Melbourne School of Design appoints new director

The University of Melbourne is delighted to announce the appointment of Dan Hill as Director of Melbourne School of Design, commencing in April 2022.

Mr Hill joins the University from Stockholm, Sweden, where he most recently held the position of Director of Strategic Design for the Swedish Government’s innovation and research agency, Vinnova.

Melbourne School of Design, under Mr Hill’s direction, is set to elevate the graduate educational experience it offers, through enhanced interdisciplinary design practices in community engagement and teaching and learning, through Hill’s holistic approach to transformative design practices, everyday technologies and social infrastructures.

This design-led approach balances vivid tangible outcomes with deep research and coherent strategy, a vision the School embraces to collaboratively address local and global problems.

"I’m delighted to be joining MSD and looking forward to working with my colleagues to build on its foundations as a world-class centre for future practice in architecture, design, and built and natural environments. Melbourne finds itself at the front line of most of our shared challenges— environmental, social, infrastructural, spatial, cultural, political," Mr Hill said.

"This means that we can also explore the possibilities of inventing, rediscovering, researching, and teaching transformative models and practices for architecture and design, positioning MSD as a graduate school for the 21st century and beyond, a place that can both hold the public discussion about the future of city and country, and help shape it."

Mr Hill has developed and delivered city strategy and urban development projects for city governments in Amsterdam, Melbourne, Stockholm, Manchester, Sydney and London, as well as for Alphabet and Lendlease. He has devised and delivered place-based approaches to Swedish and Finnish national innovation strategies.

Mr Hill has particular expertise in designing social and cultural infrastructures, in urban contexts such as Melbourne Innovation District, Manchester’s Northern Quarter, Google’s global campuses, and the University of Melbourne campus, and on buildings such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, British Library, UAE Museum of the Future, State Library of Queensland, ACMI, Collingwood Yards, and central library strategies for Melbourne and Sheffield.

Mr Hill was one of the Mayor of London’s inaugural Design Advocates, and a Trustee of Participatory City Foundation, and is a founding member of the UN HABITAT Council for Urban Initiatives. He wrote the influential book Dark Matter & Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary for Strelka Press in 2012 and has been writing about design, technology, cities and culture for more than 20 years.

The University thanks former Melbourne School of Design Director Professor Alan Pert who has taken on the role of Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, and the interim Director Professor Paul Walker.