Summer Exhibition 2024

13.1121.02

SUMMER EXHIBITION 2024

The Summer Exhibition 2024 Catalogue is dedicated to Voula Kaplanis. The UWA School of Design farewells Voula at the end of an extraordinary 25 years of service to the University. Thank you Voula for keeping us all in line and taking care of us, you will be missed. We wish Voula all the best for her next adventure!

A selection of projects from semester two, 2024 at The University of Western Australia, School of Design.

The University of Western Australia acknowledges that its campus is situated on Noongar land, and that Noongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land, and continue to practice their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Designed and edited by Lara Camilla Pinho, Andy Quilty and Samantha Dye.

Image: UWA School of Design, Courtyard, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

156 ARCT3040 Advanced Design Thinking

160 ARCT2001 Design Studio 2

172 ARCT1001 Architecture Studio 1

192 ARCT1010 Drawing History

196 ARLA1030 Structures and Systems

200 Landscape Architecture

202 LACH5511 Independent Dissertation by Design Part 2

206 LACH5422 Landscape Design Studio – Making

214 LACH4421 Australian Landscapes

220 LACH3003 Design Through Landscape Management

222 LACH2050 Plants and Landscape Systems

228 LACH3001 Landscape Resolutions Studio

236 LACH2001 Landscape Dynamic Studio

244 LACH1000 Landscape Groundings Studio

252 Urban Design

254 URBD5802 Urban Design Studio 2

Foreword by Dr Kate Hislop

The student reflections published in this Catalogue speak powerfully about what it is that propels us in the School of Design to gather, routinely, in celebration of the work of our students. The digital catalogues provide an abridged and accessible record of the larger exhibitions that bring hundreds of students together with their friends and families to wrap up another semester.

Daniel Glover’s Foreword to the Fine Arts & History of Art section in this edition notes the fundamental connection with the world achieved through the act of creation. The making of art – of various kinds – is resistance and antidote to the mindless scrolling now a mainstay of daily life. Active immersion in the reality surrounding us, through the interrogating and creating of art, replaces the hours otherwise devoted to the passive (sometimes damaging) consumption of an endless digital stream. Art necessitates interested engagement with ideas, practices, places, people. It offers us pause to be connected in the here-and-now.

In the Foreword to the Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design section, Eugene Tiong reflects upon the critical relationship between ‘choice’ and ‘growth’ that characterises creative endeavour. It is an aspect not often enough understood or discussed about these disciplines, that at every step there is a choice to be made: about ideas, options, interpretations, directions, tools, materials. There is always a fork in the road and a path that wasn’t taken. Learning and maturity come with the recognition that choice – whether deliberate or instinctive – represents opportunity gained, and foregone. All part of the journey, the finding of a voice.

And on the work published here, I can only say what a privilege it is to see such quality work emerge from students’ commitment to their studies, and to the central relationship between ideas and expression. I continue to enjoy working in a School that foregrounds the pursuit of independent thought, the production of creative work, the building of dynamic and purposeful lives.

My congratulations to everyone in the School community for another successful year, and farewell and good luck to those graduating or moving on at the end of 2024. As always, I acknowledge and thank the School of Design staff who led units, guided projects and supported students. And again, I extend my gratitude to the team of Lara Camilla Pinho, Andy Quilty and Samantha Dye for producing another excellent exhibition catalogue.

Dr

Kate

Hislop, Dean/Head of School, UWA School of Design

Image: First Year student pinning up work in progress during the mid semester Design Jury Week, 2024.

FINE ARTS & HISTORY OF ART

Image: UWA School of Design, Level One Gallery, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

Foreword by Daniel Glover

To create is to connect with the world we exist in. Artists draw from the body, the natural, or the artificial to explore and engage with the social culture that surrounds them. This is an important aspect of art, particularly within our current digital age. We are constantly connected to one another through the online realm, yet we are paradoxically separated by the intangible space that it creates between us. This digital sphere encourages us to drift in a timeless realm of endless entertainment, training us to passively view and receive streams of dialogue.

Without a space for thoughtful discussion, we are free to reject or accept views – both new and old – without a second thought as to why we agree or disagree. Instead of recognising their broader implications, we instead continue to scroll past in search of something that distracts us from our surrounding reality. In this context, art becomes a counterbalance, fostering a space that allows us to critically engage with the transforming realm of dialogue. Whether they harness digital or physical mediums – or both – contemporary artists, as with their historical counterparts, hold the tools to amplify critical and emotional responses to global concerns.

Within the discipline of art history, emotion is often (though certainly not always) treated as a lesser part of creating. In this field, we look to sources and text – the facts – to understand why an artist created the thing we perceive. We compare objects with one another to determine the context and purposes of composition, and to understand what exactly is being said by a work. Alternatively, we employ the writings of cultural theorists to conjure within artworks new meanings previously not considered. This is an invaluable process, as it allows us to determine – through tangible testaments of change – where our political and social cultures now stand. Yet, despite the factual specificity tied to historic lives, we are often drawn to observe material culture through the connections we see between ourselves and those who came before us. We are connected to them by a collective feeling they capture.

Good art emerges when an artist chooses to embrace the inherent vulnerability that the process of creation demands, pushing themselves to intentionally think through why they create. Across my degree, particularly this past year, I have continually been inspired by the Fine Arts and History of Art students and faculty that surround me. Each of them, fuelled by their individual experiences and beliefs, are engaged with art and its capacity to help us understand and interpret the tumultuous world that surrounds us. To see such sentiments fostered within the works of early-stage artists reminds me that art is not just a discursive return to the ‘greats’ of the past. Art is about being in a specific place – temporally and spatially – and reflecting on the world that it exists in. With image and video media saturating every corner of our lives today, art allows us to stop, if only for a moment, and reconnect with this point in time we possess.

Daniel Glover

Bachelor of Arts, History of Art and minor in Curatorial Studies, 2024

Marilène Oliver, I Know You Inside Out, silver ink screen printed onto clear acrylic, stainless steel rods, 2001, 200 x 70 x 50cm, Beaux Arts London.

Image:

FINE ARTS

Image: UWA School of Design, Level One Gallery, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

Master of Fine Arts by Research

Supervisors: Dr Ionat Zurr & Dr Vladimir Todorovic

JIMI DE PRIEST

‘Biomimetic Autonomous Weapons: Experiments in Tactical Media’

Fusing inspiration drawn from Tactical media and soviet propaganda posters, this body of work combines DIY electronics, film, cell culture and robotics into sculptural automata which critically digest the imperialist war machine. Through rendering anti-war ideologies into symbolic 3D forms, the works address social tensions in the imperial core which abstract and normalize the ongoing atrocities committed through automated weapons systems. Probing the deflated revolutionary spirit which proliferates throughout the imperial west, reflections on the material reality forged by fascist appropriations of automation technology beckons towards a communist dismantling and reimagination of its implements.

Image: Jimi De Priest, Every Bullet Fired, Cuttle bone, HDF cells.

Image: Jimi De Priest, Autonomous Propaganda System, 3D printed plastic, DIY projector, film.

ARTF4005 Fine Arts Honours

Unit Coordinator and Supervisor: Dr Vladimir Todorovic

RICHARD JORDAN

‘Counterfactual Crustacea / Ant Food / Elemental Fish, Curiosities from the Depths & Sensory Scales’

Wet Synthesis. Using taxidermy techniques, the artist recombines body parts from 4 animals (Panulirus cygnus, Corvus coronoides, Thenus orientalis, Portunus pelagicus) into 4 new fictional composite beasts or chimeras of Counterfactual Crustacea –each complete with biographies of speculative ecology. This creative approach is then inverted into using synthetic materials to make sculptural works inspired by real animals. From sculptural facsimiles of marine life presented together – Curiosities from the Depths – to more abstract artworks including Sensory Scales, Ant Food and Elemental Fish. Collectively these artworks are expressions referencing Australian fisherman folk-art and the European kunstkamer (cabinet of curiosities) tradition.

Image: Richard Jordan, Counterfactual Crustacea, 2024, taxidermy.

Image: Richard Jordan, Elemental Fish, Curiosities from the Depths & Sensory Scales, 2024, sculpture.

ARTF3050 Advanced Major Project

Unit Coordinator: Sarah Douglas

Teaching Staff: Sarah Douglas & Annie Huang

GERMAINE CHAN

‘Woe Woe Woe!’

Positioned between historical religious painting and contemporary urban art, Woe Woe Woe! presents a world where flesh and spirit collide. This series highlights tensions between freedom and suppression within the context of spiritual and existential conflict. Drawing inspiration from the Book of Revelation, the works explore themes of faith, morality, and humanity’s relentless search for meaning.

…I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” Revelation 8:13 (NKJV)

Image: Germaine Chan, Fight-time, 2024, acrylic paint and oil pastel on board, 120 x 90 cm.

Image: Germaine Chan, Free!, 2024, acrylic paint and oil pastel on unstretched canvas, 180 x 150cm.

ARTF3050 Advanced Major Project Unit Coordinator: Sarah Douglas

Teaching Staff: Sarah Douglas & Annie Huang

ISABELLE REITZE

‘Walking on Eggshells’

In our post-industrial society, environmental pollutants permeate our bodies. Heavy metals, microplastics and synthetic chemicals have been permitted to leach into our environment; wreaking havoc on our hormonal function and DNA. In the face of a historically low national fertility rate and growing anxiety of depopulation, these toxins pose an immeasurable threat to human fecundity. Due to systemic negligence and challenges observing oogenesis, research into the effect of pollutants on female fertility is lagging in comparison to their effects on sperm count and quality.

Walking on Eggshells offers an imagined representation of a molecular process. The objects belong to an evolving body of work investigating the impacts of contemporary life on female reproductive structures, gametes, and maternal lineages. These corrupted cultural artifacts are at once hostile and fragile, materialising the wrath and vulnerability of female bodies at the whim of corporate greed and bureaucratic negligence.

Image: Isabelle Reitze, Walking on Eggshells, 2024, egg shells, copper tape, solder, lacquer, wire, porcelain.

Image: Isabelle Reitze, Walking on Eggshells, 2024, egg shells, copper tape, solder, lacquer, wire, porcelain.

ARTF3050 Advanced Major Project

Unit Coordinator: Sarah Douglas

Teaching Staff: Sarah Douglas & Annie Huang

WILLOW ARMITSTEAD

‘ULTIMATE FANTASY’

ULTIMATE FANTASY draws on desire, dreams, connection, and identity. Whose fantasy is it: the subjects, or a fantasy that is projected onto the subject? Dim lighting, purple hues, and esoteric symbols refer to ideas of ‘glamours’ within witchcraft; illusionary spells and (false) aesthetics of opulence. This body of work questions the truth of our own identities within the context of relationships; how gestures of care exaggerate, stretch, and expand. Alongside discomfort there is joy and humour in this series; I do not mind overextending myself for those I love. Everything in moderation, remembering to warm up and stretch after.

Image: Willow Armitstead, I Could Be Your Dream Girls, 2024, Photographic prints (costumes comprised of repurposed fabric, wire, foam clay and ribbon).

Image: Willow Armitstead, Cerebral Service Industry (Mother’s Day Bargains), 2024, Single channel video (3 mintues) (costumes comprised of repurposed fabric,

ribbon).

ARTF2054 Drawing, Painting & Print Studio

Unit Coordinator: Andy Quilty

Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty & Leyla Allerton

DAVID WILKINSON

‘An exploration of the interaction of print marks made by ink monotype and a selfportrait drypoint from a polycarbonate plate’

My prints are made from a single drypoint self-portrait drawing scratched into a polycarbonate plate. The variations of each image have been made via a layer of ink monotype above the drypoint grooves. This layer of ink created unique possibilities to reveal the underlying self-portrait. The interaction of the drypoint beneath and ink monotype created opportunities to interweave between figurative and abstractive image making.

My self-portrait prints represent a journey of self-discovery through the creative process of making and subtracting marks. Through this unit, I was encouraged to experiment and extend my mark making knowledge through a process of trial and error. I found this approach very refreshing, allowing me to be more spontaneous and explorative. I transitioned from being apprehensive and restrained in my mark making attempts to embracing an approach of taking risks and making mistakes as a creative process. With this experimental approach in mind, I made 200 prints to explore the interaction of ink marks made by monotype and my self-portrait drypoint.

Image: David Wilkinson, An exploration of print marks made by ink monotype and a self-portrait drypoint from polycarbonate plate (detail), 2024, monotype and drypoint on paper, 21 x 29.7cm (each).

Image: David Wilkinson, An exploration of print marks made by ink monotype and a self-portrait drypoint from polycarbonate plate (detail), 2024, monotype and

on paper, 21 x 29.7cm (each).

ARTF2054 Drawing, Painting & Print Studio

Unit Coordinator: Andy Quilty

Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty & Leyla Allerton

JONTY CLARK

‘Worker’s Compensation’

An article on PerthNow detailed a construction worker who died as a result of a “freak machinery accident” on a construction site on the Mitchell Freeway. The article emphasised that the off-ramp, close to where the man had died, remained closed and that commuters should prepare for delays. Disregard the father, husband, friend who has died and let your family know that you are going to be late for dinner because your commute is inconvenienced. As a labourer on construction sites around Perth, this article reaffirmed my feeling of being disposable as a worker, because it was never meant to be about me, it is about what is being built. My project Worker’s Compensation contains a series of artworks that capture my feeling of being a piece of plaster, waiting to inconvenience someone as soon as I am damaged.

Image: Jonty Clark, Positive Influence (detail), 2024, gouache on Masonite, 91.5 x 61cm.

Image: Jonty Clark, Pink Room (detail), 2024, gouache on Masonite. 91.5 x 61 cm.

ARTF2054 Drawing, Painting & Print Studio

Unit Coordinator: Andy Quilty

Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty & Leyla Allerton

NOA WILLIAMS

‘HOLIDAY”72 (Aunty Sheila)’

HOLIDAY”72 (Aunty Sheila) is a collection of 16 prints inspired by postcards written by a stranger named Aunty Sheila during her travels around the world between 1972 and 1976. Combining transfer printing, ink, and found photographs, the series reimagines these postcards, blending nostalgic imagery with faded, dreamlike elements.

Influenced by artists like Ed Templeton and Robert Rauschenberg, the work focuses on imperfection and the feeling of distant memories. Alongside the prints, a handmade photo album showcases the original postcards, inviting viewers to read Sheila’s story and feel nostalgia for a stranger’s memories.

Image: Noa Williams, Resort, 2024, monoprint, ink monotype, solvent transfer, found photographs, cartridge paper, 21 x 29.7 cm.

Image: Noa Williams, Old Panama and When I get a holiday, 2024, monoprint, ink monotype, solvent transfer, found photographs, cartridge paper, 21 x 29.7 cm

ARTF2021 Animation & Video

Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic

LUCINDA TASSONE

‘Dead Cat’

The film is centred around an unnamed black cat whose fate is ultimately doomed. This life of a dead cat is explored in multiple scenarios- sometimes escaping death as an onlooker, but most remarkably at the unforgiving tracks of a high-speed railway. Feline anatomy and natural movements are studied in both static and dynamic sequences. Close-ups where line weight is enhanced reflect heightened states of emotion.

Image: Lucinda Tassone, Dead Cat, 2024, animation, dimensions variable.

Image: Lucinda Tassone, Dead Cat, 2024, animation, dimensions variable.

ARTF2021 Animation & Video

Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic

EVA HAJIGABRIEL

‘More’

My animation, More, delves into the tumultuous process of getting ready. This was inspired by the many societal pressures placed on people, especially women, to look and appear a certain way. I was inspired by my experiences of this feeling to make this animation.

“…as the character continues to feel distaste towards their appearance, they make changes that become more drastic as they go on. Chopping and dyeing their hair, such desire for a drastic change is expressed through the intense sharp contrast between the electric green and the muted purple background. The character’s descent of sanity becomes most prominent as they begin to pursue more extreme acts, and the surroundings begin to change. As they begin to violently give themselves at-home piercings, the video aesthetics begin to divulge into high contrast, high-impact visuals.”

Image: Eva Hajigabriel, More, 2024, animation.

Image: Eva Hajigabriel, More, 2024, animation.

ARTF1053 Digital Art and Object Making

Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic

Teaching Staff: Dr Vladimir Todorovic, Donna Franklin, Samuel Beilby, Leyla Allerton, Esther Forest & Julie Ziegenhardt

JANELLA NICOLI

‘Class of 3034’

Class of 3034 is an abstract installation comprised of a short montage and a sculptural swarm of futuristic ants constructed with aluminium flashing, nuts, rivets, and wire. Amplifying the evolution of natural processes to robotic systems, Class of 3034 conflates Amazon warehouse transportation robots with ants. In this way, the installation critiques anthropomorphic perceptions of robots whilst tracking the evolution of human warehouse workers to automated robots through biomimicry, an engineering process that relies on natural systems to inform human constructions.

