A selection of projects from semester one, 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, Cullity Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Samantha Dye.
Advanced Studio
ARTF2040 Environmental and Biological Art 44 ARTF1054 Drawing Foundations
56 ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine
64 History of Art
66 HART4409 Displaying Bodies, Art Medicine and the Human Form
70 HART3330 Art Writing
74 HART2001 Curating First Nations Art
78 HART1000 Great Moments in Art
130 ARCT5529 Forensic Architecture
134 ARCT5589 Furniture Design
138 ARCT4461 Architectural Practice
164 ARCT2000 Architecture Studio 2
180 ARCT2030 Materials and Small Constructions
184 ARCT2010 Modern Architecture
188 ARCT1150 Architecture Studio 1
208 ARCT1011 Early Modern Architecture
212 ARLA1040 Techniques of Visualisation
216 Landscape Architecture
218 LACH5511 Dissertation by Design Part 2
226 LACH5424 Design Studio – Complexity
238 LACH4505 Critical Theory: ‘isms and ‘ologies in Landscape Architecture
242 LACH4423 Landscape and Urban Ecology
246 LACH3000 Landscape Synthesis Studio
258 LACH2000 Landscape Context Studio
262 LACH1010 History and Theory of Landscape Architecture
268 Urban Design
270 URBD5804 Urban Design Studio 1
282 URBD5810 Healthy by Design
Foreword by Dr Simon Kilbane
Winter/Makuru collective: A season for transformation
As we transition into winter, or Makuru as it is locally known, we find ourselves in a time of vibrant growth and change. Unlike our kin in the Northern Hemisphere, or even other more populous regions of Australia this is not a time for our witness of the falling of leaves and skies to turn dull grey, but rather, in the ancient, biodiverse place of the South West of Australia, this season heralds an exuberance of growth and of life. It is now time for long dormant plants and landscapes to suddenly release their collective energy, to give forth the life and energy that they’ve conserved through the long, hot summer in a verdant and colourful explosion of vigour and richness.
In lockstep with this season, the works in the School of Design’s winter collection similarly embody a bold demonstration of energy and of ideas. Contained within this expansive document is a collection of works assembled from both Bachelor’s and Master’s level students that span the disciplines of Art History, Fine Art, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design. As diversity is a crucial component in any robust ecosystem, so similarly it is the varied disciplines and fields of study (and research) that operate within the school that fosters a unique and enriching learning experience and the outcomes we see so readily today. This broad spectrum of disciplines creates a stimulating mix of ideas and highlights the dedication of the students and I invite you – as I have done – to seek out its treasures. To take time to let the breadth of ideas, stories, projects and images soak in and to sense the renewal, growth and vitality of these.
At first glance, this document serves as a testament to hard work and a showcase of excellence, highlighting moments of discovery, of insight, of purpose and above all creativity. This illustrates how the UWA School of Design inspires and sets new directions for its disciplines. However, beyond that, it is also a collective culmination and outcome of the plethora of individual conversations, of studio critiques with guests, of hours spent in the workshop, perhaps eons staring for too long at a screen and probably more than a few sleepless nights.
Perhaps less celebrated is the collective, and invisible hand of my colleagues also. These dedicated staff help deliver this work, spend time in the craft of briefs, projects and assessment so that it is relevant and interesting, collaborative and engaging. This work therefore is a dialogue and testament to the two-way creative energies that flow from the confluence of inspired and skilled educators in an esteemed font of scholarship and learning, and the collective energies of these students – and perhaps even – maybe just a little bit of the magic that this place brings…
Congratulations to those who have work published here and to all who have studied at the UWA School of Design this year. I hope that all students will one day look back on this body of work with fondness. To browse through the pages and remember that they are, and will always be, part of a special place in time.
Dr Simon Kilbane, Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, UWA School of Design.
2024.
Fine Arts & History of Art
Image: UWA School of Design, Level One Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Samantha Dye.
Foreword by Sashana Anandarajah
It is easy to become preoccupied with our timeline and aspirations in life. All too often, we equate success with the final outcome, perpetually seeking that next big milestone. Art, much like life, can be messy, complicated, and yet beautiful.
For an arts student, striking a balance between their practice, work and studies involves cyclical moments of extreme highs and lows, sometimes marred by doubts that the journey is simply a frivolous endeavour. Yet, embedded within nearly every facet of society, art functions as a mirror- a magnified reflection of our surroundings that is continuously moulded by our conscience and inquisitiveness. And so, we cannot help but continue to create.
Studying art at university is no small feat. Regardless of the topic or medium, it requires navigating past and present experiences to produce a body of work that conveys a person’s identity while simultaneously questioning one’s sense of self and aspirations. This duality embodies the beauty of the Fine Arts and Art History disciplines, steering you along an unexpected path of trials and self-discovery.
Although it has been said I was born with a creative heart, the decision to study art fresh out of high school was somewhat disconcerting, (especially to my economist father), leading me towards the ‘safer’ route of commerce. With this background, embarking on a new artistic journey years later introduced a plethora of conundrums, shaping what was to become both a thrilling and daunting ride. I knew pursuing an arts degree would provide the imaginative outlet I passionately needed, and what began as an unnerving course ultimately became remarkably fulfilling.
What I have learned so far is that art can fill a void by providing autonomy and reclamation; it is integral to our psyche and an essential part of what makes us human. The resilience developed through navigating setbacks and the confidence built through small triumphs become invaluable experiences for each student. Hours spent hand-stitching until developing a wrist spasm or sleepless nights researching to the point of tears all become worth it, knowing you gave your best effort. Inevitably, we become our own harshest critic during this time, considering the amount of labour and vulnerability invested in the hopes of producing a tangible outcome. With the support of fellow peers and teachers, however, learning to share and nurture each other’s vision becomes second nature and further fuels our creativity.
Growth does not cease upon completing further studies; rather, it represents a small stepping stone. The integral path forms later, built upon the lessons you learned, friendships gained, and the knowledge continuously acquired. Whether you are a first or final-year arts student, the aim is to cherish the present and continually work towards what you genuinely love. By following your gut instinct, being bold and taking risks, while embracing change, you may be pleasantly surprised along the journey – which can become the most rewarding part of all.
Sashana Anandarajah, Bachelor of Arts, Fine Arts & History of Art majors, and Curatorial Studies minor, 2024.
Image: Sophie Eppette, back room…Transient Space (detail), 2024, Cyanotype print on cotton fabric, cotton thread, wire and metal fishing sinker.
Fine Arts
Image: UWA School of Design, Level One Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Samantha Dye.
Masters of Biological Art Unit Coordinator: Dr Ionat
Zurr
BILL ZHOU
‘Inscribing Inequality’
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has become a global threat and is expected to cause up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050. This interdisciplinary research project is a creative exploration of this pressing issue by integrating insights from art, science, and cultural studies.
Using Experimental Evolution techniques, the critical components of the AMR problem – bacteria (Escherichia coli K-12), antibiotics, and human agencies— are placed within a tiny scientific “inscription device” modified from a vintage medicine bottle, a wartime remnant from the 1930s. As a result, it forms an artistic inscription device that inscribes the data from “human society” to the “industrialised biological bodies” (Here, the lab strain K-12 Escherichia coli) while simultaneously producing stories, knowledge and perceptions. It could be argued that this system re-enacts the metaphor of Antimicrobial Resistance as an ‘auto-immune disease,’ illustrating the paradoxical nature of the AMR problem.
Image: Bill Zhou, Inscribing Inequality, 2024, Live bacteria (E. coli K-12), vintage medicine bottle, old apothecary scale, mixed media.
Image: Bill Zhou, Inscribing Inequality, 2024, Live bacteria (E. coli K-12), vintage medicine bottle, old apothecary scale, mixed media.
Masters of Biological Art
Unit Coordinator: Dr Ionat Zurr
VALERIE SCHNEIDER
‘A Pond Within’
A Pond Within is a microperformance wherein cells from distinct biological kingdoms, which would not naturally meet, are brought together in a Petri dish. Specifically, the performance involves multiple encounters between Human Dermal Fibroblast (HDF) cells, different types of Green Algae and unicellular autotrophic Microalgae, which are known as Diatoms. This work serves as a critical inquiry into the anthropocentric tendency to marginalise plants and other non-human organisms, questioning the process of “othering” within posthuman perspectives. A Pond Within is framed as a relational exploration of the co-existence between human and non-human. Its primary objective is to observe interspecies companionship within a humanconstructed micro-setting, prompting an investigation into the question of how “bringing together” of the human and non-human could take shape. The findings of the conducted experiments suggest that a certain “becoming with” between human and non-human agents can be observed on several levels. The project invites its viewers to observe and engage with these non-human agents and to reflect on their internalised anthropocentric assumptions critically.
Image: Valerie Schneider, A Pond Within, 2024, custom made glass jar filled with pond water, 30 x 80 cm.
Image: Valerie Schneider, A Pond Within, 2024, multimedia installation – glassware, wooden table, pond water, film projection.
ARTF3000 Advanced Studio Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic
EVA LADYMAN
‘Is something bugging you?’
Is something bugging you? is a speculative piece that suggests a future in which surveillance has been mobilised in the form of arthropods. Arthropods (the phylum which includes insects and arachnids) are absolutely everywhere – in your house, your room, your bed. They are evasive and abundant – so what if they could see you? What if they could record you? The piece is comprised of four arthropods, collectively called Machinae – all created from recycled computer and electronic parts, fitted with working cameras and microphones that record the audience as they view the work. Each of the Machinae are based on real Australian insects – Selenocosmia crassipes, Urodacus excellens, Endoxyla cinereus and Thopha saccata- however they have been renamed with the new species name, machina. Be careful how you act around them. They are watching you.
Image: Eva Ladyman. Is something bugging you? Endoxyla machina and Urodacus machina. 2024. Recycled electronic components, cameras and microphones.
Image: Eva Ladyman. Is something bugging you? Endoxyla machina and Urodacus machina. 2024. Recycled electronic components, cameras and microphones.
ARTF3000 Advanced Studio
Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic
GERMAINE CHAN
‘My World’
My World is an experimental art game exploring the concept of free will within a system, where players are led to escape their assigned roles. Challenged to navigate a system dictated by the creator’s rules, the game delves into the illusion of choice freedom. Players answer a series of questions, unknowingly determining their fate within a predetermined structure. Through this journey, the game explores the idea that our choices, though seemingly personal, ultimately lead us down paths shaped by forces beyond our control. My World prompts reflection on the systems we live within and the choices we make. It serves as a critique of societal structures and an exploration of autonomy, encouraging us to question their own narratives of freedom. Are we truly free, or simply navigating false freedom?
Image: Germaine Chan, My World, 2024, Interactive game.
Image: Germaine Chan, My World, 2024, Interactive game.
ARTF2040 Environmental and Biological Art
Unit Coordinator: Dr Ionat Zurr
Teaching Staff: Dr Ionat Zurr & Samuel Beilby
DIXIE BARTLE
‘the domesticated chicken’
domestication (n.)
from Latin domesticus, ‘belonging to the household’
1. the process of bringing animals or plants under human control to provide food, power, or company.
2. the process of making someone fond of and good at home life and the tasks that it involves.
the domesticated chicken is a speculative fabulation that explores the complexities of the human-chicken entanglement, personifying the intimate and enduring relationship of the companions, whilst imagining a realignment of the current exchange between species. Inviting the chicken back to the domestic realm and acknowledging a shared history as living beings, the work aims to counter the disconnection of industrialisation, and allow the ‘whole’ chicken to reinhabit space within the human consciousness.
A welcomed guest at the human table, the domesticated chicken is perched on a dinner plate, surrounded by her eggs, plucked and packaged for roasting. Wrapped in a feathered cloak clasped by a wishbone, she reads the entrails of tea leaves in her cup, enlightening her human subjects. A mother hen, she has been busy knitting cosies to keep her eggs warm in their incubation to new life, or prior to their consumption for breakfast. She is a familiar friend, a backyard dweller, a travelling companion of the colonists. She is a practitioner of magic, an oracle, a wild and mysterious being. She is a mother figure, a symbol of nurturance and fertility. She is sustenance, a reliable and regenerative food source, a sacrifice.
Image: Dixie Bartle, the domesticated chicken, 2024, plastic, feather, bone, nylon, cotton, acrylic paint and found objects, 70 x 45 x 45 cm.
Image: Dixie Bartle, the domesticated chicken (detail), 2024, plastic, feather, bone, nylon, cotton, acrylic paint and found objects, 70 x 45 x 45 cm.
ARTF2040 Environmental and Biological Art
Unit Coordinator: Dr Ionat Zurr
Teaching Staff: Dr Ionat Zurr & Samuel Beilby
NEGIN GOLESTANI
‘Static Dynamic’
Since the first farmers planted seeds over 10,000 years ago, crop planting never ceased. Amid two world wars, Nikolai Vavilov, a Russian scientist, started the first seed bank, attempting to preserve the most precious heritage of humankind. Static Dynamic explores the importance of the seed to our existence on the planet, especially today when we are increasingly faced with environmental disaster, coupled with the threat of nuclear calamity never imagined by our ancestors. Faced with the consequences in the aftermath of such possible catastrophe, how will we survive?
We will depend on personal and neighbourhood seed banks; unlocking their potential – from a Static state into a Dynamic one – by actively planting seeds for our survival.
The use of clay pots to preserve seeds is an ancient method used by many societies. The artwork aims to visualise the aftermath of a catastrophe; an unearthed buried old suitcase surrounded by discoloured nature reduced to ash. While the lace is reminiscent of early colonialism, the pots, gracefully arranged, provide hope and beauty in an otherwise grim setting.
This piece emerged from a curiosity about children’s complex and boundless worldbuilding and the nostalgia intrinsically linked with it upon reflection. The unique innocence that children possess enables them to create expansive and exciting worlds governed by their own set of rules. Attempting to emulate this worldbuilding in my work, I located the old animal figurines that my brothers and I played with as children and attempted to organise them like we had as kids. Photographing them with a Polaroid camera gave them a hazy feel, reminiscent of fading memories. Using the emulsion lift to transfer the photos onto found concrete allowed the images to rest on solid material. The relationship between both light and heavy materials allows the work to move between the fragility and endurance of childhood memories as well as convey the feelings of innocence and experimentation that fade with time.
Image: Lucinda Sheardown, you are mist, 2024, polaroid emulsion lifts on found concrete pieces, variable dimensions.
Image: Lucinda Sheardown, you are mist, 2024, polaroid emulsion lifts on found concrete pieces, variable dimensions.
ARTF1054 Drawing Foundations
Unit Coordinator: Andy Quilty
Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty, Mark Tweedie & Leyla Allerton
MAYA JADE RAI
‘Don’t Confess’
Don’t Confess explores ideas of the Asian outlook on mental health and struggles. To me, this had always been a recurring concept, if it wasn’t real, it would not hurt you. It led to a lot of self-doubt and impostor syndrome in how I created art. This rotoscope animation is not meant to be taken too seriously. I wanted to create a fun and interesting video, animating my bad habits on a loop and having it interrupted by real-life footage of myself with a jellyfish head made of cardboard. I have always been compared to jellyfish when I was younger as I “had no backbone and no brain” but I decided to adopt it into my persona and accept it. It was probably said in jest but I had held onto it for the longest time. Now I think they are beautiful creatures and I embrace being associated with them. This is the reason for my jellyfish head in my final piece, what was used against me in the past, now representing change. It is easy to create serious art with heavy and surreal topics like mental health, but it can be much harder to put a twist on it and have it be a fun piece that the artist enjoys making.
Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty, Mark Tweedie & Leyla Allerton
ALFIE BALLARD
‘Cock and Ballpoint’
Cock and Ballpoint are innate scribblings from the imagination. The purpose of the intertwining figures, expressive faces and aggressive hand gestures is to reflect human connection and the emotions that catalyse. I constantly observe social reactions and interactions, facial expressions and hand movements. The face and hands express emotion and reaction, they are our most expressive features. Cock and Ballpoint is the assemblage of my innate attraction to the extremes of human form, emotion and interaction in moments of joy, anger and disgust.
Image: Alfie Ballard, Cock and Ballpoint (detail), 2024, Ballpoint pen on paper, 238 x 168 cm.
Image: Alfie Ballard, Cock and Ballpoint (detail), 2024, Ballpoint pen on paper, 238 x 168 cm.
ARTF1054 Drawing Foundations
Unit Coordinator: Andy Quilty
Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty, Mark Tweedie & Leyla Allerton
MAYA WINN
‘Who are you?’
Portraiture can ask a question, both to the viewer and to the artist themselves, while simultaneously answering it, not with a definitive answer but one that is everchanging. Who are you? is an intimate visual narrative of the multitude of emotions experienced during the journey of self-discovering different states of personal human existence and consciousness.
Maya Winn, Who are you?, 2024, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4 cm.
Image:
Image: (Left) Maya Winn, Where are you?, 2024, graphite on paper, 59.4 x 84.1 cm; (Right) Maya Winn, What are you?, 2024, graphite on paper, 42 x 59.4 cm.
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine
Unit Coordinator: Sarah Douglas
Teaching Staff: Sarah Douglas & Annie Huang
MADDISON BYRON
‘Wardungmat’
I am Whadjuk Noongar, both my mother’s and my father’s family were part of the stolen generation; my paintings serve as a means for me to develop a connection to my culture and heritage. Wardungmat (Crow people), and Manitjimat (Cockatoo people) are the two skin groups of the Noongar people, within the group of Wadungmat you can be classed as either Ballarruk or Ngagarnook, as shown by the two crows; one blue and one orange. Wardungmat is a collection of paintings on canvas made from acrylic paint and acrylic paint pens. Every plant and animal shown in this collection can be found on Noongar country, most by a short walk around the UWA campuses. Through this collection I wanted to display my cultural connection and guide you around Noongar Boodjar as I see it, bright and colourful, full of plants and animals at home with their surroundings and yet never lost in them.
Maddison Byron, Wardungmat, Ngagarnook, 2024, acrylic pens and acrylic markers on canvas, 40.7 cm. (diameter).
Image:
Image: Maddison Byron, Wardungmat, Peaches & Cream Grevillea, 2024, acrylic pens and acrylic markers on canvas, 25.4x50.8 cm.
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine
Unit Coordinator: Sarah Douglas
Teaching Staff: Sarah Douglas & Annie Huang
SYLVIA CARRINGTON
‘Organic Form Uncharted’
Organic Form Uncharted explores relationships between different types of form and texture, blending influences from the natural world contrasted with inorganic textures and shapes to see the effects. Through the digital manipulation of texture, colour and form, recognisable images become strange and almost unrecognisable, yet retain features that hint at their original forms such as hints of green amidst the mostly monochrome images. These images therefore hang in the space between recognition and complete strangeness, resting in a liminal place in one’s cognisance. The pieces also test the boundaries of natural form by seeing what is left when texture is stripped and background context is removed. This examines the contrast between man-made, manufactured materials and natural forms, forming an intersection between the two.
Image: Sylvia Carrington, Organic Form Uncharted 1, 2024, digital image.
Image: Sylvia Carrington, Organic Form Uncharted 2, 2024, digital image.
History of Art
Image: History of Arts students with Lecturer Arvi Wattel at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery 2023.
HART4409 Displaying Bodies, Art Medicine and
the
Human Form
Unit Coordinator: Dr Emily Eastgate Brink
JESS VAN HEERDEN
‘Hysteria! Visions of the Modern Madwoman. Lens or Looking Glass?’
Exhibition Proposal
Pathologist Jean-Martin Charcot and his intern, the anatomist and artist, Paul Régnard, are frequently cited for constructing an influence “image of hysteria” in their photographing and cataloguing of the hysterical body at Salpétrière (a Parisian gunpowder factory turned poorhouse turned hospital).1 Charcot utilises the newly accessible photographic medium in attempts to understand and chart feminine hysteria (helping to establish the use of photography in clinical and neurological practices). Whilst the phantom nature of hysteria ensured that Charcot inevitably failing in this goal, his vision of the feminine hysteric “…dominated the cultural field in representations of madness”.2 Such European modern uses of representations of the body assimilate the camera’s memetic outcome with objective evidence, assuming the stability of vision (denying the reality of a social agenda encoded into these visualisations and displays of the body). The exhibition examines modern European visualisations of the hysterical body, arguing that they promote a social function: maintaining conservative gender roles during a period of unprecedented social and political change.
The exhibition is appropriately located at Fremantle Arts Centre, acknowledging its past employment as an asylum and poorhouse for women. Rather than displaying work in one of the central gallery rooms, the work will be displayed in
the wide corridor that runs the length of the South Building. Consequently, the exhibition can only be entered via the back doors (heavy wooden doors which still wear the heavy exterior bolts used to lock in wayward patients), or entered midway via the reception door, either alternative creating a sense of mild disorientation and immersing viewers in the modern institutional space. Positioned in thematic groups throughout the corridor, modern visualisations of the female hysteric body and accompanying contextualising works (including two by contemporary artists to demonstrate the continued influence of these loaded modern visualisations), will be freed of their textbook confinement. Figures will be transformed into portraits, proudly lining the halls in golden frames.
Hysteria! Catalogue Essay: Lens or Looking Glass?
“He has denied to me since that it was hysterics, and insisted that it was only his sense of humour asserting itself under very terrible conditions. He laughed till he cried and I had to draw down the blinds lest anyone should see us and misjudge; and then he cried till he laughed again; and laughed and cried together, just as a woman does. I tried to be stern with him, as one is to a woman under the circumstances; but it had no effect. Men and women are so different in their manifestations of nervous strength or weakness!”
