In April, property developers Beulah International announced an architecture competition for its Southbank by Beulah project. As part of the progression for the development, six teams, which includes some of the world’s leading architectural firms, will present their proposals at a public symposium titled ‘Future Cities’. 

The symposium will take place on Friday 27 July in Southbank, with each of the international teams in attendance. Confirmed speakers include Brian Yang partner of Bjarke Ingels Group, Wolf. D Prix co-founder of Coop Himmelb(l)au, Ma Yansong founder of MAD Architects, Winy Maas co-founder of MVRDV, David Gianotten managing partner-architect of OMA and Caroline Bos co-founder of UNStudio. Each of the international teams is working with a local Australian studio to bring the project to fruition – including Fender Katsalidis with BIG, Architectus with Coop Himmelb(l)au, Elenberg Fraser with mad architects, Woods Bagot with MVRDV, Conrad Gargett with OMA, and Cox with UNStudio.

The event is expected to have record numbers attend, as a first glimpse of the proposed designs for the $2 billion site are revealed. The project is set to transform Southbank into a lifestyle precinct including residential, retail and market areas. It will also house a 5-star hotel, commercial spaces, and public and cultural spaces. 

In addition to each of the six teams presenting their proposed concepts in an allotted 20-minute time slot, they will also cover the theme of ‘Future Cities’. As our cities become more dense, creating sustainable and liveable cities is a pressing global concern. A focus of the symposium will be discussing how architects, designers and engineers play an ever-important role in being able to shape communities and optimise lifestyles.

Focusing on the six designs specific to the Southbank site, the symposium promises to be an engaging and insightful discussion, with crowds of 1,500 plus expected.

The ‘Future Cities’ Symposium will be held at 400 City Road Southbank from 1pm-4pm on Friday July 27 and alongside the speaker presentations, will include an immersive experience centred on Future Cities.

Tickets are now available to purchase via southbankbybeulah.com. The winning design will be announced in early August.