ABSTRACT
Paul Pholeros was trained as an architect at the University of Sydney and, since 1984, he has directed a private architectural practice working on urban, rural and remote area projects throughout Australia and internationally. He is a former director of Emergency Architects Australia and a partner of Healthabitat, along with a medical doctor and an anthropologist/public health officer. For over twenty-five years Healthabitat has worked to improve the health of Aboriginal people, particularly children, by making healthier living environments in many remote and, more recently, rural and suburban areas of Australia and in Nepal and some major cities in the USA. In 2007 Paul received an Order of Australia for services to architecture, Indigenous housing and health. The interviews and supporting essays show built environment professionals collaborating with post-disaster communities as facilitators, collaborators and negotiators of land, space and shelter, rather than as 'save the world' modernists, as often portrayed in the design media.
