Join authors Hannah Lewi and Cameron Logan with guests for the launch of Adapt: Designing New Lives for Old Buildings for Melbourne Design Week.

One of the most powerful ways architects have to build more sustainably is by building as little new work as possible in favour of informed conservation, care and adaptive reuse of existing buildings and materials. Join a panel of speakers from leading architecture practice, the heritage sector and academia to celebrate the publication of ADAPT: Designing New Lives for Old Buildings.

The book launch will include a panel discussion – a site which is featured in the book as one of the case studies of successful adaptive reuse for community-making. The panel discussion will be moderated by Associate Professor Rory Hyde, and will include Professor Hannah Lewi, Associate Professor Cameron Logan and Professor Robert Crawford as co-authors of the ADAPT book. Plus, designers and decision-makers included in the book to discuss best practice in sensitively and creatively adapting and reusing historic buildings and landscapes over the last decade in Australia.

When: 6pm Wednesday 20 May 2026

Where: CY Space, Unit 7/35 Johnston St, Collingwood VIC 3066 (Collingwood Yards) (NOTE: this is not the Bookshop by Uro store)

Tickets:
$5- ticket price redeemable as a discount from book purchases

About the speakers

Hannah Lewi has areas of expertise are in architectural design, history and theory. Her research spans Australian and modern history, conservation. collective memory and interpretation, and the innovative use of new media in representing heritage and history. She has a long-standing involvement with the documentation and conservation of 20th century sites of significance in Australia.

Cameron Logan is an urban and architectural historian in the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. He leads the Histories of Architecture and Built Environment group (HABEg) and convenes the School's Masters program in Heritage Conservation. His work focuses on the cultural and political processes that shape which buildings come to be regarded as representative and worthy of protection.

Kerstin Thompson is Founding Principal and Design Director of Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA), established in Melbourne, Australia 1994. A pracademic committed to practice and design-based research and education, she is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Monash Universities and Professor of Practice at Abedian School of Architecture, Bond University.

Rory Hyde is Associate Professor in Architecture (Curatorial Design and Practice) in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. He is the lead researcher of the ARC Linkage-funded project Co-Designing Housing for First Nations Prosperity. All of his work is driven by a desire for social impact, by the potential for change, and for creating contexts and opportunities for others to enact this change themselves.

Robert Crawford has broad research expertise and interest in the built environment, sustainability, life cycle assessment and renewable energy. His research focuses on building environmental assessment, with a particular emphasis on sustainable resource use, the environmentally appropriate selection of materials and sustainable building design and feasibility.

Suzanne Zahra specialises in the assessment and adaptation of heritage buildings at Lovell Chen, with a particular focus on post-war structures. Her work frequently involves the adaptive reuse and refurbishment of large-scale complexes, including university campuses. She also plays a key role in delivering heritage services for major infrastructure projects in Melbourne.

Tim Brooks is an Associate Director at Fieldwork, an architecture and interior design studio based in Melbourne and Adelaide.

Contact the host of MDW—Adapt Launch