About this book
What does it mean to design with love? Inflection Vol. 12 takes up a word that mainstream architectural discourse has largely kept at arm's length—too soft, too sentimental, too intangible to carry academic weight. The editors argue the reverse: that love's resistance to measurement is precisely what makes it useful, a poetic act capable of guiding design towards a more meaningful, ethical and sustainable way of being.
Contributors test the idea against the built environment from several directions. What form does love actually take in architecture and design, once it is uncoupled from romance and beauty? Can it work as a critical force—a way of shaping the relationships between people and the places they occupy? Acknowledging both the complexity and the universality of the theme, this volume asks readers to reconsider the value of engaging with love in design.
Key features
- The twelfth volume of the annual journal of the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne
- Positions love as a critical and ethical framework rather than an aesthetic or romantic one
- Brings academic writing, practice-based reflection and visual work together in a single volume
- Student-edited, giving equal weight to the voices of students, scholars and practitioners
What you'll discover
- How love operates in design once separated from romance and beauty
- Love as a critical force in the relationships between people and their environments
- Arguments for care, ethics and sustainability as design positions rather than afterthoughts
- Contemporary architectural discourse from an Australian, student-led perspective
About the editors
Inflection is the annual student-run design journal of the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne, founded in 2013 and published with Melbourne Books. It was established to stimulate debate, generate ideas and advocate the importance of the printed word, and is internationally distributed. Volume 12 was edited by Sunny Brearley, Sivan Danin, Alec Gutteridge, Lachie Meckiff, Charlotte Schaller, Nethuni Sumanaweera and Dorothea Yannoulidis.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Dimensions: 200 x 240 mm
- Pages: 144
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781922779571
- Publisher: Melbourne Books, with the Melbourne School of Design
- Publication date: 17 February 2026
Perfect for
Architecture and design students, academics and practitioners following contemporary Australian discourse, and readers drawn to questions of care, ethics and criticality in the built environment.