, I didn't actually do much to earn a spot on the team. I just took the photos they used for background, and made some suggestions about the pedestrian bridge design on the east end of the park. But the guys at  DBRDS  did all of the heavy lifting, and were kind enough to include me in their design team for the submission so I've officially won, too.  Pauly, Ivan, and Craig at DBRDS did all of the real work for this, including the idea of competing and putting together the submission.  The competition brief called for a new gateway to Balboa Park along Park Avenue, which is the main road that traverses the park for vehicular traffic. But DBRDS rejected that notion that cars should need a new gateway to the park and instead decided to brin...

Bob Liljestrand, son of the original owners, on the deck of his iconic house. Photo ©Darren Bradley The Liljestrand House, by Vladimir Ossipoff is one of the most stunning, well preserved modernist homes I've ever had the pleasure of visiting anywhere in the world. The fact that it's also located in my own hometown of Honolulu just makes it that much better.  Photo ©Darren Bradley The house was originally designed and built for Dr. Howard Liljestrand and his wife, Betty. Howard was the son of missionaries who had grown up in China. He and his wife were in the United States for medical training and were on their way back there when the Sino-Japanese War broke out. So they "temporarily" delayed in Honolulu awaiting a resolution of the conflict. But things never did improve in China (that war turned into World War II, and then the Communist Revolution happened in '49, etc…). In the meantime, the Liljestrands found work at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu and decided ...