Architect of change

New Appointments

It was the celebrated American architect Frank Lloyd Wright who said without defined architecture a city has no soul.

Professor Nancy Pollock-Ellwand is inclined to agree.

For the past 17 years the internationally-renowned Canadian landscape architect has been teaching design and researching cultural landscapes (the interaction between humans and the environment) at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

In 2007, Professor Pollock-Ellwand will emigrate from Canada with her family to take up a position as the new Head and Chair of the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Adelaide.

She will bring a wealth of experience with her, including a distinguished cross-disciplinary background and significant leadership credentials in the tertiary sector.

Why cross the world for Adelaide?

"As soon as I heard about this position I knew it was a good fit," Professor Pollock-Ellwand said. "The School's curriculum embraces all the areas I am interested in - architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. That's not unique, but very special. Theirs is a holistic approach which integrates several professions and I hope to foster more of that."

Professor Pollock-Ellwand also wants to build on the School's well-established international connections (such as the Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture) and nurture strong links around the world in such areas as Asia, Europe and the Americas.

"There is very real potential to strengthen ties with China, Japan and India and work collaboratively with these countries on design."

For the past three months, the Canadian professor has taken study leave from the University of Guelph and has been teaching at the University of Tokyo in the Landscape Planning and Ecosystem Design faculty.

"It's been a remarkable experience. I am teaching landscape planning and conducting comparative research between Japanese and Canadian heritage landscapes."

Professor Pollock-Ellwand recently attended a conference in Kyoto where participants were examining sustainable cities focusing on the recent planning of Stuttgart, (Germany), Kanazawa (Japan) and Naples (Italy).

"There are some very good examples across the world where people are trying to bring vegetation, fresh air, water and - consequently - people back into the inner city areas."

Adelaide's reputation as a well-planned and forward-thinking city in the areas of architectural and landscape design proved a major drawcard to the Canadian professor.

"Last year an Adelaide student won honours in the American Society of Landscape Architects student competition. That put the School on my radar. I became aware of Adelaide again last summer when I visited an international design festival in a remote area of Canada where the work of Adelaide-based designers, Kate Cullity and Ryan Sims, was included. It was called Eucalyptus: Light and Shadow. Right away I understood the intensity of the sun and the preciousness of water in the Australian landscape. I was fascinated."

Continuing to speak on trends in architectural design, Professor Pollock-Ellwand said the world's ageing population would have a big impact on the urban design of the future.

"The suburban house with 2.5 children is no longer the dominant concept for architects. People's expectations and needs are changing. A drift back into the inner city areas is likely to be one of the trends because people want to be closer to facilities as they age."

This is one of the trends that Professor Pollock-Ellwand is studying with her class in Tokyo as they prepare a master plan for an older area of the city called Yanesen - known for its many temples, narrow streets and wooden architecture.

"The ecological movement is also set to play a major influence on future landscape, architectural and urban design.

"We have learned from our mistakes. A lot of earlier homes designed in the post-war period were more concerned with planes and geometry, instead of the people inside.

"Today, there are some outstanding contemporary examples of high-density housing which incorporate a lot of vegetation and habitat.

"They're more fragmented and less monolithic than earlier designs. And the ones that are most successful are the ones which keep quality of life paramount," she said.

Story by Candy Gibson