Barack Obama at University of Sydney

Greetings from the University of Sydney, where I was startled to see US President Barack Obama standing in the main quad of the university a few minutes ago. On closer examination this turned out to be a President Barack Obama Life Size Cutout (available from Amazon.com) to promote the United State Studies Centre at the University of Sydney Information Day.

A Theory of Web Enhanced Protest

Professor McKenzie Wark, The New School NY, will speak on the implications of the Occupy Wall Street movement in "From thought as an occupation to some thoughts on the occupation" at the University of Sydney 6pm, 18 October 2011 and at the University of Canberra, 11am 19 October 2011 (Room 2B02).

From thought as an occupation to some thoughts on the occupation

Professor McKenzie Wark, New School for Social Research in New York City

Co-presented with the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney

Twenty years ago McKenzie Wark coined the term 'weird global media event' to describe the then-recent events in Tiananmen Square. While hardly on the same scale, the Occupy Wall Street movement shares with it certain characteristics as an event. In this presentation, Wark sums up the trajectory of his research on media, culture and politics, with particular reference to his new book The Beach Beneath the Street (Verso). The book offers a timely reminder of the relevance in the twenty-first century of the Situationist International. The last of the great aesthetico-political avant gardes, their work foreshadows in many respects the rise of the Occupy Wall St movement, which spread from New York to over sixty American cities, and is itself an echo of the politics of space that took place in Egypt and Tunisia earlier this year.

McKenzie Wark is Professor of Liberal Studies at the New School for Social Research in New York City. He is the author of Virtual Geography (1994),A Hacker Manifesto (2004), Gamer Theory (2007) and various other things.

Energy Reduction in UK Universities

Greetings from the University of Sydney, where Nicola Hogan, from the UK SUSTE-TECH project is talking about ICT Energy Reduction by universities.

Nicola is the the Sustainable ICT Project Manager for the SUSTE-TECH Project at the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC). SUSTE-TECH is a UK Government funded project (JISC), which aims to measure and reduce energy use of ICT systems in universities.

She explained how JISC funded the development of the SUSTE-IT Tool which can be used to estimate the energy and carbon footprint of ICT in an organization. The tool is free on-line and can be set to work with the energy costs and emissions in countries other than Australia. JISC is funded by the UK government (perhaps Australia needs a similar body).

The ANU is relatively well placed, having a Green ICT Project
Project Management Plan, preapred by Samuel Fernandes (one of my former ICT Sustainability students). Other Australian universities appear to be less well advanced. Australian federal government agencies are required to report energy use and savings measures in their annual reports. Perhaps universities should be required to do this as well as part of their compulsory reporting for the "My Unviersity" web site.

Nicola explained her SUSTE-TECH project in therms of weight loss: first weigh yourself, then decide what diet changes to make and measure the gains at the end. For IT the methodology is to estimate power use, then introduce changes, such as using centralized printers, power down and virtualisation and then estimate savings. However, experience has shown that diet programs do not work for many people and similarly energy loss programs quickly go out of fashion. In my view we need to find financial savings or other incentives, which have energy savings as a by-product.

Nicola gave the example of the use of single sided printing at a university, which turned out to have been a policy from decades ago when double sided printing did not work well.

There was a question about how much energy cloud suppliers, such as Google use. It would seem to make sense that Google, Amazon and Microsoft would report how much energy and CO2 resulted form the services you used. I could not find any figures for this, but I found "Google’s Green Computing: Efficiency at Scale".

One of the applications to reduce energizer use discussed was video conferencing. Many universities now have the "Access Gird" advanced video conferecne system. However, it can be difficult to operate and so may be underutilized.

Nicola commented that while many UK institutions were interested in using the SUSTE-IT tool but only 10 sent in reports. Perhaps it would be feasible to use the IT system itself to carry out an on-line census of equipment. An application could search across the computer network and record what equipment was found.

In my view a shift to on-line processes would make larger and more lasting savings than peace-meal energy initiatives. Rather than use double sided printing for students, stop printing handouts. Instead of putting the PCs in the lecture theater into sleep mode when not needed, eliminate the lectures, lecture theater and the PC. Instead of trying to get teaching staff to be more energy efficient in their individual offices, put them in open plan, with one quarter the space each.

One important point was that Nicola mentioned energy saving could be made as part of designing new learning centers. So the university does not need to stop having classrooms completely. Instead they can save energy while setting up the new learning commons.

Another approach would be to address the issues which IT manager have day to day. These are about security, funding and support.

