School of Architecture and Building
Faculty of Science and Technology
Assessing the assessors: The effectiveness of teaching evaluation on improving teaching
Dr Hilary Davies
Improving teaching and learning quality is an often stated aim of tertiary institution quality assurance (QA) programmes. This has led to institutions setting up a number of performance indicators that act as benchmarks. A majority of institutions use student evaluations as their primary performance indicator for evaluating individual teachers. There are known biases associated with these methods. Often these evaluations are used in a summative fashion for tenure or promotion. There is evidence that these QA programmes do not generate the looked-for benefits and improvements in teaching and learning but instead lead to the adoption of strategies that ensure the department and institution achieve the target ratings for performance. It therefore appears that this form of assessment encourages a surface learning approach within institutions. How can institutions motivate staff to adopt the deep learning strategies that are more likely to lead to teaching improvements? This paper argues that current evaluations do not achieve this, nor are they likely to. A new approach needs to be adopted. Firstly, staff motivation to improve their teaching can be stimulated by the reward structures adopted. The current reward system adopted by Universities (tenure, promotion, awards) needs to be matched to that for research. Secondly, this paper suggests a model that can be used to assist teachers improve their teaching practice that requires reflection, appropriate formative feedback and subsequent action.
Celebrating architecture: a new approach to writing a guide book to St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
Dr Ursula M. de Jong
Whether as a student, intrepid traveller, or interested lay person we have all had the experience of visiting a significant building with a guide/guidebook who/which has told the story of the family or provenance of every knick knack on display with hardly a mention of the architecture. The building is either taken as a given, with no need of any explanation or exploration, the site of a social, political or historical event, or the backdrop for a film or contemporary happening. As an architectural historian this has both appalled and intrigued me. Over many years I have avidly collected guidebooks to public, ecclesiastical and private buildings, locally and overseas. As an educator I have had the opportunity to develop field trips for students of architecture, to train guides of historic buildings and now to write a new guidebook for St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.
While the Oxford Dictionary simply defines a guidebook as 'a book of information for tourists', this paper provides the opportunity to critically explore the raison d'etre of 'architectural' guidebooks. It examines the purpose, the audience, the fine line between scholarship and accessibility, story telling and experience. Ultimately it suggests a new approach, highlighting the building as 'the star' and the guide as a vehicle through which it can be entered, revealed, understood and celebrated.
Comparisons of Linkages between Real Estate and Construction Sectors in OECD Countries
Mr. Yu Song, Dr. Chunlu Liu and Prof. Craig Langston
The Hypothetical Extraction Method (HEM) is to extract a sector hypothetically from an economic system and examine the influence of this hypothetical extraction on other sectors in the economy. Linkage measures based on the HEM become increasingly important. By comparing the output levels for each of the remaining sectors before and after the hypothetical extraction, the difference reflects the linkages of one sector in the economy. Using the recently published Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) input-output database at constant prices, this paper employs the HEM to compare the roles of the construction and real estate sectors in national economies from a new angle. This research provides a new perspective to examine the economic influences and sectorial correlation of the real estate and construction sectors.
Demolition Waste Production Simulation for Building Deconstruction Projects
Sung Kin Pun, Chunlu Liu
The recently erected concept of building deconstruction has significantly promoted building components and materials reuse and recycling where building is carefully dismantled into reusable parts. Current research and practices of building deconstruction mainly focus on issues of process before and during the deconstruction such as hazardous material detection, deconstruction design and deconstruction technology. The issues after the deconstruction project are rarely considered. Waste reuse and recycling are enabled through deconstruction yet not practically achieved, and especially the demands of waste building components and materials are hard to appear and match the actual waste production in a building deconstruction project. To deal with this awkward situation, the waste production needs to be conducted in a demand-oriented way. It needs to be thoughtfully planned and scheduled prior to the physical deconstruction as an essential portion of deconstruction project planning and scheduling. Furthermore, the relationship between waste production and structural characteristics of the building creates a serious consideration affecting a deconstruction plan. As a result, a waste production simulation will facilitate waste reuse and recycling in a deconstruction project. It serves as a crucial section of deconstruction planning and design. This research aims to describe the concept of waste production simulation and investigate various management and technical aspects of waste production simulation for building deconstruction projects.
