MSD Dean's Lecture: Tuesday 5 August @ 7pm
Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre,
University of Melbourne
REGISTER NOW

Founder of the progressive design firm MAD Architects, Ma Yansong will be in Melbourne next month to deliver a free public lecture at the Melbourne School of Design.

Yansong will talk about MAD's recent projects and introduce the architectural idea of  'Shan Shui City'. Shan Shui City is MAD's social ideal of a city that reflects people's emotional responses to their immediate environment. This concept could be taken as a critique of urbanisation in contemporary China, as well as a vision for Chinese cities, where the connection between nature and people is incorporated into high-density built environments.

"The development of future cities will see a shift from the pursuit of material civilisation to the pursuit of nature," says Yansong.  "The aim will be to compose spaces that keep the human spirit and emotion at the core."

Ma Yansong is recognised as an important voice in a new generation of architects.  He was hailed as one of the world's most influential architects by ICON Magazine in 2008 and named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014.

OPEN: Sunday 27 July from 10am

The new Melbourne School of Design building will be open to the public for the first time as part of the 2014 Open House Melbourne program.  The ground floor and level 1 of this new centre for built environment education will be open on Sunday 27 July.

Be amongst the first to see key features such as the Dulux Gallery, the Brian Lewis Atrium, the Hansen Yuncken Suspended Studio, and a suite of flexible teaching and learning spaces.

26 - 27 July, First screening at 6.30pm followed by panel discussion, ACMI Cinemas   BOOKING ESSENTIAL

DIS-cour.se presents the Australian Premiere of The Competition, in partnership with Melbourne School of Design, Open House Melbourne, the Australian Institute of Architects_Victorian Chapter and ACMI Cinemas.

The Competition is directed by Spanish Architect, Angel Borrego Cubero. It presents a raw account of leading architecture practices, Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry and Dominique Perrault, who were all involved in an international design competition for the National Museum of Andorra.  The film will be screened as part of the Open House Melbourne program. A panel discussion will follow the Saturday night screening, giving the audience an opportunity to delve further into the concept of the architectural design competition and the film itself. The panel will feature Angel Borrego Cubero, alonside local experts.

Participation in the Saturday night launch event (screening and panel discussion) provides two and a half (2.5) informal continuing professional development (CPD) points.

Further information, screening times and prices

A PUBLIC DEBATE ON THE ROLE AND RELEVANCE OF ARCHITECTURE COMPETITIONS

Wednesday 30 July @ 6:30pm, Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, 761 Swanston St                                      

Register here

Donald Bates will moderate this public debate on the role and relevance of architectual design competitions, produced as a follow on from the Australian premier of the documentary, The Competition.

The event brings together a selection of architects, critics and academics to discuss the topic in the context of Melbourne specifically, and Australia in general. Panellists include Angel Borrego Cubero, John Clements, Tania Davidge, Suzannah Waldron, Ingrid Bakker and Jill Garner.

For more details visit the ABP website.

CPD: This event provides one and a half (1.5) informal continuing professional development (CPD) points.

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.

Their research project will investigate the direct affect of environmental design for healthcare facilities on the wellbeing of patients and their families. It has been shown that poorly designed environments exacerbate patient anxiety and stress and can diminish their healthcare experience. Environments designed to support a patient's wellbeing result in improved health outcomes.

Building upon Australia's International leadership in contemporary hospital design, this project aims to evaluate, prioritise and strategise the best means for realising benefits of environmental design factors that contribute more significantly to achieving positive outcomes for patients and families. The research team will conduct comprehensive comparative case study analysis of new Australian pediatric hospitals.

PLACE MAKING FOR A RESILIENT CITY
Wunderlich@757, 8 - 20 July, 9am - 5pm

What are the possible futures for Melbourne?

Since 2005, Melbourne School of Design students, led by Ian Woodcock and several industry guest tutors, have been engaged in research projects which consider placemaking, urban character and transit-oriented development.

According to Ian Woodcock, better synergies between transport and land-use offer solutions for low density cities to transition from car dependency to sustainable, resilient and enhanced communities.

This exhibition presents a selection of MSD design research projects, created in partnership with industry between 2005 and 2014. The designs examine how significant population increases could be accomodated through incremental transformations of urban form and land-use, and illustrate the importance of high-quality transit services and facilities that must underpin this change.

Professor Gini Lee
Elisabeth Murdoch Chair of Landscape Architecture

CHAPTER HOUSE LANE (off St Paul's Cathedral)
This truncated lane is not really a lane perhaps; rather an alleyway or an extended arch or just a left over space to allow for travelling between the two Flinders. I have loved it's combination of crafting stone and metal, its solidity and its grimy materiality, forever. I find the urban void compelling beyond the architecture - space opening onto the aged and worn steps down to the left-over asphalt carspace that always draws my attention when I head down Swanston Street.

I detour to experience this walk over old bluestone, hugged by textured sandstone walls that must hold so many stories. In writing this I realise that my knowledge of the Lane's formal history is sketchy, beyond knowing that the architect, William Butterfield, is attributed with the design of adjacent Chapter House.

No matter, each time I'm there something new is happening, provoked by the timeless quality of the space and its edges. One day it will be brides, maids and uncomfortable grooms and on another, a new exhibition in the re-purposed windows along the stairs. Today there was the offer of coffee in one of those warm, glowing holes in Melbourne's walls, although the outside stools were curiously abandoned in the icy morning air.