The Architect's Measure: Data and the Built Environment
In this webinar, Dr Christopher Bamborough, from Arch_Manu UNSW, explores how data is reshaping architectural thinking and practice – both as a technical tool and a cultural framework – and the essential data literacy that architects require for future practice.
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Data is changing the way architects work today. Architects aren’t just using data as a tool – they’re designing within it. Data influences what architects prioritise while embedding an economic and technical logic into the process affecting how the built environment is conceived, evaluated, and constructed.
This Arch_Manu session draws from historical analysis and contemporary case studies to show how measurement and abstraction have shifted from tools of representation to frameworks that define architectural value, decision-making, and spatial production. It explores how data’s influence through abstraction and synthesis has reorganised the discipline’s foundational acts of observation, prediction and instruction, and will look beyond technology to illustrate how data has become a cultural framework – structuring decisions, framing ethics, and defining the boundaries of design itself. Dr Bamborough advocates for a critical data literacy that equips architects to operate within complex information systems while recognising architecture’s evolving cultural role.
This webinar is in collaboration with Arch_Manu: ARC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing ITTC.
OUR SPEAKER
Dr Christopher Bamborough is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, working within the ARC Centre for Next-Generation Architectural Manufacturing (Arch_Manu). His research examines the role of data in architectural practice, focusing on its technical, cultural, and material impacts. His PhD thesis argued that while data has long been integral to architecture, its digital form introduces a significant and evolving non-human influence on practice. AI and automation are central to this shift, raising critical questions about authorship and the evolving role of human designers. Christopher’s work highlights the moments where architects enter into machine collaboration and explores the practical and material consequences of these interactions. Trained as an architect in the UK and Australia, Christopher gained experience working in Architecture and Design for Manufacture (DfM) practices before transitioning into academia, where he has spent over 15 years teaching, lecturing and researching computational design, digital fabrication and construction.
COST & BOOKING
ACA members $30 incl GST
ACA Student Affiliate member $20 incl GST (with code)
Non-members $60 incl GST
*One ticket per person.
Select your ticket below or head to the booking site.
For any questions, please contact Katherine Ygosse, webinars@aca.org.au.
CPD
1 hour – 1 formal CPD point
Learning outcomes – This CPD session provides a framework for thinking about and applying data in architectural practice. It will equip participants to identify where data can lead to genuine improvements or potentially invite bias.
Units of Competency and Performance Criteria – Project Initiation & Conceptual Design – PC 18, PC 28
PBSA Core Area – Design
Links will be provided for recording access and CPD questions. Please complete questions after viewing the webinar in its entirety. Certificates will be provided following online submission of answers to questions. Please keep your receipt, completed questions and certificate for your CPD records.