Responding to a national brief, students in each state and territory came together for one day on Saturday 14 August to design and present their idea to a panel of judges.
Upscale 2021 presented students with the opportunity to reimagine built outcomes into something that could shift the banality of our daily routines.
Due to restrictions on face to face events NSW, VIC, SA & TAS participants connected to Upscale virtually. Students in QLD, WA & NT were able to come together face to face in their states.
The brief has been revealed! This year we have QLD, WA & NT participants meeting face to face. All other states are participating virtual.
Upscale is a fast-paced design challenge open to all SONA members.
The Upscale challenge will encourage students to think critically about design and innovation, through a hands on approach involving close consideration of materiality. The challenge focuses more on design and buildability rather than a conceptual approach.
Working in teams students will be challenged to respond to a set brief and present their idea to a panel of judges.
| Competition | Date | Time | More info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading of the Brief | Friday 13 August | 5.30am AEST | Virtual Session Connect here |
| Last chance for teams to register | Friday 13 August | 7.30pm AEST | Register for Upscale |
| Upscale Design Day | Saturday 14 August | 5:30pm AEST | check the details in your state |
Find out more about the brief at the reading of the brief session on Friday 13 August.
Participants in each state come together for one day to design and collaborate in their teams. Industry professionals will be attending to mentor and assist teams with their design development.
Nick is an architect registered in Victoria and teaches part-time at Deakin. Nick’s experience includes both working for builders and architects during all phases of projects. Past training in fine woodworking and re-learning how to weld for a hobby reinforce important lessons in patience that translate into many contexts.
James is a registered domestic builder and enjoys building architecturally designed projects throughout Melbourne. James’ construction experience ranges from multi-dwelling apartment buildings to single-dwelling homes.
The 2021 Super Studio brief has been developed by Upscale Creative Directors, Nick Jahnecke and James Ind.
We asked Nick and James to provide some insights into this year’s brief and what students can expect from the challenge:
“In your everyday life doing everyday things you come across everyday moments which are feebly forgotten. These moments could be compounded by the lacklustre built outcomes that occupy them. These moments can add up to represent large amounts of time in your life without even realising it.
Upscale 2021 presents you with the opportunity to reimagine these built outcomes into something that could shift the banality of our daily routines.”
In some states due to restrictions Upscale will be virtual so ensure you check your state specific information below.
Each state will host a design day on Saturday 14 August.
Whether your state is virtual or face to face industry professionals will be attending to mentor and assist teams with their design development. Each team has an opportunity to present their idea to a jury
Upscale Design Day – In person event
Saturday 14 August
Torrens University
90 Lower Bowen Tce, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
Order of the Day
Doors open – 9am
Mentoring sessions – 11am – 1pm
lunch provided
Deadline for designs – 4pm
Presentations to jury – 4.30pm
Announcements – from 5.30pm
Upscale Design Day – In person event
Saturday 14 August
Charles Darwin University, CDU Architecture Studio, Building 11 Room 2.16, Orange Precinct, Casuarina Campus
Order of the Day
Doors open – 9am
Mentoring sessions – 11am – 1pm
lunch provided
Deadline for designs – 4pm
Presentations to jury – 4.30pm
Upscale Design Day – Virtual event – after registration participants will be emailed the instructions to connect to each session.
Saturday 14 August
Order of the Day Saturday 14 August
9am – Connect via zoom to the welcome session
11am – 1pm – Connect via zoom to your mentoring session with an industry professional
Spend the rest of the afternoon working on your design
4pm – deadline for your proposal
Upscale Design Day – Virtual event – after registration participants will be emailed the instructions to connect to each session.
Saturday 14 August
Order of the Day Saturday 14 August
9am – Connect via zoom to the welcome session
11am – 1pm – Connect via zoom to your mentoring session with an industry professional
Spend the rest of the afternoon working on your design
4pm – deadline for your proposal
4.30pm – connect via zoom to present your idea
Upscale Design Day – Virtual event – after registration participants will be emailed the instructions to connect to each session.
