IBA INTERNATIONAL:
EUROPEAN PRECEDENTS
As is the case with many projects, the IBA’s exhibition throughout the 20th and 21st century, whilst varied in structure, focus, and output, all share a common set of parameters: they were completed in a compounded timeframe, involved considerable interdisciplinary collaboration, provided economic, artistic, and cultural stimuli to their specified region, and invited dialogue and conversation about the construct of housing and the expectations of the public on it.
Importantly, most of the IBA’s in the 20th century revolved around periods of either great political upheaval, social change, or demographic shift. This is important to note in the context of IBA Melbourne, as we too are at a nexus of these considerations which reiterates why the IBA model is such an important tool to employ amongst built environment professionals to attempt to combat some of the ills manifesting in the current housing market, and to provide appropriate, liveable, sustainable, and affordable housing models for a wide range of demographics that are also beautiful, sympathetic, and innovative in the wider market.
As we progress further through the generation of new ideologies, typologies, and programs, we can look to the IBA model as the influencer of our local trajectory. The IBA model followed a series of tropes that we can use to inform various development stages of the local IBA model that are steeped in an historical underpinning to inspire confidence, surety,and successful uptake. It is through looking back that we can also analyse, recognise, and grow from successes, mistakes, or underutilised aspects of the IBA model.
Finally, we can see the IBA model as not only a representation about the state of housing, demography, and social constructs, but also of Architecture. Architecture, ultimately, underpins the entire enterprise, and its through the engagement with innovative practitioners, interdisciplinary collaboration, partner institutions and local and State government bodies that the architecture on display can disseminate the IBA message to the widest possible audience. It’s through this engagement with architecture that the wider public can start to consider the inquiry that underpins the IBA model. The end goal is to produce architecture and typologies that represent a point in time, reflect on the past, and prepare for the future. This goal is the genesis and basis for what will become IBA Melbourne.