The T&W team have been enjoying our co-founder Mark's copy of Karen McCartney's new book 70/80/90 Iconic Australian Houses. We suspect this will end up under quite a few Christmas trees this year.

A follow up and companion to her 2007 volume 50/60/70 Iconic Houses, the new release is a tribute to Karen's thoughtful engagement with Australian architecture, which grew out of her friendship with the architect of her own Sydney home, Bruce Rickard.

Fourteen houses have been beautifully photographed by Michael Wee, and Karen (former and founding editor of Inside Out magazine) has spent time with the architects and owners of each house in order to describe each project in the context of the architect's personal history and philosophy, and also the relationship between architect and client.  It is fascinating to see the results of different approaches to the landscape - from a rather brutal concrete monolith to a delicate house made partly of canvas which sits lightly in a palm-filled grove.

Reading about other people's houses satisfies the sticky beak in all of us, of course, but it's also an accessible way to look at different styles of architecture - we can all relate to the scale and purpose of a house. I love Glenn Murcutt's Kempsey House with its long, low profile and traditional "Australian" materials and also Durbach Block's zinc-clad penthouse in Surry Hills - rising out of an old warehouse, different to the rest of the building but somehow completely right.

Back to the drawing board.

Victoria