(from Bram Stoker’s Dracula)
Spectacle and the Rise of the Madwoman
The nineteenth century was a blaze of social upheaval, scientific invention, and artistic innovation.3 Embodied, European modernity was a continual renegotiation of one’s position in relation to a rapidly shifting wider world.4 How does one interrogate, locate, or chart one’s social standing in this context
of unprecedented change? Any such attempts must surely be grounded in the observation and assessment of others, for what is a social order if not a comparison and valuation of different bodies within a given time and space? Not to be underestimated also, is the explosion of Paris’s bourgeois population, representing an increased capacity to fulfil fascinations and desires through increased wealth, leisure time, and lifestyle shifts (especially the out of doors focused socialisation and increased mobility made possible by the renovation of Paris).5 Perhaps the examination of otherness helped to sharpen self-image, a defensive negotiation of dramatic social
and political changes. In this turbulent moment an excitable culture of spectacle emerged.6 Novel also to European modernity, is the treatment of madness as a predominantly “female malady”.7 In the 1850s female madwomen outnumbered male madman in French and English institutions (for example, the English census declared that for every 1,000 male lunatics there were 1,212 female lunatics in 1871).8 This inequality of bodies was only a shadow of the inequality of their images, however, with images of madwomen oversaturating visualisations of lunacy.9 European modernity’s spectacle culture provided the context for the passive,
Image: Final exhibition proposed: Hysteria! Curatorial layout wall 1 labelled with figures.
Figure 7 Figure 8
Figure 6 Figure 9
Figure 3
Figure 5
Figure 4
Figure 1
Figure 2
emotionally volatile, and sexualised madwomen (traits already associated with femininity and weakness) to spread fantastically. The stereotypical madwomen captured the imagination of the masses, establishing a stronghold in public opinion.
It is worth acknowledging, however, that the premodern era had its own fascination with depicting and observing madness.10 Images such as Albrecht Dorer’s Melancholia (1514) or Jheronimus Bosch’s Removing the Rocks in the Head (1550-1600) exemplify this. Yet, distinctly novel to the modern era is the “quantitative and qualitative…proliferation of such imagery [images of madwomen] and the expectations attached to it.”11 Modernity’s heightened obsession with spectatorship and saturation of images was catalysed by developments in visual technologies and medias.12 Citing Linda Williams, Historian R.A. Houstin dubs European modernity “…an era of ‘visual frenzy’, of the obsessively visual: tricks-of-the-eye, illusion, magic, X-Ray and the invention of still and movie camera. The burgeoning pleasures of the gaze seemed endless”.13
Amand Gautier’s lithograph, Folles de la Salpétrière (Cour des agitées) (Madwomen of Salpétrière (Court of the Restless)) offers a typical modern depiction of madwomen. The disturbingly luscious scene recalls a melodramatic tabloid in its theatrical staging of figures (with the distribution of figures forming a strong, downwards-traveling diagonal across the composition) and the dizzying range of hyperbolic feelings simultaneously playing out in the image. Stock characters (including a toothless old woman and an ethnically ambiguous beauty) rave and wither, with any potentially distinctive personal features eclipsed by shadow or turned head. Viewers’ eyes are snagged by Gautier’s careful scattering of mid-gestured hands (each a narrative divot extended outwards from a sagging bodily frame), and the polished shine of escaped shoulders and untamed locks.
The seven female bodies are gently folded, their faces as contorted as their fragile forms to mark their solitary experiences of a distinct edge of human emotion. One hovering woman confronts the limestone wall, another, bending under the weight of age, struggles to articulate herself to a void. The central woman’s face is almost concealed in shadow, bar the malicious flash of anger illuminating her jaded eyes. This intensity of devilish emotion is perfectly contrasted by the two women to her left who wear in turn a simpering smile and a distant, glassy gasp. The artist’s sensual depictions of deep felt emotion and unripe beauty are aided by the lithograph medium’s gentle shading and controlled tonal shifts, a perfect picture of the passively sexual madwoman and her unstable nature. While here fifictional, Gautier’s volatile subjects represent a catogrisation imposed upon many real female bodies (and their images).
Nineteen-seventies feminist historians, notably Phyllis Chesler, have found fertile ground in approaching modern madness as a social indicator, where historical perceptions of mental abnormality or incapacity are closely related to a failure to meet (or perform) an expected social role.14 In Madness and Gender, Houston explains that during European modernity the parameters of madness functioned as an oppressive tool, promoting and maintaining unequal gendered power relationships.15 Likewise, art historian Jane E. Krom concludes that through the widespread circulation of visualisations of madwomen “…stereotypes were recast in postrevolutionary Europe in relation to fears about women’s political empowerment…”.16
In this light, consider Folles de la Salpétrière (Cour des agitées), with its unpersonal, familiar female lunatic ‘types’ for subjects. Rather than creating a record of the large, taxpayer funded institution, or of inhabitant’s daily life, formal and
material choices suggest Gautier’s ambition lay in constructing a compelling and visually stimulating image, one which could be affordably accessed and extensively distributed as a printed lithograph. The image, one of many depictions of madness produced in this era, situates markers of madness (e.g., emotional inconsistency and unreason) as inherently feminine traits.17 An ominous threat lurks in modern visualisations of the mad female body. Such images function as a means of social regulation, suggesting every female’s capacity to fall victim to her volatile inner nature, and illustrating her fate should she act against the norm.
Modern visualisations of the madwoman were also produced beyond the parameters of pastime and pleasure. In psychiatrics, photographic visualisations of the mad female body were paraded as objective, scientific evidence. This is exemplified by Charcot’s photographs of the female hysteric body at Salpétrière. While invariably failing to enhance medical knowledge, Charcot’s infamous visual project produced tangible social outcomes, the shadow of which still darkens contemporary visual culture and perceptions of gender.
7. Jane E. Kromm, “The Feminization of Madness in Visual Representation,” Feminist Studies 20, no. 3 (1994): 507.
8. Elaine Showalter, “Victorian Women and Insanity,” Victorian Studies 23, no. 2 (1980): 160.
9. Kromm, 507.
10. Killen, 174.
11. Killen, 174.
12. R.A. Houston, “Madness and Gender in the long eighteenth century,” Social History 27, no. 3 (2002): 75.
13. Houston, 75.
14. Kromm, 533.
15. Houston, 75.
16. Kromm, 507.
17. Johanna Braun, “Introduction: Searching for Methods in this Madness,” in Hysterical Methodologies in Arts: Rising in Revolt (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021), 5.
List of Figures
Figure 1: M.A. Duparc, Hôpital Salpêtrière, Paris: panoramic view (after J. Savard), lithograph print, 1789, Wellcome Collection, https://wellcomecollection.org/works/bhubwca7.
Figure 2: William Hunter, Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrate, book illustration, 1774, Wellcome Collection, https://wellcomecollection.org/ search?query=William+Hunter%2C+Anatomia+uteri+hu%20 mani+gravidi+tabulis+illustrate
Figure 3: Albert Londe (in collaboration with Jean Martin Charcot), Baillements Hystériques, Series of three chronological photographs (showing an unidentified Salpétrière patient), late-19th century, Wellcome Collection, https://www.jstor.org/ stable/community.24749368
Endnotes
1. Iona Gilbert, “The Phototextual Emergence of Hysteria,” Kronos 46, no. 1 (2020): 129.
2. Emmanuela Pustan, “On the Artistic Propensity of Pathology: Georges Didi-Huberman and the Invention of Hysteria,” Caietele Echinox 32, no. 2 (2017): 148.
3. Anna Furse, “Hysteria in Pictures,” in Hysterical Methodologies in the Arts: Rising in Revolt, ed. Johanna Braun (Berlin: Springer International Publishing, 2001), 75.
4. Anna Furse, “Hysteria in Pictures,” 75.
5. Patrick Laviolette, “Conclusion: Landscaping Leisure and the Accelerated Flaneur,” in Extreme Landscapes of Leisure (Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2011), 187.
6. Andreas Killen, “Psychiatry and its Visual Culture in the Modern Era,” in The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health, ed. Greg Eghigian (Oxford: Taylor and Francis Group, 2017), 174.
Figure 4: Albert Londe (in collaboration with Jean Martin Charcot), Example of facial spasms, or hysterics, on the right side of a female face, photograph, late-19th century, Wellcome Collection, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.24753613
Figure 5: Paul Richer, Table of hysteria attacks, illustrated diagram, University of California, San Diego, https://www.jstor.org/ stable/community.13881718
Figure 6: Paul Régnard, Attitudes Passionnelles (Menace), photograph, 1878, University of California, San Diego, https:// www.jstor.org/stable/community.13880453
Figure 7: Paul Régnard, Début D’une Attaque, photograph, 1878, University of California, San Diego, https://www.jstor.org/ stable/community.13878200
Figure 8: Paul Régnard, Hystero-Epilepsy: Contracture, photograph, 1878, 30 x 20 cm (mounted), University of California, San Diego, https://www.jstor.org/stable/ community.13876507.
Figure 9: Paul Régnard, Attitudes Passionnelles (Erotisme), printed photograph, 1878, University of California, San Diego, https:// www.jstor.org/stable/community.13872515.
HART3330 Art Writing
Unit Coordinator: Dr. Darren Jorgenson
DANIEL GLOVER
‘Dial-A-Poem: Poetry, Telecommunication, and a Collapse of Time and Space’
+1 917 994 8949
‘Dial-A-Poem’
Chimes the receiver of a black rotary phone’s cold, hard handset, stating the name of John Giorno’s 1968 poetic project. At the beginning of each phone call, an unidentified man states “Dial-APoem” to affirm the exchange of the project; dial the above number and receive a poem read to you by its poet.1 This was Giorno’s poetic scheme which sought to utilise new technological means of tele-communication to discover unique modes of disseminating and engaging with poetry.2 Giorno utilised the experiential properties of the phone to transform some 293 pieces of poetry by 135 different poets into conversational engagements, as the one-sided exchange of a poem is transformed into a dialogue-like catchup with a friend.3 Immediacy is key to this project, as to dial the number connects you directly to the poet(’s audio tape). Giorno harnesses the interconnectivity of the telephone to liberate poetry from the confines of text and digits. The phone transforms these poets and their poems by utilising the phenomenological properties of telecommunication, opening their text up to subjective interpretation.
In The Phenomenology of Telephone and Space, Gary Backhaus posits that the telephone creates its own environment, or space, that is a separate realm outside of the conversers who
utilise it.4 This space is created by the two people using the telephone to communicate through a space separate from the real-world face-to-face, and is thematized through the dialogue of either both or one of the participants.5 In Dial-A-Poem’s singularity of narrative and description, the contextual surroundings of the listener become second to that of the speaker.6 The one who narrates their experience consumes the acoustic space of the telephone with their immediate activity. The ground for this discursive exchange is wholly reliant upon the account of the act, leaving the imagined environment open to subjective interpretation and interaction. Backhaus posits that this alters the real-world surroundings of both conversers, as they essentially enter into the fabricated realm together whilst remaining in their physically separate spaces.7 Dial-A-Poem utilises these features to recentre the poem on subjective interpretation, informed by Giorno’s vision of phenomena as a doorway through which we receive life’s most vital energies (love, lust, compassion and joy).8 The poem therefore transforms through the handset of Dial-A-Poem into a fraction of conversation. This project was turned into an installation at the Museum of Modern Art and is the experiential lens through which we will engage with this project.
In a sterile white cube, six rotary telephones sit on vacant, plain tables, their accompanying chairs inviting visitors to sit down and engage with the presentation. I am surrounded by five other callers, as well as the oscillating body of viewers who enter and leave the museum space. Engaged in a private dialogue that no one else around you can hear, there is a feeling of intimacy that emerges from the poems.9 Inserting my finger into the hole of the phone’s rotary wheel, I spin the telephone’s face to trigger my first call with a poet.
Image: Unknown Photographer, John Giorno’s Dial-A-Poem, c. 1970.
A grieving Frank O’Hara follows the operator’s mantra with a recitation of his poem To Hell With It, where bitterness is made manifest through his prose as he recounts the death of young friends.10 His dialogue moves between anger and fond remembrance, as the poem flows linguistically out from its first iteration.11 Like Barthes obsessive search for his dead mother through photography in Camera Lucida, O’Hara bitterly inscribes the names of friends upon his “filthy page of poetry” to preserve the intangible being of those cherished.12 Entranced, I enter into the tele-communicative space I instigated by picking up the phone, an environment which only O’Hara is permitted to describe by the resonance of his voice. In the ephemeral audio realm, verbal recitation transforms poetry into conversation, as if O’Hara talks to me as an old confidant. It is a fictitious idea, of course, yet the crackle of the recording through the old phone and the pouring out of O’Hara’s sorrow invokes this illusion. I draw close to the speaker, hanging off each pause and clinging to every word which passes from his lips. There is an intimacy in this action that the word in text cannot seem to conjure, as written poetry invites careful dissection of structure and symbols. Dial-APoem allows only for an intangible iteration of the trickling speech of O’Hara, with the listener asked to receive that which is said. We are not allowed to verbally respond to O’Hara, the repeated dialogue now one of those “things that don’t change” which bothers him so much. They remind us of the passing of life, that when we die all that remains is memories.13 As the voice of O’Hara ceases, I lower the phone and re-spin its rotary wheel.
The agitated narrative of Allen Ginsberg begins, as he states I Am a Victim of Telephone. The agitation he expresses is directed towards the immediacy and interconnectivity of the telephone, and telecommunication by proxy.14 He tensely
describes ways in which the telephone intersects into and cuts up the everyday performance of life, the telephone now an embodiment of everyone always.15 He recalls to me how the plea “please get him out of jail” follows the ting-a-ling of the phone which cock-blocks Ginsberg just before sex.16 To Ginsberg, the telephone frustratingly encroaches on this casual intimate activity, whilst the phone itself facilitates a means for him to discuss his frustrations with those who receive him. The telephone paradoxically becomes that which interrupts Ginsberg’s ability to inform and describe our tele-communal space. The black box that sits in front of me no longer holds the same charm whilst under the possession of O’Hara. Instead, it is now the thing which interrupts Ginsberg’s simple meal of soup, the singer of the annoying drone which halts his imagination from contemplating the forms of smoke that rise above the skyline. In this interaction, Ginsberg is not just transformed into a companion with whom I share a common irritation, he is the one who transforms the object which permits me to reach him. As a result, this conversation with Ginsberg causes me to become acutely aware of the transformative tele-communal space. This interplay between audial poem and art object is the means by which Dial-A-Poem defines itself, that is it is a constant shift of meaning, an ephemeral being who redefines itself as it randomly reads the poem its program tells it to.17 In the space of the museum, this interaction is safe. But Dial-A-Poem is not just bound to the installation of MoMA. True to its conceptive purpose, the Dial-A-Poem phone line is still operable today to provide free (if you live in the right global zone) access to poetry.18 Will the intimacy and conversational aura of Dial-A-Poem translate outside of the safety of the museum?
Our contemporary technological world sits in stark contrast to that which Dial-A-Poem was born
into. We expect high quality images and audio constantly –almost demand it. But the audio of the Dial-A-Poem archive is crackly and fuzzy. Mark Fisher in “Ghost of My Life” points out that this “crackle” of an old, decaying audio does not allow us to experience the presence of what we hear.19 But as Dial-A-Poem was originally intended to synthesize the leisurely calling of a friend, the poems reading is charged with a “to you” direction which, combined with Fisher’s “crackle,” causes a contradictory state of being. It is as though the poet is present once again, whilst the poor recording that exits my phone keeps me aware of the recorded nature of their dialogue.20 This sentiment parasitically follows each new phone call I instigate through Dial-A-Poem, as my awareness of the past existence of each speaker breaks an illusion of reciprocal conversation. This is the power of Dial-A-Poem – it transcends time and space at once.
When I call the Dial-A-Poem line on my iPhone, the voice received transports me to a moment in time I never existed in. O’Hara is no longer just a mourning friend; he is a ghost who sombrely warns me of the certainties of life and death. The audio realm of Dial-A-Poem is therefore a haunted space, and a kind of necromancy that resurrects the dead poets of the past. In placing these poets in the present, it reinstates relevancy for a contemporary culture on understanding how to live. As Derrida points out, we cannot live without the dead, as these are the ones who define how to conjure that middle place between life and death.21 Dial-A-Poem is this intermediary realm, one where we are able to learn and understand what it means to live through poets who explore sex, life, death and religion.
Endnotes
1. “The Revolutionary Phone Line That Expanded Poetry’s Reach,” Museum of Modern Art, accessed May 23, 2024. https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/884#fn:1.
2. “History,” Giorno Poetry Systems.
3. Museum of Modern Art, “The Revolutionary Phone Line.”; History,” Giorno Poetry Systems.
4. Gary Backhaus, “The Phenomenology of Telephone Space,” Human Studies 20, no. 2 (1997), 203-206, https://doi. org/10.1023/A:1005324618097.
5. Backhaus, “The Phenomenology of Telephone Space”, 203-204.
6. Backhaus, “The Phenomenology of Telephone Space”, 205-207.
7. Backhaus, “The Phenomenology of Telephone Space”, 206-208.
8. Cecily Chen, “John Giorno, Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment,” Chicago Review (University of Chicago, 2022), 149.
9. Backhaus, “The Phenomenology of Telephone Space”, 205, 208.
10. Sam Ladkin, “Frank Speech,” in Frank O’Hara’s New York School and Mid-Century Mannerism: Perfectly Disgraceful, ed. Sam Ladkin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 216-217; Frank O’Hara, “To Hell With It,” in The New American Poetry: 1945-1960, ed. Donald Allen (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 251.
11. Ladkin, “Frank Speech”, 217.
12. O’Hara, “To Hell With It”, 253.
13. O’Hara, “To Hell With It”, 252.
14. Allen Ginsberg, Collected Poems 1947-1997 (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 352.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Here I am speaking in response to Heidegger’s idea of the happening of truth in the opening up of the artwork: Martin Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” in Off the Beaten Track, edt. and trans by Julian Young and Kenneth Haynes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 18.
18. “Dial-A-Poem,” Giorno Poetry Systems, accessed May 23, 2024, https://giornopoetrysystems.org/dial-a-poem
19. Mark Fisher, “00: Lost Futures,” in Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures, ed. Mark Fisher (Winchester: Zer0 Books, 2022), 21.
20. Fisher, “00: Lost Futures”, 21.
21. Jacques Derrida, Spectres of Marx, trans. Peggy Kamuf (1993; repr., New York: Routledge, 2006), xvii.
HART2001 / HART3001 Curating First Nations Art
Unit Coordinator: Arvi Wattel
SASHANA ANANDARAJAH
‘The 1997 Venice Biennale: Merging Fluidity and Fluency”
fluent, held at the Australian Pavilion for the 47th Venice Biennale from June 15th to November 9th,1997, etched its mark in history. For the first time, an exhibition underscored land and communal spirit through distinct yet interconnected works of three Aboriginal women artists. Amidst Australia’s escalating political and social turmoil, the exhibition sought to challenge outdated ‘primitive’ art associations with Indigenous practices, emphasising, instead, their contemporaneity.1 fluent prioritised respect for the earth and alternative modes of Indigenous storytelling, encouraging viewers to broaden their understanding of the possibilities of Aboriginal art within a global and local context. In doing so, binaries of the ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ could be effectively questioned.
Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Yvonne Koolmatrie and Judy Watson were the three Aboriginal artists featured in fluent. Eight paintings on canvas were represented by senior artist Kngwarreye, who would unfortunately pass away a year before the exhibition’s opening. Kngwarreye’s bold abstract ‘stripe’ motifs were imbued with layered meanings. They reference kinship through rhythmic patterns and painted ceremonial designs on women’s bodies,2 while, simultaneously evoking her spiritual relationship to Country through the restless memories of colonial impact. These dynamic, overlapping paintings of black and ochre on white walls drew viewers’ eyes outwards and above to familiar ‘hatched’ design patterns found in
Koolmatrie’s enigmatic eel traps. Suspended from the ceiling were two large, intricately handwoven sculptures made of fragrant sedge grass reeds collected from the Murray Riverland, her home. A traditional coil weaving technique3 but designed with a contemporary sculptural process in mind, these elegant forms signify the material’s strength and fragility whilst demonstrating that the object’s aesthetic significance is equally important to its functionality.4 Connected to Kngwarreye’s abstract paintings but through a Western interpretation are Watson’s dream-like sensual works, displayed on the pavilion’s upper level. Seven unstretched floating canvases soaked with stains of ochre, pastel and pigment5 act as a powerful yet sombre reminder of colonial expansion while synchronously forming a channel between her ‘familiar’ homeland and surrounding Indigenous communities.
The placement of these three artists’ works in the pavilion facilitated a relaxed, contemplative environment, allowing viewers to explore connections between microcosmic, balanced works at their own pace. A subtle link to the city of Venice was further amplified by the climate, where rain, watery canals and shifts in light and temperature seeped their way into the pavilion, heightening the work’s sensory experience for visitors.6 A flowing, visual ‘language’ instinctively transformed the space, mirroring the intertwined oral history of Aboriginal culture, past and present. Curated by Hetti Perkins and Brenda L Croft, along with third curator and project coordinator Victoria Lynn, the selected works were chosen for their effortless cohesion and ability to subtly critique rigid binaries, such as ‘art’ and ‘craft’. By drawing parallels between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems, an eloquent merging, or ‘fluidity’, could be formed, where each artist’s work strengthened the significance of the one displayed next to it. Perkins emphasises
Image: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Untitled (Awelye), 1994. Black and ochre synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Photograph part of fluent exhibition catalogue. Courtesy of The National Library of Australia.
that the exhibition’s premise was centred on this interconnectedness, a “continuous ebb and flow, looking to traditions and precedents outside conventional Western sources of inspiration.”7 The title fluent reflects this unified relationship, indicating that Aboriginal cultural values can coexist amongst Western perspectives without losing their inherent individuality. Perkins and Croft had previously worked together at Boomalli Aboriginal Arts Cooperative in Sydney, which enhanced their expertise in curating urban and regional Indigenous art8 while strengthening their familial bonds to Indigenous communities. Additionally, Lynn’s position as curator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales proved essential to the curatorium, as her knowledge of international contemporary art9 could be effectively harnessed. All three curators possessed extensive experience in collaborative practices, enabling them to refine and build upon previous methodologies, resulting in a distinctive curatorial foundation for fluent.
