Rate My Professor Katherine Ashe

Katherine Ashe is a Senior Lecturer in the Fremantle School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where she leads the Design Stream with Dr. Simon Pendal and Foreground Fremantle in partnership with the City of Fremantle. Prior to joining Notre Dame, she held the position of Senior Lecturer and Chair of Architectural Methods at Curtin University. As co-director of the award-winning architectural practice vittinoAshe, co-founded with Marco Vittino, Ashe has been engaged in teaching, practice, and study of architecture in Western Australia since 1996. Her work emphasizes diverse approaches to architectural design, fostering creative diversity through institutional relationships, practice collaborations, research, and education. Drawing from her childhood in remote arid regions of Australia, she collaborates with Traditional Owners to integrate Traditional Knowledge into architectural and academic practices. Her design studios cultivate individual generative processes that produce place- and history-embedded architectural propositions. The vittinoAshe studio specializes in high-quality architecture across project scales, exploring themes such as ageing in place, downsizing, and heritage fabrics.

Ashe's scholarly contributions include the book chapter 'Re-defining the Edge' with R. Doney (2010), and articles in The Architect such as 'Tailor made: Adelaide Terrace' (2016), 'In real time: powerful partnerships' with S. Pendal (2017), and 'Packed Flat' with M. Vittino (2009). Her creative portfolio features projects like Chelmsford Road Residence (2019), Commercial Road Garden (2020), and the Flood | Light installation for the Fremantle Biennale (2019) with Simon Pendal. She has curated exhibitions including 'Flood Light' at the Fremantle Biennale (2019) and presented keynotes such as 'On Collaboration' at the AIA Symposium (2019). Her practice has earned accolades including the AIA Peter Commendation for Chelmsford Road (2019), AIA Peter Overman Award and national shortlist for Orange Avenue (2018), Houses Awards commendations and shortlists for Palmerston Street and Orange Avenue (2018), AIA Iwan Iwanoff Awards for Hope Street (2011) and Adelaide Terrace (2016), and the AIA Emerging Architect Prize for Western Australia (2018). A registered architect (No. 3063) and A+ member of the Australian Institute of Architects, she has chaired juries for the Iwan Iwanoff Award (2018, 2020).