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Dallas Brooks Community Primary School
No full textRESEARCH BACKGROUND: This educational facility designed by McBride Charles Ryan brought together three existing primary schools in Dallas, one of Melbourne's most deprived neighbourhoods and home to a multiracial community with roots in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan. The school was planned under the Broadmeadows Regeneration Scheme, funded by the Victorian State Government under its Building Futures policy. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: MCR developed a concept based on walled cities to provide not just a school but a community hub. Visually, the school creates a civic narrative through the school's city skyline' silhouette façade, which alludes to the city of learning within. It also connects with its community through colour and pattern inspired by the traditional dress of local ethnic groups. This work attests to MCR's ongoing practice of creating civic narratives as a way to provide connections with the greater community and context. Through the various configurations of age-appropriate learning spaces, it explores how architecture could reflect new pedagogical methods. It demonstrates MCR's history of designing educational buildings that are richly expressive and which has - over the past twelve years - questioned how architecture could spark conversation, prompt questions about the nature of knowledge itself, create a unique identity for a school and provide an inspiring, reputation-building public front that connects with the community and broader context. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The project received prestigious awards: 2014 Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) National Awards (Public Architecture); 2014 Victorian Architecture Awards (Victorian Architecture Medal, Melbourne Prize, William Wardell Award for Public Architecture); 2014 Think Brick Awards (Finalist, Horbury Hunt Commercial); and 2015 Architizer A+ Jury Awards (Finalist, Plus Category: Architecture + Learning). It was extensively published in professional architecture and design media outlets
Salt Castor
No full textRESEARCH BACKGROUND: 'Salt Castor' is one of Tom Kovac's object-based architectural design projects. It was included in a selection of objects - from the 1920s to the present - from Alessi Museum's collection that were never put into production but which chronicles the inner working of a long-standing Italian design institution. The project was exhibited at 'Alessi IN-possible: Before an idea is brought to life,' curated by Francesca Appiani and staged with the Design Museum Holon in Israel. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Kovac's 'salt castor' was designed in 2003 but did not go into production. In 2016, it was presented at the Alessi IN-possible exhibition, where it - alongside 50 other projects - represents the fertile, formidable hive of activity typical of a research laboratory of the applied arts that is Alessi. Through his collaborations with Alessi, Kovac attempts to establish a non-standard procedure for the design, fabrication and production of objects. The project explores design possibilities for relationships between architecture and industrial design through experimental methods and forms, combining the use of digital tools and manufacturing technologies for the conception and realisation of projects on varying scales. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The significance of the work is evidenced by its selection for exhibition, firstly at the Design Museum Holon, in 2015. In 2016-2017, it was exhibited at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, curated by Galit Galon (Design Museum, Holon) and Francesca Appiani (Alessi). It was initially selected from the Alessi Museum collection, which houses 25,000 objects and 19,000 designs. It was shown, and published in the exhibition catalogue, alongside projects by leading designers and architects such as Ettore Sotsass, Achille Castiglioni, Aldo Rossi, Philippe Starck, Zaha Hadid, Patricia Urquiola, Ronan and Erwan bouroullec. The exhibition was featured in numerous design magazines and news outlets around the world
Livescape:BLOOM
No full textBACKGROUND Livescape:BLOOM is a smart fashion & textiles design practice of Internet of Things (IoT) connected garments. To date, Fashion's exploration of emerging technologies in wearables design has used sensor technology. A gap exists in applying wireless, IoT connection to illuminate the agency of connective technologies through decorative textile surface design. Ubiquitous and affective computing theory manifest in current wearables design. Berzowska and Ying Gao's work explores the connection between garment and observer. Hussein Chalayan, Jennifer Gabrys and Bruno Latour's Actor Network Theory discourse a landscape perpetually reconfigured by data engagement, humans and non-human relationships. CONTRIBUTION How can crafted textile decorative surface techniques enable a fashion wearable to demonstrate communicative action with IoT enabled devices in the electrosphere environment? This case study describes an IoT connected dress. A wearable engaged in a fashion context. As Textile and Fashion design practitioner leading a multidisciplinary approach, advanced cellular hardware technology, cloud computing, software, robotic movement and couture is integrated. The embellishment moves over time, directed by real-time environmental data. I am investigating tensions evoked by connected interactions of an IoT ecology through practice-based design research. Digital fabrication converses with low-tech methods in a reflective, prototypical action-driven, iterative manner. I provide a model for data visualisation where the value of simplicity empowers our engagingment with technologies. I reflect on how craft language and physical awareness can be applied to poeticise Human Computer Interaction for human centric design outcomes. To extend an understanding of future wearables. SIGNIFICANCE A competition finalist presented during Berlin Fashion Week 2017, UBICOMP 2016, Interview magazine and This Is Jayne Wayne, a blog with 36.2k followers
