Rate My Professor Sam Spurr

Spurr's research centers on Mining Ideology and Coal Capitalism, exploring architecture's agency in revealing Anthropocene complexities through feminist theories of care, collective political subjectivity, ecological systems, and indigenous cosmologies within Australia's Country context. She has advocated for architectural agency and disciplinary evolution, notably co-curating the 2016 Australian Institute of Architects National Conference How Soon is Now? with Ben Hewett and Cameron Bruhn. As co-founder of the collective group N, she has driven exhibitions, symposia, studios, and projects examining conversation's influence on art, architecture, and design. Her fields encompass architecture design, theory, design research, extraction and mining, integrated strategic design, new materialist philosophy, and performance theory. Notable publications include the journal article "Architecture for Complexity: Speculative Design as Enabler of Engagement in Co-Designing Post-Mining Futures in the Hunter Valley" (2024, Sustainability, with S. Carrasco), the creative work Fossil Fables (2023, with E. Kairuz), the chapter "OPEN-CUT (DATA) MINING: Multi-scalar complexity and critical spatial practices" (2020, with E. Kairuz), and "After the event: Speculative projects in the aftermath" (2010, Architectural Design). In 2024, Fossil Fables earned a Gold Medal at the Australian Good Design Awards.