THE MELB OU R N E R EVIEW DECEMB ER 201 2
FORM DESI GN
PLA N N I N G
S PO N S O R E D BY
I N N OVATI ON
Collect Home Colour is back this season – limes, tangerine, pinks and greens have taken over white minimalism
SWINBURNE Students and researchers set to benefit from the new Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre
50
SOMEBODY DREW THAT Byron George explains why judgement is often how we define ourselves and others
53
Positioning for success Jennifer Cunich claims Melbourne needs a business enviroment more conducive to foreign investment
54
50 the MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2012
FORM manufacturing and design excellence Swinburne’s new Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre will bring state-of-the-art facilities for students and researchers with energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint at its core.
H
awthorn will soon be home to Swinburne University of Technolog y ’s state-of-theart Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre (AMDC). Located on Burwood Road, the new building will be a hub of excellence in manufacturing and design innovation and collaborative learning. Currently under construction the AMDC is scheduled to be completed by December 2013. The $100 million AMDC has been designed by Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) Architects and Engineers, and one of the UK’s leading architectural practices Wilkinson Eyre Architects (WEA). Both SKM and WEA have strong track records in education projects in Australia and internationally. The state-of-the-art designed building will be approximately 17,000 squares metres in size spread over eleven storeys. Six of the floors will float above a retained Victorian façade, which faces Burwood Road. The building includes open study areas, an auditorium spanning two floors, research laboratories, academic offices, as well as sky gardens. The bold design, which will be a landmark for Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus, features sculpted vertical panels that are inspired by engine turbine blades. The fins on the north and south elevation have a purpose beyond making the impressive design; they are modeled to achieve optimum solar shading while achieving transparency and a delicate three-dimensional shape to the outer skin of the building. Partially funded by a $40 million contribution from the federal government, the AMDC will house a Factory of the Future where students will be trained in the latest manufacturing techniques, transforming engineering education at Swinburne. Swinburne’s Faculty of Design will be moving back to the Hawthorn campus in early 2014 and will share residency in the AMDC. The move gives Design the opportunity to embed itself at the heart of Swinburne’s vision to be a leader in science, technology and innovation. For students in business, engineering , information and communication technologies, and design, the new space will support new multidisciplinary programs to produce graduates who
can work across boundaries and solve complex problems. “Employers are increasingly telling us that they want graduates who can tackle business problems creatively and from a range of perspectives,” Swinburne Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson said. “We’re planning to make the most of the new collaborative opportunities for students and researchers that this new facility will create.” Swinburne is also working to reduce its carbon footprint, not only in the design of this new building but elsewhere across the university. Simons Green Energy has been contracted to supply and install a 230kWe natural gas fired trigeneration plant at Swinburne. The trigeneration plant consists of a 230kW Ener-G Cogeneration Plant and a 250kW absorption chiller supplied by Shuangliang. Trigeneration is the simultaneous production of three forms of energy – electricity, heating and cooling from a single fuel source (natural gas). The systems have a total efficiency of 85 percent compared to the 25-30 percent efficiency of grid-supplied electricity. The trigeneration system is the first of its kind to be installed at Swinburne and will offer significant energy savings. It will provide a large portion of the university’s electricity demand and will utilise the waste heat generated by the engines to provide space heating and cooling. The electricity generated is also cleaner than coalfired grid-supplied electricity thereby producing a substantial reduction in carbon emissions. Associate Director, Major Projects, at Swinburne Vince Persi said the university has ambitious targets to reduce its carbon footprint and enhance its environmental management by embedding sustainability into every facet of its activities. “One of our major milestones is to achieve a Five-star Green Star rating with the Green Building Council of Australia, and trigeneration will be a major factor in achieving this rating,” Mr Persi said. “As a university, it is important that our students, researchers and maintenance team are exposed to these new technologies so that they can learn about them and implement them in future projects.”
New pathway to a career in Design
T
he new Associate Degree of Applied Graphic Design at Swinburne University of Technology is a two-year full-time undergraduate program that can also be studied part time. Students are taught the technical and theoretical fundamentals of graphic design and graduate with a highly practical, skills-rich qualification. “The Associate Degree blends the vocational skills and knowledge associated with the Diploma of Graphic Design with the academic rigour and creative thinking that the Bachelor of Communication Design is renowned for,” Course Convenor Mary Miceli said. “The course has been offered since mid2012 and is designed to help students broaden knowledge and skills in specialist areas and develop theoretical graphic design concepts. Students learn how to demonstrate these concepts while developing their skills in drawing, design, management and business.” Class sizes in the Associate Degree are small, which allows more contact time with teaching
staff. Dale Cwiklinski, 25, is one of the first cohort of Associate Degree of Applied Graphic Design students. Having worked in the banking industry while playing guitar with a local band, he was looking for something different where he could develop his creative skills. “I was completing the Certificate IV in design but was looking for a higher-level qualification,” Cwiklinski said. “I like the mixture of hands-on practical work and understanding the theory behind it.” He has just finished the first semester of the Associate Degree and plans to start his own graphic design business when he has completed the course. Graduates can also find employment in multimedia design, web design, illustration, advertising, retail merchandising, and packaging design. Successful completion of the Associate Degree gives students a guaranteed pathway into the third year of the Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) at Swinburne, with the option to move into an industry placement.
the MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2012 51
FORM
Ugandan outreach design project aids science education
A
pioneering partnership between Swinburne University of Technology’s Faculty of Design and a Ugandan primary school aims to increase global understanding of science. Swinburne design lecturers James Marshall and Bill Trikojus developed the innovative project with the Kasese Humanist Primary School (KHPS) in Uganda to help build the school’s technology infrastructure and develop science-based learning materials that can be shared on the internet. The Kasese school is a science-based school whose motto is ‘with science we can progress’. Earlier this year it had 360 students, but only three computers. “Uganda is an incredibly poor country with teachers only making around $50 per month,” Marshall said. Swinburne and industry partner onlinegalleries. com.au – owned by Marshall and Trikojus – provided funding to purchase another ten computers, a scanner and data projector. A secure computer lab was also set up at the school with broadband internet access and after-hours security. Swinburne’s design courses provide first-hand knowledge of what’s needed in the workplace. Whether they aspire to design advertising campaigns, publications, interiors, animations, games, packaging , consumer products, transportation systems or pop-up shops, students learn how to harness their natural creativity and apply it in industry. Prospective students can choose from: Certificate IV in Design Diploma of Graphic Design Diploma of Interior Design and Decoration
Diploma of Visual Merchandising Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) Bachelor of Design (Digital Media Design) Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design) Bachelor of Design (Interior Design) Bachelor of Design/Bachelor of Business Associate Degree of Applied Graphic Design Bachelor of Engineering (Product Design Engineering) Design degrees can also be combined with an engineering or business course to enhance employability or prepare graduates to run their own business.
“Computer literacy is very necessary in helping our students to learn more,” School Project Director at Kasese Bwambale Robert said. “The donated items and funds are being put to good use so that our students are exposed to modern technologies in the field of learning.” The project, known as Curly Questions, involves creating digital media to promote critical thinking. “Our target market is primary school children, specifically in developing countries,” Marshall said. Sixth grade Kasese students have come up with 40 science-based questions to which 50 students
from Swinburne’s Digital Media Design program are providing answers. The responses have been developed in collaboration with world leading scientists – including ten astrophysicists from Swinburne – and are communicated through animation. The end result will be a children’s book and a three-minute animation for each question. “We’re aiming to provide resources for the Kasese staff and other teachers globally to answer these questions in a fun and engaging way,” Marshall said. “The Swinburne design students are passionate about the project which will teach evidence-based thinking to students globally and increase public communication of science. “All of the students have found doing real-world projects much more rewarding than developing prototypes.” For each of the questions asked, the design students have partnered with scientists to make sure the answers are accurate. The answers have been posted on the website curlyquestions.com.au Anyone interested in participating in the project or sponsoring children from KHPS can contact James Marshall at jgmarshall@swin.edu.au
INFORMATION For entry requirements to all Swinburne Design courses visit swinburne.edu.au
52 the MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2012
FORM
Somebody Drew That Byron George
L
abels, names, pigeon holes. Common devices we use to categorise people. “You’re like that because you fit into this box.” I was a little affronted the other day when a flight attendant said “welcome home” to me when I left a Melbourne bound flight from Sydney. She had made a snap judgement I’m assuming based on what I was wearing. I looked around embarrassed at the time, and saw a lady in white pants and a colourful blouse, a man in scuffed square toed shoes and an ill-fitting microfibre shirt and other frequent flyer types barking into their mobile phones and wondered what other judgements she would make.
Collect Home Simone Keenan
J
ohn Pawson has traded on the white, off-white and slightly off-white styling for decades and currently finds himself in a conundrum as laboratory white minimalism faces a slippery slide of a downward trend.
