Jas Johnston
Bachelor of Environments: Architecture

I chose the Bachelor of Environments because I wanted a well-rounded bachelor degree that exposed me to all the foundational elements of architecture and design and its connection with other disciplines.

I decided to major in Architecture because it had been a childhood dream that I momentarily ignored when I finished school but came back to quickly after experiencing other career paths.

My favourite subjects were Virtual Environments and the design studios because they allowed me to creatively apply the knowledge learnt in other subjects through the realisation of a design.

To me, studying at the University of Melbourne meant being involved in many inspiring projects and allowed the opportunity to expand my knowledge through exchange and other extra-curricular roles such as working in the Digital Fabrication Laboratory.

My advice to new students is to make sure you take control of your education. Architecture is a very broad field, if you become interested in a particular area do your own self-directed learning and utilise and apply this knowledge within other subjects.

I am looking forward to being involved in larger built projects and a continued development of my personal design style. I hope to be able to achieve this professional development in conjunction with a continued involvement in education and teaching.

JAS IS NOW WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY

What do you do? I am the Digital Fabrication Laboratory Coordinator at University of Melbourne Architecture School.

How did you find your job? I became involved in the Digital Fabrication Laboratory when it was first established at the faculty. As it increased in output and size it required a permanent manager and because of my existing experience I was selected for the role.

Recently I have been working on The Ex-Lab, or Experimental Design Lab, a design and research collective created to promote the creative utilisation of digital techniques in design.

What inspires you at work? There is an amazing amount of work coming from both practice and education internationally that actively engages with digital design techniques. These techniques are not commonly utilised in practice within Australia and the opportunity to engage with this in this environment has so much potential.

DESIGN STATEMENT

The Summer of the 17th Doll, a play by Ray Lawler, explores the splintering and destruction of the fantasies people inhabit and perceive as reality. Reality however inevitably obliterates, shattering the carefully crafted dream of urban normality, safety, certainty and conformity.

The Shatter Theatre presents a face of inner Melbourne urbanity, conforming to volume, geometry and scale. However this proves to be imaginary. To perform any function this urban fantasy must be shattered, revealing the building’s true reality. A reality of undefined borders, alternating entrances and changeable movement patterns controlled through a system of interactivity.

This interactive shattering occurs through the faceting and breaking of the envelope that projects the fantasy of urbanity. This faceting allows the building to exist in infinite forms as the fantasy is destroyed by the participants anew daily. Agency is given back to the audience as they have the subversive ability to influence, even in an unintentional manner, the art presented and the other functions of the building within.

These notions of interactivity, where the space is defined by all users, audience, performers and staff, is juxtaposed with the planning concept of spatial simplicity, promoting malleability. These concepts converge through a shatter point that projects planes or dividing walls that create and define the programmatic spaces. The malleability of space and configuration of seating, stage and audience participation is indented to encourage directors, playwrights and actors to create innovative, unexpected and unintentional performances.

The Shatter theatre intends to foster the unknown future of Australian theatre. An evolution that began with Ray Lawler’s The Summer of the 17th Doll.