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bios MARTIN BRYANT 
Martin Bryant is the Professor 
and Programme Director 
of Landscape Architecture 
at Victoria University of 
Wellington. He is a mul-
ti-award winning practitioner 
with numerous built land-
scape architectural projects 
in Australia and New Zealand 
over 30 years. His academic 
work includes publications 
concerning the role of 
landscape architecture on 
resilience, including the UN 
Habitat III Policy Paper on 
Urban Ecology and Resilience.

PATRICK CLIFFORD
Patrick Clifford was a fellow 
student of Rewi Thompson 
at the University of Auckland 
School of Architecture in  
the late 1970’s. Together with 
Malcom Bowes, Michael 
Thomson and Tim Nees 
they have collaborated on 
numerous projects over the 
many years since. Patrick is a 
founding principal and design 
director of Australasian archi-
tectural practice Architectus.

MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael Davis is Director of 
Architecture programmes      
at the University of 
Auckland’s School of 
Architecture and Planning. 
He teaches and researches in 
the areas of architectural 
design and architectural 
media. Mike holds a PhD from 
RMIT in Melbourne and a 
Master of Architecture in 
Architecture and Urbanism 
from London’s famed 
Architectural Association. 
Davis co-founded architecture 
and design practice ‘Ark’ with 
Vanessa Ceelen in 2004 and 
has practiced his trade in  
New Zealand, Canada and   
the Netherlands, while being 
involved in projects from 
Ethiopia to New Caledonia.

ANDREW DOUGLAS 
Dr Andrew Douglas is a Senior 
Lecturer in Spatial Design 
at the School of Art+Design 
at Auckland University of 
Technology.  He is coordinator 
of the Urban Practices under-
graduate minor, a member 
of the TurnSpace Collective, 
and contributor to the Making 
Public research cluster. He 
is also an Executive Editor 
of Interstices: Journal of 
Architecture and Related Arts, 
and a trustee of the enigma: 
he aupiki Trust, and the Greg 
Bowron Trust, along with 
being a director of the Interior 
Design Educators Association 
and an editorial advisor to 
the IDEA Journal.  He has 
practiced architecture in both 
Auckland and London and 
maintains specialty skills in 
critical urban thinking and 
design particularly.  He has 
pursued postgraduate studies 
at The University of Auckland 
and Goldsmiths, University of 
London.  His research ranges 
across fields associated with 
urban and Greek philoso-
phy and history, aspects of 
poststructuralist thinking—
particularly the work of Gilles 
Deleuze and Felix Guattari—
critical perspectives on 
socio-spatial practice, and 
gender and sexuality as these 
pertain to literature, cinema 
and the urban imaginary. His 
doctoral research investigated 
observation and reflectivity 
in modernity and its linkag-
es with human motility in 
European urbanism since the 
seventeenth century.  His cur-
rent research includes the role 
of affect in emerging forms of 
publicness and governance, 
colonial-urban formations 
in New Zealand, and various 
aspects of an urban-interior 
synthesis 

GRAHAM FARMER
Graham is Professor of 
Architecture and Director of 

the Architecture Programmes. 
Graham’s diverse research 
and teaching interests 
encompass sustainable 
design, materials, tectonics 
and architectural pedagogy. 
A key theme in his work is 
the social production of the 
built environment, with an 
emphasis on understanding 
how the built environment is 
socially sustained. Graham 
is interested in the ethics of 
sustainability, and in particu-
lar how environmental values 
relate to the specifics of place 
and the pragmatics of design 
practice.

PENELOPE FORLANO 
Penelope Forlano is a PhD 
student at Curtin University 
with a special interest in 
inalienable public and private 
artefacts, design anthropol-
ogy and object agency. She 
has over 20 years practice as 
an award-winning artist, fur-
niture designer and interior 
designer.  Her work has been 
exhibited widely, including 
a coveted spot at London’s 
100% Design, CraftACT, 
The John Curtin Gallery, 
FORM, and a solo show in 
2004 at the esteemed Salone 
Satellite, Milan’s International 
Furniture Fair. Receiving the 
prestigious Australian Design 
Award in 2006,  her ‘Terrain’ 
table was acquired for per-
manent collection by the Art 
Gallery of Western Australia 
in 2011.