Saturday 14 August
Order of the Day Saturday 14 August
9am – Connect via zoom to the welcome session
11am – 1pm – Connect via zoom to your mentoring session with an industry professional
Spend the rest of the afternoon working on your design
4pm – deadline for your proposal
4.30pm – connect via zoom to present your idea
Upscale Design Day – Virtual event – after registration participants will be emailed the instructions to connect to each session.
Saturday 14 August
Order of the Day Saturday 14 August
9am – Connect via zoom to the welcome session
11am – 1pm – Connect via zoom to your mentoring session with an industry professional
Spend the rest of the afternoon working on your design
4pm – deadline for your proposal
4.30pm – connect via zoom to present your idea
Upscale Design Day – In person event
Saturday 14 August
University of Notre Dame
Mariners Chapel, 4 High Street Freemantle
Order of the Day
Doors open – 9am
Mentoring sessions – 11am – 1pm
lunch provided
Deadline for designs – 4pm
Presentations to jury – 4.30pm
Upscale Design Day – Virtual event – after registration participants will be emailed the instructions to connect to each session.
Saturday 14 August
Order of the Day Saturday 14 August
9am – Connect via zoom to the welcome session
11am – 1pm – Connect via zoom to your mentoring session with an industry professional
Spend the rest of the afternoon working on your design
4pm – deadline for your proposal
4.30pm – connect via zoom to present your idea
Thank you to our mentors who attend the Upscale Design Day on Saturday 14 August. Mentors are local industry professionals who can help with design development, answering questions and offering advice. This is a great way for participants to meet industry professionals from local practices!
If you would like to be involved as a volunteer for future SONA activities get in touch!
Nina Starkey,Studio Hillenberg, QLD
Genevieve Vu, DC8 Studio, QLD
Myron Monteiro, Buchan, QLD
Paige Lee, Cox Architecture, QLD
Sam Mcqueeny, Vokes and Peters,QLD
Kylie Mills, Blukube Architecture, NSW
Robert Dodgson, Re ‘ Novate River, NSW
Michael Chapman, NSW
Sean Wong, Foster and Partners, NSW
Mary Ann Jackson, Visionary Design Development Pty Ltd, VIC
Robert Davidov, Davidov Architects, VIC
Belinda Griffin, VIC
Keneil Jiwan, Harmonic Design, SA
Adam Jack, Woods Baggot, SA
Saxon Hall, Saxon Hall Architects, TAS
Kelsie Youd, TAS
Abigail Humphreys, Hassell, WA
Lee Yang Yang, WA
Paul Burnham, Paul Burnham Architect, WA
Sharaan Muruvan, Hillam Architects, WA
Jarrad Smith, COX Architecture, WA
Martin Mulchrone, Kerry Hill Architects, WA
Paul Bartsch, Troppo, NT
Thank you to our local jury members who decided the top 3 teams in their state.
If you would like to be involved as a volunteer for future SONA activities get in touch!
Ruth Dooley, i2C Architects, VIC
Lisa Moore, And Architecture, QLD
Jim Gall, Gall Architects, QLD
Siuban Rudge, Architectus, QLD
Tiffany Liew, Andrew Burns Architects, NSW
Chloe Pellicer, TKD Architects, NSW
Aiden Morris, Populous, NSW
Annette Condello, WA
Justin Owen, WA
Ken Long, SA
Samee Sultani, Woods Bagot, SA
Shoba Cole, CK Architecture, ACT
Katherine Vand, Core Collective Architects, TAS
Megan Baynes, TAS
Jonathan Buist, TAS
Checkout bite sized design presentations of 5-6 minutes each. These presentations are an opportunity for students to dive deeper into the themes of the Upscale brief and to provide some advice and thinking to apply when tackling the Upscale brief.
Lauren Jeans, Architect at Swanbury Penglase and EmAGN SA Co-Chair.
