Architecture | Architecture history » History, Theory, Culture

Source: http://www.doksinet History / Theory / Culture Photo: The Alhambra, Granada, Spain, Mansoor Ma Grounded in contemporary critical approaches to architectural and intellectual history, this established research cluster reflects particular expertise in the cross-cultural interpretation of architecture, urbanism and cultural landscapes undertaken within the Centre for Asian and Middle-Eastern Architecture (CAMEA). 14 The University of Adelaide Source: http://www.doksinet Recent output includes studies of cosmology in Islamic architecture, early modern intellectual exchange between Islam and Europe, and the construction of social space and material culture in colonial-modern India and multicultural Australia. The Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture (CAMEA) was founded in 1997. It is a research centre with a short history but wide ambitions and significant impact. CAMEA’s establishment coincides with major shifts in attitudes towards the built environment

caused by unsettling changes in three areas of environmental, technological, and cultural change. >> Awareness of the long-term environmental consequences of modern urbanisation and industrialisation has highlighted the urgent need for new approaches to a sustainable future; >> Advanced communication technologies Research in this cluster encompasses many areas which are all inter-related. Moreover, the supervisors are fluent in a number of languages including Arabic, Hindi, Italian and French. The research areas include, but are not limited to: have called for new ways of perceiving and dealing with reality; and >> Architecture, modernity and decolonisation >> Intense cross-cultural interactions have >> Early modern Arabic-Ottoman architecture generated a strong demand for broader and more culture-sensitive modes of architectural thinking. CAMEA was founded to address the demand for new cross-cultural understanding of architecture in the

context of these major global shifts. >> Islamic architecture, gardens and cities and landscapes >> Architecture and Islam in Australia >> Islamic cosmology and mysticism >> Discourse analysis >> Architecture and human mobility >> Representations of the built environment in poetry and travel writing Research: School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design 15 Source: http://www.doksinet Associate Professor Samer Akkach Supervisor Samer is founding Director of the Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture (CAMEA). His research interests include the history and theory of architecture, Islamic art, architecture, and landscape, the intellectual history of early modernity, and Islamic cosmology and mysticism. He holds an ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award (DORA) fellowship and has received several ARC Discovery grants as sole chief investigator. His current Discovery research projects focus on the socio-urban

history of Middle Eastern cities, and the scientific developments in the early modern ArabicOttoman culture. Samer leads a growing team of researchers working on the early modern history of architecture and landscape in the Middle East, Persia, and Southeast Asia. He has lectured widely in leading universities in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and South East Asia, held a research fellowship at MIT, and received several national and international awards recognising his achievements in research and teaching, including the University of Adelaide’s prestigious Stephen Cole the elder prize for excellence in teaching. For many years he has been interested in the life and works of the 17th-18th century Damascene scholar ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi. His major publications include Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam: An Architectural Reading of Mystical Ideas (SUNY 2005); ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi: Islam and the Enlightenment (Oneworld, 2007); Letters of a Sufi

Scholar: The Correspondence of ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (Brill 2010); and Intimate Invocations: al-Ghazzi’s Biography of ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (Brill 2012). 16 The University of Adelaide Source: http://www.doksinet Material Culture and Cold War Asia Amit Srivastava Supervisor Amit is an architectural historian and theorist whose work focuses on 19th and 20th century architectural thought with special attention to intellectual networks concerning perception of architectural materials and phenomenology. As a member of CAMEA, Amit is involved in the historiography of the postcolonial architecture of Asia and his research focuses on the socio-political condition generated by the intersection of de-colonising and nationalist policies in the Cold War era. Having trained and practiced in India, Amit is deeply interested in the developments in the architecture of the sub-continent and his latest work looks at alternative forms of urbanism emerging in contemporary India. Photo:

Louis Kahn, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Islam, Human Mobility and Hybrid Architecture Dr Katharine Bartsch Supervisor, Postgraduate Research Coordinator Katharine’s research focuses on cultural encounters, and more generally cultures of travel (migration, diaspora, displacement and resettlement), to gain a critical understanding of the production and transformation of different built environments (architecture, landscapes and cities). Katharine maintains that culture is not static or homogeneous and that there cannot be a fixed relationship between culture and the built environment. Her research is interdisciplinary, reaching beyond conventional discourses of architecture, to obtain rich insights from anthropology, cultural geography, world systems theories, postcolonial theory, and the history of travel. This approach was applied in Katharine’s doctoral dissertation which analysed the discourses of Islamic architecture in the late 20th century, and particularly the Aga