For Vice-chancellors what attracts students is of interest. I found "If Universities want to attract the best students, they must Go Green.". Also university look at "league tables" so perhaps we need a green league table pr green issues built into the tables commonly referred to. Thgere is a USA universities Green Honor Roll.

Griffin's Canberra, Burnham's Chicago, Garnier's Lyon

Professor David Theodore Van Zanten, Northwestern University (USA), will speak on "The Griffin's Canberra, Burnham's Chicago, Garnier's Lyon: The Perfect City on the Edge of World War" at the University of Sydney, 6pm 21 October 2011. Professor Van Zanten is author of Sullivan's City: The Meaning of Ornament for Louis Sullivan.

The Griffin's Canberra, Burnham's Chicago, Garnier's Lyon: The Perfect City on the Edge of World War

Professor David Theodore Van Zanten, Mary Jane Crowe Professor in Art and Art History, Northwestern University, USA

Co-presented with the Power Institute at the University of Sydney

The modernist style of the American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin is known to many Australians because of their work in Canberra, the national capital. David Theodore Van Zanten will juxtapose drawings for the Griffins' competition plan for Canberra (1911), the Burnham Plan of Chicago (1909), and the French architect Tony Garnier's drawings for his Cité Industrielle", published in 1917. He explores the two intersections in the story of these seminal plans: first, the Griffin's subtle debt to their compatriot Burnham; second, the experiments in a new concrete architecture shared between their plan and Garnier's.

Professor Van Zanten will explore the fascinating quality of optimistic fantasy in these projects, in the context of the approaching catastrophic World War.

Professor David Theodore Van Zanten lecturers in American and European architecture and urbanism after 1800 at Northwestern University. His research primarily focuses on how architects think through designs, the involvement of that with techniques of drawing, and the intersection of that with the mentalities of their interlocutors, clients on the one hand and parallel professionals – engineers, urbanists, social scientists – on the other. Secondly, he is interested in the application of this in the shaping of the modern city c. 1830-1914, especially Paris and Chicago. His Designing Paris: The Architecture of Duban, Labrouste, Duc, and Vaudoyer won the 1988 Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award from the Society of Architectural Historians. He extended this work in Building Paris: Architectural Institutions and the Sullivan's City: The Meaning of Ornament for Louis Sullivan was published in 2000.

He received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study the development of Paris, London, Vienna and Hamburg. Educated at Princeton and Harvard University, prior to his appointment at Northwestern in 1979 he taught at the University of Pennsylvania and McGill University. He has held appointments at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (2006) at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (2008), both in Paris.

Date: Friday 21 October, 2011
Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm

ICT Energy Reduction at University of Sydney

Nicola Hogan, from the UK SUSTE-TECH project will talk about ICT Energy Reduction by Universities, at the University of Sydney, 4th October 2011.

Nicola is the the Sustainable ICT Project Manager for the SUSTE-TECH Project at the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC). SUSTE-TECH is a UK Government funded project (JISC), which aims to measure and reduce energy use of ICT systems in universities.

The SUSTE-TECH Project

Location: Darlington Centre Conference Room, University of Sydney.
Date: 4th October, 2011.
Time: 1:30pm – 5:30pm.

Hear about the UK’s JISC funded SUSTE-TECH Project and how FHE institutions across the UK have reduced their ICT related energy costs and carbon emissions.

Learn of the various energy saving initiatives employed by SUSTE-TECH Project participants as part of their Green ICT Action Plans.

Learn about the user friendly carbon accounting, Suste-IT tool and how it calculates energy use, carbon emissions and cost savings.

Hear about JISC’s other Greening of ICT projects that are leading the way in which technology is used in an effort to help end users become more sustainable.

Gain a better understanding of the technologies available to help your institution make sustainable ICT changes at minimal cost.

Network with peers from other universities and colleges who are experiencing similar problems managing their ICT systems and learn how they are tackling the most pressing issues.

REGISTER: Contact Nicola Hogan, nhogan@eauc.org.uk to secure your place.

THIS IS A FREE EVENT!!!

An Event Organised by the Environmental Association for Universities and UK SUSTE-TECH project and in collaboration with JISC’s Suste-IT project.

Ecological Urbanism

Greetings from the University of Sydney, where Gareth Doherty from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design is speaking on "Ecological Urbanism: Geography, Ethnography, Ecology". He started by talking about the village in Ireland he came from. He talked about the social side of landscape, growing up in a village where your ancestors are part of your surroundings. He told a story of how his colorblind uncle painted his house pink (usually the buildings are drab colors). Shortly afterwards, with this advice, other businesses painted their buildings bright colors (Dr Doherty argues to attract business). The bar owner and undertaker followed the next year and painted his premises pink. Red then became popular. The point of the story was that change could happen quickly, with something as traditional as the color of buildings in a village..

