Episodic Urbanism documents nearly two decades of incremental urban transformation at RMIT University's Melbourne campus — a sustained argument, through built work, for subtle change over master-planned rupture.
About This Book
Over roughly twenty years, Peter Elliott Architecture + Urban Design worked to recast RMIT University's inner-city Melbourne premises from an inward-looking institutional enclave into a porous, publicly engaged urban campus. Episodic Urbanism tells that story through a conceptual framework that draws on Renaissance Italian townscapes and the city-making of Carlo Scarpa, Luis Barragán, and Jože Plečnik — positioning RMIT's transformation in a lineage of considered, historically attentive urbanism. Where conventional masterplanning imposes homogenous vision, the episodic model privileges incremental, site-responsive intervention. With contributions from Leon van Schaik, William L Fox, SueAnne Ware, and Robert Nelson, this is both a project monograph and a broader argument about how cities can be renewed without erasure.
Key Features
- 192 pages of visually rich documentation including project photography, drawings, and critical essays
- Contributors include Leon van Schaik, William L Fox, SueAnne Ware, and Robert Nelson; edited by Maitiú Ward; designed by Stuart Geddes
- Case study: RMIT University Urban Spaces Project, Melbourne, 1996–2015
- Published by Uro Publications, 2015
What You'll Discover
- How an episodic, incremental design strategy can achieve urban transformation without the homogenising effects of conventional masterplanning
- The conceptual parallels between RMIT's urban renewal and historic precedents by Scarpa, Barragán, and Plečnik
- The relationship between institutional identity and city-making — how a university's physical presence can become a civic asset
- A model for respecting existing urban fabric and historical layering, with direct application to questions of contemporary urban renewal in Australian cities
About the Author
Peter Elliott is the principal of Peter Elliott Architecture + Urban Design, the Melbourne-based practice responsible for the RMIT urban campus project documented in this book. The volume also features contributions from several leading thinkers on urbanism, architecture, and the city.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 192
- Dimensions: 210mm x 275mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780994269706
- Publisher: Uro Publications
- Publication Date: 2015
Perfect For: Urban designers, architects engaged with institutional and civic projects, and those interested in Melbourne's built environment and the theory and practice of incremental urbanism.