Khan Award for Architecture. The intent of her research is to re-think cultural boundaries inscribed in architectural discourses, within and beyond the field of Islamic architecture. Katharine’s current research focuses on the Islamic footprint in Australia which involves a study of early mosques (beginning with the Adelaide Mosque, 1889), and the collaboration of Adelaide architect John Morphett with Walter Gropius (The Architects Collaborative) in the design of the University of Baghdad (1960). Geometry, Spirituality, and Symbolism: A Study in Islamic Art and Architecture Platonic and Neo-Pythagorean traditions to reveal the Islamic assimilation of the Greek legacy. Focusing on the theoretical foundations and related criticism, the study presents a comprehensive exposition of the primary exegetical literature on Islamic geometry as articulated by various groups of scholars to highlight the spiritual significance of Muslim artistry. The Rationale of Architectural Discourses in

Post-Independence Egypt: A Contrapuntal Reading of Alam Al-Benaa (1980-2000) Mihnea Maniu Capruta PhD Candidate Marwa Moustafa El-Ashmouni PhD candidate This research investigates the symbolic and spiritual aspects of Islamic art and architecture. Its main aim is to introduce a renewed understanding of Islamic geometry by interpreting selected Sufi notions concerning being and manifestations from a Heideggerian hermeneutical perspective. It constructs its interpretations against a historical reading of the Pythagorean, This research aims to historicise the evolution of post-independence Egyptian architecture throughout the modern history in the twentieth century. It seeks to analyse the rationale of the local architectural discourse amid the international theories and discourses. This discourse rationale will be discerned in view of its subjects, events, and sentiments so as to reveal Research: School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design 17 Source:

http://www.doksinet forms of attitudes and references as well as intersections of compelling sets of influences and resistances. By doing this, the analysis will highlight both questions of imperialism and national identity with their evolved binaries between modernity and tradition. Accordingly, the study privileges the theoretician Edward Said’s seminal work Culture and Imperialism (1993), in how the imperial enterprises consolidated in “recognisable cultural formations” can be reflected in architectural discourse the focus of this research. A Study of Three Gateway Cities: Istanbul, Lucknow and Aleppo Elise Kamleh PhD completed 2012 This study is concerned with architectural exchange in Eurasia. The project challenges Eurocentric representations of the built environment of West and South Asia as being in decline in the 18th century due to the influences of European architecture. Inspired by the writing of world systems theorists who make a convincing case for the long

history of cultural connections that shape people and places (whilst destabilising Eurocentric representations of world history), this process of research has uncovered a significant number of buildings in Asian cities that incorporate European design and decorative elements in their construction. Moreover, exchanges between different Islamic cities have also shaped these buildings. From this research, the conclusion reached is that the multifaceted nature of these exchanges has shaped architecture in dynamic and innovative ways, a view that challenges previous perceptions of architecture in this context as static or lacking originality. Thus, this study reveals the complex nature, the rich diversity and the extent of architectural exchange, with particular emphasis on three ‘gateway’ cities in Eurasia, to present new insights into architectural historiography. Maps and Meanings: Urban Cartography and Urban Design Julie Nichols PhD completed 2012 Julie currently researches in the

fields of urban history, urban cartography and contemporary urbanism. Her doctoral study, Maps and Meanings: Urban Cartography and Urban Design, is a comparative study of an historical trajectory of the changing role of the map from pre-modern to modern times. The emergence of the concept of the modern city hinging on Enlightenment ideas, revealed a shift in geographical discourse whereby modern conceptions of space displaced indigenous views. The intent is a 18 The University of Adelaide comprehensive understanding of the modern map, from its historical evolution in contexts 17th and 18th century Europe and South-East Asiaat the same time to further understand the production of human settlement. Gardens of Eden: A Study of Persian Gardens in the Safavid Period Zahra Ranjbari Research Assistant Zahra’s research aims to study PersianIslamic landscape history of the Safavid period in Iran by analysing ‘Gardens of Eden’ poems along with other related sources in Persian poetry,

