Thesis Studio

Urban Design Thesis: Grain

Tahj Rosmarin and Toby Woolley

This studio is co-taught as ABPL90169 Architecture Design Thesis Studio 9.

Studio Description

Too often, our cities fail to address the social and human dimensions of living in an urban environment. Developer driven outcomes have become the new normal and set a dangerous precedent for urban renewal. In the 1960’s, an unlikely coalition of post war migrants, long term residents, university students and staff, construction workers and trade unionists challenged the government’s plans to bulldoze Carlton in the name of progress. They fought to retain the grain.

Once again the historically multi-cultural suburb of Carlton is undergoing rapid change. RMIT University and the University of Melbourne are reshaping their inner urban campuses, the City of Melbourne is renewing the Queen Victoria Market precinct, and the State Government is investing in significant transport infrastructure projects. Using the City North Melbourne Innovation District as our testing ground, the studio will explore the following question; how can this precinct continue to recognise, value and contribute to the social, cultural and human qualities of our cities?

Studio Outcomes

Students will be asked to critically assess the City North Melbourne Innovation District and form a critical position on its future vision. They will be asked to interrogate the State Government’s ambition for ‘uplift and progress’, against existing humanistic qualities found within Carlton and surrounds. Key to this understanding will be a thorough analysis of Carlton’s urban environment through the process of observation and analysis.

The studio will ask students to explore and follow their own interests within the following themes:

• Human scale urbanism and urban identity
• Social innovation and enterprise
• Role of universities in placemaking
• Institutional buildings that cater for community

Studio Leaders

Tahj Rosmarin, Architect/ Senior Urban Designer at MGS Architects

Tahj is a Melbourne-based urban designer and architect who has practiced in Australia, India and the Netherlands. He has worked on a variety of projects ranging from urban masterplans to residential alterations and additions.

Toby Woolley, Senior Urban Designer at MGS Architects

Toby is an urban and architectural designer who has worked on a variety of projects in both his native Tasmania and Melbourne. He has worked on a number of University Master Plans in Melbourne, Hobart and Canberra and has experience in urban townscape values, residential accommodation and university institutional buildings.

Both Tahj and Toby have recently taught a Design Thesis studio at the University of Melbourne: Post-COVID Campus, unpacking the future of the University campus at the University of Melbourne. They are currently working at MGS Architects on a range of University master plans, including the CBD North Master Plan and Innovation Spine.

Readings & References

• Furniture, Structure, Infrastructure: Making and Using the Urban Environment by Nigel Bertram
• The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte
• Windowscape: Window Behaviorology by Yoshiharu Tsukamo
• Division and Multiplication by NMBW
• Made in Tokyo: Guide Book by Atelier Bow Wow
• Architecture Reading Aid: Ahmedabad by Niklas Fanelsa, Marius Helten, Björn Martenson, Leonard Wertgen
• Tokyo Metabolising by Ryue Nishizawa and Yoshiharu Tsukamo and Koh Kitayama
• S, M, L, XL by Rem Koolhaas
• Urban Choreography, Central Melbourne, 1985– by Kim Dovey, Rob Adams and Ron Jones
• Episodic Urbanism: The RMIT Urban Spaces Project 1996–2015 by Peter Elliot
• The Ideal City: Exploring Urban Futures by Space 10
• Soft City: Building Density by David Sim
• A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein, and Sara Ishikawa
• Melbourne Innovation Districts City North Opportunities Plan by City of Melbourne, 2020
• Trendyville: The Battle for Australia's Inner Cities by Renate Howe, David Nichols and Graeme Davison

Schedule Tuesdays 18:15-21:15 and Thursdays 15:15-18:15

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