AASA EDUCATION PRIZE FOR EARLY CAREER ACADEMICS
Wednesday, 3 August 2022
The Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia is excited to announce the launch of the AASA Education Prize for Early Career Academics 2022. The prize represents an opportunity for emerging academic staff at AASA member universities to gain recognition through a peer-reviewed competition.
This year the prize will focus on excellence in digital and online learning pedagogy. The decision to focus the prize in this area reflects the significant shifts in architectural education that occurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the outstanding contribution that has been made to the sector by early career academics during this period.
The AASA seeks to celebrate, reward and disseminate innovative learning and teaching practices, that speak to the specific and exceptional culture of architectural education in our region.
The closing date for the submission is 5 September 2022.
For more information please click here
Friday, October 18, 2019
The AASA is delighted to announce that Dr Karamia Muller is the winner of the Inaugural AASA Education Prize for Early Career Academics! The Education Prize is a new initiative of the AASA, designed to support academics at member universities to gain recognition through a peer-reviewed competition. In 2019, this was focused upon demonstration of excellence in design studio pedagogy.
The presentation was held at Warren and Mahoney in Auckland on 1 October 2019, with more than 80 guests attended the event. Each finalist was given 10 minutes to present their project in front of heads of schools from Australia, New Zealand, PNG and Hong Kong.
Our finalists were:
-
Dr Karamia Muller (University of Auckland). Project: Design 4: Counter Forensics Studio
-
Dr John Doyle (RMIT University). Project: Evolving the Grey
-
Dr Katica Pedisic (University of South Australia). Project: Research Through Design Studio
-
Dr Hannah Robertson (Monash University). Project: Visions of a Bushman
-
Ms Amaia Sanchez-Velasco (University of Technology, Sydney). Project: Factory of Hyper-ecologies
While topics for each project are vastly different, most of the finalists have shown an interest in incorporating the concept of collaboration into the design studio. For example, both Hannah Robertson (Visions of a Bushman) and Amaia Sanchez-Velasco (Factory of Hyper-ecologies) have utilised the idea by working closely with the local community (such as Indigenous elders, scientists, artists and scholars) that would inform their architectural design. In contrast, Karamia Muller (Design 4: Counter Forensics Studio) further developing the method by combining participatory design principles with activism that would encourage students to develop critical analysis skills. A different approach was undertaken by John Doyle (Evolving the Grey), where the focus was placed on how students can work collectively by examining the metropolitan agglomeration around Lake Taihu, a 100km2 region on the periphery of Shanghai with seven major cities and a population of more than 20 million.
An alternative architectural research method was investigated by Katica Pedisic (Research Through Design Studio). Building on her practice-based research exploring the role of storytelling in conveying architectural ideas, the studios interrogate the potential of communicative media. Some of the methods used for the investigation include analogue drawings and models, digital hybrids, stop motion animation and films, immersive VR and augmented reality that aims to provide mechanisms through which to examine and depict the temporal nature of architecture.
An exhibition of the finalists’ work was displayed at Warren and Mahoney from 2 – 4 October 2019, and their submissions will be archived and published on AASA’s website in due course.
Finally, a thank you to our sponsor: Warren and Mahoney, for their generous support to the AASA Education Prize for Early Career Academics presentation and exhibition. A call for the 2020 Education Prize Committee, focusing next upon traditional research excellence, will be sent out in early 2020, with a call for submissions in March.