
Dr Urs Bette
Senior Lecturer
School of Architecture and Built Environment
Faculty of the Professions
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.
Urs Bette is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide and Director of Urs Bette : Design. He holds a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, and a PhD from RMIT University Melbourne. His design works have been shown at the Architectural Biennale Venice, the AEDES Architecture Gallery Berlin and the FRAC Centre Orléans. His research investigates the role of ‘the unreasonable’ in the design process, revealing strategies that facilitate the poetics of architecture within a professional discourse dominated by expectations of quantifiable performance. The context of this research is set by the relationship between existing urban fabrics and a secondary layer of architectural form. The work contributes to the discourse on sustainable models of urban growth, by developing strategies for urban densification that tap into local histories and voices, including those of the seemingly inanimate - the architecture itself and the ground it sits up-on - to inform the site-related production of architectural character and space. Urs leads practice-based research at the School of Architecture and Built Environment.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2016 - 2013 Lecturer - Fixed term contract University of Adelaide 2013 Lecturer - Continuing Position University of Adelaide 2006 - 2007 Design Architect Sam / Ott Reinisch 2004 - 2004 Design Architect next ENTERprise Architects 2004 - 2004 Design Architect K.Stattman, Office for Architecture & Research 2004 Director Urs Bette : Design 2001 - 2003 Design Architect Eichinger oder Knechtl 2000 - 2001 Design Architect Designbureau Chavanne 2000 - 2000 Design Architect next ENTERprise Architects 1997 - 1998 Design Architect Atelier Lange Monteagudo 1992 - 1994 Designer Coop Himmelb(l)au -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2016 Teaching Award Executive Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching Faculty of Professions - The University of Adelaide Australia — 2016 Achievement OLT innovation and development grant Office for Learning and Teaching Australia $497.000 - jointly awarded to 14 Universities 2015 Research Award Aiming for the Stars University of Adelaide - Faculty of Professions Austria $4.000 2015 Research Award Cluster Evolution Support University of Adelaide - Faculty of Professions Australia $7,500 2013 Scholarship RMIT University HDR Scholarship RMIT University Australia $16.800 2010 Award Artist in Residence Studio, 1. Prize, Architectural Design Competition Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide Australia — 2009 Award Thalia NEU, 1. Prize, Architectural Design Competition — Austria — 2000 Recognition Experimental Tendencies in Architecture Austrian Federal Chancellery Australia — 2000 Scholarship Tische-Scholarship The Austrian Federal Chancelor Austria — -
Language Competencies
Language Competency English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review German Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2011 - 2015 RMIT University Australia PhD 1993 - 2000 University of Applied Arts Austria MArch 1987 - 1992 University of Applied Sciences Germany DDes -
Certifications
Date Title Institution name Country 2003 Architect Chamber of Architects Germany -
Research Interests
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Book Chapters
Year Citation 2012 Bette, U. I. (2012). Artist in Residence Studio. In T. Court, F. Bonnato, & J. Cys (Eds.), Design South Australia (pp. 145-147). Adelaide: Integrated Design Commission. 2012 Bette, U. I. (2012). Urs Bette Architecture. In A. Sánchez Vidiella (Ed.), Contemporary Architects 1 (pp. 590-599). Barcelona: LOFT Publications. 2010 Bette, U. I. (2010). Expo 2010 - Uralla Court. In J. Fajardo (Ed.), Starchitects Visionary Architects of the Twenty-first Century (pp. 526-530). Harper Collins. -
Original Creative Works
Year Citation 2018 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 1 Visual art work
Title: River Torrens Footbridge - blueprint
Alternative title: riverbankbridge
Authors: Bette U
Publisher: Tony Kearney: RUST SALT TAR / Adelaide Fringe
Publisher URL: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bridge-af2018
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 23 February 2018
Series: RUST SALT TAR
Extent: Dimensions in centimeters: 61 x 191
Type of work: Dye ink print
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: This project investigates the relationship between architectural objects and the ground / site they reside in. Working in the atypical context of a landscape project has revealed that the relationship between object and ground revolves around a strategic gap that lays the foun-dation for a project's conceptual idea. The detachment of the object acts as an operational strategy that triggers a dialogue between object and ground, from which a performative surplus, manifest through form and space, arises.
