Sarah Lynn Rees facts for kids

Sarah Lynn Rees is a proud Palawa woman from Tasmania. Her family comes from the Plangermaireener and Trawlwoolway people. Sarah is an architect, a teacher, and a writer who lives in Melbourne. She works hard to make sure that Indigenous voices and ideas are included in how we design buildings and cities.

Sarah's School Journey

Sarah Lynn Rees started studying architecture at the University of Melbourne. She was a brilliant student, winning the Dean's Honour Award three times! She finished her degree with top marks. After that, Sarah went to the University of Cambridge in England. She studied how to design buildings and cities, focusing on homes for Indigenous communities in remote parts of Australia.

Her Work as an Architect

Sarah has worked as an architect in both Melbourne and London. Today, she leads the Indigenous Advisory, Architecture and Design services at a company called Jackson Clements Burrows (JCB) in Melbourne. She helps make sure that new buildings and designs respect and include Indigenous cultures.

Sarah also teaches architecture at Monash University. She researches how architects can work better with Traditional Owners and Indigenous communities. This means involving them in every step of a building project, from the first ideas to the final design. Sarah also helps choose articles for Architecture Australia magazine that focus on Indigenous architecture and design.

Some of her writings include:

• "Indigenizing practice: To award, or not to award?" in Architecture Australia (November 2020)
• "Blakitecture: Beyond acknowledgement and into action" in Architecture Australia (March 2020)
• “Our cities reflect the denial of history. Blak design aims to change that” in Guardian Australia (July 2018)

Speaking Up for Indigenous Design

Sarah is very active in talking about architecture and how our cities are built. She writes, speaks, and organizes events to share her ideas. Her main goal is to bring Indigenous perspectives into how we design our surroundings.

She has given many important talks, including:

• At the Nā Te Kore From the Void forum in Christchurch, New Zealand (2018)
• At the Australian Institute of Architects National Conference (2019)

Some of her public talks and interviews include:

• “BLAKitecture sheds light on Traditional Owner influences on modern design and architecture” (November 2020)
• “Rights and Reclamations” with Dillon Kombumerri and Carroll Go-Sam (March 2020)
• “Gendered Indigeneity”, a chat with Carroll Go-Sam (November 2019)

Sarah also organizes many public events. These events help more people learn about Indigenous design and help Indigenous design professionals get noticed. Since 2017, she has been a main advisor for the BLAKitecture series at Melbourne’s MPavilion. This yearly program makes sure that Indigenous voices are at the center of discussions about architecture and the future of our built spaces.

Sarah also helps many organizations. She is a director at Parlour: women, equity, architecture, which works for fairness in architecture. She is also part of the Victorian Design Review Panel for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect. Sarah is very involved with the Australian Institute of Architects, where she helps lead the First Nations Advisory Working Group.