Architectural Communications research

Architecture gallery: Architectural Communication Projects

Architectural Communications is a key focus of teaching and a specialist field of research at RMIT, with a particular focus on emerging representational practices enacted through emerging digital technologies. A small cohort of postgraduate candidates focus on architectural representation and communication as their primary research field.

Postgraduate Alumni include:

Antonia Bruns
A + B= C: Film and Architecture: Narrative and Spatial Montage
Master of Architecture (Research by Project), RMIT, 1994
Senior Supervisor: Leon van Schaik
Published in:
van Schaik, Leon, editor, Transfiguring the Ordinary: RMIT Masters of Architecture by Project, Melbourne: 38South Publications, 1995

Rosemary Burne
Baroque and film (theory as) narrative: locating theatricality and spectatorship as systems of vision and visuality within the contemporary technologies and representations of architecture
Master of Architecture (Research by Project), RMIT, 1997
Senior Supervisor: Leon van Schaik
Published in:
van Schaik, Leon, editor, Interstitial Modernism, Melbourne: RMIT School of Architecture + Design, 2000
Principle: Burne Hocking Weimar Architects in Association

John Gollings
Torus City: investigating the photography of architecture in a virtual environment Master of Architecture (by research project) - Invited, RMIT, 2002
Senior supervisor: Leon van Schaik
Published in:
van Schaik, Leon, editor, The Practice of Practice: research in the medium of design, Melbourne: RMIT Press, 2003
Principle: Gollings Pidgeon Design, Melbourne

Inger Mewburn
Munge: To imperfectly transform information. To modify data in some way that the speaker doesn't need to go into right now or cannot describe succinctly
Master of Architecture, (Research by Project) - SIAL, RMIT, 2005
Senior supervisor: Pia Ednie-Brown
Second Supervisor: Brent Allpress
Abstract:
Munging describes a shift from in-formation to form that is the result of an intentional act gone 'operationally vague'. It describes a process where two or more previously 'closed' systems are put together to generate an outcome which is syncretic. This thesis will investigate some modes of munging in the production of architecture through digital design technique and the production of experience through a munge of built form and technology. There will be a particular emphasis on modes of composition in the Rococo (1700- 1760) and the resonance’s with contemporary 'ways of doing' in architectural practice.

Martina Mrongovius
Into the holographic landscape – the spatial construction of images
Master of Design (research by Project) - SIAL, RMIT, current candidate
Senior supervisor: Pia Ednie-Brown
Abstract:
An exploration of spatial dynamics and perspective through holographic images. Through the medium of holography this research project investigates the capturing and reconstruction of visual relationships. My intention is to produce holographic images that reveal scenes with non-Cartesian structures. A holographic image is built up in the observers’ mind with information from multiple points of view. In creating holographic images I mirror this process, sampling discrete perspectives that are then transferred into holograms. My work takes an approach similar to that of cubism, but seeks to reveal the nature of relationships rather than objects. As this is my first review of candidature I will present an intended research path to support my design, production and exhibition of holographic images. Theoretical research into geometry, art and perception will accompany this practice based exploration.

Mathan Ratinam
Emergent Forms of Digital Representation in Architecture
Master of Architecture (by Project), RMIT, current candidate
Senior Supervisor: Brent Allpress
Abstract:
This research topic arose out of problems with contemporary modes of digital representation, specifically the role and production of 3d rendering and compositing. Some of these issues include the ambition towards photorealistic renderings, their ethical issues of a perceived truth and emphasising modeling over rendering and compositing - subsequently leading to digital representation and techniques being used only at the end of the design process. This course of action significantly compromises the potential of digital tools to test and influence the design as it develops. Rather than a historical survey, this research seeks to investigate how techniques in fields of moving image [i.e. visual effects in film, animation and gaming] can address the concerns of past and current practices.

Related candidates:

Peta Carlin
Arresting the developing surface: photographic representations and transformations of architecture
Master of Art (Thesis), Media Arts, School of Art, RMIT, 2005

Juia Irvine
Pictorial space, image and technology: research on the impact of new imaging technologies on pictorial space
Master of Arts (Research by Project), RMIT, 1999
Senior supervisor: Leon van Schaik
Published in:
van Schaik, Leon, editor, Interstitial Modernism, Melbourne: RMIT School of Architecture + Design, 2000

Architecture Home