RMIT Architecture Design Thesis Major Project Catalogue, Semester 2, 2009

SeDesign RMIT mesThesis ArchiMajor ter 2, tecture Projects 2009

Welcome to the Major Project Catalogue for second semester 2009, a publication from the rmit Architecture Program. This catalogue represents the work of students undertaking their final design project as part of the Masters of Architecture, and is the culmination of five years of study leading to eventual qualification as an architect.

Students are expected to formulate an architectural research question and develop an articulate and well-argued architectural position through the execution of a major design project. The nature of the project is not set, and the scope of the brief/ site is established by the student in consultation with their supervisor as the most appropriate and potentially fruitful vehicle for testing and developing their particular area of architectural investigation.

The research question and the architectural project will often develop in parallel and it is expected that the precise question and focus of the project will be discovered and clarified through the act of designing. This process is iterative and develops through weekly sessions with the supervisor.

Architecture Major Projects at rmit range from strategic urban and landscape interventions with metropolitan implications; to detailed explorations of building form, materiality, structure and inhabitation; to specialised experimentation in the processes and procedures influencing architectural production. There is no expectation that major project be ‘comprehensive’ in scope. Rather, the aim of the subject is to establish, through the completion of a major design work in a rigorous manner, a well-argued architectural experiment that has the potential and richness to engender future explorations and that will sustain the student for the next period of their architectural life.

Congratulations to all exhibitors and we look forward to your ongoing contribution to our collective design future.

Melanie Dodd + Nigel Bertram

Shamsul Kamal Akmal Hisham Freedom Library

Democratisation of knowledge: The project is a reflection and response to the current socio-political atmosphere in Malaysia. Set in a more democratic state some time in the future, Freedom Library imagines a library by the people made up of three types of media- traditional print media, digital media,

and user generated content or social media. The project creates a dialogue between these medias, and site conditions.

New media with traditional media and public park with urban forces within its site in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

jane burry

page 3

Jacqui Alexander Urban Farmers’ Network and Memorial, QVM

A civic addition to the Queen Victoria Market (QVM), The Urban Farmers’ Network (UFN) contains a horticulture library, food bank, community gardens, and a multi-storey conservatory for exotic plants.

The conservatory is imagined as a public Plant Cathedral - reverent to nature, it offers a moment of respite from

the noise and tempo of the market. The second intervention is a memorial along the edge of the car park - the former Melbourne Cemetery site. A longitudinal cut through the car park creates a new pedestrian street lined with fruit trees, which begin to colonise the car spaces to form an orchard. The memo-

rial is productive - recycling the site’s high phosphate levels, regenerating life, and uncovering the secret that was concreted over.

Together the projects investigate civic architecture as a medium for framing beauty in the landscape, and its affective role in moving people towards sustainability.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

brendan jones

page 5

Ikmal Hisham Ariffin Islamic Community Centre, Tikrit

This project explores the role of architecture in a sectarian community. situated in tikrit, iraq, it attempts to bring the Sunni and the Shia Muslims together post-war. this proposal is the Tikrit centre for the Islamic community.

This proposal also aims to bring back the function of the ancient mosque as not

only a worship space, but also as a space for the development of a community, as it was during the time of prophet Muhammad.

The idea within this proposal is to encourage interaction and education within the Islamic community. soaring over its neighbouring buildings, it

becomes a stamp of a new beginning for the Islamic community, a constant reminder to the public on the importance of togetherness.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

ben milbourne, sean mcmahon

page 7

Ikmal Ikram Ariffin Sound Generated

The project concentrates around the ideas of form finding utilizing sound as a tool for design. The data which was gathered during site investigations explores the notion of sound and the idea of translation.

The data gathered will work as an input to generate architecture. The form

and faรงade patterning was an outcome of the experimentations conducted. The project investigates the Physics of Sound and the variations that are possible alongside the idea of programming and ecological sustainability in the design framework.

The project runs along the redevelopment of the exist-

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ing Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and the redesigning of the school calls for an expansion of the complex which will hold multiple programs for public and private use within the constraints of the form.

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

ben milbourne

page 9

Jileqa Azman Highrise Learning Environments

This project aims to investigate the potential for a new typology of learning space, specifically for high-rise learning environments, and calls for the promotion of trans-disciplinary collaborations. The program is the RMIT Design Hub which is a post graduate research facility that is not tied to a

specific school and has a mission for collaborative work.

