Staff Profiles

In 1998, he completed his PhD at the University of Western Australia. Since then he has been active in undergraduate and postgraduate (coursework) teaching, and PhD and Masters by research supervision. He is also active in research into the historical, theoretical and perceptual relationships of architectural and urban space. In particular, his research and many national and international publications have concentrated on the philosophy and theory of architectural history; with the social, cultural, political and psychological relationships that impact upon the identity, use, perception and design of architectural and urban space; and upon those strategies and rationalities of power that impact upon the use, organization and necessity of various architectural and urban forms. He is currently the School of Built Environment’s Chair and Coordinator of Research and Creative Production; Director of the Built Environment Research Unit, Curtin University; and editor of Reflections: Journal of Built Environment Research.

In part, my research interests are concerned with the inconsistencies and vanities of an entire historical tradition committed to the illusory promise of universal imperatives, eternal truths and of progressive visions of time that have for too long laid claim to the imagination of architectural and urban possibility. Against this background I seek to explore new ways of re-thinking and engaging with the architectural and urban subjects of history whilst, at the same time, confronting those traditional and flawed conceptions of architecture and urban space and their reductive and overly-simplistic historical accounts of styles and heroes that proliferate without regard to the temporal context or the social, cultural and political forces that act upon the identity, meaning and purpose of architectural and urban form. The challenge for architectural and urban history is no longer to wallow within the sentiment of traditional pre-conceptions, but to begin to embrace what was chronologically contextual to the spaces and forms of the past. What may emerge from such endeavours will contest all artificially contrived periods and continuums of style, and the illusion of trans-historical and typological essences through a recognition that the past no longer confirms to our current expectations of reason or orders of normality. It is what was actual to the past’s realities of architectural and urban possibility that should be of crucial importance for any rigorous will to historical knowledge and not with what suits the comfort and invented familiarity of our own age’s perceptions of the past.

Another feature of my research centres on exploring how individuals perceptually engage within the diverse environments of architectural and urban space. Conventional conceptions promote the fallacious idea that architectural and urban form reflect the same immutable and unambiguous meaning for all, or that the intentions of the architect with regard to the language, value and significations of their designs are automatically conveyed to any third party and by so doing, perpetuate the still active myth that the meaning of built forms can be proclaimed perceptually stable, coherent, continuous and available to all. Each person and age encounters and experiences architectural and urban structures in quite different ways. There is no such thing as any pure or essential state of architectural and urban expression via which the same meanings are perfectly transmitted to various constituencies either contemporaneously or across time. In contrast to this, my research is framed around the various sociological and psychological relationships that inform the manner by which individuals inhabit, interact, interpret and behave within various architectural and urban settings in terms of both the present and past. The nature of this research is directed towards deeper readings and understanding of how individuals perceptually engage and experience the multi-dimensional and complex conditions of the built environment in response to a broad and divergent range of social, cultural and institutional modes of conditioning that informs and shapes the perceptions of each individual.

A further aspect of my research concerns those relationships and discourses of power that underlie our conventional comprehension and inhabitation of architectural and urban form. What such research attempts to develop are the possibilities of a more profound conception of how urban space and certain architectural forms are conceived and produced as outcomes of various knowledge and classificatory systems, of modes of rationalization and organizational structures, and strategies of surveillance that together transform into mechanisms of power aimed at the control of individuals, actions and terrain. Inevitably, such research does not serve those older and problematic ideals of freedom, individuality or autonomy of self, but rather with the extent, both historically and contemporaneously, to which various discourses designed to recognize the identity of social and cultural groups; the distinctive needs of gender, ethnicity and sexuality; to improve the effectiveness of health, education, housing and employment; or to reduce the problems of impoverishment, crime and social disorder represent strategies that transform our perception of various architectural and urban forms from neutral or innocent containers into complicit instruments of behavioural pacification and control.

Together, these approaches towards a range of historical and theoretical questions of architectural and urban being comprise interrelated areas of investigation aimed at approaching new ways of critically re-thinking the fundamental conditions of our perceptual and interpretative engagement with the meanings, values, identity and purposes of architectural and urban space from both historical and contemporary perspectives. But in achieving this, via concepts drawn from such as Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Camus, Foucault, Deleuze, Rabinow and Hacking, the task must also become one of countering the inherent problems and conceit of conventional architectural and urban insights that, if left unchallenged, will continue to thrive and perpetuate a repressive hold upon the more expansive and dynamic historical dimensions and socio-cultural horizons of architectural and urban knowledge.

