Rate My Professor Philip Oldfield

Professor Philip Oldfield is Head of School at UNSW Built Environment and Professor of Architecture in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales. He holds a PhD in Architectural Science, a Diploma in Architecture with Distinction, and a Bachelor of Architecture with First Class Honours. His research examines sustainable building design to meet societal needs through housing, buildings, and infrastructure while minimizing environmental impact to address climate change and net zero goals. Key areas include embodied carbon reduction, tall building architecture, high-density housing, adaptive reuse, circular design, and life cycle assessment of environmental impacts. Oldfield has led over $800,000 in funded interdisciplinary projects from the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources, CRC for Low Carbon Living, and others, contributing to national embodied carbon methodologies and industry guidance for Australian commercial buildings.

Oldfield authored The Sustainable Tall Building: A Design Primer (2019) and co-authored Delivering on the Climate Emergency: Towards a Net Zero Carbon Built Environment (2023). Selected publications include 'Towards net-zero embodied carbon: Investigating the potential for ambitious embodied carbon reductions in Australian office buildings' (2024, Sustainable Cities and Society), 'Vertical extensions: Assessing existing buildings’ capacity for additional floors, and their embodied carbon impacts' (2026, Journal of Cleaner Production), and 'Up on the roof: a review of design, construction, and technology trends in vertical extensions' (2023, Architectural Science Review). He serves as Section Editor for Embodied Energy and Carbon on the Editorial Advisory Board of Energy and Buildings and is a member of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Advisory Group. His honors include the UNSW Scientia Education Fellowship (2017-2021), British Science Association Media Fellowship (2015), and Honorary Fellowship from the Australian Institute of Architects. Oldfield writes for The New York Times, The Guardian, Dezeen, and Architecture Australia, advancing sustainable and equitable built environments.