history, and literature. Gardens of Eden is one of the most valuable sources on Persian gardens, describing Qazvin gardens in poetry during early 16th century. It was composed by the court poet and historian, Abdi Bayk Navidi Shirazi. His poems can be considered the most reliable evidence picturing the newly-established garden-city of Qazvin, the second Savafid capital city during Shah Tahmasp’s reign, of which almost nothing remains. Navidi’s poetry provides us with a detailed image of the capital city and its noble gardens and landscaping. The main research approach is to investigate different sources to provide a fresh understanding of Persian gardens. The study will present a comprehensive investigation of the main features of Persian gardens in historical and contemporary arts, as well as its role in architecture in order to show the functional, physical, and semantic orders of garden making. Theorising the Construction of Architecture Dr Sam Ridgway Supervisor Sam joined the

School as a full-time member of staff in 1996 after completing a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) in 1984, and a Master of Architecture (Research) in 1996 at the University of Adelaide. In 2010 he was awarded a PhD from the University of Sydney. Sam is a registered architect and remains committed to maintaining a strong connection between research, teaching and professional practice. His current research explores the theorisation of architectural construction in both pedagogy and practice. The context for this critique originates in the philosophy of technology. It aims to reveal imaginative construction thinking as central to the creation of significant buildings. Other research interests include: architectural representation; anthropomorphism, and demonstration. Sam is a member of the editorial committee for the journal Architectural Theory Review. Reframing the Architectural History of the World’s Largest Democracy Dr Peter Scriver Supervisor Dr Scriver is currently working on the

following projects: (1) ‘Regional’ by Design: Australia’s Engagement with Asia through Architectural Training under the Colombo Plan (1950-1980). (2) B  uilding Modern India, a forthcoming critical study of architecture, modernity and decolonisation in India from the mid-19th century to the present, to be published by Reaktion Books, London, in the series Modern Architectures in History (forthcoming, 2012). (3) A  uthority and System: The Royal Engineers Corps and the Building of the British Colonial Empire. This project is a comparative historical study of professional knowledge and ‘reflection-inaction’ in three radically different imperial arenas of British colonial architecture and town planning: India, Australia and Canada. Initial fieldwork and archival research for this projected book was conducted in Canada and England in 2002-2003, and Australia and India in 2005-2006. Space, Place, and Imagination in the Arabic-Islamic Tradition Kinda Tabbaa PhD candidate

Kinda’s research interests include the history and theory of landscapes and cities, ArabIslamic landscape architecture, and the concepts of “space” and “place” in the ArabIslamic tradition. Kinda’s recent works have focused on landscape representation in 17th and 18th century Arabic travel writings, landscape education in the Arab world, and the development of the concept of “landscape” in modern Arabic literature. Her doctoral research is concerned with revealing the complexity involved in the concepts of “space,” “place,” and “landscape” as they are articulated in the Arabic language and the intellectual context of the Arab-Islamic culture. Her study attempts to show this through a series of snap shots taken in various religious, social, cultural, and intellectual domains. The aim of Kinda’s study is to unravel the meanings of these concepts, both in premodern and modern times, in order to reveal their unique linguistic, religious, intellectual, and

cultural dimensions. Source: http://www.doksinet Light, Colour and Views: An Islamic Interpretation of the Visual Trajectory from the Alhambra’s Mirador de Lindaraja during Sultan Muhammad V’s Second Reign Mansoor Ma PhD Candidate Mansoor is a Canadian Landscape Architect who was born in Hong Kong. He was educated in the UK and Canada Currently, Mansoor is finalising his PhD research in Australia, as a remote student, at the University of Adelaide. His research interests includes: Landscape architectural design, Islamic heritage, and computer 3D technologies. He utilises these interests fully in his PhD work, which is about an Islamic interpretation of a landscape built during the period of Muslim rule in Spain, specifically Granada. As well, Mansoor has presented and delivered international conference papers in Canada, Germany, Dubai (UAE), Spain and Cyprus, regarding the use of 3D technologies for landscape heritage research. Photo: 3D rendering of the Court of the Lions,

Alhambra, Granada, by PhD candidate Mansoor Ma, for his thesis Research: School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design 19