Fortunately for the Melbourne designers at Collect Home, colour is back in the interior – popping fashion hues from prêt a porter and injecting melon, limes, tangerine, pinks, greens, cobalt, and jewel palettes into their recycled glass vessels, vases, bottles – and even handwoven laundry baskets in this season’s neon colours. From now until Christmas Eve, Collect Home’s pop-up store is showcasing colour to its full advantage, shimmering into the holiday season with recycled glass from Spain and Egypt, hand-woven baskets from Vietnam, French Biot glass from south of France, Latino brights in silk flowers from French company Sia, and a collection of bottles like you’ve never seen before – a truly ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of jewels for the home. Collect Home’s pop-up store at 524 Malvern Road Hawksburn injects spring/summer fashion hues in small vignettes within the store – how about pastels in soft shell pink, sweet rose, chartreuse and coastal turquoise and water blues? Gorgeous hydrangea blooms the size of footballs, striking orange and red poppies, vivid Latino flowers in recycled glass milk bottles and sprigs of sweet country blossom in colourful vintage perfume bottles from Egypt. Then there are the hand-made door wreaths made exclusively with these blooms, vintage styled
We all do it. One of my favourite games as a teenager was guessing what train station people would get off on my line. Short haired, masculine ladies would get off between Alphington and Fairfield. Polished shoes would alight at Ivanhoe or Eaglemont. The black stocking/white trainer combo (usually on a pair of sturdy legs) would almost always be Watsonia or Greensborough. I was of course, the uptight and judgemental bogan leaving the train at Diamond Creek.
table settings with organic shaped hand-thrown ceramics in deep grey, pink and white mixed back with fiesta chairs in pinks, Santorini blues and navy – perfect for outdoor seating or children’s rooms.
This judgement is often how we define ourselves and others. Worse is when it is by where we live. Armadale mums, the Carlton Chardonnay set, Fitzroyalty, Scumshine, Braaaaahton. Then it comes down to that most natural of barriers. The Yarra River.
Co-owner of Collect Home, Penny van Schaik, agrees that injecting colour either in glassware, dinnerware, flowers and napery onto a tabletop can create a completely new and different ambience for this holiday season’s entertaining, particularly with the relaxed Australian lifestyle. Co-owners and designers van Schaik and Erica Solomon travel frequently to Paris, Spain, Italy and Vietnam to get a feel for colour trends , styles, designs and concepts, drawn to pieces that fit into Collect Homes’ branding philosophy of ‘Form, Nature and Hand-Made’. “Collect Home pop-up shop in Malvern Road opened at the perfect time of the year. We’ve taken this into consideration prewrapping beautiful formed pieces such as organic stone shaped glass and ceramic vessels, Christmas decorations in horn and cinnamon, even our essential white cotton tops are only $25.00 each,” she commented. Fashion leads the way into interiors this season, capturing the trend of neon in zesty limes, tangerine, edgy Chartreuse, hot pink and vibrant purples, while the other side of fashion reflects the softer romance of icy pinks, coastal watery blues. Translating these colour palettes into functional and beautiful accessories for the indoor and outdoor is seamless for the Collect Home brand. Jugs and candlesticks in neon, while the outdoors is covered with their hand-made bamboo side tables and beautifully
proportioned ‘Alfie’ bench designed by the team at Collect Home. While white will never date, colour can add pop, zest and oomph to an environment – bringing a smattering of pure delight into homes and gardens.
INFORMATION Visit Collect Home’s pop-up shop at 524 Malvern Road, Hawksburn. Open Monday to Thursday 10 – 5pm, Friday 10am – 7pm, Saturday 10am – 5pm and Sundays 11am – 4pm. Collect Homes’ online shop is also available by visiting collecthome.com.au
Northside and Southside. The arbitrary Mason – Dixon Line separating “us” and “them”. Who would have thought a muddy little river could be such a powerful signifier of allegiance. The stereotype is probably best summed up by two “old guard” venues in their respective corners. For the north, we have Atomica cafe in Fitzroy, in tattoos and black skinny jeans. Artisan roasted coffee (on the premises), good food but an assault of attitude and loud music. The coffee is (or was – it’s been a while since I’ve been there), better than what you get in most places in Rome. For the south, we have Scullerymade in Malvern, in a twin set and Alice band. If you don’t know it, this is the place to buy homewares in Melbourne. Copper pots (“Darling a STEEEEAL at $495 for the mini roaster”), a thousand different types of cheese knife and some of the best French porcelain money can buy. I have a sneaking suspicion that this store may have been the original inspiration for Prue and Trude from Kath ‘n Kim. Of course, both of these stereotypes are fairly meaningless, as are most categorisations like this. They do create a kind of picture – one is edgy, earthy, responsible and hip. The other is exclusive, time honoured and inherently capitalist. These are mostly positive takes and
the MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2012 53
FORM There are, of course, the stayers. People and businesses that have been there so long they are institutions in their own right. These businesses focus on doing something consistently well rather than following what’s cool on the streets around them. France Soir on Toorak Road is still delightfully rude and French, while the Vegie Bar and Mario’s on Brunswick Street haven’t really changed much in the last twenty years. They are still full of people though. These venues represent the real culture of a place. One that lasts and is not just about the latest fashion or “trends” (my favourite word).
