About

SAINT CANICE CATHOLIC CHURCH

resilient city | resilient neighbourhood

unsw masters of architecture | social agency

final year studio thesis project | 2016

At the beginning of this academic year the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has established a new series of focused architectural streams which one can choose to follow towards receiving their master of architecture degree. One of these streams, a brand new addition to the architecture program at UNSW, is the theme of Social Agency.

Together with a generous donation from Judith Neilson to Faculty of the Built Environment at UNSW and the eagerness of students and professors, we have been able to create an arena where architecture re-focuses on the people which it is meant to serve. The Catholic Parish of Saint Canice has so graciously allowed 18 students to examine, work with, and help to realise the design potential that inhabits this particular site.

Saint Canice is a conglomeration of people, cultures and issues which have unfortunately been put aside in the modern day growth and development of cities around the world. The gentrification and rising prices of housing and living within cities and developing countries is growing by the day, along with the gap between the 1% and the poorest of the poor. Kings Cross and Saint Canice has seen these affects first handedly and embodies the complexities inherent in the social issues and injustices that plague these developing urban centres.

Our mission is to push the standard model of university teaching and dive into the issues, many times in uncomfortable situations, which present themselves to the community and beyond its boundaries. Though the projects here are “university products,” they are intended to spark the interests of those whom see the potential not just for Saint Canice, but the world of social agency, social justice and cities which truly form centres of inclusiveness and sustainable growth.