Melissa Hollis leads engagement and communication at the NSW Architects Registration Board. Melissa will highlight the public-interest work of NSW ARB and the various ways NSW ARB supports the profession across the career journey, from students and graduates to experienced practitioners.

Our Friday program, along with Thursday's Journey Workshop, will be held at the Cobar Youth & Community Centre—known locally as the "Youthie" - a much-loved community facility transformed through the long-standing collaboration between DunnHillam Architecture & Urban Design and the Cobar Shire Council.

Originally a modest concrete block building with deep community significance, the centre has been thoughtfully reimagined to provide an accessible, climate-responsive and welcoming civic space.

Jonathan Temple of DunnHillam Architecture & Urban Design will reflect on the practice’s long-standing collaboration with the community of Cobar. He will address the process of delivering a series of transformative civic projects throughout the town as well as broader town revitalisation initiatives.

The Regional Architecture Association is delighted to announce that a copy of its new journal, Field – Architecture Gone Regional, will soon be sent to all public libraries in New South Wales, as part of a new shared venture with the NSW Architects Registration Board.

Under the new initiative, the NSW ARB is supporting the distribution of Field, Issue #1 to all 365 public libraries in the state, broadening the journal’s reach, and furthering regional conversations about the value of architecture in everyday life.

I came to this event from Tasmania, which - if you've ever tried to get out of Tasmania - already requires a certain level of commitment. This was my first time in Brisbane, my first in-person RAA event, and, if I'm being honest, the first time after quite a while that I'd been in a room with that many architects at once outside of a university corridor. I'm a researcher in architectural online media, which means I spend most of my time thinking about how architecture firms present themselves online rather than actually being in rooms with them. So there was a slight irony in arriving at an event titled Architectural Intelligence with a notebook, a recorder, and a mild obsession with Instagram analytics.

The three-day program was structured around a Thursday fringe, a Friday main seminar day at the Brisbane Powerhouse, and a Saturday of site visits. I joined the urban sketching workshop on Thursday afternoon and the Green House site visit on Saturday, framing the main event on either side with a kind of slow, observational bookending that turned out to be oddly appropriate.

RAA is delighted to be partnering with Living Cities Forum, Australia’s flagship forum for urban designers, thinkers and placemakers.

Presented by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, Living Cities Forum returns to Melbourne (25 August) and Sydney (28 August) with a line-up of internationally renowned voices exploring the theme: Cities Made With Care. At a moment when cities are being reshaped at unprecedented speed, this year’s Forum examines housing as both infrastructure and identity; revalued not simply as a commodity, but as a foundation of civic life, shaping how people live, move and belong. 

Tim Lee, Principal of Tim Lee Architects, is based in Goulburn NSW and is a Founding Member and current President of RAA. Tim has been involved as creative director delivering regional architecture events and programs for over 10 years and is committed to providing high quality events supporting and advocating for the value architecture and regional practice.

Ian Sercombe is director of a small architectural practice based on Worimi Country, on the NSW Midnorth Coast, Australia. He has been a member of RAA since its inception and has attended most of the in-person events around the country. He has a strong focus on community, being on local committees for surf life saving, community association and running the local cricket competition, as well as organising several local music festivals.

Before I dive too far into the dense, syrupy content that is Artificial Intelligence I just wanted to make a small reflection on this gathering.  Before the day even started I learned two things: 
 

1. Regional Architecture Association also known as RAA is said ‘RAARRRGGH’ (like a lion); and, 

2. This is a really warm association of architects for whom connection is seriously valuable - resulting in a wonderful day and evening of conversation and new friendships. 

Our first Thursday fringe event will be a guided bus tour around the main attractions of Cobar, concluding with a longer visit to the Sound Chapel.

The tour will offer an introduction to Cobar’s mining landscape, industrial heritage and civic identity, taking in Fort Bourke Hill Lookout, the Cobar Miners Memorial, Cobar Mining Heritage Park, the Cobar Sign and views to the Great Cobar Open Cut.

We will then spend some time exploring and experiencing the Cobar Sound Chapel, a permanent sound installation artwork by composer / sound artist George Lentz in collaboration with architect Glenn Murcutt.

RAA is pleased to be working with the Cobar Shire Council for our September event, a municipality that has demonstrated a strong and sustained commitment to investing in the community through infrastructure and place-based projects that strengthen liveability, participation, and local identity.

One of the Thursday afternoon fringe events will be the creation of a communal wall mural displaying the experiences of our collective journeys to Cobar.

As you travel to Cobar we invite you to document your journey through sketches, collage or other creative forms. Your work may capture the physical experience of travel- the landscapes, towns, roads, encounters and discoveries along the way, or it may explore a deeper, less tangible journey.

RAA invites members to nominate individuals who have made a significant contribution to the profession and architecture in the regions, whether in Australia or internationally. Successful nominees will be acknowledged through the presentation of an honorary membership.

Editor of the RAA journal, Field - Architecture Gone Regional, Peter Salhani shares feedback from Issue #1, and ideas for using Field as part of your marketing strategy. 

The final session of the Friday main speaker day at the Brisbane Powerhouse is a panel discussion with a group of experts selected for their diverse perspectives on the future of the profession. 

Sarah Aldridge of Byron Bay practice Space Studio will moderate the session which will discuss the future of practice and the profession, looking at climate change, resource security, social capital, and where architects need to position themselves to lead the profession towards a conscious and viable future.

Last night’s Federal Budget saw a win for the advocacy of many of our allied professional bodies, who, along with RAA, have been lobbying government for some time, to make Australian Standards freely accessible to built environment professionals.

Stuart Vokes, architect and co-founder of practice Vokes and Peters based in Kurilpa, Brisbane, will discuss the process of delivering projects by both modular and traditional procurement pathways and how this shapes the conversations and design processes informing the outcomes.

On a site visit to One Room Tower on one of two tours being run on Saturday morning, we will explore the notion of ‘productive city’ and how small-scale projects can enhance liveability and resilience in communities. This project by Phorm Architecture in collaboration with Dr Silvia Micheli & Antony Moulis is cross-disciplinary in nature, simultaneously urban artefact and residential utility.

As part of Brisbane’s Architectural Intelligence event, architect, urban designer and teacher Peter Richards will deliver a sketching workshop in Brisbane’s West End on Thursday afternoon. “Sketching is a great way to carefully observe the place you are in and the way that people occupy that place” he contends.

One of Saturday morning's tours at Brisbane’s Architectural Intelligence event will take attendees to architect John Ellway’s Terrarium House, a home created by bringing together layers of memories from the owners’ childhoods and travels.

Dr Kirsty Volz of QUT will discuss the breadth of roles in the architectural profession and how we can use our skills as architects to influence design outcomes in the built environment.

Kirsty is an architect and Senior Lecturer in Architecture whose research bridges practice, community and climate adaptation. Her work focuses on housing and place‑based design guidance.

Following our afternoon fringe events or for those just arrived in town, please join us at the Brisbane Brewing Co West End, who will host us for the Thursday Community Dinner (buy your own).

Since 2005, Brisbane Brewing Co has been more than just an independent brewery—it’s been the heartbeat of local beer in Brisbane. They didn’t follow a trend. They started one, opening the doors to Brisbane’s Original Brewpub and putting fresh, locally brewed beer on the map.