Kickstarting a career in the creative industries requires planning, preparation and a few pearls of wisdom. Here, we pair Monash Art, Design and Architecture graduates with leaders in the field for a series of conversations about how they found their feet, lessons learnt and the future of creative work.

Walking Between Two Worlds

Interview by Declan Murphy

Image: Sarah Lynn Rees at the JCB Office. Photography: Amelia Stanwix.

Place and personal experience are a rich source of design inspiration in architecture, and Palawa woman Sarah Lynn Rees, lead Indigenous advisor at Jackson Clements Burrows (JCB) and lecturer at Monash University, is an exemplar of utilising these principles.

Sarah has a wealth of knowledge that comes from valuing the opportunity to listen to others and observing her surrounding environment. She shares this attention to community, culture and Country through her design work, as well as through special projects that enhance engagement between her two worlds, such as the BLAKitecture talk series she curated for MPavilion in 2022.

Being a recent Master of Architecture graduate from Monash Art, Design and Architecture, I was excited about the opportunity to listen to and learn from such a strong presence in the field. I’m fascinated by the diverse engagement that Sarah has with people in and out of the industry, and the way these connections inform her design work. It’s her ability to project a voice that enlightens my own thinking about architecture.

For me, speaking with Sarah amplified a simple truth: architecture thrives when we share our experiences with others.

Hi Sarah – let’s get straight into it! What did you study at university and why?

On the surface, you could say the reason I chose to study architecture is the classic cliché: my dad is a builder. However, I am far more interested in understanding the fundamental reasons why we do what we do. Half of my childhood years were spent traveling around Australia in a four-wheel drive and caravan, the other half in a house that was being constructed around me – quite literally. Dad and I recently went through some old photographs, and he showed me how he built the new house around the old house before dismantling it.

The idea of creating built environments was a fascination for me from a very young age. I particularly loved watching the design thinking process, the imagining of 3D realities, drawn and redrawn on reams of paper. I enjoy the complexity of it, the drive to always find a better way, then the decision to move from paper to the workshop and watching the lines come to life in real time. It was an incredibly affirming moment the first time I saw something I drew come to life as a built form.

Years later, the fundamental remains: the beautifully complex problem to be both designed and solved. However, the drivers are different. The reality that I now get to spend my days bringing together Country, culture and community with design was not even a conversation when I chose to study architecture.

What were your first moves after graduation?

The plan was to take a year out and work full-time before starting my master’s degree. If I’ve learned anything it’s that whatever plan you make, it will change. Shortly before I started working, I received an email from student services suggesting I apply for the Charlie Perkins Scholarship to study at Cambridge or Oxford in the UK. If I’ve learned anything else, it’s that there is no harm in trying and putting yourself out there when an opportunity comes along. I got in, and left for the UK.

The master’s degree is a little different at Cambridge; it’s described as a sandwich. You propose a topic you are interested in studying and that becomes the project you work on for two years. The first third and the last third of your time are spent at university and the middle third is spent undertaking fieldwork relevant to your topic. I chose to study government housing programs in remote Aboriginal communities and had the opportunity to spend six months living, working and studying in Yuendumu, a Walpiri community about 300 km northwest of Alice Springs.

My time there and the people I met taught me too many things to list, but perhaps the most important is that community is life, and that we must maintain our values no matter what life throws at us.

Upon the completion of my master’s degree, I had four months left on my UK student visa, which allowed me to work, so once again I said, “No harm in trying.” I remember sitting down to a list of 100 practices, opening every single website in its own tab and, by process of elimination, closing every practice that didn’t interest me or align with my values. I ended up with two tabs open. I sent emails to the directors of both, got a call the next day, an interview the day after that and a job on the spot.

Image: Declan Murphy and Sarah Lynn Rees at the JCB office. Photography: Amelia Stanwix.

I ended up working with the late Will Alsop in his practice aLL Design for two years. Design has never been so fun. Imagine team meetings with a couple of bottles of wine, some classical music, a paint wall and genuine equity of voice regardless of experience. Will was a teacher and he taught me that I didn’t have to fit the mould that had been impressed upon me.

