School of Architecture, Design and Planning

Dr Ashley Paine

Senior Lecturer in Architecture
School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Director of ATCH
Centre of Architecture Theory Criticism History
+61 7 336 53878
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Researcher biography

Ashley Paine is an architect and Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. His research, teaching and practice are all broadly concerned with the history, theory and design of architectural surfaces, focusing particularly on issues of ornament, pattern, colour and the façade. In 2015 Ashley completed his PhD on the history and artifice of striped architecture, which surveyed the techniques and striking visual effects of banded polychromy across more than two thousand years of Western architecture: from Roman wall construction through to the recent work of Mario Botta. Ashley also holds a Master of Arts in Visual Arts (Research) and a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons. I) and for which he was awarded a University Medal. He is also the recipient of numerous other academic awards and prizes, and is the author of a number of conference papers and publications for leading international journals including, AA Files (UK), The Architectural Review (UK), and Interstices (NZ). Ashley's current research builds upon and expands his existing studies to include the investigation of authenticity in architectural heritage, as well as contemporary architectural practices and their relation to the visual arts.

In architectural practice, Ashley has more than fifteen years of experience across residential, commercial, education, institutional, interiors and heritage projects. His work has been recognised with numerous awards from the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Design Institute of Australia (DIA), including national awards for Public Architecture, Interior Architecture and Small Projects. Many of these buildings have also been published and exhibited internationally, including in the Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture (2004), and at the Australian Pavilion at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2010, Ashley co-founded PHAB Architects (with Brant Harris) to develop his interests at the intersection of architectural research and practice. In particular, the practice focuses on heritage and adaptive re-use projects, as well as residential and small-scale public works. Recently completed works include the conversion of the historic Toogoolawah Condensery Packing Shed into a new community art gallery and workshop.

Recent Awards

2016 AIA National Awards: National Award (Public Architecture) 2016 AIA Queensland Architecture Awards: Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture 2016 Dulux Colour Awards: Grand Prix Winner 2016 Dulux Colour Awards: Commercial Exterior Winner 2016 Dulux Colour Awards: Commercial Interior Commendation 2017 Archdaily Building of the Year Finalist (Category: Refurbishment)

Current Memberships

Member, Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ)

Featured projects Duration
Is architecture art? A history of categories, concepts and recent practices
ARC Discovery Project
 2016–2021
Valuing Architecture: Heritage and the Economics of Culture
 2021
Trading Between Architecture and Art : Strategies and Practices of Exchange
 2019
Architecture and the GLAM Sector
The University of Queensland
 2022–2024
Architecture and Cultural Heritage: Values and Standards
The University of Queensland
 2022–2024
Not Quite Wright: Distorting Architectural Heritage through Exhibition and Display
The University of Queensland
 2018–2023
Pavilion Propositions
 2018

Publications

Book (1)
Book Chapters (7)
Journal Articles (18)
Conference Papers (15)
Thesis (1)
Designs (2)
Generic Documents (2)

Book

Macarthur, John, Holden, Susan, Paine, Ashley and Davidts, Wouter (2018). Pavilion propositions: nine points on an architectural phenomenon. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.

