Living in Australia Forum

Living in Australia is a one-day forum curated by Rory Hyde and hosted by the Robin Boyd Foundation exploring the culture of housing today. 

Discussion of the housing crisis today has become dominated by the language of pragmatism. Supply targets, capital gains taxes, first home buyer grants, urban growth boundaries, activity centres, supply chains, and construction costs. We are told by the ‘grown ups’ – the politicians, banks, and lobbyists – that the system is too complex for us to understand, and that it’s impossible to change. Meanwhile, the problem just gets worse. 

Robin Boyd wouldn’t be having any of it. He understood that in order to change the system, you have to change the public conversation. In his many roles, as an outspoken student, public intellectual, designer, and author, Boyd sought to shape the debate around housing, to direct it toward a progressive and distinctly Australian goal. He understood that how we live, and the homes we build, are reflections not of real estate, but of culture. That to build is an expression of desire, ambition, identity and aspiration, traits located somewhere deep inside the nation’s indefinable psyche. 

This forum will take Boyd’s work as a launching off point to engage with the culture of housing today. Through a series of lively and informal conversations, this event will reframe the conversation around ideas of culture, media, ways of living, social life, and identity. In this way, we hope to escape the pragmatic constraints of the current debate to reimagine housing that is beautiful, inclusive, and within reach of everyone.

Elizabeth Timme, Office of Office (Los Angeles) Keynote
Alan Pert, Melbourne School of Design (Melbourne)
Belqis Youssofzay, Youssofzay and Hart (Sydney)
Clare Cousins, Clare Cousins Architecture (Melbourne)
Dan Hill, Melbourne School of Design (Melbourne)
Jennie Officer, Officer Woods (Perth)
Kelum Palipane, Melbourne School of Design (Melbourne)
Michael Roper, Architecture architecture (Melbourne)
Rachael Dexter, The Age (Melbourne)
Richard Denniss, The Australia Institute (Canberra)
Rory Hyde, Melbourne School of Design (Melbourne)
Stuart Harrison, Government Architect Western Australia (Perth)

This event is generously supported by Jeff & Mariko Provan – Mori Foundation, Office of the Victorian Government Architect, Brickworks Building Products, Haymes Paint, Konpira Maru Wines and Yumbo Soda.

Earn CPD Points:
2.0 Informal CPD Points
Attendance certificates will be issued by request at the conclusion of the event on Tuesday 26 November 2024.

Please note:
– Registration for tickets including lunch will close at 5 pm Wednesday 8th October 2025. 
– Large bags and backpacks will need to be checked in at entry.
– Tickets are non-refundable.
– Tickets may be exchanged as long as the purchaser advises us of the new attendee’s name via email.

We offer discounted tickets to RBF Friends and Boyd Circle members – support the Foundation and join today.

Image left: Youssofzay and Hart, right: Architecture architecture.