Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemThe Shanghai Paradox(Architecture Media Politics Society, 2014)This paper outlines my ongoing research on the use of traditional symbolism and its utilisation in contemporary architecture of the Chinese global city. It specifically examines the landmark architecture of the Pudong, or the “new” Shanghai. Is there a contradiction in imagery when architects adopt traditional motifs in contemporary skyscraper architecture? Designs such as Cesar Pelli’s Petronas Towers (1994) in Kuala Lumpur use traditional Islamic patterns in the floor plans and façade detail. However, in the case of Shanghai, the three landmark buildings of the Pudong as shown in Figure 1; the Jin Mao Tower (1999), the Shanghai World Financial Centre (2008) and the Shanghai Tower (under construction at the time of writing), all reference fengshui and cosmology. The paradox in this case is that under law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), geomancy, including fengshui and cosmological symbolism, is defined as a feudal superstition and its practice illegal.
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ItemArchitectural specialisation and the death of architectural practice(Architectural Science Association & The University of Adelaide, 2016)In the past 50 years the traditional role of the architect to supervise and control projects has been eroded. The last remaining bastion maintain this traditional role of the architect is in small practice. Using a survey that firstly looks at how architects are engaged via either full or partial services we explore how architects identify with and deliver specialised services. The respondents in the survey were taken from a sample of 1200 Australian architects. Data was collected regarding specialisation, service provision, outsourcing and contractual arrangements. This is positioned alongside a historical account of the profession which suggests that technology and changes within legal frameworks, strategy, marketing, operations, project management, and finance are leading to the marginalisation of architects. We test this assertion by investigating evidence for these changes and the extent to which specialised architectural knowledge is being created in firms. For architects, specialist architectural knowledge is integrative and resides in the traditional service delivery particularly in the realm of housing. However, fee competition has hampered the ability of architects to specialise. As a result, in the future the role of the architect may be non-existent.
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ItemFour Melbourne Architects (1979): The Creation of Contemporary Perceptions for Australian Architecture(SAHANZ, 2022)In 1979, Peter Corrigan conceived the idea for the ‘Four Melbourne Architects’ exhibition to be held at South Yarra’s Powell Street Gallery. Corrigan led the charge to draw a line between a new generation of architectural practitioners with a fresh design agenda and the conservative practices represented by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA). This exhibition, along with the establishment of the Half Time Club and the launch of Transition Magazine, provided platforms for a lively and vigorous profession. The ‘Four Melbourne Architects’—Greg Burgess, Peter Crone, Norman Day and Edmond and Corrigan—were diverse in their approach to architectural design yet shared common concerns of the post-Whitlam generation. The research for this paper examines the documentation between the four architects as they prepared their exhibition, recording the projects exhibited, along with critical reviews of the exhibition. Interviews have been undertaken with the surviving architects involved and people who attended the exhibition. Four Melbourne Architects was the first of many exhibitions during that period, which became one of many vehicles for public engagement with early postmodernism and those creating it, where collaboration, inclusion, and connectivity informed designers. That process activated a search for a contemporary Australian identity leading to the development of the ‘Melbourne School’.
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ItemDeveloping An Evidence-based Understanding of Hospital Space Planning Efficiency(Architectural Science Association, 2018)Over the last two decades there has been a steady increase in the demand for healthcare services and a commensurate rise in the global expenditure in health (WHO, 2014). Given the significance of the financial investment in capital works programmes required to meet growing healthcare needs and the expanding environmental impact of the healthcare industry, it is important to gain a detailed understanding of how healthcare infrastructure assets currently perform, the strategic drivers impacting on hospital space use efficiency, and the complex interrelationship of factors that impact on the healthcare environment. This paper outlines a research project that was conducted by the University of Melbourne in conjunction with a local architectural practice partner, to examine space planning efficiency and emerging trends in hospital space planning requirements. To assist in developing a greater understanding of the space planning efficiency of healthcare infrastructure, and changing trends in hospital space planning, this study examined a range of measures across 31 hospitals against regional and international benchmarks. This paper outlines a novel multi-modal research methodology established to examine the complex range of interconnecting planning measures impacting space planning efficiency, and some of the difficulties in assessing hospital space planning efficiency.
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ItemUsefulness of data analytics in Smart Villages development(Smart Villages Lab, The University of Melbounre, 2022-12-20)With over 40% global population still live in rural with many under extreme poor conditions, effective management of resources for supporting the development is crucial. One of the key considerations in effective management is need-based and context specific intervention planning incorporating bottom-up information flow. Traditional top-down approaches in planning and development are considered not only wasteful but also irrelevant for transforming rural communities keeping the value, culture, heritage at the core of the development cycle. In the bottom up planning, empirical data at the grassroots level activities play a pivotal role. In this research, significance of the data-driven planning coupled with the strong data-analytics is demonstrated as one of the most critical elements supporting the planning and development of rural communities under the auspice of Smart Villages. Based on a case study conducted across 37 villages in the river island Majuli in Assam located in the north eastern part of India, the research highlights the functionalities and efficacies of a Smart Data Platform used for evaluating real-time data analytics and supporting context specific planning and development of a large area comprising 2300 plus households. The concept is further highlighted to signify the need for central data-centric Research and Development center for supporting policy making within the public governance.