Image: Janella Nicoli, Class of 3034, 2024, mixed-media installation, dimensions variable.

Image: Janella Nicoli, Class of 3034, 2024, mixed-media installation, dimensions variable.

ARTF1053 Digital Art and Object Making

Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic

Teaching Staff: Dr Vladimir Todorovic, Donna Franklin, Samuel Beilby, Leyla Allerton, Esther Forest & Julie Ziegenhardt

BELLA LINDSAY

‘MADE 4 U’

MADE 4 U is a mixed media installation that explores themes of overconsumption, idolization, and the potential for human/AI relationships. My piece was inspired by Japanese pop culture and portrays the study space of someone obsessed with their AI girlfriend, addressing the theme of an “automated future” by examining how loneliness and intimacy are commodified through digital products.

Image: Bella Lindsay, MADE 4 U, 2024, digital print, dimensions variable.

Image: Bella Lindsay, MADE 4 U, 2024, digital print, dimensions variable.

HISTORY OF ART

Image: HART2274 Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies students touring the exhibition Fables, Foibles and Folk Tales at the Store Room of the WA

Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle, 2024.

HART3276 Prints from Durer to Toulouse-Lautrec

Unit Coordinator: Dr Susanne Meurer

Teaching Staff: Dr Susanne Meurer & Daniel Dolin

NALINIE SEE

‘Contemporary Landscapes: Baumgartner and Lichtenstein’

Landscapes in art are often reflections of the time and cultural context in which they are created, offering more than just a depiction of nature.

Christiane Baumgartner’s Schkeuditz II (2005) and Roy Lichtenstein’s Landscape I (1967) present landscapes in unconventional ways, yet both works embody the essence of how time and space were experienced during their respective eras. Baumgartner’s blurred, fleeting woodcut captures the transient nature of modern life, while Lichtenstein’s bold, graphic pop art reduces nature to simplified, commodified forms. Despite their differing approaches, both prints reveal how landscapes can act as vehicles for exploring the shifting cultural contexts of their times, reflecting the evolving engagement with time, space, and perception.

From Wood to Screen: Mediums and Their Impact on Landscape Representation

To understand how each artist engages with landscape, examining how their chosen mediums— woodcut and screenprint—shape their artistic vision and reflect the cultural zeitgeist is essential. Christiane Baumgartner’s use of woodcut in Schkeuditz II is a striking fusion of traditional printmaking with contemporary digital imagery.1 By translating a video still into the slow, labour-intensive process of woodcut, she captures the contrast between the rapid, fleeting nature of modern landscapes and the

permanence of traditional techniques. The blurred lines in the print evoke a sense of speed and motion as if the viewer is witnessing the landscape from a moving vehicle. Relief printing allows Baumgartner to emphasize the transience of contemporary life, where landscapes are often experienced in passing, mediated by technology.

In contrast, Roy Lichtenstein’s Landscape I employs the screen-printing technique, a hallmark of his Pop Art style, to offer a different interpretation of landscape. Lichtenstein utilises flat, graphic shapes and bold, primary colours to transform the natural world into a highly stylised and simplified form. By incorporating elements from commercial art, such as Benday dots and bold black outlines, Lichtenstein critiques the commodification of nature and the influence of mass media on artistic representation.2 The screenprint technique, known for its ability to produce precise and reproducible images, mirrors the mass production of commercial imagery and reflects post-war America’s fascination with consumer culture.3 Lichtenstein’s landscape is not an attempt to capture the natural beauty of the environment but rather to present it as an altered, reproducible object that comments on how media and advertising have reshaped our perceptions of nature. Through this approach, Lichtenstein challenges traditional notions of the landscape by presenting a version that is both visually striking and critically reflective of contemporary culture’s engagement with mass media.

Geometric Abstractions: Baumgartner’s Lines and Lichtenstein’s Dots

Both artists, despite their vastly different approaches, rely on simple geometric forms to construct intricate, layered representations of landscapes, showcasing how abstraction can reveal deeper truths about nature and perception. This formal approach ties into broader explorations within

Image: (Top) Christiane Baumgartner, Schkeuditz II, 2005, One from a series of four woodcuts. 41 x 62 cm; (Bottom) Roy Lichtenstein, Landscape I, 1967, Screenprint from a portfolio of nine screenprints and one collage, 27 x 45 cm.

their respective oeuvres, where each artist continually revisits the complexities of time, media, and representation. In Baumgartner’s Schkeuditz II, the landscape is rendered through a repetitive sequence of straight, parallel lines that shift in weight and density. These lines, derived from the interlace technique of video imagery, create an effect that is both mechanical and organic, mimicking the rhythm and motion. By stripping the landscape down to its most basic visual components, Baumgartner emphasises the fleeting and ephemeral nature of modern life. The process of meticulously carving and printing these lines from a video still contrasts with the rapid, transient nature of her subject matter. The viewer is presented with an image that feels in constant motion, yet frozen in time —an illusion created through the repetition and precision of geometric forms. This dynamic interaction between movement and stasis reflects Baumgartner’s exploration of how technology mediates our experience of landscapes in the contemporary world. Furthermore, Schkeuditz II is part of a broader series in which Baumgartner repeatedly addresses themes of motion and time, often using the same video-towoodcut technique to explore how fleeting moments can be captured in a fixed medium. The Schkeuditz series exemplifies her continued interest in how technology alters our perception of the natural world.

In a similar fashion, Roy Lichtenstein’s Landscape I reduces the natural world to its elemental forms, using Benday dots, flat planes of colour, and bold outlines to construct his vision. The simplification of shapes in Lichtenstein’s landscape abstracts nature into a format reminiscent of comic strips and advertisements. His use of primary colours and geometric precision not only flattens the image but also challenges the viewer’s expectations of what a landscape should be. While Baumgartner’s work engages with the technological mediation of landscapes, Lichtenstein’s print directly confronts the

commodification of nature, turning a traditional scene into something manufactured and mass-produced. His employment of geometric forms—particularly the uniform Benday dots—creates depth and vibrancy, yet the overall effect is detached, reflecting the growing sense of artificiality in the way landscapes were consumed through media in post-war America. This print is also part of a larger body of work in which Lichtenstein repeatedly explored the ways mass media and consumer culture shape visual experience. His landscape series continues his ongoing critique of the manufactured nature of modern visual culture, echoing themes of repetition and standardisation that run throughout his oeuvre. Both artists, through their use of simple geometry, invite us to reconsider how landscapes are constructed and perceived in a modern, media-saturated world. Their works, as part of a larger series, reveal an ongoing investigation into the relationship between nature, technology, and consumerism, capturing how these forces shape our contemporary experience of the landscape.

Abstraction and Detachment

To deepen the analysis of how these artists manipulate landscapes, it is crucial to explore how their use of abstraction not only redefines the visual but also introduces a profound sense of detachment from the natural world. Abstraction in both Christiane Baumgartner’s Schkeuditz II and Roy Lichtenstein’s Landscape I introduces a form of detachment from the natural world, transforming familiar landscapes into something more ambiguous and artificial. In Schkeuditz II, the blurred lines obscure the clarity of the scene, creating a sense of uncertainty and distance. This abstraction not only alters the viewer’s perception but also introduces a feeling of alienation as the landscape becomes a fleeting memory rather than a concrete reality. The image, fractured by motion and technology, seems elusive – both present and

absent – mirroring the fleeting way in which we often experience landscapes in contemporary society, filtered through screens or glimpsed from moving vehicles. Lichtenstein, on the other hand, takes this sense of alienation to an extreme with Landscape I. By reducing natural elements to bold outlines, flat colour fields, and Benday dots, he strips the landscape of its organic qualities, presenting a version of nature that feels almost industrial. His use of primary colours to depict earth, sky, and water departs so far from their natural hues that the landscape loses its connection to the real world. Lichtenstein’s abstraction turns nature into a mass-produced object, distancing the viewer from the emotional or sensory experience typically associated with natural landscapes. The result is a landscape that is less a depiction of nature and more a critique of how mass media reduces and simplifies complex realities into digestible, commodified forms. Both artists, though working in different mediums, use abstraction to explore how the increasing mediation of nature through technology and consumer culture leads to a loss of direct engagement with the landscape. Whether through the blurred ambiguity of Baumgartner’s lines or the synthetic construction of Lichtenstein’s forms, their works encourage a reflection on how modern life has distanced us from the natural world, leaving us with representations that feel strangely distant and manufactured.

Conclusion

In examining Christiane Baumgartner’s Schkeuditz II and Roy Lichtenstein’s Landscape I, we uncover how each print offers a distinct commentary on its era’s interaction with landscapes. Baumgartner’s use of woodcut and digital imagery in Schkeuditz II introduces a landscape that shifts with every glance, reflecting the fragmented and transient nature of modern experience. The blurred lines of her print capture the disjunction between rapid technological

advancements and static visual representations, emphasizing the fleeting nature of contemporary landscapes. In contrast, Lichtenstein’s Landscape I employ the screenprint technique to transform nature into a commercial spectacle of flat colours and graphic precision. His use of Pop Art conventions critiques how media and consumer culture have commodified the natural world, presenting a landscape that is both visually striking and critiqued for its superficiality. Lichtenstein’s print reduces nature to digestible, mass-produced forms, challenging the authenticity of traditional landscape representation. While Baumgartner’s blurred, transient scenes and Lichtenstein’s geometric, colour-saturated forms approach abstraction differently, both prints reveal how their respective cultures grapple with the evolving dynamics of technology and commercialization. Their works, through their distinct printmaking techniques, not only highlight how abstraction can distance us from reality but also offer insights into how modern and mid-20th-century societies have navigated their changing environments. This comparison underscores how each artist’s print serves as a lens through which we can better understand the impact of technological and commercial influences on our perception of landscapes.

Endnotes

1. Jasper Kettner, “Woodcut in Motion: Time in the Prints of Christiane Baumgartner,” Print Quarterly 24, no. 1 (2007): 24.

2. Diane Waldman, Roy Lichtenstein (New York, N.Y: Guggenheim Museum, 1993), 129.

3. Susan Lambert, Prints: Art and Techniques (London: V&A Publications, 2001), 84.

HART2223 Modernism and the Visual Arts

Unit Coordinator: Dr Darren Jorgensen

ROSIE ANDA

‘Hybrid Origins and Transformation: Surrealist

Photography in 1930s Japan’

Surrealism emerged in Japan during one of the most chaotic moments in the country’s modern history, as the social and political climate of the prewar period provided fertile ground for it to take root. Surrealism’s embrace of unconventional and ambiguous modes of expression gave artists the ideal visual idiom to obliquely respond to ongoing political oppression, critique the social structure, and express personal dreams and anxieties. Internal and external social pressures and changes, as well as criticism and debate regarding the nature of Surrealism, led to multiple interpretations of the movement in Japan.1 The fragmentation of various strands of Surrealist art and the absence of collective activity meant that the movement existed outside of a central, unified group, and thus its political goals were never explicitly formulated. Practices such as literature, painting, and photography developed and operated mostly independently from one another, with imported trends being adapted to suit the Japanese context. This terminological and aesthetic fluidity underscored the movement with an idiosyncratic ontology that challenges the hackneyed conventions of a Eurocentric interpretation of Surrealism.2 Rather than merely echoing a European avant-garde, Surrealism in Japan – particularly in its photographic expression – operated in a unique way that was relative to the country’s own modernity and development.

Into the Dreamscape

The term Surrealism first appeared in Japan

around the same time as the publication of André Breton’s 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, with literary and poetry groups emerging throughout the 1920s.3 Western influences in Japanese art and the enthusiasm for Western trends and styles can be traced back to the Meiji period (1868-1912) and the Westernisation policies enacted as Japan emerged from its isolation (sakoku) and began engaging in international trade. The desire of Japanese artists to consolidate their position within a global artistic modernism conflicted with anti-Western and antimodernist sentiments that were arising as Japanese society became increasingly nationalistic.4 By the time Surrealism arrived on Japanese soil in the 1920s, artists and intellectuals were privy to Western art practice and thus possessed the selfawareness and self-confidence to produce art that was simultaneously commensurable to and distinct from European Surrealism.5 Despite the proliferation of Western theory and ideas, Japanese artists and writers did not yet share a common definition of Surrealism, as no European Surrealists knew Japanese. Mistranslations of Breton’s theory could not be corrected, meaning that some of the most crucial elements were entirely absent from the Surrealist discourse in Japan.6 The lack of definitional clarity led to debate about the true nature of Surrealism and its role in the Japanese art world, further complicating efforts for Japanese artists to define this new style.

Breton’s ideas contrasted greatly with the increasingly repressive political climate in Japan, particularly as Surrealism’s arrival coincided with the Proletariat Art Movement which insisted that art should be accessible to and support the masses, creating an ideological clash with the individualistic and introspective nature of Surrealism.7 Surrealism’s emphasis on the mind and fantasy led supporters of the Proletariat Art Movement to view it as an indulgent engagement with pure art that reflected

Image: Ei-Kyū, from Reason of Sleep, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 22.0 x 26.8 cm. Yokohama Museum of Art.

only bourgeois sensibilities and overlooked social and political realities.8 It was believed that art should reflect the struggles of the real world, so perhaps the Surrealist desire for transformation was viewed as a serious threat in a political environment increasingly wary of dissent.9 By the 1930s, Surrealism was more widely accepted, and its influence was particularly notable among painters and photographers. The Paris-Tokyo League of Emerging Art Exhibition was held in Japan in 1932 and included Surrealist works by many European artists – amongst them Max Ernst, André Masson, Man Ray, Joan Miró, and Giorgio de Chirico. The exhibition toured Tokyo, Osaka, Kumamoto, and Dalian, and by the mid1930s, an increasing number of European Surrealist writings were translated and disseminated around the country.10 With greater access to European art and theory, ideas such as automatism, unconsciousness, madness and dreams began to be widely and seriously discussed in Japan.11 However the term itself remained open to individual interpretation, allowing artists to adapt Surrealism to convey their personal struggles with the conflict between the self and the nation, as well as their desires and anxieties regarding modern life.

Surrealist Aesthetics and Social Critique

As Chinghsin Wu writes in Reality Within and Without: Surrealism in Japan and China in the Early 1930s, “Behind these seemingly scattered and divergent views of surrealism, there lies a shared, quintessentially modernist understanding of surrealism as an art form with the potential to develop and progress while both echoing and contributing to parallel progress in science, technology, and society”.12 This potential is particularly evident in photography, which balances the objective and subjective by leveraging its unique status as both an indexical and pictorial form of representation.13

Photography’s deeply embedded association with modernity, when situated within a Surrealist context, illustrates how the medium can illuminate new visual realms by presenting life in a new way. By merging the scientific with the artistic and the real with the imagined, photography both captures moments that evoke the uncanny and reveals aspects of reality that might otherwise go unnoticed, challenging conventional perceptions. This dynamic creates a dialectic between the current and future moment – the familiar and the unfamiliar – that positions photography as the ideal medium for producing Surrealist images while aligning with the desires and goals of a society undergoing transformation in the wake of modernity. After Tokyo was nearly destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, the reconstruction of the city fostered a new urban culture captivated by the idea of modern life (modan raifu). Photography was deeply entwined with this emerging metropolitan culture, as new forms of expression were essential to addressing the demands of urban living and modernity.

