Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning

Dr Paolo Tombesi

BArch (Rome) PhD (UCLA)

Chair in Construction, Professor

Email: p.tombesi@unimelb.edu.au

 

Trained as an architect in Italy, Paolo Tombesi holds the Chair in Construction at the University of Melbourne, where he teaches construction, political economy, and housing subjects. He is also Visiting Professor at the School of Construction Management and Engineering of the University of Reading (UK). Between 2005 and 2009, he was an Italian Government Research Fellow at the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic of Turin as part of ‘Brain Return’, a national programme designed to build new research capacity in the country.

The overarching concern of Professor Tombesi’s work is the relationship between the intellectual dimension of building and the socio-technical aspects of building procurement. Many of his studies are based on the examination of construction artifacts within their industrial and regional context, in a way that blends the study of professional activity with economic geography, and technical culture with policy-making.

An international authority on the organisation of architectural practice and the analysis of the building process, he draws on microeconomics and political economy as well as labour and industrial theory to examine the relationship between design, built quality, technological innovation and construction markets.

A former Fulbright Fellow at the University of California at Los Angeles, he has a PhD in architectural practice and regional development from the same university. Over the last few years, he has been investigating professional transformations in Australasia, and the effects of technological globalisation and international trade agreements on construction, architectural practice and education. In 2005, he co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Architectural Education on ‘Globalisation and Architectural Education’.

Since 2004, he has secured multiple competitive research grants for projects that span from the future of digital outsourcing in construction to the analysis of the innovation potential of iconic public buildings, the morphology of high-density housing in Victoria to occupational health and safety responsibilities in design. He has performed refereeing roles for the Australian Research Council, the Italian National Research Council and the Funding Research Agency for Technology of Quebec. In 2007, he was appointed as built environment expert to the Research Quality Framework Panel sponsored by the Department of Education Science and Technology of the Australian Federal Government.

He has been working as a consultant for state and federal governments as well as the Royal Australian Institute of Architects on research and heritage issues, most notably on the 2006 World Heritage Listing nomination of the Sydney Opera House to UNESCO.

Over the last 20 years he has contributed to some of the world’s leading architectural and building periodicals. Between 1990 and 1996 he was the Los Angeles correspondent for Casabella, and he is currently on the editorial boards of Construction Management and Economics and UME. He writes opinion pieces for the Italian Il Giornale dell’Architettura and the Californian arcCA. Between 2002 and 2006 he was a board member of the Washington-based Journal of Architectural Education. His writings have also appeared in Architectural Research Quarterly, Architecture Australia, Art China, Building Research and Information, Cartas Urbanas, Center, Contemporary, Costruire, Domus, Journal of Architectural Education, Journal of Architecture, Harvard Design Magazine, and Spazio & Societá.

In 2000, his article ‘The carriage in the needle’, on the industrial restructuring of the architectural sector, won the Journal of Architectural Education Biennial Award for outstanding article. To date he has given over thirty public lectures, advanced seminars and keynote addresses around the world, and taught at several universities. In 2004, he was scholar in residence at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, and in 2006 lectured at Yale. In 2005, he was one of the three recipients of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ research award, the Sisalation Prize. The resulting book, Looking Ahead: Defining the Terms of a Sustainable Architectural Profession, was launched in 2007.

 

Teaching Responsibilities

702-446 Political Economy of Design

 

Funded Research

Project Transnational and Temporary: Place-making, Students and Community in Central Melbourne (with Professor Ruth Fincher and Professor Paul Carter)
Year: 2005
Source: ARC Linkage Grant

 

Project From Tourist Siren to Technological Beacon: Analysing the Industrial Function of the Sydney Opera House Thirty Years after its Completion
Year: 2005
Source: ARC Discovery Project Grant

 

Project Digital Outsourcing in Architecture: Opportunities for Australian Firms or Perils for Australian Workforce?
Year: 2005
Source: ARC Discovery Project Grant

 

Project In the Shadow of the Sydney Opera House: An Analysis of the Innovation Role of Public Buildings in Different Socio-Technical Environments.
Year: 2005
Source: Italian Government 'Brain Return' Grant

 

Awards Received

 

Recent Publications

Books

Tombesi, P., Wilkins, C. Globalization and Architectural Education, Journal of Architectural Education Theme Issue, 58/3 (February 2005).

 

Book chapters

Tombesi, P. (2004) Chenqien Qihou de Pianou (Piano in the context of history) in Beck, H., Cooper, J. (eds) UME – Guoji Jianzhu Sheji(UME – International Architectural Design), trans. Cai Songjian and Banong Shuye, Guangzhou: Guangdong Keji Chubanshe, pp. 40-53.

 

Refereed journal articles

Tombesi P & Martel AA. 2005. Vessels of Expression and Flows of Innovation: On the Connection between Toilets and Architecture. Journal of Architectural Education. 59(2):43-52.

Tombesi, P., Wilkins, C. Introduction to Globalization, Journal of Architectural Education, 58/3 (February 2005): pp. 1-4.

Tombesi, P. Sloppily built or precisely loose? On the ideology of Disney Hall and the technology of the curtain. Architectural Research Quarterly 8/3-4 (2004): pp. 246-259.

Tombesi P. 2004. Agencies of Central Design Intelligence. Journal of Architectural Education. 58(2):54-57.

Tombesi P. 2004. Back to the Future: the Pragmatic Classicism of Australia's Parliament House. Architectural Research Quarterly. 7(2):140-154.

Tombesi, P. Iconic Public Buildings as Sites of Technological Innovation. Harvard Design Magazine 21 (Fall 2004/Winter 2005) (digital article)
www.gsd.harvard.edu/research/publications/hdm/current/21_tombesi.html.

