The Catalyst podcast series unpacks clever design solutions in the built environment. Join host Tania Davidge in conversation with designers and field experts as they explore themes and issues that act as catalysts for creative design thinking.

In this episode, we are looking at Play as a catalyst for design, creativity and engaging people with the city. We speak with Professor Lisa Grocott from Monash University and artist, Mike Hewson, to explore the ways play and a playful mindset can foster connection and creativity in the city. We look at how we play in the city and the ways in which design can foster playful connections in an urban environment.

Cities are not only for living and working – cities are also places where we play. Play can be many things. It can be creative and active or reflective and imaginative. Play is about discovery and curiosity, and it’s good for the body and the soul.

Guest Speakers: 

• Lisa Grocott, Professor of Design and the Director of WonderLab at Monash University
• Mike Hewson, Artist

The Catalyst Podcast series is presented by Open House Melbourne and produced with the assistance of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. The Catalyst podcast series was recorded at The Push, Collingwood Yards.

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Open House Melbourne is an independent not-for-profit organisation that fosters public appreciation for architecture and public engagement in conversations about the future of our cities. Find out more at openhousemelbourne.org.

The Alastair Swayn Foundation advances Australian architecture and design culture. Find out more at alastairswaynfoundation.org

Image: Rocks on Wheels. Photo: Dianna Snape.

The Catalyst podcast series unpacks clever design solutions in the built environment. Join host Tania Davidge in conversation with designers and field experts as they explore themes and issues that act as catalysts for creative design thinking.

In this episode, we are looking at Audience as a Catalyst for design through the lens of Performing Arts Centres. Professor Katya Johanson from Edith Cowan University and architect and founding director, Ian McDougall from ARM Architecture, help us unpack the relationship of audience to the design of the contemporary performing arts centre.

The modern performing arts centre has its roots in the 1960s. These centres were designed as iconic buildings which spoke to their important role in our cities and towns. Although they were founded with great intentions- of bringing the arts to a wider public audience - they have traditionally showcased the ‘high arts’ to a relatively narrow cross section of the community.  Contemporary arts institutions, however, aspire to reach a broader demographic and tell stories that connect with a greater cross-section of the community.

If the Arts are for everyone - what is the role of the Performing Arts Centre in contemporary society and what does this mean for the design of these Centres? As the role of the Performing Arts Centre has evolved and the audience it’s seeks to speak to has broadened what does this mean for the for the design of the Performing Arts Centre?

Guest Speakers: 

• Ian McDougall, Founding Director of ARM Architecture
• Katya Johanson, Professor of Audience Research and Associate Dean for the Creative Humanities at Edith Cowan University

Further Reading:
Katya Johanson is also co-author of the article, alongside Hilary Glow, ‘The problem with permanence is that you’re stuck with it: The public arts centre building in the twenty-first century’ from the International Journal of Cultural Policy (2017)

The Catalyst Podcast series is presented by Open House Melbourne and produced with the assistance of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. The Catalyst podcast series was recorded at The Push, Collingwood Yards.

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Open House Melbourne is an independent not-for-profit organisation that fosters public appreciation for architecture and public engagement in conversations about the future of our cities. Find out more at openhousemelbourne.org.

The Alastair Swayn Foundation advances Australian architecture and design culture. Find out more at alastairswaynfoundation.org

Image: Friday night market at Geelong Arts Centre. Photo: Peter Foster, courtesy of ARM.

The Catalyst podcast series unpacks clever design solutions in the built environment. Join host Tania Davidge in conversation with designers and field experts as they explore themes and issues that act as catalysts for creative design thinking.

In this episode, planner Jane Keddie from Hansen Partnership and architect James Davidson from JDA Co. discuss how planning and design can work with the weather and environmental flows to mitigate risk and rethink our relationship to water.

The climate crisis is driving more and more extreme weather events. In Australia flood and fire are impacting our urban areas. Australians have always had a connection to coastal living and more and more the places we love are under threat of inundation. 

In the midst of a climate crisis, where we are seeing increasing extreme weather events, how can we plan and design for flood?  Is it simply a matter of barricading our buildings against the flood waters or can we work with the ebbs and flows of our water eco-systems to design in a more responsive way?

Guest Speakers: 

• Jane Keddie, Director of Strategic Planning at Hansen
• James Davidson, Founder and Principal at JDA Co.

The Catalyst Podcast series is presented by Open House Melbourne and produced with the assistance of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. The Catalyst podcast series was recorded at The Push, Collingwood Yards.

>>
Open House Melbourne is an independent not-for-profit organisation that fosters public appreciation for architecture and public engagement in conversations about the future of our cities. Find out more at openhousemelbourne.org.

The Alastair Swayn Foundation advances Australian architecture and design culture. Find out more at alastairswaynfoundation.org

The Catalyst podcast series unpacks clever design solutions in the built environment. Join host Tania Davidge in conversation with designers and field experts as they explore themes and issues that act as catalysts for creative design thinking.

In this episode, engineer Peter Standen from Partridge and architect Stuart Harrison from Harrison and White discuss how engineering and design can help to take care of our more than human friends.

When we think about design and architecture, we typically think about designing for people but what does it take to design for animals? What does it take to get a frog in the mood for romance? How do you move pregnant elephants safely and securely from A to B? And how can design help to rehabilitate raptors?

Guest Speakers: 

• Peter Standen, Engineer and Managing Director at Partridge
• Stuart Harrison, Broadcaster, Architect and Founder of Harrison and White architects

The Catalyst Podcast series is presented by Open House Melbourne and produced with the assistance of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. The Catalyst podcast series was recorded at The Push, Collingwood Yards.

