Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemPapuan transformations: architectural reflections on colonialism: the modern colony, the Purari, the Orokolo and the Motu cultural and architectural transactions 1884-1975( 2004)The study follows a sequence of transactions between modernity and tradition in three Papuan societies, and in the colony itself. It seeks explanations for surprising transformations in traditional architectural practices over the colonial period from 1884 to 1975. The Purari, the Orokolo, and the Motu, were Papuan societies whose heritages in architecture and material culture were rich with artistic and meaningful forms and expressions. As in many other traditional societies, these productions were holistically bound up in ritual, spiritual cosmologies, and everyday aspects of life that ordinarily ensured their continued reproduction. Colonialism never expected Papuans to, nor did it satisfactorily conceive of them becoming town dwellers, but, by 1975 a majority from all three societies were anonymous members of the modern urban milieu of the capital Port Moresby. Many of the Purari and Orokolo, having left their homelands, were in austere squatter settlements. None of the groups had built their traditional architecture for decades, neither had they performed their elaborate dramas and rituals that involved the production of accompanying spectacular paraphernalia. The case studies reconstruct conditions in three traditional societies, and in the emergent colony, and sequentially reconstruct conditions of transitionary and transforming states through which all groups proceeded as the processes of colonialism and modernisation unfolded. Standardised for objective comparisons, the reconstructions aim to reveal things that were important to both the traditional societies, and to the colonial communities. They enable estimates to be made of the value that was attached through the allocation of resources, and through communal commitments, to the social and cultural production of architecture. Architectural reflections thereafter are used to illuminate many facets of the active, surrounding, and wider contexts of colonialism. The study then examines how architecture at times appears as a modern agent for change, or otherwise as an outcome of already enacted transformations. Further aspects of cultural and social forces that operated on both the traditional and the colonial societies thereby become evident and amenable to analysis. Evidence from colonial sources is examined further using techniques inspired by Foucault but developed by Rabinow to describe the development of modern French society, which he shows was also influenced by colonial experiences. The study examines the characteristics of modernity, and its processes and preoccupations, as these impacted on the transformation of the traditional in Papua. From the interrogation of such material it aims to illuminate attitudes and assumptions that have influenced transactions between the traditional and colonial societies during this period of modernisation. Successes in modernisation, development, and nation building represented considerable colonial achievements culminating in independent nationhood in Papua New Guinea. Rapid widespread development occurred after the Second World War, and democratic national institutions were put in place with little strife, and without bloody struggles. Nevertheless the architectural and other evidence points to some significant cultural oversights, insensitivities, and transgressions that tarnish well-intentioned colonial aims, and the claims and images of success. It is poignant that significant attitudes and assumptions of colonialism uncovered in the study appear once again to threaten other's different traditional cultural productions in parts of the world.
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ItemHouses and status: the grand houses of nineteenth century Victoria( 2003-10)The grand houses of nineteenth century Victoria have been given only superficial consideration in the literature on Australian architectural history, and it has been assumed that the colonial houses in Victoria simply copied British models. However houses are always designed to accommodate the values, beliefs and customs of the society for which they are built, and their spaces must be arranged to accommodate a variety of both utilitarian and social functions. It might therefore be expected that the different physical, economic and social conditions in Victoria would result in variations from the British models which more closely reflected their colonial context. This thesis seeks to document, analyse and explain the planning of the grand houses of nineteenth century Victoria. It demonstrates that the form and planning of these grand houses in Victoria did indeed resemble the British models in many ways. This is because both the settlers in Victoria and colonial society were predominantly British, and the settlers could only aspire to respectability, and establish a position in the newly developing social hierarchies, by conformity with British norms. The possession of an appropriate house played an important role in this, and the houses therefore were always based on British models. There was conformity with British practice in the specialization and segregation of functions and spaces in the houses, and in the invariable use of closed corridor planning. However although these British planning conventions were observed, the houses differed in significant ways from those in Britain. This was largely because the colonial upper classes differed significantly from the old upper classes in Britain. A higher proportion of the upper classes in Victoria were new rich, and their houses reflect not only the greater informality of colonial society but also the tendency of the new rich towards ostentation. Their houses were built for maximum effect, even when this at times was in conflict with accepted British attitudes towards ostentation and privacy. This resulted in differences from British norms in the arrangement of the spaces in the houses, which more closely reflected the colonial context. The grand houses in Victoria were not therefore purely British, but were always a colonial hybrid.
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ItemConstructing and contesting the nation: the use and meaning of Sukarno's monuments and public places in Jakarta( 2007-10)Architecture and urban design are often powerful expressions of political desires to support and legitimise specific regimes. In many postcolonial cities, architecture and urban design are set out to construct national identity and affirm a political power that departs from the former colonial rule. Architecture and urban design may be used by successive postcolonial regimes to compete with each other to legitimise authority and symbolise power. While such concepts of national identity are established through a constellation of urban forms, national identity is always contested. Places may be used and interpreted in ways that differ from what is intended. Attempts to control the meaning of architecture and built form may conflict with the ways in which spatial practices undermine intended meanings. This research examines the role of Sukarno's monuments and public places and how their meanings and uses have been transformed under successive regimes. It deals with the establishment and the ongoing transformation of national identity embedded in Sukarno's monuments and public places. The study traces the history of central Jakarta as it emerged under the Dutch colonial rule and its transformation under Sukarno when he established a postcolonial national identity through urban forms. It then outlines the transformation of meaning and use of Sukarno's monuments and public places under Suharto and then the Reformasi. It explores how such places and forms embody national identity and political capital; and how they mediate practices of oppression, resistance liberation and democracy. It concludes that Sukarno's monuments and public places exemplify colonial and postcolonial relationships, and their transformation was an expression of different approaches by different regimes and spatial practices over time. While the research examines colonial influences upon the postcolonial era, it does not compare Jakarta with other postcolonial cities. Rather, the research is limited to a discourse on colonialism in Indonesia and how this influences postcolonial symbols and practice.
