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.
10x
Intensive Week 1-7
Gwyllim Jahn (Fologram / RMIT)
Tues + Fri 2-5pm, 100.01.209
Leaders in the tech industry are declaring that 2025 will be the year of AI “agentsˮ: systems capable of planning and completing knowledge work autonomously. The 10x elective is interested in the impact that agentic systems will have on architectural practice. Several architecture practices (Wardle, Contreras Earl, WOWOWA, Architectus and others) have generously offered to partner with the elective to provide real-world use cases for automation within their firm. The elective will operate in intensive mode, with students working in small groups to conduct interviews, prepare case studies, write project briefs and develop minimum viable prototypes in Runchat.
Runchat is a node-based editor for building apps and automations with language models. Runchat will be used to demonstrate the fundamentals of how agentic language models work, from high level technical concepts to their practical implementation in prompt engineering, tool use, reasoning, search and code generation. Students will learn to build simple automations and user interfaces in Runchat to create web applications that can be used by architects in practice to automate and control simple day to day tasks from design, to writing specifications, to sending emails to anything else.
The elective is open to Bachelors and Masters students and doesnʼt come with any prerequisites. You should take this elective if you are interested in learning from, contributing to, and preparing for a future of practice that is likely to look dramatically different to what it does today due to the automation of knowledge work. What can we make 10x faster, and what *should* we? Who owns and benefits from 10x productivity? How can we 10x creativity and imagination? What skills are needed to maintain authorship and control in practices where there are 10x as many autonomous systems as people? And what human skills will always remain essential?
BLAKitecture
Led by Christine Phillips
Borrowing the term ‘Blakitecture’, from Palawa architect Sarah Lynn Rees, this elective aims to collectively build and document a history of Australian architecture that engages with First Peoples knowledges and themes.
There has been a recent and rapid shift in Australian architecture with architects engaging with First Peoples knowledges and themes in their designs. But when did this shift first begin to emerge in Australian architecture, what are the driving forces that have led to this shift and what is the role of Indigenous architects in this space?
This elective aims to collectively discover this history, identity any themes that have emerged, explore any changes to how architects have engaged with these themes, identify any relevant political or policy changes connected with this history along with exploring how this has been documented within architecture media.
Students will be required to collectively undertake a deep dive into journals, newspapers, databases and other archival sources and bring this material together for analysis (much of which will be done within class). Through this process, students will build and develop research and analytical skills and be required to work both individually and as a class.
Class times: Wednesdays 9.30am - 12.30pm *commences Week 2
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present.
development visual narratives for architectural ideas, and AI-driven design scenario
Ctrl+World is a communication elective that introduces students to world-building, development of visual narratives for architectural ideas, and AI-driven design workflows. Through speculative scenario experiments, students will uncover new ideas and develop their own design processes. Thus, this elective encourages critical thinking and the visualisation of design propositions using various digital tools and mediums. Throughout the course, we will draw inspiration from personal interests in popular culture, including films, animations, games, music and more.
Weekly experiments will utilise various digital tools and different methodologies, prompting students to discover and refine their own design workflows. Exploring the intersection of architecture, film, animation, and video games, students will collaboratively share
critical and the visualisation of personal tools and workflows. the intersection of share their perspectives with peers.
Unreal Engine 5 tutorials will guide students in testing spatial and immersive design processes through movement, scale, perspective shifts in their world environment. As a powerful game engine, Unreal Engine enables the exploration of speculative ideas with its capacity to work in immersive perspective views. It enables students to simulate different conditions and behaviours
Building on world-building strategies, students will explore cinematic techniques to create short films and artefacts as their final project. This curatorial design process will foster critical perspectives applicable to
Unreal 5 tutorials will students in and immersive in their world environment. enables the of speculative ideas with its to work in immersive of their digital forms. on explore to create short and project. This curatorial design process will foster critical to future design projects.
Students will be working in groups throughout the semester.
Open to bachelors and masters students.
