|
|
|
|
|
|
Philip Crowther |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 
Profile
Qualifications, Career history and Professional and Group Associations Qualifications
Career History and biography
Professional and Group Associations
Interests and community service
Awards
Research
Research areas and external collaborators Main Areas of ResearchWithin the field of Architectural Design, Dr Philip Crowther and his team conduct research in two main areas:
Design for Disassembly: for sustainable reuse of construction materials and components
Design for Disassembly: recycling hierarch
Design for Disassembly: timber house during relocation The dominant life cycle model of building materials and components is a linear system, which ends in demolition and disposal. If however, the act of demolition is replaced with the act of disassembly, more materials and components can be reused and recycled. This suggests a different life cycle model, one that accommodates an increase in service life. To achieve extended service life designers must design buildings for disassembly to facilitate the new steps in the life cycle and encourage the reuse and recycling of materials and components. Experience gained in the industrial design field and knowledge from attempts at creating disassemblable buildings can be used to create guidelines for design for disassembly. Such guidelines can be implemented to extend service life and improve environmental sustainability. This research also seeks to establish holistic principles of Design for Disassembly by investigating issues of: the modelling of environmentally sustainable construction, time-related building layers, and a hierarchy of relocation, reuse and recycling.
Design Education: developing innovative and integrated delivery modes
Models of visual communication
‘Drawing dialogues’ as visual conversation This research seeks to develop a deeper understanding of higher education Design students. This research recognises, and deals with, two important points: our students come to us from multiple starting points with different capabilities, and fostering a self-directed learning approach is a crucial aspect of dealing with those differences. This research is investigating the notion of a ‘safe’ and integrated mode of self-directed learning (appropriate to first year students) in which differing needs may be managed. We know that our students learn in different ways, through different cognitive processes. Further we know that an individual’s learning style may affect their ability to learn effectively. Research activities include: investigation and analysis of student cohorts (including analysis of student background and university performance), experimentation and testing of asynchronous learning tools, development and testing of alternate modes of (visual) communication.
Teaching
Teaching areas and achivements and units taught Teaching Areas - DesignSpecialising in:
Teaching Areas - Architectual TechnologySpecialising in:
Grants
Funding and selected list of awarded projects Selected list of Awarded GrantsQUT Teaching and Learning Development Small Grants Scheme Year: 2007 ‘Graphicacy for Students of Design: The assessment of needs and development of self-paced learning modules in visual literacy’ Total Awarded: $36,658.00 Working with: Michael Molloy, Julian Raxworthy, Andrew Scott and Sheona Thomson
QUT Scholarship in the Professions Grant Year: 2001 ‘A pilot study for a continuing education program: Providing a body of knowledge to secondary education educators’ Total: $17,400.00 Working with: Kristine Jerome, Dennis Hardy and Andrew Scott
Supervision
Selected list of student projects Research topics currently being supervised:
Associate Supervisor of Research ThesesUniversal and Sustainable Design in Current Industrial Design Practice Candidate: Rebekah Davis Course: PhD The aim of this research is to identify how practicing industrial designers currently view and apply sustainability issues to design problems. The objective of this study is to observe the degree of variability between the design participants’ responses to the set design activity. The research question driving this study is: How do current practicing designers view and apply universal and sustainable design? And to identify if universal and sustainable design considerations during the early stages of the design process can contribute to innovative solutions and outcomes?
Indeterminacy: Making a new set of shapes, or a mediated theory transfer? Candidate: Robert Takken Course: PhD The objective of this study is the exploration of how ‘indeterminacy’ may influence the architectural design process. The focus of the study is the identification of the main characteristics of indeterminacy and how these are being used by architects in their design process. The combination of mediated theories with sophisticated digital technologies allows ‘indeterminacy’ to be a significant factor in the architectural design process, whereby a multiplicity of animated forms is generated through the digital exploration of particular field-specific theories and principles.
Publications
Selected list of publications Selected List of Publications
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
