Podcast Summary: The Urbanist – Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel and Tatiana Bilbao on Housing

Host: Andrew Tuck (Monocle)
Date: January 29, 2026
Guests:

• Tatiana Bilbao, Mexican architect
• Ed Stocker, Monocle's Europe editor at large
• Avtar Lotay, RSHP Australia
• Kate Plebben, Maynard Australia

Episode Overview

This episode of The Urbanist presents two compelling discussions:

1. A deep conversation with Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao on the failings of standardized housing models and her vision for more responsive, identity-affirming designs.
2. An exploration of Melbourne’s new Metro Tunnel, its civic ambitions, and the enormous effort to integrate a new urban rail line within the city’s fabric, featuring insight from two key project architects.

Both segments address the broader theme of how holistic design and thoughtful infrastructure can create better, more inclusive cities.

Section 1: Tatiana Bilbao – A Different Approach to Housing

Bilbao’s Critique of Standardized Housing

Key Themes:

• Standardized homes erase individuality and identity.
• Housing models are driven more by industrial and capitalist needs than human necessities.

Notable Quotes:

• "By standardizing the way we live, we're eliminating the possibility of anybody of us to really exist, because ... our own possibility of existence is dependent on our own identity. And this is erasing our identity in many levels."
  — Tatiana Bilbao [00:17, reiterated at 05:07]

• "If we really think the origin of this house and it's being repeated everywhere, it's not about taking care of people, it's about the industry that it takes care of ... The model was replicated by the industry and definitely supported by the media."
  — Tatiana Bilbao [03:23]

On Modularity and Mass Housing

• Bilbao is not opposed to modularity in principle but opposes the imposition of identical "model houses" globally.
• She believes homes should allow for local, culturally specific adaptations and individual configurations.

Insight:

• "None of our lives are the same ... so by standardizing the way we live, we're eliminating the possibility of anybody of us to really exist."
  — Tatiana Bilbao [05:07]

Navigating the System

• Bilbao asserts you must work within current systems to effect change and resist from the inside, only taking on projects where financial profit isn’t the primary goal.
• "In order to change the system, you have to work within it and to create the resistance within it to the system ... What we do is normally we understand what are the compromises that we can make in order to make a bit of a change."
  — Tatiana Bilbao [07:39]

Changing Attitudes in Mexico

• Bilbao observes that failures in housing have prompted Mexican authorities to reconsider market-focused approaches, as mass abandonment of properties revealed systemic flaws.

• "If 4 million people ... have abandoned their houses and their credits, then something is wrong here."
  — Tatiana Bilbao [10:21]

• The shift includes more openness to communal living spaces and flexible property models.

Project Highlights

• San Miguel Chapultepec Housing Project:

  • Challenges fixed definitions of the housing unit; offers adaptable rooms via flexible "modular" walls with reconfigurable plumbing and electrics.
  • "All the rooms ... are the same size. So when you add a wall or remove a wall, it doubles or shrinks the space ... and that's how you can add a room to your unit or leave a room to your unit."
    — Tatiana Bilbao [12:44]

• Utopia El Triangolo:

  • Part of a city initiative creating public hubs with sports, cultural, and care facilities, specifically designed to support women.
  • "In our utopia, we have a gym for artistic gymnastics, boxing ring ... a full theater ... health and childcare, elderly care, doctor's cabinet, legal assistance for the women with the kitchen and the laundries."
    — Tatiana Bilbao [13:39]

On the Venice Biennale & The Holy See Pavilion

• Bilbao designed a participatory pavilion that involved the community directly, emphasizing repair, communal activity, and multi-use spaces for learning and performance.

Quote:
"We thought how to understand, to provide the possibility for all those to intervene and interact and convene in our pavilion ... through the process of reparation of the building."
— Tatiana Bilbao [15:14]

Section 2: Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel – Civic Infrastructure for the Future

Reworking Melbourne’s Rail Network

Guest: Kate Plebben, Maynard Australia

• The new north-south Metro line is separate from Melbourne’s historic hub-and-spoke City Loop, addressing capacity constraints and supporting city growth.
• "By introducing this new north-south line ... we open up the capacity of the network, it suddenly unlocks it to more frequent services, less congestion and a more resilient system."
  — Kate Plebben [17:55]

Architectural Vision and Placemaking

Guest: Avtar Lotay, RSHP Australia

• Three "cut and cover" box stations plus two deep CBD stations, connecting street life to 30m underground.
• The architectural approach was to "celebrate the civil engineering" with open, dramatic spaces—most notably, the cathedral-like Town Hall station with expansive, sunlight-inspired color schemes.
• "You mentioned the Trinox below ground ... literally three arches intersecting. It's like a cathedral ... that give rhythm to that long 220 meter linear platform. The color narrative ... was really influenced by the Melbourne sunset."
  — Avtar Lotay [20:25]

Open Metro: More Than Transit

• Civic considerations were paramount: stations as welcoming, lively public spaces extending the function of a town square beneath the city.
• "The idea is to invite everyone down to the station ... it's publicly accessible, open to everyone."
  — Kate Plebben [22:11]

Early Reception and Urban Impact

• The Metro Tunnel has been enthusiastically embraced, quickly becoming part of daily urban life and a catalyst for new social behaviors.

• "I saw teenagers doing a TikTok video dancing on the square ... There is that same level of energy and excitement ... infrastructure can be used ... to bring that fresh energy and identity to a city."
  — Kate Plebben [23:47]

• Avtar recounts the opening day, focusing on the joy and pride of citizens experiencing the new public space.

• "I spent more time looking at people's faces to see their reaction ... It was amazing ... We should be proud of civic architecture and promote it, because it is for the people."
  — Avtar Lotay [24:50]

Public Consultation and Ownership

• Ongoing and broad stakeholder engagement was critical for buy-in and project success.
• "You have to keep them informed and bring them as part of the process ... If you inform people of what's happening and what's going to come out at the end of it, that's a slightly easier route than if you don't keep people informed."
  — Avtar Lotay [26:15]

The Future

• New development is emerging around the stations, with more city-shaping infrastructure projects expected as Melbourne transitions to a more distributed "grid" model.
• "We will start to see ... what is next in terms of public transport infrastructure ... Projects like the suburban rail loop in Melbourne is going to push that transformation further out into the suburbs."
  — Kate Plebben [27:46]

Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• Bilbao on Standardized Housing’s Flaws: [02:24–05:07]
• Radical Housing Prototypes in Mexico City: [11:46–14:50]
• The Civic Ambition of Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel: [19:11–21:59]
• Public Life and Positive Reaction to New Infrastructure: [23:16–24:50]
• Major Quote: On Identity and Housing
  "By standardizing the way we live, we're eliminating the possibility of anybody of us to really exist ..." — Tatiana Bilbao [05:07]
• Major Quote: On Civic Architecture
  "We should be proud of civic architecture and promote it, because it is for the people." — Avtar Lotay [24:50]

Summary

This episode emphasizes the urgent need to rethink both housing and civic infrastructure. Tatiana Bilbao challenges the dominance of standardized models and proposes deeply local, flexible, and identity-driven housing as a form of resistance to global capitalist norms. Meanwhile, the Melbourne Metro Tunnel stands out as an inspiring achievement in people-centric infrastructure, creating new urban rhythms and spaces that foster civic pride, community, and urban renewal. Both stories highlight the potential for design—whether in home or city-scale projects—to shape more inclusive, vibrant, and humane urban futures.