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Architectures of Australia & the Pacific: General resources

Recommended resources on the architectures of Oceania, historic to contemporary, and related topics, providing location info for print resources and links for digital resources.

Recommended books

Recommended periodicals

Recommended image resources

Search Detail Inspiration for architecture from Australia and New Zealand (use the location drop-down menu)

Recommended for all architectural research

Additional writing resources

Oceania in general

Note: This page groups islands of the Pacific in two categories: Near Oceania (comprised of Australia and Papua New Guinea / New Guinea) and Remote Oceania (remaining Oceanic islands and island chains). Both terms reflect the stages of human habitation in the Pacific. This categorization was devised in 1991 by archeologist Roger Green to replace Louis d’Urville’s venerable but arbitrary MicronesiaMelanesia, and Polynesia.

Not included in this guide: Remote Oceanic islands of the Bismarck Archipelago (East New Britain, Manus, New Ireland, West New Britain, Bougainville, etc.); the Cook Islands, Republic of Nauru, Norfolk Island (Australia), Northern Mariana Islands (USA), Solomon Islands, the island of Timor, and Wallis and Futuna Islands (France). Also not included are the U.S. minor outlying islands: Baja Nuevo Bank, Baker Island, Howland Island, Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, Serranilla Bank, Wake Island.

 

GENERAL RESOURCES

Crouch, Dora P. & June G. Johnson, Traditions in architecture: Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania, Oxford University, Library Office - NA208 .C76 2001

“The far Pacific: a new frontier for architecture,” Architectural Record, December 1966

Gunn, Michael (editor), Ritual Arts of Oceania, Skira, NK1094.P26M88 1997

Ko, Jennifer, “Regional authenticity: an argument for reconstruction in Oceania,” APT Bulletin, 2008, Vol.39, #2/3, p.55-61 (via Jstor)

Lilley, Ian (editor), Archaeology of Oceania: Australia and the Pacific Islands, Blackwell, DU28 .A73 2006

McKay, Bill, “A field guide to the architecture of the South Pacific,” Architecture AU, November 9, 2017 (Mostly exterior photos with text, via https://architectureau.com)

Memmott, Paul, et al (editors), Design and the vernacular : interpretations for contemporary architectural practice and theory, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, NA1511 .D47 2023

Morgan, William N., Prehistoric architecture in Micronesia, University of Texas Press, GN875.M625 M67 1988

Sahlins, Marshall David, How 'Natives' Think, University of Chicago Press, DU626.O283 S35 1995 (On European, Hawaiian and Polynesian anthropological discourses)

Sheldrick, Janis M., Nature's line : George Goyder : surveyor, environmentalist, visionary, Wakefield Press, 2020 (via Proquest Ebook Central)

Smith, Bernard, Imagining the Pacific: in the wake of the Cook voyages, Yale University Press, G420.C73 S65 1992

South Seas (On Cook’s travels and “cross-cultural encounters in the 18th c. Pacific”)

Oceania, near & remote

Aboriginal Australia,” Oxford Art Online

Aboriginal Environments Research Centre (U. of Queensland)

Architecture Australia (magazine)

Architecture Foundation Australia

Architecture from Australia,” ArchDaily, accessed July 12, 2019, via www.archdaily.com (Numerous projects represented, some with plans)

Art Deco & Modernism Society (Based in Melbourne)

“Australia,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p.1069

Australia,” Oxford Art Online

Australian Institute of Architects

Butterpaper (“Australian and New Zealand architecture resources”)

Dewhirst, Dean, Chasing the sky: 20 stories of women in architecture, NA1997 .D49 2017

Digital archive of Queensland architecture

Goad, Philip, Melbourne architecture, NA1603.M4 G63 1999

Graham, Jahn, Sydney architecture, NA1603.S9 J34 1997

Jackson, Davina, Australian architecture now, NA1600.2 .J33 2000

Jackson, Davina, Next wave: new Australian architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, NA1600.2 .J33 2007

Memmott, Paul, Gunyah Goondie + Wurley : the Aboriginal architecture of Australia, Thames & Hudson, NA1600 .M46 2023

Murray, Shane, Micro macro city: Australian pavilion, Royal Australian Institute of Architects, NA1604 .M87 2006

Process Architecture: Modern Australian Architecture, NA6.P94 no. 022

“Sustainability in Australia,” A & U: Architecture & Urbanism, September 2018 (Theme issue)

Troy, Patrick, A History of European housing in Australia, Cambridge University Press, HD7379.A3 H53 2000

Utzon, Jorn, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 1957-73, NA680 .G51 no.54

World Heritage Sites: Australia

 

CITIES / CITY PLANNING

Ehrmann, Sigrid, “From Melbs’ elm with love,” Topos, 2013, #103, p.32-35 (On Melbourne’s “Urban Forest Strategy”)

