Urban Tactility and The Sensory City at RMIT’s New Academic Street

Explore the sensory nature of spaces

Oopla (formerly OpenHAUS architecture), Vision Australia and Open House Melbourne invite you to participate in a tour of RMIT’s New Academic Street that explores its spaces beyond our sense of sight. Come and explore the sensory, architectural and artistic elements that come together to make the New Academic Street one of the most successful new additions to our city. This tour is a continuation of the Urban Tactility theme for Open House Melbourne, working towards a major installation as part of the 2019 program in the City of Melbourne. 

Until recently the RMIT buildings at the top end of Swanston Street have turned blank faces to the street. RMIT’s latest development – the New Academic Street – has opened these buildings up to the street, and to the students and the public who use them.

Take the tour with and get to know this fabulous new set of spaces. The Sensory City Tour contemplates the ways we navigate the city by exploring the sensory qualities of the New Academic Street. Through this tour you will discover the buildings in a different light; looking at the sensory nature of the spaces and how the design concept shapes their materiality and the experience. In addition, we will explore these spaces from the perspective of a person with low vision or blindness. The tours will focus upon not what the building looks like but what it feels like, smells like and sounds like, and how this relates the changing culture of student learning in the city.

Urban Tactility and The Sensory City forms Episode 5 of the WORKAROUND broadcast and exhibition at RMIT Design Hub, where visitors can view footage of the tour, and share in the experience, after the event takes place. 

Please note: This tour will take place in indoor and outdoor spaces. We advise wearing flat shoes and bringing a raincoat if rain is forecast.