Lauren is an architect with 7 years experience on commercial, educational and residential projects in both Australia and the UK. Currently Lauren is an architect
Lauren talks about several advantages for model making which relate to scale, form, space and buildability. She also shares her experience with model making during her time at university.
Richard Choy, CEO of NATSPEC
Richard emphasises why applying rules related to buildability are important and, discusses about competency and, compliance to planning control and construction codes.
Prior to joining NATSPEC Richard was an Associate Director of a large Asia-Pacific architecture and interior design practice. He now sits on the Australian Building Codes Board, Australasian BIM Advisory Board, and is President of the International Construction Information Society.
Emily Van Eyk, Architect & Lecturer UWA
Emily shares her thoughts about how drawing is a tool that helps with the process of design thinking and refers to a project she worked on as a reference.
Emily owns and operates Mt Eyk, a small architecture business. The architecture of Mt Eyk is not the grand gesture, but the everyday things done well. Small budgets are not beneath us and we pride ourselves on working with tight constraints. Emily also teaches architecture and design at UWA which maintains a level of investigation and critical thinking less common in mainstream practice.
Dr. Amir Ghanbaripour, Assistant Professor, Bond University
Amir discusses aspects that lead to the success of a project and the importance of thinking about the “end-user” when designing.
Amir is an academic, certified project manager (PMP), researcher and engineer with over nine years of experience in managing various projects ranging from construction to ICT and teaching in project management. Amir has published several journal and conference papers in this field and has a passion for research and innovation in the area of Project Success, Organisational Maturity and Systems Thinking.
Pippa Connolly, Associate Professor, Monash University
Pippa discusses buildability in the design process, the factors involved in buildability and explains the approach of buildability in a project example.
Pippa graduated with a masters degree in Architectural Engineering and worked for 27 years as a consulting structural engineer and sustainability consultant with Arup in the UK, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia on projects ranging from sculptures to National Museums. Pippa currently teaches multi-disciplinary engineering design at Monash University and is a non-executive director on a couple of boards.
Yes you can, you must register yourself/your team as usual.
How to submit if you can’t present live:
Record your presentation via Zoom as if you were presenting live – this cannot exceed 7 minutes in length – if it does, we will cut the recording short. On the briefing document there will be clear instructions on how to submit your recording. This is due Saturday 15 May 9am AEST along with your online submission.
It is highly recommended participants present live. If you are prerecording, you will miss out on a Q&A session with the jury and the opportunity to clarify elements of your proposal.
To participate in Super Studio, you firstly need to register your team (4 people max) or register as an individual.
At the time of registering select your preferred mentor time slot links to access mentoring are above ensure you connect at the time you register for.
Attend the reading of the brief session. If you are unable to participate in this session, the recording will be available on our website afterwards.
Start designing!
Connect to one of the design day presentations during the week. We have some interesting speakers who will be conducting interactive chats around topics connected to our brief to help you to expand your thinking.
Connect to your mentoring session to get some feedback about your proposal from an industry professional.
Presentations and submission due on Saturday 15 May.
You can participate as an individual or as a team of 2,3 or up to 4 students.
Team members don’t need to come from your university but all team members should be SONA members.
Get in touch with Madelynn at the Institute – sona@architecture.com.au
This is important to let us know rather than not turning up as our mentors are giving up their time to help you.
There will be two virtual mentoring sessions available for all teams to help with their proposals.
Tuesday 11 May & Thursday 13 May from 5.30pm onwards.
At the time of registering you select your preferred mentoring time slot. The link to access mentoring time slots is above in the table titled SuperStudio dates and activities.
Refer here for more information on who the 2021 SuperStudio mentors are
Register for SuperStudio here. The last chance to register is Monday 10 May 7.30pmAEST
The Design Day Talks are not compulsary for participants. We do encourage you to come along though, its a chance to explore the themes of the SuperStudio brief further with fellow participants and design professionals. Refer here for more information about the Design day presentations.
