Dr Rowan Gower

Dr. Rowan Gower is a Lecturer in the School of Business at UNSW Canberra. He holds a PhD in Architectural History from UNSW (2020), an MSc in Architectural Conservation from the University of Edinburgh (2015), and a BSc in Environmental Design (Architecture) from The University of Canberra (2001). His published research explores the relationship between architecture, politics and project management in the development and delivery of Australian diplomatic buildings in the Asian region during the Cold War period.  It focuses on both the representational role that architecture can play in a foreign context and how the delivery and control of these projects was impacted by personal motivations, political agendas and world politics when Australia was emerging on the world stage as a middle power.  His key peer-reviewed publications appear in Fabrications: 'At the Nexus of Architecture and Bureaucracy: The Role of the Commonwealth Department of Works in Designing and Constructing Australia’s Chancery Building in Japan' (2025, vol. 35, pp. 1-24) and 'From Colonial Revival to Architectural Regionalism: Representational Alteration in the Case of Australia’s Head of Mission Residence in New Delhi,' co-authored with Paul Hogben (2021, vol. 31, pp. 235-259). He has also presented at Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) conferences, with papers including 'Exporting Australian Architectural "Expertise" as a Matter of Policy' (2019, in Distance Looks Back: Proceedings of the 36th SAHANZ Conference, pp. 196-204) and 'Image Building: A Study of Australia's Domestic and Foreign Policy in Relation to Embassy Architecture' (2017, in Quotation: What does History have in store for Architecture today?). These contributions underscore his work at the intersection of architecture, policy, bureaucracy and project management.