University of Melbourne Events Calendar

Please join us for this free public lecture from visiting Japanese Architect, Norihisa Kawashima.

In the face of accelerating climate crisis, resource depletion, and the transition toward post-growth societies, architecture must move beyond technical sustainability and reconsider its fundamental relationship with nature. This lecture explores the possibility of a “delightful architecture with nature” — an approach that integrates environmental performance, circular material cycles, and vernacular knowledge into contemporary practice.

Recent works range from materially grounded, body-centered spaces using earth and timber, to circular building processes that reorganize salvaged and regional resources, as well as the transformation of collective housing in urban contexts. Through passive environmental strategies, adaptable construction systems, and participatory processes, architecture is positioned as an active node within ecological and material cycles.

These practices reframe sustainability not as a constraint, but as a spatial and cultural opportunity. Through light and wind, materials and tectonics, and the engagement of inhabitants, architecture can act as a mediator that reconnects human habitation with natural systems. The lecture proposes that sustainability must be inseparable from delight.

Businesses are increasingly aiming to be “Nature Positive” in order to play their part in delivering national and international commitments for biodiversity recovery. This implies a need to calculate their impacts on biodiversity, and make a plan for mitigating them. Nature is complex and there exists a confusing array of nature metrics and little guidance on when and how to use them.

Emerging nature markets require a fungible “unit” of biodiversity, analogous to tCO2E that is used to calculate impacts on the climate. In this talk, Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland explores the complexities of devising a unit of biodiversity and using it to track losses and gains. She illustrates these issues using the UK’s Biodiversity Net Gain policy, the University of Oxford’s nature positive commitment, and the nascent biodiversity credit market. She concludes with a perspective on whether it’s possible to have “one true metric for biodiversity” and if not, how businesses can still move forward with ambitious Nature Positive goals.

This lecture is presented as part of the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program, established in 1993 by the University of Melbourne’s Council on the recommendation of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund Committee. The program invites internationally distinguished scholars to visit the University of Melbourne, enriching the University’s academic, intellectual and cultural life. Miegunyah Fellows typically spend several weeks on campus, presenting a public lecture and specialist seminars, engaging with students and staff, and often collaborating on research initiatives. The program is made possible through the generous support of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund.

Guests are invited to join us in the foyer after the lecture for light refreshments and networking. Please note that this is an in-person event only, and there will be no hybrid option available. A recording of the lecture will be shared on our channels following the event.