Alannah Giurdanella

Hi, I’m Alannah! I’m a Bachelor of Architectural Design student at Swinburne University of Technology. I am a hardworking and dedicated individual who is passionate about design, people, and the built environment. I am committed to producing work at the highest standard and continuously improving my skills and knowledge.

I am always eager to take on new challenges and learn new methods, technologies and approaches that elevate both the design outcome and the user experience. I value collaboration and communication and I strive to bring these qualities into every project I undertake.

Throughout my studies I have developed a deep appreciation for how architecture influences the way people live, feel, and connect with their environment. I am passionate about designing for people first and shaping spaces that truly respond to human needs, behaviours, emotions, and experiences. I aim to create design solutions that are thoughtful, meaningful, and sustainable, while enhancing everyday life in both subtle and powerful ways.

My goal is to contribute to an industry where design genuinely improves the way people move through space, interact with each other, and connect with their surroundings. I am driven to make a positive contribution to the future of architecture by creating environments that support wellbeing, foster community, and elevate the human experience.

Architectural Design Studio 3 (Construction)

The project transforms parametric forms into a dynamic community centre that responds to its site through thoughtful spatial organization, natural light, and environmental considerations. The design integrates a cohesive material and construction system, demonstrating structural logic, fabrication processes, and material constraints. High-quality architectural drawings—site plans, sections, elevations, and details—clearly communicate the design intent with precision and hierarchy. The presentation follows a curated narrative, emphasizing the project’s architectural value and the role of parametric design in fostering community engagement.

Construction 2: Building Services and Documentation Packages

For this brief, we created a pavilion for the artist Banksy. The design was developed to support his needs as an anonymous street artist, providing a private and secure studio space while still enabling controlled public interaction with his work. The pavilion functioned as both an artist-in-residence hub and a micro gallery. It allowed visitors to engage with the making process while preserving the artist’s identity and protecting his methods.

Architectural Design Studio 2 (Socio-economic Contexts)

This project delivered a senior housing development centred entirely on the real needs of older residents. It combined supported living with meaningful social interaction, prioritising accessibility, comfort, independence, safety, and ease of daily life. Adaptable spaces balanced privacy and connection as required, resulting in a practical, people-focused model of senior living that supports dignity, community connection, and overall well-being.
The design responded to how seniors actually live, move, connect, and prefer to interact. Spaces were adaptable, private when needed, and shared when beneficial. The result is a practical and people-focused model of senior living that supports quality of life, dignity, community connection, and resident well-being.

Architectural Design Studio 2 (Socio-economic Contexts)

This one–bedroom apartment was designed for senior living. It includes a kitchen, dining and living area, bedroom, and an accessible bathroom. Both the bedroom and living space connect to the outdoors, and storage and wall space allow residents to personalise the interior. The layout supports comfort, safety, and easy everyday use for older residents.

Professional Practice 1: BIM (Building Information Management)

The project is a retrofit proposal for the AMDC building that enhances connection, collaboration, and creativity for students, tutors, lecturers, and PhD candidates. It rethinks Levels 5 to 8 to support how people actually learn, work, and interact, while also improving environmental performance and indoor to outdoor connection. Through BIM, site analysis, user needs, and program mapping, the design develops new interior layouts and a façade that expresses the internal program externally. The project aims to future proof the AMDC building for the next 50 years and strengthen the identity of Swinburne’s creative campus.

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.