Helen Norrie

A University of Tasmania lecturer researching urban design issues in regional Australia says Launceston's CBD is comparatively well placed to handle downturns in retail because of its geography, heritage streetscapes and lack of competing nearby shopping centres. Helen Norrie is the co-ordinator of the Regional Urban Studies Laboratory, engaging with councils and communities to examine issues in small towns and cities.

Developing an understanding of the relationship between bamboo as a building material and as part of an ecological and economic supply chain is central to the ‘agritecture’ project being developed through collaboration between the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Sydney-based architects and bamboo specialists Cave Urban. The cross-disciplinary field of agritecture explores the intersection between agriculture and architecture, investigating the relationship between buildings and places through collaborative design research projects. This project explores the cultivation of bamboo to bamboo in buildings that utilise low-tech construction techniques. It investigates the potential of assist with biodiversity, water filtration and soil remediation, and the parallel use of unprocessed temporary buildings to provide new infrastructure in villages where the economic ecology is shifting, focussing on regional and rural communities in Vietnam.

[full article available for free via the link above] Amid his observations on the plight of Australian cities in his seminal text The Australian Ugliness (1960), Robin Boyd also took aim at Tasmania’s overzealous preoccupation with the “commercial possibilities of antiquity” in buildings that were “choked with the tourist trappings of chintzy old-lavender charm indoors and outdoors”. Although this preoccupation endures more than fifty years later, recent tourism ventures have presented a shift from the romanticised, quaint heritage market towards a more ecologically and culturally minded tourist. Ken Latona initiated the first wave in the 1990s, with the ‘glamping’ (glamorous camping) retreats of Friendly Beaches Lodge (1993) and the Bay of Fires Lodge (2000) on the east coast, providing exquisite settings within extraordinary landscapes. At the other end of the spectrum, Circa Morris-Nunn’s Saffire Resort (2011) at Freycinet provided a more self-consciously iconic alternative to the twee ‘ye olde world’ offerings. These were followed by two projects by Rosevear Architects for developer Brett Torossi: Avalon Coastal Retreat (2004), a neo-Modernist glass building perched on the headlands near the east coast town of Swansea; and the Rocky Hills Retreat (2010), which recently won the Unique Accommodation award at this year’s Australian Tourism Awards. Rosevear and Torossi’s latest project, Avalon City Retreat, offers another alternative that is aimed at the savvy ‘mainland’ and international market, fuelled by new cultural initiatives such as Museum of Old and New Art and its annual Festival of Music and Art that are central to the cultural vibrancy of Hobart – earning it a place on Lonely Planet’s 2013 list of top ten travel destinations.

Completing the Bachelor of Arts Students take four different subject areas in their first year. In second and third year, they complete majors in two different disciplines. A limited number of secondand third-year subjects will be offered at the Cradle Coast Campus in 2004. However, students normally complete their degree by transferring to Launceston or Hobart, or by studying by distance education.

Cities embrace and express cultural, social and ideological agendas that are central to urban experience Cities are structured to orchestrate particular relationships between people and place, creating routines of movement, spectacle and memory. Throughout history, settlements have been formed around individual iconic buildings that codify meaning, which is either deliberately constructed or construed by the observer. The contemporary city has increasingly represented a paradox between two positions. On the one hand urban environments are being reordered to support the social life of cities, and on the other they are driven the need to engage with the global economy, corporatisation and international tourism. Brett Steel argues that this has led to a condition of 'hypervisuality', which has created a shift from 'place making to promotion and place marketing.'Museums have become a key part of this processes, with contemporary museum architecture frequently traded as a...

Regional towns and cities have historically been the backbone of Australia, yet they currently represent a blindspot in urban thinking. Helen Norrie examines the initiatives that are reframing the perceived limitations of smaller populations and geographical dislocation to present compelling alternatives to life in major urban centres.

BRIGHTON TOMORROW Urban Design Study was undertaken as a collaboration between Brighton Council, the Regional Urban Studies Laboratory (RUSL) at the University of Tasmania’s School of Architecture & Design (UTAS) and Monash University Department of Architecture (MADA).

Although less than 40% of the population of Australia live in cities with more than one million people, the critical mass of metropolitan centres ensures that the concerns of major cities is central to governance and policy development. However, while there is a continual emphasis on strategies to deal with particular issues that are the consequence of the size and scale of these settlements: housing affordability; transport; sustainable environments; and infrastructure, beyond these metropolitan centres, different issues are at stake. Smaller cities and towns lack the critical mass of population to provide a diverse enough range of services and facilities to retain or attract residents, but they provide other opportunities that can act as catalysts for future development. Tasmania is emblematic of a broader situation in regions across Australia; it has very low population and a very large area. With only four cities with more than 10,000 people, and many wider regions barely reachi...

In Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture , Rory Hyde (2012) speculates on a range of trajectories for architectural practice from the "environmental medic" to the "near future inventor." These profiles imagine roles that span disciplines from architecture and urban design, to sociology, politics and the creative arts, highlighting the increasing interdisciplinarity of design practices. This reflects a diverse range of emergent creative and spatial practices in the fields of research and design that are increasingly central to design practice and pedagogy. Although the design studio has traditionally formed the key domain of architectural practice, increasingly, "design research" is emerging as a specific mode of creative engagement. Design research provides a form of "critical spatial practice," that can be both collaborative and transformative (Rendell, 2013, p. 119). In contrast to traditional modes of design or resear...

