Heliotope practice is invigorated by close relationships with leading academic institutions in south eastern Australia. Jane leads design studios that look to describe a new vernacular for this place; that both positions us within the realities of the Anthropocene whilst looking to re-imagine our relationship with forces beyond our control. Some examples are outlined below:

Pre-Slime Sublime

The sublime has haunted our imagination ever since the Kant and others wrested the idea of it from the domain of religion, through the secularisation of the Enlightenment.

Today we find ourselves confronted with a multitude of contexts within which to contemplate the sublime, several of which challenge our existence as we know it. 

What do these multiple disruptions, leaking mysteries offer us in establishing a more coherent and helpful relationship with the various contexts within which we live? How can we understand a place that finds itself in radical flux?

The starting point for the studio will be an examination of the idea of the 'digital twin' and mapped data resources for south eastern Australia; a critical appraisal the data that is available and what is potentially left 'off the map' - the intangible, the contested, the complex.

We will utilise open source and publicly available geo-spatial platforms and a range of phenomenological and temporal field explorations have informed the examination and crafting of our own stories of place to inform studio projects; as well as the survey and collation of a collective catalogue of material resource streams readily and regeneratively available in south eastern Australia.

In parallel, we undertake a range of field explorations to provide qualitative, sensorial and temporal perspectives; whilst listening and consultative practices will help us to build up a complex layering to inform our understanding of place.

Each studio centres on an urban site of remnant ecology, provoking students to consider expanded time frames and scales; and an appropriate approach to the architectural project.

Students synthesise their findings into buildings responsive to future environments; providing civic, participatory infrastructure that enables communities to make sense of the complexity of their local region; to assist in forecasting change over time; and to collectively respond.

Tectonic investigations build on our materiality studies to include temporary structures for material reuse / re-skinning / modular systems / biotechniques / the edifice / and extra-terrestrial technologies.

Tremendum Fascinans aims to re-examine the idea of place within a contemporary context – specifically this place we live in, south eastern Australia; and the less tangible and ever-evolving contexts that exist here.

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Material  | Immaterial

Material/|Immaterial aims to investigate the cultural and social constructs we inhabit (physical and virtual) and the tensions and possible relationships between them. Students, in a concrete way reassess immediately available resources within the contemporary context; synthesising material research and experimentation into cultural expression.

We find ourselves in an interesting confluence of trajectories, where on the one hand global events (pandemic, nuclear power aggressions, global warming, mass biodiversity loss) are causing us to increasingly open our eyes to our immediate surroundings, whilst on the other we drift further and further off into the metaverse, untethered.

The topic of the studio is the investigation of material expression within an updated palette that describes this point in time and space within the Anthropocene and is limited by resources immediately available; and exploring opportunities for creativity, expression and experimentation outside of the consumption models that have brought us to this point.

The studio aims to undertake and compile a survey of resources readily and regeneratively available in south eastern Australia; including naturally occurring inorganic natural resources, endemic and introduced species, un-recovered waste streams and biofabrication techniques.

From this research will flow weekly materiality testing and experimentation; with site visits and workshop access to develop material outcomes. Through the second part of semester, these experiments will start to merge into the virtual to create temporal inhabitations/environments.

Studio outcome will be an immersive exhibition of these artefacts (design/make studio) and imbued with virtual or ephemeral qualities.

The studio explores tangibility and meaning of place from both a physical and virtual perspective. It asks: 'how can we honour and care for place when positioned within an increasingly virtual life?'

Key concepts include new materials, critical resources, biofabrication, regenerative design, phenomenology, virtual inhabitation, designing with Country.

The studio explores and situates 'nature' as a human construct; evidenced by the fact that even the deepest oceans and outer space are inhabited by human technology and debris; and that First Peoples around the world have been sophisticatedly managing environments for millennia.

[FIG 4] Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1942