Architectural Urbanism: Melbourne/Seoul

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Architectural Urbanism: Melbourne/Seoul was a two-city reciprocal exhibition funded by RMIT University and the Korean National University and supported by the Australian Government through the Australian International Cultural Council (an intiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). Mel Dodd curated the Korean show at K-Arts Gallery. She invited five young Melbourne architectural firms to reflect on specific projects that explored 'architectural urbanism' via small architectural projects. The participants were: KTA; Iredale Pedersen Hook; NWBW; Baracco Wright; and Muir Mendes. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: In consultation with the co-curators of the 2014 Melbourne show (including Jong-kyu Kim, Architect and Professor at K-ARTS Department of Architecture and Sand Helsel and Anna Johnson of RMIT) Dodd created a an exhibition that addressed 'the context of the city within the operative scale of the small architectural project'. The participating firms all tailored their projects to the local, to the grain and substance of the specific neighbourhoods they worked with. The exhibition explored commonality in the apparently different contexts of both Seoul and Melbourne - speculating on these as forms of 'architectural urbanism' in the contemporary city of the Asia-Pacific at its northern and southern extremes. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: 'Architecturual Urbanism' was held with the Korean National University in Seoul and had further external support from the Federal Government's Australia International Cultural Council. The Korean show was opened by the Deputy Australian Ambassador in Seoul and the program included a symposium with presentations from four Melbourne arhcitects.