Sarah Lynn Rees

Rees began her architectural studies at the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne.{{Cite web|last=Rothenbury|first=Camryn|date=2018-05-08|title=Sarah Lynn Rees|url=https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/alumni/alumni-profiles/sarah-lynn-rees|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Melbourne School of Design|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Stanton|first=Kate|title=Design innovator: Sarah Lynn Rees {{!}} 3010|url=https://mag.alumni.unimelb.edu.au/design-innovator-sarah-lynn-rees/|access-date=2021-03-06|language=en-US}} She was the recipient of the Dean's Honour Award for three years in a row and graduated with First Class Honours. Rees then undertook a MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Cambridge, as a Charlie Perkins scholar.{{Cite web|title=Sarah Lynn Rees|url=http://www.perkinstrust.com.au/sarah-lynn-rees.html|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Charlie Perkins Scholarship Trust|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2013-05-30|title=Young scholars head to England|url=https://deadlyvibe.com.au/2013/05/young-scholars-head-to-england/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Deadly Vibe|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Indigenous students head to Oxford, Cambridge|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/indigenous-students-head-to-oxford-cambridge|access-date=2021-03-06|website=SBS News|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=British High Commissioner announces 2013 Charlie Perkins Scholars|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-high-commissioner-announces-2013-charlie-perkins-scholars-2|access-date=2021-03-06|website=GOV.UK|language=en}} Her thesis was on Indigenous housing in remote Australian communities.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2018-05-22|title=Sarah Lynn Rees|url=https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/indigenous-design-symposium/speakers/sarah-lynn-rees|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Melbourne School of Design|language=en}}

Rees has practiced architecture in Melbourne and London and currently heads the Indigenous Advisory, Architecture and Design services at Jackson Clements Burrows (JCB) in Melbourne.{{Cite web|title=People {{!}} Jackson Clements Burrows|url=https://jcba.com.au/on-country/on-country-people|access-date=2021-03-06|website=jcba.com.au}} She began her practice career as a student at JCB and worked at aLL Design, the London-based practice of Will Alsop, following her studies at the University of Cambridge. In 2020 Rees was part of a design team shortlisted in the national design competition for the Pier Pavilion at Barangaroo (MUIR Architecture, Openwork, Sarah Lynn Rees with Scott Carver and WSP).{{Cite web|date=December 2020|title=Pier Pavilion Design Competition Finalists|url=https://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/media/2736/bar002-pier-pavilion-finalist-factsheet-dec-2020_v5.pdf|website=Infrastructure NSW}}

Rees combines her work in practice with education and scholarly work and is a lecturer in architecture at Monash University.{{Cite web|title=Sarah Lynn Rees appointed fractional lecturer at Monash|url=https://architectureau.com/articles/sarah-lynn-rees-appointed-fractional-lecturer-at-monash/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=ArchitectureAU|language=en}} Her research involves developing resources for built environment practitioners to improve collaborative engagement processes with Traditional Owners and Indigenous communities. This covers all stages of architectural activity, from briefing and procurement, to design processes, to publication and awards. Rees is also curating a series of articles for Architecture Australia on Indigenous architecture and design.{{Cite web|title=Indigenizing practice: To award, or not to award?|url=https://architectureau.com/articles/indigenizing-practice-to-award-or-not-to-award/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=ArchitectureAU|language=en}}

Selected essays and publications include:

• "Indigenizing practice: To award, or not to award?", Architecture Australia (November 2020){{Cite web|last=Rees|first=Sarah Lyn|date=November 2020|title=Indigenizing practice: To award, or not to award?|url=https://architectureau.com/articles/indigenizing-practice-to-award-or-not-to-award/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=ArchitectureAU|language=en}}
• "Blakitecture: Beyond acknowledgement and into action" Architecture Australia (March 2020){{Cite web|last=Rees|first=Sarah Lynn|date=March 2020|title=Blakitecture: Beyond acknowledgement and into action|url=https://architectureau.com/articles/blakitecture-beyond-acknowledgement-and-into-action/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=ArchitectureAU|language=en}}
• “Our cities reflect the denial of history. Blak design aims to change that” Guardian Australia (July 2018)
• Re-valuing Heritage, special issue of Architect Victoria (Summer 2020), edited by Jack Mitchell and Sarah Lynn Rees{{Cite journal|year=2020|editor-last=Rees|editor-first=Sarah Lynn|editor2-last=Mitchell|editor2-first=Jack|title=Revaluing Heritage|url=https://issuu.com/architecture-chapter/docs/architectvictoria_summer_2020|journal=Architect Victoria|location=Melbourne|volume=Summer 2020}}

