Architects from six international powerhouses will convene in Melbourne for a three-hour symposium on the future development of the city.

The international practices, along with their collaborating Australian counterparts, have been selected to compete in a design competition for a “landmark” mixed-use tower in Melbourne’s Southbank.

The speakers at the symposium will be:

• Brian Yang, partner at Bjarke Ingels Group, collaborating with Fender Katsalidis Architects
• Wolf D. Prix, design principal and CEO of Coop Himmelblau, collaborating with Architectus
• Ma Yangsong, founder of Mad Architects, collaborating with Elenberg Fraser
• Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, collaborating with Woods Bagot
• David Gianotten, managing partner-architect of Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), collaborating with Conrad Gargett
• Caroline Bos, co-founder of UN Studio, collaborating with with Cox Architecture

The six shortlisted proposals for the competition will be unveiled at the symposium. Each speaker will have 20 minutes to present their team’s proposal for the development and explain how their proposal relates to the theme of the symposium: future cities.

The teams presented their proposals to a seven-member jury on 17 May. The jurycomprised Victoria’s government architect Jill Garner as jury chair, Thomas Kvan (former pro vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne and director of the Australian Urban Research Information Network), Cameron Bruhn (editorial director of Architecture Media), and architectural photographer John Gollings. The winning design will be announced in August.

Beulah International purchased the site in December 2017 for reportedly more than $100 million. The site is on a prominent corner of Southbank Boulevard and City Road and is currently occupied by a BMW car dealership. The final development will feature 220,000 square metres, with 23,000 square metres of public space.

The symposium will take place on Friday 27 July at the Planetshakers Centre, 400 City Road, Southbank. For more information, and to purchase tickets, go here.