Maud Cassaignau
Maud Cassaignau is a practicing urban designer, architect, critic, researcher and educator.
She studied at the ETH Zurich and Columbia University. Maud has worked in leading practices in Europe and USA, and realized projects with these and her own practice XPACE in Germany, USA, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. In parallel, Maud taught at the Swiss Polytechnic and lectured at the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland in Architecture, before staring lecturing at Monash University in 2011.
In 2005 she founded the Architecture and Urban Design practice XPACE. Their architectural and urban design works stress diversity, social and environmental responsiveness and has been widely published internationally.
Maud’s research explores processes of integrative urban transformation, potentials for intensification and the implementation of urban strategies incorporating human and natural resources as drivers for resilient growth. She is currently completing her PhD on the subject at RMIT in the invited stream.
Urban Design Research
Building Mixity! Cremorne 2025/37.83°S/144.993°E
co-authored book by M. Cassaignau, M.Jung with M.Xue
urban strategies for site responsive and inclusive urban densification
Kunshan Studio
water city design, water and food security, knowledge production
The Melbourne Section
territorial research, resources networks and human capital
Cremorne 2025
industrial suburb transformation, bottom up + top down tactics, heritage
Geneva 2020
city intensification, infrastructures, new typologies and dynamic programs
Current research projects
At Monash Art, Design and Architecture, we focus on the pursuit of research that addresses the social, economic and human issues facing Australia.
Industrial Revolution
An evidence-based framework for capturing the tacit + future values of Melbourne’s ‘National Employment and Innovation Clusters’.
The Melbourne Section
Investigating future scenarios for a sustainable growth across Melbourne.
Past research projects
Cremorne2025
From suburbanisation to inner densification and transformation, combining bottom up and top down as strategies.
Kunshan Studio
A real time project examining new urban typologies and form for the emerging city of Kunshan in China.
Kunshan Studio II
A real time project examining new urban typologies and form for the emerging city of Kunshan in China.
Additional research
Maud Cassaignau and Markus Jung with Matthew Xue, Building Mixity! Cremorne 2025/37.83°S/144.993°E
“Building Mixity!” has been shortlisted in the Leadership, advocacy and research – local and neighbourhood scale category of the 2019 Australian Urban Design Awards.
ISBN 978-1-925523-51-5 / Monash University Publishing, 2018
Maud Cassaignau, Copperfish, Luxemburg
XPACE architecture + urban design
Maud Cassaignau, Copperfish, Luxemburg
XPACE architecture + urban design
Maud Cassaignau, Copperfish, Luxemburg
XPACE architecture + urban design
Maud Cassaignau, Roentgenstrasse apartments, Zurich
XPACE architecture + urban design with afgh
Maud Cassaignau, Roentgenstrasse apartments, Zurich
XPACE architecture + urban design with afgh
Maud Cassaignau, Geneva 2020 urban vision
XPACE architecture + urban design with OOZE
Maud Cassaignau, Garden city Talgut, Winterthur
XPACE architecture + urban design with afgh