Untitled

BACKGROUND: Untitled was shown at the Real/Material/Ethereal exhibition and symposium, Monash University, Melbourne, 3-4 Oct 2019. Large format photographic imagery on adhesive film documented integration between a veranda garden space and the adjacent exterior space, with background text and referencing of other project work on the thematics and related theoretical framework. The work is part of ongoing inquiry into encounters of natural and urban ecologies, and Mauro Baracco and Louise Wright’s focussed investigations of design integration of open and built spaces and, more broadly, design techniques to address environmental repair. CONTRIBUTION: The work illuminates a design-based focus on the care and life of ‘otherness’ – in both flora and fauna – as an integral component of architectural and urban environments. It investigates continuity of the ground plane from interior to exterior environments and hence, key design issues of innovative and appropriate spatial arrangements for the rehabilitation of urban and the natural environments. In this deconstruction of the physical threshold a key element is brought into new perspective – of speculation on plan and section disposition that result in a corresponding quality of ‘veranda like’ space both inside and outside. The work further provokes discourse on degrees of definition and disposition, as well as materiality and spatial arrangements. SIGNIFICANCE: The work adds to understanding of ways restorative design may help repair environmental conditions by better connecting humans to their environments and those of other species. It has been exhibited and discussed in an international forum specifically focussed on the championing of ‘design practice-based research’. The research will be widely circulated through the (forthcoming) exhibition catalogue. It has been discussed and profiled through various social media platforms.