Engineer and risk management specialist, Dr Patricia Galloway will launch the Melbourne School of Design's 2014 Dean's Lecture Series. The first woman President of the American Society of Civil Engineers and CEO of Pegasus Global Holdings, Patricia will deliver a public lecture on 'The Unique Aspects of Managing Megaprojects in Asia' in Melbourne on March 18.

This year's DLS will also showcase architect superstar Ma Yansong of MAD Architects (Beijing) and the visionary Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based collective of architects, designers, and thinkers.

Register here for Dr Galloway's lecture.

Emerging Ideas for Asia and Australia
by Nirmal Kishnani

Monday 24 Frebruary 2014, 6:30 - 8:30pm
Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre,
University of Melbourne

Together with Holcim, Melbourne School of Design will host a keynote lecture and panel discussion by Nirmal Kishnani, internationally-known advocate for sustainable architecture.

Nirmal Kishnani is Assistant Dean and Program Director at the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore, where he formulates curriculum and teaches sustainable design. Professor Kishnani is also Chief Editor fo FuturArc.

The lecture will develop many of the themes and insights presented in Professor Jishnani's recent book, Greening Asia - Emerging Principles of Sustainable Architecture, regarded as the first book to critique the rising tide of Green in Asia and propose principles for sustainable design that are Asia-centric.

Experts from Melbourne will join Kishnani for a panel discussion on sustainable construction in a local context.

Register here.

On the eve of Black Saturday's 5th anniversary, Dr Alan March highlights the need for strategic planning and individual resilience.

Much of the historical mythology underlying Australia’s identity is linked with what we now often call resilience. It is often presented as valorous and laconic resistance to adversity such as bushfires, or simply “getting on” with rebuilding afterwards.  In contrast, the urbanised reality of Australia over the last century or so is that most residents of cities and towns have become increasingly reliant on the relative protection from the worst effects of bushfires offered by institutional systems.  These include forest management and fuel reduction processes, emergency response agencies, and guaranteed disaster relief funding, combined with the majority of people being separate from the bush in any case.

This version of urban reality depends on a perspective of human settlements being artificially separated from the bush, and that naturally occurring processes such as bushfires should be held at bay as if they must be conquered by human fortitude.  Such a view is also dependent on humans being able to control, harness and exploit the natural world, while overcoming the unwanted aspects of this separate natural world, including the prevention of bushfires’ negative effects..

Read the full article in Atrium.

A new MSD publication entitled Indigenous Place: Contemporary Buildings, Landmarks and Places of Significance in South East Australia and Beyond will be launched at the Indigenous Arts Festival at Federation Square on 8 February.

An outcome of an ARC Linkage Project, Indigenous Place documents selected cultural spaces and facilities throughout the nation. The book asks what is an Indigenous cultural space? How is it located, identified and made visible through creative acts of place-making? How is it defined, received, identified and what drives its creation and maintenance?

Read more.

We are proud to announce the launch of Inflection, a Melbourne School of Design student-run journal which will launch towards the end of this year.

The editors are calling for submissions of short visual or written pieces up to 500 words by 28 April 2014.

The publication was conceived by three students, Jonathan, Willian and Ariani, who wanted to provide a discursive space for students, academics and professionals in the build environment.

The editors describe Inflection as "a home for provocative writing, a place to share ideas and engage with the exciting time we are living in."

All modes of expression will be considered - written or drawn, prose or poetry - so if you would like to submit visit their website for more information.

Melbourne School of Design student, Louis Kristic's project, Land Fill: The Politics of Waste, featured in World Landscape Architecture.

Land Fill uses the politics of waste as a theoretical lens to explore the conentious proposal for a new landfill in the Mornington Peninsula Shite. The proposal instead proposes a new typology of waste management that phases out waste production while creating a multifunctional and adaptive landscape.

Read more

Advocates for sustainability will flood the streets of Melbourne this month for the Sustainable Living Festival, Stayin' Alive.

A variety of events and installations will take place across the city, inlcuding Green drinks, Oasis food village, Green market, Town Hall veggie patch, Undress Melbourne sustainable fashion show, Melbourne bike tours, Sustainability for kids and more.

Visit the festival website for the full program.

Alan Selenitsch, Senior Lecturer in Architecture

Going south on the West Gate Bridge, there is a spectacular view of Melbourne with the city in profile, towers standing behind a stadium, a view across the port, along the river to the bay, past Station Pier and on to the horizon. It’s my favourite view of Melbourne – from the intimate space of a car, at speed, and momentary. The view lasts for about 300 metres, and confirms that Melbourne is a new world city, one of many rational grid cities that cover the Americas.

This is a large-scale view of Melbourne. I have no favourite smaller urban spaces, even pieces of architecture for that matter, but I have at least two favourite interiors. Both are theatres. One is Deakin Edge, an intricate cage of steel, glass and wood, at Federation Square. Like the car on the Bridge, this theatre places you in a relatively intimate space set in a visible larger context, putting performers in front of the river and the gardens, with St. Kilda Road beyond. Often the sky obliges with colours and clouds. The other space is the La Mama Theatre in Faraday Street, Carlton, a shed-like windowless space that packs in a  small audience and hosts a regime of experimental and challenging theatre. It’s a locus for the imagination, which can be as large and expansive as you want it to be.