MICHAEL TRUDGEON

Michael Trudgeon has worked as a designer in the fields of industrial design, architecture and communications design since 1978. In 1978 he became a founding member and the designer of Fast Forward, the world’s first audio cassette music magazine that created a new, much copied, typology for music magazine publishing globally. In 1983 he cofounded [with Jane Joyce] Crowd, an Australian music, fashion and design magazine, showcasing new Australian fashion, design and writing. His design and architectural projects, often done as collaborations, have been published continuously, locally and internationally since 1978. Recently, completed projects reconceptualising the servicing strategies for domestic architecture are currently in the process of being awarded patents, have been awarded design registrations and exhibited internationally.  

Michael Trudgeon is currently Professor of Design in the School of Design at RMIT in the College of Design and Social Context. Here he supports and enhances research and industry engagement, particularly through the partnered studio model, leading on to further funded industry and government research project partnerships. Previously, as Co-Director of the RMIT School of Architecture and Design School D-Lab, this role involved improving research outcomes by guiding staff through an on-line research data base to both log research interests along with emerging and active projects and also to identify and source intra-school research partnerships. This work was then aligned to the new RMIT Enabling Capability Platforms and Research Centre structures with a focus on research income, impact and reputation in areas of recognised research strength within the School programs. 

From 2010 to 2017 he was Deputy Director of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab [VEIL] at The University of Melbourne. Here he supervised PhD and master of architecture thesis students, delivering lectures and design studio programs to master of architecture students, taking part in and organising assessment panels for masters students, curating, co-ordinating and designing exhibitions and publications and contributing to VEIL research publications and exhibitions. The teaching role has lead to a new model for atelier based or 'embedded' studio teaching where students are taught on site for an entire semester working with 'live' projects and real stakeholders. The success of the program has brought invitations from local and European city councils to address live 'wicked' or complex architectural and planning problems that have not been addressed by local practitioners. In 2012, he and colleague Professor Chris Ryan were invited by the mayor and the Comune de Firenze to conduct a travelling studio, with 14 University of Melbourne master of architecture and planning students, for two weeks, in the old city, to create a set of architectural visions for exhibition in Florence. This work funded by UoM and the Comune. The project was exhibited in Melbourne in 2013 at the Museo Italiano, supported by the Italian Consulate, and has led to yearly travelling studios to European cities, to conduct similar design studios, at the request of a number of European city councils and regional governments. Working recently with the City of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands has resulted in a series of international architecture and design exhibitions in Melbourne, Hong Kong and Leeuwarden in 2017, 2018 and 2019, supported by the Australian and Hong Kong Consulates of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Further, this research and design work has been pivotal in the design and delivery of a series of built projects in the City of Leeuwarden as part of their 2018 EU Capital of Culture program.  

Currentlyhe is Design Director at Crowd Productions, directing and managing the Melbourne office of this design practice, specialising in large scale, technology focused, commercial design and architectural projects. He is involved in project conceptualisation, client liaison and continuous monitoring of project progress and budgeting across a broad variety of projects and disciplines. 

Crowd Productions is a transdisciplinary design studio, incorporated in 1983, with a focus on technology innovation in and its relationship to creating cultural change. In 1987 a second office was set up at 106 Harley street in central London. Clients include Mirvac, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Hoyts Cinema Corporation, National Australia Bank, BeWell, National Gallery of Victoria, The Victorian Eco Innovation Laboratory at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia Post, Business Victoria, Chadstone Shopping Centre, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Citipower, Commonwealth Department of Communications, Dinner Plain Alpine Village, Melbourne Central, Oxford University Press, Museum of Sydney, Museum Victoria, RMIT faculty of the Constructed Environment, Sports Girl, Porter Davis Homes.

Crowd Production's range of design work takes in the disciplines of Industrial design, architectural and interior design, furniture design and manufacturing and digital design, design research, scenario mapping and visualisation, experience design, exhibition design and content curation.

Crowd employs a team of five people in Melbourne, with a designer based in London. The team structure is based on the film production house model. The majority of commissions involve employing additional teams of specialists, sub contractors and collaborators on a project by project basis. These teams are put together to match the requirements of the particular job or client. In most fields or disciplines Crowd has established long term associations with key specialists and collaborators. On large projects these teams and subcontractors will number up to 30. Most of the work involves tight and often immovable deadlines. 

Michael Trudgeon was awarded his PhD in 2009 by the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT in Melbourne titled Zukunftsmusik: prototyping the social and technological construction of space. He received a Master of Architecture Degree by project from the School of Architecture at RMIT in 1992 developing a computer program describing strategies and a database of potential technological innovations for conceiving space and structure. He received his  Bachelor of Architecture Degree from RMIT in 1979.