This project is a response to the conventional spatial arrangement of high-rise educational buildings, which are a product of repetitive space articulation and results in minimal interaction between the users. The circulation is the main component

of the building, in the form of a continuous ramp, housing most of the program in which the building is experienced as a continuous series of contradicting spaces.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

gretchen wilkins

page 11

Ariana Belleli The Caravan and the Tent

This project investigates partial prefabrication as a solution to medium density housing in Melbourne.

The demographics across Australia indicate the need for higher density residential developments. The ‘quarter acre’ detached house that has dominated the housing market to date is

commencing a turn towards smaller dwellings in the form of apartments. The proposal offers economic efficiencies through the use of a pragmatic component based system. A menu of configurable room modules with the inherent ability for customisation are combined to produce unique design

solutions and site specific outcomes. The project has been conceived through testing on various sites in Melbourne that are marked for potential development.

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

john cherrey

page 13

Tarryn Boden Putting it back together

As part of Moreland City Council’s 2025 master plan, the Glenroy Station car park is proposed to be redeveloped to allow for mixed use, residential and community ventures over the next 16 years.

Instead of focusing on the built proposals, a greater hierarchy is given to the

small through the insertion of public infrastructure.

The intended design of these public structures allows the site characters - a range of people who have been identified through engagements on the site - to appropriate and engage with the space whilst going about their everyday routine.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

mel dodd & rosalea monacella

page 15

Laura Bright-Davies co2NURD at Fishermen’s Bend

Thanks to decades of low-interest mortgages + the great Aussie dream of owning your own home, Australian cities are suffering from exponential urban sprawl.

In an attempt to curb this migratory trend co2NURD, a carbon negative urban redevelopment on inner city Brownfield land, intends

to transform the currently under-used yet prime location of Port Melbourne.

This new self-sustaining neighbourhood will contain 530 homes, a primary school & kindergarten, plus a mix of complementary programs aimed to entice a new generation of first-home own buyers towards inner city ‘suburbs’.

In transforming this site from a disused industrial location to an intensive residential and employment area it will become a key to open up the rest of Port Melbourne.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

lindsay holland

page 17

Tristan Burfield Future Proofing Environments

A response to the competition held for the Melbourne University Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning.

Located within the University’s Parkville campus, the site is an island surrounded by rich existing built fabric, established landscaping and quality open space.

Focusing on the themes of sustainability and futureproofing, the project is a celebration of the activity of design. The proposal features; public orientated ground-scapes supporting exhibition spaces of varying types, sunken studios, library and research facilities with dedicated garden spaces. The

retained and re-furbished existing building has been converted into student spaces ranging from refined studio and seminar rooms to flexible un-programmed roof-tops.

These all collectively hinge from a 6-storey high multipurpose void space serving as a central circulation core and heart to the building.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

lindsay holland

page 19

Elena Casa Learning Loop

The Docklands is not a typical urban condition. It is neither City nor suburban.

The precinct consists mostly of commercial developments and residential towers, but there are almost no community buildings. Learning loop is a response to the lack of community program within this unique urban condition.

The proposal is a Primary School, Library and multipurpose Gymnasium.

It is about the idea of a new school being able to share its’ space and facilities with the other occupants of the precinct. Predominantly the school is located on the first floor, however at various points on the loop the

program drops down into the fundamentally public spaces including the CafĂŠ, Library and Gymnasium.

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

stuart harrison

page 21

Chan, Siu Hon Extended Journey – Tai O

This project is to unfold the hidden historical treasures of Hong Kong by exploring a fish village located south-east area – Tai O, and through establishing a new collective communal network, local cultural activities, forgotten traditions and dispersed heritages are linked and facilitated.

Tai O was one of the most important fishing port as well salt productions during Hong Kong settlement on 50s – 60s; however, nowadays the population is drastically decreased due to the deterioration of fishery industry.

This project proposed a diverse urban planning in order to provide supportive

amenities for projected population growth, as well tourism blossom. Moreover, a new communal centre is generated through a cluster of exhibition centre, information centre, amphitheatre, open plaza, new piers and community centre. They are widely used by the local community, and being explored by the tourists.

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

martyn hook and chris chan

page 23

Peter Charles Cast in Stone

The ambition of this project is to forge a public, cultural site for the people of Dandenong that offers a sense of permanence and solidity, while aiding in the imaginative development and establishment of belonging, local myths, histories and identities. The site offers public spaces, a library, and local council offices and

acts as the key transition gesture between Dandenong Train Station and the historic town centre.The scheme is assembled via a narrative idea about potential character and cultural imaginings that unfold from a stone given to the people of Dandenong.

