How Soon is Now?

The ceaseless appetite for the new means that architecture is constantly projecting, speculating and theorising. Instead of always looking into the future or back into the past, projects are already demonstrating the new ways in which architecture operates in the world.

The challenge for architecture is to not retreat into itself and be ostracised from the extraordinary moment in history in which it finds itself; but rather to recognise its place in contemporary practice, and to stake a claim for its agency within that system.

The 2016 National Architecture conference, How Soon is Now, aims to explore the agency of architecture to make real changes in the world, empowering architects to participate in the massive transformations that are occurring to cities, to global as well as local societies and to the sustainability of our planet.

How Soon is Now continues the shift of conversation from a self-reflective and internal one to an open, collaborative and discursive one. The focus is on exemplary buildings and the experiences and knowledge of the people that fund, conceive, create and inhabit them.

With an extensive program, the pick of the bunch is Friday’s sustainability and innovation talk exploring how ‘a broader understanding of sustainability brings into play the interconnectedness and complexity of urban communities and their environments’.

How is this complexity handled? With significant interest in innovation, and an ever present concern with risk management where are the opportunities? Is architecture well positioned? Are we even able to meaningfully realise the value offered?

Event Information: 

The 2016 National Architecture Conference will take place 28-30 April.

On Thursday 28 April, fringe and social activities will take place including the official opening Party. For details on the other exciting fringe events, visit the events page.

On Friday 29 April and Saturday 30 April the main conference sessions will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Register here.

Image: Tower House by Austin Maynard Architects – winner of the Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for Residential Architecture, National Architecture Awards 2015