Forms of Culture Elective
RMIT Architecture
Forms of Culture Elective: Mapping the Cultural Economics of the Asia Pacific
Forms of Culture: Mapping the Cultural Economies of the Asia-Pacific is an elective that will examine architecture’s role in shaping various cultural economies across Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Minh City. Students will conduct guided research and produce drawings and digital video to be included in a public installation by Vicky Lam and Lauren Garner as part of Melbourne Design Week (May 15-25).
Students will be guided to study a selection of cultural buildings from each city layered with analyses of their roles within cultural economies. Students will produce highly detailed sectional perspective drawings, diagrams, and written research that will form an exhibition and printed catalogue.
These drawings map architectural systems, rent disparities, financial structures, and demographic flows, offering both qualitative and quantitative metrics.
Through cataloguing and comparison, the exhibition challenges the notion of cultural institutions as neutral entities, examining their entanglement with history, power, and capital, while shedding light the architecture of cultural production in an era of increasing commodification and urban transformation.
The exhibition will be installed in the vertical laneway (stairwell) of Melbourne’s Curtin House, itself a cultural institution. The incidental nature of this space parallels the marginal, chaotic cultural spaces found in urban stairwells in Hong Kong and Vietnam, connecting the exhibition’s format to its subject matter. Printed in A0 and laminated to the walls, the drawings will create an immersive, layered experience of the research.
The work builds on research funded by the DFAT New Colombo Mobility grant, outcomes from our 2024 RMIT Architecture study tour to Hong Kong, and our upcoming RMIT Master of Architecture design studio traveling to Vietnam led by Lauren Garner who will participate in Mid Sem crits for this elective.
G U 0 M I A N 4 R marou edition T :
aligned with the RMIT A&UD Immersive Futures Lab. Students will be exposed in three areas of investigations.
1. Worlding Polemics – Narratives, Contemporary Culture & Deep Research. Students will engage with topical contemporary concerns, potentials, and culture to surface possible areas of explorations as departure points for polemical narratives, cultural, technological, environmental and architectural positions. These investigations will assist in the design of worlds, architecture and environments loaded with cultural commentary and ideas.
2. Gaming Intelligence: Immersive Modelling, Real-Time Data, Energy and Visualisation. Students will explore a range of modelling and real-time tools available in Unreal Engine – simulating a feedback loop between
architecture and the environment with immersive real-time impacts and effects. As a cohort, students will develop, share, and catalogue a taxonomy of immersive modelling capabilities with a specific focus in visualising real-time data and environmental conditions as design tools and processes.
3. Gaming and Future Practice. We will investigate the potential impact and contribution of gaming techniques and workflows for contemporary architectural practice.
2025 LAND ART GENERATOR INITIATIVE (LAGI) COMPETITION - FIJI The elective will use the 2025 LAGI competition as a platform for all investigations and explorations. The elective cohort will simulate a ‘gaming architectural practice’ and produce a competition entry as a cohort to design a regenerative work of art in the landscape that provides resilient clean energy and water to the Village of Marou, Fiji. This elective is collaborative and requires students who are team players. Image: Marou Village, Competition Site. Photo by LAGI 2025.
Model Coburg
Master of Architectural Design
Elective Semester 1 2025
Lead by Lauren Garner and Jan van Schaik
This elective extends ongoing research on Central Coburg’s redevelopment by engaging students in the collective fabrication of a large-scale urban model, designed as both a research tool and a catalyst for community participation.
Working in collaboration with Merri-bek City Council, students will construct a model that visualizes key urban thematics, derived from the Coburg Iterations research to date – including built form, public space, commercial programming, and housing strategies.
This model will become a speculative testing ground, where quantitative and qualitative metrics are embedded into physical form, allowing for iterative and experimental design interventions.
Throughout the semester, students will engage in mapping, material studies, and iterative design testing, culminating in a community engagement day where the model is presented as a provocation for dialogue. The elective challenges conventional architectural workflows, emphasizing models as communicative and discursive artifacts rather than fixed representations of an outcome.
Students will develop techniques for urban representation, critically assess how participatory tools influence planning outcomes, and explore methods of strategic urbanism through speculative intervention.
By the end of the elective, the model will stand as a dynamic snapshot of Coburg’s future, shaped by the collective intelligence of students, practitioners and the community.