The stone was fought over, cracked open and divided, fi-

nally cast upon the land next to the station. The enigmatic forms came to being through imagining characters and events that were embedded in the stone, revealed as it broke apart. Memories ornament the stone like fossils and cave-paintings, waiting to be re-interpreted by future generations.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

minifie, ednie-brown & schork

page 25

Maggie Chu Debney Park School and Hub

This scheme explores the creation for a more cohesive environment in Flemington.

It aims to improve social dynamics between segregated communities/diverse social groups at Debney Park Secondary school, a possible cause of low enrolment.

I am interested in expanding the social outreach of the

school; not only benefiting the students but also the local community. The proposition attempts to rebrand Debney Park Secondary School as a communal hotspot.

The proposal is a collection of buildings which includes some existing buildings. The architecture is an

eclectic approach of taking from the surrounding context (materials; architectural elements) and also the language of the civic in the suburb.

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

graham crist

page 27

Ying-Lan Dann Passages

The context, Moonee Ponds, in Melbourne’s North-West, is perceived as a dot to dot – a line of enquiry connected by portals, events and textures; short-cuts, light shafts, platforms, ramps and traces.

The project is about urban experience and the relationship between infrastructure and inhabitation, two vastly

differing but interdependent systems of scale, time, movement and atmosphere.

It catalogues and collages the historical and textural qualities of Moonee Ponds’ in general and the former Moonee Ponds market site in particular. In its central locale, it takes the form of a connective infrastructure

whose uses are many and temporal.

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

nigel bertram

page 29

Charles Dewanto Ongkoutomo Recycling Culture

Recycling Culture is an initiative to rejuvenate historic Kota (North Jakarta, Indonesia). The project is concerned with current development patterns of contemporary Jakarta which neglect the complexity of surrounding context. This results in a segregated urban fabric from north (old) to south

(new). The proposal of art precinct suggests by developing old Jakarta a new model emerged in between heritage and the contemporary.

A strong horizontal and vertical mass frames the city beyond and allows a soft landscape to infiltrate the depth of proposed city block.

Cultural programs rotate

around commercial realities and new public squares connect the interior back to the canal and a forgotten past.

The proposal is to give cultural exposure that Jakarta is lacking, enhancing it act as a mutual linkage reconnecting Kota’s fragile urban fabric.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

martyn hook & louis sauer

page 31

Melissa Febriani Infrastructure Settlement

Located in South Jakarta, Indonesia, the project is an infrastructure driven project addressing the issues of flooding, illegal squatters and waste.

The proposal focuses on the process of three different systems, a squatter housing, a waste system to minimise flooding and generate

income as well as a water system integrated within the landscape that helps clean the river water and act as an alternative flooding area.

It aims to respond to the current and urgent problem of the society and allowing the site to be more viable for the people to live in the area.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

sand helsel & martyn hook

page 33

Meredith Fisher St Peter’s Kinglake Community Memorial Church

St Peter’s Anglican Church was destroyed in the February Black Saturday Bushfires.

This redesign explores the idea of absence in the landscape and in the community.

It also deals with the memory of the fires and those who lost their lives. It is about what is there now, rather than what was there before.

The incorporation of spaces devoted to community group usage, as well as a large worship space and a small chapel for weekly services, strengthens the role of the church as a place for gathering and worship.

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A

B

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major project supervisor

stuart harrison

page 35

Christopher Foy Sorry I came hear

A disregard for the analytical method and a resistance to process.

The cultural cast away, cast away.

The gold coast as a relentlessly optimistic, unformed, featureless ground for the indefatigable theatre of the sun drenched, reef coconut oiled, baby boomer.

Having ones ear to the ground, designing from the folkloric, the rumour, the chinese whisper.

The Gold Coast has passed Newcastle to become the 6th largest city in Australia and is now focused closing the gap on Adelaide. The Gold Coast could become the 5th largest city in Austra-

lia late in the 21st Century.

Losing an innocence and gaining a cynicism, this final project remains a flight of fantasy that has left me where I started and completed the endless loop da loop.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

peter corrigan

page 37

Kong Wah, FU Valley

The train yard in Southern Cross forms a barrier blocking the CBD and Docklands.

The first strategy is to create the several “valleys” as a new housing estate on train yard. Shopping streets and several different theme parks as a new city blocks where form of streets and laneways to activate the ground floor

area and form connection to lead people from the CBD to Docklands.

Secondly, the new affordable housing nowadays concerns on privacy only.

Everyone close door and don’t know the neighbors by lack of community space. The idea is to encourage people to expose to the nature from

unit “box” and enhance the relationship and interaction with the community.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

lindsay holland

page 39

Carolyne Groves Cutting

Cutting investigates an example of how to introduce density housing into Melbourne’s sprawling suburbia.

