susan massey

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2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

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“Building sustainable communities with affordable housing begins by advocating for responsible design at the policy level. The issue for me is not only how to support efforts to do this, but how to evaluate the impact of design when environmental performance becomes the driver.”

Susan Massey, currently a Masters of Science student in Architecture History/Theory at the University of Michigan, has been awarded a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission to undertake 12 months research with the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute in Melbourne.

Susan will study Australia’s affordable, environmentally sustainable housing. Her project aims to address the unintended environmental consequences of regulating architectural style in low-income housing in the U.S through examining the Australian experience.

“Because imposing design guidelines on low-income housing can potentially affect water and energy costs over time, I want to explore the value of architectural style as compared to that of increased water and energy efficiency and the role of policy in creating the value assigned to both.

“Australia offers a unique situation in which to examine these issues, specifically because water and energy performance is now driving affordable housing design decisions rather than architectural style (which is usually a nostalgic idea of what "home" looks like.)"

Susan has a BS in architecture from the University of Virginia and a Masters in architecture from the University of Michigan. In addition to her academic qualifications, she is the recipient of the Marian Sarah Parker Memorial Award and her winning design for an international design competition was exhibited at the 2008 Venice Biennale. She has worked as an architectural designer in Washington D.C. and is an alumna of the Rural Studio outreach program.

Susan is one of 19 American Fulbright Scholars travelling to Australia in 2009/2010.