Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemInformation and Document Management System for Construction Sites(CIB WORKING COMMISSION, 2010)Each construction project is unique in terms of how specialist professionals manage and use project documents. A construction sites use and generate a large body of documents containing valuable information across project participants. Therefore, the efficient deployment of construction projects depends partly on the effective communication among project participants. This communication, however, is hindered by the large amount and wide variation of the project information and documents involved and the spatial dispersion of construction sites. This paper presents an intranetbased information and document management system that facilitates project information and communication management within a large construction company. The system implementation and testing have shown that it can provide structured and reliable information, quick and remote access, and prompt updating capabilities of stored documents.
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ItemCodes and conferences - a new era for building researchers and educators(AUBEA, 2010)This paper discusses building conference rankings, metrics and issues that impact on AUBEA academics under the new 2010 Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) framework. Part one this paper gives a brief outline of current ERA developments where Field of Research (FoR) Codes appear as a more weighty consideration when universities seek to establish research strength and higher ranking in clusters around the ERA classifications. For conferences listed in the ERA building discipline a basic locational and tier analysis is presented as is a listing of ‘multi-disciplinary’ conferences where building is part of the discipline mix. Part two presents the results of an electronic survey of AUBEA participants conducted in April 2010 who are active in Australian Construction Research. Survey analysis reveals a low level typically ‘business as usual’ attitude to ERA issues, however with some individual opinion on conference listings and further comment on implementation of ERA metrics, research outputs, data gathering and reporting at various levels in the individual institution, e.g. Division, Faculty or School/Department. The current and likely future implications of ERA introduction for both individual academics and HDR students are considerations addressed in the survey analysis and discussion section of the paper.
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ItemClimate Change Adaption and Affordability – Costs, Benefits and Regulation of Improved Environmental Performance in Housing(RICS Publications, 2008)Climate change regulatory response has lead to a number of recent studies that examine the cost and benefits of mandating improved housing design and specification. Research addressed in the paper seeks an understanding of the financial impacts of ‘sustainability’ and ‘energy efficiency’ in housing generally, biased to an Australian temperate climate regional perspective (Victoria and South Australia). The paper presents the research literature and examines the question of ‘trade-offs’ in improved residential building environmental performance. Analysis of previous studies and data on housing costs, both initial capital and operational, is a primary focus of the paper which draws some conclusions from the housing studies and cost information.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableSimplicity Offers Flexibility(RMIT University, 2006)Report on sustainable housing developments and examples from Germany.
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ItemTrans-disciplinarity within the discipline(QUT, 2005)Architecture, while desirous of maintaining its autonomy, has always been fascinated by other disciplines, and has frequently appropriated concepts and models from science, mathematics, philosophy, literature, and so on. Architectural education has likewise contributed to such interdisciplinary pursuits. This paper will argue that while the ongoing investigation into other disciplines is of great value to architecture, the capacities and tasks proper to architecture need to be examined in more depth. Architecture must negotiate ways of maintaining its autonomy while remaining permeable to the influence of other disciplines. This is specifically relevant when it comes to the area of design education, which in its own right collects together a number of specific disciplines, such as interior, landscape, urban design and architecture. Within my own practice, which is strongly related to my teaching experience, the concept of trans-scale, as well as the establishment of trans-disciplinary networks, has facilitated a greater understanding of the potentialities of architecture as both an autonomous and open discipline. In order to investigate what I call the trans-disciplinary possibilities of architecture I will present work undertaken in two design studios with students from RMIT University. The first design studio, undertaken with architecture students, was an examination of a minor context embedded in a major context, specifically the city of Stuttgart. The second studio, which I have more recently completed, is an interior design studio in which students are asked to study and design a public square in Melbourne in order to understand their discipline with respect to both the broader scale of the city, and the more discrete scale of public furniture and design object. With both exercises I address the idea of a relationship between the different design disciplines, ie interior design and urban design, and frame it with trans-disciplinary questions. For instance, what is the role of the history of a city and the context of a site on a design concept? How great could be the impact of furniture considered within an urban project?