Dr Doherty then talked about Bahrain, which is traditionally very green due to date farms. He mentioned recent difficulties in Bahrain, presumably referring to the suppression of protests by the Bahraini government, with the assistance of troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Dr Doherty mentioned "Real Time Rome" from MIT SENSEable City Lab, which mapped cell phone usage. He also showed some work on vertical gardens to green cities. It happens Sydney has the world's tallest vertical garden (33m high) on the TRIO apartments, by Phillip Johnson and Patrick Blanc in the inner-west of Sydney.

The journal "New Geographies" so far has had five volumes, starting with zero:

• New Geographies, 0
• New Geographies, 1: After Zero
• New Geographies, 3: Urbanisms of Color
• New Geographies, 2: Landscapes of Energy
  
• New Geographies, 4: Scales of the Earth

Dr Doherty 's book Ecological Urbanism was published in 2010.

Ecological Urbanism was published in 2010 by Lars Muller Publishers. The book and larger project of ecological urbanism considers the political, social, and emotional ecologies of the city, as well as the environmental.

This lecture will outline the main positions of ecological urbanism, and will also address some of the challenges it presents, including a renewed focus on the geographic and ethnographic aspects of urbanism and design.

About the Lecturer

Gareth Doherty is a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and Design, at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. His research and teaching have focused on the intersections of landscape, urbanism, ecology, and anthropology. He edited Ecological Urbanism with Mohsen Mostafavi (2010). He is a founding editor of New Geographies journal, and editor in chief of New Geographies 3, "Urbanisms of Color" (2011). In addition to a D.Des. from Harvard, Doherty has an M.L.A. and Certificate in Urban Design from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.Agr.Sc. and B.Agr.Sc. from University College Dublin

Ecological Urbanism

Gareth Doherty from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design will speak on "Ecological Urbanism: Geography, Ethnography, Ecology" at the University of Sydney, 11 August 2011. His book Ecological Urbanism was published in 2010.

Ecological Urbanism: Geography, Ethnography, Ecology

11 August 2011

Ecological Urbanism

Public Lecture by Gareth Doherty

About the Lecture

Ecological Urbanism was published in 2010 by Lars Muller Publishers. The book and larger project of ecological urbanism considers the political, social, and emotional ecologies of the city, as well as the environmental.

This lecture will outline the main positions of ecological urbanism, and will also address some of the challenges it presents, including a renewed focus on the geographic and ethnographic aspects of urbanism and design.

About the Lecturer

Gareth Doherty is a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and Design, at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. His research and teaching have focused on the intersections of landscape, urbanism, ecology, and anthropology. He edited Ecological Urbanism with Mohsen Mostafavi (2010). He is a founding editor of New Geographies journal, and editor in chief of New Geographies 3, "Urbanisms of Color" (2011). In addition to a D.Des. from Harvard, Doherty has an M.L.A. and Certificate in Urban Design from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.Agr.Sc. and B.Agr.Sc. from University College Dublin.

Making Cities Resilient

Assistant Professor Naesun Park, Global Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Regeneration, University of Tokyo, talked on "The Vulnerability in Cities: the concept, mechanism and examples", at Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, on 10 January 2011. The Professor discussed her research on what makes cities sustainable and what are the problems, particularly in Asian cities.

Interestingly the Professor went beyond engineering and planning, with an analysis of the well-being of people in cities around the world, as indicated by suicide rates. She found people in rapidly growing Asian cities most at risk. One factor of relevance to Australia was the avialability of Internet access. In Korea the availability of Internet increases social cohesion, whereas it reduces this in Japan. This is very relivant in Austrlaia where the federal government is spending $43B on the NBN. It would be prudent to undertake some research to ensure that this does not harm society and increase suicide rates.

Details of Assistant Professor Park's work is in the 3 August 2010 edition of SUR: Sustainable Urban Regeneration Magazine. Also the slides from a previous talk are avialable: "Urban Sustainability and Vulnerability Indicators: How Do We Evaluate Our Sustainability and Vulnerability?" at the International Workshop on Sustainable City-Region, February 2010 in Taiwan.