SUE GALLAGHER 
Sue Gallagher is a Senior 
Lecturer in Spatial Design, 
and previous Associate     
Head of School Academic in 
the School of Art & Design 
at AUT University. Trained 
as an architect (Bachelor 
of Architecture First Class 
Honours, The University of 
Auckland) and as a perfor-
mance designer (Master 



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bios / abstracts R E T U R N  T O  O R I G I N S

of Arts Scenography with 
Distinction, Central Saint 
Martins London and in part-
nership with the Hogeskool 
van Kunsten), Sue has 
explored performance based 
spatial practice in various 
projects including; the NZ 
national pavilion at the 
Prague Quadrennial of 
Performance Design and 
Space in 2007, 2011, 2015, the 
Auckland Arts Festival; set 
design for the inaugural  
performance of the New 
Zealand Dance Company, 
and is a past Chair of IDEA: 
Interior Design Educators 
Association.

ROSS JENNER
Ross Jenner teaches at the 
University of Auckland. He 
has a PhD from the University 
of Pennsylvania, has prac-
tised in the UK, Finland, 
Switzerland, and New 
Zealand, taught at various 
institutions in Australia and 
the US, was Commissioner 
for the NZ Section of the XIX 
Triennale di Milano, pub-
lished in several books and 
journals, and is an editor  
of Interstices.

SAM KEBBELL 
Sam Kebbell is a senior  
lecturer at Victoria University 
of Wellington and a founding 
director of Kebbell Daish. 
Architects. He is currently 
working on his Ph.D. at RMIT 
University in Melbourne, 
and in 2015 was an ADAPTr 
Research Fellow at the 
University of Westminster 
in London. He graduated 
from Victoria University of 
Wellington with a B.Arch (1st 
class Hons), and complet-
ed his Masters of Design in 
History and Theory at the 
Graduate School of Design 
(Distinction) at Harvard 
(Cambridge, USA) in 1999. 
Sam worked in Boston,  

New York, and Amsterdam  
before returning to practice 
and teach in Wellington. 

ASHLEY MASON
Ashley Mason is a PhD 
candidate in Architecture by 
Creative Practice at Newcastle 
University, UK. Her work 
engages the potentials of 
textual-spatial practice in 
addition to exploring  
absent-present narratives 
within architecture. Along-
side her research, she is also 
Editorial Assistant for the 
journal arq: Architectural 
Research Quarterly.

YASSER MEGAHED
Yasser is currently in the 
writing up phase of a PhD 
in Creative Practice at 
Newcastle University’s School 
of Architecture, Planning 
and Landscape. He is one of 
the team comprising Design 
Office—a design research 
practice operating out of 
the university. Previously, 
Yasser worked as a senior 
architect and design team 
leader with the Architecture 
and Urbanism Group in 
Cairo. Yasser has a BA and 
MSc in Architecture from the 
Architecture Department of 
Cairo University. His research 
interests include questions 
of quality in architecture, 
modes of practice in archi-
tecture, and shifting relations 
between theory and practice 
in architecture.

MICHAEL MILOJEVIC
Michael Milojevic is a pro-
fessional teaching fellow at 
the University of Auckland’s 
School of Architecture and 
Planning. Growing up in the 
Little Italy area of Toronto, he 
designed event installations 
for large multicultural events 
on fifty sites across the city, 
also overseeing Balkan related 

projects in his hometown, as 
well as abroad in Chicago  
and Auckland. 

SEAN PICKERSGILL
Dr Sean Pickersgill teach-
es architecture within the 
University of South Australia’s 
School of Art, Architecture 
and Design. With a focus on 
developing innovative design 
approaches at all levels of the 
undergraduate and graduate 
curriculum, his work on the 
inter-relationship between 
modes of critical thinking in  
philosophy and design 
practice has been published 
internationally, alongside 
literature on the consequenc-
es of contemporary digital 
technology in the practice  
and understanding of archi-
tectural design.

GRACE SALISBURY MILLS
Grace Salisbury Mills is an  
architect and urban  
designer, originally from 
Wellington but currently 
based in Brooklyn, New York. 
Having recently finished a 
MSc. in Architecture and 
Urban Design at Columbia 
University on a Fulbright 
Scholarship, she now works  
as a designer at WXY Studio in 
Manhattan, focusing efforts 
on the interface between  
public space, urban infra-
structure and architecture. 
She is also a Teaching Fellow 
in the Urban Design program 
at Columbia University. 
Grace completed her M.Arch 
between Victoria University 
of Wellington and The Royal 
Danish Academy of Fine  
Arts in Copenhagen.

