MRelay—Part 1: Habitat • 30 Jan 2016

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 guide for design, alongside rational, economic, civic and environmental necessities. Design is everywhere—what matters is how we look at it. Habitat was hosted by Simon Knott, director and co-founder of BKK Architects. Speakers included Naomi Milgrom AO, MPavilion founder and commissioner for Australia, Venice Biennale 2017; Andrew McConnell, executive chef of Cumulus Inc. and Cutler & Co.; Alice Glenn, president and creative director of Schoolhouse Studios; Rueben Berg, founder and director of Indigenous Architecture Victoria; Rebecca Coates, director of Shepparton Art Museum; Professor Julie Bernhardt, scientist and director at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health; and Kate McMahon, co-founder of urban-strategy agency Hello City.