A new report by the Faculty’s Connected Cities Lab explores the critical role urban observatories play in knowledge mobilisation and urban governance.

Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already huge fortunes by 27.5%. And as many ordinary people lost their jobs and fell into poverty, The Guardian reported “the 1% are coping” by taking private jets to their luxury retreats.

2020 was a bumper year for solar power in Australia. More solar PV systems were installed in the first nine months than in all of any previous year.

If the power goes off during a heat wave most of Melbourne’s apartment blocks would fail international health standards, research shows

The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. That’s the fastest rate of removal in the city’s history. The scale of the investment — at least A$14.8 billion — and the project’s ripple effects mean it could do more to transform the city’s public transport system than the Metro Tunnel project.

Over the past few years, Australians have embraced online food delivery services such as UberEats, Deliveroo and Menulog. But home-delivered food comes with a climate cost, and single-use packaging is one of the biggest contributors.

Congratulations to Master of Architecture alum Meher Bahl for receiving the 2020 ICOMOS Australia President’s Award.

As floods, heatwaves and droughts increase, how will they affect our lives and bring about change? We asked seven University of Melbourne experts about our preparedness.

The Queensland Government have released the outcomes of their Growing Indigenous Tourism in Queensland Fund, with the Olkola Cultural Knowledge Centre announced as a category 2 successful applicant.

Based in Melbourne, we set out to find new ways of seeing and understanding aspects of Australian urban life in the 21st century. We did this by walking the city without preconceptions, open and ready to absorb what the streets and sidewalks had to teach.

After seven years working as the Curator of Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Associate Professor Rory Hyde is returning to Australia to work with the University of Melbourne.

This groundbreaking research from the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne, and the ArchiTeam Cooperative finds architect-designed homes financially outperform the alternative.

The Victorian government has announced the big social housing investment for which housing advocates, industry groups, academics and social service providers have been clamouring for decades.

We were used to consuming architecture – both near to home and far away – with ease. But this year, our travel wings severed, heritage sites found themselves scrambling to hasten their digital aspirations.

Dr Julie Miao, Senior Lecturer in Property and Economic Development at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has received a 3-year Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) commencing in 2021.

The 2020 federal budget forecasts Australia’s population growth will slow to almost zero over several years because of COVID-19 and related restrictions. This leads to the question: will this period allow the big cities to catch up on infrastructure shortfalls that developed before the pandemic?

Mark Stevenson, Professor of Urban Transport and Public Health at the University of Melbourne, warns that an increasingly urbanised world will not be sustainable unless governments reduce reliance on privately owned automobiles. Evidence from Beijing and elsewhere shows that car use results in millions of deaths from road crashes, pollution and chronic diseases. Cities should instead encourage public transport, walking and cycling, and extend urban public transport networks to outlying, suburban areas.

The i-Hub Integrated Design Studio for data centre design has been featured in 'Ecolibrium', the official journal of AIRAH. The studio seeks to provide a better marriage between the disciplines of engineering and architecture.

The University of Melbourne’s Connected Cities Lab and the City of Melbourne will work together to implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The recent opening of Northcote Golf Course to the public offers valuable insight into understanding how Melbourne's urban green spaces can contribute to the community, beyond conventional ideas of functionality and formal recreation.

Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning students and staff have been shortlisted for the 2021 AA Prize for Unbuilt Work.

Jasper Wijnands, at the University of Melbourne in Australia, is also convinced that AI has a place in future urban design. He and his colleagues have started exploring the use of generative adversarial networks (GANs) to do style transfer on images from Google Street View.

The latest modelling by the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning’s Transport, Health and Urban Design Research Lab at the University of Melbourne has laid out the possible scenarios for how Covid-19 restriction easing could play out in Victoria.

The Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Change and Cities Symposium brings together cities and their urban partners to become inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable as they #buildbackbetter.

In the face of the global health and climate crises, we look at our cities both anxiously and hopefully. We deviate from our normal patterns of behaviour to avoid close physical contact and suffer associated emotional and practical losses. At the same time, we envision our cities’ lasting transformation for the better.