Development of an Internet Supportive Platform for Online Teaching and Learning of Construction Planning and Scheduling
Chunlu Liu, Sung Kin Pun, David Picken
Construction Planning and Scheduling is taught for the first time in Semester 2, 2004 in the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University. During the unit development process and the implementation of teaching activities, several issues arose in relation to implementing computer-aided construction scheduling and unit delivery in a unitary environment. Although various types of construction planning and scheduling software have been developed and applied, none of them can be run inside an online teaching software package, which provides powerful functions in administration. This research aims to explore the strategies to connect a project planning and scheduling software package and an online teaching and learning software package by a Web-based support platform so that both the lecturer and students can draw up and communicate a construction plan or schedule with tables and figures. The key techniques of this supportive platform are identifies and they include a web-based graphically user-interfaced, dynamic and distributed multimedia data acquisition mechanism, which accepts users' drawings and retrieval information from canvas and stores the multimedia data on a server for further usage. This paper demonstrates the techniques and principals needed to construct such a multimedia data acquisition tool. This research will fill the gap in the literature in respect to an online pedagogical solution to an existing problem.
Dirt and Rubble: exploration of the figure-ground paradox in architecture
Mirjana Lozanovska
If we find a mound in the forest, six foot long and three foot wide, formed into a pyramid shaped by a shovel, we become serious and something within us says, 'Someone lies buried here.' This is architecture. (Adolf Loos, Architecture 1910)
Loos' 'mound of earth' suggests that 'death and burial' are central to the conception of architecture, also exemplified in monuments and tombs. Architecture, in this sense , also reiterates Hegel's thoughts, that architecture appears in the place of death, to point out its presence and to cover it up. The figure-ground relationship, implying a clear distinction between edifice and ground , is here more entangled and complicated.
The sense of dirt/matter as activated rather than passive appears in post war films, where the architecture of the city has become a dark crumbling matter that merges with the ground. If we accept that architecture is contingent on a demarcation line between the artifice (the constructed edifice) on the one hand, and the organic (natural matter) on the other, post-war conditions complicate this division, not least because architecture is literally intermingled with dirt. The condition and concept of rubble is a significant phase in the process of transformation from a post-war city to a reconstructed one. Paradoxically, such a phase also occurs in construction, where excavation and site clearing, literally turn the ground upside down, revealing sites of human history and past civilizations. Each excavation brings us to the uncertain face of death. The quintessential global city (Dubai, Shanghai) with their accelerated construction presents an urban image of eternally upturned ground and dirt, construction as permanent rather than as temporary process.
In this paper, I examine the ground on which we build through studies of it in anthropology (Mary Douglas) and psychoanalytic theory (Slavoj Zizek). A 'gap of history' in architecture is represented by the state of rubble, a matter of mixed and uncertain identity between building, bodies and dirt. It is this formlessness that indicates that architecture is not merely a pure abstract geometric form, nor is it a natural condition, but an animated and inscribed form. Loos' statement that 'someone lies buried here' represents the tone of that gap: the forgotten story of those that lie buried becomes a phantom history haunting every architectural erection.
Federation Square - what's in a name?
Dr Ursula M. de Jong
Federation: Federal: ' ... of a system of government in which several States unite but remain independent in internal affairs ...' (Oxford Reference Dictionary)
1901 Federation of Australian States = One Nation? What did it mean and how was it celebrated? First Federal Parliament held in Melbourne Exhibition Buildings Tom Robert's painting marked the occasion; Arthur Streeton paints the festooned Princes Bridge. In this context to celebrate meant to mark an occasion with festivities, affirm, proclaim, announce, declare, herald.
In 2001 on the anniversary of the centenary of the Federation of Australia, subtle shifts in the term celebrate appear. It now means to solemnize, sanctify, commemorate, remember, honour, observe, keep, maintain, do honour to, fete, garland, wreathe, crown.
In Victoria the State Government announced an architectural competition to celebrate the centenary of Federation. What was the process of commemorating this anniversary? How can contemporary architecture encompass Federation and all it meant and has meant over a century? What does it mean today?
Paul Carter's Nearamnew, sculpture in stone, poetic reflection on sense of place, who we are as a nation, inscribed multilayering of cultures: indigenous, British immigrants, European and non European immigrants, laid into the Kimberly sandstone, crisscrossing time, depth, shallowness, hurt, acceptance, ignorance ... and yet the work itself remains incomprehensible, inaccessible. In contrast the temporary triumphal arch over Princes Bridge is fickle, inconsequential, irrelevant, insulting, trivial, best forgotten ... ?
Questions abound: this paper uses Federation Square to critically and creatively explore memory and oblivion, the art and architecture of commemoration, art and architecture as a method of remembering.
