Studio 33
dis-CONNECTED
Anja de Spa & Richard Fleming
Studio Description
Vast tracts of inner-city Melbourne lay overlooked and underutilised. In the shadow of major transport infrastructure, these left-over parcels of land lie vacant and disconnected. The challenge is to reinvigorate or resuscitate the land beneath the Melbourne Gateway alongside the Merri Creek and the Flemington Bridge Railway station. To design a sensitive proposition which can be a magnet or catalyst for change. The protagonist for the studio, Theodore Twombly, needs help too. Theodore represents an ever-increasing population of the disenfranchised - consumed by social media and artificial relationships and disconnected from fundamental human interaction. Theodore is lost; wandering through the underpass he is looking for a retreat, a space for revitalisation of the soul, searching for a primal connection to community. The studio calls for a new building: a retreat, a gathering place, a venue, a connection. The outcome will be defined by the individual brief written by each student.
Studio Outcomes
Students will develop sensitive and considered works of architecture that explore the revitalisation of a disused tract of inner-city land under a major piece of transport infrastructure. The initial design process will be iterative with prescribed site investigations, analogue design exercises and guest lectures forming the first half of semester. Sketch drawing, orthographic drawing and physical model making will be required components. We will follow an iterative and methodical approach which uses drawing and model-making to analyse opportunities and evoke new form making. During the second period, students will develop their propositions individually, culminating in the detailed exploration of a single architectural composition including typological standpoint, spatial experiences, materiality, environment, landscape and technology. Student’s final presentation outcomes will be required to comply with specified communication tools, continuing the expectations present throughout semester of iterative and journaled working methods and carefully considered architectural representations of their proposals.
Studio Leaders
Anja de Spa is an architect and co-director at MOLECULE studio, a boutique architecture and interior design practice established in 2010.
Regarded for her rigorous approach, Anja has a love for materials and sensory elements. She approaches each project with an open mind – but comes armed with research and a contagious sense of commitment. She believes a tailored response to site, brief, client and budget creates the spark that brings life to each project and its definitive character.
Richard Fleming is an architect and co-director at MOLECULE studio, a boutique architecture and interior design practice established in 2010.
Richard is fascinated by how things work and was drawn to building and design from a young age. He tests his design concepts by hand through the creation of models that bring a physical form to big ideas. His deep knowledge of construction also allows him to confidently push design boundaries. In each project, Richard aspires to unlock a built language that translates complicated elements into a singular and serene form.
Reading & Reference
Film:
- Her, directed by Spike Jonze, 2013
- Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola, 2003
- Ex Machina, directed by Alex Garland, 2015
Art:
- Armana, 2015, James Turrell, MONA (Hobart, Australia)
- Flower obsession, 2016-2017, Yayoi Kusama, NGV (Melbourne, Australia)
- The Field Revisited (exhibition), 2018, NGV Australia
Architecture:
- Thermae Vals, Vals (Switzerland), Peter Zumthor, completed 1996
- Jewish Museum, Berlin (Germany), Daniel Libeskind, completed 2001
- Laban Dance Centre, London (UK), Herzog de Meuron, completed 2002
- The High Line, New York (USA), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, completed 2009
- Folly for a Flyover, London (UK), Assemble, compled 2011
- MPavilion, Melbourne (Australia), OMA (Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten), completed 2017
Travel: Week 2
ST1/33 Mondays 15:15-18:15 at Molecule Studio
ST2/33 Thursdays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 228