Melbourne School of Design to host ASA2025 conference

The ASA2025 Conference focuses on the multidisciplinary nature of architecture and on the positive outcomes of the collaboration between academia, practice and industry. The diverse range of presentations relate to architecture, construction, sustainability, research and education.

On December 4, as part of the conference, there will be an Industry Symposium bringing together leaders from industry, government and academia to explore how design, policy and practice can accelerate climate action in the built environment. The symposium will include:

• A keynote talk by Mun Summ Wong, Founding Director of WOHA, on how architecture can operate as a living system that supports both people and planet.
• A panel session on designing within planetary boundaries. The discussion will bridge global and local perspectives on sustainability, policy, and design leadership and will feature Assistant Professor Cathy Oke OAM, Director of the Melbourne Centre for Cities; Pablo Sepúlveda, Sustainability Leader at Woods Bagot; and Stefan Preuss, Associate Victorian Government Architect. The session will be moderated by Dr James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability) at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.
• A panel a session on designing for health. This session will look at how buildings and cities can actively enhance health and wellbeing. Panellists include Professor Marcella Ucci, University College London; Professor Rebecca Bentley, University of Melbourne; Jack Noonan, Vice President at the International WELL Building Institute; and Ken Fong, Director of Human-Centred Design at E-LAB Consulting. The session will be moderated by Professor Christhina Candido.

Another highlight of the conference, on day zero (December 2), is a workshop titled Sense Without the Expense: low-cost environmental sensing systems.

The SHE Lab (Sustainable and Healthy Environments Lab) will run the hands-on session, exploring affordable off-the-shelf building environmental sensing technologies and open-source tools and platforms. Attendees can discover the opportunities and challenges of using low-cost systems for data collection, and see how real-world research projects are breaking new ground and unlocking new research dimensions with practical, innovative approaches.

More information is available at the ASA2025 Conference website.

---