As a lack of housing diversity and affordability continues to prove a major grappling point for many Australians, a team of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) students from the University of Melbourne have taken on the challenge and reimagined the great Australian dream using a holistic approach to offsite manufacturing.

Digital communications have spread conspiracy theories more widely than ever before, particularly in this uncertain and tumultuous year. QAnon, for example, is a movement that seeks to identify a “deep state” or “global elite” complicit in human trafficking, “Pizzagate” and the orchestration of a global pandemic.

Projects from the Melbourne School of Design will feature as part of the Ars Electronica festival 2020 from September 9 to 13.

Up to now the focus has been on managing “hot spots” in the COVID lockdowns of Melbourne and Victoria. We have identified four key factors that might help explain why we see high rates of COVID-19 cases in some parts of the city.

We’re a few weeks into our semester – well done for getting through this far. And if this is your first semester with us, either in the Bachelor of Design or a masters degree, welcome to ABP and the MSD.

Building on the success of the MSD at HOME talks series, a new program of talks, 'Melbourne Speaks' launches next week.

Socializing with friends has become such a frustrating and difficult activity to do in the midst of Covid 19 and the chaos of online classes. MSD Re-imagined is a virtual platform that brings architecture students together again to encourage stronger, more diverse networks and social inputs.

The toughest lockdown imposed on residents of public housing in Australia has been lifted, but their COVID-19 ordeal isn’t over – and recovering from their traumatic experience will take time.

After 3,000 people in nine public housing towers in Melbourne were placed under the harshest coronavirus lockdown in Australia so far, acting Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly referred to the towers on July 5 as “vertical cruise ships.”

The roar of the crowd at the stadium. Jostling to see the New Year fireworks in the public square. Captivated by the band at the pub. Meeting mates outside the train station. These experiences conjure sites of importance for each of us.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Jillian Walliss, Professor Gini Lee and Antonia Besa, alongside their colleagues, for having their work celebrated and awarded at the 2020 Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture (AILA) Victoria Awards.

In a Conversation article a year ago we applied negotiation theory to changes to the Victorian Planning and Environment Act. The changes were designed to support local councils in negotiations with developers to secure affordable housing.

As we re-open our economy and workers gradually return to workplaces, overall travel will increase. However, the need to maintain social distancing means public transport can’t operate at usual capacity.

Q – Ricky sits at one of half-a-dozen entrances to the San Roque settlement in Metro Manila’s North Triangle district. Ricky (not his real name) is part of a large team that guards the settlement 24 hours a day with two specific tasks: to prevent the entry of any construction materials and to stop any building activity or repairs by residents.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced on Wednesday, June 10 that The University of Melbourne has been awarded the Grand Gold CASE Circle of Excellence Award in Special Events | Year-Long Events for 'BE-150', the celebration of 150 years of educating built environment professionals, and 100 years of the establishment of The University of Melbourne Atelier.

Tomorrow is the first World Green Roof Day. Cities around the world will celebrate the well-documented environmental, economic and social benefits of green roofs.

As we emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, it is timely to reflect on how the design of our neighbourhoods and the ways we interact with them affect our lived experience.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning’s Transport, Health and Urban Design Research Lab at the University of Melbourne alongside the Center for Public Health at Queen’s University of Belfast are the joint recipients of over $1.2 million in funding by the Australian and UK Government to advance research into the impact of urban design on health.

This collection provides glimpses into the 36 projects which were staged as a physical exhibition at the Melbourne School of Design, Dulux Gallery as part of Melbourne Design Week 2020.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne and the Connected Cities Lab, with partners the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSDA) and Banksia Foundation announce the beginning of the ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Cities Challenge’.

As the recently appointed Director of the Bachelor of Design, and Professor of Architecture and Philosophy, I want to take the opportunity to reach out to you, the collective student body composing the Bachelor of Design, and applaud your incredible work meeting the educational challenges thrown up by the current global pandemic.

Early career researchers and practitioners in the visual arts, design, architecture, performance & screen have the chance to develop their communication skills as part of a new media residency at the ABC, in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Australia Council for the Arts

We would like to acknowledge the impact the coronavirus, and associated uncertainty, is having on all of our students. Our first priority is your comfort, health and wellbeing. You are at the heart of everything we do.

