Bower Studio

Bower Studio

2022 - University of Melbourne Excellence Award

Excellence in Placed-based Initiatives – Cummeragunja Project Team - a collaboration with the Cummeragunja Community, Bower Studio at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, and the Academy of Sport, Health and Education.

2018 - Exhibited at Venice Architecture Biennale

The Wave Hill Walk-off Pavilions were selected for the ‘Repair’ exhibition at the Australian Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy.

2016 - Yali-McNamara Award for Small Project Architecture

Australian Institute of Architects prize for the Walk-off Pavilions on Gurindji Country, Northern Territory.

2015 - Innovation Award - Planning and Building

Australian Regional Development (ARDC) for HomePlus projects 2013, 2014

2014 - Vice-Chancellor’s Engagement Award

This award recognized the Bower Studio’s innovative HomesPLUS projects at the Beyuen and Titjikala (NT) communities. It noted the team’s capacity to positively engage with community groups and industry partners.

David O’Brien

Rio Tinto Excellence and Innovation in Indigenous Higher Education 2012

"David O'Brien is to be congratulated for developing and delivering such a program over many years, and for involving a wide range of community and corporate partners in order to help support it. The Rio Award is a well-deserved accolade for this excellent program."

Australian Government Office for Learning & Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning 2012

For innovative and collaborative approaches to engaging architecture students with Indigenous communities to realise development projects alongside local partners.

Neville Quarry Architectural Education Prize – Commendation 2012

Jury Chair Brian Zulaikha noted in the commendation citation "The Jury acknowledged Dr O’Brien’s dedication to research and his integration of this into the Bower Studios program. The studios produce a student culture which is deeply interested in the indigenous architecture of many communities. Students have the unique experience of engaging with the community to deliver meaningful outcomes as well as the practical application of going on-site to construct the designs."

Student Awards

Gina  Dahl

2022 DesignInc Positive Legacy of Design Award

Dean’s Honours List, awarded for the best design from any discipline that shows the potential to have positive social and ecological outcomes or legacy

Victoria King and Daniel Bisetto

2018 John McIlwraith Award

Victoria and Dan consulted with Gurindji, Warlpiri and Mudburra people to co-design the arts centre renovation.

Georgia Hall and David Gerber

2017 John McIlwraith Award

This award supported Georgia and David conduct qualitative based post-occupancy studies at the 2018 Bower Studio project at Sipaia.

Matt Breen, Ilari Lehtonen and Trevor Galgal

2013 Dreamlarge Student Engagement Award

This award enabled students Matthew Breen, llari Lehtonen and Trevor Galgal to return to Papua New Guinea to research and refine the prototype composting toilet design built by the Bower Studio at the Sipaia Community in 2012.

Fiona Lew

2010 BlueScope Steel Glenn Murcutt Student Prize

Fiona was awarded the prize for her Bower Studio work designing Single Men’s Community at Gudorrka - an examination of suitable self-help housing for itinerant men near Darwin. The awards jury said they “appreciated Fiona’s resolution of simple shelter housing that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate indigenous patterns of living with elements that can be added or subtracted”.

Allison Stout, Charlotte Fliegner & Karina Piper

2008 University of Melbourne Knowledge Transfer Award

Bower Studio students Allison, Charlotte and Karina received funding to continue the project into 2009, liaising with the Gudorrka community to renovate House 8.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact the Homes Plus team by email.

djobrien@unimelb.edu.au

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Bower Studio Elective, Nov/Dec 2024

Thanks for showing your interest in joining this year’s Bower Studio Community Development elective subject worth 12.5 credit points. I’m really looking forward to this subject. It’s always a joy to work with students, community groups and collaborate to produce meaningful projects.

You can check out the 2023 project and see the types of projects we are working on at the Community Development project page.

We will start our program by visiting our project with the indigenous Cummeragunja community at the Dungala (Murray) River on the border of Victoria and New South Wales. We will also be undertaking the main ‘build’ part of the project with the African Refugee community at Springvale enhancing their outdoor kitchen/relaxation space by their kitchen garden with some additional paving and timber furniture. We will work with the community to do the design and construction work (don’t worry if you haven’t used tools before as we will teach you). This project will form a ‘pattern book’ of ideas to help inform the design of the proposed community centre.

We have been allocated 3 weeks for the program (between 18th November and 6th December). This is scheduled to be after your studio hand-ins and exams so there will not be a clash with other uni commitments. There will be a short preliminary session on Monday 4th November so we can prepare for the studio program together. Final submission is 6th December.

I am anticipating that we will visit our existing project at Cummeragunja for two/three days/nights in the first week. Following that we will begin the key construction/design works with the partner community in Springvale. This means that we can commute from our homes to the site for that second week. The third week might have some final construction finishes but the bulk of the time will be on the final assessment task.

The handbook suggests that the travel and accommodation costs might be up to $2300. This is unlikely to be the case if you can carpool your travel to Cummeragunja and Springvale. I would allow $100 each person for fuel for all site visits (if you can carpool). Accommodation for Bower students when working at Cummeragunja has traditionally been ‘on country’ with students camping – so that won’t cost anything as we can help with the camping gear. (Don’t worry if you haven’t camped before – we are experts at helping you learn).

The good news is that we have secured some philanthropic funds to support each student with a $200 stipend.

There will be other Bower Studio staff joining us during the full program including Nicky Henderson and James Neil, plus additional staff from Stavrias Architecture. They are a great group of people, talented teachers and really, knowledgeable designers and builders.

A couple of final points…

We will need some members of our team to have a driver’s licence and access to a car so please tell me if you can help with this. We have had plenty of students joining us for their first camping trip, so it doesn't matter if you haven't done this before. You will be in safe hands.

You don't need to have building experience. We will teach everyone how to safely use the tools required for the project. You will feel like a pro when you return!

It won't matter if you don't know anyone on the team (yet). Really strong friendships have emerged within groups of Bower students as they share a life changing experience together.

Please also submit a 250 word statement saying why you would like to participate to the Bower Studio team.

Please feel free to email me directly if you have any questions.

Regards,
David O'Brien