Professor Park is in Canberra today and tommorrow (Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 January) and then visiting Melbourne and is keen to talk to local people. Here email address is: naesun(a)mail.com

Planning for sustainable development of world cities

Assistant Professor Naesun Park, University of Tokyo, will speak on "The Vulnerability in Cities: the concept, mechanism and examples", at Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, 10 January 2011, 6.30 pm. The Professor previously talked on "Urban Sustainability and Vulnerability Indicators: How Do We Evaluate Our Sustainability and Vulnerability?" at the International Workshop on Sustainable City-Region, February 2010 in Taiwan.

The Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning
The University of Sydney

Special Visiting Lecture
10 January 2011, 6.30 – 7.30pm

The vulnerability in cities: the concept, mechanism and examples

Assistant Professor Naesun Park
University of Tokyo

About the talk

Assistant Professor Naesun Park (Centre for Sustainable Urban Regeneration, University of Tokyo) will discuss his research into the factors that impact on sustainable development and planning. Assistant Professor Park will discuss the natural, economic, and social factors and risks that can inhibit sustainability in the city. In a globalized era, the vulnerability of one area impacts beyond its immediate environment - it is linked to other areas in one form or another. This vulnerability of cities is increasing and should be considered in a more global sense. Assistant Professor Park’s study on vulnerability in cities clarifies the cause and mechanism with world-wide case studies and development recommendations.

Time: 6.30-7.30pm
Place: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning
Lecture Theatre 1, 148 City Rd, The University of Sydney

No Charge, no bookings required

Sea level rises worse than predicted by IPCC

Greetings from the University of Sydney where Professor Kurt Lambeck, of the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences and President of the Australian Academy of Science, is presenting Climate Change through the lens of the geological record: the example of sea level the Royal Society of New South Wales. The disturbing result from the extensive research presented is that new models predict a larger rise in sea level than those used by the IPCC. The situation with sea level rise due to climate change is much worse than previous thought. My conclusion from this is that more and more prompt action will be required to address sea level rise than is being planned in current political processes. None of the proposals currently being prepared by government for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen December (UNFCCC CoP 15) and preparations in the background are sufficient.

Professor Lambeck started by showing a rock platform a metre above sea level from 6 thousand years ago. On Orpheus Island fossil coral is dated at 5,000 years 1 metre above current sea level and 4,000 years on Lizard Island. In contrast in the Mediterranean ancient fish tanks underwater indicate the sea level has been rising over the last few thousand years. Similarly in Bonaparte Gulf 21,280 years ago 120 metres below the present. He then took us on a fascinating world tour with a few equations up to the present.

ABSTRACT

Climate Change has been with the planet since the time of the formation of the oceans and atmosphere and is recorded, albeit imperfectly, in the geological record.

One of these records is the change in sea level through time, a complex variable that contains implicit information not only on climate but also on the tectonic and geological evolution of the planet. He will address aspects of the underpinning science and what we can learn from it, focussing on the best-known part of the record, that for the last glacial cycle.

The modern instrumental record is much more precise and has higher resolution but will also contain in addition to the `natural' variability any new signals that may result from human impact on climate. The challenge is to separate these "natural" and "anthropogenic" forcings if forecasts of future change are to be meaningful.

The problems encountered are similar to all other indicators of climate change – of separating natural and human forcing from instrumental and geological or historical records when the length of the latter are about the same as the time that human impacts may have been effective.

Professor Lambeck will use the sea level record as an illustration of many of the issues that need to be understood for a meaningful interpretation of the evidence. In so doing he will raise the role of the IPCC and where the IPCC findings are tracking in 2009; and how the public debate on climate change appears to be becoming increasingly confused while the underpinning science is becoming more robust.

Climate Change and sea level

Professor Kurt Lambeck, President of the Australian Academy of Science, will present Climate Change through the lens of the geological record: the example of sea level, 30 October at the University of Sydney.

Australian Academy of Science President to present lecture on climate change

23 September 2009

Professor Kurt Lambeck, President of the Australian Academy of Science, will present the Clarke Memorial Lecture in Geology, Climate Change through the lens of the geological record: the example of sea level on Friday 30 October at the University of Sydney. The Clarke Memorial Lecture is a biennial event of the Royal Society of NSW, which is jointly sponsored by the University of Sydney and the Geological Society of Australia.