This is done by reexamining Melbourne to be seen as a landscape rather than be defined to the existing grid.

I propose to take influence from the scale and form that exists in landscape, the cut-

ting on Barkers rd directly after crossing the Yarra river is the scale I reference in my project.

My project is located in Deepdene Melbourne, located on white horse road to the east of Bourke Rd, this area already has existing mixed use activity, public transport and bike trail. I propose

density housing in the form of the cutting to merge itself into the existing landscape of Deepdene.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

peter brew

page 41

Vanessa Gugliotti Channelling of Fluidity‌

This project is the study of the catchment and dispersing of water throughout the site within Bangholme – this water could be used for infrastructural change within the community. The site, located on the fringe of the industrial estate is surrounded by a network of water sources.

The project would collect

water that runs through the large part of the project is site, (from rivers, roads and swamp land for planting, roofing in the area); to be sports and recreational areas. cleaned by specific plants and wetlands before it is either sold or discharged back into the river.

The thesis is tested by the design of two industrial scale plant nurseries, one which also acts as a tennis club – a

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semester 2, 2009

RESIDENTIAL AREA RESIDENTIAL AREA

RESIDENTIAL AREA

INDUSTRIAL AREA

RESIDENTIAL AREA

SITE

RESIDENTIAL AREA

RESIDENTIAL AREA

RESIDENTIAL AREA

major project supervisor

nigel bertram

page 43

Nor Aziah Hassan Seeding Egate

panorama series warehouse retroďŹ t shed plug ins landscape

Egate is a brownsfield site near North Melbourne station in West Melbourne.

Heavily industrialised, it is viewed as unappealing. In contrast, it is also full of potential. As the last fragment of land near the city, Egate is awaiting development for a sustainable suburb starting 2014.

Egate has a high land value hence; it has the tendency to be masterplanned for greater return. Often, it will be hastily cleared and in this case, the industrial moments that define the site will be departed.

What do we do with a brownsfield site that is already well equipped like

Egate? This project proposes that we can be more resourceful by seeding the existing with low intensity infrastructures and catalysts that will give long term benefit which are more inviting for the subsequent development on the site.

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semester 2, 2009

existing

planting for soil remediation

planting after 2 years

major project supervisor

simon whibley & graham crist

page 45

Jasmine Hoey Urban Systematic Intersections

Due to the rising population growth, another extension to the Urban Growth Boundary has been proposed. Urban Systematic Intersections illustrates how re-densification of Melbourne’s existing dormant industrial land can prove to be effective in meeting the housing requirement.

This is achieved through

the implementation of a series of systems based on the existing site conditions, access, amenities, open space and housing. This network forms the masterplan concept and an exploration of the relationship between building types. The intersection of the systems allow for retail, office and civic oppor-

tunities to further facilitate the community.

This will provide homes for a diversity of households and integrate convenience retailing services as well as community facilities while respecting the existing neighbourhood character and creating a cohesive community across Alphington.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

sand helsel & suzannah waldron

page 47

Michael Hubbard Community inTension

This project looks at creating an alternate integrated community model located on the bay in Port Melbourne; it sees the shoreline as a potential for growth rather than a boundary. By looking at the potential that tensegrity systems have to create a selfsupporting structure it links Station pier to Pier Street.

The horizontal members Photo Credit: John Gollings contain public program, these support and connect a public walkway that houses flexible offices and gallery spaces with the front yards of the vertical towers dividing the rooms.

The adaptability of these spaces as well as the free span floor plates allows for future change and remodeling.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

christine phillips & stasinos mantzis

page 49

Jessica In Beyond the Dreams of Avarice

Buildings designed to house and stand for institutions of finance have tended to portray notions of stability, order, growth and power. The unstable and cyclic nature of economics is rarely acknowledged, even though these qualities are an inherent part of the financial system to which these buildings owe

their existence. Beyond the dreams of avarice is a proposal for a financial centre in the melbourne cbd that has come about from an exploration of several themes - the unstable, endogenous nature of the financial system; the psychology of debt and the wisdom of crowds; the tower typology in buildings

of commerce; and the application of computational design processes to tease out highly abstract concepts into physical form and spatial experience.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

minifie, ednie-brown & schork

page 51

Rhesa Limansyah Footscray + Parking

Based on Footscray’s Transit City agenda there are many ongoing project to increase the efficiency of urban living in Footscray. However the parking system seems to be left behind. The brief of this project is based on the agenda and aimed to develop a more efficient car parking system than the current existing ones.

