Free speech in tall poppiesland.

A couple of months ago whizzkid Melbourne architect Sean Godsell was apparently getting it from the local architectural institute for daring in the press to slag off 'Smart-arse architecture that shocks you once', referring, I gather, to some recent proto-blob architecture in his city. Steam emerged from the ears of the local panjandrums and there was talk of hauling him before some professional conduct committee or other. Dearie me were the diddums offended?

The trouble with Godsell is that he's rather good at architecture and professional institutions are sustained by mediocrity and have the primary function of sustaining it. So you turn to his site, not least because he is supposed to run a 'smart PR machine as part of his practice, which disseminates news of his successes'. Erm, you puzzle. Is there something wrong with that? Whatever, enter the url www.seangodsell.com and you wait rather a long time before the loading meter runs its course and there you get some columns of tiny (and unalterable) sans serif text. It is so small that you need a really steady hand to click on the right line, say 'the Macsween house'. Up comes an elegant image and some thankfully straightforward text. But how to get back to the beginning? It is only after changing browsers, yes browsers, several times that you notice a very pale blob at the end of the text. Run your cursor across it and it briefly glows red and you skeet back and click. Aha, the home page at last. Using a boring little word like 'back' might have been a tad more helpful than the blob. Sites that make you learn are ones you tend to leave instead. Otherwise here is a simple guide to architecture about which you feel immediately confident and admiring.

Sutherland Lyall plunges into the cornucopia of the web and pulls out plums.