VEIL gets animated at Fed Square
On a balmy Sunday night in January, as a huge crowd at Federation Square to watch the Australian Open tennis finals on the ‘big screen’, they were reminded in the ad breaks of the significant research being developed by the University of Melbourne through the screening of short films produced by the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL).
The animated movies are part of VEIL’s short film project - Visioning Melbourne 2032: City of Short Distances – which will be officially launched at Federation Square on 17 February 2011. Thirteen movies were produced in total, each one presenting a different area of sustainable design innovation imagined and visualised by students from the four leading Victorian design universities engaged in VEIL’s sustainable design innovation program.
Introducing ideas of urban resilience, the films showcase the work of architecture and landscape students and leading design academics and consulting design professionals. New infrastructure schemes for water, food, energy and public transport, along with innovative design strategies for suburban development and new local employment opportunities are creatively explored.
“VEIL has explored the power of ‘glimpses’ - evocative design sketches that embody a transformation of existing systems,” says Chris Ryan, Director of VEIL. “We focus on a 25 year horizon - one that fits well with the timelines for action on climate change and is generally beyond the existing commitments. We only employ plausible technological innovation. The VEIL short film project is about communicating these glimpses to the public in a very compact way.”
The films have been written and produced by the VEIL team with graphic design by Kate Stokes of Coco Flip and final animation created by James Rafferty of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. The project’s title - City of Short Distances - is also the title of an upcoming book surveying the work of VEIL from the last four years of its design research and design visualisation program.
“VEIL is committed to bringing the outstanding research and design work undertaken at Melbourne University and other universities to a large public audience,” says VEIL’s Deputy Director Dr Michael Trudgeon.
The films will continue to feature on the ‘big screen’ at Federation Square throughout 2011.
To view the films and to learn more about VEIL’s innovative design initiatives visit: http://www.ecoinnovationlab.com/.