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Max Doran
hello@maxdoran.com


I am a designer and draftsperson with a practical and production led approach to making. I 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 am passionate about 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
CV





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

Dr Hugo Moline
Architect / Lecturer
MAPA / The Univeristy of Newcastle
hugo.moline@newcastle.edu.au

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




SkillsAutoCAD
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





Fragment Collectives - Model 01. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran
...
Fragment Collectives - Model 02. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran
Fragment Collectives - Model 01. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran
Fragment Collectives - Model 01. 2023 by Max Doran. Courtesy of Max Doran


6. Fragment Collectives
Studio 4
October 2023
The University of Newcastle
In collaboration with Matt McGuinness, Ethan Maleszka, and Dean Keet

Fragmented Collectives challenges traditional domestic and leisure spaces in a post-industrial Newcastle. The exploration of combining domestic and leisure spaces led to the adoption of utilising Newcastle’s industrial equipment in a post-extractive future. The use of Gantry Cranes as both a construction and adaptation tool created a project centred around continuous movement and an ever-changing domestic setting.

The positioning of this proposal, centred around the western side of the Marketown complex, makes its way down Steel Street to the foreshore, with a key focus on the Former Palais Royale, and its contentious positioning with the development of a KFC, ignoring the thousands of Awabakal artefacts.






6.1 Frankenstiens


Through the ‘smashing’ of existing domestic and
leisure spaces, interesting threshold spaces are
created, as well as changing the way a person
experiences the space based on their intended
use.
Through this exercise, possibilities were
explored in creating an open public ground
plane, and exploring circulation methodologies,
predominantly in an industrial way.







6.2. Exploring Fragments Using a 4800 x 4800mm pod to limit domestic
spaces, fragments were developed that could
provide housing and public space. Creating
these forms allows for adaptability and mobility
through the relocation of gantry cranes from the
Port of Newcastle.





5.3. Physical FrameworkThe reuse of cranes throughout the site not
only increases flexibility within footprint of
allotments, it reflects the history of Newcastle,
although through a different form, in a future
where Newcastle, its port, and its economy, is
not reliant on the extraction of coal.

The radical approach taken through this project
pushes the boundaries of what can be considered
domesticity and leisure, and highlights the need
for Newcastle to adapt to a changing landscape
surrounding industrial activity.

Creating a physical model of the environment
proposed for the Marketown complex and Steel
Street further conveyed the scheme, highlighting
how these ‘fragments’ would adapt and shape
the existing landscape, as well as the proposed
locations for both gantry and tower cranes.

The re-routing of cottage creek throughout the
Marketown site aims to reestablish its path and
reduce flash flooding within the area, whilst
also breaking up the grid created throughout
the area.


 
© Max Doran