Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemNo Preview AvailableVictorian architectural ornament( 1972)Summary. Part One Is concerned with a technical and historical account of the chief materials employed in architectural ornament in the period indicated; cement and plaster, terracotta and brick, wood and metal. Part Two is a catalogue of the ornamental types and forms produced in these materials based on an analysis of over two thousand buildings and illustrated by just over one thousand drawings, encompassing the following categories : cement and plaster - acroteria, parapet treatments (chiefly pediments), scrolls, finials, balustrades, window surrounds, shells, keystones, swags and festoons, studs, friezes, consoles or brackets, capitals and chimneys (rendered); clay products - ridge cresting, finials, chimney pots, brickwork patterns and chimneys (exposed brick); wood - gable end fillers, bargeboards, struts or brackets, verandah woodwork; cast-iron - balustrades, friezes, brackets, ridge cresting and window guards; pressed metal - wall and ceiling lining, centre roses, cornices, roofing finishes and finials. Part Three deals with the buildings as a whole, considering stylistic changes and the typology of distinct groups of structures under the headings: offices, warehouses, factories and banks; shops - major and minor; hotels; town and shire halls; court houses; hospitals; schools; railway buildings; theatres and halls; miscellaneous public buildings; houses employing bricks in contrast colours; houses employing red brick with cream dressings; "Italianate" houses ; "Italianate" terraces; Queen Anne style houses; sub-Queen Anne and bungalow houses. The stylistic changes in general may be summarized broadly as proceeding from a mixture of details derived from Gothic and Classical sources applied to buildings of non-historical (nineteenth century) character via another pseudo-historical revival (Queen Anne in two major forms), followed by an admixture of fairly superficial Art Nouveau influence to a welter of historically oriented revivals and abstractions and simplifications of preceding forms. These developments overlap considerably and appear with variable force and diversity according to the type of buildings. Part Four is a brief account of the work of one hundred and seventy-five leading architects or builders of the period arranged alphabetically under the name of the architect or firm. The emphasis throughout is on dealing with as broad a range of examples as possible, rather than concentrating only on large scale and/or progressive projects.
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ItemEvaluating cultural learning in virtual environments( 2006)There is still a great deal of opportunity for research on contextual interactive immersion in virtual heritage environments. The general failure of virtual environment technology to create engaging and educational experiences may be attributable not just to deficiencies in technology or in visual fidelity, but also to a lack of contextual and performative-based interaction, such as that found in games. This thesis will suggest improvements will result from more research on the below issues: 1. Place versus Cyberspace: What creates a sensation of place (as a cultural site) in a virtual environment in contradistinction to a sensation of a virtual environment as a collection of objects and spaces? 2. Cultural Presence versus Social Presence and Presence: Which factors help immerse people spatially and thematically into a cultural learning experience? 3. Realism versus Interpretation: Does an attempt to perfect fidelity to sources and to realism improve or hinder the cultural learning experience? 4. Education versus Entertainment: Does an attempt to make the experience engaging improve or hinder the cultural learning experience? This doctoral thesis outlines a theoretical definition of place, culture, and presence that may become a matrix for virtual environment design as well as a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of appropriating game-style interaction to enhance engagement. A virtual environment was built using Adobe Atmosphere to test whether cultural understanding and engagement can be linked to the type of interaction offered. The thesis also includes a survey of evaluation mechanisms that may be specifically suitable for virtual heritage environments. In its review of appropriate methodology, the thesis suggests new terms and criteria to assess the contextual appropriateness of various evaluation methods, and provides seven schematic examples of game-style plot devices that lend themselves to evaluation. The test-bed is the evaluation of a virtual archaeology project in Palenqué Mexico using theories of cultural immersion as well as computer game technology and techniques. The case study of Palenqué involved five types of evaluation specifically chosen to assess cultural awareness and understanding gained from different forms of interaction in a virtual heritage environment.
