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Agency, Sydney 2017

The Australasian Student Architecture Congress (ASAC) is a biennial meeting of architecture students from Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Established in 1963, the congress has influenced the development of architectural education and student activism in the region of Oceania.[1][2][3][4]

History

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The first recognised congress took place in Auckland in 1963, where Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck spoke on the social aspects of housing.[5][6][7] Origins of the movement can be traced to a 1960 meeting at the University of New South Wales titled The Quest for Ideals, which followed a 1959 event organised by Auckland students.[6]

Around 1962 the Australasian Architectural Students Association (AASA) formed, and congresses in 1963–1971 addressed topics such as social housing (Auckland, 1963), low-cost housing (Sydney, 1964), and education (Perth, 1966).[8][4] This period between 1963 and 1971 was especially active, with the gathering taking place every year in an Australian city, and book-ended by two congresses in New Zealand. Instrumental in these early congresses was the leadership of the AASA, then headed by Lecki Ord, who would go on to be the first woman lord mayor of Melbourne.[9]

The 1971 Warkworth (Auckland) congress built a temporary “village” of student-designed structures and invited speakers including Serge Chermayeff and Sim van der Ryn.[4] Described as “more like an experimental festival than a professional conference,” the event instigated curriculum change at the University of Auckland in 1972.[5][7][9]

Despite the absence of a permanent governing body, the congress has drawn speakers such as Buckminster Fuller (1966 Perth, 1968 Hobart, 1970 Sydney), Team 10 members Jaap Bakema, Aldo van Eyck and John Voelcker (1966, Perth), Balkrishna Doshi (1969 Adelaide), Christopher Alexander (1970 Sydney), Roger Walker (1971 Auckland), Paolo Soleri (1983 Auckland), and Peter Stutchbury (1999 Sydney).[4][9]

For the July 1983 congress titled Gone to Kiwi in Auckland, Gill Mathewson produced a series of presentation panels followed by an article with Women in Architecture. She was subsequently invited to run a women's only studio project at the University of Auckland school of Architecture, in an attempt to answer the question "do women design differently from men".[10]

The congress has also seeded student organisations. The Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) was established after the 1997 Geelong congress,[4] while the Student Architecture Network of New Zealand (SANNZ) formed following the 2007 Wellington congress.[4] The 2011 Adelaide congress hosted the inaugural meeting of the International Network of Indigenous Architects.[4][11]

Themes and format

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ASAC is organised by a local student committee and rotates between host cities every two years. Each congress adopts a theme that frames lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and site visits. Examples include:

  • The Next Wave (1981 Canberra)[4]
  • Alchemy (1993 Adelaide)[4]
  • Nexus (2013 Newcastle)[12]
  • People (2015 Melbourne)[4]
  • Dissent (2019 Christchurch)[13]
  • Ground Matters (2024 Hobart)[14]

Ground Matters (2024)

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The 2024 congress, Ground Matters, was hosted in Hobart (nipulana / Lutruwita) from 25–29 June 2024. The program examined connections between land, cultural narratives, and sustainability.[14] Speakers included Michael Mossman, Kristiina Kuusiluoma and Martino De Rossi, Sarah Lynn Rees, and Eleena Jamil.[15]

Timeline of significant congresses

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YearLocationThemeNotable speakers
1963AucklandSocial Aspects of New HousingAldo van Eyck[5][6][4]
1966PerthEducreationBuckminster Fuller, Aldo van Eyck, Jacob Bakema, John Voelcker[8][4][16][17]
1971Auckland/WarkworthEnvironmentRoger Walker, Serge Chermayeff, John Scott[5][8][4]
1983AucklandGone to KiwiPaolo Soleri, Marcel Marceau[4]
1993AdelaideAlchemyBahram Shirdel, Richard Leplastrier[4]
1999SydneyFlashpointPeter Stutchbury, Wolf Prix, Ken Yeang[4]
2007WellingtonCtrlShiftPeggy Deamer, David Mitchell, Andrew Maynard[4]
2011AdelaideFluxKen Yeang, Nathaniel Corum[4][11]
2017SydneyAgencyJeremy Till, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Julie Eizenberg[18]
2024HobartGround MattersSarah Lynn Rees, Eleena Jamil, Matt Hinds[14]

