PRS Australia PhD Examination - Robert Blackhouse (School of Architecture and Urban Design - RMIT University)

Design Process for a Distributed Networked Practice: A Distinctive Approach to Leadership - PhD Examination by Robert Blackhouse

This research explores “Message Stick Protocols” to integrate First Nations’ cultural knowledge within Australia’s built environment. Through formal and informal observations, it documents experiences and outcomes with First Nations’ communities to create a framework that incorporates Indigenous cultural protocols into architectural practice. The aim is to foster cultural empowerment, ensuring First Nations’ perspectives are foundational in built environment projects. The study advocates for shifting from a Eurocentric to a culturally informed architectural approach, emphasising reciprocal relationships and community-centric outcomes. Case studies and reflective practices highlight architecture’s potential as a tool for social justice, underscoring the importance of culturally inclusive design. This work contributes to a transformative understanding of architecture, proposing a future where First Nations’ cultural narratives and values are central to design and construction, promoting cultural integrity and sustainability.

This research has involved a critical reflection on and explication of my practice and design process through projects I have been central to and as a part of leading the design Practice I am situated in. In my leadership role at Hassell over the past 20 years, my interest has been to foreground design process that supports a way of practising across a distributed networked Practice that enables the pursuit of Conceptual Clarity and diversity in the work with the view to elevate the quality of the design output.

My overarching concern has been that a distributed Practice – one that shares a design process and can articulate its shared Design Values as the mechanism to discuss and critique design – can collectively improve the quality and distinctiveness of its design work. The PhD, as a body of critical reflection, has also contributed to the ongoing focus on design process in my leadership of Hassell, and the development of a shared Design Process across Hassell in the ongoing concern for networking the design knowledge and practices of the group. A shared articulated process is critical to building a thread of expectations, to elevate the quality of the discourse through collective review, then around the design output in the network. This thread also informs the shared Design Values of a group, further networking it.

This PhD has been an opportunity to reflect on and further understand my practice as both designer and leader. Positioning my practice within a community of practice has enabled me to appreciate how this is a distinctive approach to the leadership of a multidisciplinary design Practice and how it enables, supports, and fosters a large distributed networked Practice.