Sydney to host inaugural Annual Design Research Conference

To be held at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, the conference includes keynote speakers Momoyo Kaijima of architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow and Leon van Schaik from RMIT, a program of 44 plenary sessions and a curated exhibition of design works featuring 21 exhibitors from national and international institutions.

“While several other research methodologies in Architecture have annual conferences, such as Architectural Science, History and Theory and Heritage Studies, to date there has been no common forum for the study of architecture from a design research perspective,” Professor Mathew Aitchison, Director of the Innovation in Applied Design Lab, explains.

“ADR18 seeks to put this emerging research methodology on a surer footing, and will be held at different universities on an annual basis, after the inaugural conference to be held at the University of Sydney in September 2018.”

After graduating from the Faculty of Domestic Science at Japan Women’s University in 1991, keynote speaker Professor Momoyo Kaijima founded Tokyo-based architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto in 1992. Atelier Bow-Wow are known for their research/work exposing the complex logic of the city. Momoyo is a Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at ETH in Zurich and has conducted numerous investigations of the city through architecture while engaging in design projects for houses, public buildings and station plazas.

Emeritus Professor Leon van Schaik AO, is known for his books on spatial thinking, the poetics of architecture and the processes involved in procuring innovative architecture. He is an Emeritus Professor in RMIT’s School of Architecture and Urban Design, where the practice-based research program that he initiated in 1987 has become a template for institutions worldwide. His support of local architectural cultures and his leadership in the procurement of exemplary architecture has resulted in some of Melbourne’s most distinguished contemporary buildings.

The conference closing event coincides with the launch of the 2019 Sydney Architecture Festival, whose theme this year is a celebration of milestones in Australian architecture. This timely partnership comes as the School celebrates its hundredth year, and a range of industry milestones will be on display at Tin Sheds Gallery as part of the Centenary Exhibition.

Furthering the design-led research promoted through ADR18, selected conference outcomes will be published through Drawing On, an Edinburgh University-based, peer-reviewed journal of research by design. In 2019 the conference will move to Melbourne’s Monash University. Architects attending the ADR18 Conference, may claim 10 hours of formal CPD for the 2-day event.

Annual Design Research Conference 2018
27 – 28 September
University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Wilkinson Building, 148 City Road, Darlington
Cost: $100 – $480
More information and registrations

Image: Atelier Bow-Wow, Koisuru-Buta Laboratory.