Tombesi P, Dave B & Scriver P. 2003. Routine production or symbolic analysis? India and the globalisation of architectural services. Journal of Architecture. 8(1):63-94.

Tombesi, P. Super Market. Harvard Design Magazine 17 (Fall 2002/Winter 2003): pp. 26–31.

Tombesi P. 2002. Involving the industry: the use of 'request for proposal' packages at Frank O. Gehry & Assoc. Architectural Research Quarterly. 6(1):77-87.

Tombesi P. 2001. A True South for Design? The New International Division of Labour in Architecture. Architectural Research Quarterly. 5(2):171-180.

Tombesi, P., 2000, 'Modelling the dynamics of design error-induced rework in construction: comment', Construction Management and Economics 18:727-732

 

Refereed conference papers

Tombesi P. 2005. Project Costs and Industrial Benefits: Analysing the Technological Function of the Sydney Opera House. In S Emmitt & M Prins (eds), Designing Value: New Direction in Architectural Management. 69-80. Copenhagen, Denmark: Technical University of Denmark.

Tombesi P. 2005. Tourist Sirens or Technological Beacons? On the Innovation Function of Large Public Buildings. In R Hejduk & H Van Oudenallen (eds), The Art of Architecture/The Science of Architecture: 93rd ACSA Annual Meeting. 553-560. Washington, United States of America: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

Tombesi P, Dave B, Gardiner BM & Scriver P. 2005. Evaluating the Industrial Potential of Digital Outsourcing in Architecture: Methodological Challenges and Choices. In S Emmitt & M Prins (eds), Proceedings of CIB W096 Architectural Management. 441-450. Copenhagen, Denmark: Technical University of Denmark.

Tombesi P. 2004. Capital Gains and Architectural Losses: the Expansion Journey of Caudill Rowlett Scott 1948-1994. In H Edquist & H Frichot (eds), LIMITS: Proceedings from the 21st Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand . 485-491. Perth, Australia: Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ).

Tombesi P. 2003. Back to the future: The pragmatic classicism of Australia's Parliament House. In M Gusheh & N Stead (eds), Progress: The proceedings of the twentieth annual conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand. 303-308. Sydney, Australia: The Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (S.

Tombesi, P. Tectonic Landscapes: An Analysis of Place-making Strategies in Two Projects by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Archipelagos: Outposts of the Americas, 88 th ACSA Annual Meeting, ACSA Press, Washington (2004): pp. 124-132.

Tombesi, P., Dave, B., Scriver, P. Routine Production or Symbolic Analysis? India and the Globalization of Architectural Services. Architecture, Culture, and the Challenges of Globalization , ACSA 2002 International Conference, ACSA Press, Washington (2004): pp. 328-339.

Tombesi, P Involving the industry: The use of 'Request for Proposal' packages at Frank O. Gehry and Associates. Value Through Design, CIB W096 Architectural Management and Design Research Society Conference, CIB Publication 280, CIB, Rotterdam (2002): pp. 171-180.

Tombesi, P. Shifting Geographies? The New International Division of Labour in Architecture. Oriental-Occidental Geography, Identity, Space, ACSA 2001 International Conference, ACSA Press, Washington (2002): pp. 443-447.

Tombesi, P. & Adasko K. Treading light: A mobile construction training unit for East Timor.Transportable Environments 2001, Centre for Advanced Studies in Architecture, Singapore (2001): pp. 117-128.

 

Contributions to Major Reference Works

Tombesi, P. Richard Leplastrier. Entry for the Dizionario dell'Architettura del XX secolo, 2nd edition, Istituto Enciclopedia Italiana, Italy (2004): pp. 1424-1425.

Tombesi, P. Andresen O’Gorman. Entry for the Dizionario dell'Architettura del XX secolo, 2nd edition, Istituto Enciclopedia Italiana, Italy (2004): pp. 1847.

Tombesi, P. FTL. Entry for the Dizionario dell'Architettura del XX secolo, 2nd edition, Istituto Enciclopedia Italiana, Italy (2004): pp. 802-803.

 

Keynote addresses

Utzon Center Lecture, Aalborg University, Denmark (November 2005)

Loeb Fellowship Seminar, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University (December 2004)

Research seminar, Information Management Group, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (December 2004)

Center for Design Informatics Lecture, Harvard University (December 2004)

Vessels of Expression and Flows of Innovation', Shooting Stars Lecture, California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco (November 2004)

On the Move: Architecture, Work and Professionalism', public lecture, Syracuse University School of Architecture, Syracuse, New York (October 2004)

Unitec High Performance Cladding Workshop, RMIT University (April 2004)

‘The global market of architectural services', PhD Program in Industrial Design, Department of Technological Innovation in Architecture and Environmental Culture, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy (July 2003)

'Asset or liability? The impact of the Sydney Opera House over analysis and management of building innovation in Australia', Public lecture, Faculty of Architecture, Polytechnic of Bari, Italy (June 2003)

'Organic produce: The globalisation of architectural production', Public lecture, Universidad del Diseño, San Jose, Costa Rica (June 2002)

'The new Negres: Computers and the international division of design labour' Keynote address, Odysseys - Worlds on the Move, ACSA South-East Region Conference, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA (February 2002)

'The new south of design', Public lecture, Taubman College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA (February 2002)

Series of six public lectures Faculty of Architecture, Polytechnic of Bari, Italy (2001/2002)

'Romaldo Giurgola', Half-time Club, Melbourne (March 2001)

'The Roman habitus of Romaldo Giurgola', Keynote address, Romaldo Giurgola Symposium, University of New South Wales, Sydney (November 2000)

 

Research Supervision

 

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