Rights statement: copy right lies with the author
Description: http://www.rustsalttar.com/bridge-gallery.html
Source URL: http://www.rustsalttar.com/bridge.html
Keywords: landscape architecture, performative relationships
Author URL: http://bette.at/project/riverbankbridge/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 25 March 20182018 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 1 Visual art work
Title: Unreasonable Creatures - strategic mappings
Authors: Bette U
ISBN-13: 9780646992495
Publisher: The University of Sydney
Place of publication: Sydney
Publication date: 27 September 2018
Pagination: 35
Extent: 3 x 1.5 m
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: Unreasonable Creatures sets out to validate the role of the unreasonable in the design process. Using case study projects the author gives an insight into the epistemological processes of his creative practice, and unveils the strategies he deploys in order to facilitate the poetic aspects of architecture within a discourse whose evaluation parameters predominantly involve reason. Themes discussed include the emergence of space from the staged opposition between the architectural object and the site, and the relationship between emotive cognition and analytic synthesis in the design act. In both of these there is a necessary engagement with forms of ‘unreasonable’ thought, action or behaviours. The work offers encouragement to accept the usefulness and validity of the unreasonable in architecture. By investigating the performative relationship between object and ground, the work contributes to the discourse on extensions, growth and urban densification that tap into local histories and voices, including those of the seemingly inanimate - the architecture itself and the ground it sits upon - to inform the site-related production of architectural character and space. In doing so, the work raises debates about the values pursued in design approval processes, and the ways in which site-relatedness is both produced and judged.
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 5 December 20182017 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 1 Visual art work
Title: Thalia at GRAIN
Authors: Urs Bette U
Publisher: 2017 Adelaide Fringe Festival
Publisher URL: http://www.rustsalttar.com/grain.html
Place of publication: Port Adelaide, South Australia
Publication date: 24 February 2017
Extent: Medium: dye ink print, Dimensions: 100 x 70
Type of work: Dye ink print
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: GRAIN is the latest adventure in a series of award winning exhibitions that bring together a group of contemporary artists to produce works based on simple elemental themes.The grain of timber, leather, paper, cloth, wheat, barley and rice. Of common sense and truth. There are 20 grains in a scruple, 60 in a dram and 480 in an ounce. It's the smallest possible quantity; hint, suspicion, tinge, iota, smidgen. It's essential for whisky, photography, bread, urban planning, archery, dashboard decoration, raising chickens and feeding North Korean Zombies. We will bring you grist to the Mill, against the grain and all with a grain of salt.
The seventh in a series of exhibitions that explore the digressions and tangents of a single-word elemental theme, GRAIN comes to you from inside the Packing Shed at Hart’s Mill.
The exhibition is in part of the Mill buildings that had been inaccessible for decades (we first opened it up last year with our exhibition GRIT), providing a very appropriate setting for this year’s theme of ‘grain’.
Never predictable, often accidental, sometimes unruly and provocative, always pretty wonderful.
Tony Kearney, curator
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 26 May 20172017 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 1 Visual art work
Title: Thalia facade
Authors: Bette U
Publisher: Tony Kearney: RUST SALT TAR / Adelaide Fringe
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 3 March 2017
Extent: Dimensions: 100 x 70
Type of work: Medium: dye ink print
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: The work exhibited gives evidence of my investigations into methods for camouflaging the extends of buildings in an urban context. It is part of a larger project that explores the architects ongoing interest in how propositions come to both affect and also respond to an existing condition or ‘ground’. While no project is located on a tabula rasa, urban consolidation policies are increasingly challenging architects to work on sites that are articulated by multiple custodians and stakeholders. The work explores not just how these interests are accommodated, but asks about the architect’s responsibility to find even more histories and potential voices, including those of the seemingly inanimate – the architecture itself and the ground it sits upon – to actualise unrecognised potentials and desires.