From 'Games' to Problem-Based-Learning: A case study of construction technology education
Jeremy Ham
This paper examines, and questions, the issue of innovative construction technology education through a case study of a core unit in construction technology, conducted over a period of four years. The case study will document the active integration of computing into the teaching of construction technology, and the evolution of the unit from computing-based resource creation towards problem-based-learning, enhanced by computers. A key aspect of this curriculum development was the external evaluation of the curriculum by an external evaluator which influenced the development of the unit. The phases of development of this unit are as follows:
After three years of development, research and evaluation, the unit has established a balance between the creation of shared digital resources and problem-based-learning. Fewer projects worth more marks enable deep learning approaches, reduce workload, stress and allow time to develop the digital skills required to complete work. Problem-based-learning scenarios that integrate design allows students to solve problems of their own making, reflecting the positive aspects of the unique environment of the design studio.
Although the unit may appear to be less "innovative" through its reduced emphasis on digital media, its' process of evolution has allowed greater opportunities for students to develop deep learning about construction technology.
Infrastructure Logistics For Applying Just-In-Time Demolition Approach
Chunlu Liu, Sung Kin Pun, Craig Langston
Just-In-Time (JIT) is a matured method widely used in manufacture industry as well as construction industry. It is utilised to reduce the inventory of both raw materials and final products and to shorten production cycle and improve the quality of the products. In a previous research project, the JIT philosophy was applied into demolition project so that the inventory of wasted materials could be eliminated and the project time could be shortened. In order implement JIT demolition, the waste exchange process was performed before the wasted materials are generated from the project. Material owners and demanders could virtually plan for waste handling before the demolition project is physically implemented. As a result, waste materials could be sent to demanders through transportation right after they are produced from the project. Applying JIT philosophy in demolition projects could effectively reduce the inventory of wasted materials and the amount of demolition waste to be sent to landfills. Therefore the cost and time of the project are reduced, and the quality of final delivered materials is improved. The application of JIT demolition at a region level for a long term needs a revolution of the complex social system to establish solid and functional infrastructure logistics. The research described this paper aims to identify the supportive platform of infrastructure logistics to apply JIT demolition approach in practice. In particular, the information, transportation, organisation and legislation infrastructure systems are demonstrated individually and integratively.
Life-cycle energy analysis of wind turbines - an assessment of the effect of size on energy yield
R.H. Crawford, G.J. Treloar, R.J. Fuller, M. Bazilian
Wind turbines, used to generate non-fossil fuel based electrical power, are typically considered to take only a number of months to produce as much energy as is used in their manufacture. These systems have a life-expectancy of upwards of 20 years and as such not only is the energy embodied in these systems recouped within a very short period of time, the renewable energy produced by wind turbines over their life is many times greater than that embodied in their production.
Many previous studies of the life-cycle energy requirements of wind turbines are based on methods of assessment now known to be incomplete. These studies may underestimate the energy embodied in wind turbines by more than 50%, and thus the energy yield of those systems may actually be reported as much higher than they actually are, possibly affecting the comparison of wind turbine options. This study addresses the issue of incompleteness associated with many past life-cycle energy studies of wind turbines.
There is an increasing trend towards larger scale wind turbines with the aim of providing efficiencies of scale and greater energy output. With the increased size of these systems comes a respective increase in the energy required for their manufacture, assuming similarly energy intensive materials. With this, the errors typically associated with assessing these energy requirements may be exacerbated even further. It is important to consider whether or not these increases in wind turbine size, and thus embodied energy, can be adequately justified by equivalent increases in the lifetime energy yield of such systems. This paper presents the results of an assessment of the effect of wind turbine size on their life-cycle energy yield.
On Recovering The Surface Geometry Of Temple Superstructures
Sambit Datta
The application of computational techniques to the analysis of heritage artifacts enables scholars to bring together diverse fragments of surviving evidence, construe "best-fit" strategies and unearth implicit or hidden relationships. This paper reports a hybrid approach for recovering the surface geometry of temples. The approach combines physical measurements, architectural photogrammetry andgenerative rules to create a parametric model of the surface. The computing of surface geometry is broken into three parts, a global model governing the overall form of the superstructure, local models governing the geometry of individual motifs and finally the global and local models are combined into a single geometry. In this paper, the technique for recoveringsurface geometry is applied to a tenth century stone superstructure: the temple of Ranakdevi at Wadhwan in Western India. The global model of the superstructure and thelocal model of oneindividual motif are presented.
