Kate Nason
M Arch

Never underestimate the value of seeing the project you are working on in the flesh!

My favourite academic project while at university was ‘Refining Kurnell’ which entailed the reimagination of the decommissioned Caltex oil refinery. My project focused on the ecological revival and regeneration of the land and  social and economic sustainability of the town by integrating a new research and education facility with the site. 

My greatest learning moment at Gran was Young TAFE which gave me a solid head start on using Revit – a program I have used in every job since. A total life saver to learn this before finishing university!

The 5 hour drive (each way!) out to Young to go on a 1.5 hr site visit was definitely a memorable experience. Never underestimate the value of seeing the project you are working on in the flesh!

Right now I am focussing my career on energy efficient buildings, particularly the Passive House (Passivhaus) standard, in Australia. I have recently been awarded the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship which will allow me to explore how leading countries are implementing this as a building performance benchmark at various levels of development and policy. I have also recently become a board director of the Australian Passive House Association which is enabling me to pursue my passion of advocating for higher buildings standards.

Currently I work at an architecture firm in Melbourne called ARKit which specialises in prefabricated construction, and (you guessed it) Passive House design.