InterVIEWS/ASAU: Episodes IV-V: Dr. Lisa Moffitt and Dr. Suzanne Harris-Brandts

The InterVIEWS/ASAU podcast series invites Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism (ASAU) faculty to offer their perspective on doctoral research in architecture. ASAU faculty answer questions about their training and research in architecture, providing highlights of their research interests and contributions.

Two interviews took place in the Fall 2024 during the PhD Colloquium organized by Professor Federica Goffi. She is co-chair of the PhD and MAS programs and chair of Carleton Research | Practice of Teaching |Collaborative (CR|PT|C).

 In InterVIEW/ASAU IV, Associate Professor Lisa Moffitt reflects on her research work and recent book, Architecture’s Model Environments, published by UCL Press in 2023.

Dr. Moffitt discusses the use and nature of environmental models and how these can be used to read atmospheres and potentially influence the design process by engaging with invisible and intangible phenomena. Such models allow for approximating the complex reality of the built environment.

Moffitt’s interdisciplinary research draws from the fields of geology, meteorology, and engineering. She discusses the role of miniaturization and the shifting of scales from the microscopic to the planetary and what is lost and revealed by changes of scale.

Moffitt also speaks about her experience in the PhD in Architecture by Design program at the University of Edinburgh, commenting on the increasing diversity of research methods in architecture and the role of the supervisor. 

In InterVIEW/ASAU V, Assistant Professor Suzanne Harris-Brandts reflects on her doctoral experience in the PhD in Urban and Regional Studies at MIT, and her diverse roles as an architect, researcher, and teacher.

Dr. Harris-Brandts discusses how to establish research questions and define plural research methodologies, as well the role of a PhD supervisor.

Harris-Brandts speaks about her collaborative research as a founding member of Collective Domain, a design-research practice. She also elaborates on some of her recent publications on cultural identity, geopolitical relations, power play, and the methodologies behind her research work. 

During the interview, she delves into how to study the relationships between countries, the imbalance of power between them, and the manifestation of that imbalance in architecture.