The Venice Biennale is an immense opportunity, often becoming a career highlight for artists worldwide. Occurring every two years, participation in this major contemporary art event means greater endorsement and heightened visibility, with its significance asserted by art historians such as Bernard Smith, who, back in 1958, claimed the Venice Biennale was the only one of its kind, ‘attracting audiences across multiple critical, art and literary disciplines on a global scale’.10 This same year marked Australia’s first official participation in Venice featuring the works of two male artists, as did the 1978 exhibition of another three male artists. For this reason, the 1997 Venice Biennale was momentous, as the exhibition inverted a historically all-male line-up11 by presenting the work of all women. The decision to represent all Indigenous female artists and curators made this even more
significant. Coming together for the first time in history to represent a nation at the world’s oldest, most prestigious global art exhibition is challenging to overstate. Building on the critical representation of two Aboriginal men at the 1990 Venice Biennale, fluent helped to push diversity and social inclusivity even further within such a valued setting.
fluent was primarily conceived in response to the heightened discourse surrounding Aboriginal rights in Australia, with 1997 marking the thirtieth anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, which included Indigenous people in the national census. However, rather than using this symbolic year along with their newly appointed position at the Venice Biennale to push towards a political agenda, the curatorium, in partnership with the Australian Council, made a considered decision to encourage viewers to interpret the selected works as ‘international contemporary art.’12 As noted by art critic John McDonald, the exhibition ultimately became a “self-contained, aesthetically complete experience.”13 By not adopting a politically reactive stance, the true essence of the three artist’s works could be fully appreciated in their own right without unfair comparisons to primitive art or ‘exotica’ – a perception that has since noticeably shifted within ethnographic museums internationally.
In this sense, the curatorium’s decision to redefine such out-of-date notions was pivotal. Not only did this choice result in the exhibition subtly challenging principal concepts of contemporaneity to international and non-Indigenous audiences,14 but it also acknowledged the dire need for greater Aboriginal control and involvement within Australian institutions, thereby expanding the field of Aboriginal art. The 1997 Venice Biennale thus had a powerful ripple effect, fostering Indigenous agency and curatorial radicalism both internationally and ‘locally’ in Australia. One of the
most remarkable outcomes inspired by fluent was noted by Chiricahua Apache curator Nancy Marie Mithlo, who was part of several milestone Native American exhibitions at the Venice Biennale in the following decades.15 Mithlo stated that without fluent, ‘there would have been no chance of Native American artists or curators being selected to represent America.’16 This assertion demonstrates the profound impact of the 1997 exhibition, which served as a catalyst for change by igniting Indigenous minorities’ efforts to be taken more seriously within global landmark events.
As the 21st century dawned, Indigenous art has continued to reveal its self-assuredness and limitless potential despite ongoing concerns involving displacement and interpretive struggles within Western institutions. fluent, a tribute to Kngwarreye and a celebration of Aboriginal women’s collaboration, demonstrates that contemporary Indigenous art can harmoniously build upon traditional practices and speak to diverse cultures through unique, entwined stories. The wide resonance of the three artists’ works reflects the curators’ exemplary innovation and commitment to indigenizing a contemporary space, affirming that historical centres of power like the Venice Biennale can act as sites of global assertion for Indigenous sovereignty.
5. Sibyl Fisher, 809.
6. Brenda Croft, “Where Ancient Waterways and Dreams Intertwine,” Periphery 34, Autumn (1998): 2.
7. Hetti Perkins, Fluent: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Yvonne Koolmatrie, Judy Watson (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1997): 12.
8. Sibyl Fisher, “Fluent in Venice: Curating Australian Aboriginal Art beyond the ‘Urban/Desert’ Paradigm,” Interventions (London, England) 17, no. 6 (2015): 805.
9. Stephen Gilchrist, “Belonging and Unbelonging: Indigenous Forms of Curation as Expressions of Sovereignty. Chapter Two: Insisting Fluent Curated by Hetti Perkins and Brenda L Croft” (Doctoral Thesis, 2020): 79.
10. Sarah Scott, “Imaging a Nation: Australia’s Representation at the Venice Biennale, 1958,” Journal of Australian Studies 27, no. 79 (2003): 58.
11. Stephen Gilchrist, 73.
12. Laura Fisher and Gay McDonald, “From Fluent to Culture Warriors: Curatorial Trajectories for Indigenous Australian Art Overseas,” Media International Australia 158, no. 1 (2016): 74.
13. Stephen Gilchrist, 91.
14. Stephen Gilchrist, “Defining Moments: Aratjara: Art of the First Australians & Fluent,” Oct 12, 2020, YouTube Video, 19.15-19.26, posted by “ACCA, Melbourne” https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=cGtCTLD0RpI&t=1s
15. Laura Fisher and Gay McDonald, Ibid.
16. Ibid.
Endnotes
1. Sibyl Fisher, “Fluent in Venice: Curating Australian Aboriginal Art beyond the ‘Urban/Desert’ Paradigm,” Interventions (London, England) 17, no. 6 (2015): 803.
2. “Australia, Fluent: XLVII Esposizone Internazionale D’arte La Biennale Di Venezia,” Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 1997. https://content.acca.melbourne/legacy/files/1998_ Fluent_brochure.pdf
3. Sibyl Fisher, 808.
4. Stephen Gilchrist, “Belonging and Unbelonging: Indigenous Forms of Curation as Expressions of Sovereignty. Chapter Two: Insisting Fluent Curated by Hetti Perkins and Brenda L Croft” (Doctoral Thesis, 2020): 105.
HART1000 Great Moments in Art Unit Coordinator:
Arvi Wattel
ELLA JUDGE
‘The Political Allegories Behind Donatello’s Florentine Renaissance Sculpture Judith and Holofernes’
For over two millennia, the story of Judith has served as a source of inspiration for Christians and artists alike.1 Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes sculpture, commissioned by the Medici family, reflects the social and political landscape of Renaissance Florence during the early 15th century, representing the Medici’s ascent to power and their strategic use of arts patronage to shape public perception.2
The tale of Judith and Holofernes as told in the Old Testament recounts the courageous actions of Judith, a devout Jewish widow, who protects her people from conquest by the Assyrian general, Holofernes.3 Living in the town of Bethulia, Judith sees her community besieged by the Assyrian forces.4 With the town on the brink of surrender, Judith prays to God for the strength and will to deceive and murder Holofernes.5 At a feast orchestrated by Holofernes with the intent to seduce Judith, Judith captivates him with her beauty, leading him to drink excessively and fall into a drunken slumber.6 Judith enters Holofernes’ chamber, and beheads him with his own sword, before returning to Bethulia where she displays Holofernes’ head on the city walls, striking fear into the hearts of the Assyrians.7
Donatello’s depiction of Judith does not detail the entirety of the biblical tale, instead, it captures a singular frozen moment within the narrative.8 It marks the dramatic moment between the initial and
subsequent strikes that lead to the decapitation of Holofernes.9 Judith is depicted standing with her right arm aloft, ready to strike Holofernes’ neck with the sword held in her left hand. Holofernes is seen beneath her in an awkward posture, his head twisted in relation to his body, suggesting he has already been struck once and anticipates the second deadly blow.10 Because of its elevated placement, away from Judith’s body, the sword is clearly visible from any angle.11 The sword becomes a focal point, accentuated given its significance in the story of it belonging to Holofernes himself.12 The sword is therefore a “defining attribute of the figure of Judith”.13
The evolution of Judith iconography in art can be traced back to frescoes dating back to the fifth century in Naples, persisting through the Renaissance with contributions from artists like Donatello in the form of sculpture and Caravaggio’s oil paintings.14 Throughout history the portrayal of Judith, the settings in which she appeared, and the meaning attributed to her were not entirely fixed.15 However, notably, in the fourteenth century, Judith adopted a new significance, with the biblical figure often personifying emblematic messages.16 The fourteenth and early fifteenth century gave birth to artworks that merged Judith’s imagery with that of virtues from psychomachia, including humility, courage and justice.17 In fifteenth-century Florence, Judith underwent particularly profound changes in her depiction. She rose to prominence in Florentine art between 1425 and 1512.18 As the Renaissance dawned, interpretations of Judith became increasingly politicised.19 Contemporary connotations, often carrying civic and secular themes, were attributed to Judith for the first time, alongside her traditional representation of moral and religious ideals.20 Florence adopted Judith
fervently, unlike any other city, elevating her to an allegorical representation of the collective identity of Florence.21 Positioned alongside Donatello’s David, she signified the city’s victory over its adversaries, embodying Florence’s resilience and strength, a message strategically sponsored by the Medici family.22
The political meaning behind Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes sculpture lies in its association with the city of Florence and the ruling of the economic elite- the Medici family.23 Cosimo de’ Medici, banker and politician, commissioned arguably the most prolific sculptor in Florence at the time, Donatello, to sculpt the bronze statue Judith and Holofernes (late 1450s–early 1460s).
24 The Medici family was a prominent political force in Florentine society, with Cosimo de’Medici and his descendants playing influential roles in the city’s governance.25 At the time of the commissioning, Florence was transitioning from a republican form of government to a more oligarchic rule, with the Medici consolidating their power and influence.26 The commissioning of Judith and Holofernes during this period can be seen as a strategic move by the Medici to solidify their political narrative and assert their authority in Florence.27
In 1464, the Medici Palace garden saw the installation of a fountain featuring Donatello’s statue Judith and Holofernes, atop a column bearing the inscription “Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues; behold the neck of pride severed by the hand of humility.”28 Donatello’s David was too housed within the palace’s gardens.29 The pairing of the two biblical figures in parallel served as subtle representation of Florence’s resilience as a small principality amidst ongoing conflicts with larger city-states.
30 The inscription in the context of Florence during this time, emphasizes this victory of humility over
Image: Donatello, Judith and Holofernes, 1457–64, bronze statue, Palazzo della Signoria, Florence, Italy.
pride, or the suggested triumph of Florentine society over these external threats.31 As for the Medici, the de facto rulers of the state, the statue coupled with its inscription, served to paint the family as virtuous, disassociating them from purely wealth seeking pursuits.32 Collectively, Donatello’s sculptures, David and Judith and Holofernes, express a contentious and self-serving narrative, suggesting that the Medici family’s influence in Florence paralleled the revered biblical figures who slayed tyrants and rescued the populace.33 This visual political propaganda counters the increasing allegations that the Medici family were tyrants who had monopolised genuine authority, draining it from the city’s republican institutions.34 The Medici Palace, therefore, became a symbolic link between the artworks and the political landscape of Florence at the time.35
Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes continued to carry a potent political symbol, even after the expelling of the Medici family from power.36 In 1495, the recently restored Florentine Republic, seized Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes from the Medici Palace, altered the inscription to “An exemplar of the public good. The citizens installed it here in 1495”, and relocated it to the Palazzo della Signoria, the city’s governmental heart.37 The appropriation of the statue and it’s new meaning symbolised the Republic’s victorious end to Medici de facto dominance.38
Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes served as a visual reminder of Florence’s identity, as well as the Medici’s authority and strategic use of arts patronage as a political tool for persuasion in times of discord.39 Despite attempts to remove or replace the statue overtime, its enduring presence in Florence’s civic landscape speaks to its lasting impact as a potent symbol of political power and cultural identity.40
Endnotes
1. Robert Marvin Knotts, “Judith in Florentine Renaissance Art” (Ph.D., The Ohio State University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1995), 1-2, https://www.proquest.com/ docview/304230109?_oafollow=false&accountid=14681&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses
2. Rebecca Propp, “Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes: A Symbol of Tyranny and Virtue in Renaissance Florence,” The Concordia Undergraduate Journal of Art History, no. 11 (2015): 17-18, accessed April 1, 2024, https://www.thecujah.com/_files/ugd/ bd5cf2_97e7ce891b6e47f79c3468a7c46e1096.pdf#page=9
3. Kevin R Brine, Elena Ciletti, and Henrike Lähnemann, “Donatello’s Judith as the Emblem of God’s Chosen People,” In The Sword of Judith, (United Kingdom: Open Book Publishers, 2010), 310, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5vjt5x
4. Knotts, “Judith in Florentine Renaissance Art,” 2.
5. Propp, “Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes,” 18.
6. Propp, 18.
7. Knotts, 2-3.
8. Caoimhín De Bhailís, “A Reappraisal of Donatello’s Bronze Judith and Holofernes,” Aigne, no 5 (2014): 12, accessed April 3, 2024, https://aigne.ucc.ie/index.php/aigne/article/ download/1499/1469/1570
9. Allie Terry, “Donatello’s Decapitations and the Rhetoric of Beheading in Medicean Florence,” Renaissance Studies 23, no. 5 (2009): 613, accessed April 4, 2024, https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00593.x
10. Terry, “Donatello’s Decapitations and the Rhetoric of Beheading in Medicean Florence,” 613.
11. Terry, 613.
12. Brine, Ciletti and Lähnemann, “Donatello’s Judith as the Emblem of God’s Chosen People,” 3.
13. Brine, Ciletti and Lähnemann, 3.
14. Brine, 18.
15. Knotts, 4.
16. Knotts, 4-5.
17. Knotts, 5.
18. Knotts, 5. `
19. Sarah Blake McHam, “Donatello’s Bronze ‘David’ and ‘Judith’ as Metaphors of Medici Rule in Florence,” The Art Bulletin (New York, N.Y.) 83, no. 1 (2001): 34, accessed April 4, 2024, https://doi.org/10.2307/3177189
20. Knotts, 5.
21. Matthew G Looper, “Political Messages in the Medici Palace Garden,” Journal of Garden History 12, no. 4 (1992): 29, accessed April 4, 2024, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1 0.1080/01445170.1992.10410554
22. Annissa M Conditt, “Understanding Judith in a Misogynistic World: Female Representations in 16th Century Florence” (Ph.D., Lindenwood University, 2019), 6,
23. Conditt, “Understanding Judith in a Misogynistic World: Female Representations in 16th Century Florence,” 2.
24. Knotts, 157.
25. McHam, “Donatello’s Bronze ‘David’ and ‘Judith’ as Metaphors of Medici Rule in Florence,” 32
26. McHam, 32.
27. Propp, 16.
28. Looper, “Political Messages in the Medici Palace Garden,” 257.
29. McHam, 32.
30. Looper, 29.
31. Knotts, 18.
32. Roger J Crum. “Severing the Neck of Pride: Donatello’s ‘Judith and Holofernes’ and the Recollection of Albizzi Shame in Medicean Florence,” Artibus et Historiae 22, no. 44 (2001): 23, accessed April 4, 2024, https://doi.org/10.2307/1483711
33. McHam, 32.
34. McHam, 32.
35. Looper, 255.
36. Brine, 307.
37. Brine, 307-311.
38. Propp, 22.
39. Crum, “Severing the Neck of Pride: Donatello’s ‘Judith and Holofernes’ and the Recollection of Albizzi Shame in Medicean Florence,” 23.
40. Conditt, 10.
Bibliography
Bell, Peter Jonathan. “Donatello, Alberti, and the Freestanding Statue in Fifteenth-Century Florence.” In The Art of Sculpture in Fifteenth-Century Italy, edited by Amy R Bloch and Daniel M Zolli, 101–117. Cambridge University Press, 2020. https:// doi.org/10.1017/9781108579322.007
Brine, Kevin R. Ciletti, Elena and Lähnemann, Henrike. “Donatello’s Judith as the Emblem of God’s Chosen People.” In The Sword of Judith, 307–324. United Kingdom: Open Book Publishers, 2010. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5vjt5x
Conditt, Annissa M. “Understanding Judith in a Misogynistic World: Female Representations in 16th Century Florence”. Ph.D., Lindenwood University, 2019. https:// digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1027&context=theses
Crum, Roger J. “Severing the Neck of Pride: Donatello’s ‘Judith and Holofernes’ and the Recollection of Albizzi Shame in Medicean Florence.” Artibus et Historiae 22, no. 44 (2001): 23–29. Access April 4, 2024. https://doi.org/10.2307/1483711
De Bhailís, Caoimhín. “A Reappraisal of Donatello’s Bronze
Judith and Holofernes.” Aigne, no 5 (2014): 5-18. Access April 3, 2024. https://aigne.ucc.ie/index.php/aigne/article/ download/1499/1469/1570
Knotts, Robert Marvin, “Judith in Florentine Renaissance Art”. Ph.D., The Ohio State University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1995. https://www.proquest.com/ docview/304230109?_oafollow=false&accountid=14681&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses.
Looper, Matthew G. “Political Messages in the Medici Palace Garden.” Journal of Garden History 12, no. 4 (1992): 255–268. Access April 4, 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10. 1080/01445170.1992.10410554
McHam, Sarah Blake. “Donatello’s Bronze ‘David’ and ‘Judith’ as Metaphors of Medici Rule in Florence.” The Art Bulletin (New York, N.Y.) 83, no. 1 (2001): 32–47. Access April 2, 2024. https:// doi.org/10.2307/3177189
Propp, Rebecca. “Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes: A Symbol of Tyranny and Virtue in Renaissance Florence.” The Concordia Undergraduate Journal of Art History, no. 11 (2015): 15-26. Access April 1, 2024. https://www.thecujah.com/_files/ugd/ bd5cf2_97e7ce891b6e47f79c3468a7c46e1096.pdf#page=9
Terry, Allie. “Donatello’s Decapitations and the Rhetoric of Beheading in Medicean Florence.” Renaissance Studies 23, no. 5 (2009): 609–638. Access April 4, 2024. https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00593.x
Image: UWA School of Design, Level 2.15, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Samantha Dye.
Foreword by Beau Robinson
It feels like only yesterday I graduated from commerce in 2020 and embarked on my conversion master’s in architecture (only to be plunged into lockdown five weeks later). Now, four years on, I find myself leaving my studies with more questions about both the world and myself than answers – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As tomorrow’s graduates move forward, I hope they too will continue questioning the world around them and their place within it, as this level of curiousness helps us perpetually grow and develop as architects beyond our education.
The school should take pride in the high calibre of work produced by students, under the supervision of technically excellent and knowledgeable teaching staff. Yet, I believe the most profound influences – often unseen and unheralded – come from the personal quality and values of the teachers and staff making it all possible. Their impact extends beyond the tangible outcomes we see today; it lies in the intangible qualities instilled in students, with lifelong lessons that will endure long after their days at the UWA School of Design. This was the greatest gift of my education: recognising that fulfilment was not really about the end result of work produced, but about the personal transformation, growth and development throughout the process shaping you as a person, as much as your design thinking. I encourage you all to embrace the journey of creating in this degree, because it will be finished before you know it. Push beyond self-imposed limitations into deeper waters just beyond your comfort zone, because pushing through these unfamiliar areas brings you exciting new areas of growth (borrowing some wisdom from David Bowie).
Reflecting on work in the Winter Collective 2024, one thing is clear: the standard continues to rise, and it fills me with immense happiness witnessing this progression. The best work stems from authenticity, serving as an extension of the creator’s personality. Having courage to display authenticity through work is a profound lesson acquired throughout this degree. The UWA School of Design provides an excellent platform for students to curate this aspect of their creative identities. In architecture, the significance of work often lies not purely in its outward appearance, but what the physical work represents about the inward character of its creator. These projects are vignettes of how students have thought, felt, and grown during this pivotal phase of their lives – each piece a culmination of hard work, moments of inspiration, bouts of self-doubt, laughter, and perhaps a few tears. As an outside observer, you will undoubtedly see an abundance of character throughout the Winter Collective. However, my hope is that one day these students look back on their body of work and recognise a reflection of themselves that takes them back to this point in time – one they should truly be proud of.
I will miss all these moments and experiences, but I have my collection of vignettes through which I can reminisce, and I am excited to see the future student work to come!
Beau Robinson, Master of Architecture 2024.
Image: Nembrala Surf Resort, Detail Design studio coordinated by Andrea Quagliola.
Architecture
Image: UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Courtney Holloway.
Summer Online Intensive Studio
Unit Coordinator: Emiliano Roia
‘Living the Landscape’
ANDREW TIET
‘Living the Landscape’
In Utah’s desert landscape of mesas, ridges and gorges, on top of a plateau with stunning views, the studio asks students to design a site-specific hospitality compound. A place of rest, a retreat that will immerse the customers in a unique desert experience. The studio aims to investigate a form of sustainable tourism, a perfect equilibrium between the built forms, people and the environment (natural and cultural).
The primary idea of the project revolves around a succession of gentle undulations stretching across the space, seamlessly blending with and enveloping the natural surroundings while nurturing a sense of privacy and a profound connection to the earth. The ensuites will be partially incorporated into the landscape, oriented towards the south to amplify the feeling of being rooted and protected from the disturbances of urban life. This alignment serves to deepen the connection to the earth even more.
Image: Main house and ensuites.
Image: Ensuites.
Athens Summer Studio
Unit Coordinators: Dr Nigel Westbrook & Kalliope Kontozoglou
‘Iera Odos: The Sacred Way between Athens and Eleusis’
SOFIE NIELSEN
‘Iera Odos: The Sacred Way between Athens and Eleusis’
‘The studio brief centres on Iera Odos, the road leading from Athens through the mountains and down to the town of Elefsina, on the Saronic Gulf. In 2023, Elefsina was one of several towns and cities nominated as “cultural capitals” on the basis of their heritage and need for reimagining. The studio therefore followed this lead in calling on students to reimagine the Iera Odos, once the most sacred processional way in ancient Athens, but now a semi-derelict chain of unplanned developments, reused industrial sites and moments of beauty such as the mountains and botanical gardens. Sofie Nielsen’s project, like several other students’ concepts, sought to find strategies for the reuse and revival of abandoned industrial buildings and their open spaces as cultural landscapes into which new programmes could be inserted. The resultant proposal was an integration of architectural and landscape regeneration strategies for the creation of new social spaces.’ – Dr Nigel Westbrook.
Demeter’s Garden
The project envisioned the reuse of the abandoned brick Kronos factory facing the sea at Elefsina. It creates a series of imagined tableaux: the Ballroom, Demeter’s Garden, the Shells, the Pool-room. Each becomes a (wild) garden, or a productive wild herb garden. The site is returned to its beginnings.
“At last, I say, we reached Eleusis – some two thousand years after out time”.