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ItemConstructing bodies: gesture, speech and representation at work in architectural design studios( 2009)Previous studies of the design studio have tended to treat learning to design as a matter of learning to think in the right way, despite the recognition that material artifacts and the ability to make and manipulate them in architectural ways is important to the design process. Through the use of empirical data gathered from watching design teachers and students in action, this thesis works to discover how material things and bodies are important to the fabrication of architectural meaning and architectural subjectivity within design studios. In particular the role of gesture is highlighted as doing important work in design studio knowledge practices. The approach taken in this thesis is to treat design activity in design studios in a ‘post-human’ way. An analytical eye is turned to how things and people perform together and are organised in various ways, using Actor network theory (ANT) as a way to orientate the investigation. The assumption drawn from ANT is that that architectural meaning, knowledge and identity can positioned as network effects, enacted into being as the design studio is ‘done’ by the various actors — including material things, such as architectural representations, and human behaviours, such as gesture. Gesture has been largely ignored by design studio researchers, perhaps because it tends to operate below the threshold of conscious awareness. Gesture is difficult to study because the meanings of most gestures produced during conversations are spontaneous and provisional. Despite this humans seem to be good interpreters of gesture. When studied in detail, ongoing design studio activity is found to rely on the intelligibility of gesture done in ‘architectural ways’. The main site for the observation of gesture during this study was the ‘desk crit’ where teachers and students confer about work in progress. In the data gathered for this thesis gesture is found to operate with representations in three key ways: explaining and describing architectural composition, ‘sticking’ spoken meanings strategically to representations and conveying the phenomenological experience of occupying architectural space – the passing of time, quality of light, texture and movement. Despite the fact that most of the work of the thesis centres on human behaviour, the findings about the role of gesture and representation trouble the idea of the human as being at the centre of the action, putting the bodies of teachers and students amongst a crowd of non human others who participate together in design knowledge making practices.
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ItemA morphology of pattern for kinetic facades( 2009)This research examines the zone between environment and interior, the architectural façade, for the potential to develop a new form of composition based on kinetic pattern. Within contemporary architecture there is a growing interest in kinetics. Intelligent façades for example, manifest kinetics in the form of a responsive skin that adapts to changing environment conditions and user occupancy, continuing the trajectory of functionalism. Media façades by contrast, are driven by an interest in the recasting of architectural surface as a zone of interactivity, with the potential to engage users with public art works or embed socio-cultural information. Regardless of the design intent, the emerging field of kinetic façades offers the challenge of developing a sophisticated approach to the design of motion. As evidenced by a review of theory and practice, there is a lack of fundamental knowledge about the possibilities offered by kinetics. Through the lens of morphology, this thesis explores the possibilities of kinetic composition afforded by façades in motion. The emphasis is on the underlying structure of kinetic form, independent of physical scale or materiality. Kinetics is defined in spatial terms: actual movement through geometric transformation in space (translation, rotation, scaling); or through controlling material properties of elasticity and mass to produce movement. Composition is analyzed in terms of pattern, defined as the relative movement of individual kinetic parts in time and space - the way in which multiple singular kinetic events cluster, or propagate, across a facade over time. A morphology of pattern is developed by three interrelated questions. What design variables influence kinetics, what is the theoretical range, and what nomenclature may robustly describe a morphology of pattern? An original framework for conceiving design variables is proposed. The framework revolves around diverse approaches to data sampling and control systems, alongside the typical architectural emphasis on the design of the physical components. These three interrelated design activities are conceived in terms of ‘decision planes’. Specification of variables on each plane and in relation to time, determine the spatio-temporal limits, or what is termed as the ‘variable space’, from which patterns will emerge. This conceptual framework has been used to structure a methodical series of computer animations, which explore range of pattern. In a similar vein to the tradition of façade study drawings, a diagrammatic approach to animation has been developed. The adoption of a non-realistic mode of representation is intended to focus attention on ‘movement itself’, independent of physical scale, materiality or figurative associations. Through analysis and discussion of the animations, it is proposed that morphology of kinetic pattern is robustly described through a nomenclature based on state change. It is proposed that three recognizable states reoccur-waves, folds and fields. State change is based on the principle of internal variance within these three simple states, and intermediate states that allow transition by degree and kind. Similar to the nomenclature for describing clouds, this provides a robust and extendable approach, allowing multiple intermediate states to be conceived in relation to the wave, fold and field definitions. The framework for conceiving variables that influence pattern and the state change morphology provide the means to improve understanding in the particular realm of kinetic façade composition. The framework is presented in generic form and a particular instance is developed based on an analysis of key references. This provides a model to conceive the multiple variables that influence kinetic composition, while the morphology provides a low resolution map for designers, identifying the most distinctive forms and providing a scaffold for research by design. Further work on extending these contributions to knowledge is outlined, including the description of a simulation environment calibrated to the physical constraints of materials and technology.