Architecture Design Electives - Balloting Posters, Semester 1, 2022

SEMESTER 1 | 2022

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ELECTIVES BALLOTING POSTERS

ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ELECTIVES COMPRISE A SUITE OF VERTICALLY INTEGRATED COURSES OFFERED ACROSS THE BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND THE MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE PROGRAMS. ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ELECTIVES DRAW ON KEY AREAS OF ARCHITECTURE HISTORY AND THEORY, COMMUNICATIONS, TECHNOLOGY, AND DESIGN, AND FROM INTERDISCIPLINARY COMBINATIONS WITH THE MASTER OF URBAN DESIGN AS WELL AS DESIGN PROJECTS OFFERED ACROSS THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN PROGRAMS.

THE EMPHASIS OF THE ELECTIVES ARE THE APPLICATION AND SYNTHESIS OF NEW SKILLS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR PRACTICE AND KNOWLEDGE OF ARCHITECTURE.

ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ELECTIVES BALLOTING POSTERS

On The Domicile: Elective Outline RMIT Architecture Elective Semester 1 2022 Tutors Dr Peter Brew Wednesday Mornings at 9.00

Roy Grounds Moonbrai Flats 1940-41 Toorak

Elective Context The aim of this elective is to look at how we look at Housing. To recognise the nature of its ‘problematic’ and to become familiar with concepts and models of research that allow us to recognise and address the problem.

The Elective is structured as a Research project looking at Wicked problem The hard core of the semester will be the review of a significant unpublished research project undertaken in the 1980s at the University of Melbourne by Terry Sawyer which documented the development of “flats” in Melbourne from the late 19c to the second world war (c 1939). The interest in the earlier multi residential developments is that respond to a very different context to contemporary apartments, they date from a time before many of the current planning and building controls and were more often than not owner occupied but built to rent, many were designed for quite specific residents, be that occupation ( firebrigatde, nurses ) or social ( retired actors, Social refuges etc) The Intent is to expand on this work in ways in a way that will changes the discussion and practice of Architects with respect to the problem of housing. The central question revolves around the question of access to this work, This may be theoretical, as in how we think about it, or a question of format and context, how is the work available through guides and public access through publication another possibility is to consider how and what is available as a standard, through measurement such as dwelling density and household, Conceptual Agenda; While we broadly accept there being a disconnect between societies need of housing ( our demands) and the ‘housing market ( Supply) it is too often an problem that remains ‘unaddressed’, Broadly it is a the sort of problem that in the late 1960s was identified by systems analyst and management consultants on the west coast of the USA who identified them as being Wicked. A method to solve these problems was first enunciated at about the same time if not earlier but on the East cost of the USA by Imre Lakatos who proposed ‘the research Project’.

CRUDE SCENARIOS AND HAPPENSTANCE How you could undertake and communicate a feasibility Time Location Organiser Skills required Prerequisites Duration

Semester 1 2022, Thursdays 6.30pm 100.05.003 face to face Vivek Subramanian Power Point, indesign or other presentation tools, and Excel None, however an interest in the suburban growth areas would be beneficial.

12 weeks

This is not a property development or finance elective, and is not run by someone who is well versed in finance.

WHAT IT ISNT

This elective is not intended to turn architecture students into developers or speculators (unless they want to be).

This elective aims to show how you could convert an idea into a rough scenario to see if it’s worth exploring further (or not). And then aims to show how to communicate it.

Image Source – Transition magazine ( pub date unknown) via The Babel Fiasco

WHAT IT IS

This isn’t a professional practice elective either as it's being facilitated by someone who has never practised professionally.

Collectively we will choose a new neighbourhood town centre in one of Melbourne’s growth areas to undertake a feasibility analysis. This will be done through research, yield studies, modelling some very basic returns, general measurements, how to make assumptions and justify them, introducing related disciplines, and how to present and communicate a potential opportunity.

Over 12 weeks, the elective will be loosely arranged into 3 parts; concept, validation, and presentation.

PAST STUDENT REVIEWS!!!

“Viv was great, one of the best tutors I've had. Very helpful and informative. Treated everyone like equals, very down to earth.”

“Vivek is so lovely, and made the coursework really interesting. The workload was not too heavy…..This is a great subject that is still architecturally focused, but has some grounds in the real world.”

