Dear staff,

Fabricate is the official student newsletter at the Melbourne School of Design. You are receiving this email as a current student or staff member of the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning. The cover image is of the abandoned House of the Bulgarian Communist Party on Mount Buzludzha in central Bulgaria. This colossal example of Brutalist Communist architecture was completed in 1981 and served as a monument to communism in Bulgaria, celebrating the 90th anniversary to the founding of the communist party and to mark the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the first Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD. At the time of completion, the monument with its 120 m high tower and copper dome - was the most beloved and enduring icon of the communist world, bringing in visitors from around the Soviet bloc. But only 8 years after its completion, and due to the fall of communism in 1989, the building was abandoned and left to the elements.

Date: Applications close Monday 6 May at 4.30 pm

Melbourne School of Design is offering students a opportunity to apply for our September, 2013 Travelling studio to Nagoya, Japan.

The Nagoya metropolitan population is twice that of Melbourne – between 7 and 11 million depending on how you measure. It lies between historic Kyoto and dynamic Tokyo and its morphology is in many ways more typical of most large Japanese cities than either the former or present capitals. Across the central part of the metropolis (essentially the City of Nagoya, pop, 2.2M) is an urban structure of planning significance – a distorted grid of ‘global’ roads and a subway system covering a similar area that give broad east-west and north-south movement.

Important: To be eligible to undertake a Travelling Studio students must have completed a full Semester within the MSD with results available for that semester before the application closing date.

Click on the button below for more information

Date: Thursday 2 May
Time: 6.00 - 8.00 pm
Venue: Graduate House, 220 Leicester St, Carlton
Cost: $10 (includes drinks, canapes & showbags)

It can be a tough world out there — full of challenges, but also opportunities. To navigate the hurdles and get ahead of the pack, you need the right approach, skills, knowledge and contacts. This seminar is all about equipping you with these key components — so that you’ve got what it takes not just to find a good job, but build a rewarding and meaningful career.

Four speakers from various sectors of planning will reflect on their own experiences and provide valuable tips and advice. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions and network with the speakers over drinks and canapes.

Click on the button to register or for more information

Date: Semester 2
Location: Parkville Campus

Are you interested in an exciting “real” project at the Werribee Park Open Range Zoo? Are you interested in design and research, architecture, environmental conservation, the landscape, native and African fauna, eco-tourism, way-finding and sustainability? If you are then enrol now in ABPL90303 Facilities for Social Sustainability for Semester 2, 2013.

This elective subject will be run under the expert eye of Studio Leader Greg Burgess and staff from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

Click on the email button below to contact Lindy Joubert for more information

Date: Applications close Friday 26 April

Applications are now open for the 2013 Peter McPhee Student Awards. The Peter McPhee Student Awards are designed to promote and develop engagement activities within the University student community, by assisting students or groups of students to initiate, or participate in, extra-curricular leadership, community engagement and volunteering activities that involve the University and the wider community. Individual students or groups of students are encouraged to apply. Awards normally range from $1,000-$2,000; however, some applications may be eligible to receive more.

Click on the button below for more information

Date: Applications close on Friday 17 May

Applications are now open for 2013 Dreamlarge Student Engagement Grants.

Dreamlarge Grants are designed to broaden student experiences during their education with the University of Melbourne, assist and promote the development of engagement projects between students of the University and external organisations, and enable students to apply their learning in projects which develop skills and leadership while improving the economic, social, environmental or cultural life of our region locally, nationally or internationally. Grants are available to groups of students. While normally for amounts up to $2,500, six grants of up to $5,000 are also available.

Click on the button below for more information

Date: 27 March 2013
Review by: Billy Greenham, President of the Melbourne University Planning Student Society (MUPSS)

As with every semester, a group of new students arrive and can often find it difficult to navigate the Masters of Urban Planning network. The MSD facilitates a great night of drinks and nibbles.  It also gives the chance for the current and new students to meet the staff, chat socially and build an important bond within our course.

