Stephanie Pahnis to undertake Architectural Research at the American Academy in Rome
Architect Stephanie Pahnis has been awarded the 2024/25 Alastair Swayn Foundation-RMIT Architecture Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, marking a significant milestone in her career.
Stephanie is an architect, artist and educator, currently working as a project architect at Lyons. She is the co-founder of design collective, Sens, architecture publication, Caliper Journal and is committed to platforms that cultivate discourse, exchange, and research.
Over eight weeks of the Fellowship, Pahnis will develop her proposed research project, “Enduring Cultural Matter,” at the American Academy in Rome.
Stephanie’s project will focus on building material (matter), its links to cultural memory and the intersection with public space and identity in architecture. Stephanie is interested in contemporary design processes, cultural and historical memory embedded in material applications and the design potential of adaptive reuse strategies, maintenance practices, local material uses and waste.
“This fellowship at the American Academy in Rome presents an exciting opportunity to strengthen and expand my practice within an interdisciplinary context, whilst contributing to meaningful research in the field of architecture,” Stephanie said.
Professor Vivian Mitsogianni, jury chair, and Dean of Architecture & Urban Design at RMIT, commended Pahnis’s selection.
“Stephanie has shown sustained commitment to developing her design-practice research while teaching and participating in numerous self-initiated, collective projects such as publications and exhibitions – all of which have advanced public discourse around architecture in Melbourne,” she said.
“The fellowship will enable Stephanie to expand the research and to make connections internationally. After much work to build local culture in Melbourne, this opportunity is very well deserved,” Mitsogianni said.
Graham Humphries, Chair of the Alastair Swayn Foundation, expressed the organisation’s support for Pahnis’s appointment, acknowledging her potential to make a valuable contribution to the architecture profession.
“The Foundation is very pleased with Stephanie’s selection as the second Affiliated Fellow. Stephanie’s research interests in the cultural meaning, histories and life cycles of materials embedded in the built environment is sure to be enhanced by her time in Rome. We look forward to learning more when she returns,” he said.
Upon the conclusion of her fellowship, Pahnis will share her findings and experiences through a public lecture, offering insights into her research journey. Further details about this lecture will be provided in due course.
The ASF-RMIT Affiliated Fellowship, established in 2023, provides early and mid-career Australian architects and designers with invaluable opportunities for research, professional development, and interdisciplinary collaboration at the American Academy in Rome.
With widespread support from the architecture, urban design, and interior design communities, the fellowship is a sought-after opportunity, attracting exceptional applicants.
A panel of experts, including Rodney Eggleston, Director of March Studio Architects; Amy Muir, Director of Muir Architecture; and Professor Vivian Mitsogianni, Dean of RMIT’s School of Architecture & Urban Design with advisor Michael Jasper (Alastair Swayn Foundation), evaluated applications for the 2024/25 fellowship.
To those who applied but were not selected, the jury encourages persistence and invites them to consider reapplying in the next round, scheduled for early 2025.