Join us for a discussion on public housing through the lens of a new publication centred on Melbourne’s Ascot Vale Estate—with OFFICE and Laura Harding at Bookshop by Uro, Sydney.

This event explores the broader issues surrounding public housing renewal in Australia and delves into why preserving, repairing, and reinvesting in existing housing stock could be a more equitable and sustainable alternative to demolition and redevelopment.

The featured book takes a close look at Ascot Vale Estate, one of the sites slated for demolition under the Victorian Government’s Public Housing Renewal Program. Developed by not-for-profit architecture and design firm OFFICE, the publication expands on their Retain, Repair, Reinvest proposal—a feasibility and design study that reimagines how existing public housing can be upgraded without displacing residents. Through a mix of interviews, architectural photography by Ben Hosking, and essays from leading voices in architecture, economics, and academia, the book offers a nuanced, people-focused approach to housing policy and design.

Ticket price redeemable as a discount from book purchases.

About the speaker:

OFFICE is a not-for-profit multidisciplinary design and research practice based in Melbourne. Our projects span the intersections of built form, research, discourse and education. As a registered charity, the studio’s operations, processes and outputs are bound by a constitution to make projects for the public good.

Laura Harding is a Sydney based writer with a strong interest in the challenges and possibilities of Australian housing culture.