“The Brandenburg Gate after the border was closed” - Copyright - Mark B. Anstendig.
there are many negative ones, usually from those on the other side. I sit on the fence, or in the river in these instances because I love both (both places described above too). I’ve spent an equal amount of my adult life living north and south, and probably the most interesting thing recently is that the poles appear to be shifting. Today Carlton looks a little like Armadale. Fitzroy has more fine dining eating options than South Yarra. And it’s cheaper to rent an apartment in Toorak than Brunswick.
It’s that magical word that is revered and reviled at the same time. The bringer of prosperity and the breaker of culture. Gentrification. It’s spread across our inner city, blurring the poles and turning our once diverse suburbs into a sea of recycled timber, retro bicycles, white tiles and Edison bulbs. Casualties in the north include live music, affordable housing and cultural diversity. The south has lost its retail and food edge. Does anyone remember when Chapel Street was at the cutting edge of Australian fashion?
Or when the Builders Arms on Gertrude Street had sticky carpet, that fabulous sunset mural and a pool table? Today, the roles have reversed. On a Saturday morning Chapel Street is awash with vomit and broken glass, while Gertrude Street is busy with organic coffee, artisanal bread and BMWs looking for a park. The north has become predictable while the south has become more affordable. If ever there is a reason for a pole shift, this is it.
As a city and culture I think it’s time we grew up. Melbourne is not Berlin. Our divide was not born of war, it was created by those seeking to differentiate themselves. Cities in this way are a bit like people – everyone has something to offer, but it’s a rare and delightful thing when you meet someone who doesn’t measure what that is, by comparing it with others.
INFORMATION Byron George and partner Ryan Russell are directors of Russell & George, a design and architecture practice with offices in Melbourne and Rome. russellandgeorge.com
54 the MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2012
FORM
Positioning for success in the Asian Century Jennifer Cunich
T
he Fe dera l Government’s Australia in the Asian Century White Paper is a wakeup call for all of Australia’s cities. As the gravity of the world economy shifts to the Asia Pacific, Australia’s centres of economic and social capital (our cities), will be in the box seat to benefit. Throughout the Government’s White Paper, we are constantly reminded that not only do we need to be ready to capture the opportunities which Asia’s growth generates, but also to widen the scope of our engagement. Our proximity to the region, well-educated population, high standard
of living and stable political and economic systems mean Australia has much more to offer than just minerals, energy and agriculture. If the White Paper serves as a roadmap to guide us towards a prosperous future in the Asian Century, then our skills, knowledge and cultural institutions will be the vehicles which take us there. With this in mind, Melbourne is best placed amongst all of Australia’s cities to capitalise. Despite being the furthest away, we are in fact the closest to what the region actually needs. Evidence of this can be seen already in the large numbers of Asian tourists we attract every year (eight percent every year since 2006), our booming international education sector and the high number of Asian developers investing in our city. Underpinning this of course is Melbourne’s cultural attractiveness.
Despite the flourishes of activity in the cities to our north, Melbourne continues to remain the cultural capital of Australia. Engaging successfully with our Asian neighbours will require a firm understanding of their needs and what we must change in order to secure their attention. For those who come here to do business, we will need to ensure we offer a business environment more conducive to foreign investment. This will require a review of our tax laws (federal and state) and a lower regulatory burden on business operations. Improvements will also be required in terms of transport connectivity, affordable housing and language and culturally sensitive service delivery. If we are to attract the lion’s share of Asia’s tourists, foreign students and business visitors, we need to make sure we have a city worth visiting.
For those who come here to do business, we will need to ensure we offer a business environment more conducive to foreign investment.” As has often been said, Melbourne is one of the most liveable cities in the world. This means that naturally, we are in a good position to benefit from its rise. Over the years ahead, all of Victoria’s business sectors need to work together to ensure our capital becomes the ‘go to’ place for Asian investment, education, socialising and learning. Success such as that requires planning. Good planning always takes time. It’s time we got started.
INFORMATION Jennifer Cunich is Victorian Executive Director, Property Council of Australia propertyoz.com.au/vic
The new home of design & innovaTion
Swinburne is proud to announce the construction of our new, $100 million centre focused on design and innovation, opening in 2014 at the Hawthorn campus.
swinburne.edu.au