>>>>PUBLIC PANEL DISCUSSION

CANBERRA POST POLITICS

BEYOND WALTER. BEYOND BORDERS. HOW DOES A PLANNED CITY DEVELOP INTO A CAPITAL EXAMPLE OF REGIONAL GROWTH?

The general public is invited to join us for a bite of afternoon tea and an engaging conversation moderated by RAA president Tim Lee.

You’re welcome to come along on a short walk afterwards too - following the panel discussion, we will move on to view ‘Between Mountains’, a local mural project by Lymesmith not normally visible to the public.

MODERATOR: Tim Lee
Tim is the principal of a small practice located in Goulburn NSW. After growing up in the Canberra region and moving to Goulburn in the early 2000’s, Tim has spent the majority of his career working closely with regional communities on a wide range of projects. Tim’s practice has developed a methodology of designing region-specific climate appropriate solutions focused on the end user’s experience of the built environment.

Tim is the current president of the Regional Architecture Association and is passionate about our capacity as design professionals to lead the development of regional areas, maintaining regional identity and reinforcing the need for considered, appropriate design advocacy for communities and individuals alike.

PANEL: Catherine Townsend
Catherine is a highly respected architect with 40 years of experience across private practice and government. In 2016, Catherine became the Australian Capital Territory’s first female Government Architect. Her commitment to better places, liveable buildings and sustainable cities is informed by decades of advocacy work with communities and professional organisations. With a commitment to better built outcomes, Catherine Chairs the National Capital Design Review Panel, provides strategic advice to government, and is an expert panel member for significant government projects. Catherine’s leadership and expertise is utilised through appointments to multiple design boards, panels, teaching positions and juries. Collectively, she leverages these roles to advocate for and facilitate high-quality, people and place-responsive design and heritage outcomes.

PANEL: Dr Julian Raxworthy
Dr. Julian Raxworthy is a Registered Landscape Architect based in Canberra and the Principal Landscape Architect at FREE-RANGE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, his practice since 2008. He is an Honorary Senior Fellow with the ATCH (Architecture, Theory, Criticism, and History) Research Centre at the University of Queensland. He has held ongoing faculty positions in Australia at RMIT, QUT, and UC, as well as internationally at the University of Cape Town. He has also been a visiting professor at l’École nationale supérieure de paysage in Versailles and the University of Virginia. His most recent book, Overgrown: Practices Between Landscape Architecture and Gardening, was published in 2018 by The MIT Press, supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. His current research, for a book provisionally titled Latent City, explores the intersection of ideology, land tenure, natural systems, and the experience of landscape.

PANEL: Thurston Empson
With a professional background in architectural design, Thurston Empson brings a unique perspective to his photographs. He is a quiet observer who communicates through images, focusing on capturing the spatial and atmospheric essence of his subjects. His photographic style emphasises spatial qualities, strong compositions, and the interplay between objects, buildings, and their contexts, conveying space in a soft, contemplative manner through reduction and simplicity. Considering photography the final step in the design process, Thurston’s work balances strength with subtlety.

Thurston has been part of award-winning design teams and shares his knowledge by tutoring university students in design thinking and representation. He has been featured locally and internationally, and has documented award-winning projects for architects and designers across Australia and Europe.

NOTE: CONTEXT ticket holders do not need to register separately for this panel discussion, it is already included in your booking.

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