Image: Plan of Museum of Natural Mystery.
Legend
Primary pathway
Existing condition
Community gardens
Fragments
Island
Proposed tree
Regeneration beds
Beginning
Demeters Gardens [M4-1-2]
Kronus Heritage Buildings
Nursery beds [M4-1-2]
Pump room [M1-1-M3-2]
Woodland [M1-1-M2-1]
The Ballroom [M1-1-M3-2]
Propagation Houses [M4-1]
The ‘Shells’ [M1-1]
Image: (Right) The Shells; (Left) Demeter’s Garden.
ARCT5101 Architectural Studio
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Philip Goldswain
‘Ad-hoc Studio’
HARVEY RUPP
‘Ad-hoc Studios – Mixed-use Under the Umbrella’
Making use of materials from demolition sites in the area, the North Perth Bowls club site is transformed, adding a visual and performing arts centre while retaining existing functions. Key topological restraints are opened by re-locating parts of existing buildings, ensuring a coherent and accessible experience across the site, while the ‘umbrella’ arts centre shades and surrounds the existing ground condition.
Image: Site strategy diagram – core removed and umbrella added.
Image: (Left) Collage; (Right) Experiential collage and mixed-use amphitheatre section.
ARCT5102 Architectural Studio 2
Unit Coordinator: Dr Philip Goldswain
Studio Coordinator: Gemma Hohnen
‘(de) construction – Design for one, design for all’
GRETA LODEDO
‘Flexidorms – The European inspired flexible space’
In the city of Perth, the challenge of providing affordable housing for students, who often struggle with high rents for single rooms due to financial constraints, is increasingly pressing. This motivated me to focus on developing a student residence in the Beaconsfield area, which is currently underutilized and neglected. The primary goal of this project is to cultivate a sense of security and community among residents/students, achieved through expansive communal spaces on the ground floors that promote social interactions. These spaces will not only facilitate group study, recreational activities, and community events but also contribute to a vibrant and supportive living environment.
Central to the project’s ethos is its modularity and adaptability, departing from traditional Australian architectural norms to embrace a more ‘European’ model. All spaces are designed based on a specific imaginary grid size, with apartments following a single modular design that allows for easy adjustment of furnishings and non-load-bearing walls to accommodate different numbers of occupants.
Moreover, sustainability is a fundamental pillar of the design, emphasizing energy efficiency and the use of environmentally friendly materials. This holistic approach aims not only to align with global sustainability trends but also to minimize the embodied carbon footprint of the residence. By reducing embodied carbon through thoughtful material choices and construction methods, the project seeks to make a positive environmental impact while benefiting the local community.
Image: Accommodation types and the basic module or the model type of accommodation and its adaptability.
FLEXIBLE PRIV SPACE
NUMBERS OF DWELLINGS : 62
SHARED ROOM
SINGL E ROOM
Single people and friends
Students and young people Families
TYPOLOGY B FLOOR 1
NUMBER OF DWELLINGS: 11
Image: Ground floor and the relationship between user and context.
ARCT5101 Architectural Studio
Unit Coordinator: Dr Philip Goldswain
Studio Coordinator: Andrew Lillyman
‘Hi(Vis) Culture’
SEI HUNTER YAMASHITA
‘Hi(Vis) Culture’
The landscape of South Hedland achieves a beautiful balance through the harmonious interplay of two primary elements: mining facilities and the natural terrain. These elements are characterized by lines and planes (mining) and points and volumes (the Aboriginal land). These elements seldom intersect, as man-made structures often create an impression of encroaching upon nature, which is generally frowned upon.
However, as demonstrated by the town’s scenery, when an exquisite balance is maintained, the delicate and modest strength of human-made structures supporting the vastness of nature can be expressed, along with the grand and intricate beauty of nature itself. This approach is considered the most fitting way to capture the aesthetic essence of South Hedland’s beauty.
Image: Exterior perspective.
ARCT5102 Architectural Studio 2
Unit Coordinator: Dr Philip Goldswain
Studio Coordinator: Alex Stevens
‘The Missing Middle and the Great Divide’
YONGJUN PARK
‘Gumtree Courtyard’
Commonly, medium-density housing prioritises maximising private space while minimising public areas. In this project that norm is challenged by creating wider usable space. Ample public open areas, such as a central courtyard, and interstitial spaces between detached dwellings have been incorporated, while still ensuring comfortable amounts of private space for residents.
The housing complex features a central courtyard surrounded by dwellings. This space, along with a communal area at the entrance, plays a key role in fostering a sense of community. As residents pass through the site, they can connect, with eye contact and greetings. Children can play safely in this secure environment, while parents watch from their homes.
All private outdoor spaces face north to maximise sunlight exposure, creating an ideal environment for vegetation to flourish. Indoors, habitable rooms also benefit from northern orientation. Warm winter sunlight fills the living areas, while offering natural shadow during hot summer days with passive solar design. To maximise sunlight exposure, the building’s southern parapets have been slightly cut back.
Vehicle and pedestrian circulations are separated for safety reasons. Cars enter along the overshadowed northern boundary. Parking is provided beneath one unit, with charging stations for electric vehicles. The design prioritises clear pedestrian walkways. Upon exiting cars, residents utilise the main pedestrian path leading to their homes.
The project incorporates various low-carbon strategies to minimise environmental impact. Reused bricks and recycled concrete significantly reduce embodied carbon in the building materials. Operational carbon is addressed through passive solar design, rooftop solar panels, LED lighting, an all-electric system, stormwater reuse, permeable paving, and skylights for natural light. Dwellings are compact and efficiently designed to reduce their footprint and overall cost.
Located in Scottsdale amidst bushland prone to wildfire this dwelling act both as a climate refuge and retreat. The Nest comprises of two parts. The exoskeleton holding the Nest is designed with the aim of complying to the strictest bushfire building regulations, the BAL – Flame Zone. The exoskeleton is constructed with mild steel I-beams and folded mild steel sheets. A metal mesh wraps the spaces between the columns erected from a concrete ring foundation. This external skin partly protects the sacrificial guts and provides access to The Nest
Inspired by the silhouette and function of water towers, The Nest catches rainwater on the roof to be stored in the water tank. A singular downpipe drops down acting as a handrail and enters the sacrificial guts to the kitchen sink. The greywater, with addition of scheme water continues the journey downhill. Passing a trough to allow for washing of clothes and body, before ending at a sink to wash one’s hands after a visit to the ‘utedo’/green toilet.
In the case of a bushfire raging though the site, the future ruin will be able to provide the essentials for dwelling. A safe and dry place to sleep and water amenities. The ruin comprises of mild steel elements. From the nest itself and the exoskeleton including the staircase, to the bench top and chimney.
The Nest is a simple dwelling in its material choice but with sophisticated detailing. With varying levels of exposure to the elements, the vertical journey between inside and outside connects to the journey of water on site. The surrounding trees are present from the huggable trunk at ground level to the dancing leaves as the canopies are viewed from the sunken bed.
Image: Sections of The Nest is a mild steel structure imitating a water tower, and protects a sacrificial timber core designed to burn away in the case of a bushfire.
Image: Collage with final drawings and model photography of The Nest. The sacrificial structure stands detached from the future ruin in metal.
ARCT5202 Detailed Design Studio 2
Unit Coordinator: Dr Beth George
Studio Coordinator: Joel Benichou
‘The Granny Flat Revolution’
JAY TYLER
‘The Communal Complex’
The Granny Flat Revolution project taps into the recently updated 2024 R-codes to catalyse a shift towards medium-density living, enhancing our urban fabric by promoting compact, efficient homes in areas zoned R30-R60. This initiative eliminates the minimum site area requirements for ancillary dwellings and allows small homes to reduce their site area by 35%, provided they adhere to specific design standards.
The focus property at 163 Chelmsford Road, North Perth, is ideally located - just 380m from the local activity centre. Situated near major thoroughfares like Vincent Street and Fitzgerald Street, the area enjoys robust public transport options and a vibrant street life. The primary residence benefits from proximity to natural spaces, sports facilities, and leisure zones. This 606m2 site includes a primary dwelling of 179m2 and a spacious 282m2 backyard, adjacent to a publicly accessible laneway. With an R40 zoning, it is primed for innovative development without the constraints of minimum site areas, facilitating the construction of subdivided units as small as 70m2 on lots of 117m2 each.
In fostering community spirit, the project features shared spaces such as a communal garden accessible to all residents. This garden revitalises the underused laneway and serves as a social hub with a BBQ area, vegetable patches, and ample seating, all linked by a communal stairway with integrated seating and vegetation. The development comprises a series of compact, accessible homes that contribute to a densely populated, yet thoroughly liveable environment. This forward-thinking approach not only maximises space but also sets a benchmark for affordable, attractive, and sustainable urban living.
Image: Sectional perspective.
Image: (Left) Communal garden axonometric; (Right) First floor plan perspective.
ARCT5201 Detailed Design Studio
Unit Coordinator: Dr Beth George
Studio Coordinator: Dr Nicoletta Pizzuti
‘Adapting Heritage: The Pensioner Guard Cottage and Residence, Bassendean, WA’
AHMAD IRFAN MOHAMAD YUSOF
‘Adapting Heritage: The Pensioner Guard Cottage and Residence, Bassendean, WA’
The proposal aims to adapt the existing structure of the Pensioner Guard Cottage and Residence located in Bassendean, WA to the evolving needs and uses of the local and broader community. The Cottage has a high degree of historic significance for its association with colonial settlement and it is listed in the State Heritage Register of Western Australia.
The Residence underwent significant alterations in 1952, which included the demolition of its roof and the unique eyelash profile Verandah. Understanding the history, heritage values and conditions of the historic fabric is fundamental for a sympathetic, respectful and innovative adaptations to the overall structure.
Preservation and Revitalisation upon the existing Residence is being proposed with the adherence of the principles and process of the Burra Charter, guidelines of the Conservation Management Plan, Local and State Heritage Policies.
The architectural works included the reconstruction of the Residence’s roof and eyelash Verandah in their original design to enhance the cultural significance of the place. The proposal also includes the removal of the cement base render to expose the historic Flemish bond brickwork. Though the existing structures of the Residence are weathered, some are being repurposed to accommodate current demands of a museum and training centre.
Introducing contemporary materials such as Heritage Galvanized Custom Orb Cladding and Laminated Jarrah signifies the intended finish of the development from c.1893. Lightweight structures are used for intricate fixings onto the existing walls, preserving the integrity of the overall fabric.
A proposal that layers over historical developments and values would not only revitalise the overall setting, but also repurpose a significant piece of history to be appreciated by the public.
Image: Section highlighting existing and proposed developments of the museum space.
ARCT5520
Drawing Resilience
Unit Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov
‘Tokyo Studio – Charged Voids, Absences and Intervals’
SOPHIA MARSON VAPENSTAD
‘The Untact Communal Kitchen’
Hand drawn elevation oblique, 1:20
An exploration of where our food comes from has been the result of research into traditional Japanese concepts, common dining habits, and the solutions made popular in untact industries to ensure no human-to-human contact, to name a few. The culmination of these ideas has been drawn out as a parasitic system implemented into the existing streetscape found in the neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa in Tokyo. This proposal challenges the desensitivity and unawareness of modern food production by making the inhabitants more aware of how what they eat is planted, produced, aged, prepared, consumed, shared and composted.
The three panels show a zero-waste restaurant, fermentation, a composting station, urban gardens, cheese-ripening, and vending machines. The vending machines, however, are now supplied with short travelled fresh food or leftovers in colour coded capsules. The traditional unmanned vegetable stand has taken new shape as an omnipresent network of pneumatic tubes making sure no food goes to waste. Machinery concealed as body parts help aid the food capsules travelling the pipelines make their way from the production site to the dining table.
The fresh vegetables and animal products supplied from rooftops and balconies are available and easy for anyone to use. A solution to sustainability is not a question of change, but rather of convenience. Only then will our consciousness surrounding food production become visible and tactile.
Image: Detail shot of the zero-waste restaurant with robotic limbs serving ultra-local food.
Image: Parasitic architecture as a network of pneumatic tubes and vending machines.
ARCT5521
Empowering Communities Through Design Unit Coordinator: Lara
Camilla Pinho
CAMERON CROCKER, JULIAN MASON & SAKI SUGITO-WHITE
‘Existing in the Virtual World’
We are living in an era where our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with the virtual world. Issues stemming from smartphone use, social media, and rapidly developing technology are complex and omnipresent. The multifaceted nature of this network is attributed to how these matters affect all generations differently.
The virtual world has carefully and covertly evolved, building our digital dependence without even realising. Now a tool essential for functioning, the seemingly harmless device has stripped us of our ability to critically think; drastically altering the human experience.
How do you begin to address such a complex and evolving issue that is affecting all people? It seems as though a virtual problem can be solved by a virtual solution, but an ad is simply scrolled past and an app, counterproductive. Let’s take it back to basics and employ a low-tech solution for a more human approach.
The campaign brings to light our dependence on technology to provoke a revaluation of our relationship with the virtual world. A compilation of posters punctuates an existing urban environment as a tool for change; targeting individuals and those who simply look up. By posing a series of provocative questions, thoughts, and statements, the campaign highlights our digital addiction to reverse this force of habit.
Using Perth as proof of concept, the campaign network spreads across the metropolitan area, focussing on places with high foot traffic and consistent inhabitation. Demonstrated through three key posters, each location has been selected based on impact: choosing locations in accordance with their demographic.
We can’t change a whole society but if can get one person to stop, reflect, and reshape their engagement with the virtual world then we have successfully played our part.
Image: ‘Existing in the Virtual World’ Framework Guidelines A5 Booklet Contents Page.
(Left) Framework Guidelines A5 Booklet, ‘Smartphones isolating us from the world’ Chapter (Right) The virtual world stripping us of our humanness.
Image:
ARCT5529 Forensic Architecture
Unit Coordinator: Dr Nigel Westbrook
MARNIE ALLAN
‘What
Lies Beneath; A Recreation of an UNESCO Heritage Site’
The Daphni Monastery in Athens, Greece, has undergone several transformations since it was first documented as a place of worship nearly two millennia ago. Located in the middle of a 22km stretch of road between Athens and Eleusis, known as the Iera Odos (The Sacred Way), the site provided an oasis for tired travellers to seek refuge and respite before continuing the second half of their pilgrimage along the once walkable pathway. Communities of various religious beliefs and political ideologies have come and gone, each developing, ruining or altering the site. This project breaks down the evolution of the monastic complex into three parts that cover a pivotal architectural transformation for the site: The Katholikon (11th c.), The Early Basilica (5th c.), and The Temple of Apollo (first mentioned by Pausanias in 150 AD). The digital reconstruction of the three buildings started by analysing existing ruins, archaeological data and the importance of the astronomical orientation of ancient Greek architecture. The Temple of Apollo remains the biggest mystery, as the only evidence for its existence is the four remaining Ionic columns. Greek architecture followed precise mathematical equations regarding proportion, meaning that every measurement is related to the column’s widest diameter. Ancient Greek intercolumniation patterns have been combined with the Ionic Order’s proportion principles to calculate every single detail of The Temple. From the height of its pediment to the most minute detail of the entablature, the entire Temple of Apollo has been mathematically reconstructed using ancient techniques.
Image: West elevation of the digitally reconstructed Temple of Apollo.
Applying the Systyle intercolumnation pattern;
D = column diameter
x = column spacing
z = width of Temple
x= 2D
x = 2(534)
x = 1068
Calculating the pediment width and height
W = pediment width
z = 6D + 5x
z = 6(534) + 5(1068)
z = 3204 + 5340
z = 8544
W = (2 x 689.75) + 8010
W = 9389.5
Pediment height = (4 x W) / (14 + no. of cols)
H = (4 x 9389.5) / (14 + 6)
H = 37558 / 20
H = 1877.9
(Left) The intercolumniation equation used for The Temple of Apollo; (Right) Site plan of discovered ruins.
Image:
534 / 2 = 267
ARCT5589 Furniture Design
Unit Coordinator: Peter Kitely & Guy Eddington
LACHLAN WILLIX
‘Marri Floor Lamp and Balga Totem’
An adjustable floor lamp which aims to celebrate the atmosphere of the sun rising through marri forest, casting warm dapple light across the floor. The Balga Totem, a multifunctional sculpture, can be arranged into a stool, table, incense holder and more. The form is inspired by the charred disks and new growth of a Balga ‘Xanthorrhoea’ after a fire. Both are finished with the Japanese technique of Yakisugi and coated in a varnish made from Balga resin.
SAKI WHITE-SUGITO
‘Untitled’
An exploration of colour, light, shape and texture, the lamp draws inspiration from the design era of the 2000s for the simple task of sparking curiosity and delight. The accompanying plinth provides the lamp with a physical and visual anchor, serving as a foundation for the piece to exist wholly. Constructed of aluminium, details have been designed for a considered connection to the lamp. Together, the elements balance a sense of play and restraint.
SAVANNAH KELLY
‘Where Two Oceans Meet’
Inspired by the breathtaking confluence of the Indian and Southern Oceans at Cape Leeuwin in Augusta, Western Australia, the Where Two Oceans Meet tambour cabinet is a homage to my childhood. Capturing the essence of two forces coming together, to create a harmonious and dynamic design. This piece features gently curving, operable tambour doors that emulate the ebb and flow of converging waves, blending functionality with the poetry of nature’s meeting points.
MARNIE ALLAN
‘Spindrift Lamp and Table’
Inspired by crashing waves and the shimmering reflections of deep ocean waters, the Spindrift collection applied parametric design processes to create two unique pieces of sculptural furniture. The Spindrift Lamp contrasts the warmth of local jarrah with translucent 3D printed resin, presenting a soft dappled light effect. The Spindrift Table combines 3D printing technologies with fibreglass creating a beautiful, sculptural, functional form.
Image: Lachlan Willix, Marri Floor Lamp and Balga Totem. Photography by Matt Biocich.
Image: (Left) Saki White-Sugito, Untitled; (Centre) Savannah Kelly, Where Two Oceans Meet; (Right) Marnie Allan, Spindrift Lamp and Table. Photography
by Matt Biocich.
ARCT4461 Architectural Practice
Unit Coordinator: Emily Van Eyk
‘Architectural Practice Mini Podcasts’
LOUISA PETERS
‘Constructive Conversation with MJA and CAPA’
JD OTTO
‘Tailoring Procurement Methods in Architecture’
As an introduction to understanding how architects work with contractors and the implications of architectural procurement on practice more broadly, students interview two practices discussing their differing (or similar) roles, preferences, emergent trends, and mitigation strategies employed in the latter stages of architectural service.
Students offer a succinct synthesis of the interviews and their own further research, posing thought provoking questions and considerate speculations on a range of topics pertinent to contractor selection and contract administration. From traditional practice to business-as-unusual approaches, students unpack how differing practices operate within a West Australian context with particular attention to project type, client base, and practice model.
There are two different podcasts to listen to, both approximately eight-minutes duration, each presented by a different student. Louisa Peters interviews Justin Carrier from CAPA and Stephen Corns from MJA. JD Otto interviews Sally Weerts and Olivia Maxwell from Studio Roam, and Tanya Jones from Gresley Abas. The podcasts offer a rich and diverse insight into practice which resultantly demonstrates varied approaches, though also commonly, sheds light on universal and fundamental truths of the practice of architecture.
Image: Architectural Practice Mini Podcasts, graphic by Louisa Peters.
EPISODE 1 - CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION
Louisa PetersCAPA / MJA
OttoStudio Roam / Gresley Abas Architects
raphic
by Louisa Peters
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop & Tasmin Vivian-Williams
‘Rewilding Bunbury - An Urban Sanctuary ’
Yet the garden doesn’t stop at the front door, It flourishes inward, to its core.
The remnant vegetation - infusing Bunbury
Yet its natural heritage – inextricable, must be
For the volunteers who once planted and
Where local Indigenous knowledge entwines,
A holistic approach for Bunbury’s evolution.
Walking down the hill the boardwalk extends,
Quendas crawling, kookaburras in song, Kangaroos bounding through where they belong.
In a place where biodiversity was displaced, Nature returns, its presence embraced.
Flora and fauna are free to roam, For in the bushland, every corner and crevice is their home.
As they thrive, so too - do the hearts and minds,
Of future generations, the youth as catalysts to renew,
The seeds of change are sown anew,
A home for youth, Under one roof.
At the bottom of the Heights a sanctuary sits,
Embraced by a veranda – a protective shell, Creating outdoor classrooms, where learning
Image: Plan, sections and elevations.
ARCT3000 Architecture Studio 3
Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop & Tasmin Vivian-Williams
‘Goomburrup: City of Three Waters’
SASHA RICHARDS
‘The Rise of Bunbury’
Bunbury’s port has undergone a significant redevelopment to address the anticipated rise in sea levels by 2051. This modernized transport hub now includes a ferry terminal and bus stations, facilitating seamless commutes from Perth via a newly constructed bridge. The port has also expanded its amenities to enhance the well-being of both residents and visitors.
The transport infrastructure has been upgraded with a ferry terminal that provides efficient and scenic water transport options, and bus stations that are strategically located for easy access to and from the new bridge connecting Perth and Bunbury. In addition to these practical improvements, the port now boasts a wellness center featuring saunas for relaxing and therapeutic heat treatments, public baths with modern and hygienic facilities for communal bathing, and ice showers offering invigorating cold therapy options.
Recreational areas have also been developed, including an outdoor boardwalk designed as a family-friendly space for leisure and outdoor activities, promoting a healthy lifestyle. Adjacent to the boardwalk is a cosy cafe for refreshments, with a yoga studio located upstairs offering a serene space for yoga and meditation classes. These enhancements not only accommodate the projected rise in sea levels but also transform the port into a vibrant community hub, promoting both transportation efficiency and holistic well-being.
Image: (Top) south facing section; (Bottom) east facing section.
Civic building perspective section.