Kids Under Cover
No full textBACKGROUND This project is part of our larger research agenda focused on the development of large-scale 3D polymer printing for building construction. This specific project develops 3D printing strategies at a sub-architectural scale - that of a cubby house, as a way of testing and advancing this research on a relatively simple project. The research primarily makes a contribution to architecture with secondary contributions to advanced manufacturing. The project is focused on the architectural implications of 3D printing, exploring how this new technology will have an important influence on the buildings we design. The contribution to advanced manufacturing will be through the further development of an industrial scale 3D printing process. CONTRIBUTION This research project constitutes one of the largest 3D printed polymer architectural prototypes fabricated internationally and creates a valuable contribution to the development and discourse surrounding architectural-scale 3D printing. Developing and fabricating a prototype of this scale enabled the testing and resolution of architectonic details and the integration of other architectural systems, such as structure. The project is a tangible step toward 3D polymer printing buildings and is important in demonstrating the potential of this technology. SIGNIFICANCE The significance of the Project will be both within the architectural discourse of robotic fabrication as well as having a wider impact on the construction sector. Roland Snooks's development of architectural approaches to 3D printing and direct deposition robotic fabrication has been published internationally as book chapters, and conference papers: this project adds to this body of research. The project team was selected through a competitive process as one of five teams to deliver the cubby house as part of a charity event organised by the Kids Under Cover organisation. The project won the Best Architectural Design Award for this competition
House at Hanging Rock
No full textBACKGROUND: 'House at Hanging Rock' is a residence located within the Hanging Rock nature reserve in central Victoria. It comprises a rhomboid-shaped roof arranged over three parallel terraces constructed from pre-cast concrete walls. In 2014 it was the recipient of Australia's most prestigious residential architectural prize, the 'Robin Boyd Award' at the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) National Architecture Awards, after previously winning the 'Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture Houses' at the AIA Victorian Architecture Awards. CONTRIBUTION: 'House at Hanging Rock' responds to the unique landscape, organising 'interior and exterior space and the extended site through a series of parallel bands'. It provides shelter and protection from the elements, including extreme fluctuations of temperatures and dangerous bushfires, while the interior conveys a feeling of intimacy in contrast with the spectacular, vast expanses of the surrounding area. This work draws on Thompson's ongoing practice and design research focussing on architecture as a civic endeavour, forging connections between buildings, their surroundings and the people who inhabit them. SIGNIFICANCE: The significance of 'House at Hanging Rock' is evidenced through its two AIA awards. The National Architecture Awards have been held annually since 1981 and are the most prestigious in the design and construction industry, recognising outstanding achievements and excellence in architecture.The work featured in the book 'Living in the Landscape' and received extensive media coverage including articles in The Age, The Australian, Daily Mail Australia and The Guardian; magazine features in Dezeen, Homes and Dwell; and coverage in Architecture Australia and Architecture Victoria
Linking Docklands
No full textRESEARCH BACKGROUND: The Linking Docklands project provides critical connections and improves the urban design quality and physical environment of Melbourne. It includes the Jim Stynes Bridge, carrying cyclists and pedestrians safely between the central city, Southbank and Docklands, extending the Capital City Trail from the eastern suburbs to the west. Ron Jones, in his capacity as a landscape architect and urban designer for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, worked with the City of Melbourne, Cox Architecture, Aurecon and Oculus to deliver the project. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The project involves a negotiation of physical and regulatory constraints to deliver an efficient low impact solution that provides access, amenity and an opportunity to discover a neglected section of the Yarra River. According to the AILA jury, it 'exemplifies how small, strategically placed and well-designed landscape architectural interventions in the urban fabric can have a transformative effect well beyond what might be expected of a project of this size.' Jones has played a leading role in developing landscape and streetscape designs as well as urban design strategies and guidelines for Docklands. This project extends his ongoing innovation in creating public spaces that engage with the context, materiality and urban condition. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The project is a design outcome of the Docklands Public Realm and the North Wharf Precinct Plans, developed by the City of Melbourne in conjunction with the State Government. This project was jointly funded by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (previously DPCD), the City of Melbourne and Places Victoria. It received the prestigious 2015 Urban Design Award by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, and was a Finalist at the 2015 Premier's Design Awards (Victoria) - Architectural Design category. It is published online by AILA and Premier's Design Awards
Bookwallah
