DesignBUILD RAW will debut this year in Sydney after a successful launch last year in Melbourne, with new partner universities and a new generation of talent.

DesignBUILD RAW is a collaborative project between leading architecture and design universities to showcase the talent of budding industry professionals directly in front of the industry’s best at DesignBUILD.

This year, DesignBUILD has teamed up with the University of Sydney, University of NSW (UNSW) and University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to present RAW. It’s more than just an assignment – DesignBUILD RAW provides students the opportunity to work with a brief, work with suppliers, work with a real budget and have the opportunity to be able to see their projects come alive on the show floor.

This year students will be competing to design both seminar theatres, the feature Incubator stand and breakout areas around the show floor which has offered them more flexibility in both design and production techniques.

The design for the UTS Incubator stand began as a 2016/17 Summer Elective for Master of Architecture students which gave them the opportunity to engage in a working Studio environment.

Speaking on behalf of the group UTS project, Paula Vigeant, UTS’ DesignBUILD RAW Spokesperson, said, “The aim of the elective was to create a tectonic and spatially resolved prototype which utilises the principles of morphable paper folding techniques [origami] to extrapolate a flexible, foldable, flat packable, inhabitable module to be known at FLEX.”

Beginning with an exploration of Origami folding strategies, students analysed the structural and dynamic properties of foldable forms and utilised their findings to propose a structural system which has been applied to the final stand design.

Vigeant added that the FLEX prototyping process further developed the folding technique by application of digital modelling and fabrication methods, available to students in the UTS Advanced Fabrication Lab, which included a kerfing technique which allows solid plywood to achieve the desired folded form.

Most importantly students must develop structures that are not only functional but also meet the core themes of the event- Collaboration, Compliance, Sustainability, and Innovation. This year’s crop of talent will sure to inspire, delight and prove beyond doubt that the future of architecture and design will be in good hands.

DesignBUILD 2017 opens at the brand new ICC Sydney, 3-5 May. Pre-registration is free to all architecture and design professionals. Register to attend online here.

Architecture & Design Team

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