Week 3 Tue 10.00am > 1.00pm, and Sat 12.00pm > 3.00pm (Community Workshop Day)
Week 4 Fri 3.30pm > 6.30pm (Interim Submission)
Weeks 5 > 6 No classes
Weeks 7 > 11 Fri 3.30pm > 6.30pm
Weeks 12 > 15 No Classes
Week 15 Folio Submission (Mon 16 Jun)
Ornamental Operations EXPO
Elective Leader: Brent Allpress (RMIT)
Wednesday 9.30-12.30 pm
Rm 100.04.006
PARTNERED WITH: University of Innsbruck Department of Experimental Architecture
Upcycled: Printed Timber Modular Exhibition Systems
Elective Leader: Prof. Marjan Colletti (REX|LAB Innsbruck; Bartlett UCL)
REX|LAB Upcycled Elective Innsbruck Students: This project challenges students to design and prototype a modular exhibition system that merges large-scale 3D-printed components with upcycled timber and timber-waste materials, providing a versatile, sustainable solution for both indoor applications (e.g., trade fairs) and outdoor settings (e.g., Expos and Biennales). The system must integrate sustainable design strategies, emphasise material efficiency and ecology, and utilise advanced digital fabrication techniques in alignment with the principles of the circular economy. This will result in the fabrication of a demountable 1:1 material system outcome.
“The anguish of the beautiful that shines through the fragility of ornament is atopian: displacing more than could any nudity.” – Franco Rella
Ornamental Operations EXPO RMIT Students: This elective is partnered with a REX|LAB Elective. RMIT Students will engage with an open range of Ornamental Operations, responding to a series of thematic theoretical, historical, spatial, qualitative, experiential, representational, material, technological, fabrication, digital, AI, and design practice concerns that test the role of ornament. Ornamental actions include framing, masquerade, grotesquery, interlacing, prosthesis, negation, marginalia, backgrounding and mediation Weekly thematic topics on the role of ornament are supported by recorded lectures, extensive readings and project precedent resources. Responses are trialed through weekly project-based investigations, with modular exhibition systems/architectural expo pavilions and propositional manifestos as the provisional design research vehicle. Weekly tutorials review these project responses and accompanying discursive writing. A final Ornamental Operations Expo Pavilion and Manifesto or Exegesis consolidates the semesters work along with a portfolio of project investigations, writing and collaborations.
Expo pavilions (architectures in and as exhibitions) have long served as creative and experimental platforms in architectural history. The Ornamental Operations EXPO elective tests the legacy of the Modernist prescription against the ornamental, reconsidering and revising accounts of the role of ornament in post-digital practice where both the emergent and anachronistic are contested. Non-standard digital technologies modulate prefabrication shifting the representational role of ornament towards performative actions. Boethius argues the role of ornament was to mediate transitions in state from conditions of tension to resolution to tension in iterative cycles. Related countercompositional strategies will be explored.
RMIT Students will explore speculative propositions, practices, workflows and prototypes that run in parallel with, informing and informed by REX|LAB student work. Elective resources will be shared online across both Electives. Live Online Workshops will review work in progress. Complementary cross-institutional Student online collaboration will be encouraged.
REX|LAB and RMIT Student Elective work will be showcased at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale Sessions Forum Workshop and through the CityX Virtual Exhibition platform.
PRACTICING VIETNAM
The architecture scene in Vietnam is characterized by many small-scale practices whose works are making surgical spatial impacts across the country. This seminar offers a closer examination through discussion and the construction of physical models of the works of 12 practices operating in major cities such as Ha Noi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh. Their works, ranging between residential, office, and hospitality typology, expressed through the language of contemporary architecture, are propositions to unique urban circumstances conditioned by both the tropical, and subtropical climate, as well as contemporary issues the Vietnamese are facing at hand.
This seminar workshop will produce physical models (1: 50) of key projects by these Vietnam offices which will form the Practicing Vietnam exhibition at Melbourne Design Week 2025.
We Wood , if we Could.
We Wood if we Could is a research elective that aims to analyse the potential of mass timber construction methods in Australia.
