Join Parlour and the University of Melbourne on Wednesday 26 April for a special event with Jos Boys – in which Jos asks “Can architecture ever be a radical mode of practice?”

We are delighted to welcome Jos Boys back to Melbourne for a lively and invigorating discussion about making and re-making the discipline. Building on her amazing 2019 keynote presentation to Transformations, Jos’s talk will explore the challenges and opportunities of working differently through a discussion of recent work – including the DisOrdinary Architecture project, research into neurodivergence and architecture, and the Matrix feminist design collective archive and exhibition.

How does architecture ‘work’ as a disciplinary practice and how does that affect what kinds of bodies get valued, and what kinds of spaces get made? What is it to be inculcated as an architect, and who gets to be in the ‘Club’? What kinds of challenges can actually affect radical change both within the profession and towards spatial and social justice? In this talk, Jos reflects on some of her experiences – as co-director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project, and during the recent ‘re-discovery’ of the 1980s London-based feminist design collective Matrix of which she was a founding member – as a way to critically examine architecture’s inbuilt and ongoing assumptions and processes. She explores how underpinning frameworks across design methods, professional practices and solution-driven approaches can each act to include some and exclude others.

When & where

6–7.30pm, Wednesday 26 April 2023

Theatre B117
Glyn Davis Building
Melbourne School of Design
Parkville VIC 3010

The event will run from 6-7pm, followed by refreshments and the opportunity to catch up with fellow attendees.

Bookings

This is a free event, thanks to the support of University of Melbourne. CPD is available on completion of the CPD questions. Access to these can be purchased via the booking form below.

  • Free – General Entry
  • $11 – Parlour Collective Entry + CPD
  • $25 – General Entry + CPD (for those who have not yet joined the Parlour Collective)

We operate on an honesty system – select the ticket type that aligns with your circumstances. If you haven’t yet joined the Parlour Collective, join now to access discount pricing and many other benefits, and to support Parlour’s ongoing work!

CPD

One hour of formal CPD on completion of the CPD questions – purchase via the booking link below.

Once the questions are completed, you will receive an email from Google forms with your responses. Please keep this – it provides the evidence of attendance and completion. Please note, separate CPD certificates will not be issued. If you can’t find the email, remember to check your spam folder and whitelist parlour@parlour.org.au in your email system.

Our speaker

Dr Jos Boys is a design activist and independent scholar. Previously she was Director of the Learning Environments Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre (LEEDIC) at The Bartlett, University College London; with a research focus on creative and inclusive educational spaces both within and beyond the academy. Jos trained in architecture and has a background in community-based practice. She was a co-founder of Matrix feminist design and research practice in the 1980s, and part of the group that wrote Making Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment, recently republished by Verso as a feminist classic.  She is co-founder and co-director, with Zoe Partington, of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project which brings together disabled artists with architects and others to co-create alternative attitudes and approaches to designing from difference.  She is author of Doing Disability Differently: an alternative handbook on architecture, dis/ability, and designing for everyday life Routledge 2014; editor of Disability, Space, Architecture: A Reader Routledge 2017; and co-editor of Neurodivergence and Architecture, published this year.