We advocate for excellent design outcomes through investment in demonstration projects, design strategies, design-led precinct plans, and the provision of design advice through the development assessment process. We also champion design excellence through events, publications, partnerships and outreach with industry, academia and the community.
Design Excellence Advisory Committee
The Design Excellence Advisory Committee provides a platform for industry, academia, and community members to engage with a range of design challenges and opportunities in Melbourne.
The committee also advises council on the development and implementation of the Design Excellence Program and explores opportunities to strengthen collaboration across award programs and design events.
Topics discussed during committee meetings in 2023 included:
- emerging design issues and precinct opportunities for Melbourne tunnel projects
- the future of housing in the City of Melbourne and innovative housing solutions Copenhagen
- sustainable building design and innovative solutions in Vancouver
- design competition guidelines
The committee comprises eight technical experts in the field of design, planning and property, five community members and four technical advisors.
To view the current membership of the committee, visit Committees and advisory groups.
The Excellent City Series
We launched The Excellent City Series in 2021 to promote public debate on design excellence in Melbourne. We’ve hosted 14 events at MPavilion, during Melbourne Design Week, and as part of the UIA World Congress of Architects. We also participate in the yearly Open House Melbourne program.
We invite artists, agitators, traditional owners, built form professionals and academics to speak at our events, which are designed for diverse participants to freely contribute and interact through a range of activities. In 2024, our focus is ‘design in action’ as we invite the broader public to collaborate with us on shaping City of Melbourne design projects.
Our events have many benefits including:
- raising awareness of design excellence
- building relationships with the broader design community
- providing opportunities for the public to engage with city design projects
- learning from unlikely partnerships and perspectives
Full list of events
- MPavilion
- Festival of Design, with Jason Tamiru, Heidi Everett, Hoang Tran Nguyen, Sara Lloyd, Luke Cunningham, Kirsten Bauer, Jefa Greenaway, Emily McDaniel, Fatuma Ndenzako, Jennifer Tran and Aretha Brown
- MPavilion
- Build Your Own City, with Mike Hewson
- Embracing Country, with Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy, Rau Hoskins and Aretha Brown
- Enduring City, with Grady Peterson, Robbie Neville, Mastura Mokhtar and Clare Parry
- Design Futures March 2023, with Xan Coppinger.
- Melbourne Design Week
- Intersectional Gender Equity in Practice, with Nikhila Madabhushi, Teneille Summers and Dr Derlie Mateo-Babiano
- City of Play, with Dr Sanne Mestrom, Dr Troy Innocent, David Lloyd
- Design Review in a Design City, with Professor Martyn Hook, Sarah Lynn Rees, Sophie Patitsas and Quino Holland
- UIA World Congress of Architects, Copenhagen
- Architects in Government, with Jill Garner -Office of the Victorian Government Architect and Camilla van Deurs - City of Copenhagen.
- Reclaiming Space for Design Excellence, Melbourne & Copenhagen, presentation with Urban Power.
- MPavilion
- Designing Equity, with panellists Lara Brown, Michele Acuto, Simona Castricum and Gerhana Waty
- Design Yarning, with panellists Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy, Sarah Lynn Rees and Anne-Marie Pisani and Jason Eades
- Design Resilience, with panellists Florian van den Corput, Professor Sarah Bell, Stephen Webb, Amelia Tonkins
- Designing Excellence, with panellists Karen Alcock, Karl Fender, Daniel Soussan, Bridget Smyth, Georgia Birks and Nicholas Reece
