designbuild7Students from Deakin University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment participated in a new initiative that gave them the opportunity to display their work at DesignBUILD 2016, a leading event for industry professionals from the architecture, building, construction and design communities.

Called DesignBUILD RAW, the initiative presented the Deakin students with an industry-standard brief to design a key component of the event’s show floor – the central bar area. Students from RMIT’s School of Architecture and Design were also involved in the initiative, designing for the show’s entrance feature and seminar theatre.

Deakin’s Dr Diego Fullaondo and Dr Cristina Garduño Freeman collaborated with the DesignBUILD team on the project.

‘Our industry partners provided us with a practical brief which Dr Garduño Freeman and I developed into an ambitious academic proposal that we called ‘The Exhibitionist, Future Concepts for the Central Area of DesignBUILD,’ Dr Fullaondo says.

‘Students were asked to produce a project that responded to that brief and enter them for judging by an industry panel. As part of the brief, students also had to design and build a display area on the show floor for the presentation of the competition entries.’

Students Deanna Tabacco and Lewis Wilson designed the stand which was constructed at DesignBUILD 2016 with the help of fellow students in collaboration with some professional industry partners.

The design consisted of an interactive modular installation that required the public’s active contribution to define the ever changing configuration of the stand . Through this playful and continuous interaction between event visitors and the design, the idea of collaboration between the different professionals that are involved in the built environment industry was, at the same time, materially evidenced and conceptually encouraged. The project was unanimously considered by participants in the event, organisers and industry professionals, as a great success that managed to capture and physically express the new collaborative orientation that the built environment will require in the future.

During the event Chris Lata was announced as the winner of the Future Central Area of DesignBUILD competition and Phillip de Sousa as the runner up.

Visit the DesignBUILD RAW website to see the designs of the Deakin finalists.

Visit the DesignBUILD website to watch a highlights video of event with Deakin students and display featuring at 01:28.

Find out more about studying architecture and built environment at Deakin.