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Travelling Studio (Los Angeles) (ABPL90296)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 25On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Summer Term
Email: loren.adams@unimelb.edu.au
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | Summer Term |
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Fees | Look up fees |
Travelling studios are working laboratories for design thought and production, and involve the exploration of complex, real-life issues. They expose students to unfamiliar cultures, places and people, and stimulate their ability to think creatively and solve problems. These studios aim to bring together students from architecture, urban design, landscape and planning streams and encourage an interdisciplinary focus. Pre-trip briefings or seminars will precede the travel component of the studio. The studio will incur travel costs, in addition to tuition fees. Faculty subsidies will, however, be available.
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SPECIFIC INFORMATION ABOUT TRAVELLING STUDIO (LOS ANGELES)
In this summer intensive travelling studio, you will plan a heist in the City of Los Angeles, California — a site of contention, contradiction, and possibility. Through a rigorous examination of material, cultural, and economic flows through the urban fabric, you will be asked to consider how a transgressive event — like those in classic L.A. heist films — might become a formal generator of architecture. Think Bernard Tschumi meets Heat; Die Hard with a formal agenda; Archi Grand Tour meets Grand Theft Auto.
Drawing on the rich cinematic and techno-progressive histories of Los Angeles, we will use multi-axis industrial robots and custom-fabricated robotic filming instruments to investigate the possibilities of cinema as a medium for speculative storytelling. We will instrumentalise the coordinated movement of artefacts, property, ideas, and power from one space to another. Clearly defined possessions and spatial understandings will be radically revisioned: walls will cease to be barriers; topography will become a tool. It is an opportunity to examine the ways in which architecture and urban design are complicit in the commodification of public space and the infrastructure of our cities.
APPROXIMATE COSTS
Return Flights: $1200 (MEL-LAX)
Accommodation: $900 (13 nights, up to $70/night)
Meals and living expenses: $600 (12 days, up to $50/day)
Local Travel: $300 (approx.)
Note: Prices listed are subject to change. Participating students will receive a one-off subsidy of $800 from the Faculty utilised towards student’s accommodation costs and may be eligible to receive a one off payment of up to $1,000 from Melbourne Global Mobility (conditions apply).
CREDIT
This travelling studio can count as credit towards your course in one of the categories listed below:
- Master of Architecture: ABPL90142 (Master of Architecture Studio C), ABPL90143 (Master of Architecture Studio D), ABPL90115 (Master of Architecture Studio E) or Architecture elective or multidisciplinary elective
- Master of Urban Design: ABPL90273 (Urban Design Studio B), ABPL90389 (Urban Design Studio C) or elective
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For further information please check the following link: https://edsc.unimelb.edu.au/graduate/subject-options/travelling-studios
Intended learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this subject, students should have the ability:
- To explain the City of Los Angeles as a complex site of contention, contradiction, and possibility using a variety of sources within academic literature, policy, popular culture, and fieldwork observations
- To formulate a self‐initiated and site‐specific design research agenda and methodology for production of an architectural and/or urban "heist" event
- To strategically record and reflect upon a broad range of site observations and experiences at a variety of scales and in response to a self‐initiated design research agenda
- To investigate the concepts and possibilities of cinema as a medium for speculative storytelling, using multi‐axis industrial robots and custom‐fabricated robotic filming instruments to directly inform design concepts and decision‐making in innovative and meaningful ways
- To demonstrate in‐depth spatial, temporal, and strategic thinking in the design of a new urban or architectural intervention to facilitate a "heist" event within the City of Los Angeles
- To clearly put forward and argue for unconventional and provocative urban or architectural design propositions
- To clearly and methodically iterate (i.e. deploy, reflect upon, and refine) complex design concepts, techniques, and outputs in pursuit of a self‐initiated design research aim
- To communicate a complex spatial and temporal design vision in a clear and professional manner, using a variety of media
Generic skills
- Interdisciplinary teamwork
- Understanding and navigating social and cultural difference
- Knowledge transfer
- Organisational collaboration
- Managing risk
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Admission into one of the following courses:
- MC-ARCH Master of Architecture
- MC-URBDES Master of Urban Design
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
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Hurdle requirement: All enrolled students must attend a full-day introductory seminar and OHS briefing on Monday, 17-Dec-2018, and have 75% minimum attendance overall | Throughout the semester | N/A |
Preliminary research proposal - presentation of preliminary research proposal (10‐minute oral presentation) equivalent to 40 hours work, due at commencement of second seminar session on 11‐Jan‐2019. Addresses ILOs 01, 02
| Early term | 10% |
Short film of schematic design artefact - 3‐minute short film of schematic design artefact with critical commentary (10‐minute oral presentation) equivalent to 40 hours work, due at pre‐departure seminar on 17‐Jan‐2019. Addresses ILOs 01, 02
| Early term | 10% |
Mid-semester progress presentation - A mid‐semester jury review (critique) oral presentation equivalent to 60 hours work, building on fieldwork and schematic design developed throughout semester and demonstrating design output that may include physical and digital models, drawings, site analyses, sketches, and short films, due towards end of travel period. Addresses ILOs 01, 03, 04, 06, 07, 08
| Mid term | 15% |
Final design project presentation - An end‐of‐semester jury review (critique) oral presentation equivalent to 240 hours work, building on work developed throughout semester and demonstrating design output that may include physical models, drawings, site analyses, sketches, and short films, due in the assessment period on 28‐Feb‐2019. Addresses ILO's 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 08
| End of term | 60% |
Reflective portfolio - Consolidation of semester's work into a critical design portfolio equivalent to 20 hours work, due in hard copy and digital format during the assessment period on 28‐Feb‐2019. Addresses ILOs 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08
| End of term | 5% |
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- Summer Term
Principal coordinator Loren Adams Coordinator Donald Bates Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 72 hours. This studio is an intensive summer subject. Students will be expected to commit full-time availability over January and February, including 30 hours of studio class in Melbourne. Students will also be required to attend a mandatory full day introductory seminar on Monday, 17 December 2018. Total time commitment 400 hours Teaching period 17 December 2018 to 25 February 2019 Last self-enrol date 2 December 2018 Census date 4 January 2019 Last date to withdraw without fail 1 February 2019 Assessment period ends 28 February 2019 Summer Term contact information
Email: loren.adams@unimelb.edu.au
Additional delivery details
Quota: 16
This subject is a quota subject and places are limited. Students will need to submit an application form via the EDSC Travelling Studio page. You will be notified in writing by STOP 1 if you are selected.
Selection criteria: Selection is based upon expression of interest submitted in online application, and academic merit.
For detailed information on the subject application process and due dates, refer to the EDSC Travelling Studio webpage: https://edsc.unimelb.edu.au/graduate/subject-options/travelling-studios
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Subject reader to be provided during Introductory Seminar on 17 December, 2018.
- Off-campus study
This subject has an overseas component
Students will undertake a 12-day visit at the end of January to Los Angeles (USA) to undertake a series of structured fieldwork exercises and city tours by foot, bicycle, train, and automobile.
- Links to additional information
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 3 November 2022