ABOUT

Referred to as the 'Urban Heart Surgery', 1st semester of 4th year studio is a design based research forum, which is carefully steered to produce a large range of generic urban design scenarios. The subject allows students to engage in critical discourse by working on high profile strategic planning and design issues in three areas critical to Victoria's future growth: Metropolitan Urbanism, Urbanism on the periphery and Regional Urbanism.

Since its introduction in 1999, the forum has developed into a very successful teaching, research and public/community relations program. It has not only secured an ongoing relationship with various planning authorities, but its core of partnerships has expanded to include four regional councils (Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Warrnambool), three metropolitan municipalities (Melbourne City, Port Phillip and Wyndham) and close links with various branches of the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

The program receives significant media coverage on a regular basis, exposure to a large number of building developers and architectural firms, and students have had the opportunity to present their strategies to state government at a ministerial level on a number of occasions.

The Unit's contribution in broadening strategic thinking and facilitating discourse among professional bodies and community groups was recently acknowledged at the City of Port Phillip's Design Development Awards, for 2000.

Teaching and Delivery of the Unit

Involving representatives from the profession, state government and local planning authorities in a conference style method of course delivery, students are provided with a large body of knowledge at the early stages of the program. Students conduct their project work in teams of three, referred to as design collaboratives.

Following a two-week period of preliminary research and site investigation, tutorial groups generate a large range of ideas and "what if?" scenarios within a think-tank environment. Working within a set of constructs, based on socio-economic and demographic projections, ideas are classed within a matrix of permutations. Each design collaborative adopts one of the permutations and resolves their respective strategy into a highly developed proposal. The research forum differs from a conventional studio in both program structure and method of tutoring.

Conventional studios operate largely on an ad-hoc principal. Whilst students are allowed to pursue individual initiatives, convergence of ideas within a conventional cohort often leaves significant gaps in alternative design solutions. Fourth year, attempts to counter this deficiency by introducing students to a logic of 'design worlds'. By investigating a large range of design options and entering a discourse of both short and long term implications and consequences, all students become familiar with a more extensive set of outcomes and problem solving abilities. The work developed in each research forum is digitally captured and deposited in an on-line web based repository.

Operating as a teaching, research and public interface resource, the repository is utilised by students, the community, and state and local government planning authorities.

Taking Architecture, Planning and Urban Design to the Community

The ability of Local governments to explore strategic planning options is severely limited in time, money, and resources. Urban Heart surgery has been designed to help fill this gap. Offering fourth year studio as a platform where metropolitan and regional municipalities can explore and test future strategic urban design initiatives facilitates positive discourse between members the architectural profession, local communities, and both state and local governments.

The execution of the studio involves a number of review sessions. The composition of each review panel consists of a mix of discipline groups, including: architects, planners, councillors, landscape designers and community representatives. Utilising the student work in facilitating discourse, the review sessions become a two-way feedback and critique process. While students are able to gauge the competence of their work, many of the proposals act as yard-stick for the review panels to examine both constrained and blue-sky initiatives in re-assessing municipal and council objectives. All submissions consist of on-ground visualisations that enable the cross disciple panels to engage in discussion, which considers the interface between architecture and the city.

Initiating a community consultation process, a selection of the project work is exhibited in a local gallery or town hall at the conclusion of the studio. The exhibitions inform the public with regards to the vital role which architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers, community service professionals can play in moulding their built environment and councils are able to utilise the work in testing community response to both the type and degree of change which their community is willing to embrace.