Rees is highly active in public discussions of architecture and the built environment, as a writer, speaker and convenor. This extends and is integrated with her research and practice work focusses on Indigenising the built environment. In 2018 Rees spoke at Nā Te Kore From the Void, the 2nd Biennial International Indigenous Design Forum in Christchurch, New Zealand.{{Cite web|title=Nā Te Kore|url=https://www.natekore2018.com/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Nā Te Kore|language=en-US}} In 2019, she gave an invited address to Collective Agency, the 2019 Australian Institute of Architects National Conference.{{Cite web|last1=Hooper|first1=Haley|last2=Filippi|first2=Camille|date=2019|title=The architect/the advocate: The role of advocacy and influence in architecture and design|url=https://architecturenow.co.nz/articles/the-architectthe-advocate/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Architecture Now|language=en-AU}}{{Cite web|title=This is Public: Collective Agency|url=https://www.openhousemelbourne.org/on-demand/this-is-public-collective-agency/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Open House Melbourne|language=en-AU}}{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Michael|date=22 June 2019|title=2019 National Conference Day 1|url=http://www.theredandblackarchitect.com/2019-national-conference-day-1/|access-date=2021-03-06|language=en-US}}

Public talks, presentations and interviews include:

• “BLAKitecture sheds light on Traditional Owner influences on modern design and architecture” interview on Connection Matters Radio November 2020{{Cite web|date=2020-11-12|title=BLAKitecture sheds light on Traditional Owner influences on modern design and architecture|url=https://connectionmatters.net.au/2020/11/12/9332/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Connection Matters Radio|language=en-AU}}
• “Rights and Reclamations” AA Roundtable with Dillon Kombumerri and Carroll Go-Sam, Asia Pacific Architecture Festival, March 2020{{Cite web|title=AA Roundtable - 11.03.20 - Design Speaks. An Architecture Media Program.|url=https://designspeaks.com.au/events/2020/03/11/aa-roundtable|access-date=2021-03-06|website=designspeaks.com.au}}{{Cite web|last1=Go-Sam|first1=Carroll|author-link=Carroll Go-Sam|last2=Kombumerri|first2=Dillon|date=June 2020|title=Addressing Indigenous heritage through design|url=https://architectureau.com/articles/addressing-indigenous-heritage-through-design/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=ArchitectureAU|language=en}}
• “Gendered Indigeneity”, a conversation with Carroll Go-Sam, Transformations: Action on Equity, University of Melbourne, November 2019{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-11-11|title=Transformations: Action on Equity Symposium|url=https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/transformations|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Melbourne School of Design|language=en}}{{Cite web|last1=Rees|first1=Sarah Lynn|last2=Go-Sam|first2=Carroll|author-link2=Carroll Go-Sam|date=2021-03-04|title=Gendered Indigeneity|url=https://archiparlour.org/gendered-indigeneity/|access-date=2021-03-07|website=Parlour|language=en-AU}}
• “Working Between Cultures”, panel discussion with Shaneen Fantin and Elisapeta Heta, Melbourne Design Week, March 2019{{Cite web|date=2019-03-13|title=Working between cultures|url=https://archiparlour.org/working-between-cultures/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Parlour|language=en-AU}}
• “Designing for Country’, panel discussion with Elisapeta Heta, Kyle Vander Kuyp and Nick Pearson, Hassell, March 2019{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=March 2019|title=Designing for Country podcast|url=https://www.hassellstudio.com/conversation/designing-for-country?token=vVPypMba3qIhl8cApzeg_-y69aSldwuL|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Hassell|language=en}}
• “Federation Square”, The Politics of Public Space vol 3{{Cite web|title=The Politics of Public Space - Volume Three|url=https://www.office.org.au/stor/The-Politics-of-Public-Space-Volume-Three-p253947696|access-date=2021-03-06|website=OFFICE|language=en}}

