Architectural Design Across Spaces and Cultures: Technology and Language. This project addresses two significant productivity barriers facing Australia’s architectural practices; designing in spatially distributed and culturally diverse teams.
While design practices are central to sustaining Australia’s creative export sector, growing concerns associated with online, multilingual design teams have been identified.
Directly responding to Australia’s COVID-19 recovery plans, this research seeks ....Architectural Design Across Spaces and Cultures: Technology and Language. This project addresses two significant productivity barriers facing Australia’s architectural practices; designing in spatially distributed and culturally diverse teams.
While design practices are central to sustaining Australia’s creative export sector, growing concerns associated with online, multilingual design teams have been identified.
Directly responding to Australia’s COVID-19 recovery plans, this research seeks to develop new knowledge about the cognitive, social and technical factors that shape the effectiveness of online international design teamwork. Its goal is to leverage the opportunities provided through technological advances and multicultural practices, to remove barriers to design productivity and enhance creativity.Read moreRead less
Using acoustic retroreflection in architecture to improve rooms for speech. This project aims to discover how a novel form of acoustic treatment can improve acoustics for speech in rooms such as classrooms and open-plan offices. The project will generate new knowledge on the theory, design, and effects of acoustically retroreflective surfaces in room acoustics. Expected outcomes include solutions for effective acoustic retroreflectors, knowledge on how retroreflection influences people’s voice r ....Using acoustic retroreflection in architecture to improve rooms for speech. This project aims to discover how a novel form of acoustic treatment can improve acoustics for speech in rooms such as classrooms and open-plan offices. The project will generate new knowledge on the theory, design, and effects of acoustically retroreflective surfaces in room acoustics. Expected outcomes include solutions for effective acoustic retroreflectors, knowledge on how retroreflection influences people’s voice regulation and sound quality perception, and guidelines and simulation tools for integrating retroreflective treatments to improve speaking comfort. This should provide significant benefits including opportunities to resolve seemingly intractable design dilemmas in the acoustics of education and workplace environments.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
Urban interiors: architectural change and the city since the 1960s. This project aims to examine architectural and urban change since the 1960s. Increasingly, urban lives are spent indoors as we move from the concourses of transport interchanges through commercial lobbies, shopping malls and the atriums of hotels and museums. Using new methods for visualising and analysing urban interiors, this project will show how these spaces have changed understandings and experiences of public and private s ....Urban interiors: architectural change and the city since the 1960s. This project aims to examine architectural and urban change since the 1960s. Increasingly, urban lives are spent indoors as we move from the concourses of transport interchanges through commercial lobbies, shopping malls and the atriums of hotels and museums. Using new methods for visualising and analysing urban interiors, this project will show how these spaces have changed understandings and experiences of public and private space in cities. Outcomes from the project will aid the professional and public understanding of urban change in Australia.Read moreRead less
Making architectural identity: the architecture of John Andrews. The important Australian architect John Andrews had a career unique for its success, first in Canada and the United States and then in Australia. Research into his design work and how it has been understood will develop new knowledge of design practices of the 1970s, how architecture is understood in terms of nationality, and how design has become globalised.
