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Architecture operates within colonial systems. These systems are often at odds with caring for Country practices, genuine participatory design practices and equity of opportunity. If you trace the systems back to their core, the problem is often a misalignment in the values that govern decision making. Some work has been done to align Aboriginal and Western systems more closely, but it is by no means perfect, and we certainly aren’t done. While one might find themselves thinking ‘just burn it all down and start again’ when confronted with their scale and deeply ingrained nature… If we don’t continue evolving built environment processes, we will continue to destroy Country and impact the health and wellbeing of communities. Tune into this yarn that stepped through built environment processes and explored opportunities for how and why systems could and should change, and how everyone can play a role in effecting positive change. Listen to Sarah Lynn Rees in conversation with Sophie Patitsas, Alek Kennedy and Paul Paton. MPavilion’s sixth annual BLAKitecture forum aims to centralise Indigenous voices in conversations about architecture, the representation of histories, and the present and future states of our built environments. Blakitecture is curated by MPavilion’s program consultant Sarah Lynn Rees.

Listen to an engaging discussion that explored the relationship between design and worldview—and how they both influence, shape and transform each other. The talk delved into concepts like ontological design, eco literacy and a systems-informed view of life. It investigated how the language we use shapes our reality—which, in turn, informs the beliefs and values that make up our worldview. As part of the discussion, the panelists shared their insights and experiences, providing practical tips and tricks that we can all use in our daily lives to become more conscious of the role design plays in shaping our worldview. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about the power of design and how it can influence the way we see and interact with the world!

Renting is the fastest growing tenure in Australia, and is increasingly a way of life. Today, more than half a million households rent their homes in metropolitan Melbourne. Tune in to this interactive open mic session, where you’ll hear the stories of other Melbourne renters as they examined the past and future of renting in our big city. How do we navigate the complexities of the renting lifestyle? How do we forge meaningful connections with our neighbours and build communities of trust? These are some of the questions that were raised in this cultural, social and economic exploration of the experience of renting in the expanding metropolis.

How can we ensure the perspectives of women and gender-diverse people are factored into residential building design? Equity in gender representation is essential at all stages of the process, from the earliest architectural plans, to decorating, to engaging with communities in need of affordable housing. Tune in to hear about the important subtleties of creating spaces that improve the lives of women and girls. The panel discussion featured people working in community housing, policy and architecture, and will be moderated by a representative from Nightingale Housing.

Melbourne prides itself on its parks, gardens and waterways, but with biodiversity loss threatening our quality of life, how is the private sector stepping up to care for our natural assets? When the Global Biodiversity Framework emerged from COP15 in December 2022 it was a huge moment for nature. Business and finance had its strongest presence yet, so now is the time for leadership and Victoria—’The Garden State’—to play a unique role. Tune in to a gathering that brought together some of our cities most forward-thinking leaders and organisations, who explored how Melbourne’s business community can become more active in caring for Kulin Country.

Tune in to a keynote lecture, presented by Dr Leanne Zilka of ZILKA Studios, as she explained her research and practice on ‘Floppy Architecture’. The premise of ‘Floppy Architecture’ is focussed on light weight fabric-based structures that look at techniques embedded in fashion and textile design in order to develop novel approaches to the fabrication of architectural elements. The combination of practice and research has produced installations, architectural projects, and been published nationally and internationally, most recently in a book titled Floppy Logic by international publisher, Actar. Leanne’s specialist knowledge and approach to fabric-based structures has assisted in the realisation of both the 2018 MPavilion designed by Carme Pinos and this summer’s 2022 MPavilion designed by all(zone).

Australia prides itself on its multiculturalism, yet the diversity of culture, character and community is not often reflected in its media landscape—or felt by the many minority populations that comprise the nation’s identity. How do we change this? We know it’s a problem, but there is widespread apathy about the path to evolution. What are the steps to take to from here? How can we work together to make sure we understand systemic change? By taking stock of what we take for granted, and the inherent biases and policies that impact members of the Asian diaspora, we can look towards the policies that impact our everyday lives. And rally behind a solution. Hear from global media platform Eastern Standard Times—the voice of Asian youth—and a diverse panel of speakers, discussing how we can work together to redesign years of unseen prejudice and to ensure stories are authentically told.

Tune in to the launch event and discussion around Kummargi Yulendj (Rising Knowledge Project)—an urban adventure leading you through lost markers, with Boon Wurrung elder N’arweet Carolyn Briggs. Connections between a tree, a rock and a beach are remade through increasing awareness of the ways in which Indigenous knowledge is central to the regeneration of our natural environments. This Indigenous-led cross-cultural walking and listening experience is part of Kummargi Yulendj (Rising Knowledge Project) that weaves together Boon Wurrung knowledge on caring for Country and western tools for regenerative living and working. Beginning at the Ngargee tree, in this journey N’arweet Carolyn Briggs shares her deep knowledge of place through experiences created in collaboration with artist Jarra Karalinar Steel and musician Allara Briggs-Pattison. Listen to the people behind the project as they discussed reimagining what a mobile device can do, how speculative play design can be a mindful engagement with place, and the role of augmented reality and other creative technologies in sharing stories, knowledge and reflections on the Yalukut Weelam clan of the Boon Wurrung.

Wellness lifestyle real estate—or homes designed to build and support their residents’ health in a holistic manner—is emerging as the next frontier in housing trends. As more people question where and how they want to live, investors, developers and city-makers are awakening to a powerful opportunity to build homes and neighbourhoods that put residents’ wellness at the centre of their conception and design. Curated by Neometro, this conversation explored how our recent reshuffling of priorities has left people wanting more from their living environments. Is built-in wellness the key?

It takes a village to build a better city! Listen in to short presentations from various designers and experts who spoke about their experiences in urbanism and the future potential of their disciplines. Following this, the discussion moved onto a ‘citizen-sourced’ design workshop where people and panellists worked together to draw, model and list the future city they wish to see and why. It’s easy for individual experiences of cities to go unheard, yet people experience cities in many different ways. This event highlighted the depth and power of tapping into the collective experience of local citizens.

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 has 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.