The Melbourne School of Design has announced the appointment of Dan Hill as the institution's new Director of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

Joining from the Sweden Government’s innovation agency, Vinnova, the school hopes Hill will elevate the education experience it offers to students through enhanced design practices in community engagement, teaching and learning. Hill has been appointed Director due to his holistic approach to transformative design practices, everyday technologies and social infrastructures.

The design-centric approach adopted by Hill will see tangible outcomes balanced with deep research and strategic processes. The new Director says he looks forward to reshaping MSD as a design school equipped for the rigours of the 21st century.

“I’m delighted to be joining MSD and looking forward to working with my colleagues to build on its foundations as a world-class centre for future practice in architecture, design, and built and natural environments,” he says in a media release from the Melbourne School of Design.

“Melbourne, Australia, and the various nations around it, finds itself at the front line of most of our shared challenges— environmental, social, infrastructural, spatial, cultural, political. This means that we can also explore the possibilities of inventing, rediscovering, researching, and teaching transformative models and practices for architecture and design, positioning MSD as a graduate school for the 21st century and beyond, a place that can both hold the public discussion about the future of city and country, and help shape it.”

Hill has been involved in the development and deliverance of a number of city strategy and urban development projects across the world, including in Amsterdam, Melbourne, Stockholm, Manchester, Sydney and London. As well as this, he has also been involved in devising place-based approaches to Swedish and Finnish national innovation strategies.

Hill is renowned for his expertise in designing social and cultural infrastructures in a number of various locations including the Melbourne Innovation District, Manchester’s Northern Quarter, Google’s global campuses, and the University of Melbourne campus.

The MSD Director was one of the Mayor of London’s inaugural Design Advocates, and a Trustee of Participatory City Foundation, and is a Founding Member of the UN HABITAT Council for Urban Initiatives. A noted writer for the better part of two decades, Hill’s 2012 publication 'Dark Matter & Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary' is considered to be highly influential throughout design circles.

MSD’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has announced former Director, Alan Pert, has taken up the role of Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. The faculty has also thanked interim Director Paul Walker for his efforts.

Image: Melbourne School of Design

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