“Nothing. Generally all good.”

| SYMBIOSIS

| Marc Gibson | 1:30pm - 3:30pm | Tuesday | Blended Online Class | | Outline

Symbiosis will look at the generation of intricate topologies through multi agent aggregation & panelization.

Students will create, refine, and position a digital toolset that interfaces bottom-up algorithmic generation of geometry, procedural rationalization, and top down intervention through modelling.

The first half of the semester will tackle the fundamentals of building solvers to test large numbers of solutions to generate spatial outcomes. In the second half of the semester students will form groups to build a series of tools that solve a speculative design problem such as: Form optimization (curvature, load analysis), façade panelization & component aggregation. The outcomes will be controlled, analysed and represented through dashboards designed by students.

Please note that you will be learning how to Code in C# in this elective - There is no expectation of prior experience in coding. The first few weeks will have exercises that will focus on building your knowledge on the fundamentals of coding, data structure and how to write an algorithm.

| Prerequesits

Students are expected to have completed Communications 3 (Grasshopper & Mesh modelling).

No prior coding experience required.

| Evaluation

Students will be assessed on their design, visual communication and comprehension of data structure to control layered parametric procedures. Individual folios are to be submitted at the conclusion of this subject.

| Blended Teaching Mode

Introduction & review classes will run face-to-face whilst interim tutorial will run online via ConceptBoards.

Additional video tutorials will be provided to cover software & coding concepts. Please note that this class requires you to have access to the RMIT Melbourne City Campus.

| Core Techniques

| Topology Generation

| Develop Algorithmic Systems

| Genetic Solvers & ML Panel Clustering

| Component Based Aggregations

| Automated Documentation

| Fundamentals of Coding C#

| Interactive Dashboards [Winforms]

| Previous Coding Elective

Ai Altered Architect Ai-As sist e d De si gn S e a rc h RMIT Elect ive Sem es t er 1 2 0 2 2 Tutors: Prof Al is a Andr as e k a n d Jo sh u a Lye

ONLINE INTENSIVE ELECTIVE KEYWORDS: M AC HINE LE A R N I N G /A I /A ES T H E T I CS /COMP L E X I T Y / H I G H R ES O LU T I O N / PAT T E R N R ECO G N I T I O N / W O N D E R

Architecture is increasingly transdisciplinary and enriched with information, introducing big data into design processes. Through computational processes for the first time in history we are rendering invisible visible. “Pattern recognising” possible designs out of sea of data is increasingly opaque to unassisted human cognition, and becomes a work of the machine. We will investigate Ai-assisted design search, accelerating development of student’s design sensibility emerging from this partnership with Ai and its very different kind of cognition. Built in high resolution, through large populations, systems, and patterns, we will seek to discover previously unseen, awe-inspiring aesthetics. Emancipating designers from familiar and predetermined, we will embrace discovery and re-origination of architectural expressions, asking what architecture could be with this newfound hybrid form of human/nonhuman creativity.

Computational workflow will consist of training and deployment of artificial neural networks in their different forms, such as CycleGan, Image to Image Neural Translation, Convolution Neural Networks and 2D to 3d translation. Thus enabling synthesis of proto-architectural entities, sourced from natural and artificial origin, such as urban textures found in existing cities on Earth, NASA images of Mars landscapes, and structural patterns of buildings, plants, forests, and crystals.

Class Schedule: Week 1 - Monday 28th Feb - Friday 4th March 2 X Studio Sessions of 4 Hrs - Tue, Wed Studio Time : 1PM China, 4PM Melbourne

Week 4 - Monday 21st March - Friday 25th March 2 X Studio Sessions of 4 Hrs - Mon, Wed Studio Time : 1PM China, 4PM Melbourne

Week 2 - Monday 7th March - Friday 11th March 2 X Studio Sessions of 4 Hrs - Tue, Wed Studio Time : 1PM China, 4PM Melbourne

Week 5 - Monday 28th March - Friday 1st April 1 X Studio Sessions of 4 Hrs Wed - Final Review Studio Time : 1PM China, 4PM Melbourne

Week 3 - Monday 14th March - Friday 18th March 2 X Studio Sessions of 4 Hrs - Tue, Wed Studio Time : 1PM China, 4PM Melbourne

Faik Bachelors & Masters Elective Tutor: Gwyllim Jahn Time: Thursday 6-9pm Location: 100.05.008 Blended Online / On Campus Weeks 1-12

Agenda: Faik will introduce students to an emerging collection of machine learning models that allow creatives to generate sketches, drawings, paintings, 3D models, music, videos, text and working code entirely from plain english prompts. This new paradigm of natural language modelling will impact creative disciplines by eliminating the labour and skill necessary to create visual artefacts, enabling anyone to create and blend visual culture including entirely autonomous processes. One might imagine that in this new paradigm architects will no longer need to know how to draw, 3D model or code but simply how to express their intent in words.

