People · Podcast guest
Sarah Lebner
Founder · Cooee Architecture
Regional Australian architect and founder of Cooee Architecture, focused on low-carbon homes and early-career support.
- Current role
- Founder
- Practice
- Cooee Architecture
- Location
- Victorian High Country and NSW Snowy Mountains, Australia
- On the podcast
- 1 episode · 2021
The story so far
The path behind Sarah's work.
Sarah Lebner is a regional Australian architect and the founder of Cooee Architecture, a practice focused on low-carbon and zero-carbon homes across the Victorian High Country and NSW Snowy Mountains. She founded Cooee in 2022, having previously been principal architect at Lighthouse Architecture and Science in Canberra, a multidisciplinary firm specialising in energy-efficient housing. She was awarded the Australian Institute of Architects' National Emerging Architect Prize.
Sarah is also the author of "101 Things I Didn't Learn in Architecture School (and wish I'd known before my first job)", and the creator of My First Architecture Job and the membership community The Architect Project, which help students and graduates bridge the gap between study and practice.
Episode 0096 · Architecture Social · 50:17
Sarah Lebner - Drive and Persistence - Practising Architecture and Building Communities
Sarah Lebner's work matters because it connects architecture practice with practical early-career support. That is more useful than inspiration on its own.
Inside the conversation
6 moments to start with- 01
00:00 · Introduction to Sarah Lebner
- 02
04:00 · Building Architecture Social and The Architect Project
- 03
10:00 · Practising architecture while building community
- 04
17:00 · Drive, persistence and personal motivation
- 05
24:00 · Motherhood, life and professional ambition
- 06
31:00 · My First Architecture Job and early-career support
Profile in brief
The work and context behind Sarah's conversation.
- Current role
- Founder
- Practice
- Cooee Architecture
- Location
- Victorian High Country and NSW Snowy Mountains, Australia
Continue exploring
Meet the practice behind the work.
Cooee Architecture, founded by Sarah Lebner, is a regional Australian studio creating low-carbon homes across the Victorian High Country and NSW.
- Residential
- Residential (Private Homes)
- Retrofit
Podcast · moments that play
Start where the idea starts.
- 04:00Sarah Lebner · Audio onlyListen from 04:00 in the full episode.
Building Architecture Social and The Architect Project
- 10:00Sarah Lebner · Audio onlyListen from 10:00 in the full episode.
Practising architecture while building community
- 17:00Sarah Lebner · Audio onlyListen from 17:00 in the full episode.
Drive, persistence and personal motivation
- 24:00Sarah Lebner · Audio onlyListen from 24:00 in the full episode.
Motherhood, life and professional ambition
- 31:00Sarah Lebner · Audio onlyListen from 31:00 in the full episode.
My First Architecture Job and early-career support
- 38:00Sarah Lebner · Audio onlyListen from 38:00 in the full episode.
Winning the National Emerging Architect Prize
Selected work from Cooee Architecture
Three projects, one connected practice.
A closer look at the practice’s work
The Silos Accommodation
A 60-year-old grain silo became compact, off-grid farmstay accommodation connected to the landscape and the farm's working life.
View project →Cooee Retrofit
A modest retrofit to a 1990s Canberra house nearly doubled its energy rating through targeted fabric and services upgrades.
View project →Corryong Retrofit
A staged retrofit masterplan made an existing 1980s home more comfortable, functional and energy efficient without increasing its area.
View project →