The Melbourne School of Design launches 'MSD at Home', celebrating students and their work as a form of connection during the transition to a virtual campus.

On 2 March the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) held the Dies Natalis Commencement to mark the 61st anniversary of their higher education institution. A close educational collaborator with the Melbourne School of Design, ITB is significantly involved in travelling studios and academic research endeavors.

In 2020, Melbourne Design Week asks designers to experiment with ideas, materials, places and processes in response to the central question ‘How can design shape life?’

Funding by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) for the Affordable Heating and Cooling Innovation Hub (i-Hub) was announced last week.

MSD student Victoria King has won the RIBA President’s Silver Medal 2019 for her Independent Thesis project ‘Surface Tension: Blueprints for Observing Contamination in the Sydney Harbour Estuary’.

A fragmented, floating, blue metropolis appears, reminding us of the transience and vulnerability of our cities.  Italian novelist Italo Calvino's mythical city of Eudoxia (aka Venice) is reimagined in Melbourne, Australia.

The Melbourne School of Design (MSD) and Melbourne fashion label Alpha60 are excited to announce a partnership.

Alumnus Tristan Wong (SJB Architects) and academic and alumnus Jefa Greenaway (Greenaway Architects) have been announced as creative directors for the Australian Pavilion, 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale.

On October 12 Master of Construction students participated in the 2nd annual Research in Construction Conference, a core component of the Research in Construction subject (ABPL90358).

Join the University of Melbourne and Parlour for Transformations: Action on Equity – two days of lively, incisive and necessary exchange on gender equity and the built environment professions.

The winners of The Future Park Design Ideas Competition were announced on Friday, October 11 during the AILA 2019 International Festival of Landscape Architecture.

The pinnacle of our year-long celebration of 150 years of built environment education at the University, the BE—150 Gala was held at the National Gallery of Victoria on October 1.

Inspirational in every sense of the word, Melbourne has lost a true visionary. The passing of David Yencken leaves an incredible legacy but also a bewildering vacuum - for over 50 years he championed the Australian environment, the nation’s heritage and excellence in design.

Making a prototype provides a means to experiment, design and evaluate an idea, or a concept. What it does is to make the future visible. While most prototypes are physical artefacts, they can also be virtual and come in a multitude of media that challenge our senses: in the form of sound, touch, smell, sight and taste. Most critically, they challenge our current views of our world and the ideal of our future society.

Melbourne's Great Architectural Baking Competition took place over the 17-18 of August, with more than 25 entries, 12 finalists and 5 winners announced during the University of Melbourne's 2019 Open Day.

Australian-born Peter Wilson co-founded the architecture firm Bolles + Wilson, with Julia Bolles in 1980. Having won the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Presidents Prize in 2009 and the AIA Gold Medal in 2013, Peter Wilson recently returned to Australia to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Melbourne, and to deliver the BE-150 Dulux Dean’s Lecture presentation at the Melbourne School of Design.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning and Lyon Housemuseum Galleries are excited to announce a partnership.

On Friday 26 July Professor Alan Pert, Director of the Melbourne School of Design, launched IBA Melbourne as part of the Housing Futures Conference run by Architecture Media.

Congratulations to our students who recently took out third place at the 12th Innovation Competition in Construction Engineering and Management (ICCEM), hosted by Tsinghua University.

The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the recipients of the 2019 Victorian Architecture Awards.

This June Professor Julie Willis, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, travelled to Kuala Lumpur to join Malaysian graduates in an alumni gathering.

Singapore boasts one of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning’s most vibrant alumni communities. With over 350 members, any opportunity to get together for a celebration is a welcome one.

This year a number of Architecture, Building and Planning alumni and their projects have been recognised across several categories at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects’ (AILA) 2019 VIC Landscape Architecture Awards

Entries are now open for the The Future Park Design Ideas Competition presented by the University of Melbourne, in partnership with Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) and proudly supported by the Office of the Victorian Government Architect and RMIT University.