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAn Investigation of Institutional Arrangements for Design and Delivery of Multimodal Public Transport(Australasian Transport Research Forum, 2010)Intermodal service coordination designed to achieve a 'seamless network' is a common feature of high-quality public transport systems. This paper explores the intention and the reality of the institutional arrangements that govern the coordination of bus, tram and train services in Melbourne under the franchise agreements. State Government policies and contractual obligations set out the intended lines of responsibility for the planning of transport networks in relation to design and delivery of coordinated multimodal services. Interviews, designed to examine the practical application of these policies and obligations, were conducted during 2009 with staff from the Department of Transport, the private operators, the Bus Association and from Metlink - the company established to improve communication and coordination of public transport services. The results of this investigation highlight the significant differences between actual practices and the stated intentions of both government policies and existing contracts with private sector organisations. The lack of effective designation of responsibilities, ineffective communication at many levels across numerous institutions, and an absence of skilled staff will continue to impede the development of a cohesive transport network in Melbourne. These problems were not addressed in the design of the new franchise agreements that began in December 2009.
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ItemResearch into identifying Effective Learning Environments(OECD Publications, 2005)The evaluation of school learning environments has for decades traditionally focused on the technical performance of the facilities with little attention being paid to their pedagogical performance or effectiveness. There are a range of ‘top down’ imperatives which have driven such an approach, including the need to sustainably finance educational infrastructure and show evidence as to how this money is being spent successfully. This need is emerging following the funding approaches now being taken by such bodies as the European Investment Bank and in Public Private Partnerships. On the other hand ‘bottom up’ imperatives have considered the pedagogical performance of learning environments as a means of providing feedback to authorities especially in the process of procurement. This in turn has influenced the development of planning and design guidelines. This paper examines more closely the educational learning environment and the qualitative and quantitative research measures that have been used in recent times to determine their effectiveness. It explores some of the pedagogy and environment performance measures that have evolved and views these in the context of emerging research and evidence which attempts to relate pedagogy (including student and teacher attitudes) to space. It examines some case studies and focuses on the recently developed DET Victoria pedagogy-space strategies. Finally some conclusions are drawn and suggestions made for possible future research directions.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableVietnam Veterans, Hollywood, and the Persian Gulf War(University of Queensland, School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, 2009)
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ItemEcoHome reflection on research outcomes in light of initial research grant intentions: a multidisciplinary approach to complex housing sustainability issues(Flinders University, 2006)Sustainability in the housing industry is a complex interrelated field of inquiry. In Melbourne, Australia, a consortium of seven industry, regulatory and policy organisation, two universities covering three disciplines (building, social science and engineering) came together to explore a multidisciplinary approach to the field through the EcoHome research project. This paper will summarise the journey of the EcoHome project and its outcomes, beginning with its intentions in 2001 to the home’s sale in 2005. The journeys of the three research projects is briefly outlined and discussed in light of the intentions of the project. This paper also reports on how this project resulted in a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to research called the ‘Triple Helix’ approach and the linked development of the Re-imaging the suburb research program.
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ItemEcotourism in the architectural imagination(Channel View Publications, 2007)Ecotourism is a burgeoning sector of the tourism industry offering a relatively guilt-free environment in which to satisfy the desire for travel and adventure. The discourse is firmly entrenched within the dominant conception of sustainability, which posits nature as a privileged ‘other’ free from human intervention. Images of ecotourism destinations celebrate this ideology through the promotion of ‘pristine’ environments. However, a more complex image question arises in relation to the infrastructure that supports the tourists’ encounter with this idealised natural environment. This paper is concerned with unpacking the identities and ideologies that are embedded within images of ecotourism resorts and within the broader field of sustainable tourism. Through the lens of the premier global sustainable tourism certification program, Green Globe, three ‘images’ that correspond to three typologies of tourism destinations are identified. The ‘hyper-real’ is embedded within the mass-market arena of sustainable tourism, while the niche ecotourism market engages in a process of architectural ‘absence’. The third typology of place-based tourism mediates between these two extremes. While it can result in a tendency towards undifferentiated ‘background’ architecture, at its most productive it is conceived as a form of architectural ‘camouflage’ by maintaining a dynamic process of emergence and disappearance. When this typology is extended beyond the limits of the image, it offers even greater potential as a form of spatial liminality between traditional representations of human/environment relations as alternatively undifferentiated or ontologically distinct. The paper concludes by arguing that the design of ecotourism facilities should be focused on more than minimising impacts and that architecture has a productive role to play, particularly in relation to the education imperative of ecotourism.