Dame Edna's Golden Transactions

Our world is in a state of constant flux. Changes are our only means of consistency. As a public we continue existing, adapting day to day. Our shifts are often unrecognizable to us, the actors in the scene. However, when we assume the role of the critical observer, we can begin to uncover the fallacies. Our built environment no longer caters for our consumerism, the restaurant no longer facilitating our desired feast, retail no longer gratifying our greed, and the home no longer expansive enough for our population. We no longer simply purchase the good, but we purchase the service.

This project exemplifies the interaction from transaction to doorstep in a place parallel to the typical urban block. A place where architecture negotiates the inconsistencies between data and the tactile, reflecting how we can maintain empathy for the existing and allowing provisions for the future. Introducing a new block, where the shop becomes a showroom, and the restaurant is a kitchen. The inner block is no longer bounded by dead ends and narrow lanes but an activated space where inhabitants can live conveniently. An urban kintsugi of sorts, where a golden narrative is threaded, and Dame Edna remains an icon of Melbourne.