Educating the next generation of built environment professionals

For three days in late January, 24 designers and academics from across Asia convened in Beijing to discuss the possibilities of a contemporary Asian landscape architecture practice.

In December 2018, four Master of Architecture students were selected to travel to Hong Kong to attend Business of Design Week as special guests of the Hong Kong Design Centre.

Studio 19 IMAGING – A Museum Made Digital saw students mastering a range of technologies to open up the world of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) to a universal audience. We caught up with studio leader Ben Waters to find out how the studio evolved from concept to real, and what impact it had on The Ian Potter Museum of Art and the students who undertook it.

During her visit to the Melbourne School of Design for the Dean’s Lecture Series in October, Alison Brooks, Principal and Creative Director of Alison Brooks Architects, sat down with Professor Donald Bates to discuss her career beginnings, philosophy, and her award-winning works.

Our cities are responsible for a large chunk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, so the way we plan and construct them has to adapt to the future impacts of climate change.

Grade 5 and 6 children from Pascoe Vale North Primary School have imagined, designed and constructed a temporary Parktopia in the Coburg North Linear Reserve.

A number of Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning alumni and their projects won awards and commendations at the recent 2018 National Architecture Awards held on November 1st.

The Indigenous Design – Past | Present | Future symposium in July brought together local and international design practitioners to explore the role of Indigenous design. Mphethi Morojele, owner and founder of MMA Design Studio in South Africa, presented the signature keynote lecture.

London-based artist, designer and consultant Adam Peacock has been awarded the 2018 Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship.

A team of MSD students were shortlisted among working architects and international design students in the Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge.

We are now inviting exhibition proposals for 4-6-week exhibition slots in our 2019 exhibition program. Proposals are sought to exhibit in spaces within the MSD building.

A Melbourne School of Design studio and a project designed by architect and lecturer Jefa Greenaway form part of the Australian Pavilion at the International Architecture Biennale in Venice.

The Indigenous design perspective has been ignored, replaced or forgotten for too long, says architect Jefa Greenaway - but things are changing

The winners of the 2018 Victorian Architecture Awards include a number of studios affiliated with Melbourne School of Design alumni.

Melbourne School of Design welcomed hundreds of guests to celebrate the opening of the latest MSDx last week.

Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs is a new ARC Linkage Project that will generate new knowledge to plan, design, govern and manage school facilities and infrastructure, enabling schools to be maximised as ‘community hubs’.

Melbourne School of Design celebrated students’ outstanding academic achievements during 2017 at the Dean’s Honours Awards on 15 May.

New research finds that people are willing to pay more for energy efficient housing, making the case for a mandatory national rating system for existing homes.

In recent years a group of students started inviting firms to give talks as part of a series of events. The Built Industry Group (BIG) has quickly turned this series into something of a MSD phenomenon. We asked BIG President Derek Huynh to give us the lowdown.

Difficult personal circumstance should not prevent anyone from completing a Melbourne education. Will you give a gift today to ensure our students can fulfil their potential and pursue rewarding careers?

The University of Melbourne and Harvard University are proud to announce the appointment of Professor Philip Goad as the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australian Studies for the 2019-2020 academic year.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning celebrated the outstanding academic achievements of undergraduate students at the Dean's Honours Awards.

A group of 16 undergraduate students travelled to the Indian city Vijayawada in January to take part in the Humanitarian Design Internship.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning enjoyed a year of increasing collaboration and interchange with Tongji University in 2017.

After making an international engineering career at global multinational Arup, Enterprise Professor Brendon McNiven is shaping our architectural engineering curriculum.

Having a keen interest in computing, Kabir Sawhney originally from India, is now studying the Bachelor of Design at the University of Melbourne. We caught up with Kabir to talk about his student experience so far.

Melbourne School of Design is home to a new maker space: the New Experimental Technology Lab (NExT Lab).

University of Melbourne researchers have launched a new teacher resource pack designed to support secondary school educators teaching the compulsory year nine geography subject Biomes and Food Security.

Saran Kim is a Japanese international student who has just completed her first year of the Bachelor of Design. Having come from Mater Christi College in Belgrave, we caught up with Saran to chat about her experiences so far.

Targol Khorram started studying architecture in Iran in 1998 and completed a Master of Urban Planning in 2015 at the University of Melbourne. She currently works as an urban designer at the City of Stonnington and leads a place making studio at the University of Melbourne. She previously worked on the Queen Victoria Market redevelopment. More recently, she was the President of Architects for Peace for two years.

As part of the Bushfire the Natural Hazards CRC Research Project Urban Planning for Natural Hazard Mitigation, the University of Melbourne together is offering a scholarship to support a PhD candidate under the supervision of Associate Professor Alan March within the Melbourne School of Design. Applications close Tuesday 30 January 2018.

