What does effective collaboration look like when designing precincts in our city?
Event Description
Effective collaboration is fundamental to precinct design, yet it remains one of the most difficult outcomes to achieve in practice. As part of Melbourne Design Week, this panel discussion addresses the critical tension between "good design", regulatory frameworks and commercial viability. We explore how thoughtful, sustained collaboration between disciplines is essential to shaping our cities and places.
We bring together distinct perspectives, the state’s leading voice on design excellence, a global authority on commercial placemaking balanced with local minds on urban planning and development, to share case studies and professional insights on what makes great local design last and how collaboration is paramount to this success.
The conversation will cover:
What makes a precinct successful and how design evolves to meet human behaviour and ecological pressures five and ten years down the line.
Practical tools and frameworks that facilitate genuine alignment between architects, developers, and the delivery of high-impact placemaking
Identifying red flags in the feasibility stage and how early collaboration prevents costly pivots later.
How we can forecast the long-term social and economic legacy of "good design.”
Hosted by The Place Network, a community for professionals shaping urban places across Australia. We bring together practitioners across architecture, planning, development, property funding and management, strategy and placemaking and more, who care about creating places that are better for people, better for the planet, with better profitability. A purpose-driven community designed to break down barriers and facilitate cross-disciplinary projects, contributing towards real-world tangible solutions. Together we drive innovation to enable a better future for our cities.
Held at Sculptform designed by Woods Bagot, the panellists will share their experience on what marks the success of great precincts, how we can replicate this and how we can collectively design for the social and economic legacy of the communities we are building today.
The event will kick off at 6pm, followed by drinks and nibbles.
Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
The Speakers
Jill Garner
Jill became the first woman Victorian Government Architect in 2015. She is a highly respected architect with 40 years’ experience extending across practice and government. She is an alumnus of the innovative practice-based Masters by Design, RMIT. She has taught at both RMIT and Melbourne Universities; is a past board member and examiner for the Architects Registration Board Victoria. She chaired the Australian Committee for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. She is a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and in 2022 was awarded the President’s Prize. in 2021 Jill was appointed Member, Order of Australia, recognising her distinguished service to architecture, education, and professional associations.
Andrew Hoyne
Andrew Hoyne is the Principal of Hoyne, an industry-leading creative partner and global authority in placemaking, branding and property marketing. Across every project and place, the Hoyne team pursues one singular goal: make it extraordinary. A passionate advocate for the link between great placemaking and stronger social and economic outcomes, Andrew has spent decades helping shape how people think about the built environment. This has led him to create and publish The Place Economy, a globally acclaimed three-volume book series exploring best-practice placemaking and property development from around the world. Andrew is a sought-after speaker at major conferences in Australia and internationally, including SXSW, TEDx, ULI USA and the International Place Branding Association.
Katherine Sundermann
Katherine is an architect and urbanist focused on advancing the public interest through inclusive, resilient city design and governance. She has worked across Australia and Europe, delivering planning frameworks, policy, research, urban strategies and masterplans, including the award-winning City of Ballarat Creative Precinct, Fitzroy Gasworks and North Richmond framework plans. At Monash University, she leads research on best-practice urban regeneration and alternative housing models.
Michael McCormack
Michael has been a leading figure in the Australian property industry for more than two decades, with a focus on delivering thoughtful, design-led developments that enhance the fabric of urban life. Michael founded Milieu Property to create attainable, sustainable, and well-designed homes for people — a philosophy that continues to guide the business today. Under Michael’s leadership, Milieu has delivered over $1 billion in project value, with a pipeline exceeding this in current work, including some of Melbourne’s most significant city-shaping developments such as Elsternwick Gardens by Milieu and Fitzroy Gasworks. He serves as Deputy Chair of the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) and contributes to a range of industry and government housing initiatives and forums, championing a more equitable and sustainable future for urban development.
Moderated By
Tava Darakamaran
Tava Darakamaran is a Melbourne-based brand strategist and engagement leader working across design, culture and the built environment. Best known for curating the acclaimed Grimshaw Breakfast Talks series, Tava has spent her career bringing together leading voices across architecture, science, arts and industry, and asking the questions that move the conversation forward. There are few people better placed to guide tonight's discussion.
Major Partners
AIR Design Studio
Air Design Studio are architects and interior designers specialising in hospitality and leisure precincts. The kinds of places people actually want to spend time in. Their work sits at the intersection of human behaviour, design excellence and commercial reality, shaping environments that are as functional as they are experiential. We're proud to have Air Design Studio as a partner for this event, a studio that understands better than most what it takes to get precinct design right.
Sculptform
Sculptform design and manufacture bespoke feature wall, ceiling and façade systems, bringing together local craftsmanship and innovative timber engineering to shape some of Australia's most striking built environments. Based in Bendigo with a studio in Melbourne's CBD, they work closely with architects, designers and specifiers to turn ambitious design intent into reality. We're proud to be hosted by Sculptform at their award-winning Melbourne Design Studio — a space that is itself a testament to what great collaboration between designer and maker looks like.
NGV - Melbourne Design Week
We are proud to be partnering with Melbourne Design Week in collaboration with the NGV
Integra
Integra Surfaces bring cutting-edge European tile and surface solutions to Australia, supporting architects and designers in creating considered, enduring places
The Place Network Founders
Rosie Wilkinson
Rosie is a brand designer and brand strategist with eighteen years of experience working across property, mixed-use precincts and hospitality. Her background spans leading design agencies and more recently an in-house development role, where she worked with architects, developers, consultants and stakeholders to bring property developments and precincts to life from vision right through to execution, across placemaking, branding and marketing. Rosie brings a rare combination of strategic clarity, creative direction and real-world development understanding. She founded The Place Network to create space for innovation to deliver projects that are better for people, planet and profit.
Janine Kariyawasam
Janine is an interior architect and designer with over thirteen years of experience spanning Melbourne, London, and New York. She specialises in crafting hospitality and public realm experiences that prioritise the connection between people and place. Her background integrates creative vision with strategic foresight, a skill set shes sharpened as Head of Design at Air Design Studio. Currently completing an MBA, Janine bridges the gap between design thinking and business strategy to ensure projects are as commercially viable as they are inclusive. Driven by the belief that meaningful change requires cross-sector collaboration, Janine co-founded The Place Network. She is dedicated to activating the public realm through design that delivers measurable social impact and lasting cultural value.
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