We will investigate the feasibility and implications of full adoption of mass timber as a primary structural material nationwide. Mass timber, such as cross-laminated timber panels, is a maturing construction technology, underpinning an increasing number of model projects. Mass timber promises to be a greener alternative to concrete and steel, both significant sources of carbon emissions, for primary building structures. Rather than developing individual building designs, this elective will explore the implications of maximally scaling the application of this technology in Australia.
How does current mass timber technology work? What are the opportunities and limitations in maximally scaling this technology? How would building designs need to change? What are the problems and drawbacks of building this way? How will our cities change as a result? What would it mean to supply and manufacture this amount of mass timber in Australia? How do alternatives - green steel and green concretecompare? And perhaps most importantly - to what extent would carbon emissions be reduced?
Together, we will examine key aspects of mass timber construction, including current technology, changes in construction techniques and building types, and potential transformations of urban landscapes. We will also address the requirements for domestic mass timber manufacturing, land use implications for timber cultivation, and a quantitative analysis of carbon emission reductions.
The semester will be divided into two parts. In the first part, we will collaborate in groups to gather information and create a comprehensive knowledge base. In the second part, each student will contribute a research paper to a collective book presenting a well-argued vision for transitioned Australian cities that maximizes timber use in primary structures.
We will develop two complementary research methodologies. Firstly, using traditional research methods, we will gather information, examine existing literature, and develop tools to measure and assess impacts. The second is research-by- design, which generates holistic future scenarios that can be measured and their implications assessed.
We will address critical questions such as the scalability of mass timber construction in Australia, its impact on carbon emissions, and how widespread adoption could alter construction techniques and urban forms. By the end of the semester, we aim to develop a comprehensive understanding of mass timber construction’s potential while honing valuable research and design skills. This elective offers a unique opportunity to explore sustainable construction’s intersection with urban planning and environmental impact.
Paul Minifie
Tuesday 14:00 - 17:00 Room 100:05:007
Xtra!
ARCHITECTURE Elective 2025 Sem 1
URBAN VILLAS research
Lecturer Dr PETER BREW
Thursday Afternoon 1.00 - 4.00
This seminar explores the idea of the architectural subject through an investigation into housing types, albeit one that is yet to be defined . and therein lies the challenge, to bring into existence and classify a new architectural type. Alain Badiou in Philosophy and the event recognises the subject in this way
...to hear something that wasn’t heard or to see something that wasn’t seen. The subject, for its part, is the real of this Idea. In other words, what renders this Idea possible is the works’ existence. The real of this Idea is, strictly speaking, the subject of this sequence, what orients it, what makes it exist, what causes it to be real.
Classification follows discovery or an invention, though much of what is classified as new or deemed a discovery already existed but had not been noticed, or seen in a certain way. The subtext of this seminar is that there are an abundance of good and interesting models for medium density housing in established suburbs that we could draw on as precedents to address the current urban and social problems, Developments that are established well used and often recognised as significant locally and or to architects that would not be permitted under the current planning rules and culture, without a recognised status or classification we have no recourse to an abundance of Suburban Alternatives
To do this we must consider how we would access these, by naming them by defining a type by creating a subject
Butler’s mansionette style seems to value the grouping of circulatory halls and services together. There is a of open plan - rooms are conventionally boxed and tucked away into their allocated zones, and can only be experienced singularly. The linear hallway refuses to be flexible in its function, thought spatially offers the purpose of both circulation and interior break. It is a buffer between two spaces, both relevant and irrelevant in the program.
1.Explore the concept of the subject in philosophy ( written text nominally 3000 words)
2.Study and document a range of potential prototypical examples of our subject (studies of existing buildings plans elevation sections diagrams )
The habitable rooms in each flat are intrinsically a "social product" - in some plans, the sitting and dining rooms must be crossed to gain access to other program. An occupant is thus forced to traverse through socially vivid zones, meaning they become accustomed and even inclined to entering these spaces. Butler also addresses the domestic conundrum of maintaining a connectivity with outdoor and indoor space.
Build a case for them and present them as instances of class of things 3000 words
Prepare an exhibition and combined studio publication.