Outcomes: Instead a new set of skills are required to critically engage with language modelling: 1. An awareness and understanding of the history, theory and aesthetics of art and architecture to stylistically influence output 2. The wit, curiosity and wordplay necessary to establish authorship and differentiate work from bot-generated noise 3. The dexterity to pass between different models to pursue different ideas, for instance working with one model to generate text prompts for another model that generates images The elective will help students develop these skills through generation of visual artefacts exploring the latent space (relationship between inputs and outputs) of a number of different machine learning models that are all readily available online in Google’s exceptionally accessible Collab platform. Students will produce a visual journal / folio from weekly exercises intended to develop a unique expression and distinguishable visual style for a chosen media: art, drawings, text, code or 3D models.

Prerequisites: Some knowledge and interest in art and architectural history is preferable. A critical engagement with broader visual culture, especially counterculture, will also likely be productive. A willingness to tinker with and learn to code where necessary won’t go astray either - but as expressed in the agenda this is not at all essential.

Image: @ganbrood

(de)FORMATION

Hesam Mohamed | Wednsdays_9am-12pm |

Building 100 Level 05 Room 003 | Face-To-Face

Photo Credit: RMIT University,Tectonic Formation Lab

This EleecƟve will explore the relaƟonship between design process of topologically complex architectural skins and advanced roboƟc fabricaƟon techniques.

Students will explore design and prototyypiing of architectural skins using ro oboƟc fab bricaƟon technique of Incremental Sheet Forming to fabricate metal components. Students will be divided into groups in order to carrry out design tassks, fabricaƟons of parts, detailling and d assembly.

Students will have the opportunityy to work witth roboƟc faciliƟes to fabricate their design proto otypes and use workshop faciliƟes to o assemblee the components to larger assemblies.

Classes will be conducted on campus with h i n th e RMIT Design Hub roboƟc workshop and level 5 classrooms. Students are required to access the RMIT workshops in order to develop their fabricaƟon tasks. No experience with allgorithmic and roboƟc tools is required, however a willingness to engage in these processes is necessary.

Re-Frocking ELECTIVE SEMESTER 1 2022 open to bachelor and masters students Melbourne and most capital cities have built most of their buildings, yet climate change has already made many of these buildings obsolete, they don’t conserve energy, often face the wrong direction to reduce heat loads and require heavy mechanical systems to keep their interiors at a standard 21 degrees. It is thought that commercial buildings contribute to 40% of the Co2 emissions (US Energy Information Administration). It’s not hard to see why.

This elective will narrow in on ways to re-dress or re-curtain the curtain walls which are the most expensive part of a high rise and responsible for the moderation of climate, aesthetics and identity of a building. We will be developing venturous ideas around how we can retrofit buildings in the city using lightweight materials including fabrics and fibres. We will use the workshops to develop scaled physical prototypes and ideas that can demonstrate a new way of thinking about how we dress buildings. We will also challenge the footprint of a building and see if there are ways that buildings can share ideas and form a community of resilience rather than isolated islands of carbon wastage.

FACE TO FACE Location: 100.1.6 Times: Tuesday 1.30-4.30 weeks 1-5, then intensive weeks 5-8 (3 days a week required comittment - days flexible. tutors will meet flexibly)

The elective will start weekly and then become intensive so you can make things more easily and tap into the expertise in the workshops.

This is co-taught by Dr Leanne Zilka and Anne Ebery, a recent MArch RMIT graduate who has experimented with alternative ways of considering the highrise façade.

Ornamental Operations Elective Leader: Brent Allpress Wednesday 2.30-5.30 pm Rm 100.05.004A “Cultural evolution is equivalent to the removal of ornament from articles of everyday use.” – Adolf Loos “The new decoration is orthopaedic”. – Le Corbusier “Featurism is not simply a decorative technique, it starts in concepts and extends upwards through the parts to the numerous trimmings. It may be defined as the subordination of the essential whole and the accentuation of selected separate features.” – Robin Boyd “The anguish of the beautiful that shines through the fragility of ornament is atopian: displacing more than could any nudity.” – Franco Rella Ornament haunts architectural discourse and practice. Theories of the ornamental within the canon cross and interrupt the central texts of the architectural tradition, both constructing and dividing them with unresolved uncertainties. Modernist theory negated the supplementary role of applied ornament. Modernist practices however involved radical ornamental operations employing abstract spatial surfaces as semiautonomous systems. The representational role of ornament in contemporary architecture remains complex and contested.

