Melbourne School of Design exhibiting at the 2016 Venice Biennale

A re-evaluation of a seminal work on urban density is examined by MSD scholars, practitioners and students, generating surprising connections and insights about Melbourne and its urban development, the graphic representation of information and relationships, and the social dimension of urban policy.

In the 1990s The University of Melbourne was bequeathed the ‘Fooks Collection’ by Noemi Fooks, widower of the late Dr Ernest Fooks (1906-1985), émigré architect and town planner, and author of X-Ray the City! The density diagram: basis for urban planning (1946).

Who was this émigré writing pioneering work about urban density on the other side of the world? Why was his book prescient and what is its message for today? Despite his prolific output in built work and publishing, and the extensive national coverage of his work by the design media, Fooks’ work has not been widely acknowledged in general architectural circles.

For the 2016 Venice Biennale, a new MSD collective, Future Factory, takes a fresh look at X-Ray the City! 70 years after it was first published. Their contributions to the exhibition in the Palazzo Mora contextualise a broad range of Fooks influences and contemporaries.

The exhibition touches on urban analytics, design tools, geometry, society and stakeholders, and simply trying to understand the city using the X-Ray analogy offered by Fooks. Three major sections focus on a bespoke period: 1946 / 2016 / 2046.

Future Factory and the work of Ernest Fooks

28 May – 27 November 2016 (preview: 26 + 27 May 2016)

Collateral Event of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Organised by the GAA Foundation | www.palazzomora.org