Student Sarah Mair reflects on the 'House of Ideas' exhibition at the Walsh Street Boyd House.

Congratulations to our talented alumni recognised in this year's National Architecture Awards.

Christine Wamsler (Professor of Sustainability Science, Lund University) visited the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne in October as part of the Dean’s Lecture Series (watch her lecture here). She sat down with Alan March (Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of Melbourne) to discuss the role planning has to play with regard to climate risk reduction and creating a more resilient future.

University of Melbourne Architecture alumnus Dylan Brady is currently exhibiting his journey through architecture in a series of sketches in our Dulux Gallery. Professor Donald Bates spoke to Dylan about his career for the Australian Institute of Architects.

Master of Architecture student Morgan Doty has won the Melbourne Fringe Furniture exhibition prizes for the “Sustainability” and “Student” categories for her piece: the CMYK chair.

Lauren Murrant is the second recipient of the DELWP Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship. Hailing from Berwick, Lauren began a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University, before transferring into the Bachelor of Design where she was awarded the scholarship.

The transport sector plays a key role in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #11 regarding making cities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Last week international guests Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, founding directors of New York based firm Reiser + Umemoto (RUR Architecture DPC), visited the Melbourne School of Design as part of the 2017 Dean’s Lecture Series. The work of Reiser + Umemoto spans over 30 years of practice and is at the forefront of architectural innovation, comprising rigorous research and experimentation across both built and unrealised projects. Reiser and Umemoto presented a public lecture to a sold-out B117 Theatre, and curated an exhibition in the Dulux Gallery detailing some of their most well-known and influential projects. The exhibition will be on show at the Melbourne School of Design until September 13. Melbourne School of Design’s Chair in Architectural Design, Professor Donald Bates, sat down with them to discuss their philosophy, careers and projects.

The Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH) officially launched as a research centre on 5 September 2017 with the Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Jim McCluskey in attendance.

Saaranya Kumar Dasari hails originally from Akividu in the south-east of India. After moving to Chennai to study a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Saaranya has made his biggest globe-trotting leap yet: a semester abroad here at the University of Melbourne, based in the Melbourne School of Design.

Construction management students Ian Alcazar, Liam Nuttall, Matt Thompson and James Miller travelled to Hong Kong recently to represent the University of Melbourne at the CIOB Global Student Challenge Finals, accompanied by Dr. Paolo Vaz Serra.

MSD Students Chao Feng, Derek Huynh and Matko Matkovic have won First Place in the 2017 Melbourne’s Backyard Ideas Competition organised by the Future Focus Group of the Committee for Melbourne for their submission: “Connecting City Square”.

Tommy Heng moved from Malaysia to Melbourne and graduated from the Bachelor of Environments (2011-2013) and the Master of Architecture (2015-2016) at the Melbourne School of Design within the University of Melbourne. He was winner of the 2017 Victorian Graduate Prize awarded by the Australian Institute of Architects, providing recognition and encouragement for graduates embarking on their professional careers. Currently, Tommy is working full-time at Lyons Architecture in Melbourne, where we interviewed him to catch-up on his reflections on his University of Melbourne experience and transitioning into full-time work.

In Papua New Guinea, the issue of sanitation remains prevalent. It is estimated that there are still 154,000 households (860,000 people and 13% of the population) who do not have access to any form of sanitation in rural areas.

We recently caught up with alumnus Pe-Yang Teng to find out what he’s been up to over the last few years, how his career has progressed and what he remembers about life as an Architecture, Building and Planning student.

James Billson graduated with a Bachelor of Building in 1988 in the footsteps of his grandfather Edward Billson, the first ever Architect graduate from the University. After starting his career with builder L.U Simon, he worked with Lewis Constructions on the Melbourne Central project with the redevelopment of the Shot Tower until moving to London.

For the second year in a row, the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA School) visited the University of Melbourne from July 3 – July 14 for the AA Visiting Studio (AAVS) with students exploring the interstitial spaces of Melbourne.

This year's Victorian Architecture Awards highlighted the creativity of many talented MSD alumni. Our heartfelt congratulations to the following practices and projects:

Tarkett, a global leader in sustainable flooring, has collaborated with the University of Melbourne to offer for the first time an award to recognise the creativity and social conscience of design students in Victoria.

Katja Wagner is the 2017 recipient of the Michael Kaufman Scholarship awarded to high achieving architecture students based on academic merit. Her father David received the same award thirty years ago when he was a student at the University. The faculty is very thankful for the continuous support from its supporters and donors who have helped our incredible students achieve their best throughout generations. Find out more about other faculty scholarships and prizes and how you can support the faculty with a gift.

