Image: John Gollings

"A theatrical new building to inspire students with its thoughtful labyrinth of architectural worlds."

That is how architect Laura Harding describes the new Melbourne School of Design building in The Saturday Paper on 1 November.

Media interest in the new Melbourne School of Design is hotting up as we approach the official building launch in December.

Laura describes the raw material expression of MSD as almost subversive in comparison to the modern day commercialisation of university campuses.

"The school will stage the education of architects, urbanists and builders of the future and, consciously or not, will become their architectural muse."

Read the full article here.

Book Launch: Wednesday 12 November @ 6pm
Basement theatre, Melbourne School of Design

An exciting new book by Dominique Hes and Chrisna du Plessis - Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability - will be launched at the Melbourne Forum next Wednesday.

Using international and local examples, Designing for Hope presents a hopeful response to questions such as: how can projects create a positive ecological footprint and contribute to community, and how can design harness hope and create a positive legacy?

Aiming to inspire others to contribute to a positive future, the publication will be launched before a room full of sustainability practitioners and researchers. Tickets are still available, so be sure to register and be a positive voice in creating a sustainable future.

Book your seat NOW. Designing for Hope will be on sale at the event.

Dulux Gallery, Melbourne School of Design
20 November - 22 December

A curated selection of the best student projects from MSD's 2014 studios will be showcased in the Dulux Gallery this November and December.

Join us for the opening of MSDx on Thursday 20 November at 6pm to celebrate the most advanced and innovative MSD student work across architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.

From 21 to 27 November, level 1 and level 2 of the Melbourne School of Design will be activated by STUDIOS, an extensive exhibition of student propositions addressing contemporary built environment issues, selected from MSD design studios and courses.

Melbourne School of Design students, Wendy Walls, and Alastair Jaffrey, won the Best Urban Tactic Award at the AILA Street 14 Competition, for their innovative project Heat Street.

In response to climate predictions and increased heath related deaths, their design project explored the impact of urban heat islands in suburban centres using thermal comfort indexes, data from onsite sensors and CFD modelling to propose an urban heat refuge at the Moorabbin site.

Read more

The Melbourne School of Design will launch the inaugural edition of its new journal Inflection on November 20, 2014. Founding student editors Ariani Anwar, William Cassell and Jonathan Russell have curated an impressive selection of articles, artworks, manifestoes and fiction by students, academics and practicing architects in response to the term ‘inflection’.

We asked the team about their editorial vision and what it takes to publish a journal that aims to provoke and profile design discussion. Read the interview here.

Daniel Dorall - Sculptor, Creator and Maze Artist
Bachelor of Architecture (2005)

Daniel Dorall has been an international exhibiting artist for almost 10 years, creating miniature objects out of cardboard, usually in the form of a maze. His creative designs often provide a commentary on urbanism, politics or culture.

Daniel attributes his understanding and passion for aesthetics to the flexibility of the Bachelor of Architecture degree structure. Taking electives in art conservation, ancient history and classical languages, he gained an appreciation for beauty and aesthetics whilst simultaneously undertaking core architecture subjects which prepared him for professional practice.

Having just completed his research Masters in Fine Arts, Daniel is further advancing the potential of the miniature model. He considers the possibilities of enhancing the interaction and experience of the maze object by first presenting visitors with a human scale maze installation to meander through to reach the miniature object.

Read more about Daniel's work in Archinect's Working out of the Box.

Oriental Bay, Wellington, New Zealand
by Paul Walker, Professor of Architecture, ABP

Named for a ship that brought British settlers to Wellington in 1840, Oriental Bay is an urbane enclave near Wellington’s CBD. I was once lucky enough to live here, in a ramshackle house, and although most of the ramshackle has gone, the place’s unselfconscious density, the mix of old and new buildings stacked up the vertiginous hills, the north orientation (much valued given Wellington’s general exposure to southerly gales), and the curve of the bay, make it a memorable place. 

I also like the Norfolk Island pines, an old cliché of sea-side landscaping in Australasia; the Wellington winds give them a particular aural presence here.

Oriental Bay is naturally enough a favourite location for promenading and sitting; the city’s collective ‘sun room’. In recent years, the place has been subject to urban design interventions here and there, but mostly these have been modest and self-effacing.

Nevertheless, Oriental Bay embodies a major design principle: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.