Exhibition and symposium to explore the architectural evolution of Blacktown

An exhibition displaying student designs and a symposium featuring architects who completed recent projects in Blacktown will soon be held in Sydney, as part of Western Sydney University and Powerhouse Parramatta's Urban Transformation Summer School.

Now in its second year, the annual summer school is offered to Western Sydney University (WSU) Masters students studying architecture and industrial design. The two-week program supports students aspiring to become urban designers by offering them practical industry experience and guidance from established academics and practitioners on both a national and international scale.

Each year, the program engages a council from Western Sydney to develop a real-world design challenge for students to solve, using the local urban area as a model.

In 2024, 21 summer school students collaborated with Blacktown City Council to take on a design challenge focused on a pedestrian thoroughfare in Mount Druitt - from Mount Druitt train station to Mount Druitt Hospital. Students evaluated the walking route and proposed interventions that could improve the spatial, environmental, and practical amenity of the thoroughfare, while designing in spaces for rest, engagement and environmental protection.

Western Sydney University professor Michael Chapman said the Masters students were required to develop micro-architectures that have potential to optimise the landscape. "They were given a limit of 10 square metres for the footprint, but could site their project anywhere across the CBD. As these architectures became more resolved and considered, they reinforced the power of small things to make a meaningful distance," Chapman said.

The designs will be presented in an exhibition between 20 March and 8 April 2024 at the WSU Engineering Innovation Hub in Parramatta.

On the same day at 2 pm, a symposium titled Becoming Blacktown will be held at the university. The symposium will focus diverse architectural and design approaches to Blacktown's built form, with presentations from practices responsible for recent projects, such as McGregor Coxall on Warrick Lane Plaza, Sam Crawford on Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre, Chrofi and JMD on Mount Druitt Town Centre, ARM and Architectus on Blacktown Exercise Sport and Technology Hub, Lahznimmo on the Disability Sport Centre of Excellence, Eoghan Lewis on Kings Langley Cricket Pavilion, and Carter Williamson on Woodcroft Community Centre.