Kate Cullity and Perry Lethlean, of architecture studio Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL), will defend their RMIT University PhD research in front of a panel of local and international landscape and environmental artists at the Practice Research Symposium, 23-25 October.
RMIT’s Architecture and Design program is one of the few to require a public defence approach of doctoral research.
Husband and wife team Kate Cullity and Kevin Taylor, and studio partner Perry Lethlean were invited to undertake a PhD by project by RMIT professors Leon van Schaik and SueAnne Ware in 2009. Kevin Taylor, the founding director of TCL, died in a tragic accident in Darwin in 2011.
In the introduction to her PhD, Cullity describes the research as “a tribute to Kevin’s substantial legacy of practice, research and commitment to site, community and the environment”.
The Australian Garden in Cranbourne, by TCL with Paul Thompson, was recently awarded the prestigious World Landscape of the Year 2013 award.
Other seminal TCL projects investigated in their doctoral dissertations include the Geelong and Auckland Waterfronts, Box Hill Community Arts Centre, the Uluru- Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Melbourne Museum’s Forest Gallery.
Three other RMIT candidates will also defend their PhDs at the symposium:
Anton James on 20 years of design and art practice in landscape architecture,
including Cockatoo Island, Mt Penang Gardens and Glebe Foreshore Walk.
Artist-designer Belinda Winkler’s practice-based research involving the making
of sculptural forms and designed objects.
Interior designer Malte Wagenfeld’s work questioning the widespread practice
of controlling and standardizing interior climates
What: Practice Research Symposium – School of Architecture and Design
When: Wednesday, 23 October, 10am-4.30pm, Thursday, 24 October, 11am-4.30pm, Friday, 25 October, 10am-12pm
(Kate Cullity: Wednesday, 10am-12pm; Perry Lethlean: Wednesday, 2.30-4.30pm)
Where: RMIT Design Hub, corner Victoria and Swanston Streets, Carlton
Cost: Free
