Dr Giorgio Marfella

Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Construction

Biography

Dr Giorgio Marfella is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Florence (Italy) and holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of Melbourne. He joined the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning in 2014, where he is appointed as a full-time member in the disciplines of Architecture and Construction. He is the coordinator of core subjects in Architectural and Construction Technology of the Master of Architecture, Master of Architectural Engineering, and Master of Construction Management at the Melbourne School of Design.

Before joining the University of Melbourne, Giorgio worked for more than a decade in architectural practice in residential, commercial, educational and institutional projects in Australia and overseas. He is a registered architect in Victoria, and as a practitioner he developed a specialist profile in the design and delivery of facades working with several architectural companies including, among others, Bates Smart, Denton Corker Marshall and John Wardle Architects.

Giorgio is an international expert on the design, technology and history of tall buildings. In his doctorate thesis, he researched the techno-economic evolution of Melbourne's skyscrapers during the second half of the twentieth century, revealing how their built form was a by-product of entrepreneurial speculation, public interest, international design exchange and radical technological innovation. He is a research active academic and member of his Faculty's research centre ACAHUCH, where he contributes for his expertise in construction history. His research activities are concentrated on the techno-economic implications of tall buildings of the present, the cultural legacy of those from the past, the history of technology in architecture, and the processes of design innovation through the advancement of building products and materials.

As an academic with a background in professional practice, Giorgio is highly engaged with the architecture, engineering and construction industry, in Australia and overseas. He has a network of affiliations and collaborations which intersects several organisations, like the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ), the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA), Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) and the Architects Registration Board of Victoria (ARBV). Giorgio is the author of journal articles, conference papers and book chapters in the disciplines of architecture and construction. As a tall building and construction technology expert, he regularly participates as an invited speaker at industry conferences, seminars and public events, and he has contributed to public debates in the media through articles and interviews in newspapers, radio, and television broadcasting.

Featured projects

Disciplines

Architecture Construction

Research directions

Architectural and Urban Past Practice and Construction Innovation

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