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Digital archives are not inert repositories—they are fragile, often unstable performances of memory. In architecture, what we once preserved through drawing is now scattered across proprietary file formats, obsolete software, and cloud storage infrastructures optimised for convenience, not continuity. My research investigates how emulation—the digital mimicry of past computing environments—can serve as a critical method for accessing, understanding, and resisting the structural vulnerabilities of our digital design heritage.

This work is currently supported through two ARC LIEF grants: LE220100057 The Australian Emulation Network: Born Digital Cultural Collections Access, and LE250100051 The Australian Emulation Network Phase 2 – Extending the Reach. I am also the University of Melbourne node leader on the proposed ARC Centre of Excellence (CE260100027) Born Digital Cultural Heritage, where I lead research into architectural digital archives.

Emulation is not about nostalgia; it is a tool of resistance. It enables access to unreadable CAD files, defunct plug-ins, and projects stranded within subscription-only ecosystems. Through interdisciplinary methods spanning architecture, archival theory, and platform studies, my work explores how emulation might not only restore lost data but expose the cultural and technical conditions that endangered it in the first place.

This approach positions the archive as both a technical system and a site of power. Whether working on the Greg Burgess archive, partnering with GLAM institutions, or examining legacy workflows in Australian architectural practice, I focus on what disappears, who controls disappearance, and how designers might reclaim agency over their digital pasts—before memory is overwritten by the next software update.

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Blog

Obsolescence Isn’t an Accident — It’s a Business Model

Selected Articles & Publications

• “Emulating the Past, Envisioning the Future: A Study of CAD File Preservation in Australian Architectural Practices”
  ARCOM Conference Proceedings (2024)
  Read here
• “The Border of Lost and Found: The Role of Emulation in Accessing Obsolete Digital Works”
  Border Control Symposium, Canterbury (2024)
• “Reconstructing the Unbuilt Designs of Glenn Murcutt”
  ArchitectureAU (2024)
  Read here