The Affordable Housing Hallmark will fund a series of research projects in 2019 that bring together researchers from across the university to explore topics related to affordable housing.

A team of Masters students from the Melbourne School of Design have won the 2019 CoreNet Global Academic Challenge 4.0 in Hong Kong.

The Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning has an ever-growing relationship with China, particularly Shanghai, which includes annual travelling studios, a partnership with Tongji University and a healthy community of alumni living and working in the region. The second leg of the BE—150 international launch saw Professor Julie Willis, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning farewell our alumni in Hong Kong and start the journey on to Shanghai.

With nearly 400 alumni living or working in the territory of Hong Kong, the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has a significant network active within the region. For the international launch of BE­—150, Professor Julie Willis, Dean of the Faculty travelled to Hong Kong alongside several colleagues to highlight and celebrate this connection.

During the second half of 2018 the Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning ran an international design summer school focusing on Architectural History and Conservation, specifically rehabilitating built heritage in the water town of Nanxun. The Melbourne School of Design sponsored Master of Urban and Cultural Heritage students Gloryrose Dy and Paula Yanez Espinosa to attend.

As part of Melbourne Design Week, the National Gallery of Victoria ran the ‘Victorian Design Challenge’, inviting design professionals and students to tackle the challenge of ‘waste’. This culminated on Tuesday March 19 with the team behind ‘Curvecrete’ live pitching their invention in the Great Hall of the NGV for a $15,000.00 prize in the Waste Challenge final.

The University of Melbourne launches the BE-150 Program, celebrating 150 years of built environment education.

For three days in late January, 24 designers and academics from across Asia convened in Beijing to discuss the possibilities of a contemporary Asian landscape architecture practice.

In December 2018, four Master of Architecture students were selected to travel to Hong Kong to attend Business of Design Week as special guests of the Hong Kong Design Centre.

Studio 19 IMAGING – A Museum Made Digital saw students mastering a range of technologies to open up the world of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) to a universal audience. We caught up with studio leader Ben Waters to find out how the studio evolved from concept to real, and what impact it had on The Ian Potter Museum of Art and the students who undertook it.

During her visit to the Melbourne School of Design for the Dean’s Lecture Series in October, Alison Brooks, Principal and Creative Director of Alison Brooks Architects, sat down with Professor Donald Bates to discuss her career beginnings, philosophy, and her award-winning works.

Our cities are responsible for a large chunk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, so the way we plan and construct them has to adapt to the future impacts of climate change.

Grade 5 and 6 children from Pascoe Vale North Primary School have imagined, designed and constructed a temporary Parktopia in the Coburg North Linear Reserve.

A number of Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning alumni and their projects won awards and commendations at the recent 2018 National Architecture Awards held on November 1st.

The Indigenous Design – Past | Present | Future symposium in July brought together local and international design practitioners to explore the role of Indigenous design. Mphethi Morojele, owner and founder of MMA Design Studio in South Africa, presented the signature keynote lecture.

London-based artist, designer and consultant Adam Peacock has been awarded the 2018 Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship.

A team of MSD students were shortlisted among working architects and international design students in the Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge.

We are now inviting exhibition proposals for 4-6-week exhibition slots in our 2019 exhibition program. Proposals are sought to exhibit in spaces within the MSD building.

A Melbourne School of Design studio and a project designed by architect and lecturer Jefa Greenaway form part of the Australian Pavilion at the International Architecture Biennale in Venice.

The Indigenous design perspective has been ignored, replaced or forgotten for too long, says architect Jefa Greenaway - but things are changing

The winners of the 2018 Victorian Architecture Awards include a number of studios affiliated with Melbourne School of Design alumni.

Melbourne School of Design welcomed hundreds of guests to celebrate the opening of the latest MSDx last week.

Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs is a new ARC Linkage Project that will generate new knowledge to plan, design, govern and manage school facilities and infrastructure, enabling schools to be maximised as ‘community hubs’.

Melbourne School of Design celebrated students’ outstanding academic achievements during 2017 at the Dean’s Honours Awards on 15 May.

