Simone Rego talks design approach, surprises within the BIA and how her graduation project will push the boundaries of what is expected within interior environments.

1. Describe your proposal in 3 key words:
Experiential, emotive and contemplative

2. In what way do you find you approach design projects?
My approach to projects has become refined over the years and can be summed up by: research into the client, site, and brief, which is then followed through in resolution from 3D visualisation, planning and detailing. With each project having a unique brief I always understand the needs and outcomes for the client first. I then develop an approach to the brief, considering experiential qualities within spaces, human occupancy, scale and integrating the existing site into a rational design approach.

3. What has surprised you about the BIA?
I have always been drawn to the world of design, so when I started in the BIA, I was always eager and challenged to learn more. What surprised me most was how complex, varied and continually engaging my experience in the BIA has been. From day 1 we have been exposed to hands-on projects, assignments and site visits, with staff encouraging us to learn from one another and exposure in the world of design around us. One of the main bonuses of the BIA are the people involved - teaching and students - for four years you grow with the cohort, while making friendships that will ultimately continue after uni as we’re all in the same industry! Now, reaching the end of my degree, I can look back on it and see all the skills I have acquired thanks to the BIA - technical, communication, and verbal skills which have all developed, refined and helped me evolve as a designer. At times it can be overwhelming, with workload, late nights, tea-induced comas, and sore hands from too much CAD, but it is ultimately one of the most rewarding experience I have had so far.

4. In what ways will your grad project push the boundaries of what is expected within interior environments?
My graduation project ‘re:collect’ aims to reconnect the local and Sydney communities with the iconic site, The White Bay Power Station through the revitalisation of the site and primarily it’s interior environments. The unutilized site has been closed to the community, or only accessible to workers when it serviced as a Power Station, so reimagining the interior where Sydney-siders, locals, or tourists can gather, learn, create and ‘re-power’ the site was crucial. While acting as a power generating hub the site lost its natural vegetation and became barren, so adding Sydney natives, remedial flora and parklands to activate the vast grounds allowed for a new connection with people and place to occur. One of my main design features was excavating into the site, which allowed me to manipulate the existing characteristics of the chimney stacks, which now act as a light well, penetrating the Museum Walk in the Lost Histories Museum. Through doing so the space became dark, moody and spot-light, allowing viewers to feel their presence within the the interior environment. The interior environments in ‘re:collect’ aim to blur the notion of existing and new, as integrating the site (its scale, materiality, solid and void nature) with my approach into a coherent design which is appropriate to today and the community. My reimagination of the interior aims to create a relationship between viewer and space, provoking experiences, contemplation and learning.

To read more about Simone's work please head to: https://imprint.be.unsw.edu.au/projects/simone-rego