Australian cities lack spaces that are suitable for children, and this affects the potential to provide inclusive environments for people of all ages. Locations that welcome children are by default also places for mothers, fathers, grandparents, and other children – and these spaces also extend to the widest sectors of the community. Developing child-friendly spaces will contribute to the future growth of cities as inclusive and cohesive environments . While many urban strategies promoting children in the city focus on providing playgrounds and recreational facilities, this study considers the design of the city as an urban playground . It examines how understanding children’s play can inform the design of play space, acknowledging that this process is not limited to the provision of amenity alone - it is a matter of grasping the cognitive, emotional and imaginativedimension to being young. The study examines the different types of play – active, social and imaginative – in order to...

Looking through a window originally defined the Western picturesque conception of landscape as a perspectival view received by the eye. However our eyes are not merely glass windows, they are oculi which are open to all of the elements, not just what is seen. We see with our eyes and our imaginations, but also by our actions or experience in place and time, and the way we relate to each other is the fundamental basis of the concept of worlds. Oculus is a series of paintings emerging primarily from Rome and Valcamonica in northern Italy that expands the simple duality of 'seeing and being seen'; looking beyond the notion of oculus as an eye or aperture. Oculus draws directly on specific sources: ancient rock engravings of Valcamonica, a pair of mountains that overlook the region, the Pantheon in Rome, and more specifically the oculus of the Pantheon. Two particular rock engravings are directly referenced: the iconic Rosa Camuna, which has become the symbol of the region of Lo...

In one generation, rapid urbanisation has transformed Vietnam from a rural-based economy to an increasingly globalised economy. As the country changes economically and environmentally, it also transforms culturally. This is expressed through new buildings and urban spaces that are becoming increasingly more ‘international’ than identifiably local. Within this ever-changing context, there are attempts to maintain a connection to the increasingly fading remnants of Vietnam’s built cultural heritage. Bamboo, traditionally regarded as a ‘poor man’s material,’ has emerged as a symbol of Vietnamese culture, offering new directions for contemporary architecture.

This research-focused broadcast, titled ‘Regional Round Up: Bright ideas from beyond the big cities’, draws upon ongoing collaborative urban design research projects from Regional Urban Studies Laboratory (RUSL), led by Dr Helen Norrie. This project engaged directly with local councils and communities to examine urban spatial, temporal and social issues in small towns and cities. Extending this collaboration, six Australian practitioners were selected to discuss selected case studies, highlighting transformative initiatives across three themes: transformative project, culture as catalyst, and future thinking.

Increasing urban densities underpin the development of larger cities, producing a variety of housing options and a diversity of use that lead to vibrant urban environment. Few could disagree with this observation. However, in regional areas the aspiration to create more dense and vibrant cities is limited by a number of factors. Low property prices in regional cities reflect low demand, which in turn affects the viability of new models. 1n many regional cities the cost of a three-bedroom house 15 minutes' drive from the city centre is 70% of the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in the CBD. Why would anyone consider an alternative model of housing, especially in a market where housing is viewed as much as an investment as a home? This creates certain dilemmas. Firstly, the housing market in Australia is biased towards an enculturated ideal of amenity associated with the 'Great Australian Dream' of a house and garden, with a car. Secondly. both the development and construct...

The relatively recent shift from Bachelor to Master degrees has seen a foregrounding of research within architecture programs. Within the new regulated environment under the Australian Qualifications Framework, which mandates research skills as a core component of the ‘level 9’ degree, there is an increasing imperative to articulate both the nature and scope of research within the Master of Architecture. Coupled with the pressures on academics to publish or perish and to find innovative ways of doing more with less, the Master of Architecture presents a world of opportunities in relation to the ‘teaching-research nexus’. Although the ‘nexus’ between teaching and research is widely promoted as universally desirable – benefitting both academics and students, there is very little critical interrogation of what this means in relation to either teaching pedagogy or research practice. While both have been the subject of widespread research in recent years, there is very little that target...

Worldwide, a wave of temporary pavilions commissioned by art organizations and cultural philanthropists is presenting delightful intersections between art, architecture and urban design. Recent pavilions in Australia, such as those commissioned by the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation in Sydney and by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne, as well as the Naomi Milgrom Foundation’s MPavilion, have followed in the footsteps of a range of international projects. These pavilions provide settings for varied cultural activities, as well as offering spaces for repose and contemplation. While site specific, each also explores ideas that relate to broader social, cultural, technical and ideological contexts.

Teenagers are key users of public spaces in cities, however, they are often excluded from public spaces and planning policies that frequently discourage and restrict their use of these places. This study acknowledges that designing for teenagers has the potential to create diverse and inclusive spaces for all ages where new social interactions are able to cultivate, facilitating inclusive and cohesive urban environments. Therefore, it speculates on tactics for creating the teenager-inclusive spaces, using the Hobart city centre as a case study. This involves an in-depth investigation into existing research in order to propose urban strategies of informal and temporary interventions that facilitate ‘active and productive’ engagement, that assist in creating more inclusive cities for teenagers.

Universities have an intrinsic relationship to cities, not merely as educational institutions, but also through contributing to social and cultural life in myriads ways. This is particularly important in regional communities, where the university is frequently both a major employer and a key population catalyst, attracting students and staff as residents both short and long term. Beyond the focus on service delivery, the development of university campuses in regional areas offers opportunities to consider how the university can engage with the community, and become a key ‘civic player’ in regional development. Planning for the future development of new facilities for regional universities offers opportunities to strengthen the town and gown relationship beyond service delivery and the annual graduation parade, and to explore how the university can become physically embedded in place. Examining the conceptual positioning of the university as part of the future urban narrative, beyond...