David Donald on ABC Australia Wide
Presenter from RAA’s MPARNTWE event, Architect and Director of Healthabitat David Donald, recently featured on the ABC’s Australia Wide program, following an interview on the sidelines while in Alice Springs. You can catch him at the 13 minute mark.
11th September 2025
Celebrating regional architecture
In this edition of The Conversation Hour the team delve into what distinguishes regional architecture from metro architecture.
The team meet architects based in regional areas and discuss the environmental and aesthetic considerations.
19th January 2023
Does architecture impact student learning?
How much does your built environment at school impact your learning and do you learn differently in a more beautiful environment?
This edition of The Conversation Hour looks at what advances are being made in how we design schools and to what degree architecture and design in education important.
2nd February 2023, ABC Melbourne
How do we build better to meet our housing needs?
RAA committee member and founder of Space Studio Sarah Aldridge spoke to The Conversation Hour on ABC Radio Melbourne about how higher-density housing can best meet our needs.
2nd May 2023, ABC Melbourne
Could prefab be a solution to the housing crisis?
Homes built off-site and trucked to the regions are being proposed as a quick solution to the housing affordability issue, in this edition of The Conversation Hour Brent Dunn, RAA committee member and co-director of Takt Studio and others discussed its merits.
28th March 2023, ABC Melbourne
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.
POWER OF COMMUNITY fringe event
A tour of Hepburn Energy will be our first fringe event for Power of Community. Hepburn Energy is a member owned co-operative and Australia’s first community owned wind farm, now looking to add solar and battery storage.
Hepburn Energy owns and operates Australia’s first community-owned wind farm. The 2 wind turbines, known as Gale and Gusto have been offsetting the town of Daylesford since 2011. Now the organisation are working on being the first hybrid wind, solar and battery co-operative and showcasing to other communities a successful community energy model.
POWER OF COMMUNITY presenter
Marnie Hawson will discuss where businesses who want to “do better for nature” can start, and how they can move beyond carbon. Her workshop will make biodiversity real, accessible, and directly connected to business reality — bringing nature into the room in a tangible, practical way.
RAA Journal Release
Field is a new annual publication that celebrates regional architecture, its people and visions.
Order now.
RAA | Supporting Graduates
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 applied work of graduating students from the discipline of design & the built environment. Relevant students completing their studies have received a complimentary year of membership in RAA’s graduate category and will have access to invaluable opportunities for networking and engagement with established professionals who understand the unique challenges and rewards of practicing in regional settings.
RAA would like to congratulate all graduates and remains dedicated to backing the next generation of architects, recognising their pivotal role in driving the movement towards a brighter, more sustainable future for built environments and their communities in regional Australia.
POWER OF COMMUNITY venue
The Guildford Public Hall is a much-loved venue central to its local community and will become the hub for discussion, conversation and learning at RAA’s March 2026 event. Powered by community itself, it is the fitting space for a gathering that aims to inspire and empower delegates to instigate change in their own local area.
POWER OF COMMUNITY co-creative director
Now local to Yarrayne / Guildford, Robert Mierisch is a semi-retired Mechanical Engineer and inventor of several innovative systems in mechanical engineering. Currently, Robert is working on a Rural Residential Energy System that will provide electricity, hot water, winter heating, summer cooling and electric car charging, at night.
RAA 2025 Annual President’s Report
2024/2025 has been an exceptional year of growth in both membership and influence of our Association. We are working with a range of like-minded organisations to further awareness of the value of architecture and design in the regions. We are working to maintain our presence throughout the profession, from education providers to legislative authorities.
I am extremely proud to be the President of a member-based organisation that has established a position as the peak voice for regional architectural practice and continues to prove there is an astounding resource of dedicated professionals working to better our regional lives.
MPARNTWE: WHEN YOU COME TO ANOTHER COUNTRY - event wrap by Harrison Matthews
This was my first time in Alice Springs, and I’ll admit, I packed for the desert expecting heat, dust, and dry air. I completely forgot how bitterly cold the desert can get at night, and it caught me off guard. That contrast between what I thought I knew and what I found ended up shaping much of my experience.
This event was about more than just structures, in my opinion as an Aboriginal architecture student. It was about learning, listening, and being reminded of the duty we have while designing for our country. Here, architecture is about more than simply buildings, this event informed me; it's about identity, narrative, and survival.
MPARNTWE: WHEN YOU COME TO ANOTHER COUNTRY - event wrap by Ian Sercombe
Landscape was an important ingredient in this RAA event, which had us start and finish our journey immersed in it. The formal gathering began with a pre-dawn talk and walk up Tharrarletneme at the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens to understand the flora, meet the rock wallabies and euros and see the sunrise. The cool, clear morning very quickly had us connected to Country and set the tone for the coming days. On this land all time intersects.
MPARNTWE: WHEN YOU COME TO ANOTHER COUNTRY - event wrap by Andrea Nixon
Weeks after the Regional Architecture Association's Mparntwe event, I'm still contemplating what happened in Central Arrernte Country. Not only the sessions set in the spectacular landscape, but something harder to pin down, a shift in how I understand things can be or could be, when we step away from our usual assumptions and start working on the edges for creativity, discovery and insight.
RAA President’s Report | September 2025
In 2025, RAA is sponsoring the University of Newcastle Masters of Architecture exhibition for the third year running and, for the first time, will also support graduates of the University of Canberra’s School of Design and the Built Environment. Students completing their studies will receive a complimentary year of membership in RAA’s graduate category.
RAA looks forward to strengthening our association with our regional University Architecture and Design Schools.
For graduates, RAA offers invaluable opportunities for networking and engagement with established professionals who understand the unique challenges and rewards of practicing in regional settings. We facilitate connections that can lead to employment and vital practical experience, bridging the gap between academic learning and professional application.
VITAL: Questions of Resilience - event wrap by Cameron Anderson
So Rhiannon, the administrative powerhouse behind RAA, has kindly asked if I could provide an event wrap of “Vital- Questions of Resilience” held recently in Dungog.. To be fair she did ask me prior to the event if I could and I kindly obliged…. Even knowing full well I wouldn’t be taking a single note as I didn’t need the CPD points. Which brings me to my first point - RAA events are worth far more than CPD; the points are just a nice bonus.
RAA President’s Report | August 2025
The Australian Standards are a set of documents that provide guidelines, specifications, and procedures to ensure products, services, and systems are safe, reliable, and consistent. They cover a vast range of industries, from building and construction to consumer goods, and are crucial for maintaining quality, promoting innovation, and protecting the public and environment.
While Australian Standards are currently funded through a user-pays model, making them freely accessible would have significant positive impacts, particularly for those related to public safety and essential industries. As RAA president, I have established a working group to support an advocacy approach to this issue which we feel is a barrier to positive outcomes in the built environments of regional communities in Australia.
RAA Committee Profile
Brent Dunn of Takt Studio for Architecture was part of the Founding Committee of the Regional Architecture Association (RAA) in 2021. Ideas about it had been circulating for a number of years prior to it starting, but it took the bushfires, floods, and pandemic to really show that it was time to reach out and connect regional architects.