Rights statement: copyright lies with the author
Source URL: http://www.rustsalttar.com/grain-gallery.html
Keywords: architecture, facade, adaptive reuse
Other output evidence: http://bette.at/project/thalia/
Author URL: http://www.bette.at/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 25 March 20182016 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: Tindaya Whale
Authors: Bette U
Publisher: Adelaide Fringe Festival - GRIT
Publisher URL: https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/4c99decb-5224-41fd-bef4-81bf2dcd7c58
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 19 February 2016
Extent: Dimensions 300x150x200cm
Description: Tindaya whale is the most recent step in an ongoing series of installations. Their aim to explore and test the topics of my architectural design in a medium that is free from program or functional constraints, revealing aspirations and contradictions that are present in my work.
Source URL: http://www.rustsalttar.com/grit-gallery.html
Author URL: http://bette.at/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 29 February 20162016 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: the dragon in the sea
Authors: Bette U
Editors: Bollinger K, Janowski-Fritsch R, Jonkhans A, Mueller B
ISBN-13: 9783990434406
ISBN-10: 3990434403
Publisher: Studio Prix
Place of publication: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel
Publication date: 2016
Pagination: 270-271
Extent: 150m2
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: .
Abstract: The eroding island Okinotori-shima is situated in Japan’s southernmost territory, in the South Pacific Ocean. At high-tide two rocks, three and five meters wide, are all that remains of the island. Without these rocks the Japanese territory would end with Iwo-Jima and the country would loose 400 000 km2 of its territorial waters and, thus, the rights to fish and minerals located there. Each typhoon dimishes the rocks’ protruding surface area, which is why the Japanese government is willing to spend 250 million Dollars to protect the island. It’s crucial that no part of the supporting structure touches the island, as that would render it an artificial island with no rights to an exclusive economic zone.The dragon in the sea is the choreography of an annual ritual. Orientated on its volcanic origin, rock material from its interior is smelted onto its peak to replace the loss from erosion. This will save the island from legal issues of territoriality for approximately 600 years. A scientist, a machinist and a registrar travel to Okinotori-shima by ship. They survey the island, calculate last year’s erosion loss, excavate rock material, smelter and deposit it on the peak of the island. The symbolic act that follows constitutes the “inhabitation” of the island. They fish, trade the catch among themselves, cook and have dinner together. Everything needed is stored inside the rock. Power and air are provided by their ship anchored besides the atoll. The island is entered through an airlock 3m below sea level. Above sea level nothing indicates the existence of the machinery and equipment.
Source URL: http://bette.at/project/dragon-in-the-sea/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 16 May 20162014 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: Dissecting the whale
Authors: Bette U
Publisher: RMIT University - School of Architecture & Design - Design Hub
Publisher URL: http://designhub.rmit.edu.au/exhibitions-programs/practice-research-symposium
Place of publication: RMIT Design Hub
Publication date: 2014
Extent: 30 meter sq.
Type of work: Cardboard
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: .
Description: Working on installations has substantiated my design process and revealed how its expression has changed over the past years. My architectural figures have become more and more monolithic and hermetically closed. Closing the object has confined space to the void underneath the object, denying it the possibility to bridge the gap and branch out into the architectural character and along the ground. This quality was last noticeable at Uralla Court I & II. While the characters have developed and gained ‘radiant space’ through their increased presence, they have lost the ‘sequential space’ that develops along a timeline of events. In my forthcoming work I intend to re-initiate ‘spatial flow’ by dissecting the object. The installation at Spinoza’s Cabinet had been a first attempt in this direction. There, space began to flow between segments of the character and the void beneath. The ground contributed to the development of the object and thus was silently activated. My aim is to achieve a balance between breaking up the body to further the flow of space and protecting the identity of the character. The installation at RMIT will be the next instance in which I can test and develop this strategy, hoping that it might function as a synthesis of my past practice and give an outlook into future research.
