Narges Mirzai

Interior Architecture

My name is Narges Mirzai, an Interior Architecture major, enthusiastic about

interior design and renovation. My childhood fascination with shows like The

Block and Better Homes & Gardens ignited a persisting love for interior design.

I found design as a powerful tool to enhance the quality of our daily lives. I am

committed to making a meaningful impact through my skills to enhance the

built environment and elevate the daily experiences of those who inhabit it.

Proximity Student Cabin

The Proximity Student Cabin is Swinburne’s student village located at 4 Paterson St, Hawthorn 3 VIC 3122. It is designed to create a getaway for students living near the campus who still want to feel like they can take a meaningful break without travelling far. Although the site is close in proximity to the campus and busy urban as well as suburban life, this student village will create an experience away from it all.

Proximity Student Cabin

Intended for functionality, privacy and relaxation, each modular unit has 3 bedrooms (1 with Ein suite) to create a homey feel for students to find comfort in. Each modular home is compact, allowing for 6 units to
fit comfortably on the site. This enables students to park on site while allowing enough space for outdoor lounging and leisure activities just like at home or on a trip.

Museum of the Handmade

The museum of the handmade required a gallery space that encompasses ‘the Local, the Phenomenological, the Material, the Sensory and the Hand-made as antidotes to our culture of maximum harm’. The museum contains a Reception, Exhibition spaces for handmade artefacts, Cafe and seating spaces for leisure. The site, close to a university and other educational facilities ensures like-minded, art-conscious people can easily access the gallery while positively giving exposure to local artists in the area.

Museum of the Handmade

With the theories of Phenomenology, the exhibition spaces capture human desires of comfort and visual allure in terms of the senses as well as combining familiar materials and character to blend into the area. The ceramic elements and texture will create an experience of familiarity, while the timber and stone of the interior will set a warm atmosphere while being refined which galleries are known for.

Atmosphere Antidote | Dandenong Hospital

The hospital atmosphere is often densely packed and overwhelmingly clinical as function and efficiency is often the core design objectives. Whether it be the loneliness of a patient or the social overwhelm of a nurse, often healthcare settings overlook the experience of the users outside of the illness presented. This project aims to re-imagine hospital design in order to provide spaces both for occupants to socially connect as well as prevent social fatigue through spaces that feel safe, and comfortable to the senses and promote or avert social interactions depending on the needs of the individual for optimal social wellbeing.

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.