Mr. Gregory John Cowan

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University of Westminster
Marylebone Campus
Built Environment
LecturerAppointed: 2009
VSO Mongolia
Secure Livelihoods Programme
Secure Livelihoods Programme Volunteer CoordinatorAppointed: 2008
RIBA
Education
International Visiting Board SecretaryAppointed: 2006
Workers Educational Association
Ilford
TutorAppointed: 2004
Kingston University, Kingston Hill
Architecture and Landscape
Architecture
LecturerAppointed: 2003
Professional Headshot of Gregory John Cowan

Mailing Address

Architecture and Built Environment
University of Westminster
35 Marylebone Road
London, NW1 5LS
United Kingdom

Contact Information

Phone: +447906037782
Mobile: +447906037782
gregory@cowan.com
http://gregorycowan.blogspot.com

Qualifications

M.Arch. (Research), Adelaide University, Architecture, 2002.
B.Arch. (Hons), Curtin University of Technology, Architecture, 1987.

Expertise and Research Interests

Consultant to SPURWIEN on construction of housing in York Way, London 2009

Consultant to 1100:architekten (Frankfurt / Main) on construction of energy efficient Loft Housing, East Frankfurt 2009

Presented "Learning from Ulaanbaatar; a perspective from outsiders" by invitation of the Centre for Comparative Architectural Research TU Vienna and the Confucius Institute, at the Symposium "Along the Great Wall; Architecture and Identity in China and Mongolia", Vienna, May, 2009

Consultant to SPURWIEN on construction of a dwelling in Cable Street East London 2009

Consultant and guest lecturer and critic, London Metropolitan University (MA Rapid Change and Scarce Resources), University College London (Building and Urban Design in Development), Sheffield University (Lines of Flight PhD research group) 2008 to the present

Collaborator with Connect Culture, an accessible travel Social Enterprise, on the architectural adaptation of an urban apartment for independent living with disabilities 2008 - 2009

Architect Teacher Trainer for Secure Livelihoods VSO Mongolia, August 2007 to August 2008

Secretary of international architectural education validation visiting boards for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Concepcion and Santiago, Chile (October-November 2008) Buenos Aires, Argentina (November 2008) and Seoul, Korea (2006)

Manager of Student and Graduate liaison, Royal Institute of British Architects, Education department, 2004-2007

Lecturer, Architecture annd Culture in London post-professional course, Workers Educational Association, Ilford,

Lecturer, architecture studio and landscape urbanism at Kingston University, School of Architecture and Landscape,

Invited speaker at the Banff International Curatorial Centre (Canada), 2004

Invited speaker, Urban Life, Gothenburg, 2005

Invited speaker, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, London, 2004

Invited speaker, The Architecture Foundation's Renegade City, London, 2006

Architectural education, professional, urban and general from grass-roots community level to working with RIBA and other international validation and accreditation systems.

Modes of visual and linguistic communication critical to international work in architectural education.

Research on ephemerality, mobility, and collaboration in architecture. Research on 'nomadology', in particular, the relation of publics and professionals to challenging and reconceptualizing architectural theory and practice.

Ongoing research, including the chapter in Informal Architectures (Black Dog June 08), on the unsettling influence of activist architecture occupying spaces in the city.

Lecturer in architecture, Curtin University 1993 to 2003, Perth and Kuala Lumpur - primarily in design studio, professional studies and design communications.

Postgraduate research in architectural theory at the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at Adelaide University awarded Master of Architecture degree (research) 2002, the dissertation entitled 'Nomadology in Architecture: ephemerality, mobility and collaboration.'

Research on Architecture, architectural theory, nomadology and architectural theory of non-European cultures in German-speaking central Europe in particular, Vienna Austria.

Guest lecturer, Architectural Theory Department, Vienna University of Technology, 1999 with visiting lecture at the University of Zagreb in 1999

Architectural practice in Perth, 1992-1996 Design development and management of commercial and residential projects as a freelance architect

Architectural practice in Vienna in 1991-1992
Leading schematic development of a mixed use urban complex straddling a railway in Paltaufgasse, Ottakring, Vienna, with Atelier Architekt Hermann Czech

Architectural practice in Graz, Austria, 1989-1991.
Leading design and construction of 28 Apartments in Knittelfeld, Austria with Architekturbüro Szyszkowitz - Kowalski

Architectural practice, state architects' office of Western Australia, primarily educational facilities; including Electrical training workshops, CAD/CAM Furniture making education workshops

Architecture honours degree graduate of Curtin University, Perth, 1987

Future Research

"Urban Design, Streets, and the Night Time City"

This project will develop theories and methods of designing city streets for night time use.

Urban environments are challenged by public debate through direct action, when citizens manifest their beliefs in the physical space of the street. In the contemporary city, these physical manifestations may produce pleasure or fear: they may be positive expressions where citizens are constructive actors, or they may be unheimlich, when tension breaks out. What role does urbanism and street architecture play in the night-time city?

