



Michael Ren: I was born in Belgium and grew up in Australia. Because of my unique upbringing, I have always been fascinated by the built environment. This led me to begin my studies at the University of Melbourne. I am currently a MArch candidate at the University of California Berkeley.
Samuel Wen: I’m 23, born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, with a Chinese family background. I completed my undergraduate studies in Auckland and I moved to Australia in 2020 where I am currently pursuing my Master of Architecture at the University of Melbourne.
M: Our project, ‘Fitzroy Food Institute’, was completed in November 2021 over a semester as part of a studio (Studio 44 – Ultimate Spinach) for the Master of Architecture degree at the University of Melbourne, and we actually only met each other during this studio group work. Being a studio project, of course, most of the time was spent refining the concepts and design of the architecture, so the drawing itself (though spread out over weeks) was completed within roughly 3 weeks; a lot more time spent per day towards the last week and a half.