With a smaller market for it than other forms of visual art, Surrealist photography was only exceptionally featured in photographic magazines, rendering the medium less prone to censorship as these were not yet subject to the same scrutiny as other types of publications.14 Photographers often imbued everyday objects with symbolism and metaphorical meaning, making their critiques more challenging to decipher. Yamamoto Kansuke, a prominent figure in Japanese Surrealism, created the series Birdcage at a Buddhist Temple starting in 1940. The most well-known image from this series features a telephone encased in a birdcage, alluding to the growing limitations on free expression in the lead-up to war.15 Yamamoto’s work exemplifies the trend of “photo objects”, which emphasised the exploration of objects beyond their normal utilitarian

function to question photography’s capacity to render a true representation of reality.16 Other photographers experimented with techniques that aligned more directly with the original Surrealist texts. A notable example is Ei-Kyū, whose first collection of works Nemuri no riyū (The Reason for Sleep) (1936), evokes a quintessential Surrealist ontology through its allusion to dreams and the unconscious as the origin of production. Through experimentation with automatism and combining photogram production with Surrealist collage, the indexical boundaries of photography and it’s medium-specific limitations are transcended.17 As censorship escalated throughout the war, works were infused with elements of patriotism. It became a common strategy for Surrealists to blend motifs and aesthetics from traditional Asian belief systems, such as Buddhism, with classical imagery from Western culture, including Greek-style architecture and statues. This allowed to continue avant-garde practice while appearing to support the war efforts, balancing both national and international demands and highlighting the ingenuity of Japanese Surrealists.18

Postwar Encounters

Arguably, framing Japanese Surrealism as intriguing and ‘unconventional’ still rolls the dice in favour of a European avant-garde. The integration of Surrealism into the fabric of Japanese cultural history cannot be reduced to the determinants of European Surrealism, as each was informed by their own unique circumstances within modernism.19 Perhaps this construction arises from the lack of obvious core or defining features of Japanese Surrealism, further complicated by the destruction of much of the material necessary for understanding its early formations during the war. A considerable number of negatives and original prints were lost in Allied bombings and the atomic attack on

Hiroshima, making it nearly impossible to establish a straightforward continuity of work. As a result, the achievements and significance of the Surrealist photographers of the 1930s have been largely underrepresented.20 What remains clear, however, is the profound scope of Surrealism and its role in reflecting a new, modern Japan, which stimulated artists, intellectuals, and critics to question the function and purpose of art within society.21 By embracing and adapting Surrealist principles, Japanese photographers developed a unique way of interpreting their reality, one that resonated deeply within their localised context whilst simultaneously engaging with global artistic movements.

Endnotes

1. Chinghsin Wu, “Surrealism in Japan”, The Routledge Companion to Surrealism (Taylor & Francis Group, September 1, 2022), 252.

2. Jelena Stojkovic, Surrealism and Photography in 1930s Japan: The Impossible Avant-Garde (Taylor & Francis Group, February 20, 2020), 4.

3. Wu, Surrealism in Japan, 252.

4. Chinghsin Wu, “Reality Within and Without: Surrealism in Japan and China in the Early 1930s”, Review of Japanese Culture and Society: 26 (University of Hawai’i Press, December 2014), 189.

5. Ibid.

6. Wu, Reality Within and Without, 191.

7. Wu, Surrealism in Japan, 253.

8. Ibid.

9. Michael Richardson, “Charting an Amorphous Past: Surrealism in Japan”, Communicating Vessels: The Surrealist Movement in Japan, 1923-70 (The Enzo Press, 2012), 999.

10. Wu, Surrealism in Japan, 255.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Stojkovic, The Impossible Avant-Garde, 6.

14. Ibid., 20.

15. Wu, Surrealism in Japan, 256.

16. Ibid., 257.

17. Stojkovic, The Impossible Avant-Garde, 25.

18. Wu, Surrealism in Japan, 259.

19. Richardson, 1000.

20. Stojkovic, The Impossible Avant-Garde, 168.

21. Wu, Reality Within and Without, 205.

HART2274 Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies

Unit Coordinator: Dr Susanne Meurer

Teaching Staff: Dr Susanne Meurer & Isabel Di Lollo

CRUZ DAVIS-MARTINEZ

‘“Look, look”: An Exploration of the Cultural Construction of “America” for Australian Audiences’

Anna Park’s exhibition Look, Look at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) offers Australian audiences a unique perspective on American culture through a powerful collection of large-scale charcoal and ink drawings. This exhibition, Park’s first museum show outside the United States, runs from April 20 to September 8, 2024, and challenges viewers to reconsider narratives that shape their understanding of sexuality, identity, and power within the context of society.1

Upon entering the exhibition, visitors are confronted with a full-body mirror, forcefully emphasising their role as viewers of Park’s work and her cultural commentary. On the other side of the mirror lies the titular work Look, look (Image 1). The drawing sets the tone for the rest of the exhibition as the rest of the exhibition explicitly lacks color. The sheer scale of the pieces in tandem with the dynamic energy adds to their impact, with figures and forms that seem to leap off the paper, capturing the viewer’s attention and pulling them into their world.

The exhibition is spread across several rooms, each meticulously arranged to guide visitors through the nuance themes of Park’s work. Upon entering, viewers are immediately struck by the scale of the drawings. Aside from being traditionally formatted for a gallery, this orientation was likely done to continue the narrative of people outside of American

culture to merely glimpse into a different culture, as if standing outside looking in through a window. The high ceilings and open spaces of the gallery enhance the impact of these large-scale pieces, allowing the viewer to step back and take in the full composition or move closer to appreciate the fine details of Park’s charcoal work. The lighting is deliberately subdued, focusing attention on the stark contrasts of Park’s black-and-white drawings. This choice of lighting creates an intimate yet isolating atmosphere, drawing viewers into the world Park has created while exemplifying the discomfort she had faced as she processed the formation of her identity. The shadows cast by the frames add to the sense of depth and movement, making the figures in her work appear even more dynamic.

The first of two rooms introduce visitors to Park’s critique of gender norms and beauty standards. Here, her drawings of distorted female figures are juxtaposed with text from mid- 20th-century advertisements, challenging viewers to understand how their outward appearances directly impact how they are perceived akin to an advertisement of a product. In the second room, the exhibition shifts to explore the impact of mass media on identity formation. This section is designed to feel more chaotic, with the artworks drawn in a seemingly haphazard manner, thus reflecting the overwhelming nature of contemporary media consumption. The proximity of the works to each other creates a sense of hallucination,2 mirroring the constant barrage of images and information that Park critiques. This is in large part due to the walls of the room being much closer in proximity to each other, enunciating the feeling of claustrophobia. The use of collage in these drawings is mirrored in the layout, with works overlapping and crowding the space, forcing viewers to navigate through almost indistinguishable visual noise. The gallery uses this spacing (or lack thereof)

to emphasise the fragmented nature of memory and the selective way in which we remember the past. The room’s design encourages visitors to linger, to connect the dots between the different cultural references in Park’s work, and to consider how these fragmented memories shape our present understanding of identity. Park’s use of charcoal is masterful, creating a range of textures and contrasts that add depth and complexity to her compositions. The drawings are at once chaotic and controlled, with swirling lines and overlapping forms that convey a sense of disorientation and fragmentation. This visual language

is particularly effective in conveying the themes of the exhibition, which revolve around the overwhelming nature of contemporary life and the constant bombardment of images and information that define our media-saturated society.

Park’s exploration of identity is deeply personal, informed by her own experiences as an immigrant from South Korea to the United States.3 Her work reflects the complexities of identity formation in a media-saturated society, where cultural perceptions and stereotypes play a significant role in shaping how individuals see themselves and are seen by

Image 1: Look, look. Anna Park. Installation view, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 2024. Dan McCabe.

others. By utilising the notoriety of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the artist employs a practical joke of sorts on the audience, cunningly perpetuating the same feeling of how she felt as a United States immigrant onto her Australian audience. In addition to the gallery’s notoriety, she utilises mirrors at every opportunity throughout the exhibition to evoke those same feelings of being an outsider – from the entryway of the exhibition to the tabletop used to display her thumbnail sketches.

A recurring theme in Look, look is the idea of “perpetual visibility”—the sense that one is constantly being seen and judged in a society obsessed with appearances and social media.4 Park’s drawings capture the alienation and self-awareness that come with this constant scrutiny, using fragmented images and disjointed narratives to convey the psychological impact of living in such an environment.5 The interplay between text and image in Park’s work is particularly effective in conveying this theme. The speech bubbles and captions she incorporates often contain clichéd expressions and stereotypes, which she then distorts or decontextualises to highlight their absurdity. This technique encourages viewers to reconsider the validity of these expressions and the role they play in reinforcing societal norms. By utilising only white walls in the gallery with minimal label texts, the exhibition forces viewers to face what it is that Park has had to face throughout her life: identity.

Park’s work and by extension, the ways in which her works take up the museum’s space, is also a commentary on the nostalgic way in which we consume and remember media. The use of blackand-white drawings creates a timeless quality, evoking a sense of nostalgia that draws the audience into a reflection on the past. The absence of color strips away any distractions, allowing the focus to remain on the form, composition, and the raw emotion embedded in Park’s work. This is in reference to

the monochrome imagery prevalent in mid-20thcentury media, from classic advertisements to early television, reinforcing the theme of media’s historical influence on identity. The minimally blank walls of the gallery further amplify this sense of nostalgia. With the absence of vibrant colors or elaborate displays, the gallery space itself becomes a canvas, mirroring the simplicity and directness of Park’s drawings. The white walls, unadorned and free of excess embellishment, create an almost clinical environment that heightens the viewer’s awareness of the artwork. This setting emphasises the contrast between the past and the present, encouraging viewers to engage deeply with the memories and cultural references embedded in the work. The gallery does more than just complement Park’s drawings; it actively participates in the narrative, creating a space that is both reflective and unsettling, drawing the viewer into a deep contemplation of the themes of nostalgia, identity, and media.

Anna Park’s Look, look is a powerful and thought-provoking exhibition that challenges viewers to reconsider the narratives that shape our understanding of identity, gender, and media. Through her dynamic and chaotic drawings, Park invites us to engage with the complexities of contemporary life, offering a critique of the societal pressures and cultural constructs that influence how we see ourselves and others. The thoughtful layout and sensory experiences all contribute to making this exhibition a profound exploration of the complexities of contemporary life, identity, and media. The exhibition is a significant milestone in Park’s career, marking her emergence as a major figure in contemporary drawing. Her work resonates on multiple levels, combining technical skill with a deep understanding of the psychological and cultural issues that define our time. Look, look is not just a visual experience, but an intellectual and emotional journey that prompts reflection on the narratives that shape our understanding of the world.

Through her powerful drawings and the carefully crafted exhibition space, Park offers a compelling critique of the societal norms and media influences that define our lives, making this exhibition a must-see for anyone interested in contemporary art and culture.

Endnotes

1. Look, look. Anna Park. Simon Lee Foundation. 2024, July 8, https://slficaa.artgallery.wa.gov.au/program/look-look-anna-park/

2. Look, look. Anna Park. Simon Lee Foundation.

3. Watson, Graeme & Hill, Leigh Andrew. Rising art star Anna Park will have her first Australian exhibition. OUTinPerth. 2023, December 11, https://www.outinperth.com/rising-art-star-annapark-will-have-her-first-australian-exhibition/

4. Look, look.: Anna Park in Perth. Juxtapoz Magazine. 2024, July 23, https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/installation/look-look-annapark-in-perth/

5. Look, look. Anna Park in Perth. Juxtapoz Magazine.

Image 2: What Could Have Been. Anna Park. Installation view, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 2024. Genevieve Hanson.

ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN

Image: UWA School of Design, Design HUB, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

ARCHITECTURE

Foreword by Eugene Tiong

In 2019, I arrived in Perth, stepping into unfamiliar territory with a clear purpose: to pursue my dream of architecture. I began this path with hope and determination, confident I could overcome any challenge. Over time, I learnt that growth is neither swift nor easy. It is a continuous process of learning, marked by challenges, discoveries, and moments of reflection.

The past five years have been a journey of resilience. Creative blocks, technical hurdles, and sleepless nights tested my resolve. Moments of frustration, including unexpected computer failures, adapting to a global pandemic, and the relentless pressure of deadlines, became opportunities for growth. Each challenge taught me valuable lessons and prompted deeper reflection on my aspirations and the life I envisioned.

Through these experiences, I discovered that growth comes from choice: what to learn, what to value, and who to become. Failures became opportunities to improve, and collaboration with peers and mentors turned individual struggles into shared victories. Together, we brainstormed, refined ideas, and pushed creative boundaries, discovering that the heart of design lies in connection and teamwork.

As my skills grew, so did the opportunities. From sharing knowledge with younger students to participating in internships, competitions, and receiving awards, each milestone affirmed the value of persistence and passion. These moments served as reminders that challenges are not barriers but pathways to growth and discovery.

This journey is not mine alone. Each student here has faced their own challenges and found their unique voice through design. Each year’s exhibition represents the culmination of countless hours of effort and showcases the intersection of creativity, functionality, and sustainability. Each project, whether displayed or not, is a testament to the dedication and talent of its creator. Special congratulations to all whose work is featured in this year’s Summer Exhibition and Catalogue. Your achievements are truly recognised and celebrated.

As I graduate, I look to the future with gratitude and optimism. Questions about the future remain, but perhaps the answers are less important than the journey itself. The road ahead is uncertain but filled with promise. Let us approach it with courage, creativity, and a commitment to shaping a better world.

To my fellow graduates in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design, congratulations on this remarkable achievement. To those continuing this journey, embrace it with passion, curiosity, and resilience. To everyone reading this, I wish you success in your own endeavours.

Finally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the UWA School of Design for its support and guidance. I am deeply grateful to those who encouraged me along the way and to my younger self for taking that first brave step.

Eugene Tiong, Master of Architecture, 2024.

Image: X.01 CHAIR designed and crafted by Eugene Tiong, finished in Vic Ash (L) and Jarrah (R), 2024.

ARCHITECTURE

Image: UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

ARCT5011 Independent Research Part 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Supervisor: Dr Beth George

KATHERINE DOWNIE

‘Accessible Commonplace / Commonplace Accessibility’

This thesis identifies the limitations of merely complying with accessibility standards, such as Australia’s National Construction Code, and argues for a shift towards designing for the full spectrum of human diversity. It proposes that accessibility should move beyond being an afterthought or a regulatory checkbox and instead become a core design principle that inspires creativity and innovation in architecture. Through engagement with literature, case studies, and conversations with architects and users, the research investigates how inclusivity can be embedded into every stage of the design process.

The research explores the emotional and sensory dimensions of architecture, considering how design impacts wellbeing and the lived experience of space. It integrates ideas from Universal Design, embodied cognition, and interdisciplinary approaches to provide practical frameworks for architects. The outcome includes conceptual diagrams, suppositions, and design strategies that go beyond compliance to create accessible environments.

By addressing the disconnect between architectural education, practice, and diverse user experiences, the thesis envisions a built environment that reflects and celebrates the multifaceted nature of human existence. It aspires to make accessibility commonplace in architecture, shifting the discipline towards a more inclusive and inspiring future.

Image: Diagrams illustrating inclusive design principles and embodiment in architecture.

Image: Conceptual frameworks redefining accessibility in architectural practice.

ARCT5011 Independent Research Part 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Supervisor: Lara Camilla Pinho

JADE RICOURT

‘Lessons Learned’

The built environment plays a vital role in shaping our daily lives, influencing the cultural, social, and physical landscapes of the places we inhabit. Yet, it often falls short of understanding the communities it serves, as seen in remote Australian communities where significant living disparities remain. In these remote communities, the disconnect between design and culture has far-reaching consequences. Inappropriate housing solutions, shaped by cultural irrelevance, have deepened health disparities, with cultural incompetency emerging as the root cause of these misaligned designs. In response, this research seeks to foster cultural competency among built environment professionals, including educators, students, practitioners, and academics, to bridge this disconnect and support the creation of designs that honour and reflect the communities they serve.

At first glance, there appeared to be a significant lack of documentation on community engagement processes specific to built environment projects. However, as the research progressed, valuable insights began to emerge, with new publications continuing to surface throughout the year reflecting the industry’s ongoing shift toward reconciliation and designing with and for Country. Creating a platform to strengthen cultural competency by curating and expanding access to these resources emerged as a logical progression. To support this vision, a vast array of resources, including books, thesis projects, frameworks, guidelines, podcasts, webinars, courses, and reports, have been incorporated to educate and empower the integration of Indigenous cultural protocols into design practice. The Lessons Learned repository serves as a central platform to organise, share, and enhance access to these resources, amplifying their reach and impact.

While information on the subject has grown, it remained crucial for the research to gather insights from practitioners experienced in cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary contexts. Through conversations with nine built environment professionals, the study explored cultural awareness, protocols, and engagement strategies.

Envisioned as an evolving platform, the repository encourages users to contribute new and relevant content which would undergo a review process, guided by a panel that includes First Nations representatives, ensuring that the contribution reflects the diverse voices and needs of First Nations communities. This research is part of a broader industry movement dedicated to honouring cultural identities and the profound connections to land through design.

Image: Lessons Learned Repository Website.

Interactive Map Navigation explanation diagram;

Concluding diagram informed by the Lessons Learned from Perspectives.

Image: (Left)

(Right)

ARCT5011 Independent Research Part 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Supervisor: Joely-Kym Sobott

CARINA VAN DEN BERG

‘Finding Common Ground: A dissertation on the formation of national identity in coffee spaces of Australia’

“Social space tends to be translated, with more or less distortion, into physical space…”1

“The most successful ideological effects are those that have no words, and ask no more than complicitous silence…”2

Ideology exists within an assured social reality that is entered through mutual agreement; a common ground. It is thus manifested through the lived relations between an ‘imaginary lived relation’ and the conditions of the relation.3 Imaginary pertains to an “image” like a mirror where individuals play a role in producing the framed image. Culture gives the ideology tangibility, by informing the practices that frame the image, thus a kind of image making. And so, as culture is underpinned by ideology it also legitimates nationalism by the means to be practiced within social reality.4 Bourdieu’s theory on habitus explains how the image making is a result of “regulated improvisations” within the cultural field of production. Coffee spaces provide the common ground for these improvisations, or image making, to be practiced and regulated.

