Part 1: Habitat

‘House for Trees’ by Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Photo by Hiroyuki Oki, courtesy of Assemble Papers.

The first leg of MRelay is devoted to Habitat. As we leap from the starting blocks, we’ll cast our gaze around: at our natural environments, our sense of place and how place transforms us.

Today’s places are changing fast—whether they’re a tropical rainforest or a city such as London, Melbourne or Berlin, a habitat for artists or an ecology for designers. ‘Design thinking’ stimulates a natural inquisitiveness and embraces ideas of origins and place. The way people habitually use spaces becomes a guide for design, alongside rational, economic, civic and environmental necessities. Design is everywhere—what matters is how we look at it.

Habitat will be hosted by Simon Knott, director and co-founder of BKK Architects. Speakers include Naomi Milgrom AO, MPavilion founder and commissioner for Australia, Venice Biennale 2017; Andrew McConnell, executive chef of Cumulus Inc. and Cutler & Co.; Alice Glenn, president and creative director of Schoolhouse Studios; Rueben Berg, founder and director of Indigenous Architecture Victoria; Rebecca Coates, director of Shepparton Art Museum; Professor Julie Bernhardt, scientist and director at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health; and Kate McMahon, co-founder of urban-strategy agency Hello City.

Pop in for thirty minutes or stay the whole day as our guests pass the host mic from one speaker to the next. It’ll be fast-paced, exhilarating and, best of all, deeply unpredictable.

Find out more about the other three legs of MRelay—Ritual, Transformation and Utopia—or view the whole MRelay program here.