Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre

The Ian Buchan Fell Research Centre is a full time research facility established within the Faculty of Architecture of The University of Sydney, and attached to the Department of Architecture. It operates in areas common to all three departments of the faculty: Architecture, Architectural Science and Town and Planning. The general subject of interest is Housing and its related issues and problems.

Ian Buchan Fell was a student of The University of Sydney who graduated in Architecture in 1929. When he died in 1961, he left the income from his estate to The University of Sydney for the promotion and encouragement of education and research on housing.

In December 1963, The University of Sydney received official notification from the Trustees of Ian Buchan Fell's Estate that income from the Estate had been bequeathed to the University's Architecture faculty to fund research primarily focusing on housing. On the 3^rd of February 1964, the Senate accepted the bequest.

On the 10^th of May 1965, Professor Denis Winston, then Dean of Architecture at The University of Sydney, set out a plan for a joint study to be carried out by the three departments within the architecture faculty, focusing on problems relating to residential housing. Professor Winston's proposal was entitled ‘Fell Research Project for Group Housing', and suggested 2 senior researchers were needed as staff for two years study, estimated at a cost of about £6000. The Trustees of Ian Buchan Fell's estate gave their approval and released £6000 from the estate for the project to go ahead.

In March 1966, a committee was set up known as the Ian Buchan Fell Committee, or the Ian Buchan Fell Research Unit. Members included trustees of Ian Buchan Fell's estate, heads of the three departments in the Faculty of Architecture and a number of co-opted members. The first official committee meeting was held and the British architect Mr Barrie Dewhurst was appointed as Project Director, and Walter Bunning as Chairman.

On the 22^nd November 1966, the Ian Buchan Fell Committee held a luncheon to make a public announcement of the appointment of Mr Barrie Dewhurst as Project Director of the two year joint group housing research project.

In May 1967, Barrie Dewhurst accepted an invitation to visit the USA to research about USA housing. Mr N. J. Edwards was appointed as Acting Project Director, during Mr Barrie Dewhurst's three month absence, his role being extended after Dewhurst suffers injuries from a car accident in Italy in August 1967.
On the 30^th of August 1967, Barrie Dewhurst resigned as Project Director, and by January 1968, the Ian Buchan Fell Committee elected Mr R. J. King as new Project Director.

Between the years 1968 to 1973, the Ian Buchan Fell Committee Research Project on Housing published various reports, research papers, collected papers. By December 1973, R. J. King's appointment as Honorary Director came to an end and the responsibilities of the project director were handed to both Professor R. N. Johnson and Professor Ross Thorne.

Professor Thorne remained in the role of Director for ten years, and by 1984 the research unit was known as The Ian Buchan Fell Research Centre or the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre and continues to be known by that name. Professor Thorne was responsible for the publication of various important research papers related to housing for Aboriginal, low-income and public housing tenants. Professor Ross Thorne was succeeded by Associate Professor J. Lea as Director, who reinforced Thorne's direction of research and contributed his own research papers on housing in remote mining communities, and for Aboriginal and Islander people.

The Ian Buchan Fell Research Centre continues to be a centre within the Faculty of Architecture, for postgraduate research primarily related to the complex interactions between people, their housing and aspects of the built environment.