At the heart of Bijoy Jain and Studio Mumbai’s ethos is the concept of lore, defined as “a body of traditional knowledge passed on by word of mouth”. It follows that, in the creation of MPavilion, lore was heartily practiced when the MPavilion building team travelled to India to learn Studio Mumbai’s methods. This MTalk was a panel talk with the hands-on crew behind MPavilion’s build. Tony Isaacson from Kane Constructions, Helen Wellman from Tract Consultants, Sam Redston from Flot&Jet, ligh...
Oct 25, 2016•1 hr 11 min
The conversation around architectural design at all levels—from breakfast bars to boardrooms—has rarely been louder. And with Victoria looking at introducing an apartment design standards framework, this panel focuses on suggested improvements to the design review process, minimum size standards and aesthetic guidelines that would support quality, adaptable and sustainable housing. With these changes firmly in their minds, listen back to Minister for Planning Richard Wynne, Simon Knott of BKK Ar...
Oct 24, 2016•46 min
What does it take to commission and put together an event like MPavilion? How does the design process unfurl? What does the handmade architecture movement propose for the future of architecture? For our first MTalks event for MPavilion 2016/17 we revisited the process that has born Bijoy Jain’s stunning design—from brief, to Studio Mumbai’s unique creative process, to build. Join MPavilion 2016/17 architect Bijoy Jain and MPavilion’s patron Naomi Milgrom along with Peter Maddison as host, presen...
Oct 17, 2016•46 min
The word ‘lore’ refers to a body of knowledge, especially of a traditional nature, typically passed on by word of mouth. So, how does the concept of lore relate to architecture? At this Melbourne School of Design and MPavilion lecture, celebrated Indian architect Bijoy Jain discussed how the concept of lore is central to his practice and philosophy. The founder of sustainable architecture firm Studio Mumbai, Jain studied and worked in architecture in the United States before returning to India i...
Aug 02, 2016•57 min
Ethical beliefs shape the way we live and work—what we do, what we make and the world we create through our choices. Policy makers, architects and designers hold very privileged positons within our community as their beliefs impact many others due to the nature of their work. In the Boyd Foundation's 2016 talks series, eight eminent speakers—all highly regarded for their thoughtfulness and recognised capabilities in their respective fields—reflect and discuss their views and approaches to archit...
Jul 25, 2016•23 min
Start your day with a conversation about how we shape the city—and how the city shapes us—hosted by Barrie Barton, co-founder of Right Angle Studio, Rooftop Cinema and Three Thousand, Melbourne’s first independent online city guide. Reporting on new music, good books, independent fashion, food and drink in the city since 2005, Three Thousand is written by locals for locals, and reflects the changing cultural landscape of Melbourne. Pop down after work and listen to a line-up of local thinkers an...
Jun 15, 2016•49 min
Opposites attract in the wild, in romance and—evidently—in architecture. Join Toby Whitfield (CEO of ShapeShift, our evening’s presenters) and Richard Blythe (dean of RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design) as they discuss the fascinating history of how architects and designers make use of composite building materials in their work. How do you choose the right fibre and resin for a 34-storey skyscraper facade? What material will help a high-tech pavilion—specifically, the one we’re sitting in—...
Jun 14, 2016•46 min
Consortium: A series of conversations within a series of talks—presented by a coalition of partners who support emerging and experimental art and design practices in Melbourne and beyond. This first Consortium of the 2015/16 season brought Next Wave, Gertrude Contemporary, West Space, RMIT Design Hub and MPavilion got together to consort on invisible hands. The panel—including artists Anastasia Klose, Lou Hubbard and Liang Luscombe, writer and artist Aurelia Guo, and writer and feminist Eva Birc...
Jun 14, 2016•1 hr 14 min
When you think of the bustling sidewalks of New York City, walls of lush greenery do not immediately come to mind. But environmental artist Natalie Jeremijenko wants to challenge ideas about ‘normal’ cityscapes—through her Agbags project. Agbags are vertical urban farms that practically aim to promote environmental health and, more broadly, get people thinking about architecture’s intersection with the natural environment. In New York, Natalie created a wall of these soil-filled bags suspended i...
