Designing offices well. This project aims to describe, quantify and analyse the impact of workspace design on workers’ satisfaction, productivity and health. The Australian market is the fastest adopter of Activity-Based Working (ABW) in the world and impacts arising from this workspace typology on workers will be significant now and in the next decade. This project will develop benchmarking for ABW offices, techniques for monitoring cognitive performance in situ, and design guidelines for healt ....Designing offices well. This project aims to describe, quantify and analyse the impact of workspace design on workers’ satisfaction, productivity and health. The Australian market is the fastest adopter of Activity-Based Working (ABW) in the world and impacts arising from this workspace typology on workers will be significant now and in the next decade. This project will develop benchmarking for ABW offices, techniques for monitoring cognitive performance in situ, and design guidelines for health promotion. By shifting attention to design features that actually perform well, this project will provide the empirical basis needed to transform the way workspaces are designed now and in the future. It will therefore lead to greater productivity in and among workplaces.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200989
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$280,343.00
Summary
The Australian Mosque Today: Architectural Collaborations. This project aims to investigate collaborations between architects and Muslim communities in Australia. The project will analyze ten mosques, from design consultation through to construction, completed since 2000. This focus on the professional design process will provide innovative insights into creative collaboration and cross-cultural engagement. Expected outcomes of this project include a significant, richly nuanced counter-narrative ....The Australian Mosque Today: Architectural Collaborations. This project aims to investigate collaborations between architects and Muslim communities in Australia. The project will analyze ten mosques, from design consultation through to construction, completed since 2000. This focus on the professional design process will provide innovative insights into creative collaboration and cross-cultural engagement. Expected outcomes of this project include a significant, richly nuanced counter-narrative to pervasive, isolationist representations of Australian Muslim communities. The findings will be presented in scholarly publications and a major public exhibition to promote new knowledge about the place of Islam in Australia and to build faith (literally and metaphorically) in multicultural Australia.
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Place and parametricism: Provocations for the rethinking of design. This project aims to explore whether quantitative methods of digital and parametric design can adequately encompass place. Quantitative digital and parametric approaches increasingly dominate contemporary architecture, but people assume architectural design should be essentially oriented to questions of place. The project will operate through a set of studio provocations based on the fictional places of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghas ....Place and parametricism: Provocations for the rethinking of design. This project aims to explore whether quantitative methods of digital and parametric design can adequately encompass place. Quantitative digital and parametric approaches increasingly dominate contemporary architecture, but people assume architectural design should be essentially oriented to questions of place. The project will operate through a set of studio provocations based on the fictional places of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels. The project is expected to clarify the nature of place and parametricism, and rethink what design itself might be.Read moreRead less
The impact of location-specific urban digital social information networks and public displays on the City of Melbourne. The purpose of this project is to enhance the city as a vibrant destination by taking digital content and anchoring it in the physical world. The outcomes will be physical nodes of interaction in urban cultural hubs - e.g., museums, libraries, cafes - allowing users to post media, stories and events that are locally relevant for others to consume.