Benedict Anderson sees that the behaviours surrounding cultural artifacts are what construct the ‘imagined political communities’ of national identity.5 Imagined communities inform and define a nation state, but in the difference between behaviours surrounding

the cultural artifact it defines the limits of national identity. Yet, as a stagnate object cultural artifacts don’t encapsulate the evolving nature of culture and thus of national identity. Thus, in conjunction with habitus it is a better indication not only how nationalism informs cultural practices but how it may evolve and adapt to new regulations and behaviours.

Behaviours in the space inform how the ideology takes hold. So, it is through participating in the cultural system that form a collective identity. Participation from individuals derive from an innate desire to feel important and appreciated.6 As participants become regularly satisfied, the repetition paradoxically starts regulating them. Cultural spaces like coffee shops become a training ground for behaviours that define national identity to be practiced and regulated.7 As the performance is repeated by a mass of individuals, it collectively constructs a congruent experience. This collective experience is what defines a national identity, as it not only groups multiple experiences but it defines the boundary from other identities. National identity is thus not in the cultural commodity but in the behaviour surrounding it, the habitus.

The coffee spaces themselves have been regulated to becoming a common ground for multiple nationalities. These spaces are largely a result from immigration, first the English with their coffee palaces that exert an enclosed and insular coffee space. Then the Americans who had no spatial infrastructure but introduced coffee drinking to Australians homes making it accessible to all individuals. The two extremes were mediated but the southern European immigrants post World War 2. Here the Italians and Greeks opened spaces that mimicked American style dining within luxurious and modern cafes, coffee bars and restaurants.8 This builds civic nationalism providing the means for different nationalities to share similar practices and form community. The flat white was born from one of

Image: Digital Illustration of Swan Latte Art by Carina Van den Berg.

these Italian owned coffee bars.9 As of this year, the flat white has become Australia’s greatest culinary export and maintains recognisable as Australia’s coffee beverage.10 As Australian owned cafes and coffee shops appear world-wide, it supports Benedict Anderson’s observation that national identity’s limit is defined not by boarders of a country nor the cultural commodity. But defined by the behaviour surrounding the commodity.

In the media and newspaper, a prevailing theme attaches coffee spaces with the threat of economic disparities plaguing different socioeconomic groups within Australia.11 Despite rise in cost-of-living in Australia, the coffee space industry’s profits are still rising.12 Indicating that many Australians aren’t willing to sacrifice this daily routine and have fostered symbolic capital on the coffee spaces. Cultural spaces like coffee shops serve as arenas where social conflicts, such as those stemming from the cost-of-living crisis, are navigated through collective identity and nationalism. Bourdieu’s theory suggests that ideology is used to build symbolic capital of a cultural commodity in turn motivating customers to return. Symbolic capital changes the transactions in coffee spaces from being purely transactional over a commodity to being racked with meaning.13 Agents in the field who compete for dominance in the coffee space field, make use of nationalism to draw upon customers’ perceived value for the commodity. Hence coffee spaces do not form national identity but use the ideology to promote their space and attract more customers. Cultural mediators, including media and political figures, further reinforce this identity by promoting the spaces as social, egalitarian hubs. Though this primarily fuels attendance rather than solving socioeconomic divide. Ultimately, while ideology in these spaces can mediate cultural conflict, it doesn’t fully address larger societal conflicts like the cost-of-living crisis.

Despite imagined communities not able to resolve conflicts within social reality, coffee spaces still serve an important role that allows people to gather. As such, coffee spaces house a sense of community to build that informs the basis of social capital. Social capital, according to Robert Putman in Bowling Alone, is used to build general reciprocity which is a key social characteristic of what underpins public trust in a democratic system of government. Public trust is crucial to enable democratic governments make policies that effectively work at closing socioeconomic divides.14 In this way, the theory of Bourdieu, Eagleton and to an extent Anderson, may be extended to include associative democratic ideology. Putman’s research emphasises the importance community clubs at helping to build public trust and an effective democratic government.15 This would also be founded on principles of Associative Democracy outlined by Paul Hirst, as democracy founded on free, communal gatherings.16 Therefore, future research could analyse how coffee spaces could help inform public trust in a democratic system. Coffee spaces, like other spaces, are places to gather and meet people. When individuals have the space to gather, ideologies can be practiced and play out, such as nationalism, democracy, egalitarianism, and so on.

As designers of the built environment, it is our responsible to help facilitate these spaces. People need spaces to gather, spaces to talk and community to build. This dissertation aimed to highlight the connection between spaces and the role it has at building ideologies but also constructing social reality. Although the role of the architect is not actively dictating what ideologies and social structures play out in their spaces, they provide the means and space for them to take hold. Paradoxically architects are as much the designers of these spaces as they are, at times, inhabitants. With their own social, symbolic and cultural capital architects exert their ideologies, at perhaps unknowingly, when designing these spaces.17

The symbolic capital of an architect is reflected in his client and occupants. However, spaces the architect designs when they work on more public commissions should, in theory, be open to a broader social and cultural capital, to allow for more inclusivity. This will in turn allow for larger groups of people to gather and congregate, cultivate new ideologies.

According to Michel Foucault, this is only possible if the architect cultivates and symbolises the needs of the occupants, mediating between the community and the built environment. “I think [architecture] can and does produce positive effects when the liberating intentions of the architect coincide with the real practice of people on the exercise of their freedom.”18 And so, the responsibility for an architect is to work with the client and design good spaces for communities to gather. To liberalise and realise the ideology, architects work with the people that occupy the space. Finding common ground to better design spaces for the community.

14. Join or Die, directed by Pete Davis and Rebecca Davis (March 12 ,2024) Netflix.

15. Join or Die, directed by Pete Davis and Rebecca Davis (March 12 ,2024) Netflix.

16. Paul Hirst, “Associationalist Ethics and the Logics of Collective Action,” in Associative Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994.

17. Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, pg 78.

18. Michel Foucault, “Space, Knowledge, and Power,” interviewed by Paul Rabinow. Skyline, 1982.

Endnotes

1. Pierre Bourdieu, p. 2000 Pascal Meditations, Cambridge, Polity Press, pg 134.

2. Pierre Bourdieu, p. 1977, Outline of a Theory of Practice, London, Cambridge University Press, pg 188.

3. Terry Eagleton, ‘What is Ideology?’, pg 142.

4. Terry Eagleton, ‘What is Ideology?’, pg 14.

5. Benedict Richard O’Gorman Anderson, ‘Introduction’ in Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 2006)， pg 6.

6. Anderson, ‘Introduction’, pg 12.

7. Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, pg 77.

8. Emma Felton, 78.

9. S. J. Wills, “The Sydney History of the Flat White” Origin of the Flat White. 2015. http://www.flatwhitehistory.com.au/.

10. N.a. “Flat white are Australia’s greatest culinary export.” The Economist. April 11th 2024. https://www.economist.com/ culture/2024/04/11/flat-whites-are-australias-greatest-culinaryexport; IBIS World.

11. Gabrielle Chan.

12. IBIS World.

13. Pierre Bourdieu, ‘The Production of Belief’, pg 78.

ARCT5011 Independent Research Part 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Supervisor: Dr Beth George

SASKIA DAALE-SETIADY

‘Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City as a tool for critiquing contemporary planning practises’

This thesis contributes to a critique of contemporary urban planning in Western Australia. It is an account that utilises cartographies over time, historical photographs, various urban study methods and personal encounters within the suburb of Scarborough, Western Australia. Through the guidance of past urban principles drawn from urban theorist Kevin Lynch and his seminal work Image of the City (1960), this is an advocation for a revival of experiential planning approaches as essential tools for understanding the relationship between design and the experience of our contemporary cities. This thesis presents a critical question: How may the application of Kevin Lynch’s theory of Image reveal the anomalies of spatial experience in a contemporary Perth suburb governed by controlled frameworks?

Image: Map showing development of Scarborough districts in 1915 – Good Bathing, Good Surf, Good Beach.

Image: (Left) Paths – Scarborough’s most memorable routes; (Right) The Snake Pit, Spiritland.net, n.d, accessed 12 September 2024, https://www.spiritland.net/snakepit-wa.html

https://www.spiritland.net/snakepit-wa.html

ARCT5101 Architecture Studio

Unit and Studio Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov

‘Popo Islands’

RAMONA ZARE

‘Popo Island – A Populated Paradise’

This imagination of Popo Islands is inspired by the dream of living a long, healthful life in the paradise of an untouched natural landscape while surrounded by thousands of friends and extended family.

The project is an unconventional exploration of the concept of creating a sustainable high-density living that does not cut down trees, push out animals, or disturb current habitats. The buildings will also encourage population longevity despite their high density. Every building or landscape choice will be no more than a light touch to the earth’s surface.

To create a highly populated paradise, existing tactics from previous projects such as Kowloon Walled City, will be used to develop a self-sustaining island that has no major negative impacts on the environment.

Stilted buildings, floating food production pontoons, and vertical farms are among the ideas that hold the foundation of sustainable living on this island. A high-density building will be hidden with the natural caves of the island so individuals have a place to retreat in the evening and can call it their home. All of this will be inspired by blue zone living the islands design will encourage moving naturally, fostering positive outlooks, eating wisely, and creating human connection to foster this high-density ageing population that can live successfully in paradise.

Image: Elevated hiking trail.

Image: (Left) Popo Islands typography model; (Right) Popo Islands hand sketched proposal.

ARCT5101 Architecture Studio

Unit Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov

Studio Coordinator: Peter Tibbitt

‘Place of Origin’

THALE URKEDAL BIERING

‘In Between Dunes’

The aim of the project is to create something timeless and constant in a forever evolving landscape. Set among the red sand dunes of the Simpson Desert in the Pilungah Reserve, the field station provides accommodation for two caretakers, who reside there for six months at a time, and accommodates up to eight visitors for shorter, two-week periods. In addition to living quarters, the field station features a shared common area, and a workshop designed for learning and discussion.

Positioned in between the shifting sand dunes, the field station functions as an observatory. Rather than simply offering a view of the dunes, the architecture itself measures their gradual movements. A long concrete wall, extending far beyond the field station, serves as a record of the sand’s passage. As the dunes move alongside it, the movement will be visible on the wall. But as the landscape moves, so must the field station.

The field station is a timber construction which is designed to be both assembled and disassembled, allowing it to be periodically relocated along the concrete wall as the dunes move closer. Rather than relocating the entire station at once, individual parts are moved in stages, reshaping the relationships within the station’s program and offering an adaptive approach to its layout. The timber structure connects to the concrete wall through beams that fit securely into notches, creating a flexible yet enduring base that allows the station to respond to the landscape’s changes over time.

Image: Elevation and section.

Detailed plan.

ARCT5101 Architecture Studio

Unit Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov

Studio Coordinator: Craig Nener

‘We are Water’

JACK CONNOLLY

‘Sunken Baths’

Sunken Baths explores water’s profound influence on landscapes – both natural and cultural – translating its transformative presence into a sculptural intervention within the hillside. The architecture emerges as a subtle incision carved into the terrain, reflecting how rivers shape valleys over time. Its form is an interplay of fluid topography and spatial design, tracing a gentle, undulating ramp that meanders through the space like a natural watercourse. By rejecting conventional steps or terraces, this continuous gradient fosters a seamless, accessible journey, evoking the quiet persistence of flowing water and inviting visitors into an immersive environment of movement and reflection. Each turn along the path reveals shifting perspectives of earth, sky, and water, reinforcing the dynamic interplay that defines the space.

The project draws inspiration from the Balinese Subak system, a centuries-old tradition of water management that demonstrates a harmonious relationship between people, land, and resources. Within the design, concrete columns evoke the rhythmic, geometric order of terraced fields. Carefully imprinted textures recall the undulating patterns of rice paddies, conveying a sense of cultural continuity. References to agricultural rhythms and communal stewardship reaffirm the intricate relationship between built form and the living environment. This material dialogue grounds the architecture in a narrative of innovation and collaboration, where water’s presence underpins both subsistence and spiritual life.

In combination, these strategies yield a spatial experience that synthesizes geological forces and cultural adaptation. The carved hillside, fluid pathways, and textured surfaces coalesce into a sanctuary where water’s power and meaning are celebrated. Geological and anthropological elements offer visitors a direct encounter with elemental processes. By engaging memory, tradition, and the primal allure of moving water, this architecture transcends mere functionality, offering a narrative that resonates with place. The interplay of water, terrain, and crafted materials transforms these baths into an immersive landscape, encapsulating an essence of place.

Image: Elevation.

Image: Plan, and exterior of tower model and internal spaces.

ARCT5201 Detailed Design Studio

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rosangela Tenorio

Studio Coordinator: Andrea Quagliola

‘Surf Resort on Rote Island, Indonesia’

HARVEY RUPP

‘Surf Resort on Rote Island, Indonesia’

Through analysis of ‘Suti Solo do Bina Bane’, a poem of spiritual significance to the Rotenese – the importance of palm shade and border stone architectural features have been felt for generations and act as the backbone of the public/private material logics driving the design.

Private units take on a monumental and inward facing stance, offering reliable and intimate escape from the outside world during the day.

Public program shifts focus to mimic the palm forest trunks and filtering of light, accentuating the powerful golden hour silhouettes on the ocean side of the site.

By allowing penetration of light and views Eastward, visitors are drawn towards the ocean at a time of gathering, performance and storytelling.

Image: Worms-eye isometric view of family unit, showing earth pillars and courtyard features.

Image: Isometric view of Surf Resort showing public pool area and light timber logic contrasted with comparatively dense, monumental units.

Image: Atmospheric unit plan, key view and timber insert details.

ARCT5202 Detailed Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rosangela Tenorio

Studio Coordinator: Lara Camilla Pinho with Bradley Millis and Jess Gibbs

‘Normalising Unconventional Materials in Local Contexts’

SAVANNAH KELLY

‘Tidal Threads’

What if the tides not only shaped our shores, but reshaped how we live in harmony with nature?

The Tidal Threads project envisions a revitalised Fremantle foreshore, reconnecting the city with its natural waterfront by synthesising multi-species interactions and ecological design.

By reclaiming and extending the harbour, the project establishes a continuous landscape network that seamlessly interconnects social-ecological relationships between terrestrial and marine environments. Preserving the functionality of Fremantle’s working port, the design anticipates the city’s growth as a hub with expanding residential opportunities. To balance this, Tidal Threads introduces protected marine areas and leverages the brackish waters at the confluence of the Indian Ocean and Swan River to restore natural abundance of biodiversity within the heavily industrialised Fremantle Port.

Tidal Threads centres around three key intervention strategies that integrate multi-species habitats to enhance ecological restoration and flood mitigation. The ‘Sea Slabs’, a living seawall, serves as a conduit to the waterfront, supporting marine biodiversity, particularly oyster reefs, whilst promoting human interaction. Tidal marshes are reintroduced to boost productivity and biodiversity, aiding in phytoremediation. Meanwhile, the Intertidal Promenade embraces the dynamic, littoral relationship between land and water, responding to the natural ebb and flow of the tides and transforming the challenges of flooding into opportunities for ecological enhancement and public engagement.

Sustainability is at the heart of this project, with bio-based, waterborne materials – particularly oyster concrete – and the repurposing of existing infrastructure forming the backbone of Tidal Threads, serving to reduce waste whilst preserving Fremantle’s historic essence.

Tidal Threads presents a scalable model for coastal cities, demonstrating how urban development and environmental conservation can coexist to create resilient and regenerative environments.

Image: Tidal Threads, intervention axonometric

Image: (Left) Sea slabs axonometric – nature reclaiming; (Right) Sea slabs oyster shell concrete – lifecycle from food waste diversion to processing and production.

ARCT5202 Detailed Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rosangela Tenorio

Studio Coordinator: Gemma Hohnen

‘(de)construction_2 Architecture and the Sun’

BEN MORESCHI

‘The Aritfex Caesar’

The Artifex Caesar project transforms a 1970s single storey government housing duplex into a three-storey community art gallery/workshop/studio, while saving the existing site from wasteful demolition. The aim to reduce the impact of embodied carbon associated with materials and construction processes over the building’s life cycle, and demonstrate a case for building re-use is achieved through combining new and recycled materials paired together to enhance strengths and optimise on existing built elements.

