Finding the future with Melbourne Design Week 2021

Aerial view of Logorno Station
Architects Abalos+Sentkiewicz's Logrono Station project in La Rioja, Spain. Part of the Climate Imaginary exhibition. Image: Supplied

Melbourne School of Design brings together exhibitions, discussions and international collaborations to envision a better and healthier future as part of Melbourne Design Week 2021.

This year, National Gallery of Victoria’s Melbourne Design Week explores the theme ‘design the world you want’.

In keeping with the theme, Melbourne School of Design’s Future Homes exhibition presents aspirations for our future residences by architects and urban designers incorporating current research on migration patterns, changes in demography, legislation, planning and construction, and housing affordability.

Also forming part of Melbourne Design Week the online Climate Imaginary exhibition focusses on projects that push creative and technological boundaries to address the climate emergency.

Designers and architects from across the world present ideas like the creation of artificial urban habitats for threatened species, rooftop gardens atop railway stations and designs that adapt Melbourne’s shorelines for sea level rises and flooding.

Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Dean Professor Julie Willis said a crucial element of design involves pushing boundaries, exploring unknown territory and innovation, all of which are accelerated with the sharing of ideas and being exposed to a multitude of viewpoints, issues and interpretations.

“It’s very important to have designers from across the globe and from varied professional backgrounds come together in this way to share, provoke and grow expertise across industries, academia and the community,” Professor Willis said.

During the week, the Politics and Utopia in Architecture panel discussions, moderated by Associate Professor Rochus Hinkel and Dr Peter Raisbeck, will bring together local and international speakers to share ideas and envision new modes for collaborations.

Design researcher Associate Professor Hinkel said the series will include discussions about respecting and adapting Indigenous knowledge systems and looking at architectural designs in the Anthropocene and future societies through a utopian lens.

“Melbourne Design Week gives us a great opportunity to highlight such discussions between Indigenous communities, local and international collaborators and researchers which can then enrich various projects with shared knowledge,” Associate Professor Hinkel said.

Find Melbourne School of Design’s full list of Melbourne Design Week 2021 events here.