In just thirty years, the bicycle, once the transport of choice for up to 523 million people in China, has become a relic of the past. From the 1970s, though until the early 1990s, bicycles offered mobility, comfort and prestige, making China internationally famous as the ‘Kingdom of Bicycles’.

Laura Brown is amongst the first cohort of students to undertake the Bachelor of Design, commencing study in Semester 1, 2017 and is the first recipient of the DELWP Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship.

Created by students and studio leaders in 2016’s experimental Wind Architecture studio, The Hex Kite has won the Platinum A' Design Award at the at international A’Design Award and Competition.

MSD PhD student Alessandro Liuti completed the construction of AIRSHELL, the first timber gridshell structure ever formed by means of a pneumatic formwork.

As part of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (CAMP.H), the University of Melbourne together with Amoveo is offering a scholarship to support a PhD candidate under the supervision of Associate Professor Robert Crawford within the Melbourne School of Design, and in collaboration with the Melbourne School of Engineering.

A new student exchange agreement with Tongji University, Shanghai, China was signed this month by the Dean of Faculty, Professor Julie Willis.

Rob Adams, Julie Eizenberg and Peter Watts were each awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Melbourne yesterday.

This year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice has closed, with record attendance at the most popular Australian exhibition yet. The Denton Corker Marshall designed Australian Pavilion hosted its first architecture biennale, raising the prominence of the Australian exhibition:  The Pool – Architecture, Culture and Identity in Australia.

In September 2016 eleven of our Masters students from both Architecture and Urban Design packed their bags and set off to the Netherlands for the experience of a lifetime.

We join the University community in congratulating the fine scholars who have been promoted in 2016.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has received a gift of $1 million from Creative Futures, supported by Professor Daryl Le Grew and alumnus Dr Robert Treseder. The generous gift will provide the annual Robert Garland Tresder Fellowship, set to bring internationally acclaimed design and innovation trailblazers to work in residence at the University.

Urban public health researcher Prof Mark Stevenson describes the better human health outcomes to be had in cities that emphasise active transport modes like cycling and walking, while discouraging dependence on cars. Presented by Lynne Haultain.

The Victorian state government has committed to removing 50 level crossings in two terms of office: a faster rate of removal than in any other period in the history of railways in Melbourne.

Call for Abstracts and Papers: Inflection vol. 4 examines the theme of Permanence within the discipline of architecture.

Ten projects involving the work of our alumni were recognised in last week's 2016 National Architecture Awards. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to you all, and celebrate the recognition of your innovation and commitment.

Held on Friday 4th November, the 2016 Planning Institute of Australia’s National Awards for Planning Excellence recognised the exceptional contribution to planning made by Associate Professor Alan March, Professor Carolyn Whitzman and PhD student Claire Boulange.

Professor Mark Burry, Professor Virginia Lee and Dr Stanislav Roudavski, and colleagues, have been awarded ARC Discovery funding, commencing in 2017.

MSD's Carolyn Whitzman and Andre Stephan describe what it's really like on the ground at Habitat III.

A new series published in The Lancet, led by the University of Melbourne and featuring authors from leading global academic institutions, quantifies for the first time the health outcomes that could be gained through changes to urban design and the transport system.

The University of Melbourne has opportunities for student volunteers to assist in the delivery of the upcoming Cultural Collisions: Grainger Griffin program of events.

Two years in the making, the Wave Hill Walk-off project has brought together six designers, 12 students, eight labourers and the Gurindji people of Kalkarindji and Daguragu to give physical form to the birth of Australia’s Indigenous land rights movement.

The Melbourne School of Design is pleased to announce we have officially become a partner of Parlour. Parlour is an incorporated association dedicated to promoting gender equity and supporting women in architecture.

The University of Melbourne and City of Melbourne have announced internationally recognised scholar, Professor Lars Coenen, as the inaugural Chair in Resilient Cities.

Our Dean, Daryl Le Grew, remembers Stephen Ashton of ARM Architecture.

Throughout history, the environment has been thought to play an important role in our health and wellbeing. Asylums constructed between the early and late nineteenth century were predicated upon the belief that a tranquil, orderly architectural response, paired with extensive landscape views, could aid the restoration of sanity.

Andrew Murray and Hannah Lewi are crowdsourcing history through their PastPort mobile app, part of a new vanguard of citizen historians' use of tech.

The University of Melbourne has announced a new undergraduate degree that will equip students with the design thinking and creative processes to tackle complex problems.

In February 2016, 16 Melbourne School of Design students travelled to the other side of the world as part of the Brazil Travelling Studio 2016.

Professor Julie Willis has been appointed the new Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.

The Melbourne School of Design is proud to see so many of our talented alumni recognised in the Victorian Architecture Awards announced last Friday.

Congratulations to MSD students whose work was recognised at the recent Living Building Challenge Design Awards last week.

