Reconstruction – Peripheral Living Lecture

Bushfire season is now an annual occurrence on the Australian calendar. With Australia’s growing population pushing communities further into the natural environment the yearly looming threat of bushfire has now become ingrained in the Australian psyche; its devastation etched into the memories of all those who have witnessed it. Many people within these locales have experienced great trauma, yet have indicated their desire to rebuild their lives in the region. The brief from these clients means that architects will face not only the challenge of considering the lifelong environmental impact of the buildings they design, but the safety of those building within a bushfire prone area.

This informal forum with Nigel Bertram and Gretchen Wilkins, Senior Lecturers in Architecture, Urban Architecture Laboratory, RMIT will facilitate a discussion on good design within the current constraints of the planning code and the relationships between architecture, infrastructure and landscape.

Each speaker proposes that despite the challenges, bushfire can be seen as a catalyst for design innovation. Fire can be as much a cultural issue as a technical or scientific one, and in accepting this challenge designers are afforded the opportunity to rethink conventional building typologies.

Presented by TarraWarra Museum of Art