Talking Architecture & Design

Lisa Munao, Managing Director and Principal of Gensler’s Sydney office leads the strategic growth and operations of the firm across Australia and New Zealand. 

 With over 25 years of experience in the design industry, Lisa has guided major interior and workplace projects for global and local organisations and brings a passion for creative thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and sustainable design to everything she does. 

In this conversation she describes how design thinking shapes the future of work, community, and the built environment.

We talk with architects and founders of Taylor Buchtmann Architecture, Anne Taylor, and Michael Buchtmann, who are also the winners of the 2025 Sustainability Award in the Adaptive Reuse – Alteration/Addition category about their extraordinary award-winning project, The Stopover. 

This remarkable build transformed a dilapidated grain store into resilient, sensitive accommodation that honours both place and purpose. 

We dive in and hear from the two amazing minds behind this inspiring work.

With a background in architecture and interior design, emerging leader in sustainable design and the Green Star Program Lead at the Green Building Council of Australia, Gabrielle Pavicic is helping reshape how the built environment approaches sustainability — particularly at the fitout level, where waste and embodied carbon have long been overlooked. 

Her work bridges design thinking with technical delivery, driving measurable change across buildings and infrastructure. 

She’s also the winner of the Emerging Sustainable Architect/Designer category at the 2025 Sustainability Awards, hosted by Architecture & Design.

In this interview, she explores her journey, insights, and what’s next for a more regenerative built environment.

Brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, Proud Carbon Neutral Partners of the 2025 Sustainability Awards.

Known for his thoughtful, context-driven approach to design, acclaimed Australian architect Ed Lippmann, owner and founder of architectural practice, Lippmann Partnership, has a design portfolio that spans decades of civic buildings, cultural spaces, religious buildings, educational projects, and private residences that have helped define parts of Australia’s, as well as his own architectural identity. 

Ed Lippmann is a very busy man – he is also an author and in his new book, 40 Years of Architecture, he captures this extraordinary journey with surprising warmth and candour, offering insights not only into his many projects but also into the evolution of architecture in Australia over the past four decades. 

Across more than three decades, UNSW Professor Deo Prasad has shaped the national and global conversation on low carbon living through research, education, policy leadership, and industry collaboration. 

From pioneering sustainability education in the southern hemisphere to leading Australia’s largest built-environment research collaboration through the CRC for Low Carbon Living, his impact spans academia, government, industry, and generations of practitioners worldwide.

He talks about his life's work so far, the value of teaching, the importance of building partnerships and how improving sustainability in the built environment is for the benefit of humanity as a whole.

 In this episode of Talking Architecture & Design, host Clémence Carayol heads to Melbourne’s west to unpack one of Australia’s most ambitious health projects: the new Footscray Hospital. 

More than a deep dive into a major piece of infrastructure, the conversation explores how architecture can reshape the experience of healthcare itself.

The $1.5 billion hospital, designed by COX Architecture in collaboration with Billard Leece Partnership, is delivered by the Plenary Health consortium with Multiplex as builder, alongside the Victorian Government and Western Health. 

Joining the podcast are COX Executive Chair Patrick Ness and BLP Principal Mark Mitchell, who reflect on the ideas behind what has become affectionately known as “the People’s Hospital”.

Central to the discussion is the decision to conceive the hospital as a campus rather than a monolithic building. Five interconnected structures are organised around a village green, forming a civic heart that prioritises clarity, orientation and connection. 

This landscape-led approach reframes the hospital as a place people might visit for a coffee or a walk, not only in moments of illness, reinforcing its role as social and civic infrastructure.

Ness and Mitchell also discuss how human-centred design principles shaped everything from intuitive wayfinding and daylight-filled interiors to the careful management of scale in such a vast facility. 

Access to nature, cultural inclusion informed by collaboration with First Nations Elders, and a strong emphasis on staff wellbeing emerge as critical drivers of the design.

The episode also tackles future-facing challenges. Sustainability targets, including Green Star and WELL aspirations, influenced material choices and building performance, while lessons from COVID-19 informed flexibility and pandemic preparedness.

As the Footscray Hospital opens, this episode positions it as a powerful benchmark for healthcare architecture: a place where clinical excellence, community identity and long-term resilience are designed to coexist.

This podcast is brought to you in association with Autex Acoustics, proud sponsors of our 2025 Sustainability series of podcasts.

To help us unpack what it really means to build not just for a few weeks of sport, but for decades of community benefit, reuse, and resilience we spoke to two experts from design firm Populous: Dr. Kavita Gonsalves, Associate Principal - Sustainability Design Lead ‑ APAC, and Brayden Goodwin, Principal, Architect — Brisbane, on how circular design and sustainability are transforming sports infrastructure in Australia.

Catherine Skinner, Principal, BVN, Audun Opdal, Senior Partner, 3XN, Louise Pearson, Studio Director, ASPECT Studios, and Miguel Serrao, Associate, ASPECT Studios, sat down with Talking Architecture and Design at the recent opening of the stunning Sydney Fish Markets, to talk about the highlights, surprises and challenges of working on such a large, iconic and complex public infrastructure project.

In this episode of Talking Architecture & Design, we’re joined by Katrina Sedgwick, the inaugural Director and CEO of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co), who is leading one of Australia’s most ambitious cultural transformations – a $1.7 billion revitalisation connecting Federation Square through to Southbank.

Sedgwick shares what it’s like to build a new organisation while simultaneously delivering a project of national significance. Establishing MAP Co’s culture, partnerships, and long-term vision has gone hand in hand with reshaping one of Melbourne’s most important civic and artistic precincts.

The redevelopment is deeply informed by the precinct’s rich history and layered cultural identity. Rather than starting from scratch, the transformation celebrates heritage, architecture, and Melbourne’s long-standing creative community, ensuring the precinct remains both respectful of its past and responsive to the future.

At the heart of the project is Laak Boorndap, a new public garden designed as a place for gathering, reflection, and cultural expression. More than just a green space, it brings together nature, performance, and Indigenous storytelling to create a welcoming and meaningful environment for the city.

Climate resilience is also central to the design, with landscaping, shade, and water-sensitive strategies helping prepare the precinct for Melbourne’s changing conditions. First Peoples principles guide planting, artistic collaborations, and the ongoing care for Country, ensuring Indigenous knowledge and culture are embedded throughout the space.

Drawing on her leadership experience at major cultural institutions such as ACMI and the Adelaide Film Festival, Sedgwick brings a collaborative and community-focused approach to this complex project. Balancing the needs of artists, organisations, visitors, and the wider public is key to creating a precinct that truly belongs to everyone.

With Federation Square now under MAP Co’s stewardship, the vision is for a connected cultural corridor where art, public life, and civic space come together. From major events to everyday moments of connection, the precinct is being shaped to inspire creativity and community for generations to come.

Suzanne Toumbourou, CEO of the Australian Council of Recycling, shares her insights and helps us understand on the challenges the enormous opportunities that recycling and circular thinking present for Australia’s built environment. 

She also explains how architects, designers, builders and policymakers all have a critical role to play in shaping a more sustainable, resource-smart future.