RACHEL SARI-DEWI MURRAY
Rachel Sari-Dewi Murray is a 
recent graduate of the M.Arch 
(Prof ) programme at Victoria 
University of Wellington.
Having completed a 5-month 



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exchange programme at Paris’ 
École Spéciale d’Architec-
ture in 2013, she is currently 
rounding off an architecture 
internship in Helsinki, where 
her residence just so happens 
to overlook a swampland. 

ADAM SHARR
Adam Sharr is the Head of 
the School of Architecture, 
Planning and Landscape 
and Professor at Newcastle 
University. He is Editor-in-
Chief of Cambridge University 
Press’ international architec-
ture journal arq: Architectural 
Research Quarterly, Series 
Editor of Thinkers for 
Architects, published by 
Routledge, and principal of 
Adam Sharr Architects. Adam 
is author or editor of six books 
on architecture including 
Heidegger’s Hut (MIT Press, 
2006), Reading Architecture 
and Culture (Routledge, 2012) 
and Demolishing Whitehall: 
Leslie Martin, Harold Wilson 
and the Architecture of White 
Heat (co-written with Stephen 
Thornton, Ashgate, 2013). 
Alongside his own architec-
tural practice, Adam works 
with APL’s Design Office 
research consultancy. 

DIANNE SMITH  
Dianne Smith is Associate 
Professor and Director of 
Research and Graduate 
Research Studies at Curtin 
University’s School of the 
Built Environment. Dianne’s 
research focuses on discrimi-
natory design (with particular 
reference to everyday design 
for the cognitively impaired), 
environmental meaning 
and experience, as well 
as the impact of colour. 
Additionally, she is interest-
ed in how creative practices 
enable alternative ways to 
see situations and associated 
problems. Recently she co-ed-
ited and co-authored M2: 

Models and Methodologies 
for Community Engagment 
(Springer, 2014), Perspectives 
on Social Sustainability and 
Interior Architecture: Life 
from the Inside (Springer 
2014); Occupation: Ruin, 
Repudiation and Revolution 
(2015) and has been a core 
member of the Lakhnu 
Sustainable Development 
Project in northern rural India 
(2011–2016). Dianne has also 
undertaken leadership posi-
tions with the Design Institute 
of Australia (DIA) and IDEA 
(Interior Design/Interior 
Architecture Educators 
association).  

MARK SOUTHCOMBE 
Mark Southcombe studied 
Architecture at the University 
of Auckland and Victoria 
University of Wellington.  He 
is Architecture Programme 
Director at the School 
of Architecture Victoria 
University of Wellington, an 
award winning Director of 
Southcombe Architects in 
Wellington, and a fellow of 
the NZIA. He teaches design 
studio and research meth-
odologies courses at Victoria 
University of Wellington.     
His current design and re-
search is focused on collective 
urban housing.

JEREMY TREADWELL 
Jeremy Treadwell is a senior 
lecturer at the School of 
Architecture and Planning 
within the University of 
Auckland. He teaches design, 
architectural history, and 
building technology. His 
current areas of study focus 
on the tectonics of Polynesian 
architecture.          

SARAH TREADWELL
Sarah Treadwell is an 
Associate Professor at the 
University of Auckland’s 
School of Architecture and 
Planning. Her research 
investigates the representa-
tion of architecture through 
consideration of ground 
and spatiality. She focusses 
on turbulent ground, both 
politically and literally, as 
well as on the atmospheric 
and the allusive, specifical-
ly grounds which are not 
contained by conventional 
categories of site or founda-
tion. Her work is carried out 
across both written and visual 
practice, with much attention 
afforded to the relationships 
between text and image. With 
a longstanding interest in 
gender related issues, Sarah 
has written on the work of 
contemporary artists and on 
representations of motels, 
suburbs and interiority. Her 
work has been published in 
various books and journals in-
cluding Architectural Theory 
Review, Space and Culture 
and Interstices. Sarah’s visual 
work has been exhibited at 
Te Tuhi, Pakuranga, the Gus 
Fisher Gallery, University of 
Auckland and the Adam Art 
Gallery—Te Pātaka Toi in 
Wellington.        

SIMON WEIR 
Simon Weir is a lecturer of 
architecture at the University 
of Sydney, Australia. Seen 
most prominently in his study 
of surrealism, Weir’s theoret-
ical research focusses on the 
foundational mythologies of 
architectural culture and the 
philosophy, art and architec-
ture of classical antiquity.