Studio 32

FCAP

Simona Falvo and Dayne Trower | Civic + Process Focus

This studio is available to students enrolled in ABPL90142 Studio C, ABPL90143 Studio D, and ABPL90115 Studio E.

Studio Description

Amidst rapid population growth, demographic shifts and influxes of infrastructure investment and developer led housing in the wider community of Footscray, the Footscray Community Arts Precinct (FCAP) is faced with the challenges of adapting to a changing environment.

At its base on the banks of the Maribyrnong River, the current site of the Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCAC) and the area earmarked for its development into a larger precinct (FCAP) is overlaid with complex indigenous, social, cultural and industrial histories.

This studio proposes to interrogate the post-industrial landscape and context in which the FCAP sits and will question ‘what will happen next?’. Can this site, and the precinct at large, be transformed into a public, community-focussed ‘gallery’ dedicated to serving the widest possible and diverse audience while supporting both contemporary and traditional art forms? Should this take the form of constructive re-use of under utilised infrastructure and premises, a singular proposition or a dispersed program of library, museum, gallery and performance spaces?

Studio Outcome

Students will initially be required to undertake a variety of research and design based projects through site visits, model making, mapping and prototyping to establish an understanding of their own design processes and how these can be shaped in response to the context of the Footscray Community Arts Precinct. Students will then be given a brief, which they can expand upon and challenge, for a mid to large scale project relating to what has been discovered throughout the preliminary weeks of the semester.

Students must be able to:

• Conceptualise and engage in rigorous research through design to open the potential for experimentation and innovation.
• Communicate ideas and designs verbally, visually and textually through a range of investigative media.
• Research with enhanced appreciation of theoretical, environmental, social, historical, cultural and technical contexts in relation to the activity of architecture.
• Use technology as an intrinsic part of the design process.

Studio Leaders

Dayne Trower is an architect and principal of Dayne Trower Architects. Prior to starting his own practice, Dayne worked on a number of significant local and international projects, predominantly with Sean Godsell Architects, including the 2014 M Pavilion. Dayne is also trained in design and has worked alongside renowned Australian designer, Brian Sadgrove. Dayne is especially interested in design that is site and culturally specific, developed through a rigorous process of examination and research and his work, which has been widely published and exhibited, inherently explores these concepts.

Simona Falvo is a registered architect at Andrew Simpson Architects. She completed her Masters of Architecture at the Melbourne School of Design and has studied abroad at the University of Stuttgart and University of Gothenburg. Simona has worked on a variety of projects at different stages ranging from furniture design, retail and single family residential projects to larger scale townhouse and apartment projects. She has had extensive experience in all stages of the design process from initial concept design, planning, documentation and project delivery and is currently the project leader for multiple residential and commercial projects.

Readings & References

• Footscray Community Arts Centre (http://footscrayarts.com)
• Creative Victoria (https://creative.vic.gov.au)
• Maribyrnong City Council (https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au)
• Selected excerpts of ’Dark Emu’, Pascoe, B.
• Selected excerpts of ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth’, Gammage, B.
• ‘The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention’, Corner, J.
• ‘The Manhattan Transcripts’, Tschumi, B
• ‘Splitting and Doubling: Gordon Matta-Clark and the Body of Sculpture’, Wagner, M.
• ‘Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal’, Rowe, C. and Slutzky, R.
• ‘Powers of Ten and the Relative Size of Things in the Universe’ (film), Eames, C. and Eames, R.

Additional readings and reference material will be provided throughout the semester.

Travel Footscray | Week 1

Schedule Mondays and Thursdays 18:15-21:15 in MSD Room 138

Contact Handbook Key Dates