New research finds that people are willing to pay more for energy efficient housing, making the case for a mandatory national rating system for existing homes.

In recent years a group of students started inviting firms to give talks as part of a series of events. The Built Industry Group (BIG) has quickly turned this series into something of a MSD phenomenon. We asked BIG President Derek Huynh to give us the lowdown.

Difficult personal circumstance should not prevent anyone from completing a Melbourne education. Will you give a gift today to ensure our students can fulfil their potential and pursue rewarding careers?

The University of Melbourne and Harvard University are proud to announce the appointment of Professor Philip Goad as the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australian Studies for the 2019-2020 academic year.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning celebrated the outstanding academic achievements of undergraduate students at the Dean's Honours Awards.

A group of 16 undergraduate students travelled to the Indian city Vijayawada in January to take part in the Humanitarian Design Internship.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning enjoyed a year of increasing collaboration and interchange with Tongji University in 2017.

After making an international engineering career at global multinational Arup, Enterprise Professor Brendon McNiven is shaping our architectural engineering curriculum.

Having a keen interest in computing, Kabir Sawhney originally from India, is now studying the Bachelor of Design at the University of Melbourne. We caught up with Kabir to talk about his student experience so far.

Melbourne School of Design is home to a new maker space: the New Experimental Technology Lab (NExT Lab).

University of Melbourne researchers have launched a new teacher resource pack designed to support secondary school educators teaching the compulsory year nine geography subject Biomes and Food Security.

Saran Kim is a Japanese international student who has just completed her first year of the Bachelor of Design. Having come from Mater Christi College in Belgrave, we caught up with Saran to chat about her experiences so far.

Targol Khorram started studying architecture in Iran in 1998 and completed a Master of Urban Planning in 2015 at the University of Melbourne. She currently works as an urban designer at the City of Stonnington and leads a place making studio at the University of Melbourne. She previously worked on the Queen Victoria Market redevelopment. More recently, she was the President of Architects for Peace for two years.

As part of the Bushfire the Natural Hazards CRC Research Project Urban Planning for Natural Hazard Mitigation, the University of Melbourne together is offering a scholarship to support a PhD candidate under the supervision of Associate Professor Alan March within the Melbourne School of Design. Applications close Tuesday 30 January 2018.

Student Sarah Mair reflects on the 'House of Ideas' exhibition at the Walsh Street Boyd House.

Congratulations to our talented alumni recognised in this year's National Architecture Awards.

Christine Wamsler (Professor of Sustainability Science, Lund University) visited the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne in October as part of the Dean’s Lecture Series (watch her lecture here). She sat down with Alan March (Associate Professor of Urban Planning, University of Melbourne) to discuss the role planning has to play with regard to climate risk reduction and creating a more resilient future.

University of Melbourne Architecture alumnus Dylan Brady is currently exhibiting his journey through architecture in a series of sketches in our Dulux Gallery. Professor Donald Bates spoke to Dylan about his career for the Australian Institute of Architects.

Master of Architecture student Morgan Doty has won the Melbourne Fringe Furniture exhibition prizes for the “Sustainability” and “Student” categories for her piece: the CMYK chair.

Lauren Murrant is the second recipient of the DELWP Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship. Hailing from Berwick, Lauren began a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University, before transferring into the Bachelor of Design where she was awarded the scholarship.

The transport sector plays a key role in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #11 regarding making cities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Last week international guests Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, founding directors of New York based firm Reiser + Umemoto (RUR Architecture DPC), visited the Melbourne School of Design as part of the 2017 Dean’s Lecture Series. The work of Reiser + Umemoto spans over 30 years of practice and is at the forefront of architectural innovation, comprising rigorous research and experimentation across both built and unrealised projects. Reiser and Umemoto presented a public lecture to a sold-out B117 Theatre, and curated an exhibition in the Dulux Gallery detailing some of their most well-known and influential projects. The exhibition will be on show at the Melbourne School of Design until September 13. Melbourne School of Design’s Chair in Architectural Design, Professor Donald Bates, sat down with them to discuss their philosophy, careers and projects.

The Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH) officially launched as a research centre on 5 September 2017 with the Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Jim McCluskey in attendance.