Image:
ARCT3000 Architecture Studio 3
Unit Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop & Tasmin Vivian-Williams
‘Goomburrup: City of Three Waters’
JOHN NOTLEY
‘Mason Halls’
Bunbury in the year 2100 has experienced firsthand the dire consequences of the climate crisis, with entire suburbs inundated by rising oceans, driving climate consciousness within the community. Mason Halls embraces this new conservationism and the destruction which inspired it, through reclaiming the bricks of flooded buildings to construct the majority of the building’s structural elements. The form is thus derived from Masonry’s compressive strength, with arches used to cover all spans from doorways to roofs with minimal reinforcement. This approach eliminates much of the most pollutive stage of construction-material extraction and production- whilst simultaneously allowing the Bunbury that was lost live on.
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Kate Hislop & Tasmin Vivian-Williams
‘Goomburrup: City of Three Waters’
YULO PALMA
‘Bunbury Town Hall + Youth Centre’
In 2100 sea level rise is predicted to pose a challenging dilemma to Bunbury’s growth and aspirations to become a secondary city to Perth. It is expected that one metre of coastline will be lost due to sea level rise, as well as the inundation of many low-lying areas. Bunbury’s current youth precinct, ‘Koolambidi Woola’, is expected to be submerged due to heavy flooding. The aim of the project was to create a new and publicly accessible location for Bunbury’s youth, to play and unwind. The project offers many similar amenities to the original youth precinct such as a half-court and skatepark whilst also featuring a transport hub and rooftop garden. In addition, the project features a flexible hall space, suitable for parties and other gatherings. The heavy, stepped, masonry base of the building aims to symbolize the ruins of the flooded youth precinct, whilst the lightweight timber roof structure intends to evoke ideas relating to the relocation and development of a new youth precinct and town hall.
Image: Bunbury Town Hall + Youth Precinct isometric projection.
Image: Bunbury Town Hall + Youth Precinct perspective section.
ARCT3030 Materials and Large Construction
Unit Coordinator: Andrea Quagliola
Teaching Staff: Andrea Quagliola & Richard Simpson
MIZUKI ONO
‘Maison Hermès, Tokyo – Renzo Piano Building Workshop’
This unit is the culmination of the technology sequence in the Architecture major. As such, it is thought of as an extension and further development of ARCT2030 Materials and Small Constructions. Through a similarly analytical methodology it introduces students to construction techniques of greater complexity, with an emphasis on architecture as an integrated manifestation of structure, body, skin and building services. Topics include architectural and structural analysis, materials and sections; fire services and safety; hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical systems, and the types and applicability of constructional systems to different architectural expressions. The unit generates an understanding of the integration of structures and services in medium- to large-scale buildings.
Maison Hermès is located in the heart of Tokyo’s Ginza district. The building features shopping spaces, workshops, offices, exhibition and multimedia areas, and a garden. This project presented both aesthetic and technical challenges. The façades are made of custom glass blocks measuring 45 by 45 centimetres, creating a ‘glass veil’ that acts as a continuous and luminous screen between the calm interior and the bustling city outside. The alternating light intensity and transparency between day and night produce aesthetic effects that constantly change, giving the façade a refined appearance. The building’s atmosphere combines traditional and technological elements. These specially designed glass blocks meet strict fire safety standards and ensure structural integrity in case of an earthquake. Inspired by traditional Shintoist temples, the innovative anti-seismic system centres around a large mast from which the slabs are suspended, making the building resistant to frequent earthquakes in the area. In the event of an earthquake, the entire building can move according to predefined displacements uniformly distributed across all structural elements.
Image: Maison Hermès, Tokyo 2D analysis.
Image: Maison Hermès, Tokyo 3D analysis.
ARCT3010 History and Theories of the Built Environment
Unit Coordinator: Joely-Kym Sobott
CLAIRE BASSO
‘Common Ground: The Spatial Relationships of the Public’
We may argue that in the 21st century, the illusion of the unified public sphere is overshadowed by a network of fractured public spheres of organized individuals, with self-selected membership and increasingly specific beliefs and agendas. According to Fraser, this phenomenon is not in fact a fracturing, but an increased prominence of previously marginalized spheres; a positive turn of events, since these sub-spheres grant us the ability to organise and amplify our individual voices with greater facility than a single voice in a vast unified public ever could, especially when the unified public sphere is still quick to drown out marginalized voices.1
An example of such an alternate sphere is described by David Sibley in his foregrounding of the work of W. E. B. DuBois, a black advocate for racial equality active from the 1890s into the 20th century who held an academic background in history and sociological studies. DuBois’ 1899 book The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study catalogues a systemic pattern of soft exclusion via racial discrimination such as difficulty in obtaining work, blatantly lower wages for the same work, difficulty in obtaining rental properties at all, let alone near enough to their workplaces (rich white residences), and higher rent demands for the same properties.2
Pointing out that these issues are caused by white attitudes – that is, public opinion or the dominance of the white public sphere – DuBois argues in favour of racialized urban districts, as dispersion through
a racist society would only intensify these systemic problems faced by black individuals interacting with white society. He merges his social, political, and urban mapping analyses by noting “the importance of black institutions, particularly churches, in providing support for the community.”3
In 1872, a group of black parishioners pooled funds to purchase land in the Third Ward, Houston, Texas, and named it Emancipation Park as a celebration of the recent black liberation. After being purchased by the government in 1918, it continued to serve a pivotal role to the black communities of Houston not only as a community hub, but also as the sole green space and pool facility available to them in the entire city. The modest park and community centre was still widely used into the 21st century, though it had a negative reputation and was surrounded by a neighbourhood in decline.4 A major redevelopment in 2013-17 came with a $34 million budget, incorporating a mirror-finish sculpture and environmentally certified facilities with glass facades.5
It is an attractive redevelopment – except, as Wright and Herman propose in their discussion of gentrification, it was a development never intended for the local community. Many residents expressed concerns that “white folks [would] come in and take it over;” and although on its opening, most users enjoying the space were black,6 while construction was ongoing Wright and Herman argued the influence of the development was part of a more complex system that cannot easily be pinned to one phenomenon. The Third Ward neighbourhood is gentrifying rapidly, and whether accidentally or intentionally, the Emancipation Park redevelopment would have played a significant role in higher property prices and potentially facilitating land grabs in the area. Of course, disadvantaged communities deserve nice parks, but we need
Image: Take Back the Corner, a Facebook flyer promoting a block party at a local “dangerous” gas station carpark. MF Problem organised parties like this as an intentional reclamation of the neighbourhood and a means of forming ephemeral public communities. Wright and Herman, “No “Blank Canvas”: Public Art and Gentrification in Houston’s Third Ward,” City & Society 30, no. 1 (2018): 100. https://doi. org/10.1111/ciso.12156
to be wary when a developer says a location is “underutilized” – usually what they mean is “utilized only by less profitable classes.” The result of the Emancipation Park redevelopment is a facility with mixed success, surrounded by more townhouses and less of the shotgun houses which used to define the neighbourhood. Resident and local artist Jesse Lott describes the old park as “ha[ving] a real intent for the function,” that is, the use by the sphere it historically served. “But,” he says, “as a witness, it seems to me this particular rendition of the park has more of a focus on the form. What it is. It’s like you have a crown for the emperor — but the emperor has no clothes.”7
While this is a disheartening conclusion, there is an alternative. Wright and Herman introduce us to the local art duo MF Problem (Autumn Knight and Robert Pruitt), who, seeing their home neighbourhood of Third Ward struggling with crime and neglect, set out with intention to reclaim “dangerous” locations as public spaces. Hosting a series of block parties and community picnics in commercially owned carparks and abandoned private lots, they sought to bring together members of their community; though the duo lacked the resources to continue hosting these events indefinitely, each event was successful in the “creation of a new public composed of friends, customers of the Mobil gas station, supporters, and members of the community who happened to pass through.”8 These grassroots events and others like them are a space-shaping force just as much as a $34 million redevelopment. An even more powerful gesture was made by the original parishioners who, in the absence of a planning authority that provided black communities with public space, bought some land and made it their own.
Endnotes
Nancy Fraser, “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy,” Social Text, no. 25/26 (1990): 66.
David Sibley, Geographies of Exclusion: Society and Difference in the West (London: Taylor and Francis, 2002), 140-6.
Sibley, Geographies of Exclusion, 146.
Willie Jamaal Wright and Cameron “Khalfani” Herman, “No “Blank Canvas”: Public Art and Gentrification in Houston’s Third Ward,” City & Society 30, no. 1 (2018): 96, https://doi.org/10.1111/ ciso.12156
Michael Hardy, “In Houston, an Original Juneteenth Celebration Site Reborn,” The New York Times, June 17, 2017, https://www. nytimes.com/2017/06/17/us/houston-juneteenth-emancipationpark.html
Hardy, “In Houston, an Original Juneteenth Celebration Site Reborn.”
Jesse Lott, quoted in Hardy, “In Houston, an Original Juneteenth Celebration Site Reborn.”
Wright and Herman, “No “Blank Canvas”.”
ARCT2000 Architecture Studio 2
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Lara Camilla Pinho
‘Blurring Boundaries’
JACK CHOATE
‘Weighted Sensitivity’
The site sits on Northwood Street in West Leederville, a walkable mixed-use neighbourhood with strong biodiversity. Green canopies of brush box, paperbarks, and bottlebrush run along the spine of Northwood Street all the way to Lake Monger, providing a corridor of perches for the many local bird species in the area. To respect the needs and privacy of co-living inhabitants, an introspective architecture is proposed.
Addressing the linear demands of the site, a line is broken, then offset, shaping a central void. Continuous linear elements emphasize this gesture, with walls extending, overlapping, and contracting. This conceals entrances, strengthening divisions of private and communal, controlling rhythm and experience of the space. Selective perforations in the wall plane add depth to these elements, manipulating visual access. In response to accessibility needs, the single-story eastern mass is designated to our elderly couple. The western volume, for three young people, is extruded upwards, increasing the usable site area.
Materiality and form are derived from the weighted sensitivity of the cave typology, grounding the inhabitants. Earthy red chukum-plastered adobe bricks provide strength & protection against harsh summers, and store warmth for mild winters. Apertures punctuate the recessed masses along the natural northern orientation of the site, washing interiors with light and warmth, while shading from high angle sun.
The continuous pathway provides movement for human and non-human inhabitants. Plants, birds, insects, frogs, and possums may traverse through and around the central void. The spatial silence of the void is shaped by a wild native garden stemming from diagonally opposed biodiversity hot spots: a frog pond and a bird shelf, referencing extruded vigas of ancient adobe structures. Permanence and physicality of the built masses contrasts against the dynamic nature of flora & fauna over the Noongar six seasons, which is visually expressed through plant selection.
Image: Ground floor plan and section.
Image: Diagrams and details.
ARCT2000 Architecture Studio 2
Unit Coordinator: Lara Camilla Pinho
Studio Coordinator: Sion Bourne
‘Old School Infill’
CARR MERN OOI
‘Rethinking Urban Infill’
The site is one of several new lots in a medium-density subdivision of the former Fremantle Primary school site. Whilst appearing similar as a subdivision proposition, each of the individual lots remain unique due to varying orientation, boundary geometry, and adjacencies. At approximately 450m2 in area, the site is of similar scale to the neighbouring existing workers cottages.
Utilising the linear east-west orientation of the block, building mass is aligned south to form a northern communal laneway. Dwellings are anchored at both ends, aligning with concurrent neighbouring developments whilst forming a central covered entry space. This large central void doubles as generous un-programmed space for both residents and passersby.
Although consistent in scale, material and form, both dwellings have been refined to respond directly to their occupants. The house for arts students offers generous volume, a shared working space and is diffusely lit from the south. The family home to the west is more conventionally arranged, with a focus on the resident’s passion for mealtimes and togetherness. The external skins of both houses are dynamic, with cladding panels opening, closing or left ajar to offer programmatic and thermal comfort.
Image: Plans.
Image: Section and elevation.
ARCT2000 Architecture Studio 2
Unit Coordinator: Lara Camilla Pinho
Studio Coordinator: Craig Nener
‘You Call That a House?’
MELANY DIAZ MARTINEZ, DANE FOURIE & LUKE HERRMANN
‘You Call That a House? Communal Living Within Architectural Logic’
In the You Call That a House? studio, students are challenged to reimagine shared and diverse housing arrangements in Perth through the lens of historical architectural geometry and materials. This course invites students to reinterpret historical palace designs with a focus on communal living and sustainable principles, applying these concepts across four distinct sites, each varying in proximity to the coast.
Students work across different site types – coastal, urban, suburban, and rural –to develop detailed drawings and construct large physical models that demonstrate the capabilities and challenges of their chosen material. The studio encourages the exploration of a single primary raw material – mass timber, rammed earth, concrete, or stone – highlighting each material’s environmental benefits, constructive potential, and unique aesthetic qualities.
Emphasising clarity, precision, and architectural logic, the studio fosters an iterative design process that includes large-scale model making and peer reviews. Students refine their ideas to create unique housing solutions that balance private and communal spaces, adhering closely to their chosen precedent’s spatial typology and structural logic. The studio’s goal is to meet the needs of diverse demographics, such as multigenerational families and urban communities, with small and effective housing solutions that harmonize indoor and outdoor spaces to accommodate Perth’s moderate climate.
You Call That a House? aims to develop architects who are technically skilled, historically informed, structurally literate, and socially and environmentally responsible. This studio pushes the boundaries of conventional housing design to create sustainable, beautiful, and contextually connected spaces.
Image: Melany Diaz Martinez, Casa Mistica, isometric worms eye view.
Image: Luke Herrmann, Ruins, physical model 1:20.
Image: Dane Fourie, Tri-Timber Palace, plan and physical model 1:20.
ARCT2000 Architecture Studio 2
Unit Coordinator: Lara Camilla Pinho
Studio Coordinator: Dr Tatjana Todorovic
‘2-in-1: a House Designed for Change’
TRENT ARBERY
‘Keyboard Housing’
To accommodate a greater number of people on the site as well as their different and evolving needs, this project uses narrow, townhouse style units that utilise flexible spaces including one above a carport, which bridges the houses together. The first floors of these houses have space mainly for bedrooms and likely a study. The ground floor has the kitchen and living area but also another bathroom and spare room able to fit a bed, allowing the ground floor to be divided from the one above and used as a separate dwelling. At the same time, the upper floor can be adapted to provide additional living space and storage room for residents upstairs. The flexible space above the carport may be left open to the city beyond and garden below like a raised alfresco, or potentially enclosed with folding doors as with the carport underneath, according with how residents want to use it. It may become another guest room, a studio, a social space for events. This space can also link, for example, the upstairs bedrooms of one house down into the kitchen and living room of the adjacent unit to create a larger dwelling if more rooms are needed by one family. The split levels make it easy for residents to interpret the relationship between spaces as they like. If the space above the carport were used as a shared communal area between dwellings, the kitchen can just as easily serve food up to there as it would down to the sunken living room or out to the garden. In this way, the varying levels help transition between social and the more casual and private without asserting strict divisions for the residents. Except for some high bathroom windows, most are only north or south, ensuring privacy for whoever is using the back garden and living room regardless of how the divisions between dwellings are arranged within the row of buildings. The drawings show one unit out of this row, which would resemble a kind of keyboard in plan, but one where individual ‘keys’ have the potential to be split or reassigned between dwellings according to changing needs.
Image: Section.
Image: (Left) Ground and first floor plans; (Right) Section.
ARCT2030 Materials and Small Constructions
Unit Coordinator: Emiliano Roia
Teaching Staff: Emiliano Roia & Jake Gethin
MELANY DIAZ MARTINEZ
‘Analysis of Construction Systems’
This unit aims to develop students ability to critically observe and analyse small-scale contemporary buildings. Through studies of the relationships between technology and design, the unit presents various Construction Systems and building materials. By using a methodological approach based on analytical drawings/ diagrams, the unit also aims to teach the act of drawing by hand as a way of thinking rather than just representation. The analytical drawings aim to reveal the underlying patterns of organization that exist within buildings (e.g., Structure), in order to highlight the relationship between design and construction systems. Through highly selective drawings, the analysis is devoted to simplifying and clarifying some of the Construction Systems that define a building.
The unit also studies construction techniques, building materials, structure and site-works for small / medium scale buildings. The unit introduces some structural systems and behaviour, looks at the various parts of buildings, and concentrates on how technology informs and influences the places and spaces of the built environment. The unit places particular emphasis on the relationship between technology and design, which, in my teaching experience, is often perceived as two separate architectural issues.
Image: (Left) Goetsch Winckler House, timber enclosure system – envelop typology; (Right) Tree House, masonry enclosure system – envelop typology
Image: (Left) Vieux Port Pavilion, steel building typology; (Centre) Loba House, concrete enclosure system; (Right) Tree House, masonry structural system.
ARCT2010 Modern Architecture
Unit Coordinator: Dr Nigel Westbrook
Teaching Staff: Dr Nigel Westbrook, Monroe Masa & Eric Luan
JESSIE HILDER
‘On Louis Kahn, Function and Form’
Based on his exploration of “Form” in architecture, and the relationships between personified material and nature, Louis Khan’s proposal of monumentality expresses counter-modernist ideas by reflecting on history and its importance in contemporary society. Through comparative analysis of “form” between Louis Sullivan’s “The tall office building artistically considered”, and the practice and writing of Louis Kahn, a connection surfaces in their philosophies and a mutual exploration of counter-modernism. In particular, Khan’s famous Salk Institute is a formative piece that expresses monumentality and the practical application of his ideas.
Introduction
The infamous title of Modernism has loomed over the 20th century since its inception. Architects outside of the movement have been ostracised for ‘irrational’ thinking that went against the core tenets of modernism, especially the term “Form follows function”. Outside of this phrase lies the enigmatic and promiscuous architect, Louis Kahn, whose interpretations of the term ‘Form’ speak to a universality that is practically unmeasurable, and at first glance, unreasonable.
Louis I. Kahn was an Estonian born architect who found fame as a late bloomer, making an architectural identity that gained recognition through large institutional buildings. While his architecture is world-class, Kahn’s writings, philosophies and
character are utterly confusing. Despite working within the Modernist movement, he pulled away from the key ideologies that framed it, notably in his understanding of historical monuments. Although architects like Le Corbusier had a fondness for pieces like the Parthenon - developing a set of rules to make eternal pieces - Kahn looked towards their ephemeral nature to empathise and understand their soul rather than their formula. What transpires is a thought process that recognises a universality of all things, rather than pure architectural design principles. Inherently, synthesising this philosophy makes for discourse that is quite convoluted.
A pertinent idea of Kahn’s is the ownership of Form existing outside of human consciousness. Author John Lobell articulates this as, “Khan used form to mean an existence-will, the nature of a thing previous to its physical reality.”1 To justify this idea of Form, Kahn creates a vocabulary of words that are vaguely representative of their denoted value. For example, he poetically refers to Light as the measurable and “giver of all presence”.2
Unlike Modernism, his ideas lack a sense of rigidity and democracy in favour of emotion. Within the conception of the movement’s convictions is a misinterpretation of their famous phrase ‘form follows function’. Derived from Louis Sullivan’s manifesto,3 his phrase ‘form ever follows function’ is far closer to Kahn’s search for form. This referencing alludes to Kahn’s process of re-interpreting historical monuments and the perceived experiences of the individual.
The Distinction of “Ever”
Understanding Kahn’s preoccupation with ‘form’ lies in the forerunner of Modernism’s poster child; Louis Sullivan’s phrase ‘form ever follows function’. Proposed in Sullivan’s manifesto, “The tall office building artistically considered” the phrase
would be used to describe what Sullivan sees as a truth, a natural law.4 The natural law he refers to is an almost theistic universality which he believes we can connect with using the ‘imperative voice of emotion’5. This emotion is a person’s authenticity; given the great opportunity to design a tall office building that ‘defies the greatest environments’ they must be their true self, living life to the fullest.6 One who lives authentically can use their tuned intuition to give form to a building, to be itself.7 Sullivan refers to a ‘Lord of Nature’, creating a dynamic that’s
indifferent to a person’s ego. He refers to the ‘form of all natural things’ that distinguishes a thing from any other.8
It is important to note that Sulivan’s famous phrase was misinterpreted by the greater Modernist community. Modernists interpreted the phrase ‘form follows function’ as an importance of function over form. The distinction of ‘ever’ in the phrase is vital in understanding Sullivan’s ideas, with Frank Lloyd Wright even backing up his claims: “Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form
Image: Louis Kahn, Salk Laboratories: courtyard. Wikipedia Commons, 03062024.
and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”9 This misinterpretation has led to misguided architects like Mies Van Der Rohe to create a rigidity in Modernism, however impactful their work.
Khan’s Search for Form
Louis Kahn’s idea of Form is holistic. To understand his Form, the other aspects of his thinking need to be discussed.
Wonder, derived from beauty, is not connected to knowledge.10 A response to the intuitive, Kahn describes Wonder as “the same feeling that the astronauts must have felt when they saw the Earth at a great distance.” A recurrence of universality and authenticity, Wonder “simply was there” without a distinct predecessor.
Wonder can be sparked by the unmeasurable, which is a sense of intangibility.11 This of course must come with the measurable, a universal balance between science and art, logical and emotional. A philosophic extension on the Modernist debate of art vs. technology; these elements are a symbiotic relationship to the world rather than a war.
The unmeasurable and measurable embody the terms, Silence and Light.12 Silence is unmeasurable, a “desire to be, desire to express, the source of new need” is balanced by Light, the measurable, tangible and actualised things in the world. Where these two meet is Inspiration, the creation of art, expression of ideas, Kahn calls the “Treasury of Shadow’’. In this way Silence and Light takes on its literal value along with a figurative creation of a new vocabulary. Silence and Light demonstrate the evolution of all phases of unactualised to actualised, with desire, expression, art and science in between.
The measurable, Light, deals with matters of Order.13 With Kahn’s confusing rabbit hole of ideas and interlocking figures, Order would be extremely helpful. However, “Order is”. It’s ironically
unmeasurable, something that Kahn says he could write thousands of pages on and never be satisfied with the definition. While Order is something that is used in the Light, it is not formulaic or scientific, it is (with most of his other figures) a state of itself, Order is Order.