Book Chapters

Holden, Susan and Paine, Ashley (2022). Fugitive Architecture. The spoken object: a collector's journey in fashion, jewellery, design and architecture. (pp. 341-377) edited by Gene Sherman. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Images Publishing.
Micheli, Silvia and Paine, Ashley (2022). Inside becomes outside: Queensland’s domestic landscape. The new Queensland house. (pp. 12-19) edited by Cameron Bruhn and Katelin Butler. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Thames & Hudson.
Macarthur, John, Holden, Susan and Paine, Ashley (2020). For what it’s worth: the value of architecture as heritage and culture. Valuing architecture: heritage and the economics of culture. (pp. 8-20) edited by Ashley Paine, Susan Holden and John Macarthur. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.
Paine, Ashley (2020). The price is Wright: recovering value in Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural fragments. Valuing architecture: heritage and the economics of culture. (pp. 40-57) edited by Ashley Paine, Susan Holden and John Macarthur. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.
Davidts, Wouter, Holden, Susan and Paine, Ashley (2019). The terms of trade of architecture and art. Trading between architecture and art: strategies and practices of exchange. (pp. 9-15) edited by Wouter Davidts, Susan Holden and Ashley Paine. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.
Paine, Ashley (2019). Reading between the lines: reflections on an interview with Mario Botta. Speaking of buildings: oral history in architectural research. (pp. *-*) edited by Janina Gosseye, Naomi Stead and Deborah van der Plaat. NY, United States: Princeton Architectural Press.
Paine, Ashley (2019). Spencer Finch’s windows: authenticity and the reconstructed interior. Trading between architecture and art: strategies and practices of exchange. (pp. 181-191) edited by Wouter Davidts, Susan Holden and Ashley Paine. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.

Journal Articles

Paine, Ashley (2024). Profile: Speculative Architecture. Architecture Australia, 113 (1), 26-27.
Paine, Ashley (2023). Buildings-in-buildings: museological theatres of preservation and display. arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, 27 (3), 190-208. doi: 10.1017/S1359135523000295
Paine, Ashley (2022). Green House by Steendijk. Houses, 148 (October), 18-25.
Paine, Ashley (2022). Staging Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel. Theatre and Performance Design, 8 (1-2), 63-75. doi: 10.1080/23322551.2022.2082713
Paine, Ashley (2021). Tactics of reconstructing the past: recent residential practice. Architecture Australia, 110 (2), 62-65.
Paine, Ashley (2021). The Wright House Museum: mediated encounters with Frank Lloyd Wright’s domestic architecture. SaveWright, 12 (1), 2-5.
Holden, Susan and Paine, Ashley (2020). Curating architecture and the city: recent Australian pavilions. European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes, 3 (1), 117-138. doi: 10.6092/issn.2612-0496/10140
Paine, Ashley and Holden, Susan (2019). The pavilion returns: The Holy See’s Vatican Chapels at the 16th International Venice Biennale of Architecture, 26 May–25 November 2018. Fabrications, 29 (1), 109-111. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2019.1539892
Holden, Susan and Paine, Ashley (2018). Breaking Ground: Muir and Openwork. NGV Magazine, 13, 68-73.
Paine, Ashley and Clarke, Amy (2018). Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous architecture. Architectural Research Quarterly, 22 (1), 69-80. doi: 10.1017/s1359135518000325
Holden, Susan and Paine, Ashley (2018). Looking back, seeing through: contemporary Australian pavilions. Architecture Australia, 107 (2), 104-108.
Paine, Ashley (2018). Not quite Wright: re-performing Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture ex situ. Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism, 15 (2), 63-79. doi: 10.5749/futuante.15.2.0063
Paine, Ashley (2017). “Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: unpacking the archive”, 12 June – 1 October, 2017 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Fabrications: the journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, 27 (3), 429-432. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2017.1368852
Paine, Ashley (2017). Review: Northlakes Veterinary Hospital by Vokes and Peters. Architecture Australia, 4 (July), 36-43.
Paine, Ashley and Holden, Susan (2017). The art of reverence. Architecture Australia, 106 (4), 73-76.
Paine, Ashley (2015). The curious history of striped architecture. The Architectural Review.
Paine, Ashley (2013). Striped effects: the articulation of materiality and directionality in striped architecture. Interstices: Journal of Architecture and Related Arts, 14, 68-78.
Paine, Ashley (2011). The Problem of Stripes. AA Files, 63, 70-73.