This elective provides a framework for investigating the complexities of the legacy of the Modernist prescription against the ornamental. It provides an opportunity to reconsider and revise postmodern accounts of the role of ornament. Recent non-standard digital technologies that revise modernist economies of standardization also shift the debate on the role of figuration beyond representation and communication towards architectural actions.

Critical readings will be made of key architectural texts on ornament. Modernist, postmodernist and contemporary precedent projects will be analysed involving questions of ornament. The Elective will examine a thematic series of ornamental operations and actions including framing, masquerade, grotesquery, interlacing, prosthesis, negation, marginalia, backgrounding and mediation.

The late-Classical theorist Boethius argued the role of ornament was to mediate transitions in state from conditions of tension to resolution. Related counter-compositional strategies will be explored.

This is a design project and practices focused History and Theory Elective that integrates theoretical reading and critical discursive writing with representational analysis and speculative project based design studies.

This Elective provides a vehicle for research into significant architectural precedent and practices, provoking a critical and creative response that focuses on qualitative and performative design operations and outcomes.

ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ELECTIVES WITH MASTER OF URBAN DESIGN

CONRAD HAMANN IAN NAZARETH

Image: Cities as Arenas and Theatres (Ian Nazareth, Rosemary Heyworth)

SEMESTER 1 2022 WEDNESDAYS 12.00 - 15.00 LOCATION: ONLINE AND 100.05.007

Urbanism: History and Theory introduces you to the key ideas, precedents and theoretical discourse in urban design, both current and historical. It provides a critical understanding of the discipline and an intellectual framework through which you can establish a position on future urban design practice. Seminal texts, key practitioners, exemplary projects and speculative proposals are curated to highlight critical issues in urbanism historically and currently. These issues include: design process and urban morphology; economic and political frameworks; technological, industrial and infrastructural development; and socio-political policies in design.

Course content provides you with a comprehensive overview of urban design practice and a detailed understanding of the mechanisms producing and affecting urban space. Examples from local and international contexts are presented.

FIRMWARE./ IAN NAZARETH DAVID SCHWARZMAN

Image Credit: Mapping Comments CDAC 2021 (Sichuang Zuo, David Schwarzman, Ian Nazareth)

SEMESTER 1 2022 TUESDAYS 13.30 - 16.30, LOCATION: ONLINE Case Studies in Urban Design introduces you to the processes of analysis, design and implementation for complex urban design projects, structured through analytical and critical investigations, i.e. case studies.

CSUID advances a particular methodology – ‘Firmware’ – drawing reference to a particular class of computer software that provides a standardized operating environment for the device's more complex operations. Without firmware, a hardware device would be non-functional. This analogy is deployed to focus on the relationship between virtual applications, digital realms and physical spaces in the city, as well as the implications they have on the temporal and permanent patterns of occupation, spaces, typologies etc. It seeks to establish a platform through which virtual (and even real-time) data can be juxtaposed from multiple sources and spatialised.

This project is empowered by a process of data scrapping – whereby geo-referenced information and data from web-based Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) can be extracted into design environments. Here raw information is co-referenced. The platform is thus a conduit between APIs and computer aided design application (Rhinoceros 3D) through an algorithmic visual programming language (Grasshopper).

The complex processes of a city cannot be described through singular, insular datasets and decentralised platforms. Through analysis and proposition, projects will hybridise disparate datasets establishing elevational changes in the urban realm - this convergence offers insights into behaviours of cities and networks.

Using metropolitan Melbourne as a prototype, we will speculate about strategies, scenarios and models for the future of work, living, mobility etc in a post-pandemic limbo. The course is multidisciplinary, structured through a series of analytical and critical investigations and design-research projects and you will work in teams.

ELECTIVE BASED RESEARCH ASSISTANTS (EBRA) POSTERS There are a limited number of Elective Based Research Assistant (EBRA) Positions available - for which you do not need to ballot via the ballot form - refer to the poster, and contact the relevant tutor to lodge an expression of interest.