“Toinhabittheworldinembodiedwaysmeansthatwemustalsoinhabitouressentialsociality,sincethe contingeniciesofcorporeallifearehowandwhywearedrawnintorelationsoftheinterdependencewith others.Nooneeversingularlyinhabitsabodybecauseembodimentisnot,asitmightseem,astateof beingaself-sufficientthing.Itsexistenceisinseparablefromandcanonlybeconstitutedassuchwithina matrixofcontactandconnectivitythatcanproveeithersustainingordetrimental,dependingonthequality of the bonds.”
This will be part of a larger project that will engage with similar studies from Monash and Melbourne universities which will bring into the
Hence in Butler's design exists a fine party wall, communal lawn, curated landscaped link to the street front and balconies/terraces. One flat is not self-sufficient; it exists in correlation with its neighbours. The ease of connectivity encourages a codependent theme of living, despite the demands of a capitalistic lifestyle. Moreover, the singular flat plan responds to the subtle changes in its adjacent residence, its fabric becoming flexible and allows interconnectdness through moments such as opposite entries accessed from one path, or the strategic placement of windows to allows for visual and even spatial attachment to the world outside.
1 Bates, Stephen, and Jonathan Sergison. “Feeling at Home.” Essay. In Feeling at Home: Finding Common Ground in Six Urban Housing Projects in Europe, 39–47. Sergison Bates architects, 2012.
2 Kaestle, Anne, Schürch, Dan, Balland, Ludovic, Dechmann, Nele, Adam, Hubertus, and Duplex Architekten, Architect. Duplex Architects : Rethinking. 2021.
3 Waggoner, M., 2018. Unhoused. United States: Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, pp.90-111.
Studley Flats
Lorem Ipsum
3_PARTY WALL DIAGRAM
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ELECTIVES WITH MASTER OF URBAN
DESIGN
BALLOTING POSTERS
URBANISM: HISTORY & THEORY
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.
SEMESTER 1 2025
IAN NAZARETH
WEDNESDAYS 14.30 - 17:30, 100.06.008
The contemporary city is not a cohesive entity, but rather a fragmented and heterogeneous landscape shaped by multiple, often conflicting, forces and variables. Case studies in Urban Design seeks to understand, analyse, theorise, and speculate about the city through its large, comples and mega urban projects.
Strategic urban design projects represent a broad description from specific buildings, superblocks, precincts, public spaces, infrastructure and networks, ecological systems, specialised clusters and models of decentralisation etc. are an attempt to establish a relationship between the implications of socio-culture, economics and politics and the agency of urban policy / planning and material forces, that collectively engender urban form.
Case Studies in Urban Design introduces you to the processes of design and implementation for complex urban design projects. Structured through a series of analytical and critical investigations, (case studies), this course provides an opportunity for self-directed research into key urban projects.
Using the city as a laboratory, each Case Study uncovers the design ambitions, historical or theoretical precedents, economic drivers, political agendas, regulatory frameworks or other pertinent narratives underpinning large and mega projects, presented through analytical drawing, mapping, working with statistical urban analytics, data visualisations, and accompanied by written critical reflections.
The course aims to expose you to the detailed, multidisciplinary workings of urban design practice through self-directed research, and develop a comprehensive yet practical disciplinary knowledge applicable to future design practice.
IMAGE CREDIT: MISSION GRAND AXE, LA DÉFENSE, OMA, 1991
PRACTICE RESEARCH PLACEMENTS BALLOTING POSTERS
There are a limited number of Practice Research Placements Positions available. This smester the patricipating practice is MGS Architects. This is a balloted elective inclulded in the form.
SEMESTER I/2025
SPACE READER
RMIT ARCHITECTURE
PRACTICE BASED RESEARCH
LED BY ELI GIANNINI AND CATHERINE RANGER AT MGS ARCHITECTS MELBOURNE
SPA CE RE A DER
STARTING THURSDAY
6 MARCH 2025 2.00PM TO 3.30PM
DRAWING/ 2D/3D/4D/ MODELLING/ AI GENERATION/ IMAGE MAKING/ EMBROIDERY/ VIDEO/ AND BEYOND/
1/
CRACKING OPEN ARCHITECTURE
TREATING SPACE AS SOMETHING TO BE REIMAGINED THROUGH HANDSON EXPERIMENTS: SHAPING A PERSONAL SPATIAL LANGUAGE, CHALLENGING NORMS WHILE DIGESTING HISTORICAL ROOTS.
