Postcard from Melbourne

摘要

Australian architects are well known for their travels abroad. This has been extensively documented in articles like David Saunders' "So I decided to go overseas"' which discussed the popularity of travel for young Australian architects from 1925-1940. More recently, Catherine Townsend's "Architect, exiles, 'new' Australians" as well as the Summer 2007 edition of Architect Victoria have continued to engage with this condition. There is also a reverse phenomenon with architects from elsewhere travelling to Australia. This issue of Architect Victoria focuses on a handful of these architects who are practicing, teaching or studying architecture in Victoria in order to begin to unpack issues surrounding a hybrid identity in Australian architecture. What were these architects' pre-conceptions of Australia and how did this change? How does architectural practice and research within the academy in Victoria differ from in their hometown and what fusion of ideas does this create? In my guest editorial piece for the Winter 2007 edition of Architect Victoria (written in collaboration with Anthony Parker), it was suggested the a 'Grotesque' architecture had been growing in Victoria's architecture. Perhaps it is the consolidation of a hybrid identity in Australia that has also contributed to a 'Grotesque' condition.