Cardboard in Architecture

Design-Make studies unit in collaboration with Strawberry Fields Festival and Tocumwal Town Hall

Paper is a universally found, easily available material of natural origin. It is cheap in production, eco-friendly and easy to recycle and re-use.

Mass-produced paper products such as corrugated cardboard, paperboard, honeycomb panels, tubes are suitable for use as a building material in design and architecture.

Temporary events such as festivals, exhibitions or sporting events like the Olympics require structures that only need to last for a limited period of time. When they are demolished after a few days or months, their leftovers can have a significant impact on the local environment.

This studio will be the study of suitable way to use paper in architecture. This theme will be approached initially through series of precedent studies and experiments with the material itself.

With the collaboration of Strawberry Fields Festival and Tocumwal Town hall the students will get the opportunity to build an exhibition space to display Strawberry Fields 10th year anniversary retrospective exhibition inside the Town hall.

The students will design and build physical 1 :1 cardboard structures which will offer a range of activities such as :

  • Display walls
  • Audio Coccon
  • Amphitheatre area for videos
  • Expression / feedbacks area
  • Potentially a temporary bus station at the front of the Town Hall

Students will have to design innovative systems for their structures to be easy to construct and demount for transport. These fit-out elements, between architecture and furniture, will be pre-fabricated at Monash then transported to Tocumwal town and eventually re-used at Strawberry Fields Festival.

Notes :

  • This studio involves 2 trips on site in Tocumwal (NSW) which is 280km from Melbourne. This includes one site visit the weekend of the 4th of August and one week on-site intensive construction from the 24th to the 31st of October. Participation in these events is a compulsory part of the curriculum.
  • Students will be camping in Tocumwal. Students need to be self-su cient and come with their own cars.
  • Budget for building materials to be expected (approx. $100 per students)

Teaching Time : Friday 9:30am to 12:30pm