Before Building: Dialogue in Collective Design Practice
Presented by Architecture Associates & Waters Architects
DETAILS
Free, no booking required
University of Melbourne, MSD Building, 133 Masson Rd Parkville AND Monash School of Art, Design & Architecture, Building G Concourse, Monash Caulfield Campus, 900 Dandenong Rd Caufield East
DATES
Thu 14 May 10am – 5pm
Thu 14 May 12.30 – 1.30pm
Talk at University of Melbourne, MSD Building
Fri 15 May 10am – 5pm
Sat 16 May 10am – 5pm
Sun 17 May 10am – 5pm
Mon 18 May 10am – 5pm
Tue 19 May 10am – 5pm
Wed 20 May 10am – 5pm
Wed 20 May 12.30 – 1.30pm
Talk at Monash University, Caulfield Campus, Building G Concourse
Thu 21 May 10am – 5pm
Fri 22 May 10am – 5pm
Sat 23 May 10am – 5pm
Sun 24 May 10am – 5pm
Presented by Danielle Peck (Architecture Associates / Monash School of Art, Design and Architecture) and Ben Waters (Waters Architects / Melbourne School of Design), Before Building presents an audiovisual work examining the role of dialogue in architectural design. The work traces three projects currently underway within the architects’ respective practices.
Filmed in close detail, objects, models, drawings, sketches and notes gathered through community engagement sessions reveal moments of exchange and negotiation that have shaped each project. Overlaid with a narrative script composed from fragments of real dialogue, the work highlights design as a process of conversation.
Across a number of projects, Peck and Waters approach design not as a single act of authorship but as a collective and continually negotiated practice. In this view, meaning emerges through relationships between designers, communities, clients, materials and the everyday routines that sustain them. Form does not precede dialogue; it emerges from it.
Two panel discussions will accompany the exhibition. The first explores dialogue in design as a legitimate design process, while the second considers project outcomes arising from more collaborative approaches to practice. The talks are hosted by the Melbourne School of Design and Monash School of Art, Design and Architecture.
The exhibition will be showcased at both University of Melbourne and Monash University for the duration of Melbourne Design Week.
Participants
Danielle Peck
Danielle Peck is a founding director of Architecture Associates, a practice specialising in cultural, community and education projects. She is an Industry Fellow at Monash School of Art, Design & Architecture and is interested in ideas entangled in the socio-political forces shaping contemporary environments. She pursues projects that consciously participate in and promote social cohesion.
Ben Waters
Ben Waters is an architect and founder of Waters Architects, a regional architecture practice working on community, housing and cultural projects. He also leads S-I Projects, a design agency operating at the intersection of technology, ecology and cultural heritage. Waters is a Creative Practitioner Educational Fellow at the Melbourne School of Design.