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PRACTICAL COMPLETION

Friday 8 August will forever be remembered in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning as the day the Melbourne School of Design building was officially handed over to the University.

The commission phase of the project will progress over the next eight weeks, in advance of the Faculty's relocation to our new state-of-the-art facility. The excitement is evident in the corridors of 757 Swanston Street, where the Faculty has been located during construction.

Over the next few months limited activity will take place in the new building in preparation for the official launch of the Melbourne School of Design in December this year.

OPEN DAY AT OUR NEW BUILDING

Sunday 17 August, the Melbourne School of Design
The first big event in our new building, only one week after practical completion, is one of the biggest events in the University's calendar, Open Day. 

For the first time the new Melbourne School of Design building will be open to the next generation of built environment professionals.

Staff will be on hand to discuss education opportunities in the Bachelor of Environments and the Melbourne School of Design, as well as answer questions about the facilities in our new building. Prospective students can speak to student club reps about Uni life and jump into our giant polaroid and tag themselves on social media.

Find out more about the University of Melbourne Open Day.

BARE RUIN'D CHOIRS

12 August @ 7pm, Harold White Theatre, 757 Swanston Street

Edward Hollis, architect, writer and researcher, will join us in Melbourne this coming Tuesday for a special public lecture exploring how ruins – at first glance, relics of failed pasts – can be recycled to provoke and provide settings for debates about their, and our, future.

Edward will use St Peter's Seminary Kilmahew - the world renowned former estate and 20th century religious college complex that sits shrouded in beautiful woodland near the Firth of Clyde in west Scotland - as a case study to illustrate the potential of bare ruin'd choirs.

Edward is the Deputy Director of Research, Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh.

Further information            Register here

VISIONS OF A SUSTAINABLE CITY

Image: copyright City of Melbourne

On a dark day of news about environmental disasters, disappearing species and funding cuts to many of the programs that could have made Australia a sustainable leader, I found a way out of my despair...helping those in Melbourne living in cold, draughty homes with no money to heat themselves, so says ABP Senior Lecturer and sustainability expert, Dr. Dominique Hes.

I used a bit of technology, a thermal camera to bridge the language gaps, a few donated door snakes and some foam draught stopper tape. Reducing cold air streaming into the house to a trickle, making a little girl giggle at the print of her hand on the floor… providing a little bit of warmth for them and…myself."

It reminds me of the Quechuan fable of the humming bird and a great forest fire. All the animals rushed from the forest, watching helplessly as it is consumed by the fire. All but the little hummingbird, who flew to the river, picked up a few drops of water in its beak and dropped it on the fire. It went back and forth, while the other animals laughed at it: “What do you think you are doing? The fire is too big, and your little drops of water are not enough to put it out.” The hummingbird turned to them and said: “I am doing the best I can”, and continued with its effort inspiring the fire to eventually be put out…

I am doing the best I can, and while I breathe I will hum.

Dominique

Dominique Hes will moderate a Sustainable Cities Panel on Wednesday 13 August at 6pm in the Elizabeth Murdoch Building, University of Melbourne. Panellists include Adam Bandt, Kelly O'Shanassy, Julian De Hoog and Meaghan Dwyer.

Register here

LESSONS FROM INDIA

2 September @ 5.30pm, Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room,
Sidney Myer Asia Centre

Register here

Melbourne-Asia Visiting Fellow, Professor Chetan Vaidya, will present a two hour lecture entitled Lessons from Urban Innovations in India, on Tuesday 2 September.

Professor Chetan Vaidya will discuss India's urbanisation process in the context of the Government of India's commitment to supporting innovation as an engine for the growth of prosperity and national competitiveness in the 21st century.

Professor Vaidya is an architect-planner with over 30 years experience. He is the Director of the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi since September 2012. The University of Melbourne has nominated him as a Melbourne-Asia Visiting Fellow for 2014-15.

Further information.

NEW RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

In the past month we have had a number of research successes.

Associate Professor, Anoma Pieris has been awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship, a first for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. Anoma will explore how expertise in architecture and related fields was mobilised in the production of WWII internment environments. Read more.

Professor Julie Willis, Professor Philip Goad and Professor Alan Pert, together with industry partners, Professor Corbett Lyon and Mr Stefano Scalzo of Lyons Architecture, have been awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project Grant to answer the question: Do well designed hospitals help patients in their recovery? Continue reading.

Professor Brendan Gleeson has been awarded significant funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council to undertake research into city governance responses to austerity. The study will generate insights for policy makers, citizen-activists and scholars. Read more.

MA YANSONG'S SHANSHUI CITY

Last Tuesday evening Ma Yansong, founder and principal of MAD Architects, addressed a full house, as part of the Dean's Lecture Series 2014. 

Yansong presented the architectural concept of Shanshui City, which underpins the practice's design philosophy. The concept of Shanshui City is described by Yansong in terms of how humans express their emotions in the physical world.

Ma Yansong captured the audience’s imagination with his vision of the future of architecture, development and the vast possibilities for urban and city spaces.

MAD Architects' exhibition is open for viewing in the Wunderlich@757 until August 15th.

If you missed out on the lecture the video will be available on the MSD website next week.

PEOPLE BUILDING BETTER CITIES

19 - 29 August, 9am - 5pm, Wunderlich@757

The Wunderlich@757 is the next destination for travelling exhibition People Building Better Cities: Participation and Inclusive Urbanization. The exhibition aims to exchange knowledge, build networks, and promote dialogue on the challenges of inclusive urbanization.

The exhibition was shown in Bangkok, Sydney, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai in 2013, and at the UN World Urban Forum in Medellin and at UIA Durban in 2014.

Make sure to come along to the exhibition opening event on Tuesday, 19 August 6pm-8pm at the Wunderlich, 757 Swanston Street.

Further information.