ProfessorMirjana Lozanovska

MIGRATION and ARCHITECTURE

I lead my discipline through original research and scholarship contributing to research on migration, culture and identity. Early seminal essays (1997 Princeton Architectural Press; 2002 Space and Culture; 2004 Routledge Architext Series) pioneered a research field linking migration to architecture, critical to understanding new forms of global society. A strong publication record (over 175) shapes it, influencing forefront theories. The original contribution of this research i) establishes two (and more) sites of migration in relation to place; ii) generates critical socio-spatial methodologies; and iii) develops creative ‘design’ tools for a deeper understanding of the relationship between human subjects and the built environment. Participation of hard-to-access immigrants (including elderly), supported by partnerships with Migrant Resource Centres, facilitates innovative multi-linguistic methods alongside ethnographic, archival and architectural field work methods. Extending to an ethics of care in research, experimental practices are deployed and documented by a professional film crew, to enhance the dignity of participants as holders of knowledge. 

Selected Research Outputs

• Monograph Migrant Housing: Architecture, Dwelling, Migration (Routledge, 2019). A core reference in architecture and interdisciplinary research. Reviews in primary academic architecture history and theory journals (JSAH, TDSR, ABE), and major interdisciplinary journals (Journal of Intercultural Studies, Space and Culture, Migration and Society) highlight original conceptualisation of two sides of migration and ground-breaking theoretical framing. Academic significance reinforced with recommendation in CHOICE, American Library Association.
• Editor, Ethno-Architecture and the Politics of Migration (Architext Series/Routledge 2016). With key introduction and essays by forefront authors, this book directed international discourse on migration and architecture. It is held in major libraries in the USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Asia, South Africa and Australia.
• Pieris, A., Lozanovska, M., Dellios, A., Beynon, D., & Saniga, A. (2024). Immigrant Industry: Building Postwar Australia, Berghahn, ISBN  978-1-80539-456-3 I co-authored the Introduction, led Chapter 1 (developing the theoretical framing), authored Chapter 4 (foregrounding labour in the Port Kembla Steelworks), and co-authored the conclusion (reframing our heritage discourse).
• Lozanovska (guest ed) (2025) Special Issue, “Breaking Open the Archives’ (Landscape Research 50/7 2025) Seven co-authored papers evolve from a national academic workshop (Museo Italiano, March 2022). Interdisciplinary teams across anthropology, museum and cultural studies, architectural history and theory critically reviewed exhibition Immigrant Networks.
•  Lozanovska, M. (2023), “Twin House: Emigrant and immigrant architectures of transnational economies,” in Margit Fauser and Xóchitl Bada (eds) The Routledge International Handbook of Transnational Studies, London: Routledge, pp. 273-293 (leading Chapter in Urbanism section)
• Lozanovska, M. (1997), Abjection and Architecture: the migrant house in multicultural Australia, in Nalbantoğlu, Gülsüm Baydar & Wong Chong, Thai (eds), Postcolonial Spaces, Princeton University Press: New York; pp. 101- 130. (foundational essay on migrant housing)
• Lozanovska, M. (2002), Architectural Frontier/Spatial Story: the problematic of representing the everyday, Space and Culture: International Journal of Social Spaces, 5 (2), April, pp.140-151. (generated socio-spatial methodology in architecture)

Expanding the scope to transnational historiography of architecture and the city, examination of the post-earthquake reconstruction of Skopje (Macedonia), and the collaboration of Kenzo Tange with local architects contributes to new scholarship on global socialism.-  Lozanovska, M. (2012), Kenzo Tange’s forgotten Master Plan for the reconstruction of Skopje, Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand, 22/2: 141–163, doi:10.1080/10331867.2012.733159 (most downloaded article in Fabrications 2012-2019)

Mirjana is Director of the Architecture Vacancy Lab. In collaboration with nine academic staff and their HDR students, mentoring EMCR, this lab advances critical and creative research in architecture with highlights comprising two of the school’s ARC projects, “Industry and Architecture: immigrant contribution to nation-building 1945-1979” (CI Lozanovska), and ARC SRI “The Australian Mosque Today: Architectural Collaboration” (CI Rashid); four key monographs; and major original creative works and exhibitions. Mirjana is dedicated to architectural pedagogy with thirty years of expertise teaching in design and history/theory. In recent years she has developed stronger research-teaching pathways attracting HDR students in architecture.

https://architecturevacancylab.deakin.edu.au

Interwoven with traditional research scholarship Mirjana leads the VacantGeelong series of collaborative projects relating industrial landscape and past immigrant communities of Geelong, Victoria (with partners and funding Creative Victoria, City of Greater Geelong, National Wool Museum). Major projects include installation, VACANTCity – 1000 year BackForward (2021), Oro (2020), Industry Tracks (2017). My award-winning Vacant Geelong program exemplifies design-led research excellence and university-industry collaboration, supported by Creative Victoria, the City of Greater Geelong, and the National Wool Museum. A cross-faculty research team (SEBE & Arts) works in collaboration with artists (acclaimed, Indigenous, emerging) engaging the cultural and social memories of the vibrant communities these vacant sites embody, Vacant Geelong creates original works and community-based creative workshops, curates exhibitions, and convenes symposia to advance public understanding of industrial heritage, migrant histories, and urban futures of the neglected industrial architecture and landscapes. The publication, Contested Architectural Pasts and Futures of a regional city, Geelong, Australia (eds. Lozanovska & de Jong, 2025) collates academic research, promoting the school’s expertise, foundational to the futures of Geelong as UNESCO City of Design. Vacant Geelong positions Deakin at the forefront of creative research nationally and highlights my leadership in the cross-fertilisation between research and teaching.

NTR for Vacant Geelong Projects (selected):

2021     VACANTCity – 1000 years BackForward. Site Activation through art programme with Indigenous artists. (Lozanovska, Bishop, Wilson. supported by CoGG Arts Industry Commission)

2021     Psycho-Geography model of Geelong. Original work/Site Activation Centrepoint Arcade. Counter-cartography series rewriting the historical chronology of colonisation (Lozanovska with assistance Julie Pham, Beverlea Low).

2019     SENSORY PORTALS, modulor design to serve ‘artistic installations’ for the Council of Greater Geelong (Lozanovska, Seaton, Walters; supported by CoGG).

2019     ‘ORO’ original creative work, installation. Geelong After Dark (Lozanovska, Wilson, Nakai Kidd; supported by CoGG).

2017     Iconic Industry (National Wool Museum, Geelong, August to October 2017. (Lozanovska, Fullaondo, Bishop, Beynon, Wilson; Supported by Creative Victoria, NWM, catalogue, > 2500 visitors).

_{https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/ab/vacantgeelong/}