Sarah Zijlstra

With an introspective nature, Sarah has built her interior architecture experience upon a sturdy foundation of a keen eye for detail, an appreciation for design aesthetics and cultural narratives.

From idea conception to detailing joinery pieces, maintaining a human-centric approach is a visceral reminder of the true meaning of interior architecture. Her appreciation for long-established architectural elements leads to an amalgamation of traditional ideas with a contemporary approach.

We traverse through life gathering fragments that shape who we are. Sarah believes that design holds the power to reflect this inner landscape, leaving a lasting imprint onto our livelihood and environment.

Betula Office Level One

Betula is an in-house magazine design office retrofit in a north-facing, narrow site. With no access to easterly or westerly windows, the gable roof houses skylights and an internal courtyard brings light and opens up the interior space from the ground floor.

Betula Courtyard Ground Floor

The weathered brick contributes an industrial feel to the workspace, which is then juxtaposed by the sleek modern look of the courtyard's glazing. The inbuilt bookshelf creates a streamlined feature of the walkway whilst being functional.

Nectar Hive Exterior

There is an imminent desire to rekindle the nature of human connection, where mutual respect, empathy and understanding are in the limelight. Nectar Hive achieves this as a creative cultural hub, finding ways to strengthen community bonds whilst striving for positive sociocultural changes through providing language services, health education and temporary housing support.

Nectar Home Lobby

As an extension of Nectar Hive, Nectar Home provides temporary housing solutions for immigrant families in Melbourne. Embracing the warmth of timber and the Southeast Asian origins of rattan, the lobby space aims to transport residents to the familiar sensation of a comforting home.

Nectar Home Mail Room

As a small space, the mail room utilises materiality to bring warmth and character to an otherwise simple space. To reflect the original facade of the Barkly Theatre, curvatures have been used to soften the space and denote safety for the immigrant communities.

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.