People · Podcast guest
Sarah Lebner
Sarah Lebner - Drive and Persistence - Practising Architecture and Building Communities
Sarah Lebner is an Australian architect and founder of Cooee Architecture, creating low-carbon homes and supporting early-career architects.
- Current role
- Founder
- Practice
- Cooee Architecture
- Location
- Victorian High Country and NSW Snowy Mountains, Australia
Conversation
The thinking behind the work.
Episode 0096 · Architecture Social
Sarah Lebner - Drive and Persistence - Practising Architecture and Building Communities
Join us in an open conversation discussing personal and professional drive and the journey that got her to become "National Emerging Architect Prize winner" in Australia.
Explore episode moments
Use the timestamps below to find each moment in the full episode.
- 04:00 · Building Architecture Social and The Architect Project · Audio only
- 10:00 · Practising architecture while building community · Audio only
- 17:00 · Drive, persistence and personal motivation · Audio only
- 24:00 · Motherhood, life and professional ambition · Audio only
- 31:00 · My First Architecture Job and early-career support · Audio only
- 38:00 · Winning the National Emerging Architect Prize · Audio only
Selected work
Selected work.
Junee, Wiradjuri Country, Australia
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.
Explore the project ↗Palmerston, Ngunnawal Country, Australia
Cooee Retrofit
A modest retrofit to a 1990s Canberra house nearly doubled its energy rating through targeted fabric and services upgrades.
Explore the project ↗Corryong, Jaitmathang and Dhudoroa Country, Australia · 2017
Corryong Retrofit
A staged retrofit masterplan made an existing 1980s home more comfortable, functional and energy efficient without increasing its area.
Explore the project ↗Other public work
Welaregang Farmhouse ↗
An unbuilt retirement farmhouse concept balances western views, northern solar access, accessibility and a deliberately compact footprint.
About
The story so far.
The person behind the 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.
In her conversation with Stephen Drew on the Architecture Social Podcast, Sarah talks about practising architecture while building useful community resources, sustainable and energy-efficient design, balancing motherhood and professional ambition, and the drive and persistence behind her work.
Watch or listen to the full conversation in the Architecture Social CPD: Embracing Change and Innovation: Insights from Sarah Lebner on the Future of Architecture.
The practice
Cooee Architecture
Cooee Architecture, founded by Sarah Lebner, is a regional Australian studio creating low-carbon homes across the Victorian High Country and NSW.
Architecture practice
Expertise
What I bring.
- Current role
- Founder
- Practice
- Cooee Architecture
- Location
- Victorian High Country and NSW Snowy Mountains, Australia
- On the podcast
- 1 episode · 2021
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