Dr Sean Pickersgill

Senior Lecturer: Architecture UniSA Creative

City West Campus (K3-14)
tel +61 8 830 20653

email Robert.Pickersgill@unisa.edu.au

Research Degree Supervisor

Research

Research focus

Architecture
Cultural Studies
Design
Design Practice and Management
Performing Arts and Creative Writing

Highlights

Currently I am exploring the use and implications of game engines in the ontology of digital architecture. This has emerged from a Teaching and Learning Grant for 2004, and a Divisional Research Performance Grant in 2005 that has enabled us to create a mod of a commercial game, and to design and run an elective in Game Design.,I completed a PhD in artefact and thesis at RMIT. This focusses on the interrelationship between aspects of German critical theory and the idea of renovation/redemption in architecture.

Research

Outputs

Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus

Open access indicates that an output is open access.

Books

Year	Output
2023	Pickersgill, S 2023, The architect's dream: form and philosophy in architectural imagination, Intellect Books, UK.

Chapters

Year	Output
2021	Pickersgill, S 2021, 'Wish you were here: virtual reality and architecture', in S Eloy, A Kreutzberg & I Symeonidou (eds), Virtual Aesthetics in Architecture: Designing in Mixed Realities, Taylor and Francis, US, ch. 4, pp. 34-42. 2
2020	Pickersgill, RS, Rameezdeen, R & Harvey, J 2020, 'OnSite: the virtual site visit as an environment for construction learning', in S Mostafa & P Rahnamayiezekavat (eds), Claiming Identity Through Redefined Teaching in Construction Programs, IGI Global, US, ch. 9, pp. 153-176. Open access
2013	Pickersgill, S 2013, 'Architecture's new worlds', in P Gadanho & S Oliveira (eds), Once Upon a Place: Architecture and Fiction, Caleidoscopio, Lisbon, pp. 225-237.

Journal Articles

Year	Output
2017	Pickersgill, S 2017, 'Possibilia: possible worlds and the limitless in architecture', Footprint, no. 20, pp. 71-83. Open access 1
2017	Pickersgill, S 2017, 'Super Architects and dream factories', Interstices: Journal of Architecture and Related Arts, vol. 17, pp. 16-32. Open access
2012	Frichot, H, Preston, J, Spooner, M, Pickersgil, S, Kovar, Z, Hann, C & Evans, M 2012, 'An antipodean imaginary for architecture+philosophy: fictocritical approaches to design practice research', Footprint, vol. 10, no. 10/11, pp. 69-96. Open access
2012	Pickersgill, S 2012, 'An architectural singularity: digital monsters of architecture', Ultima Thule: Journal of Architectural Imagination, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-18. Open access

Conferences

Year	Output
2025	Pickersgill, S, Madigan, D, Lymn-Penning, A & Holmes, D 2025, 'Adjacencies of the real: scholastic construction in the twenty first century', in H Chai et al. (eds), The 6th International Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication (CDRF2024), Springer, pp. 338-347. Open access
2024	Pickersgill, S, Lymn-Penning, A, Madigan, D & Holmes, D 2024, 'Virtual site visits through gamification for AEC students: perspectives on practice', SA '24: SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 Educator's Forum, ACM, article no. 2, pp. 1-6.
2016	Pickersgill, S & Rameezdeen, R 2016, 'Onsite: new methods for the teaching and learning of introductory construction', in N Singhaputtangkul (ed.), AUBEA 2016, Central Queensland University, pp. 870-878. Open access
2013	Pickersgill, S 2013, 'Digital ontology and the architectural monstrous', in JP Sousa & JP Xavier (eds), 1st eCAADe Regional International Workshop, University of Porto, pp. 71-82. Open access
2011	Thomas, BH, Von Itzstein, GS, Vernik, R, Porter, S, Marner, MR, Smith, RT, Broecker, M, Close, B, Walker, S, Pickersgill, S, Kelly, S & Schumacher, P 2011, 'Spatial augmented reality support for design of complex physical environments', IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom), IEEE, pp. 588-593. Open access 16
2010	Pickersgill, S 2010, 'Techniques of digital imagination: vertigo', in M Chapman & M Ostwald (eds), Society of Architectural Historians of Australia & New Zealand Conference, Society of Architectural Historians of Australia & New Zealand, pp. 335-340.

Non Traditional Outputs

Year	Output
2025	Pickersgill, S, Lymn-Penning, A & Crane, N 2025, The Architect's Dream, The Sleep of Reason, The Architects Dream // Exhibition Launch and Designer Talk, Melbourne, Australia, 16/05/2025-18/05/2025. Open access
2022	Pickersgill, S, Madigan, D & Lymn-Penning, A 2022, ACADIA onsite - virtual site construction visit, ACADIA Conference Exhibition, Philadelphia, United States of America, 27/10/2022-29/10/2022. Open access

Reports

Year	Output
2017	Newton, S, Lowe, R, Pickersgill, S, Hardie, M, Srivastava, A, Rameezdee, R & Zillante, G 2017, Situational eLearning: A crowdsourced approach to the definition and assessment of key practice-ready academic outcomes, Australian Government, Office for Learning and Teaching, Department of Education and Training, Australia. Open access

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Organisation	Country
KTH Royal Institute of Technology	SWEDEN
Private Individual	UNITED KINGDOM
RMIT University	AUSTRALIA
University of Adelaide	AUSTRALIA
University of New South Wales	AUSTRALIA
University of South Australia	AUSTRALIA
Western Sydney University	AUSTRALIA

Teaching & student supervision

Highlights

Architectural Design,Theory and Historiography of Architecture,Digital Architecture,Game Theory and Design,Philosophy and Art Theory

Teaching & student supervision

Research degree supervision

Supervisions from 2010 shown

Thesis title	Student status
Immersivity and fidelity: Architecture, design and game engines	Current
Parameterisation of Game Design Concepts for Procedural Generation of Virtual Urban Environments	Current
Repatriation of Aboriginal ancestral remains from the South Australian Museum: analysing a cultural model of governance with sector-wide significance	Current
Nintendo, Japan and longing: videogames embodying and communicating cultural desires	Completed

more less

Dr Sean Pickersgill

About me

About me

UniSA Creative

About me

Professional Associations

Experience

Qualifications

Research

Research focus

Highlights

Projects

Outputs

Books

Chapters

Journal Articles

Conferences

Non Traditional Outputs

Reports

Current research & highlights

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Collaborations

Teaching & student supervision

Highlights

Courses and programs

Courses I teach

Research degree supervision

Gallery