The strategy used is to integrate different programs other than car parking to increase the land usage of the site.

Aimed to provide 1000 car spaces, this project has three different buildings located along the ring road of Footscray’s Central Activity District. They are designed

by using the same strategy however each of them are adapted to the local conditions and aimed to have different identities to the others.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

christine phillips & stasinos mantzis

page 53

Will Loft The Change Machine

Take a hallucinatory voyage of discovery!

Re-evaluate your usage of space! Marvel as Yarra river water is transformed into a sparkling swimming pool, a freeway underpass into a place of learning and recreation and a bike path into a bustling sustainable freeway!

The change machine is an

experiential monument to place.

Re-imagining an under utilised but prominent and public infrastructural space as one laden with possibility, Melbourne’s most spectacular bike path acts as a facade.

Forming a connective spine around which a complex set of site constraints and pro-

gram (swimming pool, lecture theatre, laboratory/filter, ferry terminal.) is interwoven. This structure is entirely based around drawing a deeper understanding from its users.

Encouraging deeper thought about the way we use our built environment and natural resources, and the way we move around our city.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

brendan jones

page 55

Jit Loh H.O.M.E.

Disadvantaged children from Melbourne are the new face of the nation’s housing affordability crisis. This is a housing model proposed for homeless single parent with children. The building is located in west Melbourne, the western end of King street.

This building serves indirectly as an extension of the

flagstaff crisis accommodation which is located next to the site. With consideration to the various zones condition around the site, the building is designed to adapt and alter the condition from the commercial street to the park and residential area.

This housing model only provide rooms and basic fa-

cilities for the inhabitants as the location of the site have the advantages to exploit the existing services for the homeless in Melbourne CBD.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

gretchen wilkins

page 57

Jack May Build an Ocean, I dare you

Proposed interventions to the south of the Queen Victoria Market shed light on the possibility of a series of new situations or nodal points of activity. Small channels held by market stalls and houses spit out and float over a central public space, which sits directly on top of Melbourne’s old cemetery.

Rather than the four facades of the European model it was initially thought of as an impossible plaza. A canopy skims its way through the whole scheme like a flashlight in the night, in an erratic series of movements, which search for something. This is an architecture which does not intend to suggest finality,

as often it is the suggestion of possibility which releases a building from its faithfulness to physicality, place and the brief for which initially it is a record... and lets it fly.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

peter corrigan

page 59

Matthew McDonnell Urban Language

Urban language describes the result of a set of dynamic interactions that control the appearance of a subject. If this is used as a method to explore a series of complex relationships what does the resulting architecture look like?

Melbourne’s Central Business District’s northern

edge is disturbed when it meets the inner city suburbs.

It leaves behind a series of anomaly sites where the Hoddle grid is deformed to house a different typology.

The resulting research investigates how a site held in tension between an existing urban fabric, open landscape and historical market precent

can be designed to exploit its unique location.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

minifie, ednie-brown & schork

page 61

Duan Michael Mei Bridging

The project aims to establish an enduring presence and identity for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in the Southbank art precinct and at the same time create a better connection to the Melbourne CBD and improve pedestrian traffic flow. The project also looks at expanding the MSO’s education role

by establishing a connection with the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). This interaction between students and world renowned professionals would be highly beneficial, and the building morphology is designed to facilitate it. A result of studying the experiment of transferring sound to form,

the dynamic transparency of the project’s façade demonstrates varying degrees of publicity and privacy for the spaces within.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

paul dash

page 63

Yvonne Meng Amidst the Cluster

This project attempts to address the lack of public and recreation space around Brunswick’s congested Sydney Road/ Dawson Street area. The site is an underutilised council owned carpark amongst a cluster of civic and institutional buildings. There is opportunity here to create an open community hub

which provides Brunswick with relief from the rest of the area.

The programmes draw on the existing. They are less formalised versions of what is already there -retail becomes a market, the gallery becomes a wall, the library an archive, the gym a games pitch, and the theatre

a stage. By prescribing a set of programmes, it generates critical mass for the spaces to be used. By leaving spaces flexible, it encourages other opportunistic activities.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

mel dodd & gretchen wilkins

page 65

Claire Mensforth Council House Who

“Council House Who” is the examination of how a metropolitan council building would interact if placed in a suburban setting.

This project investigates the typology associated with council and civic buildings located in Melbourne’s suburbs. There is a distinct quality that all these build-

ing share, where as Council House 2, located in Melbourne’s CBD, does not accommodate these characteristics. This is accentuated by its next door neighbour, The Melbourne Town Hall.