Co-designing and co-evaluating technology experiences in residential care . This project aims for meaningful experiences and skill development by older adults living in residential care using technologies. Based on the interests, abilities and everyday context it is important to introduce technologies in a way that supports agency and confidence. Through co-design and co-evaluation we develop a process to explore technology choices and learning. We will (i) generate guidelines for introducing te ....Co-designing and co-evaluating technology experiences in residential care . This project aims for meaningful experiences and skill development by older adults living in residential care using technologies. Based on the interests, abilities and everyday context it is important to introduce technologies in a way that supports agency and confidence. Through co-design and co-evaluation we develop a process to explore technology choices and learning. We will (i) generate guidelines for introducing technology, (ii) develop methods and success criteria for the co-evaluation of the process, and (iii) gain in-depth understandings of how facilitation and technology uptake are enacted in a range of residential settings. Older adults in residential care will benefit through increased digital equity and technology adoption. Read moreRead less
The Analects of Antoni Gaudí. This project aims to investigate and record the missing dimensions of Antoni Gaudí's theoretical position and his way of working. Gaudí (1852-1926) is one of the most important figures in world architecture and a major shaper of modern culture, but wrote nothing on his theory or practice of architecture. Given its holism, aesthetic, structural and artistic richness, this is a problem for scholars. Work to complete the Sagrada Família, a living laboratory of conspicu ....The Analects of Antoni Gaudí. This project aims to investigate and record the missing dimensions of Antoni Gaudí's theoretical position and his way of working. Gaudí (1852-1926) is one of the most important figures in world architecture and a major shaper of modern culture, but wrote nothing on his theory or practice of architecture. Given its holism, aesthetic, structural and artistic richness, this is a problem for scholars. Work to complete the Sagrada Família, a living laboratory of conspicuously innovative architecture, is entering its final stages with anticipated completion in 2026. This presents a last opportunity to capture, interpret and disseminate Gaudí’s thoughts and analects for dissemination to the next generation of architects.Read moreRead less
Citizen Heritage: Digital and Community-based Histories of Place. This interdisciplinary project investigates the potential for the citizens of local areas to generate new collective interpretations of their shared heritage and identity. A longitudinal case study will be conducted into the design and deployment of a digital and mobile tool for a particular urban precinct. Findings will reveal the viability of collaborative digital technologies to shape the experience of built places, and their c ....Citizen Heritage: Digital and Community-based Histories of Place. This interdisciplinary project investigates the potential for the citizens of local areas to generate new collective interpretations of their shared heritage and identity. A longitudinal case study will be conducted into the design and deployment of a digital and mobile tool for a particular urban precinct. Findings will reveal the viability of collaborative digital technologies to shape the experience of built places, and their capacity to balance expert and community knowledge. The study is significant for understanding grass-roots forms of history-making, and new forms of architectural heritage interpretation that capture social and intangible aspects of urban history. Read moreRead less
Information practices in non-profits: Knowledge management & technology use. This project aims to study the potential for nonprofit organisations (NPOs) to adopt low-cost tools (eg social media) for knowledge sharing. It plans to use an innovative qualitative design combining expertise in knowledge management, information behaviour and web usability to explore how NPOs manage knowledge to support their mission as they adopt emerging technologies. In an increasingly competitive environment, NPOs ....Information practices in non-profits: Knowledge management & technology use. This project aims to study the potential for nonprofit organisations (NPOs) to adopt low-cost tools (eg social media) for knowledge sharing. It plans to use an innovative qualitative design combining expertise in knowledge management, information behaviour and web usability to explore how NPOs manage knowledge to support their mission as they adopt emerging technologies. In an increasingly competitive environment, NPOs must maximise productivity by using low-cost, appropriate technologies. Results may inform the design of new tools and staff training to support NPOs’ goals.Read moreRead less
Is architecture art? a history of categories, concepts and recent practices. The project aims to link architectural theory with broader cultural theory to provide new ways for architectural theory to engage with creative practice. There is no simple answer to the recurring question of whether architecture is an art. Nevertheless, unpacking the historical and current interests at stake in this question will lead to a better understanding of architecture in contemporary culture. Current issues ari ....Is architecture art? a history of categories, concepts and recent practices. The project aims to link architectural theory with broader cultural theory to provide new ways for architectural theory to engage with creative practice. There is no simple answer to the recurring question of whether architecture is an art. Nevertheless, unpacking the historical and current interests at stake in this question will lead to a better understanding of architecture in contemporary culture. Current issues arising from the exhibition of architecture in art galleries and architecture’s classification in new measures of the cultural economy appear to be unconnected. The project plans to show that these issues are linked in the long history of systems of the arts and recent debates about the role of medium, discipline and aesthetic autonomy in defining the arts.Read moreRead less