Melbourne University student Ahmed Iwaz Hamdy with his model of Sunshine in the year 2032. 82724 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By LAURA WAKELY
A COMPOSTING building over a rail line, a 24-hour café with a tin-can garden and an outdoor food court with a big screen television are among some of the ideas in Vision: Sunshine 2032.
The exhibition is the result of the semester’s work by University of Melbourne architecture students and the Victorian Eco Innovation Lab (VEIL).
VEIL challenged students to re-think the vision of areas like Sunshine, encouraging them to create sustainable, multi-use buildings.
VEIL’s Deputy Director Michael Trudgeon said the project was supported by Brimbank City Council, the Sunshine Historical Society, the Department of Planning and Sunshine Plaza.
He said sustainable architecture developments would preferably be built on green fill sites, but that wasn’t the “reality” of how it would happen.
“The reality is it’s going to be territories that have already got lots of houses in them, lots of people living in them, lots of infrastructure in them, which doesn’t work terribly well,” Dr Trudgeon said.
“How do we go in and make a change, without demolishing everything?”
“The reason we picked Sunshine and Broadmeadows is because they’ve got a lot of people living in them and they’re not working terribly well, they’re under a lot of pressure.”
He said the exhibition took into account the socio-economic status of residents, the availability of local jobs and the growth of the region.
The exhibition is open to the public and Dr Trudgeon said VEIL was hoping residents would attend and provide feedback.
Vision: Sunshine 2032 is on from 10am to 5pm Wednesday to Sunday at Shop 34, Sunshine Plaza.
For more information visit www.ecoinnovationlab.com
