NOW & WHEN

Sydney is a regenerative city. It seems like sometimes every time I leave the comfort of my unchanged old terrace, some new construction is underway, or they’ve turned another heritage building into luxury apartments. It’s one of the things I both love and hate about this city. Now and When, currently showing at Object Gallery, explores Australian urbanism, casting its gaze toward what the future may hold. The Australian Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, Now and When brings together the visions of numerous notable Australian architecture firms of what our chameleon city could look like by the year 2050. The results are diverse, creative and often very beautiful. Urban gardens built in the sky, aquatic super-cities, and futuristic monorail-esque transport lines populate our various urban futures, each design seemingly responding to a future that involves an exploding population and new atmospherical conditions due to climate change. All presented in an eye-popping 3D montage of images, and fitted in an Object space rendered virtually unrecognisable by design and planning firm Arup’s carpet-clad viewing space, Now and When is a fascinating glimpse into what some of our best and brightest architects believe is in store for us in years to come. And I have to say, to my mind, it looks a hell of a lot better than Mad Max.

Until Sep 25, Object Gallery, 417 Bourke St, Surry Hills, object.com.au