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ItemAll that glitters is not gold: the effect of mining activities and royalties on the built environment of remote North East Arnhem Land(Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ), 2016)This paper explores the effects of mining activities and royalties on the Northern Territory’s remote northeast Arnhem Land region, including the mining town of Nhulunbuy (with a 93.8% non-Indigenous population) and surrounding Indigenous communities, and shows that the associated architectures do not provide long-term benefit to local people. In 2014, Rio Tinto Alcan closed their alumina refinery in Nhulunbuy. This resulted in the redundancy or redeployment of 1100 workers and a significant reduction in the town’s 4000 strong population. The closure of the refinery calls into question the role of mining settlements and their surrounding regions beyond the life of a mine. Using the case study of northeast Arnhem Land, the paper describes the genesis of the Nhulunbuy Township in the late 1960s and how it precipitated the Indigenous land rights movement in the Northern Territory and the repatriation to homelands throughout the region. The paper analyses the architecture of Nhulunbuy, whose public, commercial and residential buildings were almost exclusively designed and built by the mining company, in comparison to the architectures that emerged through mining royalty funds distributed to traditional land owner groups such as the Gumatj and Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporations, the Yirrkala Dhanbul Association and the Arnhem Land Trust. It historicises and critiques their respective contextual response to environmental, social and adaptive economic factors. Nhulunbuy has grown to become a significant resource centre for the northeast Arnhem Land region providing services to surrounding Indigenous communities and homelands. Thus the paper turns to a discussion of the recent history of the alumina refinery closure and the subsequent ramifications for the region’s architecture, both in the mining town and for mining royalty funded structures throughout the region. With the sudden closure of other mines throughout remote Australia, such as the Alinta coal mine at Leigh Creek, South Australia, which also acts as a service centre to the nearby Iga Warta Indigenous community, this paper is both a timely and relevant contribution.
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ItemBarbara van den Broek. Contributions to the Disciplines of Landscape Architecture, Town Planning and Architecture(SAHANZ, 2022)Barbara van den Broek (1932-2001) trained as an architect in Auckland, New Zealand before moving to Brisbane with her husband and fellow architect Joop, where they established an architectural practice. van den Broek went on to run an office as a sole practitioner and took on architecture and landscape architecture projects. Over the course of her career she completed post-graduate diplomas in Town and Country Planning, Landscape Architecture and Education, and a Master of Science – Environmental Studies, and collaborated on a number of key projects in Queensland and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Our paper will build an account of her career. In assessing the significance of her contribution to landscape architecture, planning and architecture in Australasia, it will bring a number of other spheres into the frame: conservation and Australia’s environment movement; landscape design and the bush garden; and van den Broek’s personal development that included artistic expression, single parenthood, teaching, and the navigation of male-dominated professional environments to develop a practice that contributed to town planning projects in cities across Australia, and made significant contributions to landscape projects in Queensland and PNG.
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ItemStructural Design with Reclaimed Materials: an Elastic Gridshell out of Skis(International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS), 2017)This paper presents the design and construction of a 36m2 gridshell, the rigidity of which is achieved through the bending of an initially flat grid of 210 reclaimed skis. The generated waste for its production is near zero as it is mostly built from discarded material. Its construction process is such that it can be disassembled and reassembled multiple times without scaffolding and by means of traditional tools only. After a brief introduction on the need for reducing embodied carbon and waste in structures through reuse, the paper sets up the constraints that have driven the definition of the pavilion, the main one being the extension of the lifetime of high-performance sport equipment by reclaiming their intrinsic mechanical properties. The paper then details the encountered unusual aspects in the design process and how they have been overcome – i.e., sporadic material supply, categorization of mechanical properties, physical alteration of these properties, and uncertainties in the numerical modelling of both the structural analysis and the construction process. Eventually, we conclude that reclaimed skis as a material have the potential to be as good as conventional timber when designing elastic gridshells. A series of future directions for this emerging field of research are also laid out.
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ItemReducing rework to enhance the sustainability of building projects(Graduate Associate Professionals, 2022-12-16)One of the definitions of rework is reported to be ‘the unnecessary effort of re-doing a process or activity that was incorrectly implemented the first time’. Construction rework contributes to time and cost overruns in building projects. The costs of rework in building projects can be calculated using different ways looking at construction contract value or based only in construction direct costs, excluding items like profits, overheads, and other management costs. This research looked at a Total Field Rework Factor (TFRF) indicator based on direct costs suggested Construction Industry Institute (CII). Looking at 437 different projects, the value of TFRF was 7.4% in average, with a maximum of 17.5% in nine Design and Construct projects. Minimising rework is a part of the quality management process, and every sustainable building project must consider it. This article aims to identify new management process to help reducing building construction rework making a contribution to improve the sustainability of the project. We reviewed and analysed the applicability and implication of Knowledge Management techniques and Lean principles specific to building construction projects. We also discuss the potential interventions in the building construction industry and practical implementations to enhance the sustainability of the buildings.
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ItemTracking the Trends in City Networking: A Passing Phase or Genuine International Reform?(University of Pennsylvania, 2019)