Vivian Mitsogianni is an architect and
academic currently practicing in Melbourne, Australia. Vivian
has been lecturing in Architectural Design at the School of
Architecture + Design, RMIT University, Melbourne since 1998.
She is currently engaged in a Masters of Architecture by Project
at RMIT University, which draws heavily from the teaching, personal
design research and projects that have been completed over the
last seven years. She has participated in several International
Architectural Design Competitions, publications, exhibitions
and written extensively about architecture. After working as
an assistant editor and co-designer on the Australian architectural
magazine 'Transition', Vivian has served on its editorial board
for the last 5 years. In 1999 Vivian Mitsogianni along with
Dean Boothroyd founded the architectural design practice M@
Architecture + Design in order to formalise a long standing
working partnership.
International
design competition for a new museum accommodating
200 staff and one million visitors per annum. The
brief called for the retention of the existing Exhibition
Building which was the site of Australia's first
parliament in 1901.
A recurring theme in our projects is an on-going
concern with questioning the representation
of history and the illustrations of 'official' histories
and viewpoints in a culture.
In museums,
readings of history are always constructed and the
objects on display are never neutral. The histories
presented are almost always the 'official' histories
of a culture. We sought to subvert this condition.
The linear arrangements of exhibits are challenged
by the circulation and visual systems that are nonlinear,
and allow displays to be visible in multiple, random,
part glimpses, from any given position, thus allowing
the observer to piece together their own histories.
