These inaugural appointments bring leading practitioners into the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, giving postgraduate students rare insight into professional life while creating space for residents to reflect on their practice and share research-driven perspectives.
Dr Michael Zanardo is a registered architect, urban designer and director of Studio Zanardo, an independent and collaborative design consultancy working at the intersection of policy and built form and specialising in the design of housing, particularly social and affordable housing.
Michael is a member of the City of Sydney Design Advisory Panel Residential Subcommittee, Ku-ring-gai Urban Design Consultants Panel and Inner West Architectural Excellence and Design Review Panel, provides urban design advice to the NSW Land and Housing Corporation, has chaired and been a panellist for a number of design excellence competitions, and acts as an urban design expert witness in the NSW Land and Environment Court. He has also recently been appointed to the City of Sydney Housing For All Working Group as well as the Australian Institute of Architects NSW Housing Working Group to help shape advocacy on housing design, policy and affordability.
Michael actively combines practice with a dedication to research and teaching. His investigations focus on the central role that housing has in making the fabric of our cities and how the everyday ‘ordinariness’ of housing can, and should, be elevated through design.
Zanardo, M., Sisson, A., Logan, C., & McLaughlan, R. (2024). Sydney’s largest public housing estate is being redeveloped, but not all these homes need to be demolished. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/sydneys-largest-public-housing-estate-is-being-redeveloped-but-not-all-these-homes-need-to-be-demolished-236514
Zanardo, M., Sisson, A., Logan, C., & McLaughlan, R. (2024). Wilful ignorance at Waterloo: public housing quality and political stigma in Sydney’s largest estate renewal. Planning Perspectives, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2024.2337268‘
Dr Michael Zanardo has collaborated with faculty members Associate Professor Cameron Logan and Dr Rebecca McLaughlan along with Dr Alistair Sisson of Macquarie University to produce a cross-disciplinary journal article examining the design quality of the Waterloo public housing estate and the political stigma surrounding it. The paper builds on Michael’s architectural and historical research prepared to guide the ‘Housing for All’ Masters of Architecture design studio and makes the case that a more fulsome assessment of the existing housing stock at Waterloo might instead suggest an approach of retention and renovation of existing buildings with infill housing and that this could produce better outcomes for residents from a wellbeing perspective.’
Following the successful presentation of their Master of Architecture ‘Housing For All’ design studio at Sydney Town Hall in February, students Irene Bai, Ivy Chen, Sid Shewade and Vivian Su were invited to present their work on the Waterloo South redevelopment masterplan at Homes NSW in Parramatta in May.
The presentation and discussion was attended by the Hon. Rose Jackson Minister for Housing and Homes NSW CEO Rebecca Pinkstone as well as Homes NSW staff.
Dr Michael Zanardo gave a brief introduction to the studio and the students shared their insights on the masterplan speaking to their research and drawings and the large-scale group model which was specially transported and assembled for the presentation. Congratulations to all involved!
The ‘Housing for All’ design studio was developed and run as a part of Dr Michael Zanardo’s Rothwell Residency in Architecture.
Brief leader – Dr Michael Zanardo (Studio Zanardo) and Alexander Koll (MAKO Architecture)
Coordinator – Dr Maren Koehler @marenkoehler_ MARC5010/MARC5020 Architectural Studio 1/2 Master of Architecture
The Master of Architecture students from the ‘Housing for All’ design studio exhibited and presented their projects at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday 22 February. Their work explored the proposed Waterloo South redevelopment masterplan for mixed-use, mixed-tenure public and affordable housing.
The event was kindly hosted by Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore and was well attended by members and staff of Council, senior representatives from State Government, industry guests, colleagues and students.
An opening address was given by studio brief leader Dr Michael Zanardo and closing comments were generously provided by special guest Paul Karakusevic, one of the leading social and public housing architects in Europe.
The student groups each gave an illustrated talk and displayed their design drawings, case studies and a large-scale 1:200 group model which became a talking point of the event.
The ‘Housing for All’ design studio was developed and run as a part of Dr Michael Zanardo’s Rothwell Residency in Architecture.
Brief leader – Dr Michael Zanardo (Studio Zanardo) and Alexander Koll (MAKO Architecture)
Coordinator – Dr Maren Koehler @marenkoehler_ MARC5010/MARC5020 Architectural Studio 1/2 Master of Architecture
Dr Catherine Gilbert and Dr Michael Zanardo have completed a research report commissioned by peak housing advocacy body Shelter NSW to constructively critique the provisions of the new affordable housing density bonus policy in NSW and to consider more broadly how inclusionary housing policies could be designed going forward to ensure they deliver meaningful public benefit outcomes. The report draws upon international practice and research evidence of the effectiveness of different planning policy design features to make recommendations for how inclusionary housing policies can be implemented and scaled up to deliver more affordable housing.