This Elective Based Research project will build on design research from the VOLUME series of design studios run in 2019 and 2020, collecting existing design research materials and producing new content for a physical exhibition and accompanying catalogue in the second half of 2022.

becomes a tool for more comprehensive understanding of urban environments and critically for the celebration and potentially enhancement of heterogeneity in these environments, rather than the conventional approach which suggests and propagates homogeneity.

Research from the elective involves refinement and dissemination of a Spectrum Taxonomy urban analysis technique initially developed in the earlier design studios.

Conventional approaches to typological analysis of existing built environments identify typical (or average) conditions for typological traits (site cover, section profile, FAR, colour, material etc.) either through representative diagrams, or selected exemplars illustrating these traits. In comparison a Spectrum Taxonomy analysis describes the full gamut of the typological trait within the studied area.

The advantage of this approach is that is reveals the range/diversity and frequency of any given characteristic within an urban environment. Spectrum Taxonomy

Students will prepare Spectrum Taxonomy analysis of Carton and Docklands as the two densest (non-Hoddle Grid) suburbs in Victoria, across a range of typological characteristics, in addition to recording qualitative or experiential information about each suburb through photography, video or sound recordings.

Learning outcomes will include; enhanced understanding of conventional and emerging approaches to urban analysis; critical reflection on relationships between density and liability in the built environments in Victoria; enhanced 2d and 3d communication skills in a range of media.

TUTOR: BEN MILBOURNE MONDAYS 3pm (Weeks 2-12)

BALLOTED PLACES ONLINE (MS TEAMS)

Research Assistants Needed Approximately 5 research assistants are required to support the Super Tight research projects.

Super Tight is an ongoing research project exploring design led research approaches to density in future cities. For more information please visit www.super-tight.com This semester students will work on ‘Growing Tight’, a project exploring strategies for accommodating food production within cities. The project explores speculative futures for Melbourne, Hong Kong and other cities. The project aims to make the case for all food being produced in the same city it is consumed.

Students will be asked to assist in the development of traditional research into the spatial and economic implications of high density agriculture. This will involve archival research, diagramming and potentially some excel / gis activities.

Students will also be tasked with closely examining the emerging typology of the vertical farm, and beginning to understand in greater detail what it would take to design this type of building and what the implications would be for cities.

The expectation is that this work will be published in an upcoming book, and in the 2022 Talinn Architecture Biennale.

Students will be required to sign a copyright release to allow for publication. All assistants involvement will be credited in published and exhibited material.

We will meet weekly for 1-2 hours face to face. The time for meetings can be negotiated, but it is expected that this will be on Thursday or Friday. It is expected that the engagement will last for the semester, however the first 8 weeks may be more intense than the last 4.

The project will be led by John Doyle & Graham Crist These positions will not be listed on the electives balloting form. If you are interested in joining the team please email john. doyle@rmit.edu.au and/or graham.crist@rmit.edu.au

As a research assistant with the Tectonic Formation Lab, students will develop skills in computational design, large scale 3D printing and manual post production.

Students will be working closely with lab PhD candidates to develop research and assist in the fabrication of a series of projects.

These include: Coral Accretion, Fibre Tailoring, Mycelium 3D Printed Wall Panel Systems, Video Production and Graphic Design.

Students with a willingness to engage in algorithmic tools, robotic fabrication and workshops are encouraged to apply.

Please send your folio and CV to roland.snooks@rmit.edu.au

RESEARCH ASSISTANT ELECTIVE TECTONIC FORMATION LAB

GRADUATE EXHIBITION ASSISTANTS

SEMESTER 1 2022

The Architecture Program requires 6 enthusiastic assistants to help with the organisation of the Semester 1 2022 End of Semester and Major Project Exhibition.

You will work closely with the Exhibition Coordinator in the design and curation of the exhibition, graphic design of posters and PR materials, website, Major Project Catalogue and other items that go to make a succesful event.

The majority of the work will be in the second half of semester, but you will be required to assist with organisation throughout the semester. There will be a crunch period in the week prior to the event, please confirm your availability over Week 13, Week 15, Week 16 and that you can attend campus for on-site orgnisation prior to enrolling in the elective.

The team is limited to 6 people only. You will receive credit towards an elective for your time. This is not availabe through electives balloting. If you are interested please contact the Exhibition Co-ordinator Ian Nazareth (ian.nazareth@rmit.edu.au) directly.