Dr Ro Spankie
Dr Ro Spankie is a Principal Lecturer and Subject Lead for Interior Architecture.
I trained as an architect at University College London and have a City and Guilds in Cabinet Making. My subject area is interior architecture, a discipline focusing on the alteration and adaptation of existing buildings. It is a creative practice concerned with re-imagining an obsolete present to anticipate future needs, rather than simply preserving the past. At the same time by avoiding demolition adaptive reuse facilitates the presence of the past in the future, in the process transforming the past into something new.
I am a Founder member of Interior Educators, a UK forum for Interior Architecture and Interior Design Educators. http://interioreducators.co.uk/ and am on the Editorial Board of the international journal: Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture (Taylor & Francis).
Curatorial practice includes: Travelling Companions an exhibition of the work of Fay Ballard and Judy Goldhill at ARBart; CRASSH, University of Cambridge (2020-21) and Dark Skies at Hay Castle (2023-24)
Passionate about the environment in 2022 I took the role of Convenor of ArCCAT, a new role within A+C. Its remit is to encourage and facilitate staff and students to engage in the climate debate. Initiatives include, developing a School Climate Action Strategy to encourage discipline specific curriculum change, introducing an UG Student Award, a School Travel Policy, running a staff Reading Group to increase climate literacy and working with estates on greening the campus. We organise public facing events such as ‘Architecture Acts a Climate Performance in Three Acts’ and student workshops such as Climate Action Week.
I represented the university at the THE Global Sustainable Development Congress 2024 speaking on two panels Sustainable urban planning: How are we creating cities for the future? and Shaping healthy futures: Effective policy pathways driving collaboration and impact.
· External Examiner/Opponent of PhD Thesis, School of Arts, Design and Architecture (ARTS) Aalto University, Helsinki. 2024
· External Examiner of PhD Thesis, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. 2018
· External Examiner for MDes Interior Design, Glasgow School of Art. 2019-23
· External Examiner for BDes (Hons) Interior & Environmental Design, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee. 2018-21
· External Examiner for the Graduate School of Architecture, (GSA), University of Johannesburg. 2016-18
· External Examiner for BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design, Leeds Beckett University. 2015-19
· External Examiner for Interior Design MA, University of Brighton. 2013-17
· External Examiner for BA (Hons) Interior Design LASALLE College of Arts Singapore. 2011-14
Following a Masters in Computing and Design (UEL) I developed fascination for the role of the drawing in the design process. In 2018 I was awarded a PhD in Architectural Design from UCL. My thesis, ‘Thinking through Drawing’ is focused on the role of the drawing as an investigative tool in relation to three case study interiors. My current research focuses on environmental humanities.
Recent publications include: ‘Revisiting Sigmund Freud’s Diagrams of the Mind’ in Working with Diagrams (Studies in Social Analysis), Engelmann, Humphrey, Lynteris (ed.), (New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2022), ‘Within the Cimeras: Spaces of Imagination’ in Production Sites: Resituating the Culture of Architectural Knowledge, Sophia Psarra (ed.), (London: Routledge, 2018) An Anecdotal Guide to Sigmund Freud’s Desk (Freud Museum, London, 2015), 'The Art of Borrowing' in The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design (Bloomsbury, 2013), Basics Interiors 03: Drawing Out the Interior (AVA Academia, 2009)
I co-edited Volumes 8 (2017) -12 (2023) of the Taylor & Francis Journal 'Interiors Design Architecture Culture'. I edited Volume 13: Ecologies of the Interior (2024).
Recent conference presentations include: Presenting a paper ‘Travelling Companions: Material Culture and Time Travel’ at the Anticipation Conference at Lancaster University, 2024. Co-presenting a paper at ‘ARCH22: Enabling health, care and well-being through design research’ at TU Delft. Co-presenting an ‘New Ideas’ session at the Anticipation Conference at Oslo School of Architecture, 2019. (Fellow presenters include a cognitive scientist, philosopher, polar historian and a medievalist.) Presenting a paper ‘Shadow Space’ at the 2019 multidisciplinary conference Darkness, organised by Island Dynamics and held in 24 hour darkness in Svalbard, presenting a paper ‘Revisiting Sigmund Freud’s Diagrams of the Mind’ at the 2016 conference, Diagrammatic: Beyond Inscription? CRASSH Centre For Research In The Arts, Social Sciences And Humanities, University of Cambridge.