Rees also organises and convenes many public events, which both increase awareness and knowledge among the wider community and builds the profile of many Indigenous built environment professionals. Since 2017 she has been program advisor and curator of the BLAKitecture series at Melbourne’s MPavilion.{{Cite web|title=Sarah Lynn Rees|url=http://mpavilion.org/collaborator/sarah-lynn-rees/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=MPavilion|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Bensley-Nettheim|first=Tili|date=2020-11-08|title=MPavilion's BLAKitecture forum explores "working with Country rather than against it"|url=https://www.australiandesignreview.com/architecture/mpavilions-blakitecture-forum-explores-working-with-country-rather-than-against-it/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Australian Design Review|language=en-US}} This annual program works to “centralise Indigenous voices in conversations about architecture, the representation of histories, the present state and the future of our built environments”.{{Cite web|title=BLAKitecture: Design Obligations|url=http://mpavilion.org/program/blakitecture-design-obligations/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=MPavilion|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Blakitecture: Beyond acknowledgement and into action|url=https://architectureau.com/articles/blakitecture-beyond-acknowledgement-and-into-action/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=ArchitectureAU|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2020-11-08|title=MPavilion's BLAKitecture forum explores "working with Country rather than against it"|url=https://www.australiandesignreview.com/architecture/mpavilions-blakitecture-forum-explores-working-with-country-rather-than-against-it/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Australian Design Review|language=en-US}} In 2018 Rees was closely involved in planning and organising the first APB Symposium at the University of Melbourne with Jefa Greenway. “Go Back to Where You Came From: Indigenous Design Past | Present | Future” brought Indigenous speakers from across Australia and around the world to explore the role of Indigenous design.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2018-05-28|title=Indigenous Design – Past {{!}} Present {{!}} Future|url=https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/indigenous-design-symposium|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Melbourne School of Design|language=en}}

Among her many advisory roles, Rees is a director of the research-based advocacy organisation Parlour: women, equity, architecture and a member of the Victorian Design Review Panel for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect.{{Cite web|title=Welcome to Parlour|url=https://archiparlour.org/about/|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Parlour|language=en-AU}} Rees is active with the Australian Institute of Architects and is Co-Chair of the First Nations Advisory Working Group (with Paul Memmott).{{Cite web|title=First Nations Advisory Working Group and Cultural Reference Panel – Australian Institute of Architects|url=https://www.architecture.com.au/about/national-council-committees/first-nations-advisory-working-group-and-cultural-reference-panel|access-date=2021-03-06|website=www.architecture.com.au}} In 2021 she was elected to the Victorian Chapter Council and she sits on the Editorial Committee of Architect Victoria.{{Cite web|title=Vic Chapter Council – Australian Institute of Architects|url=https://www.architecture.com.au/about/chapter-councils-committees/vic|access-date=2021-03-06|website=www.architecture.com.au}}

Previous roles with the Institute include sitting on the Emerging Architects + Graduates Network (EmAGN), 2013 Vice President of SONA (Student Organised Network for Architecture) and 2012 Student Representative on the Victorian Chapter Council. Rees has also sat on the National Trust of Australia Landscape and Indigenous advisory groups. In 2019 she was Special Advisor to the Jury for the Powerhouse Museum Precinct at Parramatta international design competition.{{Cite web|title=Powerhouse Precinct at Parramatta International Design Competition|url=https://competitions.malcolmreading.com/maasparramatta/jury|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Powerhouse Precinct at Parramatta|language=en-GB}}

{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Sarah Lynn}}

Category:Architects from Melbourne

Category:Indigenous Australian academics

Category:Indigenous Australian writers

Category:Academic staff of Monash University

Category:Australian women architects

Category:University of Melbourne alumni

Category:Architecture academics

Category:Australian architecture writers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people