Leaving was incredibly difficult, but I wanted to come home. Will handwrote me a reference letter, which in true Will form ended with the words, “Sarah is belligerent, in a good way.” Upon returning to Australia I tried a few different things – architecture, teaching, research, consulting, curating public talks – not quite sure how I fit into the world anymore, but knowing that I wanted to find ways to Indigenise the built environment.

Ultimately, I’ve ended up back where I started, with the people who first gave me an opportunity way back in third year [of university], JCB. I am now an Associate and run our Indigenous Advisory Architecture and Design team. Everything I do is geared towards Indigenising the built environment. This includes practice, lecturing and indigenising the curriculum at Monash, curating a talks series called BLAKitecture at MPavillion, and acting as co-chair alongside Professor Paul Memmott of the AIA (Australian Institute of Architects) First Nations Advisory Working Group and Cultural Reference Panel.

Tell me something you didn’t know about the industry before you worked in it.

Everything!

How do you approach the beginning of a new project?

By asking whose Country it resides within and seeking to understand the values and rights of that Country and how, at a minimum, we can do no more harm to her. Also, ideally, by asking when we can work with Traditional Custodians to respect, honour and celebrate their Country.

Sometimes we have the privilege to work in partnership with and learn directly from the Traditional Custodians; other times the realities of clients, budgets and timeframes don’t allow this. Regardless, every project for me starts with respecting the Country it will reside within, in as many ways as possible.

Image: Declan Murphy and Sarah Lynn Rees at the JCB office. Photography: Amelia Stanwix

What strategies do you employ to communicate design ideas to people without a design background?

Remove your own ego. Unless you are designing your own home (and even then, you are still designing on someone’s Country which is most likely is not your own), you aren’t designing for yourself.

We need to listen before we speak, observe before we draw and remember that the built environment is more than just designing for humans. We have a fundamental responsibility to all living things. Perhaps the biggest difference is what each of us consider to be alive.

Regardless, the most important things are acting with integrity, removing ego, listening, finding common ground and deleting jargon from your vocabulary.

You are passionate about the indigenisation of the built environment – can you briefly explain this, and how your advocacy in this space plays out in your working life?

Well, firstly and fundamentally, it is not just my advocacy, it is the advocacy of generations of Indigenous peoples that fought to have a voice and stand up for their values in a world that was specifically designed to silence and remove them. Their strength and perseverance have forged paths for the community of Indigenous built environment practitioners today, who are working to make Country, culture and community real for our profession.

In terms of how this plays out in my working life, separating cultural responsibilities, identity and values from one’s profession is something you can be conditioned to do, but it’s not sustainable. I know that I am very fortunate to live in this time, to work with people who listen and who support people like me to develop and articulate what bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds together means for the way we practice architecture.

It’s not uncommon to hear Indigenous people say they walk in two worlds. This is very true for me, but in some ways that’s what keeps me going, bringing these two worlds closer together, so that those who come after us don’t have to – as our ancestors did for us.

What about architecture keeps you curious?

Every day is different, every day brings a new challenge, every day there is something to learn about the world and yourself, every day we have the opportunity to contribute to creating a better future.

If you asked the 8 year old in me… every day there is the possibility that a line that was drawn will one day soon become a reality.

Image: Sarah Lynn Rees at the JCB office. Photography: Amelia Stanwix.

Where do you find inspiration?

Country.

What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever been given?

Question everything.

Do you have any kernels of wisdom for emerging graduates?

Take the time to understand who you are, what your values are, where you come from and your identity. Then question it. Make sure it’s really yours and not just something your learned or inherited without understanding why. This process helps you to understand what your biases are (we all have them) so you can work to stop them from preventing you from listening to someone whose reality is different to yours. It will make you a better designer and a better human.

Declan Murphy is a Graduate Architect at MA Architects. He graduated with a Master of Architecture from Monash Art, Design and Architecture in 2020.

Sarah Lynn Rees is Senior Associate and Lead Indigenous Advisor at Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, Program Consultant at MPavilion, Co-Chair of the Australian Institute of Architects First Nations Advisory Working Group and Cultural Reference Panel and Lecturer at Monash Art, Design and Architecture.