Sébastien is a 5th year Master of Architecture student with a particular interest in bespoke home design. His design studio proposals regularly involve delving into the nuanced qualities of inhabitable space, through attention to intricate design details, and his work experience in a boutique residential architecture firm has led him to further explore these design qualities in a professional context.
The Angels’ Reception: Parkview And ReChurch
Two programs are relocated from adjacent Galgi Ngaark grasslands and the Merri Creek into an existing empty building in Collingwood: A church and events program, and a private storage facility. The buildings are then proposed to be removed and the ecosystem repaired. In their turn the urban realm is regenerated through the new uses. 202 Wellington Street’s Re-Use proposal is an ethereal façade of layered translucent thresholds, which filter light into a cascading space enveloped in soft texture. The streetscape gives onto Wellington Street, a bustling combination of industrial and commercial activity, on a compacted footprint which increases the space efficiency of the programs twenty-fold.
The Grassland Oasis: Merri Creek within Galgi Ngarrk
The Merri Creek flows within the Galgi Ngarrk bush, surrounded by the great River Red Gums, coloured by the Orchids, softened by the humble wallaby grass. The 8000 year-old basalt stones are smoothed in the creek’s bed from the millennia of water flow, and the environment thrives with life; the song of the wagtails and moorhens ringing through the scrub. Closer to the creek, where native wildlife is fiercely protected, a beautiful ecosystem cycles with the six Australian seasons like a dynamic and harmonious artwork. Further out, into the grasslands, patches of invasive species such as the Scotch Broom are sprinkled among the native flora, but the centuries-old River Red Gums stand strong.
Tin and Concrete: The Warehouses of Craigieburn
A border is drawn at the foot of the tilt-up concrete panels, where Galgi Ngarrk stops and the place where the Craigieburn industrial landscape was inserted. Even then, exotic flora such as buffalo grass extends from the base of the linear extrusions. The only presence of colour on the facades are the patches of graffiti. If they could, these structures would place themselves right on top of the creek bed. Craigieburn houses the 2nd largest industrial zone in Victoria, comprising type 1 and type 3 industrial activity. So, this vast expanse, which is directly adjacent to Merri Creek, is responsible for immense amounts of industrial scale waste output, which inevitably affects the landscape.
Sébastien Delattre, The Angels’ Reception: Parkview And ReChurch
Sébastien Delattre, The Grassland Oasis: Merri Creek within Galgi Ngarrk
Sébastien Delattre, Tin and Concrete: The Warehouses of Craigieburn
In the spirit of reconciliation Monash University acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