The building retains a majority of its original double brick core as a foundation that is extended upwards and reinforced with piers along the West and East using recycled bricks. The increased height of the walls enables spacious gallery areas. Piers add stability and support to the first and second storey frame. The design of a level interior adjoining the exterior courtyard extends the gallery area. The natural slope of the site is ideally suited to external landscaped accessibility ramps.

Minimal use of intense carbon materials such as steel, and concrete are used to reinforce and extend the existing footings and create key structural points, enabling large open interior spaces suitable for the new functions and ensures enough foundational support, while using less material overall.

Material for additional floors and extended building elements re-uses bricks, roof tiles, timber, glazing and concrete harvested from surrounding demolished buildings. New exterior cladding, interior wall lining, ceilings, and floor finishes are selected for their lower carbon qualities, while engineered timber is used as a steel alternative to create a robust frame to support it.

The original ground floor footprint is emphasised with extended perforated wall elements on the North and West acting as both anchor to the additional storeys and a screen filtering intense midday and afternoon light. Plant selection and landscaping softens the light as an alternative to a green wall.

Image: Site isometric.

Image: (Left) Exploded isometric section; (Right) Detail of physical model.

ARCT5202 Detailed Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rosangela Tenorio

Studio Coordinator: Christian Wetjen

‘Inner City Student Village’

WILL BIRNEY

‘Kayep Accommodation’

Situated on a prominent corner site, the Kayep Inner-City Student Village is a dynamic mixed-use development addressing Perth’s urgent need for affordable student accommodation. Inspired by the historical lakes that once characterised the area, the design features two high-rise towers symbolising these bodies of water, with layered terraces representing the seasonal changes in lake levels. The material palette transitions from earthy tones at the base to reflective, water-inspired finishes at the top, emphasising the connection to the site’s history.

The development incorporates 18 floors of student housing, distributed between the two towers, all located above flexible office spaces. The ground floor hosts retail and communal areas which assist in stimulating street-level interaction. A new pedestrian link between Beaufort and Aberdeen Streets integrates the site with its urban context, encouraging foot traffic and fostering community connections. The design creates a lively social hub for students, young professionals and the broader community.

Sustainability is at the core of the project, with features like natural ventilation, optimised solar shading and biophilic elements reducing the energy consumption of the building and enhancing user comfort. Green terraces and vertical gardens improve urban biodiversity and offer spaces for relaxation and interaction.

The development prioritises student well-being through private and communal amenities, including lounges, gyms and study areas. Flexible office spaces foster collaboration between students and professionals, creating opportunities for innovation and networking. The ground floor is designed as a vibrant social precinct with cafes and retail spaces, providing essential services and promoting interaction among residents and the public.

Rooted in respect for Aboriginal cultural heritage, the project references the history of the site while integrating contemporary architecture. By blending historical inspiration with sustainability and urban vibrancy, Kayep Accommodation represents a forwardthinking, community-centred approach to city living, setting a new benchmark for student housing in Perth.

Image: North elevation façade detail.

Image: (Left) Student Accommodation plan; (Right) Detailed section.

ARCT5590 Living Architecture – LIVA

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rosangela Tenorio

‘Umbrella Studio Yakanarra’

EDGAR CARPENTER, KATHERINE DOWNIE, DARA MCNALLY & KAI TAN YANG

‘Tjanpi Hub’

The Tjanpi Hub is a creative workshop for Yakanarra students aged 12–18. ‘Tjanpi’, meaning spinifex grass, symbolises weaving, inspiring the Hub’s design concept of uniting two distinct elements into harmony. The structure blends simple, context-sensitive forms with materials like mud bricks and spinifex panels, crafted by the local community. Integrating industrial and natural materials, the Hub reflects unity, fostering collaboration, creativity, and cultural expression while celebrating Yakanarra’s identity and traditions.

CAMERON CROCKER, VINCIANE GAUDISSART, JULIAN MASON & BEZ PEGLAR

‘Kimberley Weave’

This project is a making space for the Yakanarra Community School in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. Inspired by the community’s connection to the land and interest in fishing, the design features an open layout that blurs the boundary between indoors and outdoors. Perforated brick walls allow light, ventilation, and views, connecting the space to its surroundings. The building has active workshop areas for older students alongside passive, playful spaces for younger ones. The design features a modular brick system which can be made by the community with local materials, which provides a flexible, sustainable framework for other remote communities.

HINAL BHESANIA, AVITA NORONHA, AHMAD IRFAN MOHAMAD YUSOF & KALEIVAANI CHUKAPERMAL

‘The Curious Corner’

The Curious Corner is an interactive workshop space for children aged 3-11 from the Yakanarra community which fosters creativity, curiosity and early learning through science. Located at the community school, it features flexible, nature-integrated design with pivoting doors to connect indoor and outdoor spaces. The studio uses locally sourced, sustainable materials like Paperbark timber and Spinifex, ensuring durability and environmental responsibility. It provides a sense of place, promoting both learning and community connection.

Image: The Curious Corner, perspective view.

Image: Kimberley Weave, rendered exterior view.

Image: Tjanpi Hub: A creative sanctuary for Yakanarra students aged 12-18, blending traditional materials like spinifex and mud bricks with contemporary design to celebrate connection, creativity and cultural expression.

ARCT5593 Furniture: From Prototype to Production

Unit Coordinators: Peter Kitely & Guy Eddington

‘Pack, Stack, Fold’

MARNIE ALLAN

‘Monstera Stool ‘

The Monstera Stool is a high-end furniture piece that integrates function with artistry. It combines a high-quality automotive finish with the richness of American black walnut to create an intriguing and grounding visual identity. Its ability to stack satisfies the convenience of transport and transforms it into a sculptural art form for display.

CAMERON CROCKER

‘Red Earth Whiskey Cabinet’

This cabinet uses a unique interlocking construction system which allows it to be flat-packed with minimal hardware. Offcuts of sustainably sourced Australian timbers are used to create patchwork wooden doors, which are inspired by the dramatic rock formations and striking colours of the Pilbara.

EUGENE TIONG

‘X.01 Chair’

Drawing inspiration from Western Australia’s Fitzroy River, the minimalist X.01 Chair features a striking crossingleg design that mirrors the river’s flow. Crafted from Jarrah and Victorian Ash, its rich tones evoke the layered rock formations along the riverbank. Ergonomically designed, flat-pack, and stackable, the X.01 Chair fits seamlessly into any setting with its stylish design.

RAMONA ZARE

‘Nyx Decorative Screen’

Derived from a series of photographs, the Nyx Decorative Screen is a depiction of the midnight sky melded with the earth’s essence. Contrasting a shadowy and mysterious form made from timber with lamp shade fabric, it evokes imagery of a moon reflecting delicately on the ripples of a dark ocean.

Image: Marnie Allan, Monstera Stool. Photography by Daniche Creative.

Image: (Left) Cameron Crocker, Red Earth Whiskey Cabinet; (Centre) Eugene Tiong, X.01 Chair; (Right) Ramona Zar, Nyx Decorative Screen. Photography by Matt

ARCT5536 Photo Real Rendering

Unit Coordinators: Dev Mawjee

Teaching Staff: Dev Mawjee & Chaz Flint

FYNN TURLEY

‘More than a Hut – Less than a House’

The Bibbulmun Track walker’s huts are simple, lightweight, and maintain a strong connection to the surrounding landscape whilst simultaneously providing refuge from it. More than a Hut – Less than a House draws upon this typology and proposes a remote cabin nestled within the Pingerup Plains intended for walkers.

The hut utilises lightweight steel construction to gently float above the existing ground conditions and is clad with polycarbonate sheeting to allow for gentle diffuse lighting. Sliding polycarbonate screens provide inhabitants with the ability to completely open and close the structure when necessary, and domestic objects punctuate the ‘wildness’ of the proposal.

The hut encourages its users to experience all aspects of the landscape – even if at times uncomfortable - and to elevate the ordinary into unexpected luxuries.

Image: More than a Hut – Less than a House, hut approach.

Image: More than a Hut – Less than a House, interior view.

ARCT5513 Near Futures Scenarios

Unit Coordinator: Dr Fernando Jerez

DAVE DEVES, FUAD KAMSIN, NEFLA KANHIRALA &

CONGJUN ZHONG

‘968 Days’

Explores a speculative near-future scenario in which the accelerating intersection of urbanisation and environmental degradation triggers a large-scale, global pandemic. Set in 2050, where the world’s cities have rapidly expanded, the film examines the aftermath of a viral Zoonotic Spillover, forcing the world’s population into a prolonged lockdown.

Through isolated, minimalistic representation, the film’s imagery presents a meditative study of Australian urban spaces rendered unfamiliar by absence. The visual narrative unfolds as an eery, dreamlike sequence, where familiar architectural landmarks emerge through fog and silence, suggesting a world where human activity has been abruptly suspended. This speculative scenario considers how our continued encroachment into natural habitats, may ultimately restrict our access to the spaces we’ve built.

The film’s title, revealed only in its closing moments, serves as an indicator of the scenario’s scale - with the weight of time in isolation. By engaging with both architectural space and environmental consequences, the work contributes to a broader discourse about humanity’s relationship with the natural world, and our vulnerability to the systems we continue to disrupt.

Image: 968 Days.

ARCT4440 Project Implementation and Documentation

Unit Coordinator: Simon Bodycoat

‘Documentation Package’

CHRISTINE STINNETTE

‘VMZINC Sine Wave Profile’

VMZINC Sine Wave Profile presents a thoughtfully curated selection of external materials and finishes for the proposed mixed-use commercial building at No. 1 Station Street, Cottesloe, Perth. Documented in a comprehensive Project Book, the design process involved extensive research into the surrounding context, coupled with a thorough evaluation of material compatibility. The cladding material selected was VMZINC (natural mill finish) which was utilised to form a vertical rainscreen façade system. The design features Sine Wave (corrugated) Profile panels, which are attached using rivets to a secondary stainless-steel batten support system, anchored to a primary galvanized steel frame.

The project provided an opportunity for detailed exploration of design elements, as captured through a 1:20 and 1:5 scale drawings with an accompanying materials schedule. The colour palette was meticulously chosen in accordance with industry standards, referencing ‘Australian Standard 1100.301-2008 Technical Drawing Part 301: Architectural Drawing’. A significant aspect of the design process was the intentional decision to handdraw the technical documentation, rather than relying on digital tools. Although this method was time-intensive, it provided a deeper understanding of the integration of elements, ultimately enhancing the precision and quality of the outcome.

Image: Section and elevation.

Image: (Left) Detailed section; (Right) Cantilevered canopy render and exploded axonometric.

ARCT3001 Architecture Studio 4

Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Beth George ‘PICA and the Perth Cultural Centre’

JOHN NOTELY

‘Dancing Shade’

Embedded between PICA and Perth’s Urban Orchard, Dancing Shade engages with the immediate site conditions through serving as a bridge between Pica and the Orchard. It also engages with the broader urban conditions, pushing to minimise visual obstruction between the cultural centre and Perth’s CBD whilst also exploring shadow, and how its imprint on the orchard below changes throughout the year affecting its use. The thin footprint and large voids work to achieve both, providing opportunities to frame views of the CBD, which in many ways serves as a continuous monument. Beyond this, the thin footprint and curated voids in the envelope permit sunlight during winter, and shade specific areas during summer. The shade and sun patterns then informed the design of the orchard, the shadow cast by the rooftop amphitheatre during the summer solstice for instance, is reflected by the amphitheatre below. A suspension rig fitted to the largest void also allows the building to serve as an urban scale puppet stage.

Image: Plan oblique, winter solstice.

Image: (Left) Plan oblique summer solstice, perspective view from Cultural Centre; (Right) Perspective view from Cultural Centre.

ARCT3001 Architecture Studio 4

Unit Coordinator: Dr Beth George

Studio Coordinator: Joel Benichou

‘PICA and the Perth Cultural Centre’

HONGYI WANG

‘Perth Cultural Complex’

This project stems from an exploration of spatial connections within Perth. The design focuses on expressing the relationship between the building and the city, drawing inspiration from the continuous flow between the CBD and Northbridge. The concept emphasises spatial continuity through bridges, streets, and corridors, leading to a cultural centre. Ramps and stairs seamlessly integrate the building’s complex functions, ensuring fluidity, connectivity, and accessibility while responding to the city’s unique characteristics.

Image: Entrance and Studio renderings.

Image: (Left) Top floor plan; (Right) Section.

ARCT3040 Advanced Design Thinking

Unit Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov

Teaching Staff: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov, Marcus Brett & Kathy Chapman

JACQUES PIENAAR

‘Flowers’

Flowers envisions a world governed by the intoxicating allure of ‘bloom’, a flower revered for its ability to provide pleasure and sustenance for those that live here. Existence is defined by a cycle of dependency and devotion to ‘bloom’ and the lethargic bliss it provides. There’s no escaping intoxication here.

JOHN NOTLEY

‘Tower In Between’

Serving as a sanctuary for both humans and animals, The Tower In Between is the gaps found amongst informal settlements established by those seeking an alternative lifestyle, harmonious with nature and unbridled by the tyranny of medical professionals. The human residents tend to the chameleons, pythons and sloths who reside within the dense foliage of the tower, utilising these animals’ byproducts to sustain the community and produce naturopathic medicines.

TAMARA LE GRANGE

‘The Glitch: Modern Monstro-cites’

The Glitch is a model inspired by the Modern Monstro-cites catalogue, featuring Australia’s most criticised architectural designs. These buildings are categorised as: Abstract Arrogance, Beastly Buildings, Classical Catastrophe, Failed Futurism, Garish Grids, Grasshopper Gimmicks, Lazer Cut Let Downs, Mundane Monday, Pointless Patterns, and Trypophobia. The model imagines a malfunction in an AI system, used for designing future Popo Island buildings, corrupted by data from the catalogue. Glitchy projections of self-collaged and AIgenerated artwork overlay the model, which itself features facades of well-known ‘ugly’ Australian buildings.

Image: Jacques Pienaar, Flowers.

Image: John Notley, Tower In Between, perspective section.

Image: Tamara Le Grange, The Glitch, 2023, laser cut acrylic sheets, digital projections.

ARCT2001 Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Gemma Hohnen

Studio Coordinators: Gemma Hohnen & JD Otto

‘Adapt Me – Future Climate Future Home Design Competition’

TRENT HUPPATZ

‘Adapting Future’

It’s 2099. North Coogee, Perth, has adapted to a world +4°C warming scenario, with daily life revolving around the need to manage extreme temperatures and unpredictable weather. The once tranquil beachside neighbourhood now thrives with a community deeply integrated into a landscape shaped by climate change. To help stabilize indoor temperatures homes are built with thick, insulated walls of locally sources materials, foregoing the need to rely on energy-intensive cooling systems. Cool shaded spaces blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor living. Deep overhangs shade the windows, and the pergolas are covered in drought resistant cooling plants. Streets are lined with bioswales and permeable pavements to manage stormwater runoff, a frequent challenge in this altered climate. These green infrastructure elements double as lush, linear parks, providing pockets of cool air for residents to gather in during the early mornings and late evenings when the sun is less intense.

To accommodate the climate, people rise early and engage in outdoor tasks before the day’s peak heat. Neighbourhood markets buzz with activity at dawn, filled with the vibrant colours of locally grown, climate resilient crops. Schools and workplaces have adjusted their hours, with many adopting siestas to avoid the midday heat. The beach, once a hub of daytime recreation, now sees its most active periods at sunrise and sunset. Despite the transformation of the ocean itself, with higher sea levels and warmer waters, the community remains connected to it. Passive cooling strategies are at the forefront of North Coogee, from trellised walkways covered in greenery to wind towards channelling sea breezes into communal areas. North Coogee is a model of resilience and adaptive living in a challenging new world.

Image: Site axonometric.

Typical apartment plan.

Image:

ARCT2001 Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Gemma Hohnen

Studio Coordinator: Dr Tatjana Todorovic

‘Adapt Me’

ANGELENA THAI-LE TRAN

‘Vertical Gardens’

In 2099, daily life in West Leederville, Perth, revolves around adapting to the extreme heat and urban challenges. Residents live in apartments specifically designed for passive cooling to counteract the relentless Summer temperatures that regularly exceed 35°C. The apartments employ open ventilation systems, natural airflow channels, and shaded facades to minimize heat build-up indoors. Each building is linked to an adjacent ‘garden tower’, packed with lush, aeroponic greenery, reducing indoor temperatures by shielding the buildings from direct sunlight and cooling the air through evapotranspiration.