This July the Melbourne School of Design will bring together architectural historians and scholars from our region for a series of workshops, plenaries and conference events.

A re-evaluation of a seminal work on urban density forms the basis of an MSD exhibition at the 2016 Venice Biennale.

We farewell one of our great architects, Romaldo Giurgola.

MSD's new Vocational Placement Subject offers a Masters student the perfect start to her career.

World-renowned architect Jean Nouvel appeared in an intimate conversation with publisher Andrew Mackenzie and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Professor Daryl Le Grew.

Two MSD students represented our Faculty in Detroit for the LafargeHolcim Foundation Infrastructure Space Forum.

Can good design create healing, both for our environment and our communities? MSD staff and student initiatives are uncovering the possibilities.

MSD research into the impact of trauma on urban cityscapes has been recognised by the prestigious Humboldt Foundation.

Melbourne School of Design Lecturer and studio leader Paul Loh, together with studio leader David Leggett and alumna Amanda Ngieng, have won the The Hooke Park Wakeford Hall Ideas Competition with their entry titled Technological and Ecological Permeability.

Congratulations to alumna Targol Khorram, who has been appointed the 2016 President of Architects for Peace.

Online tutorials for the studio subject 'How Virtual Becomes Real' are now openly accessible.

The Melbourne School of Design recently became the Founding Corporate Partner of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV).

Our latest cohort of Master of Architecture graduates are now starting their professional lives.

The Melbourne School of Design launched its new online building tour, Explore MSD.

Graduate students from the Melbourne School of Design completed an intensive workshop that combined digital design and modern building materials with ancient construction techniques to assemble a timber gridshell with a footprint of 50m². The structure is now on exhibit on Union Lawn.

Melbourne: What Next? A discussion on creating a better future for Melbourne is now available to download. The e-book, featuring peer-reviewed chapters written by leading academics, is edited by Professor Carolyn Whitzman, Professor Brendan Gleeson, and Master of Urban Planning Student, Alexander Sheko, and is published by The University of Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute and Social Equity Institute.

Congratulations to Anoma Pieris on being awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship - a first for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. Of the 830 applications submitted for the ARC Future Fellowships across Australia, only 150 were successful and only one, Anoma's was awarded in the built environment category.

The Bower Studio was highlighted by World Architects eMagazine as one of the top 10 design/ build programs making a difference.

The Holcim Awards is a global competition that recognizes innovative projects and future-oriented concepts on regional and international levels. The competition, conducted by the Holcim Foundation, seeks projects that expand conventional notions about sustainable building and also balance environmental, social and economic performance.  Projects must also exemplify architectural excellence and a high degree of transferability. A total of USD 2 million in prize money is awarded in each three-year cycle.

The late George Tibbits was one of many colourful “renaissance” men to have worked at this Faculty over the years. George was a noted architectural historian, who produced (among other works) a study of campus architecture written with Philip Goad and published in 2003, now sadly out of print. He was a leading light in the 70s and 80s campaign to save Carlton, thanks to whose efforts many splendid streetscapes were preserved.

Visiting Melbourne to present a public lecture as part of the Melbourne School of Design Director's Series and a free public lecture co-hosted by ABP, MSSI and MSLE, Senoir Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design, met with Peter Mares for a special edition of Up Close.

Alan Pert’s architectural practice NORD (Northern Office of Research & Design) has been awarded the 2013 Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award on 7 November 2013 at the Scottish Parliament.

Timothy Stats graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2004 with a Bachelor of Planning and Design and a Bachelor of Architecture. He has returned to the University community this year to undertake a Master of Construction Management. We caught up with Timothy to find out where his career has taken him so far…and the answer – all over the world.

An eager bus load departed the University of Melbourne on Saturday 5th of October, but it wasn't filled with students off on a travelling studio or field trip. This bus was filled with some of the leading minds in Australia's built environment. ABP's advancement team, led by Judy Turner, welcomed 17 Faculty Alumni and supporters, and with the assistance of Associate Professor Jeffrey Turnbull and Professor Philip Goad, brought them on a tour of some of the most spectacular buildings and spaces in Melbourne.

A stunning example of vernacular Chinese architecture has found a new home in the landscaped grounds of Malvern Primary School in eastern Melbourne.

Congratulations to Alan March on his recent Planning Excellence Award for Cutting Edge Research and Teaching, awarded to Alan for his book, The Democratic Plan: Analysis and Diagnosis.

As part of the Festival of Ideas, ABP ran a student competition calling for a video considering the idea of a 20-Minute City.

Following Alan Dilani's lecture as part of the ABP Agenda series, Alan Pert reviewed the event and gave us his insights into Health Architecture in an opinion article for Australian Design Review.