Dr Katharine Bartsch

Biography/ Background

Katharine Bartsch is a graduate architect. She has been involved in learning and teaching in this School since 1997. Her attitude to research, learning and teaching, and practice is motivated, foremost, by her commitment to design as a catalyst for social transformation. This prompted her PhD dissertation on the Aga Khan Award for Architecture which often rewards projects (architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and infrastructure) that improve living conditions in underprivileged communities, not least Muslim communities. This Award inspired further critical reflection on the nexus of identity and architecture in the context of escalating global encounters (engendered by migration, communication, travel, diaspora or otherwise).

Katharine's dissertation was partly enabled by a productive period of study abroad at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, based at MIT and Harvard University, and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva.

Katharine has worked in collaborative design offices in Adelaide and India and she has travelled extensively. Combined, these experiences shape the global perspective that Katharine brings to her teaching and research activities.

Teaching Interests

History and Theory of Landscape Architecture

History and Theory of Architecture

In October 2007 Dr Katharine Bartsch will conceive and coordinate the annual offshore design studio in Rome, Italy. This studio will be delivered in collaboration with senior staff from the First Faculty of Architecture, Ludovico Quaroni, La Sapienza, Universita di Roma. Katharine will accompany 20 students from the University of Adelaide who will collaborate with students from Ludovico Quaroni to prepare concept designs for a Museum of Migration. This design project will encourage the students to explore important historical and theoretical themes, including museology, migration, Italian-Australian cross-cultural relations, memory, identity, multi-culturalism, cultural representation and cultural difference.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Architectural Studies, University of Adelaide (with a major in Italian Language and Culture, Flinders University)

Bachelor of Architecture, Honours, University of Adelaide

PhD (specialisation in Islamic Architecture), University of Adelaide

Research Interests

Architecture and Islam in Australia

Architecture and Gardens in the Islamic World

Travel (including migration, diaspora, pilgrimage or cross-cultural encounters) and the way these activities can shape the built environment.

Publications

Academic Publications
Bartsch, Katharine, Roots or Routes? Exploring a New Paradigm for Architectural Historiography, in Miodrag Mitrasinovic and Georgia Traganou (eds), Travel, Space Architecture (Ashgate, United Kingdom, forthcoming).

Bartsch, Katharine and Selen Morkoc, Contested Terrain or Contact Zone? The Case of the Adelaide Mosque, in Terrance McMinn, John Stephens and Steve Basson (eds), Contested Terrains, Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, 25-31 (Fremantle, Western Australia: SAHANZ, 2006).

Bartsch, Katharine and Gavin Malone (Visual Artist), â€^~Why are we being Taught by a Naked Artist? Exposing Students to Place Through Multi-Disciplinary Design Educationâ€^TM, in Kathi Holt-Damant and Paul Sanders (eds), Drawing Together: Convergent Practises in Architectural Education, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of the Association of Architecture Schools of Australasia (AASA), 1-12 (Brisbane, Australia: AASA with University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, 2005).

Professional Publications
Bartsch, Katharine, The Enigma of Cultural Representation in Design Practice, PLACE. Architecture+Design+Placemaking (South Australia), 2, no. 2 (Oct 2006): 38-39.

Bartsch, Katharine, Cult of the Fountainhead and the Culture of our Architectural Community, PLACE. Architecture+Design+Placemaking (South Australia) 2, no. 1 (Jul/Aug 2006): 13-15.

Bartsch, Katharine, Tectvs Realise a Corbusian Vision on the Park, PLACE. Architecture+Design+Placemaking (South Australia) 1, no. 6 (Feb/Mar 2006): 14-16.

Community Engagement

As part of her ongoing research on Islam in South Australia, Dr Katharine Bartsch is currently meeting with representatives of the Stateâ€^TMs Muslim community to better understand the diversity of this community, disparate experiences in Australia and the construction of local mosques. To date, Katharine has conducted interviews with leading figures in this community, not only in Adelaide, but also in Renmark, Murray Bridge and Whyalla. Australian Federation of University Women: Volunteer

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 26 Jun 2007