This emphasis on Order gains clarity in understanding when we consider that Kahn was trained in the Beaux Arts under Paul Crete.14 While some might argue that Kahn’s strong ties to the past have directly influenced his architecture, it appears that he used his knowledge on historical monuments to develop his universal ideologies, which created something “absolutely new but at the same time reaffirms timeless architectural truths.”15 With this we can understand that Kahn’s relationship with those monuments is not one of projection – like Le Corbusier’s golden ratio - but instead, a deep conversation with Kahn’s understanding of life, time and space.
With this said, he was certainly fond of historicism and its nuances. For instance, he would take the perilous task of deciphering and writing Egyptian hieroglyphics as a pastime.16 The architectural writer Vincent Scully is a big proponent of Kahn’s literal historicism. Scully analyses Kahn’s ideas of history, “[Kahn] truly believed in origins, or as he chose to call them beginnings.” and with that belief he became an architect that derived heavily from the world around him, particularly the past, with this being a “major strength” of Kahn’s.17
Like many other Modernists, Kahn responded to Primitivism, the idea that architecture has its roots in the primitive. Two notable examples are MarcAntonie Laugier’s Primitive Hut and Le Corbusier’s analysis of the Parthenon. These cases propose a technical lens on the roots of ‘good’ architecture, owing their truths to the societies of the age. Kahn, however, has an outlook on history that does
not reflect directly - such as Villa Savoye on the Parthenon - rather using history as case studies for the development of his own perceptions. This amounts to Kahn creating works that are not like any other monument but parallel with their monumentality, and sense of timelessness. In Scully’s eyes, Kahn becomes the “victim and an avenger of modernism.”18
From this, we can begin to understand Kahn’s Form. There is a need to establish that there isn’t a beginning to defining this, only an interpreted starting point and discussion of understanding. Within these interpretations, Kahn has explicitly said that Form is: “a harmony of systems, a sense of order, and that which distinguishes one existence from another”, “the realisation of a nature, made up of inseparable elements”, “Form has no shape or dimension”, “it is completely inaudible”, “it has no presence; its existence is in the mind.”19 Important is the emphasis on a thing’s nature, this nature is a thing’s existence-will, which is also its Form. He uses these phrases almost synonymously, while also being completely separate components. Nature is a consultant to creation, working closely with Light and the measurable; nature is also a thing’s being, its Silence, unmeasurable, expression and Form.
Nature is also a consultant to design where the unmeasurable Form meets nature, the creator, allowing forms to be expressed with tangible means, like architecture. A poem to Louis Barragan articulates this:
“Design consults Nature to give presence to the elements. A work of art makes manifest the wholeness of ‘Form’, the symphony of the selected shapes of the elements. In the elements the joint inspires ornament, its celebration.
The detail is the adoration of nature.”20 Form is a part of a system, as a process of actualising something. It precedes Design, it’s the phase of bridging ‘what’ to ‘how’, the personal and impersonal.21 It is a part of a universe that recognises Wonder, Intuition, Realisation, Order, Light and Silence to desire and express thought. Within ourselves we select “the forms [the mind] has already stored away the one which seems to suit the situation best.”22
Endnotes
1. John Lobell, Between Silence and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I. Kahn (Boston: Shambhala, 2008), 66.
2. Lobell, Between Silence and Light, 20.
3. Louis H Sullivan, “Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, Lippincott’s Magazine, 1986.
4. Sullivan, “Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, 5.
5. Sullivan, “Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, 3.
6. Sullivan, “Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, 3.
7. Sullivan, “Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, 3.
8. Sullivan, “Tall Office Building Artistically Considered”, 5.
9. Guggenheim, “Form Follows Function,” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, 2023.
10. John Lobell, Between Silence and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I. Kahn, 10.
11. Stoller, The Salk Institute (New York: Princeton, 1999), 8.
12. Lobell, Between Silence and Light, 20.
13. Lobell, Between Silence and Light, 18.
14. Bea Goller and Xavier Costa, Kahn: Libraries = Khan: Bibliotecas (Barcelona: Col.legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya, 1988), 18.
15. Alan Colquhoun, Modern Architecture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 254.
16. Goller and Costa, Kahn: Libraries = Khan: Bibliotecas, 48.
17. Goller and Costa, Kahn: Libraries = Khan: Bibliotecas, 18.
18. Goller and Costa, Kahn: Libraries = Khan: Bibliotecas, 16.
19. Lobell, Between Silence and Light, 28.
20. Kenneth Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, ed. John Cava (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995), 228.
21. Lobell, Between Silence and Light. Kahn, 28.
22. Goller and Costa, Kahn: Libraries = Khan: Bibliotecas, 24.
ARCT1150 Architecture Studio 1
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov
‘House’
INGO WURM
‘Haliod Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris)’
Haliod Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris) is an atmospheric composition by Alva Noto from the first volume in his ‘Xerrox’ series. The music reinterprets the white noise of everyday sounds through a process of repeated replication such that the familiar becomes unrecognisable, as voicemail messages and microwave jingles morph into something entirely new.
“Copies of originals become originals themselves.”
Using this piece of music as the foundation for the program of 3 spaces, the design concentrates on this process of taking something familiar and defamiliarising it; where new sounds are just as distinct from the source material as they are anonymous and confused with one another. You become lost in a sea of known and imagined, unable to tell the difference.
The primary interior space comprises three distinct events: an undulating expansion and compression of space; a pinnacle of compression that remains vague until it has been felt; and an unattainable relief of space.
The dynamic between these events is charged by the subtraction of two equal hemispheres. The compression between these absences activates the emptiness of an otherwise expressionless void; when nothing itself can become a distraction, and the right distraction captivates complete concentration.
Image: Final model.
Image: (Left) Music visualisation; (Right) Model development.
The studio makes use of proprioceptive intuition and informal, improvised narration to generate a conceptual framework constrained by a triptych of factors: Semantic OuLiPo, Materiality and Verticality. The semantic text forms the basis for collaboratively designing a form of urban architecture: an adaptively reused vertical tower. The design draws upon both the existential literary framework present in Georges Perec’s ‘Espèces d’espaces’ – as an OuLiPo-esque exercise using word play and Walter Benjamin’s didactic ‘Naples’ for spatial creation, massing and the interarticulation of spaces.
Facilitating interaction between surfers and penguins, the Penguin Island Shelter and Surf Hub is nestled within the natural beauty of the coastal sand dunes of Penguin Island in WA. Surrounded by lush beach shrubbery and vegetation, these structures blend seamlessly into the landscape, offering a private, immersive experience that fosters a deep connection with nature and promotes sustainable interaction between visitors and the local wildlife.
MEERA SHREEDHAR
‘The Platypus Institute: Research Hub’
The project facilitates an immersive observational interaction between conservationists and wild platypuses. Situated within their natural river habitat in New South Wales, it offers a sustainable, low-impact structure that blends seamlessly with the environment. The design priorities minimal disturbance to the platypuses while allowing researchers to observe, document, and support conservation efforts, exemplifying the harmony between architecture and wildlife conservation, fostering a deeper understanding and connection with these unique creatures.
LILY WALKER
‘Dancing under the moonlight’
This design unites the Lunar moth and man, incorporating the movement of light and people as they dance among the trees. Soft, curved edging and a raised platform position humans from the perspective of the moth, viewing light as a dynamic entity. Various features bestow an ethereal quality upon the design, paying tribute to the profound symbolism and creativity linked to the Lunar moth’s discovery.
Image: Eloise Ham. Axonometric of Penguin Island Shelter & Surf Hub.
Image: (Left) Meera Shreedhar, sections of The Platypus Institute: Research Hub; (Right) Lily Walker, section of Dancing under the moonlight
ARCT1150 Architecture Studio 1
Unit Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov
Studio Coordinator: Justin Katsumata Yu
‘The Exquisite Corpse’
ENRICO CUNHA SILVERIO
‘Boranup Forest House’
The aim for this project was to create a house that meets the needs of a client while also considering sustainability, day-to-day function and cost both to build and to maintain, using only two main materials to build the house, (timber and glass) with the main focus being three distinct spaces within the house, living and kitchen, bedroom, and an outside balcony, prioritising the focus of having a wide panoramic view.
The house is designed for two people, situated in south WA (capes). It connects to its natural surroundings, allowing natural elements inside and lots of natural light. The spaces are not physically large only 5 metres in width, but spacious with clever design techniques that allow the space to expand to the outside. The house focuses on a view beyond, with glass windows encasing the house, and timber screens able to be opened and shut to allow for shade while still maintaining the view. Sustainable use of materials also was considered to minimise the use of heating and cooling processes that are high energy-consuming and inefficient, through the design of the house.
Instead of the earth being changed to suit the house, the house is designed to suit around the sloping terrain, not only creating an authentic look and interesting design with the wide and open living area on the top floor and the bedroom on the lower floor, but also minimising the cost to build.
Image: Site section.
Image: (Left) Section; (Right) Floor plan.
ARCT1150 Architecture Studio 1
Unit Coordinator: Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov
Studio Coordinator: Charlotte Martin
‘The Maker’
SINDRE TOBIAS HEIEN
‘Kurvbyggning’
With the specific intent of displaying and storing woven baskets this model shows the skeletal framework of a would be structure reminiscent of tents and huts of cultures current and past. The structure would stand at 11 meters tall with a moving rope going from top to bottom on which baskets would be hung and displayed, slowly travelling down as patterns of light passing through the structures woven walls would reflect off them until reaching the bottom where they would be placed on grandstands along the walls.
PHOEBE TURNBULL
‘The coffin makers atelier’
Exploring the manipulation of light through architecture these spaces, for a workshop and display area for bespoke coffins, communicates the movement between life and death and the spiritual transcendence and celebration of the soul.
Architecture and light interact to evoke emotions and to establish atmosphere within spaces. As light is a universal symbol embedded within both culture and religion, this design project explores the potential to create a series of transitional spaces for the deceased.
The resulting forms are minimalist, one subtractive – the other additive, both constructed of clean lines. The ethereal progression explores the interplay between light and the longitudinal cuts through the envelope which directs the gaze of the mourners to the central coffin.
Image: Phoebe Turnbull, The coffin makers atelier, physical models.
Unit Coordinators: Joely-Kym Sobott & Dr Philip Goldswain
Teaching Staff: Joely-Kym Sobott & Hazem Halasa
ISABELLA KESZI
‘Comparative analysis of Teotihuacán and Torre Insignia’
In this critical analysis I compare the architecture of two significant sites in Mexico: the city of Teotihuacán (approx. 100BCE – 600CE) and Torre Insignia (1962) within the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco housing complex in Mexico City. Teotihuacán was a thriving Mesoamerican city abandoned for reasons still debated amongst experts. Torre Insignia, a modernist building, reflects the post-revolution Mexican identity due to its incorporation of preColumbian motifs and inspiration from historical precedents such as Teotihuacán. Similarly, it was abandoned, as a result of the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. Both sites have endured comparable issues, and now represent Mexico’s rich architectural heritage, culture, and identity.
Teotihuacán is the Aztec name given to the ancient civilisation they believed was created by the gods, found 50km north-west of present-day Mexico City. Teotihuacán is characterised by the famous Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, and Temple of Quetzalcoatl (Figure 1). It may have had up to 125,000 inhabitants,1 though it was burned somewhere between 550CE/650CE, after which its population declined.2 The main temples stand today as an example of the architecture of the Pre-Columbian period.
Mexican architecture of the modernist period incorporated pre-Columbian motifs, as seen on the housing of Torre Insignia (Figure 2), where
Pani employed Guatemalan artist Carlos Mérida to create two murals representing the Storm God Tlaloc and Wind God Ehécatl.3 These are Aztec names, as there is no evidence in the form of text from Teotihuacán, therefore it is unclear what names they were originally given.4 The figures are seen on the temple of the Plumed Serpent at Teotihuacán. The Aztecs must have been influenced by this architecture and considered it sufficiently important to name and draw influence from (e.g. depictions of gods).
The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán soars up to 63m high with a ground base of 222m. This great pyramid commanded attention due to its sheer size; nowhere else had there been such a large structure in Mesoamerica.5 Also significantly large for its surroundings at the time, Torre Insignia stands at 125m, making it the second tallest skyscraper in Mexico City when it was built, after Torre Latinoamericana.6 It is the tallest building in the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco housing complex, standing out due to its unique form compared to the surrounding flat-rooved buildings.
Along with its vast pyramids, Teotihuacán stretches 40km2 across the Valley of Mexico,7 in a planned orthogonal layout. It has increasingly important buildings in the centre (common of other Mesoamerican city designs),8 on The Avenue of Dead which contains the Sun and Moon Pyramids, Great Compound and Ciudadela (Feathered Serpent Pyramid). Teotihuacán differs from other Mesoamerican designs as its central district was not surrounded by ‘unplanned residential zones’ as others before had.9 Rather, Teotihuacán had extensive, larger ‘apartment compounds’, constructed with multiple rooms and uses. This was a unique form of residence in world urban history.10 Similarly, Mario Pani’s housing complex and Torre Insignia employ the same
Figure 1, view of Torre Insignia in Mexico City. Luisalvaz, Torre Insignia, desde la Torre Latinoamericana, 2013, https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Torre_Insignia,_desde_la_Torre_Latinoamericana.JPG
techniques of multiple rooms and levels to achieve the common goal of housing many people, and providing different uses for a range of needs (e.g. offices, outdoor spaces, schools, businesses, hospital), all in the one complex. The planning of Teotihuacán and the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco housing complex is significant as throughout history, rulers have employed the technique of creating carefully
designed layouts for their cities. This is, put simply, a way to control society and the development of a civilisation.
Both Torre Insignia and Teotihuacán have outlasted significant external environmental changes, highlighting the strength of their design. As made clear by the Aztecs, Teotihuacán’s vernacular architecture was already culturally
Figure 2, aerial view of the Avenue of the Dead at Teotihuacán. Aerial View of Site: Det.: Avenue of the Dead, Pyramids of the Sun. n.d. https://jstor.org/stable/community.13739264
important, but Torre Insignia’s representation of its historical context and its persistence over time, makes a case for it too to become a significant cultural symbol. Although both sites are now without a permanent living presence, they are still visibly present, with Teotihuacán attracting millions of visitors every year, and Torre Insignia symbolising a time in Mexico City when architecture reflected
the idea of Mexican identity post-revolution and Spanish rule.
Teotihuacán’s design and pyramids stand as a testament to an ancient civilization. Similarly, Torre Insignia represents a significant period in Mexico City’s architectural history, where designers found different methods of representing the country’s diverse history and identity. The planning and
housing strategies employed in both Teotihuacán and the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco complex display the control and organization of urban spaces throughout history. Together they symbolise how the country has journeyed from Mesoamerican civilisation to Aztec Empire to Spanish colony to post-revolution present-day Mexico.
Mexico City Government. “Insignia Tower.” Accessed April 26, 2024. https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/insignia-tower/.
Noelle, Louise. “Los murales de Carlos Mérida. Relación de un desastre.” Anales Del Instituto De Investigaciones Estéticas 15, no. 58 (1987): 125-143.
Sánchez, Luis Carlos. “Mural de la Torre Banobras, se lo lleva el viento.” Heraldo de México, Apr 2, 2021. https:// heraldodemexico.com.mx/cultura/2021/4/2/mural-de-la-torrebanobras-se-lo-lleva-el-viento-278542.html
Sarro, Patricia Joan. “THE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE IN RITUAL SPACE AT TEOTIHUACAN, MEXICO.” Ancient Mesoamerica 2, no. 2 (1991): 249–62.
Endnotes
1. George L. Cowgill, Ancient Teotihuacan: Early Urbanism in Central Mexico. Case Studies in Early Societies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 144.
2. Cowgill, Ancient Teotihuacan, 233.
3. Louise Noelle, “Los murales de Carlos Mérida. Relación de un desastre,” Anales Del Instituto De Investigaciones Estéticas 15, no. 58 (1987): 138.
4. Cowgill, Ancient Teotihuacan, 4.
5. Cowgill, Ancient Teotihuacan, 63.
6. 6“Insignia Tower,” Mexico City Government, accessed April 26, 2024, https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/insigniatower/
7. Patricia Joan Sarro, “THE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE IN RITUAL SPACE AT TEOTIHUACAN, MEXICO,” Ancient Mesoamerica 2, no. 2 (1991): 249.
8. Michael E Smith, “The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in Ancient Central Mexico,” Open Archaeology 3, no. 1 (2017): 176.
9. Smith, “The Teotihuacan Anomaly,” 179.
10. Michael E. Smith, “Housing in Premodern Cities: Patterns of Social and Spatial Variation,” International Journal of Architectural Research 8, no. 3 (2014): 216.
Bibliography
Brinkerhoff, Thomas J. “Reexamining the Lore of the ‘Archetypal Conquistador’: Hernán Cortés and the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, 1519-1521.” The History Teacher 49, no. 2 (2016): 169–87.
Cowgill, George L. Ancient Teotihuacan: Early Urbanism in Central Mexico. Case Studies in Early Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Leonard, Benjamin. “Piecing Together a God’s Journey.” Archaeology 72, no. 5 (2019): 44–47.
Mathes, W. Michael. The America’s First Academic Library : Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. Sacramento, Calif: California State Library Foundation, 1985.
Smith, Michael E. “Housing in Premodern Cities: Patterns of Social and Spatial Variation.” International Journal of Architectural Research 8, no. 3 (2014): 207-222.
Smith, Michael E. “The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in Ancient Central Mexico.” Open Archaeology 3, no. 1 (2017): 175-193. https://doi.org/10.1515/ opar-2017-0010
Gonzaga, John Victor. “Mario Pani: Philosophy and Ideology” Rethinking The Future. 2022. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture. com/know-your-architects/a9330-mario-pani-philosophy-andideology/#google_vignette
ARLA1040 Techniques of Visualisation
Unit Coordinator: Jennie Officer
Teaching Staff: Jennie Officer, Samantha Dye & Alec James
Montage and Triptych
MATILDA MITCHELL & INGO WURM
This unit develops students’ skills in visualisation – the fertile territory between ideas and reality. We posit that design is transformative and speculative, not just a means to an end, and that visualisation is intrinsic to communicating design ideas, things and processes. Students are introduced to a range of software programs and digital techniques that are intended as a springboard for further exploration in their own project work.
Montage: Using the signature item: ‘Coffee’.
Triptych: Figures, Yearning, Gallery.
Figures: A figure ground drawing of home, Yearning: Travel by drawing to a place in regional WA you have always wanted to go to, draw everything unbuilt,
Gallery: A gallery showing some of the things we have done in this unit.
Image: Matilda Mitchell, Montage, 2024.
Image: Ingo Wurm, Triptych, 2024.
Landscape Architecture
Image: UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Samantha Dye.
LACH5511 Independent Dissertation by Design Unit
Coordinator: Professor Maria Ignatieva
YIBIN MU
‘Urban
Curlew Wetland’
The Far Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) is the largest migratory shorebird species in the world. Eastern curlew numbers have declined by 81% in Australia over the past three decades. It is now listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. The Far-Eastern curlew faces a multitude of human induced threats including habitat loss, habitat degradation, hunting and human disturbance.
The total flight journey of Far Eastern Curlew is approximately 12,000 kilometres. In order to store enough energy, they will look for suitable wetlands and shores to feed before and during migration to store energy for finishing their long journey. Taking the flight from Australia from February to March as an example, their weight will increase by 40% to 70% before departure and then return to normal weight after two to three days of continuous flight. Therefore, habitats that can provide birds with energy during their long flight.
Wetlands are an important element in water-sensitive urban design and sponge city design and have the function of storing and purifying water bodies. At the same time, wetlands are also irreplaceable habitats for migratory birds. Therefore, establishing bird habitats in urban wetlands is an important task in saving of migratory birds.
The project took Attadale Cove Perth, Western Australia and Bodhi Island in the Yellow Sea (both important nodes for the Far Eastern Curlew migration), as the research sites.
Image: Attadale Cove – winter habitat.
Isometric
Image:
and section of Mudflat and Islet.
LACH5511 Independent Dissertation by Design Unit Coordinator: Professor Maria Ignatieva
KATRINE XU
‘The Future of Chelodina’
Nowadays, wetlands in Perth are under threat of fragmentation, degradation, and dramatic decline due to human activities such as climate change and urban sprawl. Many wetland-based wildlife species have lost their habitats. One of them is Chelodina spp. (long-necked turtle). This turtle is found mainly in freshwater areas of the southern hemisphere. Long-necked turtles are highly migratory, moving through multiple wetlands as the seasons change. They are often struck and injured crossing roads during their long-distance, high-risk migrations, and their nests are often destroyed by invasive species such as red foxes, resulting in low hatchling survival rates.
This project focuses on how landscape architects can improve wetland landscape connectivity to ensure the habitat and migratory stability of Chelodina oblonga (Oblong Turtle) in Perth.
At the large-scale level design proposal, the connection between wetlands and green spaces could be reinforced by establishing green corridors and buffer zones. At the medium-scale level, the construction of swales would be an effective tool for reinforcing wetland connectivity. At the small scale level, the most important way of protecting rare turtles will be adopting Bio-Welcome Roads in communities with a high turtle population. The creation of eco-tunnels under highways to facilitate the migration of tortoise or other species is recommended.
Image: Ideal habitat for Chelodina oblonga.
Image: (Left) Master plan and section of focus area 1 and; (Right) focus area 2.
LACH5424 Design Studio - Complexity Unit and Studio Coordinator: Rosie Halsmith
‘More-than-human Studio’
JEMMY REYES MALIHAN
‘Samson Park – A Microbat Sanctuary’
For the More-than-human Studio, we were tasked with creating a more-than-human landscape strategy around Samson Park, a remnant vegetation area and Bush Forever site in the suburb of Samson.
My proposal focuses on a suburb retrofit for the Gould’s Wattled Bat (Chalinolobus gouldii). These microbats are small nocturnal species that are integral to Australian ecosystems. They serve as vital insectivores and prey for predators. Their sensitivity to environmental changes and their role in controlling insect populations make them excellent bioindicators of ecosystem health.