WE ASK QUESTIONS:
1 HOW DOES SPACE EXIST IN 2D/3D/4D, VIDEO AND WORDS?
2 HOW DO SENSORY ENCOUNTERS RESHAPE SPATIAL EXPERIENCE?
3 WHERE DOES SPATIAL THEORY HIDE IN THE UNEXPECTED?
FROM LEFT:
ANDREI TARKOVSKY’S STALKER
GORDON MATTA-CLARK
KUSAMA YAYOI INFINITY ROOM
ERNESTO NETO WESTGATE PUNT FERRY
SEMESTER I/2025
SPACE READER STUDIO STATEMENT
RMIT ARCHITECTURE
PRACTICE BASED RESEARCH
SPA CE RE A DER 1/
MGS ARCHITECTS PRACTICE RESEARCH STUDIO WILL BE CONDUCTED AS WEEKLY GROUP SESSIONS (DURATION: 1.5 HOURS). THERE MAY BE PRESENTATIONS BY THE PRACTICE, EXTERNAL EXPERTS, OR INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PARTICIPANTS.
MGS REQUIRES STUDENTS TO ATTEND STUDIO SESSIONS IN PERSON AT THE MGS ARCHITECTS OFFICE AND BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS IDEAS AND SHARE KNOWLEDGE WITH THE GROUP.
STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE ACCESS TO THEIR OWN LAPTOP, INTERNET, AND 3D SOFTWARE, AND TO PRESENT THEIR PROJECTS DIGITALLY (EG: IN SKETCHUP OR SIMILAR SOFTWARE).
MGS EXPECTS STUDENTS TO CONDUCT IN-PERSON SITE VISITS AND COMMUNICATE THEIR INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP FINDINGS CLEARLY AND CONCISELY TO MGS AND THE GROUP.
WORK FROM EACH STUDENT WILL BE CAPTURED IN AN ONLINE PUBLICATION, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BOTH THE PRACTICE AND STUDENTS AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER — AND POTENTIALLY IN THE FUTURE.
THE OUTPUT OF INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS THE GROUP MAY BE USED BY MGS IN FUTURE DESIGN INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECT WORK.
IN THE PAST, STUDENTS HAVE COMMENTED THAT THE METHODOLOGY MGS EMPLOYS TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH HAS BEEN BENEFICIAL TO THEIR PROFESSIONAL GROWTH AND OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF THE DESIGN PROCESS. THE MOST COMMON FEEDBACK SO FAR IS THAT MGS PRESENTS THE DESIGN RESEARCH QUESTION IN A WAY THAT EXPANDS THE INDIVIDUAL’S EXPERIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING OF ARCHITECTURE.
SCHOLASTIC LEVEL: THE STUDIO REQUIRES PROFICIENCY IN 3D VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES AND A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF ARCHITECTURAL PRECEDENTS.
STUDIO ADDRESS: MGS ARCHITECTS 10-22 MANTON LANE, MELBOURNE (ACCESS OFF LITTLE LONSDALE BETWEEN WILLIAM AND KING STREET)
STUDIO TIME: WEEKLY FROM THURSDAY 6 MARCH 2025 2.00PM TO 3.30PM
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.
Advanced Architectural Fabrication is a hands-on research assistant elective offered by the RMIT Architecture | Tectonic Formation Lab, providing students with an understanding of cutting-edge fabrication techniques. Working alongside lab researchers, students will engage in experimental prototyping, and fabrication. The course covers a range of fabrication processes, including 3D printing, mould making, concrete casting, post-processing, and component assembly. Through these activities, students will gain practical skills while contributing to real-world research projects that investigate the architectural potential of emerging fabrication technologies.
