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The Australian Ugliness

The Australian Ugliness: Text Classics

Text Classics

Robin Boyd

Introduction by Christos Tsiolkas

Fifty years after its first publication, Robin Boyd’s bestselling The Australian Ugliness remains the definitive statement on how we live and think in the environments we create for ourselves. In it Boyd railed against Australia’s promotion of ornament, decorative approach to design and slavish imitation of all things American.

‘The basis of the Australian ugliness,’ he wrote, ‘is an unwillingness to be committed on the level of ideas. In all the arts of living, in the shaping of all her artefacts, as in politics, Australia shuffles about vigorously in the middle—as she estimates the middle—of the road, picking up disconnected ideas wherever she finds them.’

Boyd was a fierce critic, and an advocate of good design. He understood the significance of the connection between people and their dwellings, and argued passionately for a national architecture forged from a genuine Australian identity. His concerns are as important now, in an era of sustainability, suburban sprawl and inner-city redevelopment, as they were half a century ago.

Caustic and brilliant, The Australian Ugliness is a masterpiece that enables us to see our surroundings with fresh eyes.

Robin Boyd
About the Author

Robin Boyd (1919–71) is arguably Australia’s most influential architect. He was an idealist, a visionary, who believed that good design would improve the quality of people’s lives. A tireless public educator and outspoken social commentator, he designed more than two hundred buildings and wrote such classics as The Puzzle of Architecture and ...

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Extent:
304pp
Format:
Paperback
Text publication date:
26 April 2012
First published:
1960
ISBN:
9781921922442
AU Price:
$14.95
NZ Price:
$17.99
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Other editions ofThe Australian Ugliness
  • The Australian Ugliness
    ebook
    ISBN: 9781921921995
    26 April 2012
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