Brisbane To Welcome the 2026 Australian Architecture Conference

Andrew D’Occhio 

Andrew is the co-director of Cavill Architects, sharing the studio’s leadership and management with Sandy the practice’s founder. In practice since 2006, Andrew has contributed to the work of Donovan Hill, Grimshaw, OMA, and Woods Bagot. Prior to joining Cavill Architects in 2018, Andrew cofounded Partners Hill with Timothy Hill, assisting Timothy as project lead for the UQ Student Residences Project, Daylesford Longhouse and Mermaid Multihouse.   

Skilled in leading from concept to completion, Andrew’s particular specialty lies in leading large-scale projects where technical and organizational complexity must be carefully interwoven with experience, delight, compliance, and economy of construction. Andrew’s delivery experience ranges civic, commercial, institutional, accommodation, cultural, retail and master planning sectors, coordinating services across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan.  

Outside of practice Andrew has taught masters programs in urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture. His involvement in academia is continuous as a regular guest critic to Brisbane’s architectural schools.  

Gina Engelhardt  

Gina works across architecture and urban design at Hassell and has tutored at the University of Queensland. Through her work, teaching and studies, Gina has honed a passion for climate-just design. Her master’s thesis, “It’s time for a new story: understanding the sustainability worldviews of Australian architects,” explored Australian architects’ hopes for the future of architecture, and sparked a passion for discovering new narratives to shape our collective future.   

Upon graduating in 2023, Gina received the Philip Y Bisset Planning (Architecture) Scholarship, to undertake independent travelling research for the benefit of Queensland architecture. Across a year of conversations, she explored cutting-edge practice responses to the social, ethical and practical questions posed by climate change, questioning how international responses could translate to the Australian context.   

Her research in climate-just design is ongoing. Gina is working with Hassell’s sustainability team and is a member of the National RAP Working Group, helping to design and implement Hassell’s Innovate RAP.    

Shaneen Fantin  

Dr. Shaneen Fantin is a registered architect, project manager and researcher with over 30 years of industry expertise, specializing in co-design, engagement, placed-based, and community-driven projects in regional and remote communities. Shaneen is passionate about sustainable and appropriate development and has dedicated her career to understanding the relationship of culture, design and architecture with First Nations peoples. Shaneen is co-chair of the First Nations Advisory Committee of the Australian Institute of Architects and a member of the Queensland Urban Design and Places Panel for the Queensland State Government. She is a sought-after juror and jury captain on architecture awards programs at a regional and national level, and she led the Cairns Festival of Architecture and Designed in Cairns Lecture Series for three years. Shaneen is also a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and Western Sydney University and the author of over 40 journal articles and book chapters on tropical, sustainable and regional architecture, partnering with First Nations organisations, and women in design. Shaneen lives on Yidinji Country in far north Queensland and in her down time she enjoys hanging out with family, propagating endemic plants for land care projects, bushwalking and travelling.  
  

Jack Gillmer  

Jack is a proud Worimi and Biripi guri of the Gathang language group and an architect who positions Country as the driver of narrative in his practice. Advocating for and facilitating First Nations leadership and co-design, his work navigates both tangible and intangible cultural paradigms to reveal latent knowledges embedded in Country. Jack is particularly interested in forging connection between cultural knowledge systems and the built environment as a space of unrealised opportunity and endless potential.

Guided by a cultural obligation to care for Country, Jack cultivates design processes led alongside Traditional Custodians—an approach he recognises as essential to meaningful outcomes and to shaping the future of our urban fabric. His contribution extends across professional and community contexts, including university teaching, publications, and public programming.

In 2024, Jack was awarded the Galang Residency, a partnership between the Powerhouse Museum and Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Over three months abroad he explored repatriation, rematriation, and (re)conciliation through artistic practice and a cultural architectural lens, reframing museology and its role within cultural institutions. His expertise in this space has led to international opportunities such as keynote lectures in Canada, and England, as well as his recent appointment on the Cultural Council at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford UK, to put protocols in place for practice, and work towards a rehang for their 150th year anniversary in 2034. 
His ongoing research and practice across the arts, exhibition, and museum sectors—together with the collective expertise of the Creative Sphere—positions Jack as co-Creative Director for ‘Home’, the Australian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. 
  