Other output evidence: https://www.flickr.com/photos/35009461@N04/sets/72157648644745630/
Author URL: http://bette.at/current/dissection/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 1 February 20162014 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: HTMTI Training Hotel
Authors: Bette U, OttReinisch I
Publisher URL: http://www.ottreinisch.at/
Place of publication: Thimpuh, Bhutan
Publication date: 2014
Extent: 1300 m2
Keywords: Sustainable & Culturally Sensitive Architecture
Other output evidence: http://www.ottreinisch.at/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 1 February 20162014 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: HTMTI Training Hotel
Authors: Bette U, OttReinisch I
Publisher URL: http://www.ottreinisch.at/
Place of publication: Thimpuh, Bhutan
Publication date: 2014
Extent: 1300 m2
Keywords: Sustainable & Culturally Sensitive Architecture
Other output evidence: http://www.ottreinisch.at/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 1 February 20162013 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: Thalia NEU
Authors: Bette U, Ott-Reinisch I, Sam F
Publisher: Acoton. Thalia Errichtungs and Vermietungs-GmbH
Place of publication: Graz, Austria
Publication date: 2013
Extent: Addition/rooftop extension and integration of existing buildings
ERA Research Statement - 2000 character limit: "Research Background: ‘Thalia NEU’ was a winning competition entry to design a fitness centre and offices above a building complex opposite the State Opera House in Graz. Research Contribution: The project for a rooftop extension to a building in the centre of Gratz explored an ongoing interest of the architect, documented in his recently completed PhD, in how propositions come to both affect but also respond to an existing condition or ‘ground’. While no project is located on a tabula rasa, urban consolidation policies are increasingly challenging architects to work in sites of rich histories which are articulated by multiple custodians and stakeholders. This work explores not just how these identified interests are accommodated buts asks about the architect’s responsibility to find even more histories and potential voices, including those of the seemingly inanimate – the architecture itself – which can actualise unrecognised or unspoken potentials and desires. Research Significance: The project deals with a full range of functional and practical issues, structural and planning, which are typical to adaptive reuse and urban heritage sites. However it is formal exploration beyond these considerations which researches the further significance and responsibilities of contemporary architecture and its role in complex development of future cities, recognising the need to discover new sensibilities and techniques to appreciate the unique conditions of each situation and realise unique interventions.
Description: “Thalia New” is the result of an architectural design competition for a fitness studio plus offices, with the aim to restructure the existing building complex opposite the State Opera house, which, after only partial implementation of previous projects, had been left in an inhomogeneous state. The design is based on the premise that all existing roofs and facades, with the exception of those that are heritage listed, will be regarded as the site. Hence building mass is distributed equally along and above four existing buildings, and nestles into all available niches. This allowed the perceived cubic volume to be kept low, and relevant lines of sight maintained.
Source URL: http://bette.at/project/thalia/
Other output evidence: file:///S:/DVCR/RESEARCH/4PUBS/ERA%20EVIDENCE/0030095355.PDF
Notes: Addition/rooftop extension and integration of existing buildings
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 20 November 20142012 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: River Torrens Footbridge
Authors: bette
Publisher: State Government of South Australia
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 2012
Extent: 3500m2
Notes: http://bette.at/project/riverbankbridge/
http://www.archive.indaily.com.au/default.aspx?iid=74592&startpage=page0000001#folio=1
- http://www.sensational-adelaide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4035&start=300
- http://www.theplan.net.au/interview-with-designer-and-theorist-sam-spurr/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 20 November 20142012 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: To the Islands
Authors: Bette UI
Publisher: South Australian School of Art (SASA) Gallery
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 2012
Pagination: 70
Journal: LIBRARY JOURNAL
ISSN: 0363-0277
Volume: 135
Issue: 8
Extent: Unknown
Language: English
Author URL: http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/
Notes: Published in Design South Australia
Integrated Design Commission, Wakefield Press
South Australia 2012[attachments include design drawings and other material. Following links for our/internal ref.]
http://bette.at/project/to-the-islands/
curated exhibition, SASA Gallery, Adelaide
http://w3.unisa.edu.au/artarchitecturedesign/sasagallery/docs/invite%2011/Islands%20web.pdf
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 20 November 20142009 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF) Artist in Residence Studio
Authors: Bette UI
Publisher: Australian Experimental Art Foundation
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 2009
Extent: 50m2
Notes: Research Significance:
(evidence of excellence/peer recognition/public and peer published or otherwise documented interest and debate, other prestige factors)Published in Design South Australia
Integrated Design Commission, Wakefield Press
South Australia 2012[attachments include design drawings and other material. Following links for our/internal ref.]
