Michael Pearce has been working in Australia, the UK, Zimbabwe and Zambia for 42 years. His experience covers a wide range, from building in remote parts of Central Africa to converting old buildings in North-East England and large-scale city developments in Harare and Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, an ecological exhibition centre in Belgium and the CH2 council office block in Melbourne, Australia.

Committed to appropriate ecological architecture, Michael Pearce has focused upon the development of buildings which have low maintenance, low capital and running costs and renewable energy systems of environmental control. The most recent work involves an approach to design in which the architecture expression is seen as a balance of the natural, the social and the economic environments in which the project is sited. He uses models from nature, copying natural processes which he studies through the new science of Biomimicry.

He was directly responsible for the design and supervision of Eastgate in Harare 1992 to 1996. This project has achieved world acclaim as a landmark building based on these principles. It was the largest commercial mixed development (31000m2) at that time, based on sustainable passive energy principles. It has performed as expected since it was occupied in April 1996.

In August 2001 he was invited to work in the City Projects Division of Melbourne City Council
( MCC) to become the Principle Design Architect for their new 12 000 sq meter offices in Little Collins Street called CH2. In this case he led the CH2 Design Team to produce Australia’s first Six Star ESD design and which has already achieved world status. This building is nearing completion and is due to be occupied in October 2006. Mick holds a Diploma of Architecture (Hons), Architectural Association, London 1962 RIBA, MIAZ

Michael Pearce
Architect—Biomimicry in Architecture: Does green
design change architecture?

Session Times
10:10–10:50 AM

Download CV
mick_pearce_cv.pdf