concrete solutions

The studio generated innovative ways of developing site-specific urban furniture and sculptural elements in the developing Fishermans Bends district of Melbourne. The uncovering of the significant history, current development, and future visions of the area led to the identification of potential sites for the design and construction of a network of rest areas that would act as seating, rewilding planter boxes, social hubs, urban acupuncture zones, wayfinding markers and gathering points for the community.

The students were divided into five groups who each addressed the issues of different precincts within the district. Developing formal and spatial concepts that gave them the scope to respond to the conditions of their chosen sites. From this they generated geometric principles that related to the conceptual interpretation of the sites, uncovering natural, human and urban patterns that reflected these ideas and testing forms, materials and textures that expressed the qualities they wished to engage in.

Employing the potential of parametrically generated design and engaging with the 3D printing concrete technologies, the studio developed a suite of iconic urban furniture forms that were designed to respond directly to the physical, functional, social, and environmental conditions of individual sites.