Jun 10, 2016•1 hr 42 min
Drawing our marathon MRelay to an end, Utopia explores an ideal, imaginary state in which society, politics and culture are perfect. It can often be difficult to face the reality of today’s world, where global climate change is leading to rising sea levels, unprecedented environmental destruction, a widening gap between rich and poor, and countless human rights violations. It’s easy to dream instead of a world in which all societal ills have been solved. In his 1516 treatise Utopia, Sir Thomas M...
Mar 02, 2016•2 hr 7 min
After contemplating the defining nature of our urban landscapes it’s time to consider the role of personal transformation. Transformation design is a human-centred, interdisciplinary process that seeks to change the behaviour and form of individuals, systems and organisations in desirable and sustainable ways—often for socially progressive ends. The Transformation leg of MRelay explores how we can apply transformation design skills in non-traditional settings, which often leads to new and origin...
Mar 02, 2016•2 hr 12 min
The second leg of MRelay is Ritual. It’s all about the origin of form, and its connection to the invention and interpretation of rituals. Do we offer a means of communication when we conduct a set of routine actions in the same manner, or perform a set of actions in a fixed sequence? Can these symbolic sets of actions create community? How do they persist in and affect our everyday lives? How important is architecture to rituals? Do buildings express rules that go on to influence formal actions ...
Mar 02, 2016•2 hr 20 min
The first leg of MRelay is devoted to Habitat. As we leap from the starting blocks, we’ll cast our gaze around: at our natural environments, our sense of place and how place transforms us. Today’s places are changing fast—whether they’re a tropical rainforest or a city such as London, Melbourne or Berlin, a habitat for artists or an ecology for designers. ‘Design thinking’ stimulates a natural inquisitiveness and embraces ideas of origins and place. The way people habitually use spaces becomes a...
Feb 29, 2016•2 hr 18 min
Treatment was a two-day, site-responsive public art project on display (via an eighty-minute bus tour) at Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant in Werribee on 14 and 21 November 2015. Curators David Cross and Cameron Bishop invited six artists to work with the plant’s sights and sounds—its treatment lagoons and abandoned former township, its world-renowned wetlands and resident waterfowl—in order to explore its history, landscape and technology. Listen to this MTalk as David and Cameron lead...
Feb 29, 2016•1 hr 8 min
What happens when you combine elements of a sewing machine and an industrial knitting machine? If you’re British-based inventor Oluwaseyi Sosanya, you develop the 3D Weaver—a loom specially designed for weaving in three dimensions. From its Honeycomb and ZigZag weaves to the compressible 0~90 pattern, the machine has potential applications in industries spanning medicine, aerospace, architecture and even sportswear. In this special MTalks event, moderated by RMIT Design Hub curator Fleur Watson ...
Feb 29, 2016•1 hr 4 min
Australian cities face a range of environmental challenges. Do ever-taller concrete towers pose a threat to the sustainability of our vibrant inner cities? What can we do to protect and preserve green or culturally significant public spaces, especially on our expanding urban fringes? And how do we develop new ones? A new generation of Aboriginal architects, designers and leaders is making significant contributions to these issues. Jefa Greenaway, director of both Greenaway Architects and Indigen...
Feb 29, 2016•1 hr 12 min
In these times of global economic systems and the effect of the material on contemporary culture, what does it take to imagine and invent spaces where we can experience collective generating, sharing and discussing under the title of ‘art’? What if artistic practices worked on freeing themselves from the logics of commodification? Listen to the third and final in our series of salon conversations with acclaimed French choreographer Xavier Le Roy, co-presented with Dancehouse, that aim to link da...