Aeroponic vertical gardens are woven into apartment designs, allowing residents to grow fresh vegetables and greenery within arm’s reach. These gardens play a crucial role in ensuring a sustainable food supply for the city that is increasingly affected by the urban heat island effect. Thus, because traditional outdoor agriculture struggles with both heat stress and water scarcity, residents benefit from locally sourced, nutrient-rich produce, grown without soil, making the city more self-sufficient and reducing the need for food transport.

Garden towers are designed to act as acoustic barriers to city noise. The plants absorb sound while contributing to cleaner air, thus providing a relaxing, nature-inspired refuge from urban commotion. These garden towers not only serve as buffers but also create a tranquil oasis where residents can unwind from the heat and connect with the green space. Daily routines often revolve around these adaptive spaces, and the Garden towers become essential for physical and mental well-being, offering a green respite and a sustainable source of fresh food amid a hotter, drier future. Such adaptations highlight how Perth’s residents in 2099 live in close harmony with engineered nature to overcome climate challenges.

Image: Explored axonometric.

Image: (Left) Floor plan; (Right) Section.

ARCT2001 Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Gemma Hohnen

Studio Coordinator: Alex Stevens

‘Adapt Me’

NG ADRIAN

‘Breath BLOC’

In 2099, Breathe Bloc thrives as a climate-adaptive, communal space designed for a dynamic population. Modular housing forms the backbone of this neighbourhood, built to accommodate fluctuating family sizes. Families easily expand their homes by adding modular cubes, adapting the building structure to evolving needs. Essential communal spaces further encourage interaction in an era where socialisation has shifted online. Crafted for connection, these offer shaded outdoor seating, collaborative work areas and shared gardens where residents gather, fostering connection. Environmental integration is prioritised, with modularity supporting green terraces on exposed roofs. Native vegetation, inspired by neighbouring Kings Park, has been carefully selected for adaption to the warming climate. Woolly Bush, Kangaroo Paw, and Coastal Cushion Bush thrive on the rooftop terraces and surroundings, enhancing biodiversity. Integrated swales also bring vegetation closer to the built environment and serve as natural cooling zones, using evaporation to reduce local temperatures and contributing to a cool, pleasant microclimate. Elevated pathways with metal grating promote growth and breezes beneath, allowing sunlight and water to reach plants, creating a lush, verdant landscape within this urban setting. Buildings are stacked to allow ventilation gaps that channel the southwestern breeze through the spaces. Operable ventilation louvers angled toward the breeze catch and channel air effectively, cooling interiors passively. Protective sun-shade facade treatments vary based on orientation: operable louvers on the east and west sides block direct sunlight while preserving views, while horizontal wooden louvers shield the north walls from harsh midday sun. The use of CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) in walls reduces embodied carbon and provides insulation, further mitigating urban heat effects. This approach creates a neighbourhood that not only withstands the anticipated heat extremes of 2099 but embraces them, adapting nature and design for a sustainable future.

Image: Axonometric site diagram.

Image: (Left) Third level floor plan; (Right) Elevations.

ARCT1001 Architecture Studio 1

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Studio Coordinator: Dr Katia Defendi

‘A space with PRINCIPLES for design students’

INGO WURM

‘A Conversation of Gesture – Honourable Mention’

The PRINCIPLES Collection become points of focus within spaces whose boundaries dissolve into uneven forms of limestone and curtains. The project deeply considers nuances of subtle spatial relationships and uses these to cultivate a rich collection of quiet spatial experiences; a kind of atmosphere that we as designers attempt to linger in when designing. In the end it’s not the thing itself, but the gesture towards the thing, that cultivates a richness in the spaces.

PHOEBE TURNBULL

‘Designing Spaces to Facilitate the Architectural Design Process – First Place’

Through the strategic arrangement of OMA + UniFor furniture, two spaces were redefined to support the architectural design process. The second-floor utilises the fluidity of OMA’s Donut furniture to guide circulation into a permanent display room that inspires creativity, then extends onto the balcony as an art installation. In the Design Hub, spatial ambiguity is addressed through levels and furniture placement, creating intimate zones within communal areas while maintaining circulation and fostering engagement.

LARA TURKINGTON

‘Principles of FLOW’

Principles of FLOW reinterprets Perth’s essence within the UWA Nedlands Arts and Architecture buildings. Inspired by the modularity of OMAxUnifor, the redesign integrates lighting, colour, and furniture into a cohesive vision. Distinct colour schemes and PRINCIPLES pieces form zones with varying levels of focus, conversation, and collaboration. Furniture as architecture enables dynamic, adaptable spaces for private study, social interaction, and collaborative learning.

Image: Ingo Wurm, A Conversation of Gesture, proposal presentation.

Image: Phoebe Turnbull, perspectives and sections of the redesigned Second Floor and Design Hub.

Image: Lara Turkington, Principles of FLOW, plans, sections, and perspectives of the Design Hub and Second Floor.

ARCT1001 Architecture Studio 1

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Studio Coordinator: Alex Stevens

‘Principles of Place’

CLAIRE GOODALL

‘Portraits of Place’

Portraits of Place explored an abstract two dimensional artwork by Howard Taylor, reinterpreting it into a three dimensional proposal in architectural drawings and physical model.

JOURDEE HALL

‘Drift From Reality’

Drift From Reality takes an architectural approach to Kazimir Malevich’s abstract painting, Suprematism. Aligning with his views on separating art and reality, the concept constructs a building where each level provides a gradual separation from the natural world through texture, colour, and light. Additionally, the phased use of OMA Principles furniture, causes participants to become more isolated and forcefully more uncomfortable with each grade, impelling an introspection, an idea held particularly by Malevich.

ANNABELLE SILVA

‘Re-interpret Abstract Art’

Re-interpret Abstract Art involved analysing two dimensional abstract artwork by Barbara Hepworth and transforming it into a three dimensional concept. The first step was to decide whether the artwork was viewed as a section, plan or inspiration for an architectural design. The plan view was selected and from there objects were given varying depths and heights until a concept was formed. Following this, multiple architectural drawings were sketched.

Image: Claire Goodall, Portraits of Place.

Image: Jourdee Hall, Drift From Reality full floor plan all levels.

Abstract Art

Image: Annabelle Silva, Re-interpret

ARCT1001 Architecture Studio 1

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Studio Coordinators: Nic Thuys & Alec James

‘Principles of Place & A space with PRINCIPLES for design students’

GUIMIN HE

‘OMA + UniFor – 2nd Place’

This project demonstrates flexible spatial use with adaptable furniture. By removing traditional doors and windows, it creates continuity and addresses needs with new furniture pieces and materials. The design prioritizes a student-centric vision, incorporating natural elements like lighting, plants, and ventilation. Two interconnected spaces were formed, becoming an essential hub for the student community.

MATILDA MITCHELL

‘Occupation of Space’

Occupation of Space imagines beyond Robert Adams’ photograph The New West, this source which captures the lifelessness of an abandoned suburban landscape was key in affirming the importance of which people can breathe life into a space. Drawing inspiration from SANAA as an architectural precedent, the following graphical representations pertain a playful quality using figures to emphasise the occupation of space and its creation of an atmosphere.

SINDRE T. HEIEN

‘Uoversettelig’

In an attempt to portray and explore the unseen, a speculated environment is cast unto the selected photograph of a phone booth. That which is beneath the earth in an otherwise barren image is exposed to become an expansive installation of militaristic origins. Exploring the hidden elements of modern societies through extrapolation of a secret rocket laboratory hidden beneath the innocuous phone booth in the desert.

Image: Guimin He, OMA + UniFor - 2nd Place, plan.

Image: Matilda Mitchell, Occupation of Space, plans.

Sindre T Heien, Uoversettelig, section.

Image:

ARCT1001 Architecture Studio 1

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Studio Coordinator: Charlotte Martin

‘Principles of Place’

ROBERT ROBINSON

‘Tides of Perth – Natures Flow’

The intention was to connect these spaces to Perth, using the water that connects us. The reimagining of the student lounge area in the Design HUB was inspired by the flow of the Swan River into the Indian Ocean and Rottnest Island. The reimagining of the Design HUB was inspired by Perth’s many wetland and lake areas. The vegetation chosen for both spaces is endemic to Perth, including kangaroo paws, balga grass trees, and zamia palms.

ISABELLA KESZI

‘The Other Side of the Garden Wall’

Inspired by the prompt ‘Rapunzel Growing in the Garden’ (1969) by David Hockney, the design imagines a long castle wall extending to form a crevasse-like shape, accessible via a single opening. From this opening a small glimpse is allowed through to the other end, where the Tower is visible. To reach it, one has to forge an organic path through grass mounds, where finally the Tower is entered, and the walled garden can be viewed from above.

Image: Robert Robinson, Tides of Perth – Natures Flow, plan of the Design HUB.

Image: Isabella Keszi, The Other Side of the Garden Wall, (Left) plan and section; (Right) Detail.

ARCT1001 Architecture Studio 1

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop

Studio Coordinator: Megha Patel

‘Principles of Place’

MEERA SHREEDHAR

‘Navigating Grief’

An interpretation of a scene still from the game Gris, this design takes the form of a labyrinth leading to a central space. Deteriorating roofs manipulate light to reflect the passage of time and emotional decay. Dark, disorienting spaces transition into brighter ones, symbolising the process of navigating grief. The Donut Furniture Piece from the Principles collection is used in unconventional ways, enhancing the sense of confusion and disorientation.

LILLIAN WALKER

‘Dk’

This design is an interpretation of a scene from the game Gris, reflecting the isolating nature of grief. Along the path, individuals sit on furniture within pavilions that grow larger, gradually separating the group. A mesh roof creates a deceptive illusion, symbolising the denial stage of grief. The journey ends in a large, nearly empty pavilion where a single person confronts the vast emptiness of loss.

Image: Meera Shreedhar, Navigating Grief, plan oblique.

Image: Lillian Walker, Dk, plan and section.

ARCT1010 Drawing History

Unit Coordinator: Dr Beth George

Teaching Staff: Dr Beth George, Aaron Cunningham, Marcus Brett & Samantha Dye

INGO WURM

‘Typological Analysis Drawings’

Diagrams of specific projects were produced as part of an ongoing and expanding typological analysis. Parallel to this was a practice in the different ways in which we can produce such architectural drawings.

The diagram of Bernard Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette uses stitching to communicate the grid typology within the axonometric drawing, and its capacity to tie elements of the proposal together. Instead of denoting a linear spatial arrangement, the grid serves as a point of reference for elements to weave in and out of, creating a sense of wandering through the public space. Moments of intersection within the grid mark the location of ‘follies’ on the site. Threads have been unpicked where there are exceptions to this rule, expressing the intention of their absence. Stitching continues beyond the composition, articulating the continuousness of the grid typology and how it might interact beyond the immediate site; a rigid structure that can become delicate and tangled.

First conceptualised as a collage, the plan of Louis Khan’s Scheme for the Dominican Motherhouse emerged from a series of considered forms that have evolved through a process of experimentation. This flexible process allows for unconventional arrangements, such as the angular placements, that might not have emerged otherwise. Using charcoal on medium-grain cartridge paper, the drawings illustrate Khan’s iterative approach through the movement from the initial to the final arrangement.

Image: Diagramming Bernard Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette (Grid).

Image: Diagramming Louis Khan’s Scheme for the Dominican Motherhouse (Temenos).

ARLA1030 Structures and Systems

Unit Coordinator: Lara Camilla Pinho

Teaching Staff: Lara Camilla Pinho, Sion Bourne, Basim Boulos, Kathy Chapman & Stuart Confait

‘Assignment 3 – Occupation’

MEERA SHREEDHAR

‘Occupation – Placement of Go Hasegawa Architect’s Pilotis in a Forest on Site’

The assignment began with conducting a site analysis and constructing drawings of the empty plot on 90 Beaufort St in Perth. Consequently, ‘Pilotis in a Forest’ by Go Hasegawa Architects, an existing structure in Japan was studied. Assignment three, ‘Occupation’ involved placing this existing structure onto the chosen site, making necessary alterations to suit its new environment. Site traffic, wind, solar exposure and noise were carefully considered to ensure a suitable occupation of the space.

INGO WURM

‘Occupation – Placement of Glenn Murcutt’s Marika Alderton House on Site’

A considered reading of 16 Aberdeen Street and study of Glenn Murcutt’s Marika-Alderton House come together in the final assignment ‘Occupation’. The structure is carefully introduced to the site and adapted to fit its new context, communicated through a series of manually produced final technical drawings, diagrams and a model. A practice in learning by walking a path well-trodden; engaging with qualities unique to this site and project, but also shared by projects to come.

LILLIAN WALKER

‘Occupation – Placement of Studio MK27’s Micasa Vol C on Site’

This drawing works to provide detailed information about site and possible interaction between place and building, leading to deeper understandings of practicality.

Image: Meera Shreedhar, Occupation Site Plan – Placement of Go Hasegawa Architect’s Pilotis in a Forest on Site.

Image: Ingo Wurm, Occupation Plan – Placement of Glenn Murcutt’s Marika Alderton House on Site

Image: Lillian Walker, Occupation Elevation – Placement of Studio MK27’s Micasa Vol C on Site

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

UWA School of Design, Design HUB, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

Image:

LACH5511 Independent Dissertation by Design

Unit Coordinator: Professor Maria Ignatieva

Supervisors: Professor Maria Ignatieva & Dr Simon Kilbane

BIANCA SORENSEN

‘Preserving Heritage and Urban Canopy: Addressing Climate Change, Pest Resilience and Biodiversity in Post-Colonial Cities’

Urban forest canopies, particularly those with established heritage plantings, face significant challenges in today’s changing climate, as well as specific pests such as the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB). Research comparing heritage and urban tree/ forest canopy contexts in Christchurch, NZ, and South Africa identified key factors that undermine canopy resilience including post-colonial settlement impacts, climate change, tree species selection, and pest invasion. This study extends those findings to Perth, focusing on Hyde Park, an important historical, cultural, and ecological site now under threat from the PSHB.

Hyde Park, dating from 1897 with a Gardenesque designed aesthetic is a notable resource for both Perth’s urban biodiversity and residents for recreation and serves as a node within local and regional green corridors. However, exotic tree species introduced for aesthetics and nostalgic reasons during colonisation, has now resulted in a fragile, ageing canopy, that is vulnerable to climate stress and susceptible to pest infestation.

To create viable design outcomes, more species diverse plantings are required, to maintain ecological stability and resilience. Additionally, research from South Africa underscores the importance of public education, the sharing of information, and the value and application of indigenous species as a nature-based solution. This further ensures community support and stewardship, for landscape design that is holistic and sustainable.

This project proposes a hybrid approach to urban canopy management and design that combines heritage and ecological priorities, as well as community concerns into the short and long term. This involves augmenting species diversity, acknowledgement of useful life expectancy of trees, an emphasis on climate-resilient species that encourage native pests and improving habitat connectivity within and beyond urban green spaces. A series of illustrated adaptive strategies also consider and connect with hydrological patterns and cycles and the long-term maintenance of the ecosystem services so essential to counter fragmentation and biodiversity loss in urban areas.

Image: ULE (Useful Life Expectancy) of existing canopy of Hyde Park, Perth.

Image: (Left) Hyde Park hybrid canopy and biodiverse understory 2075 (50 year projection); (Right) Hyde Park perspective 2075 (50 years).

LACH5422 Landscape Design Studio – Making

Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Simon Kilbane

‘Rockingham Regional Memorial Park (RRMP)’

KATE DRIVER

‘Liminal Grounds’

The Rockingham Regional Memorial Park sits at the boundaries: The boundaries of cultural and governance territories, of soil systems and vegetation complexes, of lands that flood and those that don’t. This proposed memorial park – Liminal Grounds – is dedicated to mutually defining opposite forces, which is one definition of dyadic that is explored in this design.

Life and death is the most significant dyadic expressed at the site. Within this are the secular and sacred, a connection to something more, something unknowable. This is a place of communion.

Deathscape is “the term used to describe the transitory nexus and cultural practice between the survivors, the deceased, and other inhabitants of a space.”1 Liminal Grounds is a Deathscape for communion between the living and dead. It is a place people come to remember loved ones and to continue their relationship.

With a skywalk and catacombs connected by built elements that celebrate the rising sun, Liminal Grounds is also a place that draws visitors, inviting us to experience the landscape, to imagine, contemplate and stroll.

The design for Liminal Grounds emphasises the interconnection of dyadic typologies, becoming a place for the phenomenological exploration of the liminal, the undefined transition spaces, both physical and abstract.

The design process involved a technique that used collage to generate multiple ideas and possibilities. The elements which emerged were then refined with consideration as to how they worked with the contours, sensorial elements and existing site features. The strongest ideas in each collage, circular burial sites, sunrise positions, and flower farms, were combined and further refined with sketch models to develop the final master plan.