Conference Papers

Paine, Ashley, Holden, Susan and Sale, Charles (2023). Between preservation and curation: OMA and the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip. Prague – Heritages: Past and Present – Built and Social, Prague, Czech Republic, 28-30 June 2023. Prague, Czech Republic: Czech Technical University & AMPS.
Paine, Ashley (2023). A Window on the Museum: Reconstructing the Interiors of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Exhibition as Interior, Online , 9 May 2023. London, United Kingdom: Modern Interiors Research Centre, Kingston University.
Paine, Ashley and Greenop, Kelly (2022). Archives and authorship: a case study on the impact of digital architectural collections. Building Data: Architecture, Memory and New Imaginaries, Delft and Rotterdam, Amsterdam, 23-24 November 2022. Rotterdam, Amsterdam: TU Delft and Het Nieuwe Instituut.
Paine, Ashley (2019). Theatricality and the reconstruction of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel. Distance Looks Back: 36th Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, Sydney, Australia, 10-13 July 2019.
Paine, Ashley (2019). The price is Wright: re-thinking value in the fragments of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. The Values of Architecture and the Economy of Culture, Brisbane, Australia, 12-14 June 2019.
Paine, Ashley (2019). Buildings in buildings: close encounters of the architectural kind. AAANZ 2019 Ngā Tūtaki – Encounter/s: Agency, Embodiment, Exchange, Ecologies, Auckland, New Zealand, 3-6 December 2019.
Clarke, Amy and Paine, Ashley (2018). The rhetoric of reproduction: built heritage in a digital age. Digital Cultural Heritage: FUTURE VISIONS, 2018, Brisbane, Australia, 19-20 April, 2017. Brisbane QLD, Australia: Architecture Theory Criticism History Research Centre, School of Architecture, The University of Queensland.
Paine, Ashley (2017). Rethinking replicas: temporality and the reconstructed pavilion. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 5-8 July 2017. Canberra, ACT, Australia: SAHANZ.
Paine, Ashley (2017). Period rooms and the fantasy of architectural display. Fantasy in Reality: Architecture, Representation, Reproduction, London, United Kingdom, 15-16 June 2017.
Paine, Ashley (2016). The rhetoric of authentic surfaces: gold Leaf in the recent work of OMA and Mario Botta. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 6-9 July 2016. Melbourne, Australia: SAHANZ.
Paine, Ashley (2015). Institutional polychromy: the striped architecture of Don Watson and Spence Jamieson. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 7-10 July 2015. Sydney, NSW, Australia: SAHANZ.
Kahn, Michael M. and Paine, Ashley (2015). The decorated synagogue: architectural appropriation and assimilation at Atlanta’s Temple. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 7-10 July 2015. Sydney, NSW, Australia: SAHANZ.
Paine, Ashley (2014). Principles for the definition of a striped architecture. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 2-5 July 2014. Gold Coast, QLD, Australia: SAHANZ.
Paine, Ashley (2012). Botta’s striped historicism: Historicism, myth and fabulation in Mario Botta’s stripes. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Launceston, Australia, 5 - 8 July 2012. Brisbane, Australia: SAHANZ.
Paine, Ashley (2011). Facades and stripes: An account of striped facades from medieval Italian churches to the architecture of Mario Botta. Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Annual Conference, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 7-10 July 2011. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ).

Thesis

Paine, Ashley Ian (2015). The history and artifice of horizontally striped architecture: A study of articulation, composition and the work of Mario Botta. PhD Thesis, School of Architecture, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2016.21

Designs

Paine, Ashley (2021). Exhibition Architecture for Round About or Inside, 2021.
Paine, Ashley and Harris, Brant (2015). Somerset Regional Art Gallery - ‘The Condensery’.

Generic Documents

Paine, Ashley (2007). Speed Bump Systems: Visual tools for locating the viewer. Metro Arts Gallery.
Brisbin, Christopher, Smith, Cathy, Dixon, Matthew, Paine, Ashley and D'Alpoim, Dianne (2004). What is the value of home? NOT FOR SALE - West End interventions.

Areas of research

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