Meici Wang

Bachelor of Design (Architecture)

My name is Meici Wang (Macy), a third-year Bachelor of Design Architecture student at Swinburne University. Before coming to Swinburne University, I had a year studying with the Art Foundation and another year for the Advanced Diploma of Building Design at RMIT University.

My interest in architecture began to show when I was in year 11. My Visual Communication Design subject has an architectural design and modelling project, to design a Café with shipping containers, and then handmade the model by using wood sheets. Think this is the only project where I have put in some effort in this subject... :)

I always knew that I was attracted to structures and hand makings, and that’s the reason why I chose my other elective as Product Design and Technology in the same year. We made design sketches of some wooden furniture, ornaments, and art pieces then brought timbers to the workshop, to make out the structures, skins, and details.

I guess these Year 11 elective subjects and projects planted the seed for me to study architectural design. So when I learned that architecture design was in line with my interests, I resolutely decided to skip the last year of high school and directly enter the university Art Foundation studies.

ARC20001-STUDIO 2- SWIN AD BUILDING ROOF DESIGN

ARC20002-STUDIO 3- FISHERMANS BEND - ATRIA.LAB

ARC30004-BIM- SWIN AMDC BUILDING FACADE DESIGN

ARC30001-STUDIO 4- DOCKLANDS CENTRAL PIER - ASHORE

ARC30002- STUDIO 5- SUNSHINE SUPERHUB - NANA STATION / ART CENTER

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.