Philip Oldfield

Biography

Dr. Philip Oldfield is an Associate Professor and Director of the Architecture Program at UNSW. Prior to joining UNSW, Philip was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, UK. At Nottingham he was the creator and Course Director of the Masters Course in Sustainable Tall Buildings – the world’s only course and qualification dedicated to the design and research of high-rise architecture. In addition, he has taught tall building design at universities in Chicago, Venice and Singapore.

Philip’s research interests are focused primarily on tall buildings, sustainability and embodied energy / carbon. His current research activities include;

- The Carbon Implications of Tall: A Life Cycle Energy / Carbon Analysis of High-Rise Buildings
- Vertical Public Realms: The Design and Experience of Social / Public Spaces in the Sky
- The PassivHaus Skyscraper: An Investigation into the Opportunities and Challenges for PassivHaus Performance in High-Rise Residential Buildings in Temperate Climates

Philip is an active member of the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), is Chair of the CTBUH Passivhaus Working Group and a member of the Urban Habitat / Urban Design committee.

Philip writes widely around the topics of tall building design and sustainability and has had peer-reviewed papers published in the Journal of Architecture, Architectural Science Review, Energy and Buildings, Solar Energy, CTBUH Journal and more. He was Guest Editor of the Special Issue of Energy and Buildings focused on Embodied Carbon in 2018.

He is also a regular contributor to the media, and in 2015 was awarded a funded British Science Association Media Fellowship to spend four weeks working with the Guardian Newspaper, alongside the science and environment teams. He has written a number of articles for the Guardian and for the Architects’ Journal (UK), Architecture Australia, The Conversation (UK), Middle East Construction Magazine (UAE), STRUCTURE Magazine (USA), and BbICOTHbIE (Russia) among others. He has presented a segment on BBC 1's Inside/Out exploring future housing in the UK, and has contributed to a number of other architectural and building programs.

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