Saaranya Kumar Dasari hails originally from Akividu in the south-east of India. After moving to Chennai to study a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Saaranya has made his biggest globe-trotting leap yet: a semester abroad here at the University of Melbourne, based in the Melbourne School of Design.

Construction management students Ian Alcazar, Liam Nuttall, Matt Thompson and James Miller travelled to Hong Kong recently to represent the University of Melbourne at the CIOB Global Student Challenge Finals, accompanied by Dr. Paolo Vaz Serra.

MSD Students Chao Feng, Derek Huynh and Matko Matkovic have won First Place in the 2017 Melbourne’s Backyard Ideas Competition organised by the Future Focus Group of the Committee for Melbourne for their submission: “Connecting City Square”.

Tommy Heng moved from Malaysia to Melbourne and graduated from the Bachelor of Environments (2011-2013) and the Master of Architecture (2015-2016) at the Melbourne School of Design within the University of Melbourne. He was winner of the 2017 Victorian Graduate Prize awarded by the Australian Institute of Architects, providing recognition and encouragement for graduates embarking on their professional careers. Currently, Tommy is working full-time at Lyons Architecture in Melbourne, where we interviewed him to catch-up on his reflections on his University of Melbourne experience and transitioning into full-time work.

In Papua New Guinea, the issue of sanitation remains prevalent. It is estimated that there are still 154,000 households (860,000 people and 13% of the population) who do not have access to any form of sanitation in rural areas.

We recently caught up with alumnus Pe-Yang Teng to find out what he’s been up to over the last few years, how his career has progressed and what he remembers about life as an Architecture, Building and Planning student.

James Billson graduated with a Bachelor of Building in 1988 in the footsteps of his grandfather Edward Billson, the first ever Architect graduate from the University. After starting his career with builder L.U Simon, he worked with Lewis Constructions on the Melbourne Central project with the redevelopment of the Shot Tower until moving to London.

For the second year in a row, the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA School) visited the University of Melbourne from July 3 – July 14 for the AA Visiting Studio (AAVS) with students exploring the interstitial spaces of Melbourne.

This year's Victorian Architecture Awards highlighted the creativity of many talented MSD alumni. Our heartfelt congratulations to the following practices and projects:

Tarkett, a global leader in sustainable flooring, has collaborated with the University of Melbourne to offer for the first time an award to recognise the creativity and social conscience of design students in Victoria.

Katja Wagner is the 2017 recipient of the Michael Kaufman Scholarship awarded to high achieving architecture students based on academic merit. Her father David received the same award thirty years ago when he was a student at the University. The faculty is very thankful for the continuous support from its supporters and donors who have helped our incredible students achieve their best throughout generations. Find out more about other faculty scholarships and prizes and how you can support the faculty with a gift.

In just thirty years, the bicycle, once the transport of choice for up to 523 million people in China, has become a relic of the past. From the 1970s, though until the early 1990s, bicycles offered mobility, comfort and prestige, making China internationally famous as the ‘Kingdom of Bicycles’.

Laura Brown is amongst the first cohort of students to undertake the Bachelor of Design, commencing study in Semester 1, 2017 and is the first recipient of the DELWP Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship.

Created by students and studio leaders in 2016’s experimental Wind Architecture studio, The Hex Kite has won the Platinum A' Design Award at the at international A’Design Award and Competition.

MSD PhD student Alessandro Liuti completed the construction of AIRSHELL, the first timber gridshell structure ever formed by means of a pneumatic formwork.

As part of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (CAMP.H), the University of Melbourne together with Amoveo is offering a scholarship to support a PhD candidate under the supervision of Associate Professor Robert Crawford within the Melbourne School of Design, and in collaboration with the Melbourne School of Engineering.

A new student exchange agreement with Tongji University, Shanghai, China was signed this month by the Dean of Faculty, Professor Julie Willis.

Rob Adams, Julie Eizenberg and Peter Watts were each awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Melbourne yesterday.

