A New Normal Walks The Walk As They Turn Melbourne Into A Self Sustaining City

A New Normal involved a project led by Finding Infinity and a collaboration between fifteen leading architecture and design firms with one united goal: to battle climate change, one audacious design project at a time. It challenged Melbourne to become an entirely self-sufficient city. This approach was explored through a series of installations and talks in Golden Age Group’s 130 Little Collins Street.

A New Normal included all of the early markings of success, with as much attention given to financial planning, science, engineering and project feasibility as it does to imagination and innovation. The projects looked to the cultural consumer as well as investor and policy maker: a deliberately even-handed spread that quells logistical doubts as quickly as it sparks genuine excitement. 

During Melbourne Design Week 2021, the former office building in Melbourne’s centre became a hub of education around what A New Normal could look like. This key opportunity explored the projects, and the ways these concepts could be adopted into Melbourne’s urban development. If Finding Infinity’s goal for all ten projects to be funded by the end of this year comes to fruition, Melbourne will be on its way to becoming the world’s first self-sustaining city.  

Projects

Replace Me, Regulatory Nonsense, presented by DREAMER

A New Architecture, presented by Kennedy Nolan

Cathedral Of Cirularity, presented by Edition Office

Cultural Battery Banks, presented by Hassell

Welcome To The Valley Of Sun, presented by Ha Architecture, Product And Environment

Electric Dreams, presented by Foolscap Studio

New Suburban Street Typology, presented by Nmbw Architecture Studio

The City After Natural Gas, presented by Clare Cousins Architects

Organic Waste To Energy, presented by Wowowa Architecture & Six Degrees

Creating Space With Solar, presented by John Wardle Architects In Collaboration With Ash Keating Studio

More With Less, presented by Fender Katsalidis

Water Unlimited, presented by Openwork & Finding Infinity