Blake Hillebrand  

Blake is a Melbourne-born, London-raised emerging Australian architectural designer whose work is grounded in inclusive design, climate action and leadership. He positions architecture as a strategic tool to negotiate competing agendas and deliver meaningful outcomes in contested contexts.  

In 2023, he received the National Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture from the Australian Institute of Architects, recognised for leadership during COVID-19. The jury highlighted his role in strengthening student culture across Victoria and Australia through initiatives with SONA and RMIT’s student collective, noting his “palpable spirit of generosity” in fostering connection, knowledge sharing, and creative opportunities.  

In 2024, Blake served as National SONA President and as a National Councillor of the Institute. He has also contributed to the National Education Committee, the Climate Action and Sustainability Committee, and the Victorian and International Chapters.  

At Kerstin Thompson Architects, Blake works across education campuses, cultural institutions, and urban precincts, extending his impact beyond the studio through mentoring, exhibitions, and writing. His professional experience spans Australia, South Korea, and Denmark, where he has engaged in both design practice and field research, bringing an international perspective to questions of authorship, value, and civic responsibility in architecture.  

Ian Moore  

Ian Moore is the principal of Ian Moore Architects, established in 1990. The practice has won numerous national and international awards and has been published and exhibited widely, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008 and 2012.  

Initially studying civil and structural engineering at the Auckland Technical Institute in New Zealand, Ian then studied architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney, graduating with honours in 1988. He received a Master of Architecture degree, from RMIT University, Melbourne in 2000.  

Ian has taught at numerous universities and been a speaker and guest lecturer throughout Australia as well as New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Germany and the United Kingdom. Ian has also been a member of awards juries in Australia, New Zealand and at the World Festival of Interiors in 2013 and the World Architecture Festival in 2015. In 2003, Ian was the inaugural Creative Director for the Australian Institute of Architects annual conference.  

Debjani Sarkar  

Debjani Sarkar is an Australian-Indian practitioner based in Sydney. Her goal is to catalyse actionable change in equity and sustainability within the architecture community. She is a Registered Architect in both NSW and India, with a diverse portfolio spanning health, community, science, and research projects across India, the Netherlands and Australia. Beyond her professional practice, Debjani is deeply involved in promoting equity and sustainability within the built environment. She is the creator and co-convener of ‘On the Verandah’, a Parlour initiative that highlights the value of cultural background and intercultural literacy – within practice and beyond. She is also a founding Board Director and current Chair of Biyani House – Revesby Women’s Community Shelter, a crisis accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence. As part of the expansion of the Shelter, it was her vision that led to the design and recent delivery of NSW’s first modular response to crisis accommodation. 

Debjani’s sustainability journey started with her involvement with Australian Architects Declare (AAD), The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), and continues with her Masters of Sustainability at The University of Sydney.  
  

David Wagner  

David Wagner is a founding partner of Atelier Wagner Architects, established in 1998 and working across institutional, commercial, heritage and residential sectors with a studio based in Melbourne. The work is principally public in nature and explores how architecture can best serve the community while creating a long-term view of the built environment.  Prior to commencing AWA, David practised in London, Canberra and Melbourne working for a range of architectural practices and also for several years taught architectural design, history and theory at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne School of Design.  

David is currently serving as National President Elect, after having been active for many years in the Victorian Chapter, including several on Chapter Council with three years as Victorian President.  During this period David introduced monthly ESD virtual lean-ins exploring all aspects of sustainable design, increased the breadth and cadence of advocacy to the Victorian political leadership and government while encouraging broader membership involvement with the Institute.  For the last couple of decades David has been an active participant in practice forums contributing to practice dialogue and broader discourse.  David has served on Victorian Chapter Awards and Prizes juries including as Chair of Juries and for the last couple of years has been a panel member of the City of Melbourne’s Design Excellence Advisory Committee.    

David advocates that architecture must inspire and contribute to equitable, culturally diverse and sustainable communities, with architects taking a leadership role in the design and shaping of our built environment.  The Australian Institute of Architects has a foundational role to play in empowering architects to practice architecture at the highest level and to support such aspirations.  David looks forward to helping shape the upcoming conference, contributing to the framework of learnings, collegiality and celebration that will be the 2026 National Architecture Conference.