This year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice has closed, with record attendance at the most popular Australian exhibition yet. The Denton Corker Marshall designed Australian Pavilion hosted its first architecture biennale, raising the prominence of the Australian exhibition:  The Pool – Architecture, Culture and Identity in Australia.

In September 2016 eleven of our Masters students from both Architecture and Urban Design packed their bags and set off to the Netherlands for the experience of a lifetime.

We join the University community in congratulating the fine scholars who have been promoted in 2016.

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has received a gift of $1 million from Creative Futures Foundation, chaired by Professor Daryl Le Grew. The generous gift will provide the annual Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship, set to bring internationally acclaimed design and innovation trailblazers to work in residence at the University.

Urban public health researcher Prof Mark Stevenson describes the better human health outcomes to be had in cities that emphasise active transport modes like cycling and walking, while discouraging dependence on cars. Presented by Lynne Haultain.

The Victorian state government has committed to removing 50 level crossings in two terms of office: a faster rate of removal than in any other period in the history of railways in Melbourne.

Call for Abstracts and Papers: Inflection vol. 4 examines the theme of Permanence within the discipline of architecture.

Ten projects involving the work of our alumni were recognised in last week's 2016 National Architecture Awards. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to you all, and celebrate the recognition of your innovation and commitment.

Held on Friday 4th November, the 2016 Planning Institute of Australia’s National Awards for Planning Excellence recognised the exceptional contribution to planning made by Associate Professor Alan March, Professor Carolyn Whitzman and PhD student Claire Boulange.

Professor Mark Burry, Professor Virginia Lee and Dr Stanislav Roudavski, and colleagues, have been awarded ARC Discovery funding, commencing in 2017.

MSD's Carolyn Whitzman and Andre Stephan describe what it's really like on the ground at Habitat III.

A new series published in The Lancet, led by the University of Melbourne and featuring authors from leading global academic institutions, quantifies for the first time the health outcomes that could be gained through changes to urban design and the transport system.

The University of Melbourne has opportunities for student volunteers to assist in the delivery of the upcoming Cultural Collisions: Grainger Griffin program of events.

Two years in the making, the Wave Hill Walk-off project has brought together six designers, 12 students, eight labourers and the Gurindji people of Kalkarindji and Daguragu to give physical form to the birth of Australia’s Indigenous land rights movement.

The Melbourne School of Design is pleased to announce we have officially become a partner of Parlour. Parlour is an incorporated association dedicated to promoting gender equity and supporting women in architecture.

The University of Melbourne and City of Melbourne have announced internationally recognised scholar, Professor Lars Coenen, as the inaugural Chair in Resilient Cities.

Our Dean, Daryl Le Grew, remembers Stephen Ashton of ARM Architecture.

Throughout history, the environment has been thought to play an important role in our health and wellbeing. Asylums constructed between the early and late nineteenth century were predicated upon the belief that a tranquil, orderly architectural response, paired with extensive landscape views, could aid the restoration of sanity.

Andrew Murray and Hannah Lewi are crowdsourcing history through their PastPort mobile app, part of a new vanguard of citizen historians' use of tech.

The University of Melbourne has announced a new undergraduate degree that will equip students with the design thinking and creative processes to tackle complex problems.

In February 2016, 16 Melbourne School of Design students travelled to the other side of the world as part of the Brazil Travelling Studio 2016.

Professor Julie Willis has been appointed the new Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.

The Melbourne School of Design is proud to see so many of our talented alumni recognised in the Victorian Architecture Awards announced last Friday.

Congratulations to MSD students whose work was recognised at the recent Living Building Challenge Design Awards last week.

This July the Melbourne School of Design will bring together architectural historians and scholars from our region for a series of workshops, plenaries and conference events.

A re-evaluation of a seminal work on urban density forms the basis of an MSD exhibition at the 2016 Venice Biennale.

We farewell one of our great architects, Romaldo Giurgola.

MSD's new Vocational Placement Subject offers a Masters student the perfect start to her career.

World-renowned architect Jean Nouvel appeared in an intimate conversation with publisher Andrew Mackenzie and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Professor Daryl Le Grew.

Two MSD students represented our Faculty in Detroit for the LafargeHolcim Foundation Infrastructure Space Forum.