Endnotes

1. Jonescu, Emil, Jonathon Peake, and Khoa Do. “Feasibility Analysis into Deathscape Infrastructure: A Case Study Supporting Bereavement Spaces for Perth.” International Journal of Design in Society 14, no. 3 (2020): 4. https://doi.org/10.18848/2325-1328/CGP/V14I03/1-17

Image: One of the collages used to generate ideas and features for the master plan.

Image: (Left) The sensorial elements at the site were considered in the design development phase; (Right) The circular burial sites and movement through Liminal

Liminal Grounds follow the path of the sun and align with sunrise at the solstices.

LACH5422 Landscape Design Studio – Making Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Simon Kilbane

‘Rockingham Regional Memorial Park (RRMP)’

PRISCILLA HUBBARD

‘RRMP: A place to create and preserve memories’

I started this studio in a place of deep sadness and grief as my mum, Alison, had recently passed away. This studio provided a unique opportunity for me to sit longer in the moment and think deeply about death. While this was challenging at times, I believe this has ultimately helped my healing and I am grateful for the studio experience.

Mum definitely influenced my design. Until now, I have had very little exposure to death. I therefore wanted to create a space that families engage with over the course of their lives, so they are re-sensitised to death. Importantly, when they eventually pass, they will have built an authentic connection fostered over time to their final resting place. I also took comfort from a memorial tree we planted to honour Mum. This prompted the idea to plant commemorative trees now and not at life’s end, which could be decades away given the younger population of the south-metropolitan area. Trees are desperately needed for habitat, including the threatened cockatoos that frequent this site and for critical ecosystem services. I want users of the RRMP to create their own unique stories at the site by planting and forming a relationship with their specific trees whilst they are alive. Eventually, their ashes or compost would be placed under their mature tree.

My design on the 60Ha site includes features such as the arboretum (both native and exotics); a space for natural burials; a 3km walk trail / Bidi to encourage use of the site as Public Open Space; multi-functional low brick, memorialisation walls that fringe sections of the walk trail; and a series of multi-purpose chapels and pavilions that showcase contemplative gardens on the edges of a series of architecturally designed buildings. I envisage these spaces being used for both joyous activities such as weddings on weekends, birthday celebrations, art exhibitions and picnics; as well as for death rituals such as funerals, wakes and even a safe/ supportive space for voluntary assisted dying.

Image: Storyboard perspectives of the native garden welcome roundabout; the ‘Jarrah Chapel’ contemplative garden; the arboretum and the Banksia Pavilion enclosed banksia garden.

Image: Physical model of the ‘Banksia Pavilion’, existing site trees, sit walls that also assist with retaining and a natural burial.

LACH4421 Australian Landscapes

Unit Coordinator: Rosie Halsmith

Teaching Staff: Rosie Halsmith & Holly Farley

PATRICK ONG

‘Country at Heart: A Framework for Designing With Country Through Landscape Architecture’

Purpose and Context of Report:

Country at Heart, is a report intended to advise non-Indigenous identifying Landscape Architects on current best practice guidelines for designing with Country. It includes a framework informed by academic research and case study analysis to guide through the cultural complexities of practicing in Landscape Architecture within the context of Indigenous Australia.

The report is produced in response to a growing appreciation of pre-colonial history of Indigenous Australia, and where ideas of ‘terra nullius’, Australian wilderness, and ‘tabula rasa’ used in describing pre-European Australian landscapes is increasingly questioned.1 It is an understanding that this land has had human influence on the landscape - culturally physically and spiritually2 prior to colonisation. The ‘Terra Nullius’ doctrine was nullified in the 1992 Mabo Decision by the High Court of Australia, 3,4 and in 2017 the Uluru Statement from the Heart was proclaimed, reflecting a growing movement for Indigenous self-determination and reconciliation.

Current ideas of a ‘blank slate’ when designing landscapes in Australia should be challenged in practice5 and as the current ‘business-as-usual’ practice of Landscape Architecture may clash with Indigenous perspectives6, Country at Heart offers steps towards bridging world views with First Nations Communities towards meaningful collaboration.

What is Designing with Country?

This report proposes that when design decisions integrate Indigenous cultural narratives, practices and knowledge systems, and are led by First Nations Elders and Communities (who are the custodians of Country) in the process, then this can be thought of as designing with Country.7 The term “with” in this context is a preposition of accompaniment for collaboration.

Country is identified in research articles as the common ground between world views, as any decisions made by designers have an impact to, or on Country.8 Country is an Indigenous cultural term that (when translated to English) is described as a living, spiritual entity9,10 holistically encompassing interrelated systems between sea, rivers, sky and spiritual realms. Country is the source of Indigenous identity, sustenance, knowledge11,12 and Law13 through narratives, song lines and memories,14 distinct to each nation, community and individual.15

Country at Heart Framework (Summary):

This report is informed by research of articles and reports written by Indigenous identifying academic and professionals engaged with the built environment16. From consolidating the research together, recurrent themes have been identified and applied in a proposed framework, which is represented diagrammatically in Figure 01. At the centre of the framework is the principle of “Country at Heart”17 which refers to Country and Community as the custodians of Country being the foundation of collaboration.

Country at Heart is a principle that denotes both the central focus of the framework to serve the shared interests of Country (through Community) and as an emotional driver for practitioners to appreciate Indigenous world views of Country.18 The intent of

Figure 01: A diagram by author representing key themes from research of Indigenous led articles. At the centre of the framework is the central principle of “Country at Heart” and refers to Country (and the Community as the custodians) being the foundation of collaboration, led and facilitated by Elders and Communities. Best practice is achieved when the project holistically engages with all of the supporting principles.

Figure 02: Flow Chart diagram drawn by author outlining how the framework can be applied over the project phase and after. This diagram is based on Figure 06 in “Possible alternative planning process” by Daniele Hromek in Aboriginal Cultural Values: An Approach for Engaging with Country, Djinjama Cultural Design and Research, October 2021, Accessed August 2024, https://djinjama.com/publication/aboriginal-culturalvalues-an-approach-for-engaging-with-country/, p.48.

this foundation is to build an appreciation of Country and build meaningful interactions by showing interest, sincerity and respect towards Communities.

As custodians of Country, designing with Country should be led by Indigenous Elders and Communities who have right of protecting their knowledge systems and cultural property, and the ways in which it is respectfully represented. Collaboration should not seek to impose outcomes onto the Community but instead empower Indigenous agency on Country to deliver outcomes that are a positive impact to Communities.

In addition, four supporting principles were identified and proposed in this framework as “Reveal Country”, “Holistic Thinking”, “Continuity and “Reciprocation”. A brief explanation and intent for each supporting principle can be referred to in consolidated framework diagram represented in Figure 01. Guidelines and thinking points based on each of the supporting principles were provided in the full report to assist practitioners to engage with each principle when designing with Country.

Application of the Framework:

The framework is intended to be applied as a holistic philosophy and best practice is achieved when the project engages with all of the supporting principles, grounded by Country and Communities as the centre of the project. Best practice also determines that projects should be led by Elder and Community guidance to facilitate the design and delivery process, conducted through various workshop formats over multiple sessions to ensure voices are heard and embedded into the design and delivery process. After project completion, the collaboration process should continue to assess if the project has benefited the Communities as intended. A flow chart of the collaboration process can be referred to Figure 02.

Case Studies:

Liyan-ngan Nyirrwa on Yawuru Country by MudMap Studios in collaboration with Nyamba Buru Yawuru Aboriginal Corporation and Budj-Bim Cultural Landscape on Gunditjmara Country led by Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation in collaboration with Cooper Scaife Architects were selected as case studies for best practice examples of designing with Country, with the focus on process of collaboration instead of design outcomes. In each of the case studies, examples of how each of the framework principles were applied was referenced as an example of how best practice can be achieved.

Conclusion:

Country at Heart is informed by research from Indigenous authors and tested in case studies which share a common idea of collaborating for Country, whilst being led by Indigenous Elders and Communities, who are the custodians of Country. Best practice is achieved through a holistic appreciation of Indigenous cultural protocols and philosophical world views. Further reading is highly recommended, as well as attending opportunities to engage with Indigenous Elders and Communities on Country, to help practitioners find their relationship with Country. The Country at Heart framework presents pathways for enriching landscapes with many thousands of years of knowledge and narratives; and by collaborating together to create a healthier Country through Community led custodianship, there are opportunities to connect world views together towards a more positive future.

Endnotes

1. Janet McGaw, and Anoma Pieris. “(Im)Materialities: Clearing, Erasure, Disguise.” In Assembling the Centre: Architecture for Indigenous Cultures, 1st ed., 121–51. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2015. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315746647-6, p.122-126

2. Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, New Edition. (Broome: Magabala Books, 2018)

3. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, ‘Overturning the Doctrine of Terra Nullius: The Mabo Case’ in Case Summary: Mabo v Queensland, 27 Sept 2008, accessed August 2024, https://aiatsis.gov.au/ publication/35464

4. Jill Millroy, Grant Revell, ‘Aboriginal Story Systems: Remapping the West, Knowing Country, Sharing Space’, Occasion: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, vol. 5, (March 1, 2013), accessed September 2024, pp. 1-6 https://shc. stanford.edu/sites/default/files/2013-2/OCCASION_v05i01_ MilroyRevell_032213_0.pdf

5. Richard Tucker, Darryl Low Choy, Scott Heyes, Grant Revell, and David Jones. “Re-Casting Terra Nullius Design-Blindness: Better Teaching of Indigenous Knowledge and Protocols in Australian Architecture Education”, International Journal of Technology and Design Education 28, no. 1 (2018): 303–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-0169389-5, p.316.

6. Shannon Foster and Joanne Paterson Kinniburgh, “There’s No Place Like (Without) Country)” in Placemaking Fundamentals for the Built Environment, ed. Dominique Hes and Cristina Hernandez-Santin, (Singapore: Springer, 2019), pp.65-70.

7. Alison Page and Paul Memmott, “Placemaking in Country” Chapter in Design: Building on Country, edited by Margo Neale, (Port Melbourne: Thames & Hudson Australia, 2021) p.91.

8. Danièle Hromek, “Start with Country” in “What Can Non-Indigenous Designers Do?”, vol. 112, Architecture Media (2023), no. 43, accessed August 2024, https://onesearch.library.uwa.edu.au/ permalink/61UWA_INST/c6psno/cdi_rmit_apaft_search_ informit_org_doi_10_3316_informit_119929082235217

9. Shannon Foster, Jo Kinniburgh, Roger Miranda Navarro, Galumban Gabani: Connecting with Country Framework for Tjerruing Blackwattle Bay, Bangawarra Cultural Consultants, Attachment 28 of Blackwattle Bay Precinct Planning by the State Government of New South Wales, June 2021, accessed August 2024, https://blackwattlebay.insw. com/insw/blackwattle-bay/blackwattle-bay-history, p.5.

10. Deborah Bird Rose, Nourishing Terrains, Canberra: Australian Heritage Commission, 1996, p.6.

11. Danièle Hromek, Aboriginal Cultural Values: An Approach for Engaging with Country, Djinjama Cultural Design and Research, October 2021, Accessed August 2024, https:// djinjama.com/publication/aboriginal-cultural-values-anapproach-for-engaging-with-country/, pp.14-24.

12. Alison Page and Paul Memmott, Design: Building on Country, edited by Margo Neale, Port Melbourne: Thames & Hudson Australia, 2021, p.10.

13. Government Architect of New South Wales, Connecting With Country Framework, Issue 03, 2023, pp.20-22.

14. Foster et al., Galumban Gabani: Connecting with Country Framework for Tjerruing Blackwattle Bay, p.5-7.

15. Government Architect of New South Wales, Connecting With Country Framework, Issue 03, 2023, accessed August 2024, https://www. planning.nsw.gov.au/government-architect-nsw/policies-andframeworks/connecting-with-country, p.20.

16. Terri Janke, ‘Restructuring Indigenous Architecture and Industrial Design’ chapter in True Tracks : Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture, by Janke, Terri, (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2021).

17. Dr Danièle Hromek (Budawang/Yuin) also makes reference to this term, but for this framework is intended to be a separate meaning as proposed. Source: Daniele Hromek, “Reading Country: Seeing Deep into the Bush.” Architecture Australia 110, no. 2 (2021): 50–51. https:// search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.710922404011815.

18. Danièle Hromek, Aboriginal Cultural Values: An Approach for Engaging with Country, Djinjama Cultural Design and Research, October 2021, Accessed August 2024, https://djinjama.com/ publication/aboriginal-cultural-values-an-approach-for-engagingwith-country/, pp.33.

LACH3003 Design Through Landscape Management

Unit Coordinator: Professor Maria Ignatieva

CONNOR RIPPON, MEGAN DEASE & SOPHIE MASSINGHAM

‘Hyde Park Conservation Report’

Hyde Park is a Federation-Era Gardenesque-style Park located in North Perth. It was created as part of the city beautification plans for Perth and designed by John Brathwaite. Before European settlement, Hyde Park was known as Boodjamooling or ‘Third Swamp’. As a registered Aboriginal site of significance, it was an important camping, hunting and ceremonial site for the Whadjuk Noongar people. Hyde Park was gazetted as a public garden in 1897 and two years later, was named Hyde Park after London’s Park of the same name. Our conservation plan acknowledges that the social, cultural and historical significance of the park is both colonial and Indigenous. The objectives of this new conservation plan are to:

- Revise the current Conservation Management Plan for Hyde Park that reflects current requirements and advocates equally for the well-being of flora and fauna, shared historical value and unique sense of place.

- Find a solution to the Polyphagous shot-hole borer infestation and replace affected trees ensuring the aesthetics of the park are preserved. Additionally, work out a conservation and protection plan for the remaining trees.

- Increase biodiversity, water quality and the park’s general wellbeing.

- Address climate change and incorporate goals of sustainable development.

- Account for both the Indigenous and Colonial urban memory of the park by raising awareness and educating the public.

- Address and adapt intrusive structures (café and playground) following principles of the federation era, gardenesque style, whilst acknowledging the modern functions and practices within the park (compatible use).

Image: Proposed ten-year conservation plan for Hyde Park.

LACH2050 Plants and Landscape Systems

Unit Coordinator: Christina Nicholson

‘Ecozoning: Plant Strategy and Plant Palette for an Urban Park’

KATHERINE OSBORNE

‘Bardon Park – City of Bayswater: Planting Strategy and Plant Palette Proposal’

Situated in the City of Bayswater’s south-western corner, roughly north-east of Perth’s city centre, is Bardon Park. This small hill sloping park contains many views overlooking the Swan River, and countless amenities that benefit the local community. While it does contain a decent amount of vegetation, the park is plagued by an overabundance of turf. This proposal aims to introduce twenty-four native species, and create three activity zones: a picnic area, intimate area, and nature playground.

YOLANDA TRIGGER

‘Ecozoning – Planting Strategy and Plant Palette for an Urban Park’

With a brief to reduce turf and increase shade, activity, and native biodiversity, this plant palette for a nature playground combines soft textured herbaceous perennials and groundcovers, excluding those with stiff or prickly leaves, with small shrubs, to provide a colour, texture and aromatic sensory experience and sense of place, whilst maintaining safety and visibility for children and parents. Taxandria linearifolia, on the eastern side only, provides a buffer to hot summer winds.

Enhancement of existing ecosystem services in urban parks can improve the wellbeing and quality of life of urban populations. Increasing biodiversity broadens the sensory experience of flora (colour, texture, movement) and fauna (improved food & habitat opportunities), and enhances sense of place. A strengthened tree canopy mitigates urban heat and facilitates social & physical outdoor activity during long, hot, dry summers.

An urban park is improved with the addition of mid- and under-story planting. Within existing Eucalyptus, Viminaria juncea provides a feature statement. Sensory engagement and sense of place is enhanced, and habitat and food for birds, reptiles and mammals improved. Surrounds are bordered by herbaceous perennials and groundcovers, creating an all-year-round changing sensory experience.

Image: Katherine Osborne, the proposed planting strategy plan for the Bardon Park site, with planting visualisation images depicting the desired outcome for three activity zones; a nature playground, communal picnic area, and an intimate hangout area.

