Kaila Gordon

Bachelor of Design (Architecture)

I am a third year architecture student, finishing up a Bachelor of Design (Architecture) at Swinburne University of Technology. I moved to Melbourne from the Northern Territory in 2018 to study science but ended up transferring to architecture, and have loved it ever since.

I have experience in multiple work and volunteering environments around the world and throughout Australia, and have really enjoyed getting further experience in the design and construction industry in the past few years. I am really looking forward to entering the industry as a graduate of architecture, and being able to use what I have learnt throughout my years at Swinburne to make an impact.

I chose to study architecture because I am passionate about the impact that the built environment has on us. Robert Sullivan said “good architecture is like a good therapy session, a good marriage, a good poem – gently and almost invisibly allowing you to be you...”

The past semester has opened me up to the fact that architecture and urban design also has the power to make a big impact on our future. Our generation of architects, designers and planners will hopefully give Australia a necessary push to becoming a more sustainable society, and I’m enormously excited to be a part of that.

Third Yard- Night

Third Yard- Day

Third Yard - 'The Shed'

Reeves House- North facade proposal

Inver Afloat

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.