Arts Thread

Can material reform serve as a critical framework in the resistance of standardized practice, legislation and centralised material sovereignty, whilst also fostering emergent creative ecologies that are immersed in the healing and remediation of landscapes scarred by anthropogenic systems of control? This thesis investigates material reform using Phragmites australis as both a material and mediator in the ecological healing of Melbournes Westgate Park’s wetland ecology. It explores how regenerative and culturally embedded materials can question colonial material flows, extractive supply chains, and the sites domineering architectural dialect, by contriving bio-regional alternatives that foster a multi-species cohabitation of site. Within its designs, this project examines how locally sourced, ecologically responsive materials can aid in supporting practices of remediation, restoration, and an intra-species stewardship. Central to this thesis are themes of localism, circularity, and care, which are articulated through the development of distributed ecologies, relational infrastructures, and ritualistic spaces for human and non-human gathering. In doing so, the thesis positions architecture not as fixed form, but as a responsive ecology able to facilitate renewed relationships between land, species, and material.