In the projects you've done at uni have you turned to any building designs from Melbourne to grab inspiration from?

 

Currently my project is loosely based around Fed Square because I’m redeveloping the queen vic market, which is a landmark tourist attraction. I’m designing another building that’s in the same sense an attraction like Fed Square so I’m using the same typology and similar appearance. A part from Fed square you get precedence from all over, a lot of it is Australian designs and civic buildings, no major or large buildings. But I do grab inspiration from the RMIT buildings,  they’re pretty cool and really large scale.

When grabbing inspiration from Melbourne buildings there are nice designs both in the city and in the outer suburbs. The buildings are more civic within Melbourne, designing for how pedestrians are going to use the space and designing for atmosphere and then the materials need to relate to surroundings on a large scale.

 

Does Melbourne architecture have a general style? Do you grab inspiration/ideas from this style?

 

A lot of people try and replicate Melbourne alleyways but it generally fails, because that is something [alleyways] that just happens, they’re basically a consequence of design and you can’t really design to create a consequence. Design in Melbourne has given me an idea, you try and design for experience rather than designing really big buildings. So that is something that comes out from looking at Melbourne's laneways and alleyways as they are very atmospheric. The city is very much alive and that’s something I’ve realised through architecture.

 

How creative can you get when designing buildings for your projects?

Especially at Monash Uni it's really up in the air for what you want to do on projects. Firstly, all the projects we do are really conceptual based, meaning there’s no real guidelines, because we are at uni none of our designs are really going to be built. At the moment I’m doing a competition and with competition projects it always changes. Like I said before the project I’m doing now is around redesigning Queen Vic Market. So, for instance I could design a swimming pool on the side and if it’s conceptual enough and cool enough they [competition organisers] might choose it, so in that way you can break the rules a lot. In terms of other unis they’re really strict on having students know  how their putting projects together, so the framework or the construction components is looked at more closely. Whereas we don’t really look at that, it’s more for the engineers to deal with. But I feel there is no real right or wrong with design, it basically comes down to opinion so when you’re getting critiqued on your final ‘crits’ [designs] I always ask myself, ‘When am I able to say this is a good bit of architecture? and when is it not? I still don’t know the answer but I’m sure architects of twenties years know the difference. In saying that, you have a lot of leeway to design whatever you want and I am on the edge of trying to make it realistic and do-able and then not too much outside the box, but that just my personal style which I have developed over the years. But to answer the questions there is no guidelines, really. In other studios I’ve done they tell you, you have to design this building and if you put in programs that you weren’t told to or that further enhances the building they’re pretty cool with that. As long as you can justify why you are doing it differently to the rest of the class. Because we’re doing projects that don’t have a final outcome that gets built there's really no limitations and the creative side can come out, which I think is the best part of architecture

 

How do you approach your design projects?

Essentially you always have a...not a set routine, but there’s always a lot of precedent looking, you always look at what other designers have done. From the outskirt of the brief you kind of get an idea of what you want to do, but it never finishes up how you intend it to, but you always have that one underlying idea and if you don’t thats what you strive for. You are always looking for inspiration, inspiration is a massive things because you’ll just see something when you’re out and about and you think that’s what I’m going to do. So it could be an experience that you’re having or a built form that you looking at and you think that’s a really cool idea. It could even be something as small scale as a tissue box that’s crumpled up and you see the corner of it is pushed in like an explosion kind of thing and then maybe thats where you find your idea, that you’re going to have some kind of exploded design for a facade.

Everything starts off with inspiration and continues from there but you’re always doing word charts and thinking about what you want to get out of the architecture and whether it's through the built form or the experience. Personally, I like to do all my research with lots and lots of sketches. I just do heaps of doodling. But that can be pretty dangerous sometimes, because it means you're not working with scale. So it’s always good to try and do renders and drawings as you go about your project and just feed off them.  

 

You have traveled Europe, what are some of the differences in buildings designs that you saw on your travels compared to the buildings in Melbourne?

One thing that definitely stood out to me was that in Europe they build for size and everything is built to maximise space. In Australia and in Melbourne we’ve never had to deal with maximising space because our lands so big we can just keep growing out from the city.European cities don’t have the luxury of that so they have to account for urban sprawl and build up instead of out.. In amsterdam for example, they had a law that there was only so much space in width you could go but you can play a lot with height. Amsterdam had really tall and narrow buildings so the footprint is really small but the height is enough to fit a lot of people in these houses. You wouldn't find that in Melbourne, but it's a really common theme in Europe, saving space.

Obviously the buildings are a lot older over there and it's kind of interesting to compare them to Melbourne because Melbourne is around 100-150 years old and you look at these buildings that have been standing for 500 years in places like Scotland and in London. Although there is a similarity in style because we use a victorian style which has come from London and those areas. Essentially most buildings from those sort of times were done in the same style as the old buildings of Melbourne, the main difference being that they’re a lot bigger here. But they’re a lot more monumental and appreciated in Europe. All in all every country I went to had a different technique to approaching architecture which is pretty cool.

