Studio 40
Pimp my heritage
designing a future for the past
Rebecca McLaughlan and Gareth Wilson
Studio Description
Australia is haunted by ghosts of an industrial past.
Vast factories lay abandoned in the landscape. Discarded and disused, most will perish; erased by commercial imperatives that prioritise shopping malls and suburban sprawl.
It doesn’t need to be this way. We want you to change to script.
Through guest lectures, workshops and field trips we’ll give you access to some of the best experts in the field, arming you with the skills, knowledge and conviction to do more than simply design sensitive new facades.
We’ll face up to the complex challenges of working in this field - budgets, conservation plans, building regulations, the competing desires of the market and community - then we’ll ask you to turn it all on its head.
Let’s do for heritage what Elon Musk did for the electric car. Go on, pimp it.
Studio Outcomes
This studio will tackle issues of contemporary heritage using the post-industrial city of Geelong as a case study. On completion of this studio students should be able to:
- Demonstrate awareness of collective memory, intangible heritage and attachment to place, and how these considerations can productively inform design.
- Apply knowledge of best practice responses in decisions around retention and demolition within significant heritage sites.
- Demonstrate awareness of the myriad issues that need to be balanced in heritage projects including: development and maintenance costs, market / consumer expectations, planning and policy regulations and community desires / expectations.
- Demonstrate skill in merging contemporary and historic building fabric, aesthetically and technically, including the challenges associated with environmentally sustainable design and contemporary building standards.
Outstanding performance in this studio will include demonstration of the ability to:
- Strategize and deliver innovative solutions that can contribute to the advancement of contemporary heritage practice.
Studio Leaders
Rebecca McLaughlan completed her doctorate on New Zealand’s history of mental hospital architecture, essentially, to give her a bona fide excuse to skulk around these captivating abandoned sites. Her longstanding concern for heritage has been escalated by her experience of growing up in Christchurch; a city where politicians ran roughshod over community attachments to place, where bulldozers were rolled in during the pitch-black of night and cathedrals have been left to rot unceremoniously. Previous studios lead by Rebecca include the ‘I remember, you remember’ studio (2016), ‘a house for unrequited love’ and ‘death is the only certainty’ (2017).
Gareth Wilson is the co-ordinator of the Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH) at the Melbourne School of Design. He teaches within the Masters of Urban and Cultural Heritage programme (Issues and Techniques in Global Heritage and Applied Heritage Conservation Techniques). With degrees in environmental science and heritage, Gareth’s expertise covers heritage planning, designation, applied conservation, education and community engagement. He has managed a diverse range of heritage projects for government agencies including English Heritage, Heritage Victoria and the State Heritage Office of Western Australia. He writes on heritage issues for The Conversation.
Reading & Reference
Domino Sugar Factory Redevelopment, NYC: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2016/may/24/brooklyn-domino-sugar-factory-graphic-novel-williamsburg-shorts
MSD Lecture: Tom Bloxham MBE - Creating an Urban Splash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X_FSTAHenM
David Littlefield and Saskia Lewis, Architectural Voices: Listening to Old Buildings (West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2007).
Jo Frances Maddern, “Spectres of Migration and the Ghosts of Ellis Island,” Cultural Geographies 15 (2008): 359-381.
McLaughlan, R., “The Past Awaits: An Open Letter to the Rebuilders of Christchurch,” Architecture New Zealand (March, 2016): 32-35. (available online: http://www.academia.edu/23594845/The_Past_Awaits_an_open_letter_to_the_Rebuilders_of_Christchurch )
TRAVEL Week 3 | $0-$40 - TBC
ST1/40 Thursday 9AM-12 in Room 239
ST2/40 Thursday 12:15-3:15PM in Room 239