Gregory John Cowan

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Construction Technology College Mongolia
Architecture
architect teacher trainerAppointed: 2007
VSO Mongolia
Secure Livelihoods Programme
Secure Livelihoods Programme Volunteer CoordinatorAppointed: 2008
Workers Educational Association
Ilford
TutorAppointed: 2004
Kingston University, Kingston Hill
Architecture and Landscape
Architecture
LecturerAppointed: 2003
Professional Headshot of Gregory John Cowan

Mailing Address

VSO
PO Box 678
Ulaanbaatar 13, 13
Mongolia

Contact Information

Phone: +976 9574 0922
Fax: +97611634071
Mobile: +976 9574 0922
Pager: +976 9574 0922
gregory@cowan.com
http://www.gregory.cowan.com

Qualifications

Chartered Architect, RIBA, 2004.
M.Arch. (Research), Adelaide University, Architecture, 2002.
B.Arch. (Hons), Curtin University of Technology, Architecture, 1987.

Expertise and Research Interests

Gregory Cowan, based in Kings Cross, London, is currently on a unique VSO development posting, developing architectural education for one year in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He previously worked at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Education, as manager of student and graduate projects and awards. He taught post-professional students at the Workers Educational Association, Ilford, in degree in architecture studio and landscape urbanism at Kingston University, School of Architecture and Landscape, and was an invited speaker at the Banff International Curatorial Centre (Canada), Urban Life, Gothenburg, the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, London, and The Architecture Foundation's Renegade City, London.

Architectural education, professional, urban and general are reviewed from a grass-roots level in development work. Communication visually and linguistically is key. Ephemerality, mobility, and collaboration in architecture are key themes of research, particularly in relation to challenging and reconceptualizing architectural theory and practice. Ongoing research, including a new book chapter in Informal Architectures (Black Dog June 08), considers the unsettling influence of activist architecture occupying spaces in the city.

As a lecturer from 1993 to 2003, Gregory Cowan's work at Curtin University in Perth and Kuala Lumpur focused primarily on design studio, professional studies and design communications. His postgraduate research in architectural theory at the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at Adelaide University led to a Master of Architecture degree by research in 2002, with a dissertation entitled 'Nomadology in Architecture: ephemerality, mobility and collaboration.' Architectural culture is viewed in the context of critique of Western institutions and of cultural difference between Europe and Australia. German-speaking central Europe remains of interest. Cowan was a visiting lecturer in the Architectural Theory Department at Vienna University of Technology and also at the University of Zagreb in 1999.

After graduating with an architecture honours degree from Curtin University in Perth in 1987, Gregory Cowan practiced architecture in the Western Australian public service architects' office, mostly on educational facilities; including Electrical training workshops, CAD/CAM Furniture making education workshops. From 1989 in Graz, Austria, he led design and construction of 28 Apartments in Knittlefeld with Architekturbuero Szyszkowitz - Kowalski. Joining Hermann Czech's atelier in Vienna in 1991, he schematically developed a mixed use urban complex straddling a railway in Paltaufgasse, Ottakring. Returning to Perth in 1992, he undertook commercial and residential projects as a freelance architect. He tutored architecture at University initially part-time, before developing an academic career.

(www.gregory.cowan.com)

Other Expertise

Focus areas:
Writing and advocacy:
Nomadology in architecture, cross-cultural architectural awareness, activists and urbanism, cross-disciplinary practice and informal settlements, commmunity cultural development, architectural education in international and community development.
Research: International Development, Urban Nomadology, Nomadic Architecture, Counter-institutions, Protest architecture, Dissent
Teaching: Architectural Design, Architectural Model Making, Architectural Practice, Professional Communication, Architectural Theory, Architecture and Culture, Urbanism.

- August - November 2003 Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, London
- December 2003 Oxfam Community Development Workshop, India
- Bad Subjects January 2004
- Stirling Lecture Prize on Urban Design (Commendation), Canadian Centre for Architecture /London School of Economics
- Informal Architectures Banff Alberta 2004 - 2006

Future Research

Street occupations and the impact of protest cultures on urbanity and architecture in the street. PhD proposal accepted by London Consortium 2004, postponed.

Industrial Relevance

Urban design and architectural brief development, concept and design development.
Construction Education in developing world.
Collaborative techniques and community development
Architectural communication and conceptual development
Architectural and urban geography criticism

Keywords

COS Keywords:

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

Additional Terms:

Architectural Design, Capacity Building, Dissent, Educator, Freelance Architect, Illegal, Informal Settlements, Interior Design, International Development, Mongolia, Nomad, Peri-urbanism, Popular Culture, Street Architecture, Street Occupations, Streets, Ulaanbaatar, Urban Designer, Vienna.

Languages

(Reading, Writing, Speaking)

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

Memberships

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

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
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

  • (2008) Tent Embassies: Collapsing, Australia and Architecture In Kiendl, A (eds), Informal Architectures; Space and Contemporary Culture, London, Black Dog, 56-65 pages, In Press, 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: 7/24/2008

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