Complex and nonlinear pattern analysis in architectural space, form and program: developing computational tools to support social and cultural design. In a country that is experiencing increasing urban density there is an urgent need for the development of tools and models for the production of socially and culturally responsive environments. The Fellowship develops a new quantitative and qualitative understanding of the experiential and semiotic characteristics of buildings. The project, assis ....Complex and nonlinear pattern analysis in architectural space, form and program: developing computational tools to support social and cultural design. In a country that is experiencing increasing urban density there is an urgent need for the development of tools and models for the production of socially and culturally responsive environments. The Fellowship develops a new quantitative and qualitative understanding of the experiential and semiotic characteristics of buildings. The project, assisted by developments in robotics technology, produces a leading-edge computational model for analysing complex and non-linear patterns in architectural space, form and program from a social and cultural perspective. Such a model will assist design practitioners, scholars, town planners and policy writers to shape rich, responsive and inclusive architectural environments.Read moreRead less
Responsive transport environments: spatial and visual user information technologies to allow improved passenger flow and a better customer experience. The research will investigate how to relieve growing usage pressure on Australian public transport by using user-responsive digital technologies to offer a complementary approach to infrastructure expansion. The work includes the evaluation of prototypes in real transport locations to evaluate the impact on user capacity and the customer experienc ....Responsive transport environments: spatial and visual user information technologies to allow improved passenger flow and a better customer experience. The research will investigate how to relieve growing usage pressure on Australian public transport by using user-responsive digital technologies to offer a complementary approach to infrastructure expansion. The work includes the evaluation of prototypes in real transport locations to evaluate the impact on user capacity and the customer experience.Read moreRead less
What is successful public art today?: exploring how contemporary public art and memorial design shapes public engagement, perceptions and behaviour. Much public money is invested in public art and memorials. The research explores critical questions of value: what the public enjoys about such artworks, if and how artworks contribute amenity to public spaces, and whether recent artworks engage effectively with social memory, identity and politics. The research situates local practice within intern ....What is successful public art today?: exploring how contemporary public art and memorial design shapes public engagement, perceptions and behaviour. Much public money is invested in public art and memorials. The research explores critical questions of value: what the public enjoys about such artworks, if and how artworks contribute amenity to public spaces, and whether recent artworks engage effectively with social memory, identity and politics. The research situates local practice within international trends, to inform Australian designers, policymakers, art patrons and public space managers about recent innovations in technology, craft, creativity and critique, so they can create and choose public artworks and memorials which engage with the potentials of contemporary arts practice, the complexities of contemporary culture, and the diversity of social behaviour in public spaces.Read moreRead less
Swarming: micro-flight data capture and analysis in architectural design. The project seeks to generate new knowledge about the safe capture, management and application of big data in sustainable city design. In particular, it aims to investigate the use of micro air vehicles (drones) equipped with diverse lightweight sensing equipment to gather data including atmospheric measurements and building temperatures and reflectivity. This is designed to meet the need for more site-specific and vertica ....Swarming: micro-flight data capture and analysis in architectural design. The project seeks to generate new knowledge about the safe capture, management and application of big data in sustainable city design. In particular, it aims to investigate the use of micro air vehicles (drones) equipped with diverse lightweight sensing equipment to gather data including atmospheric measurements and building temperatures and reflectivity. This is designed to meet the need for more site-specific and vertical environmental information to inform the design of sustainable architecture. The project also aims to research a cloud-based computing framework that will be able to handle very large volumes of data collected over extended time periods and locations. The data would then be used to develop visualisations and design models to inform architecture, landscape and urban design.Read moreRead less
Designing Learning Spaces for Diversity, Inclusion and Participation. This project aims to provide evidence-based guidance on how to design and/or modify mainstream schools to make it easier for students with disabilities to participate. It seeks to inform architects, educators, and policy makers about disabled students' spatial requirements and to develop strategies and tools to support the process of co-designing schools with people with lived experience of disability. The outcomes will includ ....Designing Learning Spaces for Diversity, Inclusion and Participation. This project aims to provide evidence-based guidance on how to design and/or modify mainstream schools to make it easier for students with disabilities to participate. It seeks to inform architects, educators, and policy makers about disabled students' spatial requirements and to develop strategies and tools to support the process of co-designing schools with people with lived experience of disability. The outcomes will include an inclusive learning spaces design framework. This is expected to benefit all students' access and meaningful involvement in learning through the development of more inclusive learning spaces. The research is significant because it integrates previously dissociated knowledge from architecture, education and health.Read moreRead less
Developing Accessible Playgrounds for Children with Vision Impairment. Children who are blind or have low vision (BLV) often have difficulties accessing and interacting with playgrounds, most of which are not equipped to support them. Through consultation, collaboration and co-creation with the BLV community, foundational knowledge on the user experience of playgrounds, an evaluation framework for auditing existing playgrounds and design guidelines for creating or retrofitting playgrounds will b ....Developing Accessible Playgrounds for Children with Vision Impairment. Children who are blind or have low vision (BLV) often have difficulties accessing and interacting with playgrounds, most of which are not equipped to support them. Through consultation, collaboration and co-creation with the BLV community, foundational knowledge on the user experience of playgrounds, an evaluation framework for auditing existing playgrounds and design guidelines for creating or retrofitting playgrounds will be developed that support the unique challenges of BLV children and carers. Importantly it will promote access, orientation, physical and social play for BLV children, with improved cognitive, physical and social development, thus enabling a more inclusive and healthy society.Read moreRead less