Dear staff,

Fabricate is the official student newsletter at the Melbourne School of Design. You are receiving this email as a current student or staff member of the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning. The cover image is of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut. Designed in 1963 by award-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft, the library houses the biggest collection of rare books in one location, in the world. The filtered light – through thin translucent veined marble wall panels – protects the delicate and sensitive books from any direct sunlight. The collection of books, including a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, is displayed in a giant glass and steel box (within the box). Bunshaft, one of the most notable members of architectural giant SOM and a leader in the international style was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1983. His first skyscraper, the Lever Building, is regarded by many as the keystone of establishing the International Style as corporate American architecture.

Read the director's welcome and view an interior view of the library in the next news item below.

Welcome to the Melbourne School of Design at The University of Melbourne.

The Melbourne School of Design (MSD) is emerging as a vibrant community of exceptional students and staff involved in shaping the built environment and often through unexpected discoveries. The MSD is rich in diversity, creativity, and scholarship and our interests and expertise explore and shape the needs of our 21st century towns and cities. Our graduates discover how space affects the human experience and how to shape the modern physical world in positive sustainable ways.

Situated in the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and within the intellectual and cultural centre of this cosmopolitan city, the MSD is a stimulating place to study and research.  As a city with a growing population it is often used as a laboratory for testing and researching ideas within the MSD.

Read the second half of the welcome message here

Date: Applications close Monday 9 September

As part of the Festival of Ideas (1-6 October) ABP and Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI) will host Environments Day on Wednesday 2 October. The Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning will be offering students a unique opportunity to get involved through two exciting competitions.

Competition 1: The 20 Minute City?
Melbourne's aspirational future is the 20-minute City - so say the planners and politicians.

Competition 2: Imagine Australia in 2033
How we created a healthy just and sustainable post carbon society

Prizes to be won so make sure you put in an entry. For more information including submission requirements and additional information view the competition website.

Click on the button below for more information

Date:  Applications close Monday 5 August

Last chance to get your application in for the RE-shapers TALK competition.

On the 1st of October 2013 the University of Melbourne will be joining with the Festival of Ideas to host a dozen ‘RE-shapers’ who are creating or imagining something different, effecting change where they are located, or trying something new to help RE-shape the world towards sustainability. Melbourne is a fantastic city with exciting art, an innovative CBD city council, and start up environmental groups growing out of the lanes and spaces of the city. We aim to capture some of this excitement in a day-long celebration of human endeavours to engage with and shape practices towards sustainability. We intend to invoke the spirited and inspiring atmosphere of TED talks, both with a diverse and enthusiastic audience and through the process of documenting your ideas to inspire future generations to come.

Click on the button below for more information

Date: Sunday 18 August
Time: 10.00 am - 4.00 pm
Location: Frank Tate Building

The Environments and Design displays and information sessions will be on the ground floor and first floor of the Frank Tate Building from 10.00 am - 4.00 pm. The areas affected will be rooms 101,104, G23, the first floor lounge and computer lab. There will also be some activities on levels 1 and 2 of the 757 building.

Thousands of visitors are expected on the day so if you need to have quiet study time it would be best to avoid coming into uni. But if you are interested in visiting on Open Day you can view the program here.

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Date: Applications close 5pm Monday 2 September
Location: Oxford University

Would you like to study at Oxford University? Will you have completed, by December 2013, at least four years of undergraduate study? Do you enjoy success at sports, involvement in community activities, and have a desire to lead and further develop your talents? If so, then you have the qualities of a Rhodes Scholar!

The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the oldest and most distinguished scholarships in the world. Previous winners from Australia include former prime minister Bob Hawke, Justices Hayne and Heydon of the High Court of Australia, businessman and footballer Mike Fitzpatrick, Nobel Prize winners Sir John Eccles and Lord Howard Florey, and infrastructure expert Sir Rod Eddington. Successful candidates will receive assistance with their travelling expenses to the UK, as well as a monthly allowance to contribute towards their living expenses whilst in Oxford. In addition, all University tuition fees are paid on the scholar's behalf by the Rhodes Trust.

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Date: Applications close Friday 2 August

The Melbourne School of Design is looking for ten first year Masters by Coursework students to join our Graduate Ambassador program commencing in Semester Two 2013.

This program is designed to assist MSD in promoting the built environment disciplines at events and outreach programs.

Successful students will possess demonstrated passion for their program, and an interest in gaining leadership and marketing experience. We are looking for an Ambassador team who will represent the range of programs and nationalities in MSD.

Click on the button below for more information

Date: Friday 9 August
Time: 1.30 - 6.00 pm
Venue: Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre
Cost: $50
Panelist: Terry Burke, Michael Buxton, Tony Gilmour, Brendan Gleeson, Alan March, Terry Rawnsley, Marcus Spiller, Mary Tomlinson, Richard Tomlinson and Judith Yates.

The book, Australia's Unintended Cities, considers the broad and seemingly growing gap between the aims common to strategic planning - sustainable, inclusive and prosperous cities characterised by more compact urban growth, greater use of public transport, higher densities especially at transport nodes and along transport corridors - and the reality of urban development on the ground.

In this afternoon seminar, the contributors to Australia's Unintended Cities will revisit this proposition in light of the upcoming Federal Elections and release of a new metropolitan strategy for Melbourne. What difference might these events make in our shared endeavour for sustainable, inclusive and prosperous cities?

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Date: Tuesday 6 August
Time: 7.00 pm
Venue: Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre
Topic: Cities, Growth and Design: Perfect Together

Alan Greenberger, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Director of Commerce, City of Philadelphia, will discuss urban governance and designing for economic vitality through issues of American sprawl. He has been with the City of Philadelphia since 2008 and prior to that, he was in private practice as an architect and planner with MGA Partners and its predecesor, Mitchell/Giurgola Architects.

Under his leadership, the City of Philadelphia has rewritten the Philadelphia Zoning Code and has initiated a five-year long comprehensive plan for the city, entitled Philadelphia 2035.

Cities, Growth and Design: Perfect Together, discusses the inherent interplay between place, ambition and character, and how successful cities balance these sometimes competing objectives.

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Dates: Monday 30 September - 4 October
Location: Parkville campus

ABPL90120 Building Sustainability is a week long intensive planned for the non teaching week of semester 2.

This year the conference like program will feature discussion on sustainability through out the design process, from concept design to detailed design to construction.

Leading speakers will take you through their projects to illustrate the theory presented. The new architecture building will be used as the case study through out the subject, with John Wardle Architects, Multiplex, Umow Lai and Aurecon invited to speak. We also have speakers on the use of prefabrication in large scale construction specifically looking at CLT.

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