Concrete Playground

The conditions and motivations under which we build buildings has a long and serpentine history. As we all know we have built, and build, for a choir of reasons; shelter and survival, history, pleasure, tourism and entertainment, the desire to reach an ideal (utopia), money, development, a growing population, lifestyle, symbolism...it's a list that seems unbounded by the highest of walls. Given that we've all been in buildings before, it's not being silly to say that we all possess an intimate and brilliant knowledge of architecture.

This year's Sydney Architecture Festival takes a broad and varied look at architecture and our relationship to it, offering a collection of talks, tours, exhibitions and workshops for those wanting to explore and think about the built environment. Occurring over 10 days, some highlights include an exhibition of previously unseen Max Dupain photographs, an exhibition at the Goethe-Institut of the German Modernist Bruno Taut, Sydney architecture walks and tours, and the Expanded Architecture exhibition on show at Carriage Works.

A little civilization of events will be held in venues throughout the city including Customs House, Tusculum, the Museum of Sydney, the State Library, Object Gallery, Government House Sydney and the Powerhouse Museum.