A site model produced for ‘Housing for All’ studio. Photo and time lapse video courtesy of @theguthrieproject
‘Housing for All’
Brief leader – Dr Michael Zanardo (Studio Zanardo) and Alexander Koll (MAKO Architecture)
Guest Lectures – Ken Baird (City of Sydney) and John Gregory (formerly Housing NSW)
Guest Critics – Ken Baird (City of Sydney), Jesse McNicoll (City of Sydney), Laura Harding (Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects), and Ben Guthrie (The Guthrie Project)
Coordinator – Maren Koehler @marenkoehler_
MARC5010/MARC5020 Architectural Studio 1/2
Master of Architecture
‘Housing for All’ explored the development of the new Waterloo South masterplan for mixed-use mixed-tenure housing. Students designed thirteen city blocks of combining public, affordable and market housing, together negotiating and cooperating to complete the urban layout and realise the masterplan collectively.
The large-scale 1:200 group model became the focus of the studio, first filled with envelopes, then with buildings to become a valuable tool to help visual the urban place being created.
This ‘practice-focused’ studio was developed and run by Dr Michael Zanardo as a part of his Rothwell Residency in Architecture.
The model was co-ordinated on behalf of the group by student Vivian Su.
The students’ work was very well-received within the Council and broader forum and demonstrated the value of direct connection between teaching, research, and practice.
Callantha Brigham is an Architect and Urban Design professional with over 20 years’ experience working in State and Local Government. Most recently Callantha led the City Transformation Team at the City of Parramatta where she was responsible for a multidisciplinary team guiding the strategy, design and implementation of large-scale, city-shaping projects.
Callantha is also the current NSW Vice President and a NSW Chapter Councillor of the Australian Institute of Architects where her focus has been on advocating for gender equity, reconciliation and supporting the work of designers within government.
Callantha is passionate about the potential of public and community-based projects to drive positive social, cultural and environmental impact. Her Rothwell Residency in Urban Design will consider principles of equity, diversity and democracy (Susan Fainstein’s concept of the ‘Just City’) and the role designers can play as advocates and agents of change.
This paper captures the research outcomes of my appointment as the Rothwell Resident in Urban Design at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney in 2022.
‘This research study explores the roles and responsibilities of architects, landscape architects and urban designers (referred to throughout this report as designers) within NSW local government. Its aim is to shine a light on the organisational context and nature of their work and gain insights into their impact.
The study was informed by a series of interviews undertaken with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), General Managers (GMs), and senior designers in local government, together with the review of literature, census data, case studies, and the author’s ongoing participation in the designers in government (DiG) group, established in 2021.
Improving the quality of design within places was identified as a key driver for inhouse designers. Designers’ ability to ‘join dots’, spatially integrate, problem solve, provide design leadership and direction – to places and within organisations – fills an important skills and functional gap within Councils.
This gap coincides with the place-shaping role that communities value most from local government (Ryan et al., 2015, p.ii). While external design panels and consultants can service specific needs, they cannot replace the unique role designers can play within Councils.
While the argument for ‘good design’ adding social, environmental and economic value to places has been made for at least 20 years (CABE, 2000), interviews demonstrated different levels of understanding, and varying levels of design maturity within local government. The concept of guiding design outcomes – known as “design governance” (Carmona, 2016) – is not new, however the benefits of design, known as the “design dividend” (Freestone et al., 2019, p. 81) are only recognised in a limited number of Councils. While the value is clear to the leaders interviewed, the value of design governance is not consistently known or understood at senior levels of local government.
Hidden Practice of Design in Government (ARCH 9085), an intensive elective held in December 2022, taught to a group of architecture and urban design students
Students learnt how designers within government are helping to set transformative visions, influence delivery processes and advocate for great public outcomes across diverse areas.
This experience was invaluable for the students, as many of them were unaware this type of work existed, and they also had not realised how much of their education had been shaped by a particular view of practice.
Manual Description : Architectural Chair, Senior Project Officer
Manual Address :
Manual Addition Info Content :
Profile image :
Manual Type : contact
_self
Auto Type : contact
Auto Addition Content :
Auto Name : true
Auto Position : true
Auto Profile image :
Auto Phone Number : false
Auto Mobile Number : true
Auto Email Address : true
Auto Address : false
UUID :
Manual Description : Architectural Chair, Senior Project Officer
Manual Address :
Manual Addition Info Content :
Profile image :
Manual Type : contact
_self
Auto Type : contact
Auto Addition Content :
Auto Name : true
Auto Position : true
Auto Profile image :
Auto Phone Number : false
Auto Mobile Number : true
Auto Email Address : true
Auto Address : false
UUID :
