Art by design

Issue 19 | Autumn/Winter 2007

Report: John Watts
Photography: Jaime Murcia

Professor John Redmond, Dean, Faculty of Art & Design.

The city of Melbourne is already a hotspot for architecture and that's set to grow with the creation of a distinctive new architecture program at Monash University's Caulfield campus next year.

Shaped hand in hand with the architecture profession, Australia's first new architecture course in 30 years is offering a higher level qualification with a greater creative emphasis on art and design.

There should be a lot more to architecture than i-beams and concrete mixers. Certainly, we all like to see buildings of quality with the capability to stand wind, rain and the passage of time, but our cities also cry out for some aesthetic leadership - structures which combine inspiration with durability.

Three decades have passed since an architecture course was last established in Australia, and in that time, architects, developers, planners, and members of the public have discussed the need to better nurture design within our streetscapes; to restore the equilibrium between design and durability.

Speaking in his office in the acclaimed Art & Design building at Caulfield, Faculty Dean Professor John Redmond's eyes light up as he describes the long-awaited debut of architecture at Monash in 2008.

The University's offering will certainly be distinctive.

"Many schools in Australia offer architecture within a framework of planning and building and technology, but few, if any, offer it within an art school, which essentially, is what we are," Professor Redmond said.

"It's an opportunity to expand the possibilities of architecture education and research by emphasising its cultural contribution."

"It's surprising Monash doesn't already offer architecture, given its mission to improve the human condition by advancing knowledge and fostering creativity. Architecture certainly does that; it is fundamental to human civilisation.

"Monash University - because of its position as a major research university and its acknowledged strengths in art and design education and research training - is in an ideal position to meet the increasing demand for architecture and architectural education in an innovative way."

Traditionally, architecture programs have consisted of five years of study to attain a Bachelor of Architecture, as the first step in the process for registration as an architect.

Monash will be one of the first universities to adopt a new model of a three-year bachelor degree followed by a two-year professional masters degree. Importantly, students who successfully complete the University's Bachelor of Architectural Design will be guaranteed admission into the Master of Architecture.

The course will be taught in the Faculty of Art & Design's headquarters at Caulfield campus, where students will have access to the full range of art and design studios and workshops.

Professor Redmond is confident that architecture is a good fit alongside art and design.

"Art and architecture are inseparable in history; we even classify them in the same terms. Our fine artists engage in multidisciplinary practice, which may involve painting, sculpture and media. So we are looking at electives that integrate the disciplines," Professor Redmond said.

"At its core, however, architecture is a design discipline. We have very successful design programs, including Industrial Design, Interior Architecture and Visual Communications. There are also opportunities to develop a digital design specialisation, in partnership with the Department of Multimedia and Digital Arts."

"For me, one of the most exciting elements of the program is the 'Urban Contexts' semester. We will take students out of the Campus so they will have the opportunity to study at either the University's Prato Centre, just outside Florence, Italy, or in Melbourne's CBD, experiencing two very different urban environments."

The Faculty is preparing a suite of architecture offices, studios, a laboratory and interactive exhibition space, which will provide an actual and metaphorical bridge been art and design - located between the Art and Design and Fine Arts Buildings.

"Monash is unequivocally committed to addressing the important theoretical and practical challenges facing society, with a program of research in architecture that will concentrate on the core of the discipline - the human habitat. It will offer opportunities for discourse not only with the architectural profession but also with the broader community and industry," Professor Redmond says.

"The prevailing view of architecture as a subset of the built environment has resulted, in some cases, in the conventional scientific and humanities research-models with a focus on elements at the periphery of the discipline.

"Our philosophy for education and research will encourage links between the profession and academia, and focus on the contribution that architecture makes to humanity.

"It is a major investment in the discipline by Monash University, and one that will advance architecture in Australia and internationally."

The Faculty of Art & Design established an advisory group of distinguished Australian architects to help create the prestigious new program.

Advisory group members are: Carey Lyon, National President of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects; John Denton, Victorian State Architect and Founding Director of Denton Corker Marshall; Professor Desley Luscombe, Dean of the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney; Professor Geoffrey London, West Australian State Architect and Professor of Architecture, University of Western Australia; and Queensland University Professor of Architecture, Brit Andresen.

For more information about the new Architecture program being offered by Monash University's Faculty of Art & Design at its Caulfield campus from 2008, visit the Art & Design faculty website.