Island Futures

This studio will examine and propose potential futures within the context of Bellarmarin / Woone / Jouap / French Island.

Located on Boon Wurrung country, and only 61km south of Melbourne, the island is an unincorporated territory, a space without a municipal council, where instead public programs are managed directly by the community. It is also an important site of ecological preservation, with around two thirds of the island being designated a national park.

Exploring the historical formations of the islands, as well as the social, political and spatial potentials for such a context, students will propose a new community precinct which can both facilitate the collective operations of the island, and propose possible future suggestions. By doing, so the studio will ask, how can understanding the spatial configuration of the island lead to new developments of cultures and alternative systems of land, care and social organisation?