This design proposal for Samson provides refuge and diverse habitat options for the Gould’s Wattled Bat. Threats have been managed, and ecological connections established. Key moves involve the creation of human-made habitat structures, introducing wetland habitats for biodiversity, establishing bushland edges through diverse native vegetation, providing ecological connectivity through continuous vegetated linear pathways, reducing impermeable road surfaces, and activating streetscapes to create positive awareness of biodiversity.
Image: Microbat daily/ annual/ life cycle diagram.
Image: (Left) Sections; (Right) Sculpture bat habitat perspective.
LACH5424 Design Studio - Complexity
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Rosie Halsmith
‘More-than-human Studio’
DANICIA QUINLAN
‘Water Always Finds Its Way Home’
Designing for Transformation, Seasonal Change, Resilience, Speed and Light
Water Always Finds its Way Home explores the critical relationship of water to the client, the Tau Emerald Dragonfly (Scientific name: Hermicordulia tau, Noongar names: Djerakan Noort/Nooranga/Fire Eyes/Devils Needles) and its collaborators.
Flying at breakneck speed of up to 70km/hour across a 1km plus radius, the Tau Emerald starts life in the water, where it sheds to transform from nymph to adult as it starts to warm up in the sun. Progressing from a diet of tiny tadpoles, in maturity it eats up to 100 mosquitoes on a balmy summer day.
Each summer day the Tau Emerald finds somewhere safe to rest in the shade, water to cool off or to find a mate. It takes to the sky, zips around, rests, eats, cools, slows down and rests those fire eyes hidden in a frond or foliage.
The strategy outlined in Water Always Finds its Way Home takes three core elements – 1. Flight, 2. Torpor (Rest) and 3. Flit, Feed and Procreate – to create an integrated design response. The response proposes a cultural change around our backyard pool, whose only eco-system benefit is to take a human plunge. It explores whether there is a market to work commercial operators (such as the established Aquatechnics Pools at the north of the study area) to drive conversion of the dense scatter of chlorinated pools to natural pools and the expansive verges and 6m set back lawns into a network of damplands. Accommodating a network of “pit-stops” for the client, increasing territories, and creating a cool microclimate throughout one of the hottest suburbs in Perth.
The sloping typography to the low point in Samson Park – a critical beating heart of remnant vegetation – provides the ideal conditions to daylight stormwater drains and pipes to create a surrounding protective swale and a safe point of transition from the Balinese and resort style home suburban gardens into the park to prevent weed and pest invasion.
In the heart of the park, a designed wetland at the lowest point in the topography eliminates the need for the current metal grated stormwater pits, prevents seasonal flooding across the turf and creates an ecosystem asset for the Tau Emerald and her collaborators, as well as park visitors. From this new heart, with surrounding rockery, sedges and reeds, a new Ondonata nymph will emerge from the water to once again take flight after the rains.
Image: Flit, feed, procreate – natural pools provide the answer.
Image: Tau Emerald, plans and illustrations.
LACH5424 Design Studio Complexity
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Rosie Halsmith
‘To design for the non-human’
SARAH HILL
‘Unstopped Tracks’
The quenda (Isoodon obesulus) is most commonly found in the dense understorey of Banksia and Jarrah Woodlands. However, in an urban setting they inhabit patches of bushland, parkland and backyard gardens.
The presence of quendas is a good indicator of a balanced ecosystem. Australia’s ancient landscapes have infertile, weathered and nutrient poor soils that are especially deficient in phosphorus and nitrogen. The vast majority of native plants have therefore evolved symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi, which increases the opportunity of obtaining nutrients and water resources. Digging marsupials like the quenda are responsible for the distribution of these fungi and are the invisible link between healthy soils and a thriving ecosystem.
Along the Swan Coastal Plain, quendas are restricted to the pockets of remnant bushland due to increased urbanisation. Lack of habitat connectivity leaves quendas vulnerable to predation, lack of genetic connectivity, mating availability and road collisions.
My design aims to answer the question of how we ensure quendas can move through urban fabric to be able to distribute vital fungi to native vegetation. Large scale regional linkages are important to connect ecological stepping stones, however there is a need for micro linkages to allow all fauna species to move between habitat areas. These micro linkages aim to mitigate the impacts of the hard-edge transition from urban development to a natural landscape.
Samson Park within the City of Fremantle has been used as a case study to demonstrate how a layered buffer design approach can allow protected movement for quendas and a healthy home for both human and non-human residents.
Image: Human and non-human experience.
Image: (Left) Collages; (Right) Quenda as ecosystem engineer.
LACH4505 Landscape Architecture Critical Theory: ‘isms and ‘ologies
Unit Coordinator: Daniel Jan Martin
RUTH MEILIANI SURYA, JONATHAN HONG & YUTING LIU
‘Shimmer and the Anthropocene’
In our Master of Landscape Architecture theory unit, ‘Critical Theory: ‘isms and ‘ologies’, Ruth Meiliani Surya, Jonathan Hong and Yuting Liu led the class in our discussion of the topic ‘Shimmer and the Anthropocene’.
As the Earth transitions into the Anthropocene epoch, the human species is acknowledged as the primary driver of environmental change. This brings the worrying admission that our species is causing the extinction of other species’, which may lead to biodiversity breakdown and our own extinction. Here, we discuss three readings on the topic ‘Shimmer and the Anthropocene’, and what roles designers can play as stewards, communicators, and advocates for change. Our readings guide across perspectives from Timothy Morton’s ‘Hyperobjects’1 to Richard Weller’s ‘Atlas for the End of the World’2 to Deborah Bird-Rose’s ‘Shimmer’.3
Hyperobjects
Timothy Morton describes two main characteristics of hyperobjects: first, they are incomprehensible; second, they are distributed across time and space. The material styrofoam is an example of their massive distribution globally. Nuclear waste, plastic, and carbon are other hyperobjects. What actions we should take? To
quote Morton “we are not getting rid of the hyperobjects anytime soon...We are deeply involved with all of them now. We might as well admit our commitment, physically, practically, and emotionally.” So our first step: admit what we have done. Philosophers Daston and Galison’s perspective: “All epistemology begins in fear,” introduces the second step: fear. Finally, we arrived at the concept of care, which is a central argument in Morton’s writing. Morton discusses the “spirituality of care” for hyperobjects like COVID-19 and uses Björk’s song ‘Virus’ to speak of it not as a pandemic story but a love song. Admit, fear, care.
Atlas for the End of the World
To counter decreasing global biodiversity, the United Nations set a protected terrestrial area target of 17% by 2020. ‘Biodiversity hotspots’ around the globe are the most valuable areas to protect as they are highly ecologically representative. The ‘Atlas for the End of the World’ gathers and communicates data using a whole series of world maps. It tracks and compares the protected areas in the world’s biodiversity hotspots against the UN target, and predicts biodiversity conflict areas caused by ongoing human impacts. The maps reveal an opportunity for human stewardship to the earth for the conscious creation of a ‘good Anthropocene’. In biodiversity hotspots, so much biodiversity exists around cities and it is in these ‘hotspot cities’ where major impacts can be made. Planners, designers and other professionals shaping the environment, can shape these expanding cities for the better and influence the future of the world’s biodiversity. Richard Weller asks us as landscape architects: “The question is no longer how to preserve a wild world from human intrusion; it is what shape we will give to a world we can’t help changing.”
Image: This unit delves into a range of critical theories (the ‘isms and ‘ologies) relevant to the contemporary practice and research of landscape architecture. These include: Deep time and place; From gravity to acceleration; Terrain vague; Eco as system; The superblock; Designing ecology; Lo-fi landscapes; Landscape as modern ‘other’?; Shimmer and the Anthropocene; and Advocacy and discipline.
Shimmer
In her essay ‘Shimmer: When all you love is being trashed’, Deborah Bird Rose profoundly describes the relationship between flying foxes and eucalypts, using symbolism to illustrate their mutualism. Flying foxes rely on eucalypts for food and shelter, while eucalypts depend on flying foxes for pollination. This occurs as flying foxes travel, sometimes up to 50 kilometers, spreading pollen and aiding the reproduction of these trees. This interdependent life cycle prompts a reflection on the role of humans in this ecosystem. As humans, we have the choice to either support or harm this delicate balance. By saying ‘yes’ to the nonhuman and more-than-human, we acknowledge their crucial role in maintaining the health of ecosystems upon which we all rely. Supporting one species means we are also supporting the entire ecosystem, including all the diverse life forms that depend on them.
In her writing, Deborah Bird Rose advocates for a change in perspective through observing and caring for the ‘shimmer of life’. ‘Encounters with shimmer,’ in her words, remind us that ‘the world is not composed of gears and cogs but of multifaceted, multispecies relations and pulses.’ She encourages us to say ‘yes’, emphasizing that this acceptance extends to embracing and caring for the entire ecosystem. This holistic approach underlines the importance of coexisting with and nurturing the natural world, recognizing the interconnectedness of all species. Ultimately, by saying ‘yes’, we affirm the value of biodiversity and the health of our planet. As Deborah Bird Rose explains ‘in the midst of terrible destruction, life finds ways to flourish, and that the shimmer of life does indeed include us.’
Endnotes
1. Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
2. Weller, Richard, Hoch, Claire and Huang, Chieh. “Atlas for the End of the World.” Accessed April, 2024. http://atlas-for-theend-of-the-world.com.
3. Rose, Deborah Bird. “Shimmer: When all you love is being trashed.” In Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene, edited by Anna Tsing, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan and Nils Bubandt, 51–63. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
LACH4423 Landscape and Urban Ecology
Unit Coordinator: Professor Maria Ignatieva
DANICIA QUINLAN
‘Urban BioTopes’
The biotope (i.e by the word origin bios-life and topos-place) under investigation is an intriguing mixture of both life (the terrestrial environment) and its sense of place. In the heart of Samson, there is inherently endemic and natural biological community at the heart left to natural devices, yet it is enclosure by a full circle by a highly designed shrubbery that displays a consistency of design and plantings a-typical of the early 1980s “Balinese” or “Resort” style gardens, featuring a front rectangle of turf, surrounded by a series of different palms, rockeries and tropical style shrubs.
This consistency is likely to be the result of the suburb’s development by a single developer to a uniform urban master plan, marketed to an aspiring, moderately middle to low social-economic profile in the 1980s.
The heart of the park sits within the defined geographical element of the Spearwood Dune system – a coastal limestone Karst formation with water at shallow depths across the Swan River Coastal Plain. The division between the Cottesloe Complex (shallow yellow and brand sand overlying aeolicanite) and the Karrakatta Complex (deep yellow brown sand overlying aeolicanite) run parallel right through the centre of the park.,
This profile provides for the Tuart, Jarrah and Marri open forest, rather than the Bassendean Complex of Banksia and Sheoak-Prickly Bark low forest in low lying areas to the East.
At least 47 species, from 16 different families were observed across the five study sites. The most diverse biotope exists of exotic species planted within the designed private front garden, followed by the natural endemic woodlands.
Future design solutions needs to consider the ecological health of this important patch in this urban ecological bioregion. These includes addressing increased soil salinity, bush fire control, feral animal control, further encroachment and disturbance by urban development, root-fungus, Euwallacea fornicatus (polyphagous shot-hole borer) and other infestations, myrtle rust and dieback, weed invasions, limited diversity of vegetation communities within the park, as well as trampling/encroachment by increased surrounding population and domestic pets.
The most significant design implication observed is the need for edge and barrier protection for native remnant bushland, the conservation values of native remnant vegetation to attract increased biodiversity and cooling in the face of climate change.
Image: Sir Frederick Samson Parks, wetlands and adjacent parks and public spaces.
Remnant vegetation Lawns
Urban development timelines
Prior to colonisation, area was traditional Tuart, Marri and Jarrah woodlands interspersed with wetlands and banksia woodlands to the East.
1829 - Colonialisation.
1870 - Lots allocated to Pensioners Guards and used for piggeries, poultry farms, vineyards and horticulture.
1904-1960 - Surrounded endowed to UWA for pine plantations.
1939 - Park established as Melville Australian Army Training Camp.
1955 - Army Camp converted to Movie Hall.
1950-1960 - Hilton, Kardinya, Coolbelup started to be developed.
1971 - Samson developed by TM Burke Pty Ltd.
1980s - Suburban development including public playing fields, schools, public transport along North Lake Road, South St and Leach Highway.
1990s Growing industrial area to the North.
Transport corridor link to Perth South and Kwinana established.
Site 1: Remnant Vegetation
Tuart Woodland
Site 2: Remnant Vegetation
Marri Woodland
Site 3: Lawn
Site 4: Edge
Site 5: Wasteland
Site 6: Shrubbery
LACH3000 Landscape Synthesis Studio
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Simon Kilbane
‘The Hills: ambiguous spaces and intriguing places’
RUBY KELLETT
‘Perth’s Tranquil Gem – The Hills’
“The Hills” refers to the Darling scarp and Eastern Hinterlands of Perth/Borloo that run parallel to the ocean, nestled neatly against the Swan Coastal Plain. Much of Perth’s landscape is flat and our lifestyle heavily centres around the coast, leaving The Hills as a gem hidden in plain sight on the horizon. The Hills provide a tranquil escape to nature from life within our urban sprawl and a unique geographical vantage point from which the iconic city skyline of the Perth CBD can be fully admired.
This project provides an opportunity to explore the unique character of the landscape beyond Perth’s urban fabric. Drawing from the graphical style Matthur & Da Cunha’s ‘SOAK: Mumbai in an Estuary (2009) I began to ground my own understanding of The Hills at a larger scale, mapping found nuggets of experience and highlighting their unique views through viewshed mapping tools. Progressing into greater depths I explored the site of Bells Rapids, mapping out the unique opportunities and constraints which were presented by this site.
This process unveiled a range of critical insights into the terrain of Bells Rapids. It highlighted the presence of unique viewpoints scattered throughout the landscape, each offering distinct perspectives of the surrounding natural beauty and the Perth CBD skyline. However, it also highlighted challenges such as limited access and limited transport infrastructure that can hinder visitor engagement and conservation efforts.
Moreover, the mapping process underscored the dynamic nature of the landscape itself. During the summer months, Bells Rapids transforms into a parched and brittle terrain under the relentless heat and clear skies, marked by hues of golden-brown. In contrast, the winter season brings a dramatic change as rains replenish the land, reviving streams, the river and waterfalls, painting the surroundings in lush greens and vibrant blues.
Endnote Mathur, A., & Cunha, D. d. (2009). Soak : Mumbai in an estuary. New Delhi: Rupa & Co.
Image: Mapped overview of The Hills.
and constraints
Image: (Left) Opportunities
of Bells Rapids; (Right) Eco Tents plan and section.
LACH3000 Landscape Synthesis Studio
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Simon Kilbane
‘The Hills: ambiguous spaces and intriguing places’
LANA JADEJA
‘Bells Rapids: Temporal Inaccessibility’
This project is a response to a dry riverbed and a site in its off-season. Bells Rapids, while highly visited when the river flows, is otherwise forgotten in summer months. Upon visiting the site in March, we came to a stark, dry, dusty place. Under a bright blue sky, balgas studded the hillscape. Over a rocky river bed, green algae sat in pools and we clambered over dry rocks, tracing ghost lines of the white water. When the river was dry we could get closer, move slower.
This project is based on rising and falling sensory speeds throughout the year. In dry months, the visitor is brought to observe the still and minute. Here, low water levels expose rocks and reveal a walkway intervention that picks its way through the riverbed, additional granite stepping stones provide an easier passage and visitors balance on rocks and look down. At times of full flow, the trail floods and becomes inaccessible. Sounds, smells and rushing motions of the rapids become all-encompassing and visitors quicken their pace on higher paths. This design is subtle and provides versatility in initiating the visitor into temporally shifting experiences.
constraints; (Right) Flood Trail detailed plan and section.
LACH3000 Landscape Synthesis Studio
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Simon Kilbane
‘The Hills: ambiguous spaces and intriguing places’
SHYAN LEE
‘Swan Reforested River Trail’
The heavy amount of habitat loss experienced at Bells Rapids reflects the greater loss that is happening in Perth and its surrounds. Coupled with the dissection of land due to major transport networks and continuing development, the problem is compounded where essential links between habitats are cut off from each other. Due to this, they are unable to reach the critical mass needed to sustain diverse flora and fauna.
The Swan River, however, functions as a permanent and unbroken natural corridor that penetrates directly to the heart of Perth and can serve as a vital channel for preserving biodiversity in the area. Through reforestation beginning at Bells Rapids, the aim is to restore the ecological status of this section of the Swan as a powerful biodiversity corridor that can revitalize areas closer to Perth and provide an important link to the bushland of the Hills. Coupled with this ecological-focused action, a new Swan River pedestrian path will create a continuous trail to and from the city. The goal of this trail is to create awareness, build communities and promote healthier lifestyles through experiencing a closer connection with nature within a unique river ecosystem.
Image: Placement of the Swan in the context of the Perth Hills.
Image: Market Village Trail Head & Eco Tents.
LACH2000 Landscape Context Studio
Unit Coordinator: Christina Nicholson
Studio Coordinators: Christina Nicholson & Nicholas Pierson
‘The Astonishing Idea – untethered’
AMITY CRAPPSLEY-POPE
‘Pilgrimage of Water: Creating Magic, Wonder and Curiosity’
At the periphery of the Perth Hills lies the Sixty Foot Falls walk trail, a 2.3km loop walk that leads to the abandoned Old Barrington Quarry. Along the walk there are beautiful views of both Perth City and the surrounding bush, with the quarry bringing grand rock faces and areas of water.
A journey of experiencing magic, wonder and curiosity is made along the walk and quarry. For the walk datum is created, using running water, stone, seating and thresholds. These smaller insertions create anticipation of what’s to come in the Shrine Landscape (quarry area), hinting at both the materiality and experience. Seating allows rest, while consistent clueing-in and connection keeps the user moving.
The Shrine Landscape begins with an intimate, fragmented path of monolithic stone structures, a threshold into the rest of the landscape. The distance between monoliths is shortened and widened, controlling views and building curiosity of the beyond. Mossy overhangs provide shade whilst also evoking wonder and magic as users gaze around themselves.
Reliquary; quarried rock rings in the large pool, imitating ripples on water’s surface. There is more mossy overhang for shade, and elements below the water are both hidden and revealed as the seasons change. The area provides a place for reflection.
An exposed area is created, utilising the overpowering rock faces that surround. Stepping up onto two shortly elevated stone platforms heightens the exposed experience, evoking impressions of size and place. A thin film of water is created when it rains.
A hidden place draws users in with fragmented stepping stones and trees, once again utilising the shape of the quarry. Users pass over contrasting rectangular pools of water, with more magic, wonder and curiosity created through the combination of those, dense canopy and circular seating. An area for rest and exploration.
Image: Shrine Landscape master plan.
Shrine Landscape detailed plans.
Image:
LACH1010 History and Theory of Landscape Architecture
Unit Coordinator: Professor Maria Ignatieva
SOPHIE SAMUEL-STAUDE
‘The History of Australian Landscaping and the Development of an Australian Garden Style’
Introduction
Gardens reflect the context they are created in, pulling influence from nature, culture, social norms, environmental knowledge and aesthetic preferences.1 The unique Australian garden style, which is distinguished by the acknowledgment of history and native plants, reflects and considers First Nation’s culture, the distinct Australian landscape, the contrasting introductions of European garden ideals, and the quest for an Australian identity. Australian landscapes before colonisation reflected the enduring land management and respect of Country that the Traditional Custodians held.2 British colonisation introduced European garden ideals of the ‘motherland’, such as the Picturesque and Gardenesque styles, with exotic plants used.3
Only in the late 20th century did an Australian style begin to emerge, reflecting the rise of Australian nationalism and influential landscape designer Edna Walling.4 Contemporary Australian gardens, such as Kings Park embody a unique style, acknowledging First Nations culture, colonial influence and the diverse and unique species of native plants,5 which naturally inform a garden style of their own, the Australian Style.
The Traditional Custodians of the land – Australian landscapes before invasion
“The land is the mother and we are of the land; we do not own the land rather the land owns us.
The land is our food, our culture, our spirit and our identity.” – Dennis Foley, a Gai-mariagal and Wiradjuri man, and Fulbright scholar.6
First Nations people hold a spiritual connection to Country, evoking deep respect and reverence towards maintaining and constructing the unique Australian landscape, creating environmentally and community-minded designs.7 For the First Nations people of Australia, the word Country is inclusive of the living and nonliving and encompasses an interdependent connection between the wellbeing of a First Nations person and the health of the land.8 When the British arrived they witnessed a bountiful landscape with open grassland, which had been constructed by the First Nations people for millennia, with sophisticated use of fire and management regimes that sustained the livelihood of the people and Country9 (Figure 1).
First Nations people practised agriculture, land management and design, prior to invasion, though many of these cultural sites and practices were destroyed and prohibited by the British.10 Designs within the landscape were often constructed in association to creation stories, with the trunks of trees and timber being carved and marked with paint.11 Gardens and landscaping around ceremonial areas and cemeteries were also documented by early explorers and settlers. Thomas Mitchell’s journal described and illustrated a burial ground that incorporated ‘drooping acacias’, with narrow curved paths between the mounds of red earth, which contrasted the dark green foliage of the acacias and surrounding casuarinas12 (Figure 2).