“Council House Who” is a seamless amalgamation of suburb and civic precinct, drawing on important

scenes from suburbia, such as residential rooflines, road types and common attribute.

“Council House Who” is designed for the community and council of Brimbank.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

simon drysdale

page 67

Rana Misho Densification in Deer Park

My project explores densification in the suburb of Deer Park, located 17kms from the CBD. I am proposing utilization of existing land and suggesting different housing typologies that will begin to interact with the existing housing demographic and land utilization.

The project consists of

45 residential buildings. The projects propose two private shared outdoor spaces, a Bbq area, and a kid’s playground that form the centre of the new community. In these spaces there could be picnic areas for growing vegetables, which is placed in-between the public housing and the existing primary school.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

martyn hook

page 69

Nik Ahmad Khalis Anglers’ Rest

This project offers a restoration plan of the bay as the focus of Melbourne’s urban expansion. The model promotes eco-tourism by celebrating the fishing activity by exploring and intensifying its potential.

This recreational spot sets in a retreat place in Kirk Point which is at the south

side of the Western Treatment Plant. It is one of the main fishing spots in Port Philip Bay which is known for its richness of nature.

However, the intriguing issue of this site is that it offers insufficient facilities to accommodate those activities.

The specific aim of this project is to design a model

that is engaged with the use of the land water interface and its existed lines, i.e.

King’s tide, high tide and low tide line. It will allow the maximum fishing experience from shallow water fishing to deep water fishing.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

barbara bamford

page 71

Maurice Novak RMIT School of Architecture

Architectural education if anything is contentious. The question of what to teach, and how to teach it has no definitive answer, it is always flawed. This is because of the contradictory nature of architecture. RMIT holds to a tri-polar ideology, where there is a constant layering and overlapping of differ-

ent schools of thought. This building follows from the disjunctive nature of what is taught. Rather than being a single building, it is broken into separate elements, which connect with both each other and the city in order to form a unity and balance. By bridging the road, this building is not only a result of its

own process, but is formed as an active part of the City.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

peter corrigan

page 73

Matthew Nowicki Unrealised Futures

“You get your education in the corridor,� stated Peter Corrigan in a major project crit. The ambiguous and un-programmed along with binary opposites play major roles in an indulgent project, where a student is able to reflect upon the fundamentals of architectural pedagogy through a phenomenological

lens; exploring the unrealised aspirations that may have taken place but didn’t in his own education. An architecture school should inspire, nurture and develop those not yet aware of the anarchic future that lies ahead in their chosen profession. It is there as an abstract entity that allows interaction and choice.

The scheme contemplates what was once there, what could have been and what will never happen.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

peter corrigan

page 75

Dominic Pandolfini Overlap

Overlap is not a modernist manifesto, nor does it embrace the romance of context. Instead it coalesces glimpses of recent architectural history, the ambitions of developers, the ideals of local planners, community expectation and the functions of urban infrastructure.

It does this by embracing

the conflicts that exist at the intersections between these sometimes conflicting agendas. Overlap seeks to express these conflicts and then, through the simple act of composition, empower architects to invent inner urban mixed use high density developments.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

jan van schaik

page 77

Jay Raju Philip Spiritualising Pune

This design research looks at the city of Pune located in the state of Maharashtra in the south of India and the Mula-Mutha River which flows through the centre of the city. Rivers in India are treated as goddesses providing people with fresh water as well as sacred sites.

The design research aims

to encourage the public a means of access to the river, to create more awareness towards the riverfront by testing small experiments or design projects along the riverfront.

By utilizing the traditional values of the different classes of people located on the site and understanding

the temple characteristics, I have proposed a Flea Market which would not only make people aware of the polluted river, but integrate every class in the same way and create a kind of relationship between them.

rmit architecture

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semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

ben statkus

page 79

Shanchayan Ratinam Preston Civic Precinct Redevelopment

The site for the planned Preston Central Civic precinct redevelopment lies between the heavily retail focused High Street and Preston market to its west, residential mass to its north along Roseberry Avenue, and a mixture of residential and civic infrastructure to its east and south, along Kelvin

Grove and Gower Street respectively.

The proposed re-development will provide multi-level commercial offices, additional council office space, multi-level car park, mixed use and residential mass, an Intercultural centre and community hub and a range of new public spaces.

