Not Only But Also

Simone Koch

Studio Description

Architect brew koch has engaged with industry stakeholders to develop a new model of social and affordable housing for Melbourne and regional Victoria. It follows the premise of Future Homes but is radically different in its focus on site and civic sustainability measures and 100% non-market housing for essential workers and supported tenants. The proposition is intended to affect change across the city and state. I intend to interrogate this model throughout the town of Sunbury and to tether the proposal to a valuable aspect of the site for protection. The focus for the studio will be on the profession, the place, and society, adopting measures like the 15-minute neighborhood, net-positive sustainability, and the importance of building on existing societal and cultural success to instigate change. If we imagine that architecture is about the place, and its people, we can start to imagine an architecture that sits outside of the market, that is not consumable or collectable.

Studio Outcomes

• The project involves careful study of a suburb and the design of medium-density housing
• The theoretical framework will be philosophical and analytical, referencing both existentialism and material focused on the metrics of a successful neighborhood
• The process will be to read and research, document and understand the context, and design a project that acknowledge the system that they contribute to and the ideas that underpin them
• Weekly projects will take us from careful observation of place through the design of site-specific interventions to the design of a housing project that will be developed and detailed in reports, drawings and models to understand its use of resources in construction and use and its potential for a positive effect on the site and its neighbourhood
• The structure embeds an understanding of the broader considerations at play in every architectural proposition
• Each weekly presentation will include a concise spoken presentation expressing the idea behind what you are showing in that week

Studio Leader/s

Simone Koch has 30 years of experience as a practicing architect working locally for firms with a strong design focus. Their current practice, Architect Brew Koch was founded in 2022 by Dr Peter Brew and Simone Koch with the idea of quietly transforming the profession. We recognize that the value in architecture is not in the final form but as a catalyst for realizing the success of the place or community. It would be better understood as a supporting infrastructure or armature for local relationships to thrive. It might not be noticed at all.

Readings & References

Ábalos, Iñaki. “The Existentialist House”, The Good Life: A Guided Visit to the Houses of Modernity. Park Books, 2017: 49-73

Brew, Peter and Koch, Simone. “A Home for Everyone” Union Magazine Issue 06,2025:18-27

Brew, Peter and Koch, Simone. “Entitlement” Inflection Journal. University of Melbourne, 2024

Camani, Florian, Luguet, Mathilde and Durand, Marc-Antoine. Suburban Alternatives: Survey of Low-Rise High-Density Housing Projects in the United States. Building Books, 2024.

Cruz, Teddy and Forman, Fonna. Spatializing Justice: Building Blocks. The MIT Press, 2022

Finding Infinity. A New Normal Melbourne. https://www.normalise.it/the-full-story

Heidegger, Martin. “Building Dwelling Thinking”(1951), Heidegger Basic Writings. Routlege Classics, 2011: 239-256

Heidegger, Martin. “The Origin of the Work of Art” (1950), Heidegger Basic Writings. Routlege Classics, 2011: 83-140

Jacques, Benoit, and Pinto, Rui Filipe (Editors). Villa Urbaine/Urban Villa. Birkhauser Verlag, 2021

Sergison, Jonathon and Bates, Stephen. Papers 2. GG, 2007

Schedule:
Tuesday 9am-12pm
Wednesday 9am-12pm 

Off-site Activities:
TBA

Contact Handbook