Studio 07

Opportunistic Urbanism: Home Studio

Andy Fergus and Alexis Kalagas

Studio Description

Housing in Melbourne is undergoing a period of rapid transformation. Affordability pressures, combined with changing lifestyle preferences, have driven a shift towards apartment living. This has corresponded with the rise of the private rental sector as the fastest growing segment of the housing market. A new 'generation rent' has emerged from the convergence of demographic, technological, and employment trends. Set within the context of a planned mixed-use redevelopment of the Collingwood Town Hall precinct, this studio will explore the history of apartment design internationally, including the relationship between finance, regulation, and physical form. With a focus on the spatial design opportunities of a range of rental typologies, students will be asked to design a housing project, embedded within a collaborative precinct plan. Working in close partnership with the City of Yarra and the Abbotsford community, the studio will explore how architects can influence the creation of vibrant and diverse neighbourhoods.

Studio Outcome

  • Develop an understanding of the history and evolution of apartment design globally and within the Australian context.
  • Visit seminal housing projects within inner urban Sydney and understand the cultural and regulatory differences to Melbourne.
  • Research and visit emerging housing models within the Melbourne context.
  • Analyse and develop an understanding of seminal historical and contemporary housing exemplars.
  • Respond to emerging household structures through the design of new spatial arrangements within apartments.
  • Explore the spatial opportunities that result from the relationship between technology and domestic space.
  • Design concurrently at multiple scales between the individual dwelling and the scale of the precinct masterplan.
  • Through research, explore future mixed use configurations in creating active and vibrant precincts.
  • Develop an understanding of the relationship between design and property development, including how finance impacts upon the design opportunities for housing.

Studio Leaders

Andy Fergus is an Urban Designer at the City of Melbourne, where he works on major development projects and leads the design policy agenda. His multi-disciplinary background encompasses architecture, urban design, and planning, reflecting experience and interest across all urban scales. He has contributed to a number of Nightingale projects and other emerging housing prototypes including through the City of Sydney Alternative Housing Ideas Challenge. Andy has written on emerging housing and urban development challenges for Assemble Papers, Architecture Australia, Architecture AU, and Lo Res, and is a regular guest lecturer and critic at a number of Australian universities.  

Alexis Kalagas is Urban Strategy Lead at Relative Projects. Previously a policy advisor with the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet, he worked on projects in Europe, Latin America, and Africa at the interdisciplinary design practice Urban-Think Tank. He has pursued his interest in housing innovation as a Harvard GSD Richard Rogers Fellow, a finalist in the City of Sydney's Alternative Housing Ideas Challenge, a Future Architecture fellow, and in the Seoul Biennale of Architecture & Urbanism. Editor of the book Reactivate Athens: 101 Ideas, his writing has been published widely, including in Harvard Design Magazine, Perspecta, and AD.

Readings & References

Schedule Mondays 09:00-12:00 in MSD Room 140 and Thursdays 17:00-20:00 in MSD Room 140

Travel Sydney | 26-28 March | $600 || Fitzroy | 14 March

Contact Handbook Key Dates

Need enrolment assistance?

Stop 1 provides enrolment and other support to Bachelor of Design, Bachelor of Environments and Melbourne School of Design students.