Construction of our landmark new ABP building is ahead of schedule with a revised practical completion date of 8 August 2014. This is four months earlier than anticipated and reflects the impressive work Brookfield Multiplex are doing to drive this complex project towards completion. The University will roll out its commissioning works in August and September, and ABP staff will begin to relocate to their new premises in October and November.

John Wardle Architects and NADAAA have created a state-of-the-art environment for students and academics and a building that will soon become one of Melbourne's most popular destinations for design-related events. Located in the centre of the University campus, we can't wait to welcome you to our new home.  The official launch of the building will take place in February 2015, with students commencing semester one studies in a stunning new learning environment. Stay up to date with the project and access video and images on the new building blog.

Architect Liam Young operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. He is founder of the urban futures think tank ‘Tomorrows Thoughts Today’ and also runs the ‘Unknown Fields Division’, an award winning nomadic workshop that travels on annual expeditions to the ends of the earth to investigate unreal and forgotten landscapes, alien terrains and industrial ecologies.

Named by Blueprint magazine as one of 25 people who will change architecture and design, Liam will present a free lecture on April 16 at the University of Melbourne. Don't miss Liam Young's Brave New Now - register online now.

The Australian Institute of Architects this week unveiled the Augmented Australia app, the engine of the Australian exhibition at the upcoming 14th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, directed by Rem Koolhaas. Available for both Apple and Android mobile devices, the app has been launched ahead of the Venice Biennale opening in June.

The innovative technology behind Augmented Australia 1914-2014, curated by felix._Giles_Anderson+Goad is now available for the public to download and preview select projects. The app will take users on a virtual tour through some of Australia’s most impressive unrealised projects, such as the Nervi Cathedral (1958) by Pier Luigi Nervi in Western Australia.

The Augmented Australia exhibition in Venice will showcase 11 historical and 11 contemporary Australian projects from the past one hundred years, all of which were never built. It will also bring to life the new Australian Pavilion by Denton Corker Marshall, still under construction in Venice. Australia’s temporary pavilion for the exhibition - 'Cloud Space' - will house trigger images of each project and scale 3D models will be geographically positioned around Venice.

The 14th International Architecture Exhibition runs from 7 June to 23 November 2014 at the Giardini and the Arsenale. Read more about the Augmented Australia app on Architectureau.

Image above: A trigger image of the Nervi Cathedral (1958) by Pier Luigi Nervi in New Norcia, Western Australia. Image: Felix._Giles_Anderson+Goad

Federation Story is an interactive exhibition at Federation Square that profiles the events, people and ideas that led to Australia’s Federation. It also celebrates the rich and diverse stories and events that have continued to shape our country, our culture and our place in the world.

'Architecture' is one of the many themes represented in this innovative project. You can add your own design career story or ideas to this digital exhibition - just as ABP alumni Michael Peck AM, Andrew Maynard and Kate McMahon have done. For more information and to upload your own story visit the official Federation Story site.

ABP are looking to recruit sessional staff to teach into undergraduate and Melbourne Scool of Design subjects in semester 2, 2014. We welcome applications from alumni and professionals with suitable graduate and/or professional experience.

Applications should be submitted online via the Sessional Staff Recruitment System (SSRS). For information on how to use the SSRS, the subjects on offer and process timeline, please visit the ABP website. For more details contact Daniel Dorall on 9035 4231 or ddorall@unimelb.edu.au.

'Wandering Above A Sea of Fog' is an exhibition that combines
design strategies and landscape interventions in the remote locality of Alto Patache in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

As a part of a 2014 MSD Travelling Studio led by Professor Gini Lee,  architecture students and academics from several universities immersed themselves in the Alto Patache region to investigate this unique landscape and its relationship with human intervention, where water is harvested from coastal clouds and fog.

The exhibition of student projects runs from 9 April to 2 May in Wunderlich@757, 757 Swanston Street.

Join the Future Melbourne Network and special guests at Deakin Edge on the evening of 28 April for a conversation about how to create a great future for Melbourne. If Melbourne is to be a world-class, green, safe, friendly, socially inclusive and economically successful city, for all of its citizens, what do we need to do differently?

This free seminar asks how we can best shape the future of jobs and housing in Melbourne. Come and hear from the engaging guest speakers and have your say on these important issues.

Speakers:
Tony Nicholson, Brotherhood of St. Lawrence
Marcus Spiller, SGS Economics and Planning
Shane Murray, Dean of Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash University
Carolyn Whitzman, Urban Planning, University of Melbourne
The MC is Michael Short, Editor of The Zone in The Age.

For details visit the Fed Square website.