PRS Australia PhD Examination - Isabel Lasala (School of Architecture and Urban Design - RMIT University)

Join us for the PhD examination of School of Architecture and Urban Design candidate, Isabel Lasala.

9:30am - 11:30am, Wednesday, 22 October

Between Grief and Play: Towards the Creation of a Living Cemetery

Isabel's research imagines alternative cemetery futures through a design approach situated at the intersection of architecture and landscape architecture. Isabel argues that “cemeteries die” because of an inevitable, slow, and sustained process of urban abandonment. Rather than accepting this decline as failure, she explores design-based alternatives, merging the seemingly incompatible forces of grief and play through a creative engagement with decay. This deliberate tension reveals latent opportunities for spatial transformation, public engagement, and ecological restoration.

Traditionally seen as static, sacred, and culturally untouchable, cemeteries are here reimagined as dynamic, hybrid urban landscapes, shaped by time, memory, and ecological processes. Decay, often perceived as neglect or failure, becomes a productive force, visible through weathering, overgrowth, and material change. Play, typically associated with joy and spontaneity, is introduced not as programmed activity but as spatial ambiguity, enabling civic encounter, improvisation, and new forms of presence in landscapes of mourning.

Please note no entry will be permitted after commencement of this examination. Please aim to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. 

RMIT Design Hub Gallery
Building 100, Level 2, Project Room 1
Corner Victoria & Swanston St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

Access
This exam will be recorded, but not live-streamed.
The Level 2 Project Spaces are accessible via lifts from the street entry located at the corner of Victoria & Swanston Streets.