Disconnection — Max Doran

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I am a designer and draftsperson with a practical and production led approach to making. I enjoy creating from desktop to final product, focusing on the detail that will lead to a finished product. Much of my work has focused on assisting in the fabrication of student and research projects, utilising CNC Routing, timber and metal machinery, and finishing processes.

My architectural interest centres around public and interstitial spaces, and how these spaces influence everyday activities. I enjoy the documentation of everyday moments, and diving into the factors that facilitate these. My interests are also driven by sustainable and practical thinking, advocating to make the most out of materials, lowering our impact, and promoting a circular economy.

CONTACT

Education

Bachelors of Design (Architecture) with Distinction
The Univeristy of Newcastle
Nov, 2024

Higher School Certificate
Barker College
2021

Employment

Technical Officer
Architecture and Built Environment Workshop
The University of Newcastle
Feb 2025 - Present

Supervisor
Go-Karts-Go
Apr 2023 - Sep 2024

Sales Assistant
Camera House Hornsby
Nov 2022 - Feb 2023

Area Leader
McDonald’s Australia
Apr 2019 - Sep 2022

Referrals

Irene Perez Lopez
Senior Lecturer
The Univeristy of Newcastle
irene.perezlopez@newcastle.edu.au
02 4921 6608

Oscar Smith
Technical Officer
Supervisor - Architecture and Built Environment Workshop
oscar.smith@newcastle.edu.au
02 4921 6373

William Belcastro
Manager - McDonald’s Australia
william.belcastro@gmail.com
0486 010 850

Skills

AutoCAD
Rhinoceros

Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Indesign
Adobe Photoshop

Rapid prototyping
CNC Machining
Timber Machining
Metal Machining

Highlights

WaterTalks
Tin Sheds Gallery, USYD
Aug 2025
Project Contributor

Field Rooms
Danks St South Precinct, Waterloo
Sep 2025
Project Contributor

FAST SLOW
Narrara Ecovillage
Oct 2025
Project Contributor

A City within the City
UON Undergraduate Exhibition
2024
Exhibiton Coordinator and Curator

Red Pen
Masters of Architecture Exhibition
2024 (Tusculum)
Featured Work

Art of the Public
Public Art Competition
Sep 2024

SONA SuperStudio
Student Architecture Competition
Aug 2024

Costal Imaginaries
Intensive Project - Denmark
June 2024

Sustainable Practices
Intensive Projecct - India
Feb 2024

Last updated 6.12.2025

SELECTED WORKS

The Interstitial Shelter - Model. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran

The Interstitial Shelter - Render 01. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran

The Interstitial Shelter - East Elevation. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran

5. Disconnection

Studio 3
June 2023
The University of Newcastle
Max Doran

Disconnection responds to a brief centred on Glenrock Lagoon, questioning what a hiking cabin truly needs to be, and whether a simple, unobtrusive shelter is enough. The project explores the site’s layered history; once an Awabakal corrobboree ground, later shaped by the extractive operations of the Burwood Colliery, and now used as an educational landscape. Disconnection highlights the fragmentation between these eras.

Hiking trails unintentionally serve as the only connectors across this disjointed past, converging and diverging at trail forks throughout the valley. The Interstitial Shelter draws its form and principles from these forks, reducing its impact on Country while maximising adaptability and responsiveness to place.

5.1. The Experience of the Bush

Through my own experience of both overnight hiking and the Glenrock Area, the guiding statement of design was broken into arrival, setup, experience, and departure. The arrival, either via the coastline along Burwood Beach or through trails within the dense bush, creates an experience within itself, and hence, the philosophy to minimise the hiking cabin to a simpler shelter was established.

5.2. Trail Forks

Trails and trail forks shape movement and perception, offering a moment of pause where choice, curiosity, and uncertainty intersect. Trail forks unintentionally create points of transition that invite exploration, encourage decision-making, and allow for reflection. Despite their lack of maintenance, trails continue to encourage pedestrian movement throughout the site, with the pedestrians themselves conducting maintenance as they pass through. Disconnection explores how the ambiguity of these trails and trail forks can influence a person's experience within the conservation area, and how a shelter can mimic this idea. Along with this, the design is aimed at minimising maintenance, similar to the minimal maintenance performed on trails.

5.3 Resoultion

The Interstitial Shelter creates a shared public
and private space, with a division of resting
and gathering. The space left between the
north (gathering) and south (resting) acts as
its own trail fork, funneling the coast into the
bush. With this, the design aims to reduce
western exposure, opening out towards the
north and the coast.

The use of a rammed earth on the western side
of the sleeping module moderates temperature
throughout the day and night, with sliding
blades to block the western sun during
sumer months. These sliding blades can also
be positioned to enclose the rest module for
comfort and privacy. Complimenting this, a
simple sleeping platform has been selected for
rest, with users required to provide their own
comfort for sleeping if required. Alternatively,
the rest module is designed to be comfortable
with minimal additional equipment.

The northern module aims to act as shade
for gathering times, whilst offering multiple
levels for working, conversing, and admiring.
The open edges, and raised platform, aim to
intersect the ‘trail fork’, where day hikers may
pass by.

The simple design of the Interstitial Shelter
minimises maintenance requirements whilst
remaining under a budget of $100,000.