Melbourne is now coming to the fore as a design hotspot. With three and a halfmillion inhabitants it is on a scale that is livable and diverse. Its rich andvari... » 

Melbourne is now coming to the fore as a design hotspot. With three and a halfmillion inhabitants it is on a scale that is livable and diverse. Its rich andvaried cultural intimacy has enabled it to build up a unique dynamism which isset to shift the entire design agenda of the world much like Barcelona did inthe 1980s and Antwerp did in the 1990s. Melbourne is to be the city of thenoughties. The intense plurality of Melbournes recent design culture is due tohave a vast impact on the way in which we think about city regions and livingin them. This is a story of wonderful spaces in civic and institutionalbuildings in galleries bars clubs and restaurants in one of the worldstallest residential apartment buildings in beach houses and mountain shacksin workshops and studios and in international sports venues. As Melbournehosts the Commonwealth games in 2006 a vast influx of visitors will beexperiencing these spaces for the first time. Through luscious photography andan accessible text Design City Melbourne is devised not only to illustrate awide range of fascinating interiors and their architectural matrices but alsoto describe the people behind them and how these spaces support the vitalculture of this uniquely mixed and cosmopolitan city. A metropolis that issituated in the same time zone as China and which is pioneering in itsEuropean colonial matrix the admixture of new Asian urban forms. «