Geneva Bates

My name is Geneva Bates, and I have completed my final year in a Bachelor of Design (Architecture) at Swinburne University Of Technology.

My passion for Architecture began at a very young age where I was lucky enough to travel around the world and appreciate historically significant architecture. This sparked my interest in design, and I started to notice the intricacy and personality of structures that live among us.

At the beginning of 2024, I completed an Architectural Internship in London at Debbie Flevotomou Architects. This was an immersive experience where I got to meet the project manager for Neom ‘The Line’, located in Saudi Arabia.

Debbie’s firm focused on the slogan “Think Nature’ with biophilic and sustainable architecture. This has inspired me to think diversly about sustainability and incorporation of natural elements in architecture.

Echoes of Newport

Echoes of Newport is a sensory museum in Newport, VIC, created to revitalise a suburb that currently struggles to attract visitors. Designed as a landform architecture, the building emerges from the ground to reconnect people with land, Country, and Indigenous heritage.
The museum follows a Past–Present–Future narrative: beginning with Newport’s rich Indigenous history, moving into the present to reveal the environmental and social impacts of modern life, and concluding in a future space where visitors determine the path forward and consider how their choices shape what comes next.

Abyss to Zenith

Abyss to Zenith is a mixed-use seafront development in Docklands, VIC, combining student accommodation with public attractor points to revitalise an under-visited stretch of waterfront.
Named after the Latin phrase “from the bottom of the river to the stars,” the building descends 23 metres below sea level and rises toward the sky. Each level frames a different layer of the landscape: underwater, city edge, and open sky, creating a curated sequence of environmental experiences.
As both a living space and a public destination, Abyss to Zenith reconnects people with the Docklands waterfront through immersive spatial encounters.

Malvern House

Malvern House is a residential extension in Malvern East designed for a retired couple seeking a functional, light-filled home. The project revitalises the existing Victorian dwelling while respecting its heritage character, introducing a contemporary addition that enhances comfort and liveability. Internal courtyards, large openings, skylights, and a retractable deck bring greenery, natural light, and fresh air into the home. Flexible living areas, including a tea room, reading space, office, and open living zones create a calm, adaptable environment that supports the couple’s everyday routines.

Reaching Out

Reaching Out is a transformative renovation proposal for the AMDC Building at Swinburne University of Technology, responding to its current underuse of space and inefficient circulation. The existing building suffers from limited daylight penetration, and corridors that fail to encourage movement, collaboration, or connection to the campus beyond its walls.
The design reimagines the relationship with its surroundings by extending the façade outward to reclaim unused spatial potential. This outward gesture creates a series of balconies that “reach out” toward the campus and the city, maximising views for office spaces while drawing abundant natural light deeper into the interior.

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.