The focus of my undergraduate teaching in architectural history and theory is directed towards promoting the critical, analytical and self-motivated learning needs of my students. For this I apply innovative teaching strategies and the outcomes of my research to assist in the development of confident, reflective and culturally aware perspectives in architectural history and theory. In particular, this is advanced through a range of lectures, seminars, tutorials and assignments that incorporate an examination of architectural exemplars within a diverse array of geographical regions and historical settings and contexts; of the wider social, cultural and political relations that invest the spatial and expressive possibilities of architecture; and of various theoretical and philosophical readings that inform new ways to understand and engage with architecture’s historical and contemporary conditions of being. It is against this background that my undergraduate units are designed to develop skills in architectural research, historical interpretation, theoretical analysis and critical readings of architecture.

Current Taught and Coordinated Undergraduate Units

• Architecture and Culture 102/122: Bachelor of Applied Science: Architectural Science.

• Architecture and Culture 201 (Histories of Illusion, Power and Imagination): Bachelor of Applied Science: Architectural Science.

• Architecture and Culture 302: Bachelor of Applied Science: Architectural Science.

POSTGRADUATE COURSEWORK SUPERVISION

My particular approach towards the needs of dissertation students enrolled in the Architectural coursework Masters concerns both the development and supervision of their own self-directed research thesis proposals. Especial to this is the promotion of the integral and dynamic relationship that exists between architecture and theoretical enquiry; of how to ‘use’ philosophy to frame questions and underpin various critical and challenging perspectives around the meaning, identity and purpose of architecture; of how history and theory can act as fundamental tools of research for the study of places and forms; and how to develop and deploy appropriate plans, methods and strategies of research. As a supervisor and researcher, I see my role as being to support and encourage each dissertation student in realizing the full and exciting potential of their chosen project and from this, to assist in developing outcomes that are critically rigorous, compelling, and which open up stimulating, innovative and confronting questions of architectural possibility.

Current supervisory and tutorial responsibilities within coursework Master Units:

• Dissertation Thesis Supervision: Master of Architecture (Coursework).

• Special Topics Thesis Development Tutor: Master of Architecture (Coursework).

• External Masters (Coursework) Dissertation Assessor: University of Western Australia.

POSTGRADUATE HIGHER DEGREE BY RESEARCH SUPERVISON

Doctoral and Masters by Research degrees represent the pinnacle of nationally and internationally recognized levels of outstanding research achievement. As an experienced researcher and University registered supervisor of PhD’s and MPhil’s, I aim to guide and support my research students from candidacy to completion towards the same high values and quality of higher degree research outcomes. As part of this, I not only assist each higher degree researcher in the development of their research program, but also encourage and promote opportunities for the dissemination of their research through publications and conference presentations. The areas within which I supervise draw directly from my research background in the history, socio-cultural theory, psychology, and power relationships of architectural & urban space. Whilst mainly focused on the supervision of architectural higher degree researchers, I also supervise researchers in art and design. Examples of current and successfully completed supervised PhD’s and MPhil’s include topics such as the 19th century architectural pattern book as a mechanism of colonial power and cultural hegemony; a critical analysis of the architectural ideas of ‘place’ and ‘placeless-ness’; the range of coping strategies of behaviour and identity expressed through adaptations to low-income housing units in Jakarta, Indonesia; the architectural and media perpetuation of a mythological concept of home; architectural and urban questions of migrant perception, re-territorialisation and spatial identity.

Current supervisory and higher degree by research responsibilities:

• University Registered Higher Degree Research Supervisor at PhD and Masters levels.

• Currently supervising 5 PhD’s and 5 Masters higher research degrees.

• Mentor to new higher degree research supervisors

• PhD Examiner

Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ).
Member since 1999.

SAHANZ Executive Committee Member: (2005-2007)
Elected member of executive committee of Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand.

Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.
Member since 1999.

Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
Elected associate member 1989.

Royal Institute of British Architects.
Elected full member 1989.

Architects Registration Council of United Kingdom.
Registered as Architect - No 0551891 (1989).

Vice-Chancellor’s School Teaching Excellence Award in teaching (2002).

Refereed Articles (Scholarly Journals)

• Basson, S. 2006. 'Oh Comrade, What Times Those Were!' History, Capital Punishment and the Urban Square. Urban Studies 43(7): 1147-1158.
• Basson, S. 2004. A Dead Sense of Time: Reflections on Architecture, History and Perception. Architectural Theory Review 9: 51-64.

Fully written papers (Refereed Conference proceedings)

• Basson, S. 2007. Paradise Lost: Architecture, Historioraphy andthe Crisis of the Present. Panorama to Paradise: XXIV International Conference of SAHANZ, 21/09/2007. Adelaide, Australia: Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand.
• Basson, S. 2006. Perchance to Dream: architecture and the conflict of historical perception. XXIII Annual Conference 2006, 29/09/2006. Fremantle WA: Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand.
• Basson, S. 2004. Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts: The Greek agora revisited as a discontinuous subject of historical knowledge. Limits: 21st Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand, 01/09/2004. Melbourne: Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand.
• Basson, S. 2003. Angel of Death: The non-progressive subject of architectural history. 20th Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, 01/10/2003. New South Wales: Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand.