MPavilion

Tune in to a special evening at MPavilion as we brought together the brilliant minds behind the MPavilion 2022 design, fabrication and build, in conversation with the founder and commissioner of the MPavilion project Naomi Milgrom AC.

Hosted by architect and Grand Designs Australia host Peter Maddison, the stellar panel lineup featured all(zone) design director Rachaporn Choochuey, architect and founder of ZILKA studios Leanne Zilka, AECOM engineer Nigel Burdon, director of TENSYS Peter Lim and Graduate Design Engineer at Oasis Tension Structures Chloe Dang.

They discussed all(zone)’s design for the 9th MPavilion, their intentions behind the project, and new ideas on architecture and design!

Does collective housing deliver on its promises?

Over the last ten years, collective housing through deliberative development has emerged in Melbourne as an alternative model to speculative, for-profit housing. As a model, it promises better sustainability, affordability, and social connections, but still, many discussions tend to prioritise the perspectives of architects and developers.

Listen in and learn about the latest research from RMIT PlaceLab’s ‘Living Together’ Research Project and hear from residents who live in collective housing. Moderated by Rebecca Roke, it’s a chance to learn what it’s really like to share amenities and live together better.

How can we create jobs that support people of all ages?

Tune into a panel discussion that considered how we can advance age equality at work. Hear the voices of young people, older people and their advocates come together to consider how we can build intergenerational fairness at work.

Let's generate creative ideas that can end age discrimination and age inequality once and for all.

Since 2016, Victoria has become the “knockdown and re-build capital” of Australia, with concrete the largest contributor to construction and demolition waste. Yet most of this material is down-cycled and used as backfill; the very ubiquity of concrete allows us to undervalue it.

How can we think differently about how we use and value this resource? Tune into this panel discussion between builders, artists and designers as they explored the opportunities and challenges of reusing concrete in ways other than down-cycling. Dive into the process of demolishing and recycling concrete with our speakers, who will share their cross-disciplinary knowledge and offer inspiring insights into how we can work with concrete in more creative and sensitive ways.

Conceptions of our collective relationship to the Australian landscape have undergone transformative renovations in recent memory. The prioritisation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in ecological discourse has raised an awareness to First Nations people’s connection to Country.

Drawing on the contemplative lightscape by Jazz Money, a yarning circle took place that considers how we can preserve the ecological, socio-spatial, political, ceremonial, and cultural significance of Australia’s traditional Waterways, and investigate how we can integrate these into the decolonisation and de-westernisation of design and space creation.

This event was been developed as part of the M_Curators, an MPavilion program engaging young makers, doers and programmers.

City Design and Aboriginal Melbourne invite you to tune into a First Nations-led conversation that explored ways of building relationships with Country in urban environments.

Looking towards the future of our city environment in the face of climate change, individual care and custodianship is a must. The panel discussion explored the role of materiality and how this can enable living with, designing with and caring for Country for everyone.

This conversation built on learnings from council’s Aboriginal City initiative, the ’Country’ themed AILA Festival of Landscape Architecture and other influences to facilitate a local discussion with Traditional Custodians, First Nations designers, makers, educators and land managers to build our understanding of what Country means, and to explore how we can work and live with Country to sustain all life.

What will the buildings of the future be made of? The construction industry is a material and energy hungry sector, accounting for a staggering forty percent of global CO2 emissions.

Architects, designers and engineers are taking up the challenge to overhaul the materials economy. They are embracing new materials and processes, reducing our dependence on finite resources and minimising waste and redundancy.

In this discussion, panelists from across the industry talked about how they adapted their practices to account for the intrinsic value of raw materials. They considered the principles of circularity, including design for disassembly, reuse and adaptability. The panelists also reflected on the possibilities posed by the emergence of new materials and products that sequester carbon, such as mycelium, hemp, algae and timber.

What is the future of biodesign in Australia? How do we design conditions for co-existence? Tune in for an expert panel conversation exploring how we can use biodesign to help humanity transition toward a circular, bio-based, regenerative economy.

Biodesign is an innovative approach to product design that uses biotechnology, materials science, and engineering to create products that are based on natural processes—reducing waste and minimizing the use of non-renewable resources.

What are the ethical considerations that need to be made when working towards a more sustainable future? From intellectual property rights, access, impact on both environments and communities, and the use of genetically modified organisms, there are a plethora of factors we need to balance.

Hosted by Co-Labs Melbourne, this conversation showcased a selection of exciting Australian startups that are using biodesign to help humanity transition towards a circular, bio-based, regenerative economy.

Timber is an ageless material that has many uses and many lives; yet large volumes of it enter the waste stream every year. Thankfully, a dedicated group of processors and artisans tap into this resource to recreate, reuse and recycle new products.

Listen in on a discussion on how timber enters the waste stream and how it is removed, recycled and repurposed for new uses—from garden mulch to high-end furniture. Starting with the pallet, we will explore how these humble items are collected, and the journey and potential pathways they can take as they are reused and recycled—or perhaps even crafted into sculptures and homewares to be showcased in the biennial recycled woodwork competition, Create from a Crate.

Hear from recyclers and creators about the circular timber economy, about where the timber comes from and its sources, and about where the end products go.

For thousands of years possum skins were used to make cloaks by First Nations people in the south-east of Australia. Often given to them at birth, a person’s possum skin cloak told their life story, growing with them and collecting more elaborate designs as the owner moved through life. Sadly, after European colonisation, the practice was lost, lying dormant, with only a handful of cloaks remaining in museum collections.

In recent years, the cultural practice of the possum skin cloak has been re-awoken and revived by communities, becoming a significant and profound way of connecting and strengthening culture.

Tune in to a material lab and story sharing session about possum skin cloaks led by Hannah Presley, Senior Curator, Museums and Collections at University of Melbourne. Hannah was joined by Dr Vicki Couzens, Gunditjmara woman and Senior Knowledge Custodian for Possum Skin Cloak Story, Tarryn Love, Gunditjamara Keerray Woorroong artist, and Dr Sophie Lewincamp, Nyingarn Project Manager.

This workshop was presented as part of the program for UNTOLD at MPavilion presented by Agency Projects.