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Heleana Genaus of The Shed Collective, and co-founder of Rising Sun Workshop
This workshop is both a viable solution to reducing the carbon footprint of construction and a sound economic approach to slowing down the urban amnesia of a city for its citizens.
When considered in its relationship to community, especially a landmark site, it contributes to the layers of history of a place, respects the contributions of those who came before and extends beyond the building itself. The same applies to good entrepreneurial principles, to import or introduce a sparkly new business venture into a community where the product/service does not fit the needs/desires of a local market, it escalates the chance of failure.
In this studio, students use their architectural lenses, enhanced by Connection to Country frameworks, to engage in finding a relevant new “use” for an existing commercial building before they engage in adapting it to suit its renewed purpose.
Focusing on the Enmore, Newtown and Erskineville precinct, students will work in teams to investigate, map, and research the commercial precincts along key arterial roads and laneways to understand site, behaviours, and community before finding the buildings to adapt. Unearthing Indigenous knowledge of Country underneath the colonialised structures and roads is fundamental to the site selection and design approach.