No full textRESEARCH BACKGROUND: The Bookwallah is a project in the form of a roving international library. Five Indian and Australian writers travelled by train to various literary festivals across India in search of stories and connections. They carried with them custom-made suitcases that opened and transformed into bookcases, filled with hundreds of new Australian books. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The portable, pop-up library and the concept of 'wallah' as an itinerant provider of a specific service were conceived by Varadarajan. Together with Georgia Hutchinson, the suitcases - which opened up into bookcases - were designed as part library, part art installation where visitors could browse, sit and read. The cases were constructed using digital fabrication, which were then covered with kangaroo leather, to easily degrade and pick up signs of travelling. This project extends Varadarajan's investigation into design projects as 'campaigns' within specific cultural and social communities, situated within a creative practice that re-imagines mass-produced materiality. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The Bookwallah won the Community Engagement Award at the Australian government's inaugural Australian Arts in Asia Award, which recognises the achievements of Australian artists who engage and form creative ties with the Asian region. It was exhibited at the Cowen Gallery at the State Library of Victoria in 2013. It travelled to literary festivals in Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as Goa, Chennai and Pondicherry, as well as Writers' Festivals in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The Bookwallah documentary was screened as part of Sceenlink in Federation Square, Melbourne and at the Mumbai Writers Festival. The project was initiated by AsiaLink - Australia's leading centre for the promotion of public understanding of Asia and Australia's role in the region. It received extensive reviews in: ABC News, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly, and news outlets in India
frozen curtain
No full textBACKGROUND: The Frozen Curtain was designed by Leanne Zilka and installed within RMIT University School of Fashion and Textiles as a space barrier, acoustic wall, and a backdrop for the display of garments. The activities within the fashion and textile design school are often viewed by the public, international guests, industry partnerships and practitioners. The Frozen Curtain effectively creates a space that acts as a stage set for these activities. CONTRIBUTION: This work comes out of understanding fashion and textile techniques from the perspective of an architect. Fashion develops form, enclosure, structure and material simultaneously, while Architecture typically works with form first and then develops a material system to support this design intent. By employing the pleat (a technique in fashion that is used to turn a flat piece of material around a form), the Frozen Curtain gives structure to the acoustic felt, without the need for a substrate. The pleat is a way of dealing with non-structural material, fixing in a way that gives the illusion of a curtain being drawn open or closed. This work continues Zilka's research through projects that look to the condition of the material rather than freezing its behaviour through a system (eg. frame, board, structure); it demonstrates techniques not common to architecture, and reduces the need for complex structural resolutions, to create independent objects where structure, pattern and skin are inseparable. SIGNIFICANCE: Zilka was selected by Paul Morgan Architects based on her expertise in fashion and textile design from an architectural perspective. In 2017, she presented the project at the Practice Futures Colloquium which came out of a research-led teaching initiative led by the Architects Registration Board of Victoria. The Frozen Curtain led to another project - 'PleatPod' - a stand-alone pavilion commissioned by RMIT University and installed within the RMIT Design Hub
Being Wiradjuri Together: Co-Designing Self-Determination
No full textBackground: This research spans several years undertaken with Wiradjuri Nation citizens and design, media and arts scholars. This follows prominent Indigenous scholars (Behrendt 2003; Moreton-Robinson 2015) that argues that Indigenous sovereignty is foundational to all relationships in Australia, by respecting Indigenous laws, land, languages and cultural practices that have existed long prior to colonisation. RMIT team led the co-design with Wiradjuri Nation citizens, giving visibility to Wiradjuri stories as a celebration of self-determination.<br>Contribution: The co-design process led to the production of a portfolio of outcomes that included print media, video footage of events, multi-platform social media campaigns, a web-based digital platform and methodological description of co-designing community-led events. The co-design process supports Wiradjuri sovereigns to self-determine, renew cultural practices and express being Wiradjuri. The research contribution is significant for Indigenous self-determination, catalyse Treaty discussions, and for design research and practice, to demonstrate how to participate in co-designing Australia’s shared futures together. Given strong critiques that design and digital media are implicated in perpetuating impacts of colonisation (see Decolonising Design by Schultz et al, 2018 and Designs for the Pluriverse by Escobar 2018), this body of work is pioneering by modelling how Indigenous sovereign relationships is, and can be, central to the design process and outcome, generating new knowledge in the fields of design and digital media. <br>Significance: <br>This real-world excellence was recognised as Social Impact Winner in the GDA2018, Australia’s longest and most prestigious acclaim of national and international achievements in design. This body of work sits alongside impactful peer-reviewed publications (Akama et al 2017; Akama et al 2016; Tye et al 2020), generated through an ARC Linkage on Indigenous Nation Building (2014-2017)