Can good design create healing, both for our environment and our communities? MSD staff and student initiatives are uncovering the possibilities.

MSD research into the impact of trauma on urban cityscapes has been recognised by the prestigious Humboldt Foundation.

Melbourne School of Design Lecturer and studio leader Paul Loh, together with studio leader David Leggett and alumna Amanda Ngieng, have won the The Hooke Park Wakeford Hall Ideas Competition with their entry titled Technological and Ecological Permeability.

Congratulations to alumna Targol Khorram, who has been appointed the 2016 President of Architects for Peace.

Online tutorials for the studio subject 'How Virtual Becomes Real' are now openly accessible.

The Melbourne School of Design recently became the Founding Corporate Partner of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV).

Our latest cohort of Master of Architecture graduates are now starting their professional lives.

The Melbourne School of Design launched its new online building tour, Explore MSD.

Graduate students from the Melbourne School of Design completed an intensive workshop that combined digital design and modern building materials with ancient construction techniques to assemble a timber gridshell with a footprint of 50m². The structure is now on exhibit on Union Lawn.

Melbourne: What Next? A discussion on creating a better future for Melbourne is now available to download. The e-book, featuring peer-reviewed chapters written by leading academics, is edited by Professor Carolyn Whitzman, Professor Brendan Gleeson, and Master of Urban Planning Student, Alexander Sheko, and is published by The University of Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute and Social Equity Institute.

Congratulations to Anoma Pieris on being awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship - a first for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. Of the 830 applications submitted for the ARC Future Fellowships across Australia, only 150 were successful and only one, Anoma's was awarded in the built environment category.

The Bower Studio was highlighted by World Architects eMagazine as one of the top 10 design/ build programs making a difference.

The Holcim Awards is a global competition that recognizes innovative projects and future-oriented concepts on regional and international levels. The competition, conducted by the Holcim Foundation, seeks projects that expand conventional notions about sustainable building and also balance environmental, social and economic performance.  Projects must also exemplify architectural excellence and a high degree of transferability. A total of USD 2 million in prize money is awarded in each three-year cycle.

The late George Tibbits was one of many colourful “renaissance” men to have worked at this Faculty over the years. George was a noted architectural historian, who produced (among other works) a study of campus architecture written with Philip Goad and published in 2003, now sadly out of print. He was a leading light in the 70s and 80s campaign to save Carlton, thanks to whose efforts many splendid streetscapes were preserved.

Visiting Melbourne to present a public lecture as part of the Melbourne School of Design Director's Series and a free public lecture co-hosted by ABP, MSSI and MSLE, Senoir Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design, met with Peter Mares for a special edition of Up Close.

Alan Pert’s architectural practice NORD (Northern Office of Research & Design) has been awarded the 2013 Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award on 7 November 2013 at the Scottish Parliament.

Timothy Stats graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2004 with a Bachelor of Planning and Design and a Bachelor of Architecture. He has returned to the University community this year to undertake a Master of Construction Management. We caught up with Timothy to find out where his career has taken him so far…and the answer – all over the world.

An eager bus load departed the University of Melbourne on Saturday 5th of October, but it wasn't filled with students off on a travelling studio or field trip. This bus was filled with some of the leading minds in Australia's built environment. ABP's advancement team, led by Judy Turner, welcomed 17 Faculty Alumni and supporters, and with the assistance of Associate Professor Jeffrey Turnbull and Professor Philip Goad, brought them on a tour of some of the most spectacular buildings and spaces in Melbourne.

A stunning example of vernacular Chinese architecture has found a new home in the landscaped grounds of Malvern Primary School in eastern Melbourne.

Congratulations to Alan March on his recent Planning Excellence Award for Cutting Edge Research and Teaching, awarded to Alan for his book, The Democratic Plan: Analysis and Diagnosis.

As part of the Festival of Ideas, ABP ran a student competition calling for a video considering the idea of a 20-Minute City.

Following Alan Dilani's lecture as part of the ABP Agenda series, Alan Pert reviewed the event and gave us his insights into Health Architecture in an opinion article for Australian Design Review.