Rate My Professor Linda Pearce

Dr. Linda Pearce is a registered architect serving as Lecturer in Interior Architecture at the School of Architecture and Built Environment, College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities, Adelaide University. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Adelaide (1983-1988), a Master of Business Administration from the University of Warwick (1998-1999), a Bachelor of Architecture (Honours) from the University of Adelaide (2004-2006), and a PhD from the University of Adelaide (2011-2016) with the thesis titled "How primary schools really work: Architecture, use and perspectives." Her diverse background in engineering, business, and architecture informs her interdisciplinary approach to research and teaching. Previously trained as a telecommunications systems engineer with experience in business leadership and management consultancy, Pearce brings a systems worldview to her work in built environment design.

Pearce specializes in Design Futuring, integrating design and foresight methods for research-informed speculative designs in placemaking, adaptive reuse, and briefing development. She views built environment design as a social practice, employing systems thinking, scenario planning, and mixed methods—including architectural design research, data science, social science, and post-occupancy evaluation—to advocate for inclusive human environments amid complex social, economic, and natural challenges. Key research areas encompass indoor environment quality, sustainable architecture, climate change mitigation and adaptation, human environments design, and learning/working spaces. Notable publications include "Operationalising Social Practices Theory for Architecture and Interior Design: A Novel Sensemaking Framework for Inclusive Spatialisation in Resource-Constrained Projects" (Architecture, 2026), "Translating across disciplines: on coding interior architecture theory to advance complex indoor environment quality" (Buildings, 2018), "Sensory pleasure of interiority: finding transdisciplinary research language for complex indoor environment quality" (2017), and contributions to conferences on school sustainability and energy performance (2016, 2006). She teaches in the Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours) program, covering research studies and studios such as ARCH 4011 Interior Architecture Studio 7: Atmospheres. Pearce also engages in interdisciplinary collaborations and consultations on human environment design.