Tina Perinotto

The federal government is set to offload about $3 billion of land thanks to surplus defence sites and a CSIRO Ginninderra site near Canberra that’s past its use by date. What a great opportunity to change the game on housing, according to reasoned independent Australian Capital Territory senator David Pocock and his supporters. Around the world governments in some countries riven by the housing crisis are starting to move and show some muscle.

What an atmosphere at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Thursday night. It was the NSW Australian Institute of Architects Awards and the place was hopping. Noisy, excited voices that seemed the tangible, cumulative result of what’s no doubt been a year of incredibly hard (and long) work, commitment and challenge. Think of what we expect architects to deliver: no less than a slice of our future. Where we live, work and play – what these places look like, how they perform, their environmental impact.

Elevators can save energy, carbon and time. Just ask Adam Daly of KONE. The world of elevators is a sensitive one. These small vertical transportation devices can be alarming to anyone who’s claustrophobic – or worse, has been trapped in one. And then there’s a story of one new elevator system in Sydney (not a Kone lift) that was so fast it made people ill and had to be slowed.