RAA END OF YEAR WRAP | 2025
As the year winds down, let’s take a moment to reflect on and celebrate RAA’s significant achievements this year. Our Association continues its work advocating for, supporting and creating community amongst those practising in regional Australia.
Photo by Marcus Piper
Membership
We have welcomed 50 new members this year from across the country. This brings RAA's individual membership to an amazing total of 240, a number that continues to grow as the value of the Association's work becomes more widely known.
Photo by Andrew Sikorski
Technical Membership
RAA now has 17 dedicated Technical Members providing support at events and throughout the year. Our Technical Members are experts in their field working alongside regional practice; we thank them for their support of architecture in the regions.
In Person Events
In 2025, RAA's in person events took us to Canberra, Dungog and then all the way to Central Australia in September. These bespoke experiences connected RAA members and the broader community as they inspired and showcased the ways architecture can benefit and engage regional communities and culture. They have also contributed to the local economies with 220 members and community gathering across these diverse locations to listen, learn and contribute the benefit of their own experience.
WhatsApp Forum
Throughout this year, the RAA Forum on WhatsApp has grown to encompass around half the membership. This an active space for discussion and engagement amongst members - and comes with a healthy dose of good humour too. We encourage those members who have not done so, to join the conversation.
ISSUE #1 OF FIELD - ARCHITECTURE GONE REGIONAL
RAA has launched a journal! Field reflects the Australian regions we work in, the creative and social landscapes and community connections.
Through essays, interviews, project profiles and case studies, Field explores the fascinating and fertile ground of architects and makers in the regions. It celebrates regional communities, innovation and conversations sparked by the RAA.
The first copies of issue #1 are now winging their way to their destinations. Copies are available via the RAA website. Orders received after 18th December will be posted on 12th January.
Advocacy
RAA has continued to establish relationships with other professional organisations with the aim of improving working relationships within the industry. This year we announced our Memorandum of Understanding with the Parlour Collective, continued to work productively with the ACA and have other partnerships in the works.
Work to install architectural advice in regional LGAs has continued and the campaign to free the Australian Standards is ongoing, with a key group of Federal politicians recently contacted on the matter.
As our event base continues to extend, we are expanding our reach, recognition and influence; the launch of Field will also promote the Association more broadly and, importantly, communicate the significance of better built environment outcomes in regional communities.
RAA looks forward to continuing its work advocating around issues that affect regional practitioners into 2026 and beyond. Please contact us on info@regionalarchitecture.net.au if you would like to bring something to our attention so we can consider a response.
Online Events
In 2025, RAA has run a program of 17 online events attended by nearly 800 people. These regular online events are hosted by industry experts, fellow members and collaborators and address issues relevant to members They are a great means of remote and regional practices meeting their CPD requirements without leaving the studio.
Online events and recordings are free to access for RAA members. Non members can purchase access to available recordings via Humanitix.
Left: Tom Jager and Kate Hackett received bursaries from the University of Newcastle to attend RAA's MPARNTWE / Alice Springs event, featured here at their graduate exhibition launch. Right: RAA committee member and graduate liaison presenting Mitchell Hosking the award for a Regional Focussed project at UON's graduate exhibition launch. Both photos by Nikola Jokanovic.
Student & Graduate Support
In 2025, RAA increased its engagement with the higher education sector, resulting in the University of Western Australia, QUT and Curtin University all supporting bursaries which allowed students to travel and attend our MPARNTWE event.
This year RAA sponsored the University of Newcastle Masters of Architecture exhibition for the third year running and, for the first time, also sponsored the University of Canberra’s graduating student showcase that featured the work of graduating design & the built environment students. Graduating students have received complimentary graduate membership, linking them to established professionals within our community who understand the unique challenges and rewards of practicing in regional settings.
RAA ran two online events this year for our student and graduate members during which Andrew Elia, director of IDG Architects discussed the interview and hiring processes, providing key points to graduates for presenting themselves and their portfolios.
RAA is in the process of establishing a program linking PhD students from the University of Tasmania to our community to better understand through research projects the nature and economic impact of regional practice.
RAA looks forward to strengthening our connections with our regional university architecture and design schools in 2026.
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR…
POWER OF COMMUNITY - Yarrayne / Guildford
DATES 12-14 March 2026
LOCATION Yarrayne / Guildford on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in the Victorian Central Goldfields region. The Friday main seminar day will be at the Guildford Public Hall, 32 Fryers St, Guildford Victoria
RAA’s first event for 2026 will focus on systems that support sustainability across various scales of community, business, and development. This gathering will explore both current and emerging systems, investigating the interplay between technological advancements and the essential community and individual resolve that drives change. We will examine a range of diverse case studies, particularly highlighting instances where communities have successfully leveraged their collective influence to advocate for their future.
The event’s co-creative directors are Mechanical Engineer Robert Mierisch, bringing over 20 years of experience in sustainable technologies and distributed thermal storage, and Emily Knight, an Architect and dedicated sustainability expert. Together, they are crafting a program designed to inspire, inform, and equip delegates to become instigators of change within their own communities.