Image: Yolanda Trigger, (Left) Planting strategy plan to increase tree canopy and biodiversity and reduce turf of an urban park; (Right) Scaled section drawing of

LACH1000, LACH2000 & LACH3001 Rising Tides Studio

Unit and Studio Coordinators: Daniel Jan Martin & Rosie Halsmith

Teaching Staff: Caine Holdsworth, Liam Mouritz, Sofie Nielsen, Kate Driver & Alice Ford

In Semester 2 2024, the landscape architecture students of Rising Tides Studio have been working vertically across third, second and first year with sites spanning the Cockburn–Fremantle Coast from Woodman Point, to Point Catherine and Fremantle Harbour. Rising Tides Studio is part of an interdisciplinary project that reimagines coastal futures in a changing climate, undertaken in collaboration with UWA researchers in geography, landscape architecture and coastal engineering. The project has undertaken a new and exciting approach of synthesising community engagement, physical science and landscape architecture, to vision future coastal resilience. Artsbased workshops were conducted with community members asked to express what is important to them about the coast. The work of the Rising Tides Studio will help create a dialogue about coastal futures with the community, and inform policy, planning and decisions for areas undergoing rapid change. Our thanks to Natasha Pauli and all the researchers for the knowledge shared with students. Thank you to the UWA Oceans Institute in supporting ‘A new vision for coastal resilience: Engaging communities through art to design a transformative future’ led by Natasha Pauli, with Carmen Elrick-Barr, Abbie Rogers, Daniel Jan Martin, Arnold van Rooijen, Mike Cuttler and Rosie Halsmith.

Image: Rising Tides Studio site visit.

LACH3001 Landscape Resolutions Studio

Unit Coordinator: Daniel Jan Martin

Studio Coordinators: Daniel Jan Martin & Liam Mouritz

‘Rising Tides Studio’

LEWIS CRUMP

‘Fremantle Esplanade Eco Link’

This Fremantle Eco Link reimagines Fremantle’s urban coastal interface by turning the esplanade into a dynamic wetland environment. Drawing inspiration from ecological principles and urban design strategies, the project features three distinct wetland zones – freshwater, intermittent, and saltwater – tailored to local salinity gradients. These zones are populated with carefully selected native plant species to ensure habitat restoration, water purification, and ecological connectivity.

The design integrates a network of immersive experiences, including grated walkways just above the wetland surface, fostering intimate connections with nature. Visitors traverse vibrant vegetation and observe thriving ecosystems while learning about the site’s environmental significance. An urban plaza and berm system offer recreational spaces that merge cultural engagement with ecological resilience. Acting as a natural barrier, the berm manages stormwater runoff and directs excess water into the wetlands, reducing inundation risks. The berm, enhanced with boardwalks and amphitheaters, become hubs for community events, while the wetland serves as a living classroom for education on climate adaptation.

Key interventions also include a plunge jetty and retaining walls, which provide safe swimming areas and promote public interaction with the ocean. A grassed berm, strategically designed for flood mitigation, doubles as an entertainment zone, blending ecological function with human enjoyment. This multi-layered design not only addresses immediate issues of sea-level rise and flooding but also establishes a reimagined Fremantle hub.

By peeling back urban infrastructure and reintroducing ecological processes, the project transforms the coastal edge into a resilient, thriving landscape. It creates a vibrant, adaptable urban environment that harmonizes cultural, recreational, and ecological functions.

Image: Fremantle ecological system.

Image: (Left) Fremantle Ecolink, section (Right) Ecological entertainment, detail.

LACH3001 Landscape Resolutions Studio

Unit Coordinator: Daniel Jan Martin

Studio Coordinators: Daniel Jan Martin & Liam Mouritz

‘Rising Tides Studio’

RYAN MUNYARD

‘A Borrowed Landscape’

Fremantle’s West End and Fishing Boat Harbour precinct are under threat from storm surge and sea level rise. Storm surge already has the potential in today’s climate to impact Fishing Boat Harbour (FBH) and the lowest-lying areas along Marine Parade. According to the IPCC, even an optimistic rise in sea levels – limited to just 0.5 metres by 2100 – could result in the inundation of Esplanade Park and a significant portion of the West End.

Inspired by rehabilitated waterfronts both locally and globally, this concept masterplan explores one potential approach to mitigating sea level rise while re-energising the eastern end of Esplanade Park in conjunction with proposed developments by the City of Fremantle.

The masterplan features the Norfolk Street – Mews Road reconfiguration, allowing smooth traffic flow from the city to FBH, complemented by a shared vehicle/pedestrian plaza to connect Esplanade Park and FBH; a brackish swale designed to act as a drainage point for pumped water and to slow sea water during storm events; harbourside recreation facilities, including beach volleyball, basketball, tennis, and a bocce court in the parkland as a nod to Fremantle’s Italian heritage; shady native parkland and a paddling beach, ideal for families with young children; water treatments, such as soft, revegetated banks, stone stacks, and revitalised seagrass meadows; and a second multi-storey car park at the west end, with a green roof to manage runoff and reduce park inundation.

While it does not provide a complete defence against sea level rise, A Borrowed Landscape offers achievable, lower-cost protections that form part of a broader solution to this issue.

Additionally, the plan includes a re-envisioned Italian Club Precinct with multiple structures integrated into the landscape. The proposed programmes include a multistorey car park, restaurants, cafés, galleries, a hotel, apartments, and a new Italian Club.

Image: Mews Road Plaza.

Image: Mews Road Plaza looking towards the Italian Club.

LACH2001 Landscape Dynamic Studio

Unit Coordinator: Rosie Halsmith

‘Rising Tides Studio’

AMITY CRAPPSLEY-POPE

‘Ecological Adaptation for Sea Level Rise’

The Woodman Point parklands and nature reserves on the Fremantle – Cockburn coast are highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Sea level rise and coastal inundation are as a result, inevitable. These factors will continue to affect the site in the near and far future, resulting in habitat loss and destruction of native vegetation. Landscape can be used as a method to prepare for and embrace this future.

The Woodman Point coastal master plan and shoreline strategy addresses the challenges of sea level rise, coastal inundation and resulting habitat loss, particularly for native water birds such as tern species, along with other local flora and fauna ecologies both on land and in water. The proposed strategy embraces this changing future through ecological adaptation and preparation. The shoreline is allowed to retreat to let the ocean in and as a result, the effects of sea level rise are reduced, creating a richer coastal ecosystem in the process.

The strategy achieves this ecological richness through introducing salt marshes, new rocky and shrubby beaches and algae growth areas along the new shoreline. Thus creating a landscape that will allow for coastal ecologies and tern birds to thrive now and in to the future. Extensive seagrass planting is also achieved as to further create habitat for the Australian sea lions.

Human use, interaction and learning is blended in with this new ecological landscape. Slightly elevated boardwalks allow for coastal walking with points along the way for gathering, rest, viewing and reflection. New jetties promote access and connection from land to water, and informal stepping stone paths create intrigue and a hands-on interaction with the non-human.

Image: Woodman Point ecological master plan

Image: Detailed plan and sections

LACH2001 Landscape Dynamic Studio

Unit Coordinator: Rosie Halsmith

‘Rising Tides Studio’

RYAN THOMAS

‘Shoreline Sanctuary’

The integration of a nature playground, boardwalk, and eco-structures at Woodman Point transforms a historically recreation-focused site into a dynamic public space that combines ecological restoration, recreation, and education. At the heart of this project is the innovative use of eco-structures, designed to build up the vulnerable dune system. These structures not only provide immediate mitigation against future coastal inundation by supporting sand accumulation but are also intended to evolve into an artificial reef system, enhancing marine biodiversity when eventual shoreline retreat occurs.

The boardwalk, cutting through the newly formed dune system, creates an immersive experience for visitors. Thoughtfully designed to blend with the natural landscape, it guides users through the restored dunes, showcasing the interplay of native vegetation, shifting sands, and ecological processes. This pathway leads seamlessly to the pristine white beach, offering a sensory journey that deepens visitors’ appreciation for the area’s natural beauty and resilience. Along the way, interpretive elements and points of reflection encourage learning about the site’s transformation and its role in climate adaptation.

Adjacent to this pathway is the nature playground, strategically located just behind the dunes. This vibrant space incorporates eco-structures repurposed as play equipment, linking the concepts of play and environmental stewardship. With shaded seating, diverse plantings, and varied ground surfaces of mulch, sand, and grass, the playground offers a textured, interactive environment for children and families. It invites visitors to engage with the coastal ecosystem in a playful, meaningful way. Together, these elements integrate seamlessly into the broader vision for Woodman Point, transforming the site into a central hub for recreation, ecological restoration, and community education. This innovative design fosters a sense of connection with nature while promoting sustainability and resilience, ensuring the site’s value for generations to come.

Image: Drift Through Dunes, boardwalk plan.

Image: (Left) Boardwalk site section; (Right) Boardwalk perspective.

LACH1000 Landscape Groundings Studio

Unit Coordinator: Daniel Jan Martin

Studio Coordinators: Daniel Jan Martin & Caine Holdsworth

‘Rising Tides Studio’

SOPHIE SAMUEL-STAUDE

‘Tidal Infrastructures’

C.Y. O’Connor Beach is a site beloved by the local community for its presence of nature, with the community valuing healthy wildlife and native vegetation. Considering these community values, I felt like designing for the community therefore meant designing for the nature that was present, its resilience and its future, leading me to consider coastal infrastructure and instruments that would both strengthen ecosystems and mitigate against erosion and the changing tides.

Groynes are known to be problematic as they disrupt the natural system of sand transportation which our coast relies on. I felt that the materials of the groyne at C.Y. O’Connor Beach could be used in a way that adds ecological value to the site whilst still protecting the site from erosion, in the form of small islands. The islands follow the form of the artificial reef that is present further north, angled in a way that allows for the natural processes of sand transportation, whilst simultaneously protecting against the harsh winter storms from the north-west.

These islands seek to marry coastal engineering with ecology, to mitigate erosion and provide habitat to birds and marine wildlife, taking inspiration from two precedents.

Djirda Miya is a small island on the Derbal Yerrigan (Swan River) which was designed by coastal engineers to protect the coast from erosion, whilst simultaneously providing habitat for the Maali (black swan) and other birds. Secondly, Bird Island is a precedent created by nature, off the coast of Rockingham, allowing for an ecological blueprint to design from, with my islands mimicking its resilient coastal fauna.

My islands seek to build a dialogue with the birds of Cockburn Sound and beyond, with the potential for trans-equatorial migratory birds to use the islands as a stop-off point, creating a diversity hotspot of excitement for the Community and strengthening the resilience of the coast for years to come.

Image: Collage of coastal infrastructure.

Image: (Left) Island plan; (Right) Collaged view of Djirda Miya at C.Y. O’Connor Beach.

LACH1000 Landscape Groundings Studio

Unit Coordinator: Daniel Jan Martin

Studio Coordinators: Daniel Jan Martin & Caine Holdsworth

‘Rising Tides Studio’

RUTH MENGLER

‘Coastal Infrastructure’

The project explores the landscape architectural potentials of coastal devices which are often deployed through the ‘hard’ engineering lens. Through the integration of ‘soft’ elements – lightweight boardwalks, sand fencing and new coastal plantings – a resilient landscape is encouraged to emerge over time. This is a landscape for people, plants and animals – one which mimics and transposes the shifting coasts at Point Catherine over the decades. This landscape encourages an embrace of softer approaches to coastal resilience which can do the job of traditional harder methods like rock walls and groins. Imagine a coast shaped by ecology and people together, with rising tides as the catalyst.

Image: Time-based sections show the growth of the ecology and increasing resilience.

Image: A resilient and full landscape emerges in future years.

URBAN DESIGN

Image: UWA School of Design, Design HUB, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

URBD5802 Urban Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rob Cameron

Teaching Staff: Dr Rob Cameron & Chris Melsom

‘Albany Waterfront Masterplan’

KHOI GIA HOANG

‘Staircase to the ocean’

Albany, a prominent coastal tourism destination and freight hub in southern Western Australia, faces challenges with its neglected waterfront. Once a vital part of the city, the area has become lifeless due to a lack of attractions and poor connectivity with the city centre. Noise and barriers created by freight routes and rail infrastructure further alienate residents and tourists. The vision for Albany’s waterfront revitalization is to transform it into a vibrant, multifunctional public space. This area will offer diverse activities, respect the surrounding environment, and celebrate Albany’s unique identity.

Improving Connectivity: The first strategy aims to reconnect the waterfront with the city. Freight transport will be redirected, and the railway line serving the port relocated to an underground tunnel, eliminating spatial barriers. York Street, Albany’s primary commercial artery, will be extended to the waterfront, encouraging movement from the CBD to the water’s edge.

Creating Vibrant Spaces: The second strategy focuses on activating the waterfront with attractions for both locals and tourists. Planned features include spaces for commerce, leisure, entertainment, and displays of Indigenous culture. Hotels, shopping centres, and cruise ship terminals will also be integrated to enhance tourism and economic activity.

Nature-Based Design: The third strategy emphasises designing in harmony with Albany’s natural topography. The waterfront will be reshaped into massive terraces based on the area’s natural topography that offer panoramic ocean views, creating a unique identity. Buildings will be arranged along visual and pedestrian corridors leading directly from the CBD to the sea, encouraging movement toward the water. Concrete seawalls will be replaced with ‘archipelago’ – a soft green dike that fosters a stronger connection between people and the natural water environment.

This revitalisation aims to create an inclusive, lively, and sustainable waterfront, reconnecting Albany’s community with its rich coastal heritage while attracting visitors.

Image: Albany’s waterfront square perspective.

Image: Albany’s waterfront masterplan.

URBD5802 Urban Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rob Cameron

Teaching Staff: Dr Rob Cameron & Chris Melsom

‘Albany Waterfront Masterplan’

NANCY MICOZZI

‘Albany Waterfront Masterplan’

In a future shaped by the potential of the blue economy, Albany’s waterfront becomes a model for sustainable urban development, where the responsible use of ocean resources drives environmental resilience and economic growth. Albany’s design integrates modern infrastructure with green spaces to create a vibrant and walkable urban environment that prioritizes sustainability and community well-being.

At the heart of this transformation is the blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces, all strategically located around a walkable precinct along York Street that promotes a reduction in car dependency among residents. The waterfront’s mixed-use developments encourage a lifestyle that harmonizes with nature, offering high-density living while preserving open space. The removal of Princess Royal Drive enabled reclaimed land along the waterfront to return to its original coastline appearance. Public spaces, such as parks, plazas, and the waterfront boardwalk follow this new coastline configuration, connecting the city to its natural surroundings, and fostering both recreation and environmental engagement.

The blue economy also fuels innovation and employment for a skilled workforce, with research hubs and renewable energy projects – such as wave energy – integrated into the urban fabric alongside existing port operations. Repurposed industrial buildings like port-side warehouses now house businesses focused on marine science and technology, also contributing to Albany’s shift toward a sustainable economy.

Transport and mobility are designed to support the city’s ecological goals, with a network of bike lanes and pedestrian pathways ensuring safe, efficient movement throughout the city. The grid layout prioritizes connectivity between key areas, such as its cultural precinct, eastern and western university campuses and adjoining blue economy districts to encourage active transport among residents and visitors.

By carefully scaling urban density and using green building standards, Albany accommodates growth without sacrificing its natural beauty. In this future, the blue economy anchors urban development to create a sustainable coastal city where innovation, education, and environmental stewardship thrive together.

Image: Physical model close up.

URBD5802 Urban Design Studio 2

Unit Coordinator: Dr Rob Cameron

Teaching Staff: Dr Rob Cameron & Chris Melsom

‘Albany Waterfront Masterplan’

EMMA MCKENZIE

‘Albany Waterfront Masterplan’

A day in the life of Welda, a local of Albany, WA.

Today is Sunday, my favourite day of the week, as I get to meet down at the Albany Foreshore with the local run club. We meet 5 minutes to 6 in the morning, in front of the Pilates studio. The studio is the most stunning organic-shaped building that opens right up and looks out to the ocean.

My mum is an architect and would always tell me, “Welda as a designer the architecture that we surround ourselves with, will ultimately influence our quality of life and sense of positive wellbeing.” I wholeheartedly agree with my Mum, as since the new Albany Foreshore I have never felt more connected with my local community. Often on days I walk along the footpath that weaves alongside the c myself enjoying saying “hello” to passing individuals and saying “yes” to joining in football matches down on the giant oval. I have managed to make so many more friends since the redevelopment.

Another reason I love Sundays is that the sunset markets are on down at the esplanade. I like to enjoy some gelato in the Amphitheatre, where I can sit, and people watch while listening to the local band playing. When the markets are on, it is buzzing with hustle and bustle. The markets also encourage community members to support the new restaurants, cafes and businesses. Another activity I like to do just before I walk home is to go past the community garden and pinch some herbs for my Mum and I to make pasta at home.

On days like today, I appreciate how lucky I am to live in a place with such strong public amenities. These amenities allow me to feel connected to the community and collectively support my physical and mental well-being.

Image: Masterplan.

Image: 1:1000 Physical model close-ups.

Image: UWA School of Design, Courtyard, Summer Exhibition 2024 opening night, 13 November 2024.

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