First doctorate

Warat Lacharoje, a postgraduate student from Thailand, was recently awarded the first ever doctorate from the School of Architecture, DJCAD.

The examination jury was convened by Professor Simon Unwin, external examiner Professor Pinraj Khanjanusthiti and Jeanette Paul from DJCAD. Michael Spens, Reader in Architecture, has been Warat's supervisor since October 2002.

The subject of the PhD thesis was, 'Traditional Spatial Denomination in Thai Architecture' - an extremely contemporary theme. Warat chose to explore and define new criteria for sustaining identity, hierarchy and generic development in the 21st century emergent regional city. He drew on developmental patterns in both Western and Asian cities to reach conclusions which will be important for future development in Thailand.

It is hoped that new exchanges between DJCAD and Asian countries, including Thailand, can now be established.

Although most graduates from the School of Architecture proceed to become qualified architects, Warat will be the first postgraduate to be awarded his PhD directly from the School of Architecture. He intends to take up a teaching/research appointment in Thailand when he returns.