Featured speakers
We are pleased to announce the featured speakers for the 2026 Australian Architecture Conference, bringing together practitioners and thinkers whose work is reshaping how architecture engages with place, culture and systems across Australia and internationally.
A collection of voices from design practice, research, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, this year’s keynote lineup reflects the conference’s commitment to critical dialogue, innovation, and real-world impact.
Marta Peris and José Toral
Barcelona, Spain
The Barcelona based architecture firm PERIS+TORAL ARQUITECTES, founded by Marta Peris and José Toral, explores through its built work new ways of living that meet the needs of the 21st century, linked to new, more sustainable methods of construction, in order to address the challenges posed by the climate emergency and the housing crisis.
Their work has been recognised with the RIBA INTERNATIONAL 2024 Award, the CSCAE 2022 Spanish Architecture Award, they won the DETAIL Award 2024 and they were finalists for the 2022 EU Mies Award. Their work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Biennale di Venezia (2025), the solo exhibition at Kunstverein Bielefeld (2025), and the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris (2022). Both their projects and writings have been widely featured in national and international journals and media, including TC Cuadernos 171 and El Croquis 234.
Simon Pendal FRAIA
Fremantle, Western Australia
Simon Pendal Architect is a small practice based in Fremantle working on projects including single houses, additions and outbuildings, to small public works including the St Thomas More Columbarium, and larger projects such as Reclaiming Kalyenup for the Menang Noongar and Museum of the Great Southern. The practice is best known for making small, thoughtful projects from humble opportunities. Our model of working seeks to establish memorable places through observation of their context which linger in the minds of users long after visitation.
Simon is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Studio Programme at The University of Notre Dame in Fremantle and is a former curator of a monthly newspaper column in the West Australian. Simon completed a practice-based PhD through the invitational Stream at RMIT in 2016 entitled Entrainment: An Architecture of Feeling and Thinking.
Increasingly the work of the practice has sought an enhanced relationship with the natural world whereby Simon is working with acclaimed regenerative farmer Ron Watkins to develop alternate approaches to making suburbia from a land-care basis. Simon and Ron meet weekly to record Ron’s knowledge for future publication. Simon is working with Notre Dame’s head librarian to establish an archive of significant Western Australian architects.
This keynote is presented in partnership with Bond University.
Patrick Kennedy fraia
Melbourne, Victoria
Patrick Kennedy is a founding partner of Kennedy Nolan. He helped establish, and continues to lead the practice’s distinctive design direction. In addition to practice, Patrick is an active contributor to the Australian Institute of Architects, has taught at the University of Melbourne and regularly engages with the design world through talks and writing. Patrick was a foundation member of the Boyd Circle and is now on the board of the Robin Boyd Foundation, which seeks to influence public policy in the progressive spirit of Robin Boyd.
Over several decades, Patrick has helped guide the steady growth of Kennedy Nolan to be an established design and thought leader.
Rachel Nolan LFRAIA
Melbourne, Victoria
Rachel Nolan is a founding partner of Kennedy Nolan. Rachel is crucially involved in the design direction of the practice, but also in building and maintaining a positive and creative workplace. Rachel is curious about people, culture and the mystery and magic of place. Her work is conceptually driven but realised with pragmatism and humour.
Over 25 years in practice, Rachel has contributed more broadly to the architecture profession through lectures, teaching, mentoring and collaborations. She has served the Australian Institute of Architects as a lecturer, juror and committee member. She is currently a member of the Victorian Design Review Panel and a founding member of The Boyd Circle.
She likes to talk and draw.
Ilze wolff and Heinrich Wolff
Cape Town, South Africa
Wolff Architects was established by Heinrich Wolff and Ilze Wolff in 2012. The work of the studio is driven by a philosophical concern for developing an architectural practice of consequence. This concern is embedded in the various outputs of the practice: the design of buildings, landscapes, scenographies and events, advocacy for spatial justice, research, films and curatorial practice.
Heinrich Wolff is an architect and project manager, whose work has received many awards, including the Daimler Chrysler Award for Architecture (2007), and the Lubetkin Award (2005). In 2011 he was elected as the Designer of the Future by the Wouter Mikmak Foundation. He has held several academic appointments; he has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (2021 / 2022), University of Goa (2017), ETH in Zürich (2014-2015), IUAV in Venice (2013), Washington University in St. Louis (2015) and has been an adjunct associate professor at UCT, Cape Town.
Ilze Wolff is an architect and scholar with experience in design, teaching and heritage consulting. She received a M.Phil. in Heritage and Public Culture from the African Studies Unit at UCT. Ilze co-founded Open House Architecture in 2007, a transdisciplinary research practice which she continues to direct parallel to Wolff. She has led an Advanced Architectural Design Studio at Columbia University GSAPP (2023) and is currently a Professor of Practice in Architecture at the School of Architecture at Liverpool University (2023 – 2026).
Both principals have taught and lectured internationally including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan, and India and continue to do so. The work of the practice has also been included at various international exhibitions including the Venice Architecture Biennale, Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Architecture Biennale, the São Paulo Biennale, and the South American Architecture Biennale. In 2023 the studio was awarded an honourable mention for their work ‘Tectonic Shifts’ at the 18th Venice Architectural Biennale. The Biennale exhibition content formed the basis of their subsequent book by the same name.
