University of Melbourne Magazine

Sustainability and the future of city design

Alumni Profiles, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning

    • ‘Architecture is one of the few professions that can truly have a profound impact on society, affecting the way we live, our health, comfort and quality of life.’

    So says Eduardo Velasquez, winner of the 2013 Flinders Street Station Design Competition People’s Choice Award. Eduardo and his colleagues, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina, were shortlisted from among some of the world’s leading architecture practices.

    The competition design was based on Eduardo’s MSD design thesis. He recruited Manuel, still a student at MSD, and Santiago, and left his job to dedicate all his time and energy to enhancing his design proposition and making it ready to compete on the world stage.

    Eduardo Velasquez, People's Choice winner, 2013 Flinders Street Station Design Competition.

    Eduardo Velasquez, People’s Choice winner, 2013 Flinders Street Station Design Competition.

    “Being shortlisted for the Flinders Street Station Design Competition, alongside so many big names in the industry, was a wonderful personal achievement,” says Eduardo. “Winning the People’s Choice Award was completely unexpected and topped off an incredible year for me professionally.”

    For Eduardo, being involved in design competitions is an opportunity to be part of the wider discussion about the future of our cities. He is passionate about sustainability, which he believes is crucial to the future of city design.

    According to Velasquez, a balance between sustainability, efficiency, aesthetics and functionality is necessary for architecture to effectively deal with issues of overcrowding and densification.

    “I would like to work on large-scale projects, such as transport interchanges, public buildings and public spaces that are committed to improving the quality of life of their users and where sustainability is not seen as a marketing feature but as a key principle of the design,” he says.

    Eduardo is currently gaining experience as a design architect at Melbourne practice, Metier3. “I am not going to change the world single-handedly, but I like to think that I can contribute to a better world a little piece at a time,” says this talented young architect.