Studio 35

Hacking Design: Empowerment through Adaptation

Fjalar de Haan and Camilo Cruz | Cities + Process Focus

This studio is available to students enrolled in ABPL90143 Studio D and ABPL90115 Studio E only.

Studio Description

The general task of Studio 35 will be to explore ways in which designed artefacts can create positive change, by intervening on the city's left-over spaces. The premise is that regardless of the transient character of urban life, infrastructures persist. Then, we interrogate the design process as a means to understand a) how can these conditions be capitalised for positive change? b) which spaces are suitable to particular transformations? c) what kind of change can be triggered by new designs?, and finally, d) how can these interventions adapt to the change of their supporting environment?

We take an algorithmic approach to design --- computational thinking, which blends concepts from computer science, transitions and evolutionary theory, to understand and explore the dynamic character of both designed artefacts and their context.

Studio Outcome

• Participants will familiarise themselves with the requirements of the project, as well as with the relevant concepts of transitions and evolutionary design.
• Participants will be introduced to design as a complex endeavour that is not only about the object being produced, its practical and cultural implications, but also about how it fits into a larger system.
• Participants will develop practical skills systematic design and pseudo-scripting, as tools for the generation and exploration of design spaces (an adaptation of the previous version).

Studio Leaders

Fjalar de Haan is a transitionist. He develops theory and other tools for understanding sustainability transitions and societal transformations. Modelling is one of his favourite tools and he would say that modelling helps to accelerate the interactions between theory and empirical work towards better understanding. Fjalar has an MSc in theoretical physics and a PhD in transitions research. Fjalar has been exploring the frontiers of transitions theory and modelling in a variety of contexts, as part of international, interdisciplinary teams, project-based with industry, and in curiosity-driven solo projects. Fjalar works at the Melbourne School of Design.

Camilo Cruz is an architect and researcher in evolutionary design and design theory. Before coming to Melbourne, to complete his PhD, Camilo served as full time lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Universidad de Chile (2012-2014), as associate at Office of Adrian Phiffer and Office Normal, in Toronto, Canada, and as a design manager at Eliash Arquitectura y Urbanismo, a Santiago based architecture studio, focused on institutional, educational and urban design projects around South America. Camilo completed his PhD at The University of Melbourne (2018), and also holds a Master's degree in Urban Design from the University of Toronto (2011) and bachelor and professional degrees in Architecture from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (2006).

Schedule Tuesdays 14:15-17:15 in MSD Room 146; Fridays 09:00-12:00 in MSD Room 239

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