Thesis Studio/01


OPERA APERTA - The Performance of Industrial Form

Alan Pert and Jonathan Mills, supported by Kerstin Thompson (KTA) and Studio Kristen Whittle

Studio Description

Open Work Studio allows students to pursue independent design thesis projects on common ground (at Fisherman’s Bend) and through shared interests in defining the concept of ‘performance’ in relation to the discipline of architecture. Students are invited to explore themes around: industrial form, landscape futures, contamination, restoration, repair, automation, assemblage, hybrids, incompleteness, architecture as event, preservation versus progress, archaeology, open form, open aesthetics and the open city amongst other relevant challenges. Collectively, the design studio will explore the concept of ‘performance’ set within an ecological paradigm – this will be tested through the mediation of Opera as an art form and a post industrial landscape in a state of flux. The intriguing qualities of these seemingly disparate worlds invite alternative futures. Opera Aperta will celebrate individual and collective creativity (making architecture) in partnership with a group of cultural collaborators (Victorian Opera / Melbourne Theatre Company / A New Normal / NGV / Kerstin Thompson Architects / Kristen Whittle Studio / John Wardle Architects). The “dust” and “debri” of production in car manufacturing around the world today offers an original viewpoint from which to explore a new relationship between production, architecture, landscpae and the city. Students become collaborators in the rehearsal and reimagining of the ruins of an industrial past – constructing and reconstructing the parts Known and unKnown.

Studio Outcomes

The Studio sets out to make proposals for the future of a post-industrial landscape and its associated infrastructure(s) – environmental, physical + social. The existing ensemble of industrial ruins and the broader ecology of the Fisherman’s Bend precinct set the scene for ‘The Project’ and ‘The Event’. The aim of the studio is to reclaim the future of Fisherman’s Bend through a design studio model that explores the concept of ‘performance’, in relation to the discipline of architecture and set within an ecological paradigm - Creating alternative futures and future pasts, designing new relationships with historic and contemporary contexts. Fisherman’s Bend will be a space for and of production – it is a rehearsal space for crossover artists, crossover researchers and where academic research, cultural production, practice and people crossover and collide. It is a space where the debri and the dust of General Motors Holden might collide with a new industrial-scale wind tunnel and Opera. This will be an architectural project inscribed in the monumental ensemble of GM Holden and a radical orchestration of parts known and unkown.

Studio Leaders

As well as being an academic, Alan Pert has always run a parallel career in Architectural Practice through NORD (Northern Office for Research & Design) in the Uk and Parallel Practice in Aus. Practice based projects have as such been informed by and through research. NORD were awarded RIBA, Young Architect of the Year in 2006 and their WASPS Creative Industries Hub and Artists Studio project won the Doolan Prize in 2013. NORD have completed the permanent furniture gallery for the Victorian & Albert Museum in 2010 and have exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale and Milan Furniture Fair. Alan Pert, has as such worked extensively as an architect, exhibition designer, and curator while concurrently holding roles as Professor of Architecture and Director of Research.

Sir Jonathan Mills AO FRSE is an Australian composer and festival director. He was born and raised in Sydney and has dual Australian and UK citizenship. His work includes two operas, an oratorio, a ballet, song cycles, concertos, and chamber music. He has directed a number of arts festivals in Australia, and from 2006 to 2014 he was director of the Edinburgh International Festival. Mills was a research fellow and composer in residence at RMIT University, Melbourne between 1992 and 1997. He graduated as Master of Architecture at RMIT in 1999, focusing on acoustic design and the role of sound in the built environment. Between 1998 and 2003 he was an adjunct professor at RMIT.

Between 1988 and 2003 he was the artistic director of music festivals in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. These included the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Melbourne Federation Festival, the Melbourne Millennium Eve Celebrations, and the Brisbane Biennial International Music Festival (inaugural artistic adviser 1995–97)

Readings & References

Note: Tim Edensor will join the Studio in the first two weeks of semester.

Schedule
Lecture Thursdays 17:15-18:15 in MSD B121 (Malaysian Theatre) in Weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10
Studio Tuesdays 16:15-19:15 and Thursdays 09:00-12:00 in MSD Room 141

Off-campus Activities
Week 2 / Fisherman's Bend (walking tour)

Contact Handbook

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