Studio 06

Passive Aggressive: Reheated

Katie Skillington and Jim Stewart

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

Studio Description

What is the state of dwelling in our precarious age?

Students are asked to contemplate the question of how we dwell amidst global concerns relating to built environment sustainability, efficiency, and comfort. The fragility and vulnerability of our environments and threats to established social, natural and financial systems, mean the status quo will no longer suffice.

This studio challenges traditional ideas around how we design, construct, and occupy the spaces that house our daily activities. Students will be tasked with designing for current and changing climate conditions, whilst exploring a well-articulated and individual expression of what it means to dwell in a place. The Passive House standard will be introduced as a framework to help quantify the real, physical implications of design decisions around materiality, form factor, orientation, glazing and envelope design. In this latest edition of Passive Aggressive, we are also introducing basic thermal bridge modelling.

Studio Outcome

Passive Aggressive: Reheated aims to respond to the question of "what is the state of dwelling in our precarious age?" by designing contemporary places to dwell that respond to the need for more environmentally sensitive built environments.

Over the semester, students are encouraged to develop an understanding of key passive solar design strategies, the Passive House standard, and basic architectural detailing from both design and functionality perspectives. There are two core design tasks: a small experience space, and a mixed-use major project. The format of the studio involves a mixture of workshops, pin-ups, and presentations to industry stakeholders.

Importantly, PA:R advocates for an approach to design that prioritises the basics that come before the high-tech, mechanical and electrical building systems society commonly associates with 'sustainable design'. Instead, we push towards the basics of solar passive design and a 'fabric first' approach.

Studio Leaders

Katie Skillington and Jim Stewart are both registered practising architects with extensive experience in residential architecture. Currently, Katie is a PhD candidate at UniMelb, researching the influence of materiality on the environmental performance of multi-residential buildings. Jim is an Associate at Fender Katsalidis, leading multi-use projects across Melbourne and overseas. On the side, Katie and Jim also work in an ESD-focused architecture collaboration, formed in 2016 whilst living in Japan. Katie and Jim are former board members of the Australian Passive House Association, spend too much money on Lego, and are graduates of MSD.

Readings & References

• Readings and spreadsheets for calculations will be supplied to students in-class.

Schedule Mondays 17:15-20:15 and Thursdays 18:15-21:15 in MSD Room 448

Contact Handbook Key Dates