Marooned in the temporary

Abigail Li Shin Liew

Supervisor: Dr. Emma Jackson

Our attitude to risk and threat is reflected in our response of insuring ourselves against the possibilities of danger and harm. Consequently, our city and built environment is a mirror image of this behaviour. As natural disasters are becoming part of an everyday norm in Australia, can we redefine our perception and understanding of risk? Inclusion, not exclusion. Can we design to include risk?

Elizabeth Street of the Melbourne City has been known to flood, and whilst we may be unaware, the seemingly ‘normal’ street sits uncomfortably on top of a river that once flowed back into the Yarra. Unconcerned with the concealment of this natural waterway, the so called consistent built environment that we occupy has made every effort in keeping evidence of the flood and the river out of sight and out of mind. A disaster, or rather, a maladaptation? Would it then be more appropriate in recognising the flood ascribed to the incongruent acclimation of our city to the river?

This project seeks to challenge and reframe our existing ideologies built around risk and threats whilst questioning the consistency of our urban environment. To discover the unknown and to subvert what may be deemed as unapproachable to a more generous and responsive occupation of our urban fabric and streetscape. The architecture is therefore a guiding hand for us to embrace the unpleasant, the inconsistent and the ambiguous; in that we are able to find the child-like innocence in us to slow down and pause, to eventually find solace and beauty in the undiscovered ‘threat’ of the flood.

Copyright © 2021 RMIT University Terms Privacy Accessibility Website feedback Complaints ABN 49 781 030 034 CRICOS provider number: 00122A RTO Code: 3046