Studio 35

STORE - Future Retail for Cultural Exchange

Jas Johnston and Ben Waters

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

Studio Description

A collaboration with the fashion label ALPHA60 exploring the future of what a fashion ‘store’ can be. The contemporary fashion store is no longer an environment strictly for consuming material, it is a scene of cultural storage and exchange - a public space in and of the city. Students will have the opportunity to engage directly with ALPHA60 and its creative team, using the label’s Chapter House Flinders Lane and Brunswick Street stores as sites for investigation and speculation.  Utilising experimental digital and fabrication technology, inventive material, and innovative display methods the collaboration will strategise on the role of the contemporary fashion store, its impact on the city, and how design and architecture can enhance experiences of cultural exchange.

Studio Outcome

The design studio will be the key element that conceptually explores and develops design outcomes. The design work produced will be further developed in subsequent semesters formalising the conceptual ideas into built projects.

Studio Leaders

Jas Johnston is the Fabrication, Innovation and Technology Manager for the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne and is responsible for the strategic direction and operational oversight of the design innovation, maker spaces and technology needs of the Faculty. Jas is also the director of the Experimental Design Lab, or ExLaB, a design lab at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, that explores, researches and creates design through an experimental design process focused on the materials, machines and technologies things are made from.

Ben Waters - Ben Waters is founder of Siii Projects and principal at OSK Architects. He graduated with a Master of Architecture from RMIT University, and studied at Parsons School of Design, New York. In 2014, Ben was awarded a residency position at Berlin’s Centre for Art and Urbanistics (ZKU), and currently holds a residency at ACMI X Melbourne. He has taught masters design studios at MSD since 2015.

Readings & References

• Projects for Prada Part 1 - OMA
• Project on the City II: The Harvard Guide to Shopping - OMA
• Folding and Architecture - Greg Lynn
• Amazon Logistics Warehouses
• Drycleaners
• Alberti's Media Lab - "Mario Carpo"

Schedule Mondays 15:15-18:15 and Thursdays 18:15-21:15 in MSD Room 142

Travel Melbourne CBD + Fitzroy | Monday March 9

Contact Handbook Key Dates