M.A.D. during COVID
MAD 2021 at Avalon Beach
Like so many activities, all Modernist Architecture and Design (M.A.D.) events were suspended during the height of the pandemic in Australia. Happily, in April 2021, Chief Modernistas Chris Osborne and Susan Bennett crossed the border into NSW to lead a day of modernist discovery and fun. After visits to the mid-century gems of Dee Why Library and Civic Centre, we all took a pew at nearby St Kevin’s to admire the Gaudi-esque ceilings, as well as several John Coburn mosaics.
A walking tour of the Beachcombers of Avalon Beach was topped off by a wonderful slideshow presented by Maya Sydney. The slides featured Nino Sydney’s designs for his own family home in Castle Cove in the 1960s, as well as the bold vision he produced for his own brother and sister-in-law, Voichy and Maria Somogy. Many thanks to Vera Sydney for curating these fabulous images (and that’s baby Maya in the pram).
Nino and Vera and children outside the family home 
Nino Sydney’s Castle Cove home designs, for his brother on the left (now demolished), and for his own family on the right. 
After the slide show