Productivity and the Knowledge Worker
Dr Hilary Davies
The industrial age of Taylor and Ford transformed the landscape of office buildings. Office spaces were very uniform and highly supervised. People were units of production. Their work activities were routine. Work study, or "time and motion" studies measured outputs.
The current "information age" way of working, combined with major demographic shifts in the workforce (Gen-Xers, career-shifting Baby Boomers and a greater number of women and minority ethnic groups in the workforce), requires major changes in how to support service industry productivity. The motivations of knowledge workers are very different from those of the industrial age worker. Commitment to the organisation has gone as a result of business re-engineering processes that increased productivity but at the expense of job security. Workers are more likely to be "goal-focussed" rather than "prevention focussed" (Meyer et al 2004) meaning that instead of doing only what is necessary to retain their job, workers actively seek more meaningful work that matches their personal value systems. They even want to have fun at work!
What contribution can the workplace make to support this work and increase productivity? Surveys have indicated that workers spend more than 75% of their time in their own office space with more than half of that time spent in concentrated work. Concentrated work requires quiet with few distractions, yet workers report that distractions are probably the biggest problem hampering their productivity. What are the current workplace solutions to office space usage? Probably the worst option for distractions - open-plan offices, which are a more cost-effective use of space, but at the potential expense of productivity. Visioning architects such as Duffy (1999) advocate quiet spaces ("dens") where workers can decamp to carry out their concentrated work. But is this workspace as efficient for the worker - who may have to transport materials back and forth?
Workers know what they need to support their productivity best. On the rare occasions when staff have been given the opportunity to configure their work-settings, high productivity increases result. Besides noise, environmental quality is perceived as a key factor influencing productivity. Stuffy workplaces generate lethargy. Greater worker satisfaction with their workplace is reported when workers have more individual control over the environment.
We need to seriously question the "one-size-fits-all" office building with open-plan layouts. This paper proposes an integrated model of the workplace that combines organisational and motivational theory with workplace design.
Salvage Material Transportation Planning For Building Demolition Project
Sung Kin Pun, Chunlu Liu
Building demolition imposes substantial environmental impacts due to large portion of demolition wastes are sent to landfills. An obvious solution is waste building material reuse and recycling. Management philosophies such as Just-in-time are applied into demolition project management in order to promote reuse and recycling. Transportation logistics, firstly used in the manufacturing industry, is ideal to be adopted into demolition projects to optimise waste material production, inventorying, and transportation. In particular, it enables right types and amounts of dismantled building materials to be transferred to right location, and at right time, as required by material demanders. Consequently, waste reuse and recycling are facilitated. Furthermore, logistics management helps the demolition project team to reduce cost, shorten project duration, and satisfy material demanders. Transportation planning concerns thorough preparation technically and managerially on the demolition site for transportation activities. Information exchange is playing a significant role in delivering and sharing information among building owner, demolition project team, potential material demanders, and transporters. On the other hand, logistics management for a demolition project requires enormous information exchange. This research paper intends to identify the role of transportation logistics for demolition projects and to analyse waste inventory control, demolition waste transportation, and several technical aspects of logistic management for demolition waste.
Strange Attractors: Science, Architecture and Ontology
Donna Wheatley
The manifestation of scientific theories in architecture is a primary expression of human beings' current cosmological view. Architecture, a highly visible demonstration of the relationship between humans and nature, is a unique vehicle in which to observe our current cosmological and metaphysical views. Humans cause change to environments in contemplation of ontological ideas.
The present scientific view is through theories of complexity, in which the universe is regarded as a single, self-organising event, blanketed by consequentiality and all encompassing, rather than comprising of simple single elements. More than merely a part of physics, theories of complexity are used as a model for metaphysical explanation. What appeared to be random in the past, such as weather patterns and beauty in nature and art, can be subjected to analysis through these theories. In architectural literature, the theories are used to explain historic complex built environments and the perceived beauty of randomness of past building practices. It neglects to find ways of observing recent directions in architectural design that coincide with new cosmological views. Designers are not always aware they subject their work to their conception of the world. This study finds a discernable manifestation of the current cosmological view in new architectural forms.
Theories of complexity have created popular scientific jargon: chaos theory, strange attractors, fractal theory and non-linear dynamics. Two theories important for architecture are chaos theory and fractal theory. By circumscribing a range of architectural constructs that mirror theories of complexity, one can observe how the current cosmological view manifests in late twentieth century architecture.