http://bette.at/project/aeaf/
Verification-status: Verified
Record created at source: 20 November 20142007 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: Uralla Court ll
Authors: Bette UI
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 2007
Extent: 130m²
Description: Residential building in Adelaide, Australia. UC-2 is the redesign of the project 'Uralla Court' with changed parameters; the reduction of the usable space by 2/3. The spatial concept remains the same, previously enclosed spaces at the lower level are now used as sheltered outdoor spaces.
Source URL: http://bette.at/project/uc-2/
Other output evidence: http://www.labiennale.at/2006/Rock/rock_02.html
Record created at source: 1 February 20162005 Publication status: Published
NTRO sub category: 2 Design/Architectural work
Title: Uralla Court
Authors: Bette UI
Publisher URL: http://bette.at/project/uralla-court/
Place of publication: Adelaide
Publication date: 2005
Extent: 330m2
Description: The project was developed from the individual ´users´ own needs which can be found in the atmospheric and spatial qualities of the structure. The central question was ´How would you like to live?´ and not ´How should your house look?´ The essential element of the project was the ´reading´ of the clients as individuals and ´feeling into´ the way they see their lives.The result is an internally defined ´spatial sculpture´ with a range of different possibilities within its interior. It sets out a way of living and working together in which the opportunity to choose and personal freedom play an important role. The occupants can decide between different atmospheres, paths and spatial situations which determine the degree of interaction with the other or the intensity of thought over work. There are areas where the space flows and moves and others that are stable, interweaving various purposes and creating different awarenesses. Distance and openness interact with narrow ravine-like gaps, extroverted zones with sheltered niches and closed units. The whole house is a dance around ´open shelter´.
The existing landscape remains present throughout the whole project, the terrain being ´echoed´ in the different levels which flow through the interior of the house. The two structures form a pair whose deliberate independence, in a topographical and cultural context, is the result of the intense consideration of the brief and the qualities of the location itself. They create an exterior space that gives an unexpectedly urbane quality to the area between them and divides the block into private and open areas.
Other output evidence: http://www.labiennale.at/2006/start.htm
Author URL: http://www.labiennale.at/2006/Rock/rock_02.html
Record created at source: 1 February 2016 -
Curated or Produced Public Exhibition or Events
Year Citation 2015 Final Year Students, A. (2015). Divergent (No. Of Pieces: 1 week) [Exhibition]. Adelaide University - Hub Central. 2014 Bette, U. (2014). Masters of Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design (By Final Year Students ALAUD) (No. Of Pieces: 1 week) [Exhibition]. Adelaide. 2014 Bette, U. (2014). Masters of Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design (By Final Year Students ALAUD) (No. Of Pieces: 1 week) [Exhibition]. Adelaide. 2013 Final Year Students, A. L. A. U. D. (2013). Masters of Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design (No. Of Pieces: 1 week) [Exhibition]. Adelaide. -
Theses
Year Citation 2015 Bette, U. I. (2015). Unreasonable Creatures | in dialogue with an activated ground. (PhD Thesis, RMIT University).
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2017 Co-Supervisor Architectural Design: Research by Practice Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Anthony Quentin Donald Coupe 2017 Co-Supervisor Design by Research that Investigates the Capacity of Architecture to Facilitate New Types of Social Situations Through Denaturalisation of 'Normal' Behaviour Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Richard Joseph Le Messurier 2016 Co-Supervisor Adaptive Reuse and The Architectural Profession : An Inquiry by Design Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Meherzad Behzad Shroff 2015 Co-Supervisor Unexpected Expectations: Material Collision for a Purpose, Ensemble of Imperfections through Adoptive Process Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Mirai Morita
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Committee Memberships
Date Role Committee Institution Country 2018 - ongoing Member ADR18 - Scientific Committee THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Australia -
Memberships
Date Role Membership Country 2003 - ongoing Member Chamber of Architects NRW Germany
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