Our students and design experts take the stage at the Sydney Design Festival

Be prepared to be inspired by the exhibitions and people involved in creating our futures.

So what should you see at this year’s upcoming Festival? We’ve got you covered with a list below!

Biodesign: Elixir of Innovation
The Westmead Institute for Medical Research
5 March, from 5pm

As our world is becoming more complex, more urbanised and more technologically advanced, humanity and our planet are faced with unprecedented, global challenges. To address these challenges, we need to nurture a deeper understanding about how technological progress is linked with the health of our planet and human health. Join an expert panel including Associate Professor Martin Tomitsch, Director of The Design Lab at the University of Sydney, for a compelling conversation about this exciting new field, and how we can create better health and wellbeing, by design.

New Agency: Owning Your Future
Tin Sheds Gallery, The University of Sydney
1 – 10 March, from 10am

New Agency: Owning Your Future is a design research project that looks into the longevity revolution. Visitors engage with a series of activities within Tin Sheds Gallery: exploring precedents on a spinning lazy Susan, a guided meditation, and sketching out their desires via a survey. A series of events accompany the exhibition where ageing experts, architects and community members meet for conversations on the futures of housing and Australia’s ageing population.
 

High-Strung: Robotic Design
School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney
1 – 5 March, from 10am

Discover where designers and robots meet. With the rising popularity of digital fabrication tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers and six-axis robots, new design freedom is emerging. View a showcase of design research into ‘excitable matter’, fabricated with a set of industrial robotic arms and VR Hololens at the Robotics Research and Advanced Manufacturing research group, University of Sydney.

Exquisite Corpse: Catenary Vaults
School of Architecture, Design & Planning, The University of Sydney
1 – 10 March, from 8pm
An exhibition of vaults designed using the Surrealist approach of the Exquisite Corpse, produced by the Architectural Design research group, focussed on robotics research and advanced manufacturing at the Sydney School of Architecture, Design & Planning and Gosford Quarries. Catenary vaults, each nearly 3m tall, and many exploratory models, will show radically varied design approaches synthesised into a single architectural form.