Griffith Architecture hosts national debates
The Architecture program will be the centre of national and international debate with the:
- Society of Architectural Historians, Australian and New Zealand (SAHANZ) 30th annual conference, July 2013
- Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) biannual conference, July 2013.
Head of Griffith Architecture, Professor Gordon Holden, said the exposure to this key education and research conference would be invaluable for students, especially the first intake of the Masters program. “These conferences will address topics that can inspire student projects and provide opportunities to present their work and network with leading architects and academics,” Professor Holden said.
Prestigious win for Michael Raynor
Michael Rayner, of Cox Rayner Architects and Planners in Brisbane has been congratulated by Premier of Queensland Campbell Newman for winning for winning an international competition to design the National Maritime Museum of China. Michael has beaten some of the world’s top architectural firms to win the competition. Michael chairs the Griffith Architecture Professional Advisory Board, bringing a wealth of practical experience and guidance to Griffith programs.
Head of Architecture to chair Gold Coast design competition
Head of Architecture Professor Gordon Holden, has been appointed by the Gold Coast City Council to chair the judging of the “Gold Coast Cultural Precinct” International Design Competition. This project will fulfil Council’s vision to provide Gold Coast City with the best possible innovative cultural facilities through attracting the world’s best design teams.
Professor Holden said, “It is an honour to be invited to Chair the judging of this exceptional design competition. It is a great credit to Gold Coast City Council, and especially Mayor Tom Tait to take the initiative in placing Gold Coast on the World stage.”
Architecture student with capital designs
Griffith University architecture student, John Kurko, was selected for the final of an international competition to design a hypothetical new capital for Australia. John was one of 20 shortlisted finalists, competing for up $100,000 worth of prizes in the CAPIThetical International Design competition.
Andrew Leach to write a history of Rome
Urban Research Program’s Andrew Leach has been awarded a contract to write a history of Rome for the British publisher Polity’s new series Cities in World History. The books are intended to offer brief and accessible accounts of a city’s history, using analyses of urban form, monuments, works of art and so forth as evidence of social, institutional, cultural and economic change.
One of the world’s oldest cities, Rome offers an experience of history unparalleled by other urban subjects. Leach will draw on knowledge of the city gained while at the Belgian Academy and British School at Rome as well as his extensive research on mid-twentieth-century debates on architecture, urban and territorial planning, heritage and public parks, which dates back to his studies on the architectural historian and polemicist Manfredo Tafuri (1935-94).
What is Architectural History?
A new book by Andrew Leach explores the recent history and theoretical concerns of the architectural history discipline. Published in the Polity series What is History? - initiated by cultural historian Peter Burke - What is Architectural History? offers the first pan-geographical account of the work of modern and contemporary architectural historians to be published in more than three decades. The book has been added to core reading lists of numerous architecture schools internationally.
A recent review in the Architectural Research Quarterly described it as 'a remarkable book which should prove extremely useful to anyone interested in the place of architecture in society, and in the questions faced by architects and historians when addressing the inheritance from the past or the practice of the present.'
The Chinese edition of What is Architectural History? Will be published by the Peking University Press in 2013.
Two new international journals in Architectural History
May 2012 saw the launch of two new online journals of architectural history. Architecture Beyond Europe was launched as an initiative of COST Action IS0904, named European Architecture Beyond Europe. It will publish new research on the impact and traffic between European individuals and institutions and non-European sites of professional practice. Its emphases will be on Africa and South/South-East Asia and on the tools and practices for understanding knowledge transfer in the 19th and 20th centuries. URP researcher Andrew Leach serves on the COST Action’s Management Committee and on the journal’s Editorial Board.
The second international conference of the European Architectural History Network (Brussels, May-June 2012) also saw launched the online journal Architectural Histories, which will publish original research from the European architectural history community. Leach has also been appointed to the Editorial Board of this new journal.
Architecture student has design inspected by PM
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard, was among the guests at Sunnybank & District RSL Sub Branch, to inspect the new war memorial designed by architecture student Sarah Batchelor. Sarah won the competition to design a memorial to be built in honour of Australian Service personnel of Chinese heritage.