Round One Grant Winners 2024

We are pleased to announce the first round of grant winners for 2024 with the start of the year recording a notably high number of applications for the Foundation. The projects that were awarded the Design Thinking and Design Strategy Grants this round are selected research initiatives that cover current critical topic areas such as environmental, the housing crisis, quality of living in residential aged care accommodation and enabling innovation in design with the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Congratulations to the winners. We are excited to support a diverse range of strong research initiatives and we look forward to hearing about how lives are impacted by each project journey.

We extend our appreciation and gratitude to our Panel – Edwina Jans, Graeme Dix, Gay Williamson, Sandra Loschke, Tiffany Liew and Neil Hobbs (Chair)  – for their tireless commitment outside of standard hours.

The winners are :

Design Thinking

Kirsten Day, Andrew Martel, Jenna Cohen and Dalton Bruyns

Empower by Design : Enabling Innovative Inclusion of People with Disability in Design

A project that will use a co-design approach to produce a set of guidelines for architects working on design projects to directly engage meaningfully with people with intellectual disability and to also directly engage meaningfully and constructively with their support workers and their family members. The project will involve collaborations between the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Flying Fox Camps and Dalton Bruyns.

Therese Keogh

The Spoil Grounds : Waste architectures in infrastructures of extraction  

In collaboration with the community, artists, designers and architectural researchers, this project will aid developing public awareness of the ‘waste architectures’ produced by mining, by looking at the environmental and social impacts of dredging in the Port of Newcastle, Kooragang, Awabakal and Worimi Country.

Design Strategy

Linda Carroli

Design strategy for Indigenous Art Centres as workplaces : Decent work and sustainable livelihoods by design 
Indigenous Art Centres (IACs) in remote communities play a critical role in income and employment. In collaboration with IACA, the project will centre Indigenous people’s work experience as a design consideration. The role and design of IACs as workplaces will be examined and data will be collected to support ongoing funding bids. It responds to the research question: What are the workplace design implications, challenges and opportunities for IACs?

Claire Brophy, Nicole Vickery, Abigail Winter, Jane Turner and Margaret MacAndrew

Making Memories Visible : Design for Meaningful Engagement in Residential Aged Care

A project that explores how an interaction design approach might support social capital in aged care. In both workplaces and in housing – aged care suffers from conflicting needs. This project aims to foster new opportunities for a shared narrative on the quality of life for aged care residents and carers.

Guillermo Fernandez-Abascal and Charles Curtin

A survey of recent prefabricated dwellings in Australia

This project proposal explores the resurgence of prefabricated housing in Australia. Far from project homes, a series of recent case studies will show how alliances between architects and builders can contribute to discussions around affordability, sustainability and the quality of housing.

QUT and Heather McKinnon

Flooded and Wasted : Promoting Circular Economy Principles into Post-disaster Cleanup

This project will collect data from 30-50 households affected by the Brisbane 2022 floods, focusing on flood-damaged possessions and circularity sustainable principles. Data will be curated into a digital exhibition to illuminate environmental consequences of the bulk disposal of flood-damaged items.

Jacqui Alexander and Cameron Murray

Strategies for implementing alternative land tenure and use models in Australia to address the housing crisis

A co-authored report that combines architectural, urban and economic research – investigating viable alternatives to privatised housing in Australia; a report that will identify strategic sites and landholders in Melbourne that could form part of the solution to the current housing crisis.