Additionally, First Nations communities prioritised outdoor living spaces near their dwellings. These spaces provided a sitting place to observe the community and encouraged social
http://nla.gov. au/nla.obj-138501179
interaction within the ‘mob’, which was crucial for sustaining strong communities.13 The First Nations people, which were widespread across Australia, held a spiritual and respectful relationship to nature and its resources which greatly contrasted the Western understanding of land as a material asset to be exploited.14 The Traditional Custodians of the land have a known 60,000-year history of living and learning from the land,15 with this sustained contact allowing an immense knowledge of the Australian landscape, informing their role of caring for and constructing the land.16
The changing Australian landscape post colonisation
Early descriptions and paintings of the Australian landscape illustrate thriving landscapes and diverse native flora that had been successfully cared for by First Nations communities,17 however, British opinions of the flora and philosophies of superiority over nature contributed to these landscapes being altered to suit European garden ideals.18 Initially, when early settlers arrived they were amazed by the landscape, as because of the First Nations peoples’ land management
Figure 1: Joseph Lycett, Aboriginals using fire to hunt Kangaroos NSW, 1817, watercolour drawing. Accessed 20 April 2024,
practices, it mimicked the picturesque landscapes of England with clumps of trees and void grass spaces, evoking memories of Capability Brown’s landscape designs.19
However, upon closer inspection of the Australian bush, the British labelled it monotonous, untamed and wild, with Charles Bogue-Luffeman, the Principal of Australia’s earliest Horticultural College discouraging the use of native plants in gardens, stating in 1903: “We suffer here from a lack of fine natural shapes, and graceful combinations in nature.”20
This rejection of native flora reflected early colonisers’ strong attachment to their homeland and traditions,21 with early garden styles depicting picturesque and gardenesque styles that embodied this British heritage.22 The gardenesque style informed the gardens of the wealthy,23 with exotic plants used to create geometric and neat designs, which can still be seen in botanical gardens throughout Australia.24 Within colonial gardens, native vegetation was always secondary and selectively kept to provide shade and a backdrop of foliage.25 The use of natives within garden designs
Figure 2: Thomas Michell’s illustration of a cemetery at Milmeridien, near the Darling River. Courtesy of the State Library of South Australia.
was only legitimised in the subsequent Arts and Crafts movements of landscape architecture, with an Australian garden style beginning to emerge.26
Nationalism and an emerging Australian garden style
Diverse attitudes towards native plants hindered a linear movement towards the appreciation of Australian flora,27 however, from the 1950’s to the 1970’s landscape design began to shift to embody a uniquely Australian identity.28 The Arts and Crafts movement saw the use of local materials and informal plant design within the garden, allowing the natural landscape to encroach.29 Landscape designer, Edna Walling, introduced this design style with her publication of The Australian Roadside, in 1952, which expressed a shift from cottage to native flora gardens.30 Edna additionally advocated for the use of Australian tree species in landscape designs for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, as a symbol of Australian nationalism. This mirrored Australian culture at the time, which was searching for a unique national identity.31 The Australian landscape was seen as a distinct Australian feature and patriotic symbols such as the golden wattle emerged, further contributing to the public’s growing appreciation of native plants.32 Additionally, environmentalism and experiences of drought proved the Australian bush as hardy and sensical to the environment, in comparison to struggling exotics.33 Collectively, influential figures such as Edna Walling, nationalism, and environmentalism contributed to an emerging Australian style, with native plants held at the core.34
Landscape design in the 21st century – Kings Park Botanical Gardens and beyond
Australia’s 60,000-year-old history of First Nations custodianship and unique native landscapes are beginning to be acknowledged and revived, with contemporary Australian landscape
architecture beginning to incorporate both First Nations culture and native flora, informing a unique garden style.35 Australia is one of the most biodiverse places in the world,36 with the continent and joining seas supporting up to 700,000 native species, with 85% of plant species being found only in the Australian continent.37 First Nations culture provides immense knowledge, spiritual and symbolic value to our native plants,38 giving great argument to their inclusion in contributing to a unique Australian garden style. Kings Park Botanical Gardens in Perth have considered the Noongar people of Southwestern Australia, who have cared for the land, flora, fauna and waters for millennium.39 Kings Park boasts one of the world’s largest city parks, with a rich inclusion of First Nations and European history and design, and displays over 3,000 plant species unique to Western Australia, providing natural habitat, beauty, leisure and education.40
The recent 2023 inclusion of the Six Season Garden reflects the Noongar people’s six season calendar, which, unlike the Western calendar, transitions through the seasons by the signals of plants and animals, providing a landscape system for diverse cultural purposes.41 With Kings Park as the backdrop, the Noongar Six Season program provides education on Noongar culture and use of the land and highlights culturally significant native flora.42 Expansively, with an increased appetite for First Nations landscaping and rising environmental concerns, native plants are being used within urban design, contributing to modern Australian garden ideals.43 Several Perth suburbs have included native garden designs that reflect the Noongar six seasons and provide flowers for insects, birds and aesthetics all year round.44 This is reflective of an evolving wider community shift across Australia to native gardens, with a survey revealing the
general publics’ fairly positive aesthetic appeal of natives and favouring of native vegetation in residential landscaping to promote biodiversity.45 Contemporary Australian gardens are beginning to contextually reflect the world they are created in, acknowledging the countries 60,000-year-old First Nations history, 700,000 native plant species and era of environmentalism.
Conclusion
The unique Australian garden style, which is distinguished by the acknowledgment of history and native plants, reflects and considers First Nations culture, the distinct Australian landscape, the contrasting introductions of European garden ideals, and the quest for an Australian identity. Australian landscapes have a long and winding history, being inhabited and managed by the Traditional Custodians for millennia, only to be upheaved by British colonisation and European garden ideals.46 The later establishment of an Australian garden style reflected cultural movements of nationalism, with designers advocating for the inclusion of native plants within landscape architecture.47 National identity will always contend with historical and geographic identities,48 with Australian suburban gardens still depicting a multicultural nation.49 However, the development of a unique Australian garden style mirrors an Australian identity that champions diverse native plants and cultural history, 50 such as the inclusion of the Noongar Six Season Gardens, at Kings Park, which acknowledges First Nations wisdom and the opportunity of positive environmental impact that native flora can contribute.51 For Australian landscape architects to create gardens that are distinctly of an Australian style, they must consider the context they create them in, with a rich history of First Nations knowledge of the land and a diverse array of resilient
native flora illuminating distinct Australian elements, that make sense within their native environment. A unique Australian garden style is one that acknowledges its past and champions it’s unique flora, nurturing roots that will allow the landscape to grow and exhibit its Australian individuality.
Endnotes
1. A. Shaw, K. K. Miller, and G. Wescott, “Australian native gardens: Is there scope for a community shift?,” Landscape and Urban Planning 157 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j. landurbplan.2016.07.009
2. Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Tegan Hall, and Andreas Nicholas Alexandra, “The loss of an indigenous constructed landscape following British invasion of Australia: An insight into the deep human imprint on the Australian landscape,” Ambio 50, no. 1 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01339-3.
4. Katie Holmes, “Growing Australian landscapes: the use and meanings of native plants in gardens in twentiethcentury Australia,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 31, no. 2 (2011), https://doi. org/10.1080/14601176.2011.556371.
5. Government of Western Australia, “Kings Park and Botanic Garden,” Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions., 2024, accessed 19/04/2024, https://www.dbca. wa.gov.au/botanic-gardens-and-parks-authority/kings-parkand-botanic-garden
6. “Connection to Country,” 2020, accessed 18/04/2024, https://experience.welcometocountry.com/blogs/learning/ connection-to-country
7. Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, New Edition (Perth, AUSTRALIA: Magabala Books, 2018). http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uwa/detail. action?docID=5581055.
8. Bruno Marques, Greg Grabasch, and Jacqueline McIntosh, “Fostering Landscape Identity Through Participatory Design With Indigenous Cultures of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand,” Space and Culture 24, no. 1 (2018), https://doi. org/10.1177/1206331218783939
9. Fletcher, Hall, and Alexandra, “The loss of an indigenous constructed landscape.”
10. Pascoe, Dark Emu
11. Ibid, pp 136-37.
12. Ibid, pp 140.
13. Ibid, pp 142.
14. Marques, Grabasch, and McIntosh, “Fostering Landscape Identity Through Participatory Design With Indigenous Cultures of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand.”
15. Agata Cabanek, Peter Newman, and Noel Nannup, “Indigenous landscaping and biophilic urbanism: case studies in Noongar Six Seasons,” Sustainable Earth Reviews 6, no. 1 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-023-00054-7.
16. Marques, “Fostering Landscape Identity Through Participatory Design.”
17. Fletcher, “The loss of an indigenous constructed landscape.”
18. Holmes, “Growing Australian landscapes.”
19. ABC, “Aussie Gardening History.”
20. Holmes, “Growing Australian landscapes.”
21. Christina Dyson, “Rethinking Australian natural gardens and national identity, 1950–1979,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 36, no. 1 (2016), https://www. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14601176.2015.1076669
22. ABC, “Aussie Gardening History.”
23. Paul Urquhart and Leigh Clapp, The new native garden: designing with Australian plants (Sydney: New Holland, 1999), 12.
24. ABC, “Aussie Gardening History.”
25. Urquhart, The new native garden, 12.
26. ABC, “Aussie Gardening History.”
27. Holmes, “Growing Australian landscapes.”
28. Dyson, “Rethinking Australian natural gardens and national identity, 1950–1979.”
29. ABC, “Aussie Gardening History.”
30. Dyson, “Rethinking Australian natural gardens and national identity, 1950–1979.”
31. Ibid.
32. Holmes, “Growing Australian landscapes.”
33. Ibid.
34. Dyson, “Rethinking Australian natural gardens and national identity, 1950–1979.”
35. Cabanek, “Indigenous landscaping and biophilic urbanism.”
36. Ibid.
37. I. D. Cresswell, T. Janke, and E. L. Johnston, Overview: Biodiversity, Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (Canberra, 2021), https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/overview/environment/biodiversity
38. Ibid.
39. Cabanek, “Indigenous landscaping and biophilic urbanism.”
40. Government of Western Australia, “Kings Park and Botanic Garden.”
41. Cabanek, “Indigenous landscaping and biophilic urbanism.”
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Shaw, Miller, and Wescott, “Australian native gardens: Is there scope for a community shift?.”
46. Fletcher, Hall, and Alexandra, “The loss of an indigenous constructed landscape following British invasion of Australia: An insight into the deep human imprint on the Australian landscape.”
47. Dyson, “Rethinking Australian natural gardens and national identity, 1950–1979.”
48. Ibid.
49. Holmes, “Growing Australian landscapes.”
50. Ibid.
51. Cabanek, “Indigenous landscaping and biophilic urbanism.”
Urban Design
Image: UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Courtney Holloway.
URBD5804 Urban Design Studio 1
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Robert Cameron
‘Alternotopias’
NANCY MICOZZI
‘Bovell – Market City’
Within recent decades, the world has adapted to an improved climate and embraced diversity to create cohesive communities. In this future scenario with an improved climate, many industries such as mining were made redundant, resulting in an upheaval of the Australian workforce and a shift towards the market economy systems of the past. Over time, it has become viable for people to live off of smaller incomes and there is freedom to pursue and make money from crafting and selling artisan goods.
Formerly small regional towns have evolved into cities, to meet the market demands of their residents. Bovell, a small suburb 10 minutes from Busselton, exemplifies this transformation. Inspired by the flexible zoning practices of Japan, city planners allowed Bovell to develop organically as residents migrated in.
The heart of Bovell lies in its ‘Market Plaza,’ a spacious open area where residents can sell their goods from market stalls. Positioned at the base of the Bovell tram and train stations, this Plaza serves as a central hub accessible via intuitively designed pedestrian pathways throughout the suburb. Five main streets provide water sensitive green corridors that extend outwards while pedestrian-only laneways weave through the urban landscape, linking the dense urban form in the centre with nature in its surrounds.
Bovell’s built form is comprised of several medium density ‘live-work’ units, where lower floors are reserved for commercial spaces, offices, and workshops exclusive to building residents. The built form promotes the local market economy, affording residents opportunities for sustainability in the aspects of work, life and recreation.
Overall, Bovell has evolved into a regional centre whose built form has granted residents with the freedom of living in a city that prioritises environmental, cultural and economic sustainability.
Image: Perspective.
Image: (Left) Bovell Masterplan; (Right) Land use, movement and green spaces.
URBD5804 Urban Design Studio 1
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Robert Cameron
‘Alternotopias’
AARON LI
‘Water always wins’
In response to global warming trends, the envisioned expansion of the City of Pinjarra aims to develop a sustainable urban system through coordinated efforts in the economy, transportation, energy, and environment.
Regarding economy: Pinjarra will serve as a satellite city within the Mandurah regional economic zone. By integrating the existing alumina refinery, the city will utilize extracted resources to develop a new construction materials industry, promoting local economic diversification and sustainable development.
In transportation: Mandurah will be closely connected to Perth via a rapid rail transit system, forming an essential metropolitan corridor. Pinjarra will adopt a trackless public transportation system to connect with Mandurah, creating a city layout focused on Transit-Oriented Development. The city’s internal design will prioritize pedestrian and bicycle-friendly spaces, forming a compact and convenient community network. A comprehensive bus system will further enhance the urban transportation network.
Environmental Response: The city’s flood risk areas present challenges and opportunities for constructing a water-sensitive urban design. The design of the urban stream within the city will connect urban patches to the Murray River, forming an eco-corridor. This also expands the river’s surface area, providing a flexible response to flood issues brought by the Murray River.
Energy Supply: Pinjarra will rely on thermal energy from the upgraded alumina refinery and solar energy, establishing a diversified energy strategy that reduces dependence on traditional fossil fuels and promotes the application of renewable energy. This vision is to implement a sustainable urban development model in the Pinjarra area.
Image: The map of regional correlations.
Image: (Left) Retail Street perspective; (Right) The masterplan of Pinjarra.
URBD5804 Urban Design Studio 1
Unit and Studio Coordinator: Dr Robert Cameron
‘Alternotopias’
JONATHAN ADRIAN
‘Vasse Urban Agricultural City’
Most forecasts predict that by 2050, the Earth will need to feed an additional two billion people. With the consumptive behaviour that most people exhibit at the moment, global food production will have to match the amount of food produced in the past 10,000 years within the next 50 years. In order to ensure the well-being of the expanding and progressively urbanised global population amidst the challenges posed by climate change, it is essential that cities undertake a greater role in the production of the extra supplies of food required. Residential areas have the primary responsibility for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions. It is evident that we must discover a new method for producing food.
The urgency of addressing the issue is not only due to its scale, but also because the existing state of agriculture is unsustainable. Modern agricultural practices excessively utilise energy, water, synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, and other resources, resulting in significant impacts on the environment. Busselton, located in the southern region of Perth, benefits from a mild climate environment that is suitable for cultivating various crops, ensuring a reliable food supply.
The new city will expand through progressive development, with the goal of reviving small-scale urban farming practices through a small module grid design, which can promote a strong sense of community among its residents. The proximity and robustness of urban space arrangements are the keys to developing a sustainable way of life. By fostering social cohesion through strategically integrated public areas, this planned design promotes an urban environment capable of accommodating a varied and expanding population while maintaining a harmonious relationship with the landscape. The harmonious interaction between constructed and natural surroundings establishes a balanced ecology where sustainability is not merely a goal but a tangible existence, providing a model for future urban progress.
Image: Vasse Urban Agricultural City, masterplan.
Image: Vasse Urban Agricultural City, perspectives.
URBD5810 Healthy by Design
Unit Coordinator: Dr Nicole Edwards
Teaching Staff: Dr Nicole Edwards & Chris
Melsom
DILLON GORTON
‘Excerpt from: Urban Atoll: The social & health implications of Kwinana’s urban disconnection’
The City of Kwinana is an innocent victim of its own very challenging urban organisation, features and location. Constrained on all sides by unavailing land uses, Kwinana exists as an urban island, floating detached from any cohesive wider urban network. Due to its onerous geographic situation, The City of Kwinana experiences some unique challenges that has implications for the liveability and wellbeing of its residents. The citizens of Kwinana suffer disproportionately high poor health conditions,1 which perhaps could be indicative of the urban realm in regards to walkability, recreational opportunities and the food environment. This essay examines the relationship between Kwinana’s urban design and the health of its population.
The City of Kwinana, located about 38km south of the Perth CBD, finds itself disconnected from the key urban centres of the Perth region, creating a very insular, isolated local government area. Following the creation of the major industrial area, at what is now Kwinana Beach, in the 1950s, and the influx of new residents working there, the Kwinana LGA was officially formed in 1961.2 In the sixty years following its formal inception its population has grown to approximately 46,000,3 becoming the unofficial southern end of the wider Perth metropolitan region. Even with the creation of the eponymous arterial route, the Kwinana Freeway – implemented in 1956 but not reaching Kwinana until 2001 – the city is severely burdened by its
geographical dislocation.
Surrounded by formidable, low-intensity urban zones, the City of Kwinana exists as a dislocated urban atoll, forcing a very insular nature on its urban form and network systems. Cut off from the beach by the forbidding industrial port, Kwinana is prevented from engaging with its coastal location and potential recreational / leisure value in any meaningful way. To the east it is bound by the hard scar of the freeway. Agricultural and farming lands lay beyond that and to the south, extensive bushlands and nature reserves wrap along the south-west and west. Severing it from its neighbours to the north are a series of refineries, quarries and treatment plants. Although many of these land-uses were likely quite appropriately zoned at the time, they have been consumed by Perth’s ravenous coastal sprawl and so now exist intertwined within an incompatible urban matrix, segregating the suburbs of Kwinana from any other residential network. Still, Western Australia’s heavyweight industrial services remain vital and evidently need to be located somewhere. Without completely eliminating these crucial, regionally dependent industries for the sake of residential development, some form of co-existence, self-sufficiency and mutual benefit should be aspired to.
Nevertheless, within the isolated central residential area of Kwinana there is a wealth of diverse public open space. Planning has been organised exceptionally well to take cues from, and work with, the pre-existing natural environment, especially the rich wetlands systems, and has impressively attempted to thread natural corridors through the urban fabric. Due to this integrated green approach, most residents have access to both neighbourhood and district sized public open space within an appropriate catchment distance, as well as local parks that service a large portion of the residents.4 Not only is the availability impressive, but
also the diversity of public recreational offerings –from a smattering of grassed ovals and hardscaped sports courts throughout to landscaped zones, bushlands, informal green spaces and parks, as well as a variety of walking trails.
In the last few years, the city has invested heavily in its provision for more active public space uses, to accompany the more leisurely green spaces, especially to captivate and enthuse the local kids and youths. This has included the world-class Edge Skatepark, Adventure Park and Zone Youth Space, all of which allow for a variety of interactions and
more informal and casual social activity. This new activity precinct is located directly opposite the main shopping mall, Kwinana Marketplace, hoping to entice the younger residents to choose more lively and healthy uses of their time and engage more enthusiastically with their local environment, facilities and community.
One key geographic asset – perhaps the most important physical attribute to Perth – that Kwinana fails to properly engage with is its coastline. Kwinana is evidently a coastal suburb, however unlike its fellow seaside LGAs Rockingham,
Image: The new recreational facilities in the Kwinana Town Centre (The Edge Skatepark & Kwinana Adventure Park). City of Kwinana. “The Adventure Park.”
Cockburn and Fremantle, Kwinana has limited availability and access to this highly lucrative resource. Cut off from the sea by the substantive industrial area – including a series of chemical plants, bulk jetties and other heavy-duty harbour uses – the residents of Kwinana are left with merely a tiny sliver of accessible beach at both the northern and southern ends of the city boundary. Kwinana Beach is only a 10-minute drive from the town centre, however because of the proximity of the heavy industry nearby, there is little additional amenity and no provision of typical local seaside enterprise. Access becomes even more challenging
without a private vehicle with public transport from the town centre taking over an hour when one could get to Rockingham beach in significantly less time. A shuttle bus system running on weekends in the summer months (and more desirable facilities at the beach itself) would be a relatively simple way to entice residents to engage with the natural amenity nearby, especially as it is relatively cheap outdoor pastime (particularly for young families) with numerous additional physical health benefits.
One only needs to assess the local food options in Kwinana to find a likely source of these confronting health problems. There is a disturbingly
Image: The new recreational facilities in the Kwinana Town Centre (The Edge Skatepark & Kwinana Adventure Park). City of Kwinana. “The Adventure Park.”
high preference for fast food outlets over all others, representing more than half of available food options within the city. This is worsened by the meagre availability of fresh fruit and vegetable sources and green grocers.5 Without a complete upheaval of the zoning and prescribed land-uses of the wider regional area, Kwinana will have to come to terms with and accept its provincial nature. A transformation would require the local government to invest in and commit to improving, upgrading and diversifying the nutritional infrastructure within the area and campaign to increase healthy food awareness and education amongst its citizens. This two-pronged approach of physical delivery and knowledge empowerment will promote a keener understanding of nutrition and the related health outcomes, especially for a demographic of vulnerable young families. Turning what are currently constraints into potential opportunities will be a really positive angle for the city to take, allowing it to actually take advantage of its geography rather than be at the mercy of it. In some ways this relative isolation offers a chance for a case study control group where certain changes (for instance, better healthy food options) can be easily observed and measured. Overall, Kwinana has some strong foundational ingredients for a healthy populous, it just needs to produce and incentivise better options and a more proactive uptake of healthy lifestyle choices.
au/whats-new/governor-declares-kwinana-a-city
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 Census All persons QuickStats, (Canberra, ACT: ABS, 2021), https://www.abs.gov. au/census/find-census-data/search-by-area.D
4. Australian Urban Design Research Centre, Public Open Space, “PLAWA Community Facility Guidelines 2020 Mapping Portal for Perth and Peel,” 2020, https:// uwa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index. html?id=057e427ac6054d1d8a7bdefdfc066c10
5. Edith Cowan University. 2022: Fast Food Atlas. “The WA Food Atlas.” 2014. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/ dashboards/9b51985f8ab44b0ab57c7873231da902
Endnotes
1. Torrens University Australia, Social Health Atlas of Australia: Western Australia – Local Government Area of residence, Published 2024, “PHIDU,” 2024, https://phidu.torrens.edu.au/ current/maps/sha-aust/lga-area-profile/wa/atlas.html
2. “Governor declares Kwinana a City,” City of Kwinana, published September 17, 2012, http://www.kwinana.wa.gov.
Image: UWA School of Design, Cullity Gallery, 2024 Winter Collective Exhibition opening night, 12 June 2024. Image by Courtney Holloway.
The University of Western Australia, School of Design M433, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley WA 6009
