Studio 03

JACK'S PLACE

Yvonne Meng | Civic Focus

Studio Description

JACK'S PLACE will explore how we approach a building's heritage value beyond the physical fabric, and what it means for architecture to draw from "place". We will challenge the common practices in dealing with relics of the past, and explore the intangible cultural heritage which architecture facilitates and represents. From this, we aim to generate alternative approaches to developing historically significant sites to project into the future.

The site of study will be Jack's Magazine, tucked away on the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne's western suburbs. Opened in 1878, the site had an important legacy in the Victoria's industrial history, but its programmatic obsolescence saw it redundant, unused and ultimately decommissioned in the 1990's, while the surrounding suburbs continue to develop as residential areas.

The site is of a civic scale, however its concealed location and physical terrain divorces it from the surrounding suburban environment. The studio will explore how architecture can negotiate between site, programme, identity and the creation of "place".

Studio Outcome

The renewed programme will include a new home for the Living Museum of the West, a community centre, and open public space for the City of Maribyrnong. Schemes are expected engage closely with the social and cultural context in which the project is placed, and will be encouraged to provide bold yet sensitive architectural proposals which challenge the value we put onto "oldness". Students are to demonstrate an understanding of wider urban issues, public realm and community space, as well as an understanding of the implications of design on changing urban and suburban contexts.

Students will:

• Closely examine relevant academic literature and respond with clear and considered design propositions
• Respond to the site's urban context through critical analysis of physical and cultural conditions
• Explore the role and nature of public and civic buildings
• Investigate design at the human scale and its effect on the wider urban realm
• Investigate human experience in the city and sensory engagement with public space

Studio Leader

Yvonne Meng is a practicing architect in Melbourne and director of Circle Studio Architects. She is a PhD candidate at Monash University and her research explores the intersection between the design, social dynamics and governance of urban footpaths. Yvonne teaches extensively across Monash and the University of Melbourne. She contributes regularly to Melbourne's architectural culture through presenting at public talks and panel discussions, writing, and awards juries. Yvonne is a former AIA Emerging Architects and Graduates co-chair and past curator the monthly PROCESS talks. She currently sits on the AIA Architect Victoria Editorial Committee.

Readings & References

• Dovey, Kim. Becoming Places: Urbanism / Architecture / Identity / Power. London: Routledge, 2009.
• Dunham-Jones 1959-, Ellen. Retrofitting Suburbia : Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs. Edited by
  June Williamson. Hoboken, N.J.: Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
• Hayden, Dolores. 1995. The Power of Place : Urban Landscapes as Public History. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
  Press.
• Ingold , Tim. Making : Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Edited by Ebooks Corporation. London ,
  2013.
• Kirk, Warren. Westography : Images of a Vanishing Suburbia. Edited by Helen Garner 1942- author of
  introduction, etc. Richmond, Vic: Victoria Echo Publishing, 2016.
• Lefebvre, Henri. 1991. The Production of Space. Oxford, OX, UK: Oxford, OX, UK.
• Lippard, Lucy R. 1997. The Lure of the Local : Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society. New York: New York :
  New Press.
• Lofland, Lyn H. The Public Realm : Exploring the City’s Quintessential Social Territory. Hawthorne, N.Y.: Aldine
  de Gruyter, 1998.
• Lynch, Kevin. 1960. The Image of the City. Cambridge [Mass.]: Cambridge Mass. : MIT Press.
• Oke editor, Nicole, Christopher C Sonn 1967- editor, Alison M Baker editor, Places of Privilege :
  Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Identities, Change and Resistance. Leiden, The Netherlands , 2018.
• Pink, Sarah. Advances in Visual Methodology. Los Angeles : Sage Publications, 2012.
• Stevens, Quentin. 2007. The Ludic City : Exploring the Potential of Public Spaces. Edited by Taylor & Francis. 1st
  ed. London.
• Sumartojo, Shanti. Atmospheres and the Experiential World : Theory and Methods. Edited by Sarah Pink author
  and ProQuest (Firm). Abingdon, Oxon , 2019.
• Tsukamoto, Yoshiharu, Momoyo Kaijima, and Atorie Wan. 2007. Graphic Anatomy. Edited by Momoyo Kaijima
  1969- and Atorie Wan. Graphic Anatomy Atelier Bow-Wow. Shohan. Tokyo: Tokyo : TOTO Shuppan.

Schedule Mondays and Thursdays 18:15-21:15 in MSD Room 140

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