AAE Charrette 2021; Public Space Museum (Bologna, Italy); Media Architecture Biennale 2020 (Virtual); Rhizome LLC Lounge, (Virginia Tech, US); Testing Grounds (Melbourne, Australia); A+B Gallery Deakin University (Geelong, Australia); 'Back to the future of Public Space: Postcards from 2020' Virtual Exhibition

See more: AFTER TYPE 1 | EXPLORE THE CITY (Requires Download)
The City of Gold is a conceptual world that assembled twelve student projects completed in the RMIT Master of Architecture design studio titled, 'After Type Chapter: RMIT Docklands Media Precinct', sem2-2020 in partnership with the RMIT Policy Strategy Impact Team. The outcomes were produced through a procedural and typological process that sought to study typological behaviours and, their associated histories and components, to its then subsequent dismantling, abstraction, augmentation and re-composition through procedural techniques as a means of testing possibilities for the evolution of nascent types, compositional strategies and ideas.

COVID19 posed many pedagogical challenges. This collaborative effort not only produced propositions that attempted to expand conversations within the discipline of architecture but also attempted to expand the conversation beyond the discipline. The studio itself explored the possibilities of virtual environments as a pedagogical tool – away from the banal interactions of pdf slides and videoconferencing. The studio looked to concepts of gaming and massive multiplayer online games (MMO) to engage with the wider world and audience beyond studio walls. This gave rise to the conceptual ‘City of Gold’; a real time virtual environment that initially amassed these projects where each student and contributor were represented by a virtual avatar to amplify pedagogical interactions and experiences.

This project attempts to engage with multiple trajectories through a collaborative, didactic and polemical approach that attempts to put students at the forefront of architectural innovation merely steered by industry and studio leaders. Although depicted through a fictional ‘worlding’ environment, these proposals are very interested in the intersection between ideas, speculation and the real.

Students: Ricky Amos, Qianqian Chen, Justin Yong Sheng Chong, Samuel Danielo, Ming-Hsien Hsu, Joshua Jian Min Khong, Gabriel Lim, Hepeng Miao, Dinh Tien Nguyen, Danny Tan Kah Aik, Eric Thoroughgood, Megan Voo.

VISIT THE CITY OF GOLD VIA SANSAR (DOWNLOAD REQUIRED)

01.03.21: Read more about the City of Gold and other virtual pedagogical explorations we initiated during the COVID19 pandemic in our published article titled, ‘The Agile, Culture-Building Hacker: Advancing through uncertainty’ - selected for AAE’s (Association of Architectural Educators) Charrette Journal (Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 2021).

Abstract: This paper aims to unpack how the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed the definition of a hacker mindset for architectural pedagogy. It examines the core values of expeditiousness, agility, action, and ambition to maintain a discursive culture of ideas at a time of uncertainty. The paper describes three constellations of pedagogic hacking that manifested as a swift transition from physical to virtual was actioned as the pandemic emerged in 2020, and the platforms that were utilised. It reflects on the importance of maintaining the immersive, didactic, discursive and collaborative culture of design studios and how this culture, in conjunction with a hacker mindset, led to new discoveries and trajectories for architectural research, design and education.

21.12.21 - 31.12.21: Exhibited at the Public Space Museum, Bologna, Italy.
30.06.21 - 02.07.21: Exhibited online at MAB20, Media and Architecture Biennale 2020.
30.09.21 - 15.11.21: Exhibited at Rhizome LLC Lounge, Virginia Tech, US.
27.05.21: Exhibited at Testing Grounds, Melbourne, Australia.
04.05.21 - 25.05.21: Exhibited at A+B Gallery, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
19.03.21: Exhibited at the ‘Back to the future of Public Space: Postcards from 2020’ Virtual Exhibition.

In August 14, 2020 amid the Melbourne pandemic lockdown, an RMIT Master of Architecture design studio titled, ‘After Type Chapter 2: RMIT Docklands Media Precinct’, held a digital public forum in an online virtual social environment. Contributors, speakers, students, and the curious public were represented by avatars of their choice. Originally held in the physical realm, the ‘Forum’ was designed to enable the continuance of an emerging knowledge stream from studio to studio to acknowledge the possible transmission of knowledge from student to student. In 2020, it speculated on the possibilities of the virtual dissemination of knowledge beyond academic walls, video-conferencing and pdf slides and into a spatialised virtual public sphere. In the background, the event speculated on the spatialisation of future virtual public spaces as potential platforms for immersive, experiential, accessible and didactic forums open for all.

An image and a video of this project was selected to be part of the ‘Back to the future of Public Space: Postcards from 2020’ travelling exhibition curated by Rhizoma Lab founders Cecilia De Marinis and Dorotea Ottaviani. The exhibition invited selected contributors to reflect upon the paradigm shift happening in our cities, observing and documenting the changing everyday praxis of inhabiting public space as well as envisioning its future.

14.08.20: After Type 2 Friday Forum held at the City of Gold.
See more: IG Post 1 - Intro | IG Post 2 - Aftermath

Originating from the LEARNING FRONTIERS FORUM (2018-2019), the FORUM was designed to enable the continuance of an emerging knowledge stream from studio to studio to acknowledge the possible transmission of knowledge from student to student. It is part of a series of exploratory 'Learning Events' that are strategically embedded episodes within a studio semester that enhance student experience through a collaborative engagement alongside multiple collaborators with the studio cohort and the cohort itself. They act as amplifiers, transformers and enablers of alternative perspectives of knowledge to empower the possibilities of student-led innovation. This event was held in the experimental virtual City of Gold created by the AT1 Crew in semester 1 2020.

This project was part of RMIT Master of Architecture design studio titled, 'After Type Chapter: RMIT Docklands Media Precinct', sem2-2020 in partnership with the RMIT Policy Strategy Impact Team. Visit the After Series - After Type 1 website for more information.