leon van schaik
innovation professor of architecture at RMIT University
Curriculum vitae
LEON VAN SCHAIK AO
Leon van Schaik is Professor of Architecture (Innovation Chair) at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia.
He studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, and in turn from 1971 to 1986 taught and practiced from that base. As an architect, he has worked on self-help and conventional housing; has designed and built complex educational buildings, art galleries and factories; and has provided design leadership to the RMIT Technology Estate and the ecologically responsive RMIT university campus in Vietnam. His teaching in the urban design of Melbourne’s periphery complements the work done by the City of Melbourne, and lead to two monographs titled 38 South (i) and (ii).
In 2003 he was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. In 2005 he was the recipient of the inaugural Neville Quarry RAIA Education Prize. In 2006 he was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia, for service to architecture as an academic, practitioner and educator, and to the community through involvement with a wide range of boards and organisations related to architecture, culture and the arts. Currently he is a member of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.
At RMIT he instituted a pioneering criterion based process for consultant appointment that has transformed the university’s reputation for Architecture and Urban Design through award winning buildings – a process that has influenced patronage in Melbourne and across Australia, and which is now much emulated. He has served in many consultant appointment processes including a Civic Centre in a regional city in New South Wales ($30m), the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne ($8m), the UNISA faculty of architecture, Adelaide ($30m) and in 2003 the Spencer Street Station, Melbourne ($500m). In 2003 he was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in recognition of this furthering of architecture, and he consults on procurement processes.
van Schaik’s Ph.D. examined the relationships between communities and expert knowledge in design. His research focuses on creating and sustaining innovative communities of practice. He has developed a practice based research program for architects and designers whose work already demonstrates mastery in their field. The Practice of Practice, the fourth volume documenting this work, was published in 2003. Procurement processes are a research focus. He has worked extensively on building communities of scholarship, out of which has grown his involvement in the concept of the ‘virtual concourse’ and alterative environment for learning and research communities. In pursuit of this he has been an advisor to LAB 3000, chairing the Digital Design Biennale of 2004, which modelled such a community.
In Spring Semester 1994 Leon van Schaik was visiting design critic at the GSD Harvard. He has served on the Board of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (Melbourne 1992-1999), the Board of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, and was a member of the UIA Science Committee for the Barcelona '96 Conference (1992-6). In 1996 he was the curator of ‘Ruins of the Future’ in the Adelaide Festival and a visiting critic to the Kumamoto Artpolis. He is a moderator of the Asia Design Forum, and a board member of Architectural Association Asia, and the Asian Urban Laboratory. At the Venice Biennale 2000, in the 7th International Exhibition of Architecture, he was Commissioner for Australia. He was on the advisory board for the 2003 Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, and was curator for Australia for the 2005 Biennale. In 2008 he was an invited delegate to the 2020 Summit convened by the Australian Government.
van Schaik writes professional reviews for architectural journals in Australia and Europe. Recent works include monographs on Edmond and Corrigan, Ushida Findlay, Guilford Bell and Tom Kovac. In 2002 a book on architectural and urban practice, ‘The Guthrie Pavilion: Hamzah and Yeang,’ VDG Verlag, and a monograph ‘The Poetics of Architecture’ were published by Wiley in London. In 2003 the monograph ‘Ecocells’ (on the work of Hamzah and Yeang) was published by John Wiley, and ‘The Practice of Practice’ by RMIT University Press. In 2004 a monograph on Sean Godsell was published by Electa Milan and ‘Mastering Architecture: Becoming a Creative Innovator in Practice’ was published in early 2005 by Wiley Academy. His latest book is Design City Melbourne, also by Wiley Academy, (2006). He provided editorial advice and an essay to ‘Volume’, Thames and Hudson’s 2008 monograph on John Wardle Architects, and a monograph on Denton Corker Marshall, ‘Non Fictional Narratives’, is published by Birkhauser in June 2008. ‘Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture’ is published by Wiley Academy in September 2008.
Prof. Leon van Schaik AO, BArch Studies(Ncle) AADip(SADG) MArch(UCT) PhD(CNAA) RIBA, ARCUK, LFRAIA.