Australian curator and architecture advocate Rory Hyde is returning to Australia to take up a position as an associate professor at the University of Melbourne, after seven years working as the Curator of Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
Hyde’s new role is as Associate Professor in Architecture (Curatorial Design and Practice) at the Melbourne School of Design. He says he plans to combine his architectural training with his experience as a curator to develop new forms of design practice, and to experiment with ways of initiating positive change.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Melbourne School of Design, and to be working with its many brilliant researchers and practitioners across the built environment” he said.
“I am excited to return to Melbourne, especially at this moment of reflection after a difficult year. The priorities seem to have shifted, and new ideas and new ways of living seem within reach, a brief window of opportunity to address some of the major challenges facing the city today.”
As a designer, writer and curator, Hyde focuses on how design practice can benefit the public good, and how the role of the contemporary designer can be redefined.
He studied architecture at RMIT University in Melbourne, completing a PhD on the impact of new technology on small architectural practice. He has worked for a number of prominent practices internationally, including ARM, BKK Architects and MVRDV, and from 2003 to 2013 he co-hosted the weekly radio show The Architects on Triple R. His second book, Architects After Architecture: Alternative Pathways for Practice, co-edited with Harriet Harriss and Roberta Marcaccio, was published this December.
The dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, Julie Willis, said the newly created role would go beyond teaching and scholarship.
“We are thrilled to welcome Rory as an Associate Professor at our Faculty, and look forward to him playing a key role in engagement with University partnerships with the City of Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria and other collecting institutions,” she said.
Hyde is an associate editor of Architecture Australia magazine, which has the same publisher as ArchitectureAu, Architecture Media.