Professor Kurt Lambeck will present 'Climate Change through the lens of the geological record: the example of sea level'

Kurt Lambeck is Distinguished Professor of Geophysics at the Australian National University. His research interests range through the disciplines of geophysics, geodesy and geology with a focus on the deformations of the Earth on intermediate and long time scales and on the interactions between surface processes and the solid earth. Past research areas have included the determination of the Earth's gravity field from satellite tracking data, the tidal deformations and rotational motion of the Earth, the evolution of the Earth-Moon orbital system, and lithospheric and crustal deformation processes. His recent research work has focused on aspects of sea level change and the history of the Earth's ice sheets during past glacial cycles, including field and laboratory work and numerical modelling.

Professor Lambeck has been at the Australian National University since 1977, including ten years as Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences. Before that he was at the University of Paris and the French Space Agency (1970-1977), and at the Harvard-Smithsonian observatory (1967-1970). His doctorate is from Oxford (1967) and his first degree from the University of New South Wales (1963). He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 1984 and became its President in 2006. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (1994), a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993), the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (1994), Academia Europaea (1999), the Académie des Sciences, Institut de France (2005), and the US National Academy of Sciences (2009).

For further information about the Clarke Memorial Lecture visit: http://nsw.royalsoc.org.au/awards/clarke_lecture.html

Lecture details:
Date: Friday 30 October 2009
Venue: Eastern Avenue Auditorium, University of Sydney
Time: 5:30pm
Bookings: RSVP with the number of seats you require ...

From: Climate Change through the lens of the geological record: the example of sea level, The University of Sydney, 2009

2009 Wilkinson Lecture at University of Sydney

Greetings from Law Lecture Theatre 101 at The University of Sydney where Richard Francis-Jones, Design Director of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt) is about to deliver the 2009 Wilkinson Lecture. The topic is "Identity Crisis: Dilution of public domain & the rise of the art museum as urban panacea of our time". This seems to be about museums becoming more commercial, but that should become clear as we go along. There will be a podcast available after the talk and I will provide a link to it.

The Wilkinson Lecture is named in honour of Professor Leslie Wilkinson the architect who was responsible for many of the early campus buildings. Richard Francis-Jones is architect of the new law building at University of Sydney, were the talk is being held.

Mr. Francis-Jones started with a grim monochrome view of the Sydney skyline. He argued that we should not see the commercialisation of the modern city as entirely negative. He then argued that virtual public spaces, such as Iranian Internet protests, were positive. He related this to the boulevards of Paris, which were part design to control protest.

Shopping centres and airports are, argues Mr. Francis-Jones, pseudo public spaces, having the appearance of public but being design for turbo-consumerism. He argues that architects have become enamoured of designing such spaces, which like Dubai, which has no social answer to spiritual needs and becomes a city of consumer junkies in a consumer monoculture.

Mr. Francis-Jones sees the public library and art museum as a bulwarks against the advance of the shopping centre. He used the example of the Blacktown Public Library. He argues that the art museum is the temple of the 21st century city, but while becoming a public brand for the city with a landmark building by a well known architect.

The example used was the "Bilbao Effect" named for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by architect Frank Gehry. This one building is credited with boosting the economy of the city and region around it. The Sydney Opera House is a global brand now for Sydney.

Mr. Francis-Jones then attempted to draw a distinction between the artistic integrity of the Sydney Opera House and Bilbao as architecture as sculpture. Is the art building just a "decorated shed"? I think he is on very shaky ground here: the Sydney opera house is not a very functional building and far from just a shed to put art in. Also he seems to forget that a museum building is not a museum, it is a building for some of the artefact's and functions.

The discussion became even more shaky by comparison of buildings with Uluru (Ayers Rock). Uluru is a sacred and supernaturally constructed object to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people. To compare this with architecture might be too much like seeing architects as gods.

Mr. Francis-Jones then got onto firmer ground by showing his designs for the extensions to the Auckland Art Gallery (Toi o Tamaki). This will have a floating canopy of kauri. The design has received positive, if sometimes grudging, comments.

One questioner asked if the law library in this new building should be so noisy. The architect argued the library should have different spaces with different acoustic qualities. There are "live " spaces designed for silence and other softer spaces for conversation.

I asked if the western idea of an art museum was too pure. In 2005 I spent a week in Samoa teaching web design to museum staff from across the pacific for a UNESCO project. One aspect of this was that many of the museums represented were commercial and craft workshops. They did not just display old objects and high art, there were contemporary items on display. These museums also held cultural events, with dance and music as well as provided facilities for works to be produced and sold. Mr. Francis-Jones pointed out this was a complex issue and that he illustrated his talks with many art works which were in public spaces, not isolated in galleries.

The host ended the evening by pointing out it was brave for an architect to give a talk in his own building. This was a useful reminder that whatever architects might say, it is by the buildings they build they must be judged. The extensions to the Auckland Art Gallery look interesting, but I am not so sure about the new University of Sydney Law building. Perhaps this is what the client wanted, but it is a huge imposing structure, not on a human scale. From the outside it is not clear how to get into the building, or if there are actually any people in there. Inside the corridors outside the lecture theatres reminded me of a modern railway station, with vast expanses of very wide corridors. I feel very small and isolated, wandering along looking for a toilet.

Lecture theatre 101 was well designed and equipped. I found the pull out table on each seat was just the right size for my netbook, but there were no power points (I had to plug my 3G wireless station into the podium at the front of the room, which the average student could not do). However, it is not clear to me what exactly is supposed to happen in these big rooms: surely the University is not expecting to provide education here?

The University of Sydney Law building reminds me of a 19th century factory building where rows of workers used to labour. New methods of production have been developed which have rendered these buildings obsolete. In the same way new methods of university education have arrived which have rendered large lecture theatres full of rows of students obsolete. It is handy to have a large room for the occasional public oration, but in educational terms this is an obsolete facility.

The university would have been better off with a more human scale (and cheaper) multi purpose building with a flexible learning centre. Rooms with flat floors are adaptable to multiple uses and refurbishment. It is going to be very difficult and expensive to refit the University of Sydney Law building to be used for modern education. It would be a shame to have to demolish a new building, but that might be the most economic option.

Art museum as urban panacea

Richard Francis-Jones, Design Director of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt) will speak on "Identity Crisis: Dilution of public domain & the rise of the art museum as urban panacea of our time", 1 October 2009, University of Sydney. It is a little had to work out exactly what he will be talked about from the description give, but it seems to be about museums being more commercial.

In 2005 I spent a week in Samoa teaching web design to museum staff from across the pacific for a UNESCO project. One aspect of this was that many of the museums represented were commercial and craft workshops. They did not just display old objects and high art, there were contemporary items on display. These museums also held cultural events, with dance and music as well as provided facilities for works to be produced and sold. In this way they were far in advance of museums and art galleries in Australia, as well as being much more interesting. I ended up learning as much from my students, than they learnt from me.

ps: Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt) appear to be having an identity crisis of their own, with a poorly designed web site. This home page depends on the use of Flash, making it of limited value. The web site doesn't appear to have provision for those with Flash to use the web site, nor for those with disabilities. The home page scored only 62/100 on the W3C mobileOK Checker. However, the page appears to consist mostly of a link to Flash content and would be difficult, if not impossible to use without it.

Identity Crisis: Dilution of public domain & the rise of the art museum as urban panacea of our time

1 October 2009

2009 Wilkinson Lectre
Identity Crisis: Dilution of the public domain and the rise of the art museum as urban panacea of our time
RICHARD FRANCIS-JONES, Design Director of francis-jones morehen thorp
Introduced by Professor Alan Peters, Chair of Urban & Regional Planning

Richard Francis-Jones will discuss the nature of the public building as a social representation and fundamental transformations of the public realm within a contemporary condition where identity is blurred with consumption. Within this blurred context he will present recent Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp investigations into the nature of the art museum and public building.

Brief Bio
Richard is the Design Director of francis-jones morehen thorp (fjmt), a practice noted for its commitment to the enhancement of the public domain. He has led the design of many international competition and award-winning projects. Commissions have won the highest Australian Institute of Architects awards: the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Buildings; the Sir John Sulman Medallion; the Lloyd Rees Award for Excellence in Civic Design; the Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage; and the Greenway Award for Conservation.

Recent completed projects led by Richard include the University of Sydney Law School, the Surry Hills Library and Community Centre, and the Mint. Projects currently in construction include the Auckland Art Gallery, Chatswood Civic Place and the six GreenStar Darling Walk commercial campus.

Richard is a Visiting Professor at UNSW and has taught architecture at many universities in Australia and abroad. He is an editor of Content, a critical journal of architecture, has written theoretical papers for several journals, was President of the AIA (NSW Chapter) from 2001-2002, and was Creative Director of the 2008 AIA National Architecture Conference: Critical Visions.

He studied architecture at the University of Sydney, receiving the University Medal for Architecture upon graduation. He subsequently completed a masters degree in architectural design and theory at Columbia University in New York. He is a registered architect in all Australian states and New Zealand.

Time: 5.30pm drinks, 6.30-7.30pm lecture

Location: Faculty of Law Lecture Theatre 101, The University of Sydney