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Staff Profile

Professor Rosie Parnell

Professor of Architecture & Pedagogy

  • Email: rosie.parnell@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
    Newcastle University
    NE1 7RU
    United Kingdom
Background

My research, teaching and practice combine interests in children’s spaces, design process, participation and architecture education. I have delivered projects and lectures internationally on these topics and supported major organisations and small NGOs with associated research, training and development - most recently as a member of the American Institute of Architect’s Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) Research Task Force. I began working with children and young people as the education manager at an environmental regeneration charity in the UK. I brought this experience back to academia, pursuing a range of outreach and research activities with schools and youth groups which led to a focus on children’s engagement in spatial and educational design. I taught at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture from 1998 until 2015 when I left to join Northumbria University, arriving at Newcastle University in December 2019.

Teaching

I currently coordinate Stage 2 Architecture Design Studio and Dissertation Studies module (with colleagues) and contribute to teaching in the MArch and the Architecture and Urban Planning Degree. I have contributed to teaching at all levels, leading year 1 design studio and mentoring live projects in both undergraduate and postgraduate studios. I devised and led a postgraduate taught course as well as contributing to a range of other PGT courses and I have supervised a wide range of PhDs. Much of my teaching is underpinned by critical pedagogy and a commitment to support students to take responsibilty for their own learning.  I have carried out a range of funded learning and teaching initiatives to support peer learning, creative process, critical skills development and assessment and feedback. I co-authored the student guide, The Crit, which explores alternatives to this normative studio ritual and continue to be active in learning and teaching conferences. I received the University of Sheffield Senate Award for my teaching and a prestigious teaching fellowship at the Technical University Berlin. I am currently supporting an action research project led by TU Dublin, which is testing alternative approaches to assessment and feedback in the design studio. I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA.

Research

My current research focuses on children and spatial design – their experiences of spaces such as dwellings, public space and schools and their contributions to the design process. Closely related to this is my ongoing collaborative work exploring children's built environment education internationally. I co-authored the Oxford Online Bibliography of Children, Young People and Architecture - the first of its kind to attempt to begin to define this specific field. Much of my research has centred on the school design process - originally funded by EPSRC during the Building Schools for the Future programme. Research supported by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust expanded to explore a range of types of space being designed by architects working directly with children in Germany, Greece and the UK. I have supported recent and ongoing PhD research looking at public playgrounds, nurseries, journeys to school and adult-child design dialogue.   The current AHRC CV19 research project, At Home with Children, aims to understand what constitutes 'liveable' domestic space for families with children, under pandemic conditions and to apply the findings to housing design guidance as well as householder-facing support. My parallel interest lies in the process of architectural education and questions here around live learning, playfulness, creative process and diversity, which I have explored through action research, through work with the aae (association of architectural educators) and in various related publications. 

Publications