Clarendon Auditorium, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
2 Clarendon Street
South Wharf Melbourne Vic 3006
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Program Info
How might we reconsider existing Australian housing typologies, shifting them away from redundancy and towards retention and renewal? How might we re-evaluate the broader syntax of multiresidential projects – the spatial, social, ecological and financial conditions from which they spring and to which they can contribute? And how might we as designers work together with other disciplines – to reach beyond the bespoke, to open-source our methods and to mainstream our practices? Readymade will examine research projects, built projects and atypical methods and scales of practicing that consider the potential of working intelligently with what we already have.
Header Image
Park Street by Breathe. Photography by Ben Moynihan.
Program.
8.30 am
Delegate arrival
9.00 am
Welcome to Country
9.10 am
Introduction Georgia Birks, Architecture Media
9.15 am
Opening comments Guest curators Jennie Officer (Officer Woods) and Nigel Bertram (NMBW Architecture Studio)
9.30 am
Presentation Rachel Nolan, Kennedy Nolan (Melbourne, Vic)
10.00 am
Presentation Adrian Iredale, Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects (Perth, WA)
10.30 am
Presentation Bonnie Herring and Jade Whittaker, Breathe (Melbourne, Vic)
11.00 am
Morning tea
11.30 am
Presentation Tim Greer, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, (Sydney, NSW)
12.00 pm
Presentation Ingrid Bakker, Hassell (Melbourne, Vic)
12.30 pm
Presentation Rachel Neeson and Stephen Neille, Neeson Murcutt Neille (Sydney, NSW)
1.00 pm
Lunch
2.00 pm
Theoretical Case Study Maryam Gusheh, Monash University (Melbourne, Vic)
2.15 pm
Theoretical Case Study Damian Madigan, University of South Australia (Adelaide, SA)
2.30 pm
Theoretical Case Study TBC
2.45 pm
How can we make it happen? A panel discussion with Cath Evans, Property Council of Australia, Mathew Aitchison, Building 4.0 CRC, and Kaia McCarty-Smith, Wilderness Building Co, moderated by Laura Harding, Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects.
Together with Patrick Kennedy, Rachel Nolan is a founding partner of multiple-award-winning practice Kennedy Nolan. She is crucially involved in the design direction of the practice, with expertise in creating built environments that are inspiring and memorable.
Fascinated by both the material and the immaterial, Rachel is conceptually driven and pragmatic, focused on creating enduring settings for life.
Director of Architecture and Sustainability, Breathe
As director of architecture and sustainability at Breathe, Bonnie is squarely focused on furthering the efficiency, performance and positive impact of every Breathe project. She is involved at key project milestones to bring insight and innovation, cultivating a more resilient, low carbon, inclusive, and healthy design methodology. Bonnie is a passionate advocate for the decarbonisation of the built environment, and is driven to build and inspire a better future.
Jade specialises in interior design, circularity, and innovation at Breathe, where her primary focus lies in creating socially and environmentally conscious designs. Motivated by a commitment to reducing the environmental impact of her projects, Jade approaches her work with a circular design perspective. Driven by a keen interest in sustainable materials, Jade assesses materials and suppliers to ensure they align with the rigorous standards upheld at Breathe. She has experience in creating healthy, non-toxic spaces ranging from multi- and single-residential to workplace and mixed-use spaces.
Dr Tim Greer is a director of award-winning architecture practice Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects. He has an interest in existing urban fabric and the cultural elements it embodies, treating each project as an individual opportunity to create fresh contemporary forms.
Tim is currently an adjunct professor of architecture at Sydney University and holds a Doctorate in Architecture and Design from RMIT in Melbourne and currently sits on the City of Sydney Cultural and Creative Sector Advisory Panel.
Board Director and Commercial and Workplace Sector Leader, Hassell
Ingrid has worked in architecture and interior design for more than 25 years and for more than half that time she’s been helping turn Hassell into the competitive, international design practice it is today.
Ingrid has led teams on a large variety of workplace, residential, hospitality, retail and commercial projects and is highly experienced in all areas of project delivery.
Maryam is associate professor in architecture at Monash University. Her work examines the relationship between architectural practice and the social and political contexts in which the built fabric is designed, constructed and received.
Her interests include culture and identity in architecture, cross-cultural practices and inclusive architecture. Maryam often works at the intersection of academia and industry and is skilled at conceptualizing and realizing collaborations that span these worlds.
A senior lecturer in Architecture at University of South Australia, Dr Damian Madigan coined the term ‘Bluefield Housing’ to describe established suburbs and the way they can support low-rise urban infill through adaptive reuse and additions. Currently working with the South Australian State Government to make his co-location model a new form of permitted infill development, his book ‘Bluefield Housing as Alternative Infill for the Suburbs’ (Routledge, 2024) has been described as “design research at its best.”
Cath Evans is the Victorian executive director of the Property Council of Australia, the leading advocate for Australia’s property industry – the economy’s largest sector and employer. Cath is the principal advocate and lobbyist for the organisation on all matters within the state of Victoria.
Cath has served as director on several boards and is currently chairperson of Wayss. She has also served in an advisory role with the Ministerial Advisory Committee on NDIS and as committee representative with the Law Institute of Victoria.
Professor Mathew Aitchison is chief executive officer of Building 4.0 Collaborative Research Centre (Building 4.0 CRC) and a professor of architecture at Monash University. Building 4.0 CRC is an industry-led research initiative co-funded by the Australian Government and its work is focused on building better, smarter, safer, faster, and more sustainably, particularly in housing.
Over the past decade, Mathew has directed a series of large, collaborative research projects exploring the future of building.
Kaia McCarty-Smith is the founder of Wilderness Building Co, a residential and commercial building practice. Having 14 years experience in the building industry, he was initially critical of what he observed and wondered whether it was possible to do better. After observing the cultural dynamics and environmental problems that beset the industry, he formed Wilderness Building Co to explore what a modern, progressive and environmentally conscious building company could be. With a sharp focus on Passivhaus, reducing waste, adaptive re-use and the retrofit typology, Wilderness Building Co has recently completed Australia’s first net-zero retrofit of an apartment building.
Laura Harding is a Sydney-based designer and critic who has worked with the studio Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects since 1996. Her work encompasses a wide range of urban, multiple housing and architectural projects, many of which have received industry awards. Laura’s architectural writing and criticism has been widely published in a range of architectural journals, news media and monographs, and she was awarded the Adrian Ashton Prize for architectural criticism in 2013.
Jennie is a founding director at Officer Woods Architects, a senior lecturer in the School of Design at the University of Western Australia and a fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects.
Jennie grew up in the remote Murchison region of Western Australia and particularly enjoys responding to non-standard challenges and issues. She combines several roles in professional life: practitioner, teacher, researcher and advocate.
Nigel Bertram is practice professor of architecture at Monash University and director of NMBW Architecture Studio, established in Melbourne with Marika Neustupny and Lucinda McLean in 1997. The team’s architectural work has been widely published and awarded across categories, including urban design, single and multiple residential designs, small public works and adaptive re-use of existing buildings.