 

What's it like being a creative student in Melbourne?

Sometimes being a creative student is very frustrating and I always compare myself to friends that are doing other courses that just have to do exams and theory. And in that there is no right or wrong with the different courses that people chose but you tend to compare exams with folios. For me, the creativeness of architecture gives you something to enjoy. i didn’t really enjoy doing the whole written learning and repetitiveness in high school. Whereas when you’re designing something you feel passionate about you end up designing a certain thing through the way you feel so it’s about your own judgment and you’re doing something for a purpose.

And you know if you’re a creative person or not. I’m creative in terms of university for this course, I’m not saying I’m necessarily a creative person but I’m creative for the course I’m doing. I feel like I’m more comfortable when I’m asked to design a house compared to when I’m asked to sit and do written learning for exams.

Being a creative student makes you appreciate things more as well. Most of my contact hours for uni are about me going out and discovering what I like and then putting that into a design. I feel it’s easier to be passionate about work in this way as it allows you to find what you like and put that into your work, this is definitely a benefit of being a creative student.

 

You're doing your masters now, what advice would you give to a first year architecture student?

Know what you’re getting into. It’s definitely intimidating and not what I thought it would be, but I’ve seen myself mature through an educational standpoint. A major thing is allocating your time so even if you get your work done and you think it’s good, design never stops. Something I learnt by averaging C’s[credits] throughout my first year and then bringing this average up to D’s [distinctions], was allocating a lot more time to my work. Also just being around uni and making a good friendship group helps a lot. When you’re doing the all nighters and you’re there with everyone it’s a good time. You need to have the mentality that you’re going to be there for long hours so time management also becomes crucial. I think that’s why I struggled in my early years because I was terrible at time management. I have a bad habit of doing all of my other subjects before I do my studio work and studio work is worth the most. So I got into the habit of trying to do all my other work to then leave heaps of time for studio, but it never worked out that simply.

So time management, knowing what you have to do and getting it done is really important and also knowing when to stop. When I said design doesn't stop, it gets to a point where the ideas stop and it’s about finalising those ideas. Once you know what you have to do make sure you get it done and don’t beat around the bush.

Overall it’s about knowing whats ahead. I thought I was going to be a creative arts student but now [doing masters] I have to sit exams and have two years of work experience before I can actually sit these exams. And they don’t tell you that sort of thing at the start. So my mindset has changed now as a masters student and it’s a lot more intimidating knowing that I have ‘big boy’ events that are coming up. Whereas two years ago I was just doing floorplans and designing a house that I thought would never get built. I feel it’s a maturity thing as well and it's a lot different for university compared to being spoon fed at high school The biggest gap is that you have to go out on your own and research your projects and know what designs you like. You can’t expect a teacher to tell you how to design because design is such a broad subject as it is. It’s really just about finding yourself and pushing that through your design work

 

What's the most/least enjoyable part of being an architecture student?

The least enjoyable, is having way too much freedom and the hours that I have to put in. As I said before, the jump from high school where you don’t have that freedom because everything is put out for you is so different to uni. So in this sense the design process can do my head in because you don’t know which direction is the right direction. Sometimes the design brief can guide you enough to give you enough restraint so I don’t have that much freedom and I actually have to abide by what the client wants. Most of the time the briefs are made by us and they just keep getting bigger and bigger. So freedom, as much as it’s a wonderful thing, sometimes it can lead you down the wrong path. The overall hours is also the least enjoyable part, like I said design is a never ending thing that you’re constantly thinking whether you can make a piece of work better.

Most enjoyable, when you’ve completed a project and you’re presenting it to the class and you know it so fluently that you don’t need notes. So when you stand up there you can say ‘I’ve done this’ and ‘the architectural form has come from this’, ‘the way that people use the space is this’, ‘the panels are done is this sort of diagrammatic sense so that you can all understand’...It’s almost more enjoyable feeling that way compared to getting good marks. It makes you pleased that you have designed something that you can fully understand and you can then make others understand it as well.

Also being creative in general is really enjoyable. Just having the idea that you can design what you want...so it’s freedom. Freedom can also be your best friend because it gives you the chance to do what you want, usually for the best.  

 

What does it mean to be an architecture student in Melbourne?

Specifically going to Monash, I feel pretty thankful. Even though the course is still pretty young, we sort of have a renowned, successful program compared to other universities in Melbourne. I think the Monash course suits me better because the same course at other uni’s differ, but I prefer where I am.

In terms of Melbourne, I feel like the atmosphere and the vibes of Melbourne is captured through a lot of our course work. A lot of the projects are Melbourne based. A lot of inspiration and ideas come from when you just are walking around the city. There’s a lot of inspiration through Melbourne that comes from architects because it is definitely a growing practice in our city.