Sydney or Melbourne?

Like London and Manchester, there is a fierce rivalry between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. It is said that Melbourne is the cultural capital of Australia, but Sydney has the climate. Some Melburnians consider Sydney a touch brash and self made. Melbourne is consistently voted one of the best cities to live in.

However from an architectural perspective initial impressions are quite different. Central Melbourne has a lot of really very ordinary 80’s and 90s style buildings that could be in any aspirational city, and sadly it turns its back on the “Mighty” Yarra river. In contrast Sydney has a heritage of quality Harry Seidler buildings and a smattering of works by the big European names. It makes the most of it’s waterfront and open spaces, and enjoys a warmer and drier climate.

Melbourne also seems to have a fondness for modern architecture that uses colour and geometric deconstruction. I doubt that Melbourne’s quirky angular architecture will last the test of time and be a reason to visit the city. Consider the Art Deco treasure trove created by the expansion of Miami eighty years ago, now the defining identity and one of the main tourist attractions.

Whilst the best known and least loved example of this style is Federation Square by LAB architecture Studio, architects such as Denton Corker Marshall and Corbett Lyon explore this aesthetic. It is interesting to ask why this free spirited style, in a way fresh and exuberant, has happened in a solid stone built Victorian city. It may be to do with the influence of the two architecture schools, University of Melbourne and the RMIT, and it is almost certainly to do with a handful of practices that flourished during the boom years. Interestingly, it is not just Australian architects either, when Mario Bellini won the competition to re-work Roy Grounds National Gallery of Victoria, he succumbed the angular aesthetic.

In contrast areas such as Fitzroy and St Kilda exude cool design, independent bars and restaurants that London’s overheated economy would never kindle. In the CBD the laneways are home to many of the best bars and restaurants in the City, these narrow passages run at right angles to the main streets and subvert the swagger of the grand avenues.

Sydney feels more at ease with itself, an international City with two iconic structures that place it on the world map. It had the Olympics, it was the first to welcome in the new millennium with a spectacular Firework display. It is a City that is easy to walk around, the streets are vibrant and the successful balance of heritage and modernity is reminiscent of Manhatten. Architecturally the net is spread wider, plenty of buildings by European architects enhance the cosmopolitan fee.

So Melbourne or Sydney? My vote goes with Sydney, its parks, its water, its bravado. But most importantly It is Australia that wins, a young, confident and modern country that is happy to experiment and explore the possibilities that this modern age offers.