For the first time in DesignBUILD’s 30 year history, event organisers Diversified Communications have teamed up with two leading Victorian universities to offer students the opportunity to be involved in producing the country’s leading event for the architecture, building, construction and design communities.
Under the new initiative DesignBUILD Raw, students from RMIT School of Architecture and Design and Deakin University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment were presented with industry-standard briefs to design three key components of the event’s show floor– the entrance feature, seminar theatre and bar area.
Winning designs from RMIT School of Architecture and Design for the entrance feature and statement seminar theatre will be constructed on the show floor, offering students the opportunity to impress and connect with the industry at a commercial level. Winning designs for the central networking bar from Deakin University will feature at the central bar, hosted in a display designed and constructed by the students themselves.
DesignBUILD event manager Ali Mead said the aim of the collaboration was to offer students a realistic client experience, from the brief, through to dealing with suppliers and seeing their designs become a reality on the show floor.
“DesignBUILD Raw is about engaging with local emerging talent and providing them with a real client-facing opportunity that requires creativity but also has physical and material limitations that need to be considered,” Ms Mead said.
“The projects with DesignBUILD will give students exposure to their future industry and the disciplines beyond it that they will need to work with once they enter the workforce.”
Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Design at Deakin University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment Diego Fullaondo said that it was important for students to have a real client experience during the course and to understand the collaborative direction the different disciplines of our built environment are heading in.
“The industry is increasingly moving toward this idea of integration and collaboration between the different disciplines that are responsible for our built environment, which we believe will ultimately be the future of the industry,” Mr Fullaondo said.
“As the industry makes this transition toward being more integrated at earlier stages of projects events like DesignBUILD will become more important to professionals and students that make up the built environment disciplines.”
Designs submitted by the students have been judged by an esteemed panel of judges from industry institutes and bodies including the Australian Institute of Architecture, Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture and the Australian Construction Industry Forum.
Winning designs for the entrance feature and statement seminar theatre by RMIT School of Architecture and Design students will be constructed onsite at the event with students overseeing the build.
Deakin University student’s designs for the central networking bar will be on display with students’ onsite to discuss their designs with professionals from across the industry and the winner being announced at the event on 5th May 2016.
To see the local emerging talent being showcased at DesignBUILD, held in Melbourne May 4-6, 2016 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, register for free entry at designbuildexpo.com.au.
DesignBUILD is supported by its key strategic partners Australian Construction Industry Forum, Australian Institute of Architects and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.
Supporting partners include Architects Without Frontiers, Australian Timber Flooring Association, Banksia Foundation, Bookmarc, Engineers Without Borders, FPA Australia, Green Building Institute, Environmental Choice Australia, Ecospecifier Global Green Tag, Green Moves Australia, Kitchen & Bathroom Designers Institute, Landcare Australia, National Precast Concrete Association of Australia, Standards Australia and Artbank.
