Award winning UNSW Built Environment staff
In 2022 UNSW Built Environment staff were once again recognised for their achievements and impact on a national and global stage.
Highly Acclaimed Researchers
UNSW was named as the top research institution in the field of Architecture by The Australian, in their annual Research Magazine for the second year running. A/Prof. Samad Sepasgozar was also named as the top researcher in the field.
Prof. Matt Santamouris was named on the prestigious Highly Cited Researchers list, published by Clarivate. Researchers on the list have demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field through the publication of multiple highly cited papers over the last decade.
In addition, four UNSW Built Environment and City Futures Research Centre researchers were included in the world’s top two percent of cited researchers as computed by Stanford University. These are Prof. Matt Santamouris, Prof. Sisi Zlatanova, Prof. Chris Pettit and A/Prof. Samad Sepasgozar.
Landscape team recognised in AILA Awards
The UNSW Landscape Architecture team received a number of awards in the 2022 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Awards.
A/Prof. Catherine Evans, Emeritus Prof. Linda Corkery and Dr. Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard received the AILA NSW Award of Excellence in Research, Policy and Communications for their ‘Case Study Investigations of the South Eveleigh Community Rooftop Garden and the Sydney Park Water Reuse Project’. The case studies were funded and supported through the US based Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Landscape Performance Series and the scope of work involved partnerships with the project design teams, the project clients and research training for postgraduate students.
Christina Silk was part of the team at Gallagher Studio (led by UNSW BE Alumni Libby Gallagher) and Studio Zanardo who were awarded an AILA National Landscape Architecture Award, an AILA NSW Award of Excellence and the NSW Shadesmart Award for the project ‘NSW Urban Tree Canopy - Targets and Controls’ prepared for the Department of Planning Industry and Environment.
Emeritus Professor Linda Corkery in her role with Corkery Consulting won the AILA NSW Landscape Architecture Award for Landscape Management for a project titled ‘Koala Habitat Establishment Pacific Highway Upgrade Wardell’.
Australian Institute of Architects Award
The Marion Mahony Griffin Prize is awarded annually to acknowledge a female in the field of architecture for a distinctive body of work. In 2022, the winner was Prof. Rachel Neeson, Director of Neeson Murcutt + Neille Architects, and Professor of Practice in Architecture at UNSW Built Environment
Planning Institute of Australia Award
Prof. Robert Freestone was part of the team awarded a Planning Institute of Australia Award for Excellence in Planning Research for the ‘Plan My Australia’ project with colleagues from University of Western Australia and Melbourne University. The citation acknowledges its contribution to the ‘national settlement policy debate’ as a ‘call to action for deliberate, long-term urban growth and infrastructure patterns that address our biggest social and environmental challenges.’
Urban Heat Mitigation Award
Members of the UNSW Built Environment High Performance Architecture research cluster received an “Award for Excellence” from the City of Port Phillip for the Cooling South Melbourne project. The team included A/Prof Lan Ding, Dr. Henry Petersen, Dr. William Craft, Prof. Matt Santamouris, Prof. Deo Prasad and A/Prof Paul Osmond.
The project used on the ground research, future climate projections, and leading-edge scenario modelling to test interventions which will manage growth while ensuring thermal comfort in current and future urban spaces in South Melbourne.
Good Design Award
The ChillOUT Tree won a Gold Level, Good Design Award for outstanding innovation at the Good Design Awards. Street Furniture Australia shared the award with collaborators from the Georges River Council, UNSW Built Environment and the University of Sydney.
The judges commented: "From designers spending time in outdoor community areas, to referencing evidence-based university research and using full scale study models to consult with councils, the design delivers a well-considered shade structure for people to gather." The ChillOUT Tree was released to market earlier this year by Street Furniture Australia and was developed as part of a Commonwealth funded Smart Cities and Suburbs Grant. The UNSW Built Environment team on the project included A/Prof. Kate Bishop, A/Prof. Christine Steinmetz, Emeritus Prof. Linda Corkery, Dr. Christian Tietz, Dr. Miles Park, Prof. Susan Thompson and Dr. Homa Rahmat.
Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Award
The Value Australia project, a collaboration between Frontier SI, UNSW City Futures, Omnilink, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the NSW Government, Liverpool Council and Slate Analytics was awarded the Innovation Award – Medium to Large Business.
Value Australia is an interactive platform, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, that enables infrastructure and development scenario planning and value uplift projections based on multiple valuation models
Luminocity Exhibition recognised
Luminocity is the annual UNSW Built Environment showcase of our undergraduate student work from across the School. The 2021 exhibition was curated by Dr. Ainslie Murray and Dr. Cathy Smith, and designed with UNSW alumnus James Hargrave of ABSTRACT8.
The impact of this innovative exhibition was recognised internationally. Firstly on the longlist of the Dezeen website of the year award, and secondly with a Distinction from the Red Dot Awards.
Museum of Emotions
Lecturer in Interior Architecture Demet Dincer and 9016 Architecture were awarded 1st prize for the Museum of Emotions competition.
Fellowships
Prof. Sisi Zlatanova was named a prestigious ISPRS Fellow at the 2022 ISPRS congress in Nice. The award is given to those who have contributed significantly to the international science on Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation.
Dr. Raffaele Pernice was awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitational Fellowship for Research in Japan to conduct research and present seminars at Waseda University in Tokyo
Best Paper Awards
Dr Yi Lu along with co-authors Prof. Shawn Laffan and Prof. Chris Pettit won best paper at the Smart Data Smart Cities Conference for a paper titled; The Integration of Cellular Automata and What It? For Scenario Planning: Future residential Expansion in the City of Ipswich.
Iva Durakovic was a co-author of the paper Learning to work from home: experience of Australian workers and organizational representatives during the first Covid-19 lockdowns, which won Outstanding Paper in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate
Dr. Luciano Cardellicchio’s paper ‘Not Really an Aftermath: The Role of Actual Construction in the Design Process of the Sydney Opera Harbour Roof’ was awarded best paper of 2022 by Frontiers of Architectural Research. It was co-authored by Dr. Paolo Stracchi (Sydney University) and Prof. Paolo Tombesi (EPFL).