As a student in my last semester, I still appreciate all of these evenings and encourage all MUP students to participate.  So look out for next semester's MUP Social Night, and in the meantime, if you want to keep up-to-date with MUPSS student social events, please go to the MUPSS Facebook page.

Click on the button below to keep up-to-date with MUPSS student social events

Date: Every month until November
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: Boyd House, Walsh Steet, South Yarra

Join us to enjoy screenings of the best in documentaries and films on architecture, design and urbanism in the beautiful courtyard of 'Walsh Street', Robin Boyd’s family home designed in1958.

DADo screens feature-length films as well as shorts + animations, some will be imported into Australia exclusively for our screenings, others will be classic favourites. Guest speakers offer their own unique perspectives on the film subjects to kick off the conversation.

Click on the button below for more information

Date: March 2013
Location: Canberra

The Planning Institute of Australia's Young Planners Network hosted the YPConnect conference in Canberra this year, coinciding with the Centenary of Canberra celebrations. It was an inspiring conference and a great opportunity to stay engaged, meet others and exchange ideas with like-minded students, young professionals and many bright minds in the planning industry.

In 2013, the MSD sponsored Chengjun Li to participate in the conference. Read more about her experience by clicking on the button below.

Date: Applications close Saturday 15 June

The International Academy for Design & Health in partnership with the Australian Government, State Health Departments, Australian Institute of Architects and collaborating universities is delighted to invite students to explore new ideas and perspectives on the planning and design of different building typologies that support the development of healthy environments.

Students are required to research current issues concerning the promotion of health within their community in one or more of the
following four categories:

1. Buildings,
2. Industrial Design,
3. Landscape,
4. Interior Design.

Click on the email button below to submit your entry

Teaching Dates:  Monday 1 July to Saturday 6 July
Assessment: Group presentation and related slides (30%) & Essay (3,500 words) (70%)

This year Sheela Patel will be contributing to the teaching of the Melbourne School of Design’s subject Cities Without Slums.  Ms Patel is the founding director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC), which plays a leading role in slum upgrading in Mumbai and is influential throughout India and the Global South.  Ms Patel is also Chair of Shack/Slum Dwellers International which operates in 38 countries.  The Faculty’s connection with Ms Patel includes her providing a Dean’s lecture in 2009, co-teaching here, through SPARC and India’s National Slum Dwellers Federation, hosting a Travelling Studio to Mumbai, and through SDI co-hosting a Travelling Studio to Cape Town. 

Click on the email button below to contact Professor Richard Tomlinson, Subject Co-ordinator for more information

Date: Tuesday 14 May
Time: 7.00 pm
Venue: Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre

OUT OF PRACTICE

Gregg Pasquarelli, American Architect and a founding partner of SHoP Architects of New York, will join the internationally renowned speakers of the Dean's Lecture Series on 14 May this year, as he presents his lecture, Out of Practice.

Gregg, with his firm SHoP, has pushed the Architect's realm past form making and into software design, real estate development, emergent construction research and the co-development of new sustainable technologies. SHoP's recent work includes the Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, a two-mile esplanade and park along the East River Waterfront, the Innovation Hub government complex in Botswana, Africa, the South Street Seaport redevelopment, a new Major League Soccer stadium in New York and projects for google in Mountain View, CA.

Click on the button below to register for this exciting lecture

Date: Thursday 2 May
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: The Open Stage, 757 Swanston Street

ABP Agenda profiles and people and practices transforming our modern world. This May we are joined by Bryan Boyer and Justin W. Cook from Sitra and Helsinki Design Lab to present a free public lecture on two key projects and encourage conversations around the concept of strategic design and the 'architecture of problems.

Bryan will discuss Brickstarter, a book from Helsinki Design Lab which looks at how crowdsourcing and crowdfunding could be applied to the built environment. Justin will speak about another project called Low2No, a sustainable urban development project in Helsinki initiated by Sitra.

Click on the button below for more information