1-2 business days after you register for SuperStudio you will receive an email with information about your states presentation day and access to your mentoring session.
you can also refer here to view the location of your states presentation day.
Submissions are now closed.
Online Submission:
Due on/or before Saturday 15 May 9am AEST
Specific submissions requirements and instructions can be on the brief document
Face to Face Presentations:
Saturday 15 May check here for information about your states presentation day
If you cant present live, pre-recorded submissions are due at 9amAEST along with online submission.
For the face to face presentations, there is no limit to the number of supplementary slides you can use for this presentation. If you want to include a video or other forms of media, it’s up to you. The time each team has to present is 5mins + 2 mins q&a with the jury. All teams should be ready to present a 3pm.
Our team immediately recalled the devastating Beirut port explosion in August, streets littered with shattered glass, possessions and paraphernalia strewn on the ground like trash – compounding Lebanon’s waste problem. We critiqued this year’s brief to be respectful of place. In order to be considerate, we strongly believed that we needed to be knowledgeable too. Thus we began the project by questioning the systems, culture, history and how would those indirectly affected resonate with this tragedy?
Under quarantine, the sphere in which we experience space has condensed yet conflated. Objects that surround us suddenly have a profound influence in how we act. Building upon the idea of lost possessions and sustainability, our team was interested in how material transmutation of objects affect our behaviour. What if we woke up and all our possessions were made from glass? Would we value them as much as our memorabilia? What would we be willing to discard?
Those who have been through trauma tend to gravitate towards rituals of consistency and routine, aspects found in religion. Therefore, we believed that a built outcome was not the answer to grief. We saw an opportunity to address Lebanon’s pre-existing problems surrounding waste disposal. Resonating with this year’s theme of “renewal”, we sought to propose a gradually dissipating ceremony, in a domestic setting to empathize with those in grief.
View the winning proposal here.
Yes you can, you must register yourself/your team as usual.
How to submit if you can’t present live:
Record your presentation via Zoom as if you were presenting live – this cannot exceed 7 minutes in length – if it does, we will cut the recording short. On the briefing document there will be clear instructions on how to submit your recording. This is due Saturday 15 May 9am AEST along with your online submission.
It is highly recommended participants present live. If you are prerecording, you will miss out on a Q&A session with the jury and the opportunity to clarify elements of your proposal.
To participate in Super Studio, you firstly need to register your team (4 people max) or register as an individual.
At the time of registering select your preferred mentor time slot links to access mentoring are above ensure you connect at the time you register for.
Attend the reading of the brief session. If you are unable to participate in this session, the recording will be available on our website afterwards.
Start designing!
Connect to one of the design day presentations during the week. We have some interesting speakers who will be conducting interactive chats around topics connected to our brief to help you to expand your thinking.
Connect to your mentoring session to get some feedback about your proposal from an industry professional.
Presentations and submission due on Saturday 15 May.
You can participate as an individual or as a team of 2,3 or up to 4 students.
Team members don’t need to come from your university but all team members should be SONA members.
Get in touch with Madelynn at the Institute – sona@architecture.com.au
This is important to let us know rather than not turning up as our mentors are giving up their time to help you.
There will be two virtual mentoring sessions available for all teams to help with their proposals.
Tuesday 11 May & Thursday 13 May from 5.30pm onwards.
At the time of registering you select your preferred mentoring time slot. The link to access mentoring time slots is above in the table titled SuperStudio dates and activities.
Refer here for more information on who the 2021 SuperStudio mentors are
Register for SuperStudio here. The last chance to register is Monday 10 May 7.30pmAEST
The Design Day Talks are not compulsary for participants. We do encourage you to come along though, its a chance to explore the themes of the SuperStudio brief further with fellow participants and design professionals. Refer here for more information about the Design day presentations.
1-2 business days after you register for SuperStudio you will receive an email with information about your states presentation day and access to your mentoring session.
you can also refer here to view the location of your states presentation day.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