Elizabeth Watson-Brown LFRAIA
Brisbane, Queensland
Having directed her own successful practice, Elizabeth Watson Brown Architects, for 21 years, Elizabeth was appointed Design Director of Architectus Brisbane in 2011 and became a Design Strategy Leader.
Elizabeth’s work has been widely published and has received many significant architectural awards. An active participant in architecture and urban design, and a member of many design advisory, review and awards panels, Elizabeth has been RAIA Queensland State Awards Director, RAIA National Awards Juror, RAIA Northern Territory Awards Jury Chair, Gold Coast Urban Design Awards Jury Chair, and is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland.
Elizabeth was an inaugural member of the Queensland Board for Urban Places, advising on urban design and placemaking initiatives. She was also a member of the Queensland Cultural Precinct Design and Heritage Roundtable and a panellist on the Independent Expert Panel advising the Queensland Government on works to the Queensland Cultural Centre.
Elizabeth was a member of the Independent Design Advisory Panel advising Brisbane City Council on major development proposals.
Elizabeth’s architecture has been widely awarded and exhibited, including at the seminal Place Makers exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art and at the Venice Biennale.
Elizabeth is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Queensland.
Concern for the future and the environments we share inspired Elizabeth to join The Greens in 2018. She was invited by the party to run for the seat of Ryan at the 2022 federal election, which she won and retained in 2025.
Elizabeth is the federal Greens spokesperson for Transport, Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities.
Laura Lee HON. FRAIA
Europe
Laura is a licensed architect and Professor based in Europe. She advises, practices and speaks internationally as a strategic and systems transformation designer to address large-scale complex global challenges. Her work focuses on innovation and integrated design education, policy, practice and research between academic institutions, governments, industry and diverse organisations.
An Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, Laura was a “Thinker in Residence” in South Australia to generate visionary and actionable recommendations for government. Focused on the value of design and the impact of the built environment on the quality of life, Laura published an “Integrated Design Strategy for South Australia – Building the Future.”
More recently, Laura was a Rockefeller Foundation Practitioner-in-Residence at the prestigious Bellagio Centre in Italy to advance an opus magnum “From 1% to 10 Billion in 2050: An open source guide to collaborative innovation for collective action”. This is the core of her current practice from the scale of local government teams to the European Commission and United Nations.
She has designed and developed regenerative design and urbanism curricula and programs worldwide, conducting projects, studios and workshops in over 25 countries. She has received several awards, grants and honours for advancing design education, practice and research in a multi-cultural context.
Adam Haddow LFRAIA
Sydney, New South Wales
Adam Haddow LFRAIA is the Immediate Past National President of the Australian Institute of Architects, former NSW Chapter President, and Partner at SJB.
Recognised as a thought-leader in mixed-use design, Adam’s buildings reflect his belief that architecture should provide an armature for community life; that the activities buildings facilitate are just as important as the physicality of the buildings themselves. His designs embody ambitions of beauty, delight, joy and surprise.
Adam’s design achievements have been recognised with numerous awards including the World Architecture Festival, AIA National, NSW and Newcastle Chapter Awards and Chicago An. He is a Churchill Fellow who investigated alternatives to conventional models of urban design, resulting in a research project entitled ‘Shall We Dense?,’ an examination into the state of modern density living in Australia that led to successful collaborations within the professional and architectural realms.
Adam is a vocal advocate for equity in our practice and industry. He is a member of Architects Champion of Change and spearheaded SJB’s involvement with social enterprises, CareerTrackers and CareerSeekers that connect First Nations and Refugee job seekers with paid professional employment. Where the opportunity presents in his projects, Adam actively seeks First Nations co-design outcomes and aims to establish a framework of reciprocity and continual learning.
Jimmy Frank Jupurrurla and Simon Quilty
Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
Jimmy Frank Jupurrurla is a Warumungu man from Tennant Creek whose knowledge of housing and community life is grounded in lived experience, not formal training. His understanding is deeply embedded in Country — in climate, culture, and the everyday realities of how people live. Over a lifetime, Jimmy has witnessed the systemic failure of housing for his people, and yet continues to bring insight, humour, and clarity to conversations about what needs to change.
Simon is an accidental doctor and storyteller, shaped by a background entwined with privilege and the ongoing legacy of colonisation. His work is driven by a growing understanding of the relationship between land, culture, and the built environment — and the ways in which contemporary housing often ignores both.
Together, Jimmy and Simon represent two perspectives separated by experience and connected by a shared commitment to truth-telling. Between them lies an important space — one that reveals the reality that housing systems in Tennant Creek and across Australia have not failed by chance, but through long-standing structural design.
They are not architects, and they don’t claim to be. Their perspective is grounded in lived experience — in what it means to inhabit a home. Their work challenges conventional thinking, calling instead for deep listening and for Aboriginal people to lead the agenda in shaping housing futures.
Bringing fresh insight, honesty, and a commitment to meaningful change, their approach is not about disruption for its own sake, but about pursuing justice through new ways of thinking and doing.
Carroll Go-Sam HON. FRAIA
Brisbane, Queensland
Carroll Go-Sam is Dyirbal gumbilbara bama of Ravenshoe, North Queensland. She is a graduate in architecture from the University of Queensland. Carroll is an honorary fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects. A senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Queensland, with diverse Indigenous focused research projects. Currently undertaking studies in Indigenous social housing, health and climate resilience centring on communities of Yarrabah (Qld) and Tennant Creek (NT).