Students will work collaboratively within the lab environment, and be introduced to industry-relevant techniques, working with advanced digital workflows and fabrication equipment. The elective is ideal for those interested in material systems, and digital fabrication, this subject offers an opportunity to engage with innovative research while developing technical expertise in contemporary architectural fabrication.
All the research work will be undertaken within the lab at negotiated times and we will have a regular meeting - time TBC.
These research assistant roles will run outside of traditional class structure and will involve working directly with Roland Snooks and other members of the lab at times to be negotiated.
Please apply directly to Roland Snooks at: roland.snooks@rmit.edu.au
In the contemporary architectural landscape, impact is shaped not only by research but by how effectively it is communicated to diverse audiences. This research assistant role engages students in the documentation and dissemination of architectural research through various media, including film, publication design, model-making, and digital storytelling. Working closely with the RMIT Architecture | Tectonic Formation Lab, student research assistants will contribute to the production of visual content that showcases the lab’s ongoing research, exploring how architectural knowledge can be shared with the broader design community and the public.
Students will take an active role in developing material for media engagement, exhibition, and publication—including working towards a new book documenting the lab’s work. This role would suit students with an interest in photography, videography, graphic design, social media strategy, or editorial writing. Students will have an opportunity to engage with architectural discourse, refine storytelling techniques, and understand the role of media in shaping architectural narratives.
This elective is designed for students interested in architectural storytelling, media production, and research communication. No prior media experience is required, but familiarity with design software (Adobe InDesign, Premiere Pro, or Rhino) is beneficial.
IMPACT TECTONIC FORMATION LAB
These research assistant roles will run outside of traditional class structure and will involve working directly with Roland Snooks and other members of the lab at times to be negotiated.
Please apply directly to Roland Snooks at:
roland.snooks@rmit.edu.au
SUPERURBAN LAB
Approximately 10 research assistant positions are available to work with the SuperUrban Lab.
The SuperUrban Lab is a newly formed research lab within the RMIT School of Architecture & Urban Design that explores ways of radically rethinking cities through architecture and urban design. The lab uses design processes to model and test the implications of economic and social forces on urban development and to speculate on the form that these forces can take.
This semester we will be undertaking a series of projects including:
- The develop of a low carbon-high density housing prototype for Melbourne’s growth areas. We are working with researchers from the School of Property, Construction & Project Management on life cycle analysis of design prototypes. We aim to demonstrate that high density housing is both desirable, but has substantial sustainability benefits. Students involved in this project will work on digital modelling, drawing, diagramming, energy / carbon analysis (using grasshopper), and rendering / animation & production. This would suit students with strong Revit, Rhino, Grashopper, Enscape and other production skills.
- The development of a book that catalogues the work of architects working in Asia that have completed a PhD through RMIT’s Practice Research Symposium: Asia program.
- Contributing to the development of a book in partnership with the Why Factory & MVRDV exploring design for biodiversity in cities.
- Development of visualisation for future urban scenarios that explore the implementation of productive urbanism in inner Melbourne. This will require large scale 3D modelling in Rhino.
- Research into the potential for digital permissioning tools that allow for micro leasing of public and private space in the city to be implemented in Melbourne - this will culiminate in an event at Melbourne Design Week.
Students will assist in the development of resources and materials for the lab, including libraries of resoures & tools, and the development of collateral and other material that demonstrates the work of the lab.
Students involved will be credited in all publications, and included on all lab materials.
The SuperUrban Lab is led by John Doyle, Graham Crist, Ben Milbourne, Ian Nazareth and others.
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
This elective is the exploration and fabrication of a fabric based structure that can support plant life and other zero carbon technologies in order to address
1.how to deal with obsolete buildings that have high energy HVAC systems, do not harvest energy, water and are also orientated in ways that expose glazing to direct sunlights.
2. Urban shade - ways to protect urban public as the climate changes and extreme heat is coupled with loss of tree canopy.
In this Elective you will work in the Floppy Lab to test prototypes, model ideas and coordinate fabrication for exhibition.
We are looking for 2 students from either the bachelor or masters in architecture programs who have competent 3d modeling skills and an interest/skill in fabrication using analogue/digitial farbciation technologies.