Urban design provides for habitable streets through architectural spaces and materials. Urban design processes charge architectural practice with a concern for occupied public space. But mainstream traditions of urbanism practice have been dominated by tacit assumptions about daytime culture and use, and night-time occupation offers the designer an alternative lens. Dynamic cities fruitfully manage the tension between `designating' occupations of streets and fostering spontaneous, temporal street occupation. To think innovatively about urban design as a way of enabling shared ownership of streets, it will be vital to understand `aberrant' and `nocturnal' occupations of urban street `architecture'. Architecture can be repositioned at the centre of debates on the city by recognising the polemical role of urban design for the night.

Keywords

COS Keywords:

Architectural Design, Architecture, Culture, Interior Design, Popular Culture, Regional or Urban Design.

Additional Terms:

Activist Architecture Occupying Spaces in the City, Architect Teacher Trainer, Architectural Design, Architectural Practice in Graz, Architectural Practice in Perth, Architectural Practice in Ulaanbaatar, Architectural Practice in Ulan Bator, Architectural Practice in Vienna, Architectural Theory of Non-European Cultures, Capacity Building, Dissent, Educator, Freelance Architect, Graduate Liaison, Illegal, Informal Architectures, Informal Settlements, Interior Design, International Architectural Education Validation Visiting Bo, International Development, International Validation (APACC), International Validation (RIBA), Mongolia, Night Economy, Nomad, Nomadology, Nomadology in Architecture, Peri-urbanism, Popular Culture, RIBA Validation, Secure Livelihoods VSO Mongolia, Street Architecture, Street Occupations, Streets, Student Liaison, Tutoring Architecture, Ulaanbaatar, Urban Design, Urban Designer, Vienna.

Languages

(Reading, Writing, Speaking)

English: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)
German: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)
Mongolian: (Functional, Functional, Functional)
Nyungar (Indigenous to South Western Australia): (Basic, Functional, Basic)
Spanish: (Basic, Basic, Basic)

Memberships

Architectural Association, London
Australian Public Intellectuals Network
Berlage Postgraduate Institute of Architecture, Rotterdam
European Association for Australian Studies
Gesellschaft fuer Australienstudien / Association for Australian Studies
Royal Institute of British Architects

Honors and Awards

2004, James Stirling Lecture on Urban Design, The Canadian Center for Architecture, The London School of Economics, Street Protest Architecture
2004, Informal Architecture Symposium, Walter Philips Gallery, Banff International Curatorial Centre, Protest Architecture: Dissent in Australia
1995, Finalist, International Competition for the new Wagga Wagga Civic Centre, City of Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia, Two Stage International Architectural Design Competition

Previous Positions

2007-2008, Architect Teacher Trainer, Construction Technology College Mongolia, Architecture
2006-2007, Student and Graduate Liaison Manager, RIBA, Education
2004-2006, Education Projects Coordinator, R I B A
2004-2007, Editor, RIBA Graduate Newsletter, Education
2003-2004, Lecturer, Kingston, Architecture and Landscape
2001-2003, Contributing Editor, Architecture Australia
2001-2005, Editorial Board, Journal of Australian Studies, JAS
1992-1992, Studio Master, University of Western Australia, School of Architecture, Level One Studio
1992-2003, Faculty, Curtin University of Technology, Built Environment Art and Design, Architecture, Humanities
1991-1992, Project Architect, Atelier Hermann Czech
1991-1991, Architecture Studio Tutor, University of Western Australia, School of Architecture
1989-1991, Project Architect, Architektürburo Szyszkowitz und Kowalski, Graz

Publications

  • Cowan, Gregory (2009) Nomadologist in Ulaanbaatar / Learning from Ulaanbaatar, Along the Great Wall, Institute for Comparative Architectural Research, Submitted
  • Gregory Cowan (2009) Nomadologist in Ulaanbaatar, AARCHITECTURE (7), 22-3
  • Gregory Cowan (2008) Ger District Architecture, Mongolia, The Architect, 08 (01), 88
  • Gregory Cowan (2008) Tent Embassies: Collapsing, Australia and Architecture In Kiendl, A (eds), Informal Architectures; Space and Contemporary Culture, London, Black Dog, 56-65 pages, ISBN=978 1 906155 (bookchapter)
  • Gregory Cowan, Street Protest Architecture: Dissent Space in Australia, Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life, 65, January 2004
  • Gregory Cowan, Tents and Political Occupations of Australia: from Botany Bay to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, De-Placing Difference: Architecture, Culture and Imaginative Geography, 105-113, July 2002
  • Gregory Cowan (2002) Nomadology in Architecture; Ephemerality, Mobility, and Collaboration, ADT thesis.library.adelaide.edu.au/public/adt-SUA20060904.161630/
  • Gregory Cowan, Collapsing Australian Architecture: The Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Journal of Australian Studies (New Talents 21C), 67, 30-36, 210-211, 2001

Profile Details

Last Updated: 1/8/2010

COS Expertise ID #1045944
Reference this profile directly: http://myprofile.cos.com/cowan15