The Impact of Assessment Modes on Collaborative Group Design Projects
Dr. Richard Tucker
The two hundred years of apprentice/master tradition which underpins the atelier studio system is still at the core of much present day architectural design education. Yet this tradition today poses many uncertainties for a large number of co-ordinating lecturers faced with current changes in the nature of tertiary education and its funding structure. In particular, with reductions to staff/student contact time, in sessional funding sources and in the relative weighting of design-based subjects with respect to other subject areas, many design teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain an atelier system that has shaped both their learning and, more pointedly, their teaching. If these deficiencies remain unchecked and design-based schools are unable to implement strategies that successfully overcome the resource intensive one-on-one teaching program, then architecture may prove to be an untenable course structure for many institutions.
Rather then spreading their time thinly, many co-ordinating lecturers are setting group projects in order to review less assignments but at greater depth. What is clear is the urgent need for structured research into the assessment problems experienced by these lecturers - and to develop solutions that might establish a readily adopted pedagogy for group design projects. At Deakin University research is underway aimed at establishing best-practice principles for group design projects by analysing students' performance and recording and implementing their criticisms of group projects in response to adjustments made to the following criteria:
1. 1) Assessment modes
2. 2) Assignment types
3. 3) Group configurations
While a significant body of research exists relating to the teaching and assessment of problem-based group work, e.g. Sanz-Menendez, Bordons, Zulueta (2000), and Grigg, Johnston, and Milsom (2003), the focus of this previous research has rarely been the design studio. Only the Clients and Users in Design Education project at the Sheffield University School of Architecture, discussed by Angela Fisher (2000), has looked at the issue of team assessment in the design studio, although the findings of this research are untested elsewhere as a measure of student performance in team assessed projects versus performance in individually assessed projects. Investigations at Deakin are attempting to redress this shortcoming by observing, recording and analysing student performance and feedback in design units that cover projects of the full range required for an extensive comparison - namely, individual projects (from 1st to 5th year), and group projects for teams of 2 to 12 students. A prime focus of this research is to address the problematic and largely overlooked question of assessment. In the experience of the author and many colleagues and peers, the issue of 'fair' assessment is that of the greatest concern to academics and students alike in team design projects - the success of which more often than not hinges on students' perceptions of assessment reflecting their comparative qualitative performance. The four-year duration of research at Deakin allows for response to student performance and feedback to changes made to the programme and assessment of an annually taught collaborative team design project that has adapted modes of team assessment advanced by the CUDE project. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to describe the first three stages of a four-stage testing and refinement of a pedagogical framework focused on the successful assessment of collaborative team design projects. For there are after two and a half years of studies already clear indications of which modes of assessment encourage effective team learning, and which modes are preferred by students.
Traversing the international rainbow of academia and architectural practice
Susan Ang
The promotion and cultivation of international awareness in Australian architecture graduates is becoming critical, and contemporary tertiary education is increasingly concerned with internationalization of curriculums. Graduates need to be prepared for a globalized professional and cultural climate. This paper explores the potential benefits of establishing closer links between academia and architecture practice in this environment, examining the value and relevance of international student practice experience for 21st century architectural education. Firstly, historical changes in philosophies of architectural education will be discussed, concentrating on the movement towards 'credentialization' from an apprentice-based profession.1 Following this, a brief analysis of a survey of the work experience component of Australian architecture courses will be tabled, in order to gauge the extent and nature of current programs that seek to integrate the academic curriculum with practice experience. Finally, this field will be considered in terms of the contemporary globalized environment, to raise the issues that arise from this context. Case studies of Deakin University architecture students in national and international practice contexts will be presented as a vehicle for exploring the degree to which the combination of architectural practice education and cultural experience may be beneficial to architecture students, academia and the profession more generally.
Utilising Integrated Information System Approach for Building Demolition Project Management
Chunlu Liu, Sung Kin Pun
Building demolition has been undergoing evolutionary development in its technologies for several decades. In order to achieve a high level of demolition material reuse and recycling, new management approaches are also necessitated. Several information systems are proposed or developed particularly promoting efficient project management, waste minimization and project safety. These information systems include waste exchange, 4D visualization, safety aware schedule, waste product schedule, site arrangement optimization and so on. However, the fragmented information systems applied by various parties involved in the demolition project could generate conflicts due to lack of communication and standardization. This paper aims to develop a framework of an integrated information system for building demolition projects that covers most aspects of innovative management approaches and conventional construction project management perspective. Practically, the system will serve as an information portal for project team members.
