Research
Dr Malathouni's research has long focused on associations between human nature and space. For her doctoral research, she explored aspects of mathematical and architectural space as part of the so-called "New Geometries", and specifically "the fourth dimension of space", that included connections to experimental psychology and implications for our understanding of human perception and spirituality. At present, these research interests have extended to further associations between human development, mental health and space, including conceptions of "social space". She currently researches historical perspectives of 20th-century healthcare architecture and is writing a book on "Public Mental Health Facilities in Post-War England" (Routledge), supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB), and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
Dr Malathouni leads the Liverpool School of Architecture's "Health" Research Cluster. She is also a member of the Management Committee (UK Representative) for the EU COST Action 22159: "CA22159 - National, International and Transnational Histories of Healthcare, 1850-2000 (EuroHealthHist)" (09/2023-09/2027); Co-Lead of the Action's Working Group 5 "Heritage and Public Engagement"; and also initiated and is leading the cross-Action Special Interest Group on "Healthcare Architecture and Spaces".
Earlier work includes "Saving Brutalist icon Preston Bus Station", which was submitted as one of the Liverpool School of Architecture's REF2021 Impact Case Studies (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/research/research-themes/heritage/tales-from-the-square/).
Historical perspectives of 20th-century healthcare architecture
Dr Malathouni currently researches historical perspectives of 20th-century healthcare architecture. She writes a book on 'Public Mental Health Facilities in Post-War Britain (1948-1973)' (Routledge), and welcomes PhD applications that aim to explore the interrelation between architecture, health, and wellbeing from a historical perspective.
20th-century architectural heritage
Impact Case Study: "Saving Preston Bus Station and enhancing understanding of Brutalism" Dr Malathouni's research in architectural heritage stems from earlier as Conservation Advisor at The Twentieth Century Society. The impact of her research in this area is evidenced by the listing of Preston Bus Station, Lancashire, in September 2013, which also led to the "Save Preston Bus Station" campaign winning the Heritage Alliance Heroes Award 2014. An account of the 15-year listing saga has been published in 'Fabrications, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand': "Preston Bus Station: architectural history, politics and democracy in a post-World War II designation saga" (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10331867.2018.1443568).
Her current research on 20th-century medical architecture (especially 20th-century mental healthcare facilities) also explores the complex implications of its heritage potential. Her session "Crossing the Borders between Mental Health and Mental Illness: Spatial Practices and Related Heritage from 1900" was accepted at the 4th Biennial Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies: Heritage Across Borders (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 1-6 September 2018).
20th-century Architectural History & Theory: Claude Fayette Bragdon (1866-1946); "space"
Dr Malathouni's doctoral research in 20th-century architectural history and theory fell within the broad field of "spatial thinking" investigations, with a particular focus on the complex cross-disciplinary origins and associations of the notion of "space", especially as an intermediary between the human subject and the external world. Her PhD thesis focused on the theoretical work of the American architect Claude F. Bragdon (1866-1946) and was funded by a number of funding bodies, including The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (Ramsden Bursary, 2004) and The Society of Architectural Historians, USA (Scott Opler Emerging Scholar Fellowship, 2014). Her thesis was nominated for the RIBA President’s Awards for Research 2011 (for Outstanding PhD Thesis) and she collaborated with American scholars in the production of the catalogue Claude Bragdon and The Beautiful Necessity, to which she contributed the opening chapter. Edited by Eugenia V. Ellis and Andrea G. Reithmayr (Rochester, NY: Cary Graphic Arts Press, RIT, 2010) the publication was ‘Division One winner’ of the 2011 Leab Exhibition Awards (USA). Further papers have been published in Architecture and the Unconscious (ed. John Hendrix and Lorens Holm; Routledge, 2016), Architectural Theory Review (2016), and The Journal of Architecture (2013), and From Models to Drawings: On Representation in Architecture (ed. Marco Frascari, Jonathan Hale, Bradley Starkey; Routledge, 2007).