Dr Douglas Brown

Dr Douglas Brown’s PhD commenced with the Bushfire CRC and was completed in 2018, exploring householders’ perceptions of bushfire risk, and whether perceptions change when different building materials or design and architectural features are applied. His research investigated if these factors increase or decrease risk perception, or whether other factors, such as proximity to bushland, change the perception of fire risk. Douglas examined which parts of their house residents might consider safer and most vulnerable during a bushfire and why. To investigate how particular aspects of the construction of a house influences residents’ expectation of its performance during a bushfire, residents were asked which architecture/construction/design attributes they might expect to improve the performance of a house during a bushfire.

Douglas gave two presentations on bushfire bunker design consideration and incorporating landscape design to improve bushfire performance in 2020 at the Australian Bushfire Building Conference in the Blue Mountains. He also presented at a seminar held by the Australian Institute of Architects in Sydney in February 2021 on what bushfires mean for buildings in terms of embers, radiant heat, flame contact and erratic winds. Douglas is a regular contributor to The Conversation and runs his own consulting architecture firm, Bushfire Architecture: Research and Consulting.