MPavilion

MTalks—BLAKitecture: A Bid for Transparency

EOIs, RFTs and the complexities of bid writing are a challenge within themselves. In this context, how do we also then appropriately address Indigenous engagement and Indigenous knowledge with limited time, resources and probity requirements?

This yarn brought together built environment practitioners and Indigenous engagement specialists to share their experience with overcoming these inherent challenges to explore the systemic changes required to create better outcomes for Country, Culture and Community.

Learning environments are supposed to be safe spaces in which students can feel they are uninhibited to ask anything and hopefully achieve a level of cultural competency previous generations of architects could only dream of. But, are you curious about how and why Indigenising the curriculum sometimes feels like there are persistent questions you never get to ask?

This discussion was an open invitation to ask questions you’ve been too afraid to ask.

MPavilion’s fifth annual BLAKitecture forum aimed to centralise Indigenous voices in conversations about architecture, the representation of histories, and the present and future states of our built environments. BLAKitecture is curated by MPavilion’s program consultant Sarah Lynn Rees.

How do we see Melbourne as an Aboriginal place?

This informal, open conversation supports individual and collective learning, and knowledge sharing to progress awareness and capacity to support Reconciliation.

The City of Melbourne’s Design Excellence Program reinforces the city’s commitment to enhancing the function, liveability, sustainability and public contribution of our buildings and urban spaces.

The Excellent City Series explores several key themes that shape Design Excellence in Melbourne.

Speakers include:

Aunty Joy Murphy-Wandin – Wurundjeri Elder

Jason Eades – Director Aboriginal Melbourne, City of Melbourne

Sarah Lynn Rees – Indigenous Advisory lead, JCB Architects

Anne-Marie Pisani – Senior Associate, ASPECT Studios

What might the world be like if poets wrote our building and planning regulations? What if regulations were written by other writers too, not just poets, but also storytellers, songwriters, screenwriters, artists, choreographers, and philosophers?

The things governing bodies choose to regulate—and the methods they use to evaluate compliance—tell a story about what we, as a society, collectively value. But as the space between regulatory compliance and design intention collapses under the weight of relentless, aggressive value management processes, the regulation takes on new urgency as a site of creative resistance.

In this podcast, researcher-practitioner Loren Adams takes us on a journey through her recent project where she forced a bot to write building and planning regulations.

Design has the unique ability to dignify and make people feel valued, respected, honoured and seen. Architects and designers are expanding their ranks to serve not only the privileged few but the general public.

Architecture is no longer a matter of only form, but rather, a matter of what the projects enable.

This panel conversation discusses and celebrates the experiences and pro-bono work done by architects with the communities affected by natural disasters over the last few years. Hear about the evolving role of an architect in the broader context—a role that can instigate social and urban change, and support our communities.

From the pressure to appear in certain ways, to the power of resisting expectations through appearance, beauty is political. This panel looks at the politics of beauty when it comes to gender, sexuality, race, disability and other facets of identity. How should we think about different beauty practices that happen in the salon – like hair removal, manicures, and facials – from a critical perspective? Can the salon be a space for joy as well as political resistance?

From hyper masculine barbershops to super femininised nail bars, the space of the salon can be highly gendered. Salons are also often assumed to be associated with normative beauty expectations tied up with class, race and ability. How can the space of the salon be designed to challenge or change these expectations, and to make space for a diverse range of experiences and expressions? This panel considers the salon as a space where design can play an important role in changing how we think about beauty, who is welcome, and how we can experiment with our appearances.

This event was part of Melbourne Design Week 2022.

Future Practice (written by Rory Hyde) revealed alternative methods of design practice at the edge of architecture.

Nine years since it's publication, it is even more important that we empower emerging designers to have a more expansive approach to their practice. Challenges within today's society demand we confront conventional practice with collaboration—and become more adaptable for an uncertain future.

Hear about experiences outside traditional practice with a line-up of esteemed guests in a lively tag-team conversation as part of the annual MRelay series. Featuring over ten speakers, this experimental talkfest explores alternative modes of practice and ask the question—can we rethink design education, and the opportunities available to graduates?

In a sports relay, a team covers a distance in turns, passing a baton from one runner to the next. In MRelay, thinkers, activists, provocateurs, architects and design doyennes share insights and ideas in this marathon conversation.

It’s fast-paced, exhilarating and, best of all, deeply unpredictable.

Hosted by Monash Architecture Around group.

This event was part of Melbourne Design Week 2022.

When what is equal and what is just can often differ, can architects design to honour the rights of all humans, while also hold space for the non-human rights of waterways and animals alike?

Hear from a panel of Australian Institute of Architects industry thought leaders, who discuss and unpack what design excellence within placemaking for future generations looks like when designing for the moral codes of today—and the changing emotional landscapes of tomorrow.

Yesterday, architects designed for the ideal Vitruvian Man—but thankfully a more nuanced, inclusive and diverse conversation prevails today—or at least it should. Most organisations pride themselves on empathic, environmentally enlightened, values-driven policies—and would be disheartened that their optimistic ambitions have not yet been baked into the DNA of the buildings they create. How can we change this? How do we design for the human rights of the collective, while also acknowledging the undeniable climate emergency on our doorstep?

This talk was part of Melbourne Design Week 2022.

*Content Warning: Discussions of family violence*

A dancethropological exploration of trends.

The interwoven relationship between club counter culture and its drip fed influence into the mainstream could be credited as one of the biggest IP robberies of all time. From the moment this undercurrent emerged, it has continued to flow like an undammed, unpaid and uncredited natural resource for those that need to sell, own & name things.

Listen to a light hearted and well lived discussion about where club trends come from—and how they make their way from the wunderkinds doing it for a laugh and a creative outlet, through to the money men collecting that Filthy Lucre, while holding a bucket under the good old ideas tap!

From the Baggy Rave scene to Billie Eilish, garbage bags to Comme des garcons—with a quick break in the toilets at Studio 54—this panel deconstructs popular origins & influences, to find out what it takes to prepare a batch of that special sauce that simmers in the melting pot, meeting points of creativity and consumerism with a few gags thrown in for good measure!

*CONTENT WARNING: This podcast contains references to drug use.