The scheme aims to provide a strategy for the densification of Preston Central and address the severe lack of outdoor public space in Preston, whilst maintaining its small scale suburban texture.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

richard black

page 81

Rathyana Kaur The Bike Station

It is estimated that cycling will become one of the most popular forms of transport due to its convenience and affordability. In conjunction with the Melbourne City Bike Plan, this project takes part in the ongoing and future plans of providing the commuters of Melbourne a safe, secure and comfort-

able cycling environment.

The Bike Station is a bicycle parking facility that operates in major City Loop train stations as part of an intermodal transportation network that combines a commuter’s bicycle and train journey. Each Bike Station is designed using different parking models as a re-

sponse to each site’s unique conditions.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

gretchen wilkins

page 83

Muhammad A. Rossenkhan Assimilated Landscapes

Only 5% remains of the Victorian grasslands in the face of increasing expansion of Melbourne’s urban sprawl.

The government’s revision of the urban growth boundary seeks to purchase farmlands west of Werribee to establish new grassland reserves; the project explores the insertion of a visitors centre into this

fragile landscape for the rehabilitation and protection of this habitat. The architecture of the project has 3 distinct elements; the farm, the assimilated landscape and the interpretive link. The farm is a series of hybridised sheds that draw from the simple vernacular timber and contemporary steel farm buildings within the

grasslands. The assimilated landscape buildings define the edges of the damaged grassland and are tuned in response to solar angles to avoid shading the adjacent pristine grass. These two elements are connected by the interpretive link that documents the qualities of the landscape by immersing the visitor within it.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

martyn hook

page 85

Lauren Steller People’s Paddock

North Melbourne Football Club has throughout its history found itself on the periphery of the ever-expansive corporate and professional world of the AFL. The struggle town sentimentality and toughness has preserved pride in the club but other innovative strategies have been necessary to stay on

the professional field. Their current circumstance shows their willingness to embed community onto their fractured site – an incarnation that mutually benefits both the club and the local public.

The proposed programs kindergarten, toy library, community gymnasium and grandstand - contribute to

daily program and event.

As social capital is the currency of country football, the value in participation and belonging to place is the muse for the people’s paddock.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

peter corrigan

page 87

Bonnie Stephens Heeding the Siren’s Call

Located in the Victorian suburb of Warrandyte, this project addresses the notion of greater community support and education in an exceptionally fire prone region. A CFA fire awareness centre and education facility, it poses the question; Can a recognized voluntary association be represented in

a contemporary way to help a community better prepare itself for the inevitable? How can architecture entice community members to respond to an urgent issue? Reacting to mounting concern in the area, the proposal is influenced by modern fire modeling techniques, revealing itself as buildings that

blend into landscape strategies. In a robust manner, it aims to be reflective of its immediate surroundings as well as the regions rich mining history.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

mel dodd

page 89

Thong Fu Shen 618 Elizabeth Street

Student housing should not be dog boxes! The redevelopment of 618, Elizabeth Street came about as a response and critique to Melbourne’s student housing and living conditions and attempts to address these problems without submitting to the common perceptions of student housing.

A housing tower equipped with ‘civilised’ comforts and spaces, yet manipulated at intricate levels to be a catalyst for social interactions between mates. Coupled with an intimate town housing, a subtle interpretation of a ‘village’, designed to forge a sense of community within the development. While the

‘library without books’ break the common stigma associated with student housing by opening up the ground level, forging a new sense of community never before associated with student housing.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

martyn hook

page 91

Diana Wong Lian Jion Mies LAND der Rohe

The thesis for this project is looking at redeveloping land in the city, in this case around the parliament house. The site analysis has brought up the need of building a supplementary parliament offices to replace the current portable office.

This office will serve as part of extension of parliament

house as well as providing accommodations for politicians that travel from interstates or overseas. The project raised issues of the landmarks around the site, the public and private space, the security, the gardens and the characters of the site.

This project is driven by an exploration of precedent

and issues or architectural legibility, of evolving a design process that works explicitly from precedent. In this project, is a study of Mies van der Rohe.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

anna johnson

page 93

Louis Wong Requiem of a Dream in Melbourne

‘Requiem’ is an unbuilt exploration on the displacement of heritage buildings in the face of commercial progress, which dilutes the historical image of Melbourne’s Chinatown.

Concealed under a blanket of street signs, service ducts and false facades, heritage architectural elements

still remain visible in lessvisited corners of Chinatown, a connection to its historical identity as a cultural precinct.

What began as three speculative Acts of architecture to reconnect historical memory culminated in a contemporary memorial to the forgotten Theatre Royal and Esquire Theatre, hidden

under the Target Sign on Bourke Street.

