Contemporary Australian Architecture.

This survey of Australian architecture since 1776 was produced to coincide with an exhibition also organised by Sydney architect Graham Jahn. It claims to be 'the most comprehensive study of its kind to date on ideas in Australian architectural practice', but it is a seductive visual presentation of selected projects rather than a serious critical and historical study. Nevertheless, it is useful in providing an introduction to some of the more interesting recent Australian buildings and the ideas that informed them.

A short introduction identifies 1976 as a turning point in Australian architectural self-awareness following the fundamental cultural stimulus of the Whitlam government. The main body of the book consists of an examination of 45 works 'chosen because of the ideas they embody' and classified under: Public Buildings, Commercial Buildings and Houses. The range of building types is wide (including interiors and a bridge), but it is unfortunate that at a time when issues of residential density are being widely discussed, there are no examples of cluster developments, apartments or public housing. The selection of buildings is heavily weighted towards the eastern states, with no work from Western Australia or the Northern Territory and only one each from South Australia and Tasmania. Many of the familiar names are represented, from Glenn Murcutt to Edmond & Corrigan, but there are some surprising omissions, for example Rex Addison (Queensland), Robert Morris-Nunn (Tasmania), Peter Myers (New South Wales) and Troppo (Northern Territory), who have all developed distinct and regionally significant ideas (buildings by Richard Leplastrier and Edwards Madigan Torzillo & Briggs were withheld for privacy reasons). Only two women architects, in both cases working in partnership with men, are included.

The work is presented principally through seductive photographs, nearly all in colour, specially taken for the book and exhibition. A brief text by the architect and a short critical commentary by Jahn help to explain the ideas behind each project. There are clear plans of every building, but unfortunately only six north points are included, despite references in the text to orientation. In many of the commentaries the. move away from the Modernist idea of building as independent object is discussed, but there are very few site or location plans and the photographs generally seem to studiously avoid showing the relationship of building to context. Thus the opportunity to demonstrate visually architects' differing responses to place has regrettably been missed.

The format of the book and its role as an accompaniment to a public exhibition, suggests that it was designed to broaden the understanding of the non-professional. This is a laudable aim and Jahn should be congratulated for his considerable efforts in organising both exhibition and publication, and the high standard of presentation and colour printing. The text, however, will as often confuse as enlighten the reader, since it is sometimes poorly written or misleading and regularly resorts to impenetrable jargon and obscure references. Referring to Australian reactions to international Modernism after 1976, Jahn writes: 'It had become clear that it was impossible to be more pompous than the British or more corporate than the Americans, and trying to be simply international produced no recognizable tag or thumbprint'. Corrigan, we read, 'was determined to debunk sentimental good taste by revelling in it' - surely rather by avoiding it at all costs! - and later we learn that a house by this high priest of suburban disorder is 'more Wrightian than Venetian'. 'Day mixes vernacular materials and solutions with high art references and attaches them to original (though not always) conceptual forms, making it both a game and a serious piece of work', while 'Elliott's project "remembers" an architecture sympathetic to contemporary Modernism'. James Grose's Newman House is 'Albiesque' because it has columns down the centre of its principal space presumably a reference to the Jacobin church in Toulouse, rather than Albi Cathedral, which is notable for its lack of internal columns.

Overall, despite an uneven text and sometimes inadequate editing, this is a stimulating and fairly representative selection of recent Australian architecture.

RORY SPENCE