Reviviscape

Reviviscape concluded as a diverse Independent Design Research Studio in which students investigated how architecture might support the renewal of St Kilda’s civic, ecological and cultural identity. Each project was developed through research-led methods that included close site readings, sensory mapping, narrative and autoethnographic approaches, material testing and adaptive reuse. These methods encouraged students to situate design within lived experience and the changing conditions of the suburb.

Across the semester, several shared themes emerged. Many students explored housing precarity, proposing transitional models, emergency accommodation and creative live and work structures that restore dignity, stability and community. Others examined ecological resilience, developing algae based carbon capture systems, floating waste remediation architectures and more than human frameworks that reveal new environmental relationships. Cultural renewal also featured strongly through projects that reactivated public space with performance, youth engagement, intergenerational play and sensory installations. A further group worked at the scale of civic infrastructure, using prototypes and policy frameworks to rethink the governance of ports, waterways and transport systems.

Together, the studio’s outcomes operated across multiple scales and demonstrated how small, thoughtful architectural interventions can strengthen social connection, enrich ecological awareness and open new perspectives for St Kilda’s continued revival.

Studio Leaders: Matthew Bird