Muminovic, Milica & Holly Caton, “Sustaining suburbia – the importance of the public private interface in the case of Canberra, Australia,” ArchNet – IJAR, November 2018, p.11-26 (PDF available for download via www.archnet-ijar.net)

Planning Institute Australia

Stent, Robert, “Urban housing in Melbourne,” Architecture Australia, May/June 2014, p.68-74

TAKE 1: Urban solutions: Propositions for the future Australian city, NA9279 .U72 2002

Vernon, Christopher, “Australia’s lost capitol,” JAE, October 2016, p.284-299 (On an unexecuted design for the Capital building in Canberra)

 

HISTORY & CULTURE

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Goad, Philip, A short history of Melbourne architecture, NA1603 .M4 G634 2002

National Film & Sound Archive (Canberra)

 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Aldous, Georgia, et al. (editors), Kerb 23: digital landscape, School of Architecture and Design, Faculty of the Constructed Environment, RMIT University, SB469 .K47 2016

Leigh, Gweneth Newman, “No, no, you go first,” Landscape Architecture Magazine, January 2015, p.66-81 (On two playgrounds)

Sack, Catharina, “A landscape neo-Baroque,” Landscape Journal, 2015, Vol.34, #1, p.57-78 

Saniga, Andrew, Making landscape architecture in Australia, University of New South Wales, 2013 (via Ebook Central)

Seddon, George, Landprints: reflections on place and landscape, QH45.2 .S434 1998

 

VISUAL ARTS

National Association for the Visual Arts

Smith, Tom, “10 indigenous Australian artists you should know,” Culture Trip, updated July 25, 2018 (via https://theculturetrip.com)

The story of Aboriginal art,” Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery, retrieved July 15, 2019 (via www.aboriginal-art-australia.com)

Anderson, Sean & Jennifer Ferng, “The detention-industrial complex in Australia,” JSAH, December 2014, p.469-474 (On an immigrant detention facility at Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, via Jstor)

Bossan, Enrico (editor), Papua New Guinea : a new dawn : contemporary artists from Papua New Guinea, Antiga Edizioni, N7411.P3 2016

“New Guinea,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1172

Oram, N. D., “Health, housing, and urban development,” Ekistics, November 1966, p.355-360

Papua New Guinea,” Oxford Art Online

Urwin, Chris, Pacific Islands Archaeology. Building and Remembering : An Archaeology of Place-Making on Papua New Guinea's South Coast, University of Hawaii Press, 2022 (via Proquest Ebook Central)

Vale, Lawrence J., "Papua New Guinea's concrete Haus Tambaran," in Architecture, Power, and National Identity, Yale University Press, NA4195 .V35 1992 (on Sepik region spirit houses)

Vernacular architecture of Papua New Guinea,” IOM, 2012 (PDF produced by the International Organization for Migration)

Wardwell, Allen, The art of the Sepik River, Art Institute of Chicago, NB1111.N4 W3

World Heritage Sites: Papua New Guinea

Atkinson, George A., “Fiji,” Architectural Review, July 1960, p.74, 80

“Fijian,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1213

Vunidilo, Tarisi, “Reviving Fijis traditional architecture,” Coconet, retrieved July 17, 2019 (Photos and descriptions of vernacular architecture, via www.thecoconet.tv)

Mitchell, William J., “Paradise lost,” RIBA Journal, May 2004, p.16 (Essay on European artists and writers living in the South Pacific circa late 1800s)

Society Islands,” Oxford Art Online

“Tahitian,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1222

*See Mariana Islands.

AIA Honolulu (Projects represented in the Design Award entrants section include photos and plans) 

“Architecture in Hawaii,” Architectural Record, November 1950, p.113-130

Concrete blocks, Honolulu, 1870's,” JSAH, October 1952, p.27-29 (via Jstor)

Forsythe, Laurel Spencer, “Anglo-Hawaiian building in early-nineteenth-century Hawai’i,” Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, 1997, Vol.6, p.161-173 (via Jstor)

“Hawaii,” Architecture, March 1982 (Theme issue)

Hawaiian hale,” Earth Stone Station, May 3, 2015 (blog page with photos and descriptions of traditional Hawaiian houses)

Hibbard, Don, Buildings of Hawaii, University of Virginia PressNA730 .H53 H53 2011

Hibbard, Don, Designing paradise: the allure of the Hawaiian resort, Princeton Architectural PressNA7820 .H53 2006

Mills, Peter R., Connecting the kingdom: sailing vessels in the early Hawaiian monarchy, 1790-1840, DU627 .M55 2023

“Planning for leisure,” Architectural Record, December 1968, p.121-[136] (Resorts on five islands)

Society for Hawaiian Archaeology

Victor Gruen Associates, Report of the studies and recommendations for a program of revitalization of the central business district of downtown Honolulu, HT168.H65 G77 1968

“Kiribati,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1156

Whincup, Tony, “Te Mwanwaba Ni Kiribati,” SHIMA Journal, Vol.4, #1, 2010, p.113-130 (pdf on traditional meeting houses, via shimajournal.org)

Note: The Mariana Islands are located in the northern portion of Micronesia. The Marianas are divided into two United States jurisdictions: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (comprised of 14 islands), and the territory of Guam.

