NEWS

NEWS

Congratulations to School of Architecture Senior Lecturers Dr Campbell Drake and Urtzi Grau for completing the Murrin Bridge Preschool Community Hub.

Read more about it here:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/murrin-bridge-community-almost-doubles-preschool-capacity/103027356

Image: Celebrating the opening with a smoking ceremony.(Supplied: NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Harriette Poiner)

Two Studies of Sustainable Tourism in Indonesia Exhibition  Sept 20 - Nov 10 _ Level 5 Foyer.

The drawings displayed in this exhibition were produced by twenty students from the Interior, Landscape & Architecture programs during two consecutive global studios to Indonesia in 2022 & 2023.  Focused on sustainable design strategies for tourism development, students travelled to Lake Toba, Sumatra (2022) and Likupang, North Sulawesi (2023), to carry out comparative analysis between traditional architectural typologies and mid to high end resorts. Within this analysis, students identified contemporary adaptations of traditional building technologies and construction methodologies informed by local climatic conditions, seasonal variation, and natural resources. 

The two locations were selected due to their status as one of the ten tourism priority destination sites known as the 10 New Balis.   The study seeks to map, monitor, and evaluate the extent and impact of tourism development and infrastructure across these ten environmentally sensitive locations.  

Focusing on sustainable design principles, a total of thirty-five resorts were audited with students asked to identify and evaluate spatial composition, landscaping, construction methodology, building materials, ownership, management, staffing, price points, sanitation and the supply of power and water. Complementary to the audits, the transect drawings shown in this exhibition were produced by cutting a section through each of the resorts perpendicular to the water’s edge, to analyse the relations (and possible tensions) between tourism infrastructure, host communities, and local economies. 

The outcome of these two studies is a snapshot into the extent and impact of rapid tourism development and insights into how urbanisation affects island environments of Indonesia in relation to struggles over access to land, natural resources, and public open space.  

 The study was undertaken under the tutelage of school of architecture senior lecturer Dr Campbell Drake and was supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) New Columbo Plan.

Free Screening of The Bamboo Dialogues at UTS this Thursday, 21/09/2023 from 12:00-13:30 in CB06.03.056

This Thursday 21/09/2023we will be hosting a free screening of the The Bamboo Dialogues from 12:00-13:30 in CB06.03.056, a full-feature documentary about the material bamboo. The film is made to raise awareness for this useful, sustainable but almost forgotten material. The Bamboo Dialogues seeks to answer the questions: What is this material? and Why are we not using more of it in contemporary design, engineering, and architecture? The narrative of the movie spans five continents and is told by “bamboo whisperers”: such as engineers, artisans, students, architects, designers, historians, biologists, and farmers as well as bamboo constructions and artifacts.

The screening includes introductory remarks followed by a Q & A session with Mauricio Cardenas Laverde _ Studio Cardenas & Jennifer Snyders _ House of Bamboo. 

All staff and students welcome.

The trailer for the film can be found at the following link: https://youtu.be/yQT6IjJ5iIU?si=i5HgG8Jn3rJ6eL1_

Please contact Campbell Drake for more information  @ campbell.drake@uts.edu.au

A Study Of Sustainable Tourism Development, North Sulawesi. 

Dr Campbell Drake was invited to present his research on the impact of rapid tourism development in Indonesia at the Sam Ratulungi University in Manado, 21 July 2023.

Turning of the Soil Event _ Murrin Bridge Preschool & Community Hub

On the 2nd of March, the construction of the Murrin Bridge Preschool & Community Hub was marked by a turning of the sod event in Murrin Bridge. 

Four Elders and four pre-schoolers representing Ngiyampaa, Barkinji and Wiradjari peoples turned the soil. The event was attended by residents from Murrin Bridge and Lake Cargelligo as well as representatives from the National Indigenous Australians Agency, NSW Department of Education, NSW Aboriginal Affairs, NSW Aboriginal Land Council and Multiplex Construction. The facility was designed by academics from the UTS School of Architecture and is scheduled for completion in August 2023.

Image: Aunty Josie, Uncle Robert, Aunty Dorothy Johnson (LALC Board), Aunty Merle Clarke, Aunty Alice Clarke (LALC Board) and Aunty Louise Johnson

Interior Architecture Program is partnering with BlaQ on Spatial Agency Design Studio to design 'Pride and Culture Centre’ 

Students will work closely with BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation, which is the peak organisation for Aboriginal LGBTQIA, Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples and communities in NSW. Their need is for a Pride and Culture Centre purposely built for them. The studio will investigate the histories and geographies of Sydney city to propose potential sites of cultural connection for the Centre. Once a site is uncovered, students will design a Pride and Culture Centre and explore a mix of programs that may include offices, a digital hub, training facilities, legal services, health services, healing spaces, commercial enterprises, emergency accommodation and an outdoor gathering space. 

Image: By Ngarigo artist Peter Waples-Crowe

Murrin Bridge Preschool & Community Hub _ Turning of  the Sod ceremony

Academics from the UTS School of Architecture have partnered with community to design the Murrin Bridge Preschool & Community Hub. 

Construction has commenced in February 2023 and will be marked by a turning of the sod ceremony on the 2nd of March 2023. All welcome. 

The project is funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency, NSW Department of Education, NSW Aboriginal Affairs, Multiplex Construction and BlueScope Steel and once completed will create cultural and services hub that will act as a 'one-stop-shop' for residents to access services and participate in community events.

