A light, open warehouse space with paint-splashed concrete floors played host to the RMIT Index 09 Interior Design Graduate Show November 16-18 2009. Located in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the exhibition was a ‘forum for the presentation of new ideas and a celebration of the future directions of Interior Design’. Work displayed was from the thesis projects of the 50 graduate students, a culmination of 4 years of study.

The faint aroma of pine from the wooden palettes projects were displayed against complemented the exhibition’s industrial vibe. Students presented work on palettes that were stacked or turned on their side. Most projects were presented on boards with technical illustrations, images and commentary. Some projects were also accompanied by models of proposed structures or specific components of the design.

Within the exhibition there was a mixture of commercial projects (many designed to enhance existing buildings in Melbourne) and thought provoking projects that challenged ‘space’ as we know it.

Some of the aspirational, thought provoking projects included Filled Space: An Exploration into Air by Bethany Ryan. This body of work investigated “treating, tracing and touching air…to unveil its hidden capacity.” The Wind Maps (drawings created by the movement of the wind) were a unique and fascinating highlight.

Sarah Candeland’s Close Encounters of the Other Kind explored ‘the possibilities when one is subjected to places that are other to that of our understanding of normal’. Heterotopia and schizophrenia were some of the conditions examined through a series of distorted black and white photographs.

Jen Addison’s Encounters of the Everyday examines ‘meaningful everyday experiences’. Jen was inspired by domestic sets and scenes, Charles Rice’s (author of Emergence of the Interior: Architecture, Modernity, Domesticity) sense of doubleness and framing things within everyday life.

Jen’s presentation consisted of 12 black and white photographs of the interior setting of a kitchen and office. Within these images, Jen placed another black and white image printed on vinyl. The second image ‘hides’ within the overall image.

Jane McIntosh’s Objects of the Home looked at how ‘the memories and connections with objects can form a conceptual familiar and homelike space even when removed from the structural home dwelling’.

Nick Withey explored the ‘formation of a relationship between two or more objects’ with Touch: A Sense of Connection through his creation of a modern, communal bathhouse.

Theresia Utama created an engaging retail environment for children and parents through her design proposal, Intangible Boundaries, for the children’s department of the soon-to-be upgraded Myer store on Bourke Street, Melbourne.

Other projects explored various domestic living arrangements, such as Human + Dog in which Allie Younsun Kim improved human and dog’s lives together in urban residential spaces. The design included a dog’s toilet, dog’s community area and dog’s private house, harmoniously integrated into a human home.

There were works that focused on enhancing the environment, such as The (Urban) Bracket by Melissa Kow which takes the vertical garden one step further by turning it into a structure that can be positioned over a walkway or between buildings to create green space. Variety is encouraged by planting different plants at different times of the year on the structure.

Sky of the City by Myvanwy Purwo follows a similar theme, proposing relaxation areas in Bourke Street formed from a fluid, flowing canopy ‘to highlight the sky where people experience infinity and lightness of the sky both physically and visually to enhance relaxation’, like an urban extension of a forest.

Warehouse space on Central Pier in Melbourne’s Docklands was transformed into a social event and nightclub space in an origami-inspired design in Gavin Wing Kar Ho’s Progressive Space.

Natassya Arief transformed Collingwood Underground Car Park into a temporary concert space to create ‘a strong connection between music, space and people’ in Music, Space and their Relations to People.

In Redesigning within Culture, Chloe Eun Young Ryoo questioned ‘whether the Korean relaxing community, ‘Zimjilbang’, could be effectively redesigned and introduced to Australia as an attractive urban community space?’

Comfort/Discomfort explored how people’s comfort level is affected by their surroundings, when Yuen Yeung Kenneth re-designed the waiting area for the emergency and trauma service in the Royal Melbourne Hospital with considerations such as modular furniture that can be moved around and, even, a library.

Karl Yin Hak Kwok’s Ray Tracing ‘encourages people to engage with the city through experiencing light and reflection, with the purpose of inspiring new conception towards the city of Melbourne’.

Creating by Dinah Lim Fat used the ‘language of food’ to appeal to people of all levels and designed ‘an eating experience that allows for more engagement and awareness at the Queen Victoria Market Food Court’.

Using student accommodation as an example, Brenda Yap looked at ways in which small, temporary accommodation types could be enhanced and personalised for the inhabitant by using sliding walls and kitchenette as well as folding desks and doors.

ARTS THREAD spoke to graduate Cath Jones who explained how many students had pursued projects that were personal to them, so the end result of each project was quite different. Cath described her work, Legend of the Sublime as an ‘endangered species of experience’. Cath’s interior ‘a silent engulfing blackness punctured by a speck of light’ was designed to translate feelings into real life experiences.

With such an exciting mix of conceptual and commercial projects, the future looks bright for these graduates ‘who will shape the future of interior design through their practice and aspirations’ notes Suzie Attiwill, Program Director, RMIT Interior Design.

For more information contact Suzie Attiwill, Program Director: suzie.attiwill@rmit.edu.au

Index 09
RMIT Interior Design

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