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DesignEX

Going Global: 2011 designEX Key Note Series


Internationally renowned architects and designers
head to the podium this April.

For more than two decades the designEX Key Note Series has been keeping the Australasian design, decoration and architectural communities informed and up-to-date. In 2011 the series presents a sweeping global perspective of the industry with esteemed speakers from Rome, Singapore and Boston.

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas

Such are the achievements of the Fuksas studio that, in 2010, Massimiliano Fuksas was presented with the Légion D'Honneur by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The list of achievements for Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas is breathtaking, encompassing architectural projects in the following fields: public building, art and culture, retail, religious buildings, infrastructure, master planning, landscape, housing, sport and leisure, urban projects, education and research and product design.

At designEX 2011 the duo will discuss their work, spanning over three decades, including current projects as diverse as Terminal 3 International Shenzhen Bao'an Airport in China and new concepts for Benetton in Rome.

Titled 'Lost in translation 49', Massimiliano's presentation will centre on creating landmark buildings with distinctive, unique images. Doriana's lecture, 'The dark side of the moon', will be on product and interior design.

Massimiliano opened his first studio in Rome in 1967 and followed this with further offices in Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt and China. He has received countless accolades over the decades, written on architecture for major publications and was the Director of the VII Biennial of Architecture in Venice from 1998 to 2000. He is also an honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

For many years Massimiliano has devoted special attention to urban problems in large metropolitan areas.

Wife and partner, Doriana Fuksas, is also an accomplished and gifted architect who has served as a member of the executive board of the National Institute of Architecture and has been collaborating with Massimiliano since 1985. Doriana curated the Architecture's Section at the VII Biennial of Architecture in Venice in 2000 where she was in charge of four special branches dedicated to Jean Prouvé, Jean Maneval, the Peace Pavillon and Architecture of Spaces, and the Art Section.

Her projects are characterised by continuous research into new materials and innovative technology.

Projects under the stewardship of Studio Fuksas are diverse and often majestic. They are capable of stirring a frenzy in the fashion world with a sculptural staircase at Armani in New York while creating a skyscraper in China with a zig-zag channel cut into its facade - a 200 metre tall glazed building, incorporating 68,000 square metres of office space and retail units up to the first floor.

Find out more about Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas at www.fuksas.it

Colin Seah

Colin Seah's talent and vision has taken him beyond designing buildings, to designing a country as a 'must see' tourism destination. Architecturally trained in the USA, and recognised as a 'Rising Star in Architecture' by Monocle magazine, the Singapore Tourism Board has invited Colin to redefine the island country as a destination for 2020 and beyond.

Early on in his career Colin worked for Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind and others. He spent four years at the National University of Singapore's Department of Architecture, researching design pedagogy and serving as design critic. He is the Founder and Director of Ministry of Design and a two-time recipient of Singapore's highest design accolade, the President's Design Award.

Colin has attracted accolades and awards and is a Grand Prize Winner of the Gold Key Award, the highest international hospitality accolade.

Ministry of Design is an integrated spatial-design practice, interested in redefining the world around it in relevant and innovative ways, project by project. Each MOD project endeavours to be "delightfully surprising", yet relevant, distinctly local but still globally appealing.

Colins designEX 2011 presentation will be titled 'Disturb, Question, Redefine' and will discuss how we view the spaces, forms and experiences that surround us and give meaning to our world.

Find out more about Colin at www.modonline.com.

Kevin Schopfer

Kevin Schopfer's designEX address is not to be missed. Challenging, inspiring and fascinating, Kevin's topic deals with emerging designs for floating cities. It will also touch on Kevin's recent yacht designs within a specific arm of his company - Schopfer Yachts.

As a founding partner of one of the USA's top 50 design firms, Ahearn Schopfer and Associates, Kevin's work has focused on hospitality, planning, interior and product design. His international clientele includes intriguing major government projects such as the International UFO Museum and Research Centre in Roswell, New Mexico, to the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Moon World Resorts, Eretria Village, in Greece.

Schopfer's illustrious career began with a Bachelor of Architecture (cum laude) from Syracuse University and a Master's from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Interior design has been included in much of his work and his unique touch can be found in projects such as Logan International Airport, Boston, and Reebok international flagship stores worldwide.

Through Kevin's designEX seminar attendees will learn how new technologies, growth of urban complexity, demographics and a general acceptance of the plausibility of floating cities is bringing what was once an imaginative vision towards a reality. His discussion will outline a brief history of notable ideas in this sector's evolution, placing an emphasis on his own work plus demonstration designs and specifics of what will be the world's first floating city, already in the planning stages.

Kevin will also touch on social media and its relationship with virtual city/world building and design. He will draw attention to several web based entities, including his own groundbreaking Marsnext.com.

Find out more at www.ahearnschopfer.com.

designEX 2011
Wednesday 13 April - Friday 15 April
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
www.designex.info



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