A building within a building, the ‘Picture Palace’ reworks found nostalgic motifs, reclaiming the early cinematic identity of the precinct to become a wonder behind the commercial everyday.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

greg more & martyn hook

page 95

Eva Wong Revitalisation of Central Police Compound

The thesis of this project proposes the revitalisation of central police station compound in Hong Kong.

The site is currently waiting to redevelop and become another landmark in Hong Kong. There are three revitalisation ideas for the site.

Firstly, the site is going to turn into greenery landscape

as Hong Kong is a highly population packed city with high rise building and lake of green parks. Therefore, locals and visitors would delight to have a green oasis in a busy central distrust. Secondly, the site is going to insert new programs to reactivate and memory for the heritage buildings such as museum,

bookshop, cafĂŠ, outdoor gallery, etc. Thirdly, sustainable idea is going to apply to all existing and new buildings.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

lindsay holland

page 97

Monica Yang Porosity 24:00

Porosity 24:00 is about freedom of movement, designing and exploring flexible and connective spaces. This project uses Shanghai’s Longtang as a model of organization and explores the idea of retrofitting the grain back into Shanghai’s urban fabric.

Shanghai’s urban fabric is becoming sparser along with

rapid urbanisation. The grain is pulled apart and segregated into different sections and is enclosed by fences, gates and security, limiting the freedom of movement – the inability to walk freely.

The grain refers to the operations of Shanghai’s Longtangs and how it allows the multiplicity of uses,

expansion and contraction of boundaries and the blurring of public and private spaces.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

sand helsel & rosalea monacella

page 99

Sze Yuen Yiu Breaking Boundaries

This project is aimed at creating a convivial urban space for the community of Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong.

Since its construction, a lack of community services and an unfriendly pedestrian environment have contributed to many social problems in the town. This project explores ways to liberate local

residents from their compact apartments into a community complex which enhances everyday interaction within the neighborhood. As a contrast to the extreme verticality of the residential towers, this project addresses a horizontally layered landscape of floating buildings and the roof-scapes. Sunken

gardens provide spaces for open communal activities and hydroponic farming: an opportunity to facilitate a self-sustaining new town for Hong Kong.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

mel dodd

page 101

Sethy You Lucky 8

Springvale Shopping Centre has been a popular shopping destination for Asian goods and groceries for the last decade.

This project aims to address the problem of congestion and aesthetic appeal by demolishing part of the existing structure and creating an underground car

park while maintaining the street shop appeal. The concept of mainstream shopping complex is applied to the existing asian style shopping culture to form ‘Lucky 8,’ endeavouring to be a uniquely distinct and prominent iconic symbol of Springvale.

This project offers a ‘walk in the park’ shopping experi-

ence by integrating the hybrid idea of shop space and park space with rooftop cafe facilities, restaurants and an open market. This hybrid shopping centre is highlighted by greenery landscape and streetscape and a vertical garden. The courtyard concept allows for a unique natural shopping atmosphere experience.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

lindsay holland

page 103

Timothy Sullivan Bridge

[Project By Thesis] The San Ma Lou area in Macau is under threat, its unique historical fabric that consists of hybridised Chinese and Portuguese styles is literally crumbling away.

As a strategy to breathe new life into the historic zone, a new pedestrian

bridge, that doubles as a wind foil, re-connects the Chinese mainland with San Ma Lou. Rigorous urban investigations, coupled with experimental digital design tools, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics and parametric manufacturing software, have been combined to create an adaptable architectural

system that will help revive and energise the city.

The Bridge’s geometry has a structural inherency which facilitates strategic transformations, adapting itself as it flows through the area, mutating from a walkway, into market places, brothels, and luxury retail.

rmit architecture

major projects

semester 2, 2009

major project supervisor

anna johnson

page 105

Rmit Architecture Program Major Projects Semester 2, 2009 Catalogue Program Director Melanie Dodd Major Project Coordinator Nigel Bertram Catalogue Design Chase & Galley Production & Coordination Stuart Harrison

The Architecture Program wishes to thank Thomas and Eva Butler for their continuing support of the Anne Butler Memorial Medal, an annual award for outstanding Major Projects in design.

The Program thanks the Bruns family for their continuing support of the Antonia Bruns Medal, an award for a Major Project which illustrates an exemplary investigation in the areas of architecture and film, architectural representation and visual perception.

Exhibition: Rmit Building 45 33 Lygon Street, Carlton, Victoria Opening Friday 6th Nov 6pm Open to public 9 – 20 Nov 11am-3pm Mon-Sat www.architecture.rmit.edu.au

www. architecture. rmit.edu.au