Culture, History & Theory
Research in the Culture, History & Theory area addresses a range of social, intellectual, environmental, and economic issues across the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design, employing a distinctive, critical, cross-cultural approach.
Architectural history and theory, a core area of architectural education, offers insights into the production of and engagement with the built environment of different people in different times and different places. We adopt a human-centred approach to the understanding and writing of the history and theory both of Western and non-Western cultures. Focusing on the intertwined history of modernity, researchers in this cluster offer a variety of new perspectives on the pre-, early, and post-modern traditions of Western and Non-Western peoples.
Our research
Researchers in this area are working on a range of projects that explore the culture, history, and theory of architecture, landscape, and urbanity, including:
- Early modernity and urbanism in the Arab world.
- Early modern material culture: a cross-cultural perspective.
- Art, religion, and the environment.
- Humanism, science, and sustainable futures.
Learn more about our research experts
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Lead researchers in this area are currently focused on
- Intellectual history of Early Modernity (James Curry)
- Migration of Spatial Concepts from Europe to North America (James Curry)
- Architectural Thinking and the Machine (James Curry)
- Architecture, Imagination and the Theatre in the Western Tradition (Sam Ridgway)
- Architecture and the Philosophy of Technology (Sam Ridgway)
- Affordable Housing in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh (Sam Ridgway)
- Early modern science and urbanity in the Arab world (Samer Akkach)
- Visual culture and ways of seeing in Islamic cultures (Samer Akkach)
- Early modern material culture: a cross-cultural perspective (Samer Akkach)
- Art, religion, and the environment (Samer Akkach)
- The invention of property through the invention of the map (Alan Peters)
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Our research units and groups working in this area
- Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture (CAMEA)
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Recent and current funded research projects
- Everyday Life in Extraordinary Times: Egyptian Images from Australia – A-M. Willis & S. Akkach, Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR) (2018-2019)
- Islam and the Ethos of Science in Early Modern Islam – S. Akkach, ARC Discovery (2013-2018)
- ʿIlm: Science, Religion and Art in Islam – S. Akkach, Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR) (2016-2017)
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Researchers in this cluster
- Professor Samer Akkach
- Visiting Professor Anne-Marie Willis
- Associate Professor Peter Scriver
- Dr Katharine Bartsch
- Dr Amit Srivastava
- Dr James Curry
- Visiting Research Fellow John Powell
- Visiting Research Fellow Selen Morkoc
Interested in undertaking a postgraduate research degree with us?
The School of Architecture and Built Environment offers exciting opportunities for researchers at both the masters and doctorate levels. If you are interested in humanism and sustainability, consider furthering your research career with us.