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Mike Fedeski

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Welsh School of Architecture

Campuses
Bute Building, Room 2.09, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB

Overview

Responsibilities

Director of Postgraduate Research Studies

MSc Admissions Tutor and Personal Tutor to MSc students

I am responsible for drawing up and administering the School Framework for postgraduate research studies. I am chair of the Research Student Committee and secretary to the Postgraduate Staff Student Panel, and I also sit on the School Research Committee and the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Committee.

External activities

My activities in the broader arena of the University include being Director of the Graduate School in Physical Sciences and Engineering, and sitting on the Graduate Development Committee, the Early Stage Researcher Steering Group, and the Unfair Practice Meeting.

Research

Research interests

I am an architect whose persistent interest in the interface between architecture and the physical sciences has steered me through changing currents of public enthusiasm through the years for energy conservation, bio-climatic design, and sustainability. The part played by climate in architectural and urban design has been my area of expertise. My focus has moved from individual buildings towards urban environments, and such issues as the integration of green planting in cities and the adaptation of urban design to climate change. I led the School's contribution to a consortium of research institutions and stakeholders investigating adaptive strategies for climate change in urban environments, funded by EPSRC and UKCIP, which reported under the banner BKCC (Building Knowledge for Climate Change).

More recently, I have become interested in the broader implications of environmental research and design in relation to "sensescapes", and in particular to urban soundscapes. I consider the soundscape to be a neglected aspect of urban design which calls for investigation at a fundamental level. I am investigating the concepts and issues that are pertinent to its understanding. This includes such activities as a review of past soundscape research, a programme of annotated sonic walks, and discussions with sonic artists and workers in other research disciplines who have an interest in environmental sound studies. I would welcome contact from other people who share this interest.

I am currently collaborating with the School of Psychology in a study of the effects of ambient sound in rooms on speech intelligibility.