Dezeen School Shows: a winery that focuses on minimal intervention winemaking and a regeneration project that promotes the return of native Australian animals are included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at Monash University.

Also included is a project that examines the quality of homes for disabled individuals and a foreign-aid project that facilitates skill building.

Monash University

Institution: Monash University
School: Monash Architecture
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Mel Dodd and Ross Brewin

School Statement:

"Monash Architecture investigates the broader context of architecture and its ability to solve real-world problems.

"As practitioners, the faculty engages with the urban and suburban, local, regional and global, with government, industry and civil society. We prototype urban futures in the here and now.

"Monash Architecture sees people, architecture, housing and urban design as an integrated whole, understanding buildings within their larger environments and reconsidering city footprints in the context of a changing planet."

Climate Contradiction by Ayden Fiore

"As we are led to believe, the future of coal-fired energy generation hangs in the balance whilst the globe grapples with reducing emissions and rolling out renewables.

"In the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, coal's impending demise is being fast-tracked as plans are made for a swift overhaul, in lieu of big batteries and mine pit lakes.

"But as coal mines are closing in Victoria, new mining operations around the country are being given the green light, as export-based approaches to extraction offer the industry an economic lifeline.

"My project called Climate Contradiction highlights the inconsistencies of recent industry trajectories through a speculative future, describing the implications of affording an afterlife for fossil fuels."

Student: Ayden Fiore
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Eduardo Kairuz
Email: afio0001[at]student.monash.edu

Regenerative living by Brahn Smillie-Fearn

"Regenerative Living combines systemic urban regeneration with opportunities to resolve ecological fragmentation with medium-density developments.

"Located in Mount Gravatt, Queensland, the project reconnects a network of open-space corridors to promote ecological circulation paths for native animals through a rapidly densifying urban environment.

"Cohabitation and animal-aided design were central to the project's development, which integrates living systems and social environments for both humans and non-humans.

"It also includes community research spaces that introduce new types of amenity into the residential context while offering the potential to attract institutional investment in new forms of mixed-tenure housing delivery."

Student: Brahn Smillie-Fearn
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Lee-Anne Khor
Email: brahn.smillie[at]gmail.com

The Corner Block by Gabriella Alfano

"Located in Melbourne's south-east, this property is an example of Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA) certified homes managed by Disability Homes Victoria.

"This project investigated the opportunities that emerge when the number of occupants is reduced from five to three, testing and curating strategies that improve the quality and amenity of the home, whilst minimising disruption to existing residents using efficient and replicable construction methods.

"These strategies included the use of prefabricated bathroom pods paired with a courtyard cut, clustering of private zones within the house and the activation of the underutilised back garden for community engagement."

Student: Gabriella Alfano
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Ross Brewin & Rachel Couper
Email: gabby.alfano83[at]gmail.com

Pavilion House by Georgia Frendo

"This project explores how a temporary post-disaster shelter can be transformed into a long-term solution for permanent housing and infrastructure. Pavilion House is a form of incremental housing where the initial post-disaster response comprises a parasol roof supported by a grid of columns.

"This primary structure, along with a prefabricated bathroom pod, provides immediate protection from the elements and access to essential services. Over time the system allows each homeowner to infill walls, floors and ceilings, thus personalising their structure to suit their needs.

"The proposed construction system meets bushfire attack level (BAL) FZ requirements, while the overall form responds to general local planning regulations, ensuring it is applicable to a wide variety of sites."

Student: Georgia Frendo
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Oscar Sainsbury
Email: gfre0002@student.monash.edu

Lot 90 by Grace Upton Jones

"My project, Lot 90, can be defined as an honest farm and architectural proposition that frames the complex systems of the immediate landscape.

"The brief was to create a commercial-scale vineyard and winery with a focus on minimal intervention winemaking. Our site in Buckland, Victoria, lies on the face of Mount Buffalo. A unique ecosystem thrives in the valley and plays a vital role in the broader Victorian Alpine Region.

"This farmland asks for a site-specific implementation of agro-ecological and architectural practices. My proposal hopes to serve more than as a shell for winemaking to occur, but rather expose, capture, activate and reveal how these complex systems of the immediate landscape are behaving."

Student: Grace Upton Jones
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Joseph Gauci-Seddon
Email: gupt0001[at]student.monash.edu

Layers on the Fringe by Greta Low

"This project proposes a new aquatic and community facility in Torquay North that engages with the area's civic context to reclaim a sense of identity at the suburban fringe.

"The project is conceived as a series of layered interventions borrowed from and inspired by historic, environmental and sociocultural contexts.

"Together, these elements form a unified vision for a socially and environmentally responsible counterpoint to the rapid and unconsidered urban sprawl occurring in the region that aims to foster a healthy and connected community."

Student: Greta Low
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Justin Mallia
Email: glow3[at]student.monash.edu

A Community Cathedral by Josh Robinson and Olivia Besim

"Located on the Brotherhood of St Laurence's Fitzroy, Victoria, precinct, this project is an experiment in mixing care programs with culture, ultimately designing a shared space for making and occupational health services.

"Our design addresses first-person perspectives – we constantly asked ourselves, how can the materiality of the spaces create a positive, inviting presentation for individuals utilising this building?

"Our design response explores a parallel design narrative beginning with the existing church fabric. We asked ourselves: how could the church have its former civic significance restored, in a way appropriate for the community service it currently provides?"

Students: Josh Robinson and Olivia Besim
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Danielle Peck
Emails: jrob0015[at]student.monash.edu and obes0001[at]student.monash.edu

Lang Lang Masonry – Pakenham by Liam Ware

"Lang Lang Masonry is a proposed hub for the manufacturing of masonry construction products in the Western Port region of Victoria.

"Operating in a circular system of extraction, processing, manufacturing, remediation and reuse, the hub utilises local material deposits to formulate a sustainable system of masonry construction.

"One that promotes interlocking joins of assembly, with minimal adhesives and zero construction waste.

"Given the proximity to the south-eastern suburb of Pakenham, the hub's system has been deployed to help construct the suburb's need for residential densification whilst reflecting the quality of Lang Lang's materials through the project's structure and finishes."

Student: Liam Ware
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Laura Harper
Email: lwar0005@student.monash.edu

Mahajana | Mahajan by Mohamed Camal

"Mahajana is a Singhalese collective term for unity meaning for the people or simply people/public.

"Mahajana is a foreign aid project that is an educational, community and makerspace that facilitates co-creation, independent media, and skill building. Mahajana focuses on training and making as direct avenues for relationship building, peer learning and spaces for strategic planning.

"Long term, Mahajana is an architectural project that facilitates dispersed collective agency and collaboration.

"Where the long-term future of Sri Lanka will be shaped through citizen input harnessing the collaborative opportunities and potentials of skilled and committed members of Sri Lanka's global diaspora."

Student: Mohamed Camal
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Matthew Bird
Email: mzcam1[at]student.monash.edu

Performative Landscapes by Tom Heath

"Performative Landscapes is an experiment in co-locating social and ecological systems in a densified urban context. By revealing the ground plane of the Tower St Car Park in Doncaster, a loosely programmed theatre-like space takes shape on a remnant piece of concrete slab.

"Situated in a novel landscape defined by a series of swales designed to hold excess rainwater and runoff on the land for as long as possible.

"This process encourages increased localised fertility and replenishes surrounding groundwater supplies. By enhancing natural systems that have been hindered by urban growth, Performative Landscapes aims to enable urban resilience and resilience in the nearby Yarra River Corridor."

Student: Tom Heath
Course: Master of Architecture
Tutor: Louise Wright
Email: tom.heath[at]monash.edu

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Monash University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.