Design Speaks Weekly brings you the biggest stories in Australian architecture and design. Produced by Architecture Media, each episode explores a key theme shaping the built environment, paired with the latest industry news and analysis. As an extension of the Design Speaks event series, this podcast opens up vital conversations to a wider audience, wherever you are.
What makes something architecture? | Marina Tabassum
Marina Tabassum is a world-renowned Bangladesh architect and educator. Her architecture studio, Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA), was established in 2005 and has received numerous accolades, including two Aga Khan Awards for Architecture, the first for the Bait Ur Rouf Mosque and the second for a housing solution called Khudi Bari. Marina and her studio also designed the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion.
Her projects have significant social impact and are well known for the use of local natural materials and craftsmanship, which creates architecture that is both poetic and purposeful.
We sat down with Marina during her recent visit to Australia for Melbourne School of Design's 2026 Dean’s Lecture Series, to speak about the changing perception of what makes something architecture.
Further reading
Marina Tabassum’s kinetic 2025 Serpentine Pavilion openshttps://architectureau.com/articles/Marina-Tabassums-kinetic-2025-Serpentine-Pavilion-opens/
Architect of 2025 Serpentine Pavilion revealedhttps://architectureau.com/articles/architect-of-2025-Serpentine-pavilion-revealed/
Architecture for Empowermenthttps://architectureau.com/calendar/exhibitions/architecture-for-empowerment/
Recently, the exhibition Lived In was announced as Australia’s contribution to the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. Building on the Housing Atlas for Australia research project, the exhibition is a collaboration between creative directors Kerstin Thompson of Kerstin Thompson Architects, and Maryam Gusheh, Lee-Anne Khor and Louise Wright of Monash Urban Lab.
Lived In will draw on more than a century of Australian multi-residential housing to tell a national story of how we live, through drawings, data, photography, film and residents’ own experiences.
In this episode, ArchitectureAu editor Lucia Amies speaks with two of the creative directors Kerstin Thompson and Lee-Anne Khor to learn about the vision behind Lived In and find out what visitors can expect to see in Venice next year.
7 Sept 2026
Can a garden be both controlled and wild? | Rob Champion
Rob Champion is the founder of TARN, a landscape practice that focuses on experimental projects. Alongside his residential work, Rob is currently co-leading the design of the National Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery in Canberra, an ambitious project that is revitalising and expanding an important landscape.
In this episode, Emily Wong, editor of Landscape Australia, speaks with Rob about the opportunities of experimentation and imperfection, and how doing less can be more impactful in small-scale landscape design.
Further reading
Local hero: Robert Championhttps://landscapeaustralia.com/articles/local-hero-robert-champion/
Meet the jury for the Landscape Australia Awardshttps://landscapeaustralia.com/articles/meet-the-jury-2026-landscape-australia-awards/
Testing grounds: Gardens as laboratorieshttps://landscapeaustralia.com/articles/testing-grounds-gardens-as-laboratories/
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5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
4.9 / 5
28 ratings
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