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ItemClient and contractor attitudes to prequalification and selection processes for construction work(University of Melbourne, 2002)Pre-qualification is a process of screening contractors prior to tender using a predetermined set of criteria. The criteria should be such that the decision maker can reduce risk factors in the choice, and also have a high probability that the firm will complete the project within time and cost, and also meet the appropriate quality standards. Pre-qualification criteria are intended to provide clients with a framework, understanding and methodology for pre-qualifying and selecting only those firms most suitable for future projects. Pre-qualification in some form has become almost standard practice within government procurement processes. The primary objective of this research is to examine the pre-qualification processes used by public sector clients in order to examine the effectiveness of their procedures. The justification for pre-qualification has been that it improves the quality and certainty of the construction process. The objective of this research is to determine the attitudes of contractors and clients to pre-qualification. The issue is to examine if the perceived advantages of pre-qualification outweigh the perceived disadvantages and thus provide some indication of its worth. This research identified two significant research questions. The first question relates to the effectiveness of existing pre-qualification criteria. Many past researchers have suggested criteria that client's consider to be important, however very little research has considered the perceptions of contractors. The success of pre-qualification is partially dependant on the attitudes of contractors, because they are stake-holders in the process. This research shows that clients and contractors often hold very different opinions on the importance of pre-qualification decision criteria; this is likely to undermine the effectiveness of the pre-qualification process. This represents a gap in past research that needs to be investigated. This research used a questionnaire to elicit the views of both clients and contractors to commonly used pre-qualification criteria. The second research question examines the effectiveness of the selection decision-making process. Once a project has been identified pre-qualified contractors are shortlisted down to a small group that are latter invited to tender. Past research established that the selection decision is highly subjective, and possibly adhoc. This research used semi-structure interviews and a series of case studies to investigate selection decision-making processes of public sector clients. The results show that a number of decision factors can be identified, and that their influence is dependant on the circumstances in which the decisions are made. The main conclusion is that stake-holders have different attitudes to the value of pre-qualification, and that this may have affected its success in the past. This research suggests that pre-qualification and selection decisions should be managed using a quality management process. All stake-holders must work more closely together in order to resolve their differences, and use benchmarking practices to more effectively manage the pre-qualification and selection environment. This research has important implications for clients that are seeking to reduce their dependence on low-bid selection procedures, and increase the use of partnering and alliance arrangements. Keywords: Contractor selection, pre-qualification, non-price selection, tendering
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ItemAn investigation Into building and planning problems of the tropical regions of Australia and the Territory of Papua New Guinea(University of Melbourne, 1967)
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ItemRoom to move : the politics of protecting the place of alternative culture(University of Melbourne, 2005)At the same time as changing global political-economies of land use are displacing low-income people from inner-cities, changing socio-cultural forces are inspiring marginal communities to resist. This research focuses on a relatively benign level of marginality in alternative cultures, whose loss of place in the inner-city has produced mobilisations in Europe and Australia claiming their right to the city and to difference in central, public space. The coincidence of interests between alternative cultures and cities reliant on their cultural economy has prompted some city governments to turn to their planning and heritage systems to protect their valued, and valuable, cultural diversity. But unexamined use of planning control and heritage protection can cause as many problems as it solves. The very question of protecting the place of alternative culture raises fundamental paradoxes. Advances in the last forty years in planning theory and interpretations of cultural heritage have prepared planning and heritage professionals for an exploration of new ways of treating place. Can inclusive planning and heritage practices facilitate continuity of ways of life, and contribute to a diversity of uses and meanings in the city? The paradoxes are negotiated in different ways in different contexts, and some of the stories from this research demonstrate that nuanced interventions can facilitate the continuity of alternative cultures, by creating or maintaining the conditions for their evolution and allowing them room to move. When it becomes clear that the paradoxes can be negotiated then the question changes from `can it be done?' to `what does it take?', to produce such responses not only to the place of alternative cultures, but to other areas of marginality with less symbolic capital but just a great a claim to the city. The thesis argues that marginal gentrifiers have a more important role in these processes than is usually allowed. As neither the cause nor victims of gentrification, and as participants, often, in alternative cultural and political movements, they have the resources, ability and, sometimes, willingness to mobilise in interests other than their own. Their capacity to modify the passage of gentrification comes from being part of both the political-economic and socio-cultural changes that are shaping the cities and regions of the twenty-first century, and from reflexive understandings of themselves as part of a new cultural politics of difference.
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ItemArchitectural development in Singapore(University of Melbourne, 1973)
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ItemMarvellous artistry' : curiosities of nature and art in Kunstkammer collections of the late 16th and early 17th centuries(University of Melbourne, 2005)
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ItemPlanning rationality, interest intermediation and the reinstatement of political liberalism(University of Melbourne, 2001)
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ItemVisual assessment techniques for rural road management(University of Melbourne, 1989)
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ItemTransformation of Jalan Malioboro, Yogyakarta : the morphology and dynamics of a Javanese street( 2001)Streets are an important element of urban form and function. For their future development it is essential to understand the processes of transformation they have undergone in the past. This thesis is specifically concerned with Jalan Malioboro, the principal street of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which has had many historic roles and has undergone many transformations since its establishment in 1756. The various plans and regulations put forward in the past for the development of this street have proved to be inadequate to manage its invaluable but fragile local character. The aim of this research project is to understand and define the prevailing processes and forces that have brought about the transformation of Jalan Malioboro's streetscape since its establishment up to the present. Two approaches were used: morphological analysis for the physical-spatial characteristics of the streetscape through graphical representations and their qualitative descriptions; and socio-cultural analysis of the functions, meanings and activities taking place on the street, also done descriptively and qualitatively. A retrospective method was applied to reveal the processes that had occurred in the past and a prospective method to analyse the current condition and envisage its prospects. The overall process of transformation shows both continuities and changes of both the morphology and functions and meanings of Jalan Malioboro. The only true continuity is that of the very original axis. Everything else was and is in constant flux depending upon the contemporary forces. Although Jalan Malioboro forms a prominent linear space that provides a vista from Kraton to Tugu as part of a cosmological axis, it has grown spontaneously and incrementally. Socioculturally, the most striking transformation has been from its royal ceremonial function to its current predominant commercial function. The processes of transformation also demonstrate the dialectic between the form and function of the spaces along Jalan Malioboro, which has produced a hybridised and lively street. Its linearity, an orderly form derived from its function as a cosmological axis, has had superimposed on it different forms and activities, thus producing an ambiguous and chaotic streetscape. There are five key forces that have brought about the transformation: (a) the religious syncretism of the Javanese culture; (b) the political subversion, (c) lack of planning control, (d) modernisation, commercialisation and commodification of space; and (e) the 1997 economic downturn. Any development efforts for Jalan Malioboro arising from an examination of its process of transformation should attempt to ensure that its cultural significance, including its complexity and the dynamism of the street environment, is maintained.