DEB ADAMS
BKK Architects
SAY IT LOUD - Naarm Melbourne Exhibitor
MELBOURNE/AUSTRALIA Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
People who are genuine, have integrity and stand by their values. I really admire women who have blazed a trail for the next generation in any profession. It's so important to have a diverse workforce so we can genuinely design for our diverse world.
DEB ADAMS
Bio:
Deb has 15 years’ experience as a registered architect in the UK and Melbourne. She has delivered projects that are residential (including various social housing models), educational, cultural and public. She has sat on multiple AIA Victorian Chapter awards panels. Deb has worked on sustainable residential developments in the UK including a scheme for Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud. In 2017, she completed a Passivhaus research paper for the AIRAH conference (with Mott Macdonald).
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
I had a creative streak as a child. I could draw for hours and loved playing with Lego. Until I was 8, I was interested in animation but then I saw Tom Selleck play an architect in Three Men and a Baby. By 11, I was sure that was what I wanted to do.
What do you do?
I’m a Senior Associate and BKK’s most senior female architect. I run and oversee projects, mentor younger architects in and outside BKK, work on business development, and drive focus areas of BKK e.g., sustainability and research and development.
What excites you in the work you do?
Architects have a duty to make the world better. We create places that extend what humans can do, beyond what they’ve imagined. There are so many brilliant architecture professionals and we should all demand better build quality and sustainability.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
People who are genuine, have integrity and stand by their values. I really admire women who have blazed a trail for the next generation in any profession. It's so important to have a diverse workforce so we can genuinely design for our diverse world.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Someone I mentored told me that they’d learned and grown from the help I’d given them and that they felt well equipped to deal with residential clients and design as a result. I felt so proud to think that my contribution went beyond my own projects.
Featured Project Name:
ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) Renewal
Featured Project Location:
Federation Square, Flinders St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Featured Project Completion Date:
June 2020
Role in Featured Project:
Senior Associate/ Project Architect
Featured Project Description:
Works included exhibition-space refurbishment, technical and compliance upgrades, and reconfiguring usages throughout the building to increase gallery space. It involved gutting and replacing two floors of the Federation Square building. I delivered it through a very co-designed process with BKK, exhibition/experience designers Razorfish, and ACMI. The fitout was highly technical and interdependent with the architecture. There were complex stakeholders, heritage and a tight construction program.