Feb 22, 2016•1 hr 28 min
What is Melbourne’s urban frontier in the 21st century? In one of our final MTalks events for the season, former Victorian premier the Hon Jeff Kennett will present an exploration of urban planning, and kick off a discussion about our history, the city’s evolution and the issues we’re yet to face. Hosted by Gina Levenspiel—author of the recently published Miracle Swamp: The place of Queen Victoria Gardens in the urban, horticultural and creative life of Melbourne—this lunchtime talk will begin w...
Feb 22, 2016•53 min
“How could we create the feeling, the experience, the sensation of a tree canopy, but in a completely abstract way, with man-made materials?” In an interview for Architectural Review, Amanda Levete talked about some of the thinking and collaboration that went into AL_A’s MPavilion design. Here's the first of three lunchtime conversations about this year’s MPavilion construction, and the unique puzzles faced along the way. Key players from the brief-to-build team—including MPavilion’s Robert Buck...
Feb 22, 2016•25 min
MTalks—'Miracle Swamp' book launch • 30 Jan 2016 by MPavilion
Feb 21, 2016•14 min
MTalks—Interval 'Between a thought and a feeling' • 29 Jan 2016 by MPavilion
Feb 21, 2016•1 hr 9 min
How did engineers from Arup tackle the design challenge of seamlessly incorporating sound and light into the 2015 MPavilion? Key players from the brief-to-build team Robert Buckingham of MPavilion and Arup’s Brendon McNiven talked us through their material, technological and botanical decisions, offering us a behind-the-scenes look at everything that goes into designing, building and wiring up a high-tech, weather-responsive and modular temporary structure.
Feb 16, 2016•25 min
For this discussion, our panellists delved into the idea of galleries as ‘testing spaces’ for risk, experiment, play and speculation. Following an introduction from RMIT Design Hub curator Fleur Watson, artist and landscape architect Charles Anderson and arts academic Jondi Keane exchanged ideas about their new RMIT Design Hub exhibition slash laboratory space: Technics & Touch: Body-Matter-Machine. The experimental project explores methods of producing feedback systems through perception an...
Feb 16, 2016•45 min
“How could we create the feeling, the experience, the sensation of a tree canopy, but in a completely abstract way, with man-made materials?” In an interview for Architectural Review, Amanda Levete talked about some of the thinking and collaboration that went into AL_A’s MPavilion design. The third and final installment of MTalks in a trilogy of lunchtime conversations about this year’s MPavilion construction, and the unique puzzles faced along the way. Key players from the brief-to-build team—i...
Feb 16, 2016•31 min
Being human is not always easy. For centuries the mind sciences have attempted to unlock the mysteries of why some people live a life of quiet despair while others flourish. Dr Jo Mitchell explored how the wisdom of key thinkers from the mind sciences might help us to live well in everyday life. How have these experts’ ideas shaped our understanding of the human mind and behaviour?
Feb 16, 2016•46 min
MMeets—Reading about homes with Tai Snaith • 8 Nov 2015 by MPavilion
Feb 15, 2016•45 min
MTalks—Robin Boyd Foundation pres. Designing a family home • 12 Nov 2015 by MPavilion
Feb 15, 2016•47 min
How is intelligent design redefining the workplace? Businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of investing in workplace design; sustainable designs that promote workplace wellness and respond to the needs of the contemporary office are shaping reputations of businesses and making them more attractive to job seekers. Listen to Dan Cox—Carr Design Group’s director of commercial interiors—and David Hall, Victorian chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Association’s Occupational Hea...
Feb 15, 2016•51 min
MTalks—Student Organised Network for Architecture summer workshop • 9 Nov 2015 by MPavilion
Feb 15, 2016•24 min
Launch time! In 2015, MPavilion teamed up with Art Monthly Australia and the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) to create a new annual award supporting critical writing. Australian essayists were invited to submit a proposal for a piece exploring the relationship between art and design today. The inaugural recipient was Dr Julia Jones, who received $3,000 to develop her proposed essay for publication in Art Monthly Australia. Listen back to join judge—and editor Michael Fitzgerald—f...
Feb 15, 2016•33 min
