Amber
Patterson-Ooi
I am a cultural anthropologist whose research interests include anthropological approaches to the built environment, landscape, material culture, and narrative.I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology), a Master of Arts by Research (Anthropology), and a Postgraduate Diploma in Production (Cultural Event Management).I am currently a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Design and Society at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Current research
Architects and landscape architects are increasingly required to address concerns about rising seas, managed retreat, resilient infrastructure, ecological restoration, more-than-human habitats, and hybrid land-water environments. At the same time, coastal and riverine territories are increasingly framed as sites of climate uncertainty, ecological transformation, and socio-political tensions. While scholars have extensively studied coastal governance, adaptation strategies, and environmental change, less attention has been paid to the role of design practice itself in producing knowledge and built outcomes regarding coastal futures. As such, we know relatively little about how these ideas are assembled within design studios before they manifest as plans, diagrams, or built projects.This research project addresses that gap through an ethnography of design practice. Through long-term ethnographic fieldwork across Australian and international architectural practices, the research will examine how placemaking at the confluence of land and water is assembled through the relationships, processes, and networks that shape design practice.The research will contribute to interdisciplinary discourses on the built environment, architectural anthropology, and placemaking studies by investigating how relations between land, water, human, and more-than-human worlds are actively produced within design practice before becoming material interventions in landscapes.
Works
Keynote Speaker:
Tbilisi Architecture Forum, September 2026.
Thinking With Water. *Conference Presentation:
Y-Conference, Yerevan, May 2026.
Inter-Surfacing. *Master's Thesis:
Love, Grief, and Materiality: Interior Narratives and the Making of Home in Singapore, Master of Arts by Research (Anthropology), La Trobe University 2026. *Journal Article:
Patterson-Ooi, A., & Araujo, N. (2022). Beyond Needle and Thread: Communicating and Contesting Identity in Haute Couture. M/C Journal, 25(4). Read here*Excerpts available upon request.