GUAM

“Guam: a problem in progress,” Arts & Architecture, May 1953

Guampedia: the encyclopedia of Guam

“Planning Guam,” Progressive Architecture, January 1953

U.S. Military installations in Guam

 

REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS

Bikini Atoll

“Marshallese,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p.1161

 

Lythberg, Billie, “Nan Madol: ‘In the space between things’,” Khan Academy, accessed August 1, 2019 (via www.khanacademy.org)

World Heritage Sites: Micronesia

Cultural Centre in Noumea, New Caledonia,” Detail, July 1998 (via Detail Inspiration)

Architecture Now

Barrow, Terence, Maori Wood Sculpture of New Zealand, C.E. Tuttle, NK9793 .B32

The Designers Institute

Fugill, Clive, Te toki me te whao : the story and use of Måaori tools, Oratia, DU423.I4 .F85 2016

Gatley, Julia & Paul Walker, Vertical living : the Architectural Centre and the remaking of Wellington, Auckland University Press, 2014 (via Proquest Ebook Central)

Gaudin, Mary & Matthew Arnold, Down the long driveway, you'll see it, [Unidentified publisher], TR659 .G383 2014

Leigh, Gweneth, “Woven in place,” Landscape Architecture Magazine, February 2018, p.42, 44, 46-48

“Maori,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1215

“New Zealand,” Architectural Review, October 1959

“New Zealand,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1219

New Zealand Archaeological Association

Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua / The New Zealand Film Archive

New Zealand Historic Places Trust

New Zealand Institute of Architects

Rosenfeld, Max, The New Zealand house, New Zealand House Design Publications, NA1606 .R9 1958

Fugill, Clive, Te toki me te whao : the story and use of Måaori tools, Oratia, DU423.I4 .F85 2016

New way for Niue: Building cyclone-resistant sustainable architecture for the Pacific,” Pasifika at Victoria, September 19, 2018 (via Victoria University of Wellington) 

Miko, Melson, “Oral tradition and archaeology: Palau’s earth architecture,” in Pacific Island Heritage: Archaeology, identity & community, edited by Jolie Liston, et al, ANU Press, 2011, p.181-201 (via Jstor)

“Palauan,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p.1163

World Heritage Sites: Palau

Knight, Hardwicke, “The Pitcairne house,” Architectural Review, May 1968, p.387-389 

Pitcairn’s history (Government of the Pitcairn Islands)

Allen, Anne E. Guernsey, “Architecture as social expression in Western Samoa: axioms and models,” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, 1993, p.33-45 (via Jstor)

“Samoan,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p.1220

UNESCO Office for the Pacific States (Western Samoa), The Samoan fale, UNESCO, 1992 (via UNESDOC Digital Library)

Wilson, Catherine, “A new community center using traditional ‘fale’ style will also be a solar emergency shelter with water tanks,” Thomson Reuters Foundation, October 2, 2014  

World Heritage Sites: Samoa

“The far Pacific: a new frontier for architecture,” Architectural Record, December 1966

McKay, Bill, “A guide to the architecture of the Pacific: Kingdom of Tonga,” Architecture New Zealand, September 2017 (Survey of contemporary buildings; mostly exterior photos, no plans)

“Tongan,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1223

World Heritage Sites: Tonga

“Tuvaluan,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p. 1214

Yarina, Elizabeth & Shoko Takemoto, “Interrupted atolls: riskscapes and edge imaginaries in Tuvalu,” The Plan Journal, December 20, 2017

Beswick, Jon, “Exploring eye,” Architectural Review, June 2011, p.82-85 (on the culture and vernacular architecture of Ambryn, Vanuatu archipelago)

Christie, Wendy, Safeguarding indigenous architecture in Vanuatu, United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2017 (PDF via UNESCO)

“Vanuatuan,” Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press, NA208.E53 1997 v.2, p.1168

Please note

  • These guides are intended to provide initial orientation, and suggest a variety of different lines of investigation—not take the place of individual research.
  • All the resources cited here--print and digital--are available through the Kappe Library at SCI-Arc.Items not available at SCI-Arc are not included.
  • Surveys covering multiple projects are preferred over monographic studies focusing on specific works or individuals.
  • Resources on Los Angeles and Southern California are stressed.
  • Proprietary digital resources (Avery Index, Oxford Art Online, ArtStor, etc) can be accessed on-campus at SCI-ARC via any SCI-Arc internet provider. Off-campus they can be accessed 24/7 via the Kappe Library proxy server, and a valid SCI-Arc Network username and password.

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