Legacy

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The congress has continued for more than sixty years without a permanent governing body, with each congress organised by a new group of students. Early congresses have been described as important moments in student-led experimentation and debate around architectural education.[1][2][3][4] The 1966 Perth event titled Educreation constructed geodesic domes and tested alternative approaches to architectural education.[17] Staged at the same time that year as the RAIA convention, there was significant cross over of attendees to the student organised event, due to the notability of its invited speakers.[9] The 1971 Warkworth event has been characterised as a catalyst for student activism in New Zealand,[5] and a number of early congresses as providing “a forum for questioning architectural orthodoxy.”[8]

References

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  1. 1 2 Francis, Kerry (2016). "Ether: an atmosphere of possibility" (PDF). EAHN 2016 Dublin: Proceedings of the Third International Meeting of the European Architectural History Network. European Architectural History Network. pp. 272–284. ISBN 978-1-5262-0376-2. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  2. 1 2 Julia Gatley; Lucy Treep, eds. (2017). The Auckland School: 100 Years of Architecture and Planning. Auckland: School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland. pp. 164–170. ISBN 9780473390396.
  3. 1 2 Goad, Philip (2021). "Designing a Critical Voice: Discourse and the Victorian Architectural Students Society (VASS), 1907–1961" (PDF). SAHANZ 2021: Ultra: Positions and Polarities Beyond Crisis, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand. SAHANZ. pp. 111–122. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Bennett, Barnaby W.; Kinnaird, Byron (2011). Congress: architecture student congresses in Australia, New Zealand and PNG from 1963–2011. Wellington, New Zealand: Freerange Press. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Francis, Kerry (2016). "Ether: an atmosphere of possibility" (PDF). EAHN 2016 Dublin. European Architectural History Network. p. 273. ISBN 978-1-5262-0376-2. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Goad, Philip (2021). "Designing a Critical Voice" (PDF). SAHANZ 2021. SAHANZ. p. 121. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  7. 1 2 Julia Gatley; Lucy Treep, eds. (2017). The Auckland School: 100 Years of Architecture and Planning. Auckland: School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland. p. 165. ISBN 9780473390396.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Goad, Philip (2021). "Designing a Critical Voice" (PDF). SAHANZ 2021. SAHANZ. p. 122. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Colomina, Beatriz; Galán, Ignacio G.; Kotsioris, Evangelos; Meister, Anna-Maria, eds. (2022). Radical pedagogies. Cambridge, Massachusetts London: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-54338-5.
  10. ↑ Matthewson, Gill (2009-10-30). ""You have no idea": Women in Architecture in the Eighties". Architectural History Aotearoa. 6: 51–57. doi:10.26686/aha.v6i.6754. ISSN 2703-6626.
  11. 1 2 "#WTFLUX – A reflection on the biannual architecture student congress". ArchitectureAU. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "2013 Nexus Student Congress". ArchitectureNow. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  13. ↑ "Event review: Dissent 2019". ArchitectureNow. July 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  14. 1 2 3 "On Harnessing Ground: 2024 Australasian Student Architecture Congress". ArchitectureAU. July 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  15. ↑ "Influential speakers at ASAC 2024". ArchitectureNow. July 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  16. ↑ Adam, Ken (June 1966). "Education Theme at Students' Convention". Architecture Today: 5–10.
  17. 1 2 Murray, Andrew; Matthews, Leonie (2015). "Geodesic Domes and Experimental Architectural Education Practices of the 1960s" (PDF). Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 32, Architecture, Institutions and Change. Sydney: SAHANZ. pp. 435–445. ISBN 9780646942988. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  18. ↑ "Critical thinking: Agency 2017". ArchitectureNow. 23 Jan 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
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