Dr Campbell Drake, Samantha Donnelly & Allan Teale Awarded 2022 DAB Category 4 Award : ENGAGEMENT - Sub-category: Highest Impact Industry Partnership (Research, Teaching or Philanthropy) for Spatial Agency Studios

Campbell, Samantha and Allan led design studios in which students responded to the briefs provided by two community organisations - Wreck Bay LALC and Moree LALC, for an eco-tourism development and for a Community Centre and Keeping Place, respectively.  They took on significant additional work organising field trips for students and brought the clients back to campus to provide feedback for the student proposals. This was an excellent learning experience for students in how to work with Indigenous communities as clients and was much appreciated by the LALCs, who had approached UTS for design advice

On the 25th of November, the UTS Interior Architecture Program welcomed over 350 guests to its 2022 Graduate Exhibition, ‘Deviant Behaviours: Other Institutions’, at AirSpace Projects in Marrickville.

The exhibition showcased the projects of graduating Interior Architecture students, a celebration of their work as they prepare to enter the design industry as young professionals. It was a pleasure for the students to share their work in a gallery context having spent most of their degree online. It was a special to see industry, friends and family in attendance on the opening night and across the weekend.

In their final design projects, students explored the role of the institution in our current global climate by challenging their existing models. Their work sought to initiate discussion and debate on the impact of cultural institutions on space, on people, and on their behavior at the macro of the city and the micro of spatial inhabitation. Proposing counter-institutions, the students exhibited projects that deviated from the norm to speculate on what the cultural institute could possibly be today.

The exhibition was designed by Christina Deluchi in collaboration with a team of graduating students: Salma Al Qadoumi, Peta-Maree Ayoub, Minnjie Kim, Katia Matkowski, Monique Mifsud, Christina Pavlidis, Emma Watson, Carla Zakaria and Kristy Zhu. It did not intend to exhibit projects as portfolio works, but rather a curated selection of manifesto documents that captured student explorations and the thematic of the capstone subject.

Coordinated by Christina Deluchi, design studios were run by a fantastic team of tutors: Laura Touman, Su-Ann Leong, Felix Saw, Livern Lim, Wendy Huang, Cindy Jow and Charles Curtin.

We would like to extend our thank you to our Major Partner, The Local Project. Their support was imperative to putting on the exhibition. Their generosity allowed us to secure a location, and to design and execute the exhibition – the student’s first realized interior project. Thank you to our Associate Sponsor, PTW. Their support allowed the projects to get printed and on the walls, and seeing the projects in a gallery setting shows how far the students have come over the course of their studies. Further, we would like to thank our food and beverage sponsors who helped to make the opening a proper celebration: Good drinks, Yulli’s Brews, Hawke’s Brewing Co., Atomic Brewing, Blueberry Hill, Pizzini Wines, Bizzaro Aperitivo, Redbull, Lyres, High Valley Cheese Co., Sonoma, Bourke St Bakery and Hanamart. Lastly, thank you to AirSpace Gallery for hosting us, Martina Sterbova Design for her graphics, and Karen Liu Photography and Tats Kirkland for documenting the show.

Image Credit: Christina Deluchi (first two) and Karen Liu

National Indigenous Art Fair, The Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay, July 2-3, 2022.

Interior Architecture’s Christina Deluchi and Luke Tipene were the lead project designers on the event and design strategy for ‘The National Indigenous Art Fair’ at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on July 2nd-3rd, with First Hand Solutions (FHS), NAIDOC, Indigenous Business Australia, Destination NSW, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA), Australia Council for the Arts, ABC Radio, City of Sydney, Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support Program, the Port Authority of NSW, and The Rocks.

 The project was supported by UTS Interior Architecture student volunteers: Minnjie Kim, Gakyeong Kim, Stella Heng, Ngoc Bao Ngan Troung, Flora Chen, Kristy Zhu, Christina Pavlidis and Si-Yeon Lee.

Image Credit: Minnjie Kim

  • Crowds flocked to 2022 National Indigenous Art Fair

    The 2022 National Indigenous Art Fair went ahead after a two-year COVID hiatus and proved to be a resounding success, despite the cold rain pelting down all weekend.

    More than 9,000 art lovers attended the event, held at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks. They met and bought art from the stallholders, enjoyed some compelling Indigenous performances and sampled delicious bushfoods, spending nearly $600,000 directly with the artists and community-owned art centres over the two-day event.

    “I thank all the artists, art centre managers, performers, Overseas Passenger Terminal staff and our employees for making the event so festive and appealing to the broader community. A heartfelt thanks must also go to our partners for their generosity and support: Destination NSW, the Port Authority of NSW, ABC Radio, University of Technology Sydney, City of Sydney, the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support Program and Indigenous Business Australia. We couldn’t organise the art fair without their support,” said Sarah Martin, NIAF General Manager.

    “We’re also grateful to the Woollahra Art Gallery and curator, Sebastian Goldspink, for organising the Heart in Art exhibition, which featured the work of remote art centre artists attending the Art Fair. This exhibition ran as our first-ever satellite event and was jaw-droppingly beautiful. After the art fair, we took the artists to the gallery so they could see how Sebastian and his team had presented their work in that beautiful, spacious gallery. It was a terrific experience for the artists, with many coming out of the exhibition with their artwork sold.”

    https://shoutout.wix.com/so/d2O9c8RZ6?languageTag=en&cid=cf362807-6037-49eb-ada6-ce963c394222#/main