Tasmanian team wins national Super Studio design competition

The Australian Institute of Architects' annual Super Studio design competition has been won by a team of University of Tasmania master's students, comprising Luke Pendergast, Mia Larsen and Lachlan Sutton.

A national conceptual design competition, Super Studio is open to the Institute's Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) members from all year levels and gives students license to explore highly creative responses to a design brief. This year's competition tasked participants with designing radical and creative solutions to address the impacts of extreme weather.

Over 180 students from 20 universities participated, with 83 submissions presented to local juries across the nation. In the words of Tasmanian state juror Jonathan Buist, "The quality of thought and work presented at a state level was outstanding and all this occurred at the same time as the current semester study schedule."

After careful deliberation, the national jury awarded the Tasmanian team's Jingana Epicormic Resilient Community Housing Strategy project, which was lauded by the jury for exemplifying an innovative approach to disaster relief housing. Inspired by the resilient Jingana plant, the design mimics nature's adaptability in the face of constant changes to climate.

The jury was impressed by the careful consideration of timescale in the response to the brief, such as the immediate rollout post-disaster, allowances for customisation and modification during occupation, and the capacity for repair and relocation in the longer term. The jury citation noted that "this strategy successfully balances the need for immediate respite and emergency shelter with the longer term needs of a community in recovery."