Class to be held on Tuesday or Wednesday - TBC.
If you are interested please email leanne.zilka@rmit.edu.au
Prototype to be developed within the Floppy Lab and fabrication labs. Retrofit
facade system made with fabric.
This elective requires up to three self-motivated student research assistants to assist in developing ideas and prototypes (virtual and physical) to activate Melbourne Recital Centre’s (MRC) transitional spaces utilising immersive and gaming technologies, environments and experiences. This project is funded by MRC and will be developed with the RMIT A&UD Immersive Futures Lab.
The RMIT Architecture & Urban Design Immersive Futures Lab explores the potentials of gaming technologies and immersive media for architectural design.
Our interdisciplinary approach explores gaming environments and technologies to develop new immersive and real-time design processes, visualisations, applications and pedagogies. We posit that understanding possible “now, near, and future” visions and realities, require innovative hybrid methods for making, curating, engaging, and imagining our cultural and built environments. Elective Based Research Assistance (EBRA) Patrick Macasaet
Students will develop skills in advancing research and working with industry partners. Students will develop and expand skills in utilising gaming environments and technologies for architectural design and interactive immersive experiences. Students will also be given the opportunity to discuss and present to our MRC partners.
Students will be required to complete a Student Participation Agreement form. This research and development will heavily involve the use of Unreal Engine 5.3+. Laptops are required with Unreal Engine 5.3+ recommended hardware requirements. All research work will be undertaken within the RMIT A&UD Immersive Futures Lab on level 9-RMIT Design Hub. Regular meetings and times to be negotiated between the collective.
This is not a balloted elective. If you are interested, please email Patrick Macasaet directly with why you are interested - patrick.macasaet@rmit. edu.au
Python Tools for Computational Urbanism
(Elective Based Research Assistant)
I am seeking student(s) with some Python programming skills to assist in developing tools, methods and workflow for conducting Computational Urbanism.
Computational Urbanism is an approach to analysing and generating urban structures based on their spatial and other data. This is a new and powerful area of research with many exciting and productive applications
Specifically, we will be working with GIS databases (Open Street Maps and so on), and Python packages momepy, (docs.momepy.org), PySAL and NetworkX. We will be working with various analytical and generative algorithms. A core deliverable will be to develop a workflow between these packages / datasets and Rhino. It will require focussed coding and fast learning. I will be actively working on the code alongside you You can call me on 0411479312 if you wish to know more details.
Paul Minifie
time: weekly meetings at a convenient time.
PUBLICATION ASSISTANT
One student is required to assist on the development of the next RMIT Architecture MAJOR book.
The book will catalogue emerging ideas from the RMIT Architecture Major Project cohort from 2022-2024.
The selected student must have strong skills with Adobe Indesign and an eye for graphic design and layout.
The student will assist the editorial team in organising files, and preparing draft layouts of the project sections of the book.
The role will be intensive from Week 6 to Week 12. During this period you must be available to spend 2 days a week working in the Design Hub with the editorial team. The work undertaken in this role will be included in the credits of the book.
The position will not be listed on the electives balloting form. If you are interested please email thomas.muratore@ rmit.edu.au - please include a 2 page folio of your work as a PDF.
C haracter B uildings
This research elective is an opportunity to contribute to Lauren Garner’s PhD, expanding on work from a housing research grant. Focused on the Montague precinct in Fishermans Bend, you’ll explore how new planning controls — such as Social Housing Uplift, Open Space Uplift, and a Development Contributions Plan for ‘character’ buildings—can steer urban development towards both increased density and adaptive reuse. Through modeling, you’ll compare traditional planning approaches with new controls to see how they impact housing density and encourage adaptive reuse over demolition. You’ll also get hands-on experience calculating embodied carbon impacts using the EPIC Grasshopper plugin (basic skills recommended, but support will be provided). A key part of the elective is developing a clear and engaging way to visually present this research.
You’ll work directly with Lauren one day a week for 7 weeks at the Design Hub. It’s a great chance to be part of an ongoing research project while developing valuable urban analysis and design skills.
