Future Climate, Future Home
SS 2025
Assignment
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report paints a grim picture of climate change, predicting soaring heat stress worldwide. Globally, heat is a silent killer that is already responsible for more deaths than any other natural disaster. Worryingly, the Urban Heat Island effect can amplify city temperatures by up to 10°C compared to peri-urban surroundings, posing significant health risks. Despite this, the design and planning implications of increasing temperatures on urban precincts, public open spaces and housing remain poorly understood. Preparing urban communities to be ‘climate ready’ is critical, and there is a need for innovative urban design and planning strategies to underpin urban adaptation measures.
Studio Brief:
1. Select a 200 x 200m site in a city or town worldwide. This site can be developed or undeveloped in its existing state.
2. Research projected 2099 climate conditions of your chosen city or town using IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report and Interactive Atlas, assuming an SSP3-7.0 (+4°C) scenario.
3. Adapt the site to projected climate conditions, focusing on extreme temperatures.
Students will collaborate on the project with students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering.
The studio's brief is based on a competition launched by the Australian Urban Design Research Centre and the Uni of Western Australia School of Design with a submission deadline of November 30, 2025. Students can submit their ideas to the competition.
