Katherine Kemp

Katherine is both a Registered Architect & Interior Designer (BA Hons) RMIT, and has been practicing for over 20 years with a focus on Interior Architecture particularly in hospitality.

She is currently a Director of ZWEI Interiors Architecture, where the team has been recognised in numerous awards for their work, and is also the Chair, Design Institute of Australia | VIC TAS Branch, and a sessional lecturer at RMIT University.

Aside from her day job at ZWEI Interiors Architecture, Katherine loves being part of the sessional team at RMIT University within the IDD, College of Vocational Education, Creative Industries Cluster. Katherine strongly believes in building a collegiate and collaborative design community across all sectors of design and construction, and is passionate about giving back to the profession and mentoring and supporting young graduates into the profession.

Katherine is currently delivering the final semester Capstone design project within the Associate Degree program.

Director, ZWEI Interiors Architecture

ZWEI lead a self driven project for Melbourne Design Week 2020, Citizen.MDW. The project explored the question posed by Melbourne Design Week, 'how can design shape life?' by installing a pop-up cafe in Queensbridge Square that explored how the design of both the structure and systems behind a coffee outlet can support a circular economy, change behaviour and lead to better sustainable outcomes.

The Citizen.MDW pavilion was a temporary popup form that showcased sustainable, off grid design and was a test case for a café that works within the ethos of a circular economy. Materials were selected based on their sustainable qualities and elements such as the reused milk crates talk directly to repurposing an element that is typically used within café operations, and will have a second life when broken down into plastic flakes and reformed as post-consumer plastic sheeting.

All equipment was been extensively reviewed and assessed for electrical load and operations were adapted to work within the capacity of the solar panels.

An example is; the dishwasher was removed from the pavilion due to the high electrical demand, and the decision was made to ask all patrons to bring their own cup.

The design also showcased growing mushrooms from coffee waste, and how people can easily collect grounds and compost, and grow and eat mushrooms at home.

Design, Interior Design, Interior Architecture

Citizen.MDW design apporach and outcomes:

Structure:

Designed using scaffolding as the framework, the roof is formed by using 118 solar panels generating the electricity to power the café operations, and three Tesla off grid power walls are mounted to the scaffold that store electricity to supply continuous power to the pavilion.

The walls are repurposed milk crates, curved into folded forms, the crates are locked together vertically by clamped webbing, then tied horizontally using hemp ties.

The coffee counter is built from recycled plastic sheet, including flaked milk cartons, with repurposed timber supports under.

Mushrooms are showcased within plastic tubing in the heart of the structure.

All the built elements will be repurposed or are elements that can be used again and again.

Mushrooms:

Mushrooms showcase the reuse of coffee grounds, rather than going to landfill.

The mushrooms have been propagated into recycled plastic tubes and incubated in the mushroom farm in the Mornington Peninsula. Once the mycelium is ready, the tubes are transported to site and holes opened in the tubes, where they will spawn beautiful mushrooms for show. Once they have passed their life span, they will be returned to compost.

Coffee:

The coffee is brought to the pavilion by Code Black Coffee. The coffee beans have been roasted in their Roastery in Brunswick and are generally sourced direct from the growers in South and Central America. All the coffee grounds throughout the event will be collected into bins and used by Reground for composting, mushroom farming and worm farms throughout Melbourne.

Power:

The pavilion is off-grid and supported by 118 solar panels on the roof and façade of the pavilion. Three 13.5KWh Tesla power walls store the electricity and supply continuous power to the café and pavilion.

Water:

The pavilion collects rainwater from the roof through the central gutter and runs into IBC 1000L collection vessels. This water is not potable (drinkable) but we will reuse the water for various purposes throughout the event. Waste water will also be collected from the café and repurposed after the event.

Recycled plastic:

We have sourced recycled plastic tubing from a Victorian supplier who takes post-consumer plastic waste, reduces it to flakes, heats and reforms the plastic into a workable sheet material. The plastic is then curved into various forms for use.

Typically the tubes we have sourced are used in buildings for drainage, irrigation and fire services.

Equipment:

Coffee equipment is supplied by Code Black Coffee and utilises single group espresso coffee machines and pour over coffee, and the coffee for the duration of the Melbourne Design Week event will be free.

The equipment load has been assessed by Finding Infinity to ensure that the load demand can be supported by the solar capacity of the pavilion.

We support the Climate Council, and visitors ordering coffee are requested to donate a gold coin to support climate action.

Coffee Cups

The pavilion is operating on the principle of ‘bring your own cup’ rather than contribute to landfill through the use of single use takeaway cups.

Reground

All the coffee grounds throughout the event will be collected into bins and used by Reground for composting, mushroom farming and worm farms throughout Melbourne

• Design, Interior Design, Interior Architecture