Looking back on Melbourne Design Week
We started with the opening of the Landscape Architects as Change Makers exhibition, at University of Melbourne, which explores how Japanese and Australian landscape designers respond to specific regions through design. It was exciting to see our work featured in the this. Kirsten Bauer was part of a panel with Australian and Japanese landscape architects at Storey Hall at RMIT University that discussed the exhibition and their personal design influences.
Kirsten and Matthew Mackay then had the pleasure to join fellow industry leaders in key presentations that explored how design innovation can be harnessed to improve lives in the cities around us.
It was great to see a positive turnout at the Public Life of Infrastructure seminar hosted by Kirsten Bauer and NGV Curator, Dr Timothy Moore along with an accompanying panel. Together they demonstrated how in the past, elevated rails and linear parks have been met with controversy but are now embraced and welcomed as an integral part of our public life. You can read about the event in more detail here.
Later in the week Matthew Mackay joined Dan Hill, Norm Darwin, Harriet Edquist, and Michael Blancato at Designing For Complex Futures: The Legacy And Future Of Design In Fishermans Bend, presented by the City of Melbourne.
We learnt about the history of design innovation in Fishermans Bend and got an inside look at how General Motors Holden's design studio became one of the most successful in Australia. ASPECT Studios co-led the framework plan for the former General Motors Holden site for Development Victoria and are currently designing the first stage of the precinct's public realm, including two new urban parks for the Fishermans Bend community, drawing on this legacy of design and manufacturing innovation.
Thank you to the all the organisers of Melbourne Design Week and all our collaborators and the National Gallery of Victoria.
The Caulfield to Dandenong Linear Park which was featured in the Public Life of Infrastructure is exhibited as part of Melbourne Now, which runs until 24 August - for more information click here.