>>
Open House Melbourne is an independent not-for-profit organisation that fosters public appreciation for architecture and public engagement in conversations about the future of our cities. Find out more at openhousemelbourne.org.

The Alastair Swayn Foundation advances Australian architecture and design culture. Find out more at alastairswaynfoundation.org

Image: Healesville Sanctuary RaptorRehab. Photo: Rhiannon Slatter, courtesy of Harrison and White Pty Ltd © 2024. 

In this episode, we explore resistance and regeneration in the city across the decades. A city is constantly changing, developing, regeneration yet every generation resists this change. Landscape amnesia or creeping normalcy sets in, where people believe the city has always been in the form they know and love and want little change during their lifetime.
What are some of the most significant campaigns against change in the city? And have they been warranted? What was lost and what was gained? What is the underlying reason for resistance?
We also interrogate how developers/development give back to the city in generous and meaningful ways if demolishing or changing much-loved aspects of the built environment. How are they soothing us during times of major disruption and is the healing balm working?
Resistance and Regeneration interviews include:

• Felicity Watson, Executive Advocacy Manager from the National Trust Victoria talks about key moments in Melbourne’s history that have truly shaped the city.
• Sophie Kvist and Anna Muessig from Gehl Architects discuss the evaluation of the Metro Tunnel Creative Program.

In this episode we look at the themes emerging from Open House expanded July program – access and inclusivity in the city, specifically blindness and vision impairment in response to the Urban Tactility program.

Urban Tactility is an installation and public program exploring the sensory city and design + disability as part of the Open House Melbourne July 2019 program. Building on the thought-provoking nature of the Sensory City tours we ran in partnership with OoPLA in 2017 & 2018, the Urban Tactility installation is designed to inspire people to connect with the experience of those living with low vision and blindness and the way they navigate the city. 

Through associated walking tours, workshops and talks, developed in collaboration with Vision Australia, the project will directly engage multiple public communities with a focus on people living with blindness or low vision, senior adults, and children, along with the broader Open House audience.

We explore the underlying two-fold agenda of Urban Tactility – a chance to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes and also think about how the city can be improved and redesigned for different communities and users.

The third episode of This is Public responds to the 2019 National Architecture Conference theme: Collective Agency. The conference reminded us that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and with unity comes an ability to affect an outcome. This year’s event encouraged us to reflect on today’s challenges, the articulation of more meaningful protocols, and most importantly, the willingness to act. 

Collective Agency interviews include: 

• AIA National Conference Curators Stephen Choi and Monique Woodward discuss the inception and theme of the Conference, and what it means to be an architect in 2019. 
  
  
• Conference speakers Elizapeta Heta and Sara Lynn Rees discuss their work in developing Indigenous design protocols and help us imagine what Indigenized cities might look like. 
  
  

As a partner of the Living Cities Forum (with Naomi Milgrom Foundation), Open House Melbourne’s second episode of This is Public focuses on the conference theme: Future Needs.

Hosts Emma Telfer and Sally McPhee spoke with Forum speaker Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles, and Rob Adams, Director of City Design at the City of Melbourne about how design responds to future needs in our cities, specifically LA and Melbourne. 

In this fascinating long-form conversation with two city design leaders, we traverse densification to de-growth, innovation to adaptive re-use, transforming ideas into decisive action, and playing the long game in city transformation.

Photo credit: Living Cities Forum by Tom Ross

The first episode of This is Public documents Open House Melbourne’s special Waterfront program for Melbourne Design Week 2019.    Open House took a deep dive into the role design could play in reframing our relationship with water, with a special focus on urban waterways and Birrarung (the Yarra River). All of the guests interviewed on the podcast participated in the Waterfront program.   This is Public: Waterfront Interviews include:

• (2:35) Dr Melissa Neave from RMIT University and Andrew Kelly, the Yarra Riverkeeper, explore the flow on effects of past urban design decisions, current challenges and possible futures for the river; 
• (20:22) Paul Thomas from Rail Projects Victoria explains how the Metro Tunnel project navigates complex tunneling under the Yarra; and 
• (30:25) Michael O’Neill from Yarra Swim Co and Andre Bonnice from WOWOWA Architecture share how the Yarra Pools proposal encourages connection and contact with the river.

The Catalyst podcast series unpacks clever design solutions in the built environment. Join host Tania Davidge in conversation with designers and field experts as they explore themes and issues that act as catalysts for creative design thinking.

In this episode, we are looking at the End of Life as a Catalyst for the design of palliative care facilities. We speak with Dr Mark Boughey from St. Vincent's Hospital and Dr Rebecca McLaughlan from University of Sydney, to consider the design of the places in which we might die and reflect on how we can live a good life, right up until the end. It will look at what it means to die with dignity and address how we can help our loved ones to lead the conversation, allowing them agency at the end of life.

What impact can good design have on spaces focused on the end of life?

Guest speakers: 

• Dr Mark Boughey, Director of Palliative Medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital
• Dr Rebecca McLaughlan, Academic and Researcher at Sydney School of Architecture, Design & Planning, University of Sydney

Please note: This episode discusses topics that may be upsetting to some listeners, including end of life and palliative care. Please take care while listening and contact Griefline at 1300 845 745 if you need further support.

The Catalyst Podcast series is presented by Open House Melbourne and produced with the assistance of the Alastair Swayn Foundation. The Catalyst podcast series was recorded at The Push, Collingwood Yards.


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Open House Melbourne is an independent not-for-profit organisation that fosters public appreciation for architecture and public engagement in conversations about the future of our cities. Find out more at openhousemelbourne.org.

The Alastair Swayn Foundation advances Australian architecture and design culture. Find out more at alastairswaynfoundation.org

Image: Genesis Lake, Bunurong Memorial Park. Photo: Jonathan Lang for Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust.