Architecture news & editorial desk
Open House Melbourne (OHM) will play host to This Is Public, a speaker series co-presented with RMIT Architecture & Urban Design and The Capitol, RMIT University as part of its 2021 July Weekend program.
This Public centres around the need to find new ways to reconnect and transform the ways in which we live and work together. The event will host speakers from a range of backgrounds and perspectives, who will endeavour to answer questions regarding the role of policy, climate change and future architecture in our cities, as well as other thought-provoking topics.
Focusing on the central theme, Reconnect, the OHM July program asks us to reconsider the way we occupy our city and to envisage new ways of designing and adapting our buildings, infrastructure, landscapes and communities as we emerge from the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
For Victorians, the experience of an extended lockdown has brought into sharp relief the value of our public life and how the places in which we live, work and gather impact deeply on our sense of place and wellbeing,” says Fleur Watson, executive director and chief curator of Centre for Architecture Victoria | Open House Melbourne (CAV|OHM).
‘it is the least we could do: minimalism in an environment of expressionism’ Steve Whitford (Partner)
hybrid typology
In China, the perimeter block typology doesn’t usually return the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) necessary to satisfy inner urban densities. This leads to an over reliance on detached towers to meet FAR requirements. The perimeter block with a tower extrusion however, presents a useful hybrid.
The advantages of the perimeter block (positive reinforcement of active urban street edges; well ventilated and naturally lit building interiors; and an internal courtyard that has the options of being private, semi-private-semi-public, or public space) are combined with the capacity of the tower to maximize floor area.