Lisa Garner is an architect and director of LIAN Architects, an emerging practice dedicated to rethinking how housing can be more sustainable, adaptable, and community focused. Lisa co-founded LIAN Architects following a prize-winning entry in the Victorian Government’s Future Homes competition (2020) to expand upon her interest in housing design and policy. Since then, she has led projects including a suite of pattern book apartment designs for the State government, an eight-story Nightingale Housing development, as well as numerous residential alterations, additions, and small-scale commercial projects.
Over eight weeks of the Fellowship, Garner will develop her proposed research project, “Abitare insieme – Living together - Learning from Italy: Multigenerational Housing for Australia” at the American Academy in Rome.
Garner will explore Italy’s multigenerational housing traditions—both historic and contemporary, focusing on: spatial configurations, adaptive reuse and incremental expansion strategies that allow homes to evolve over generations and, policy and economic models that sustain these housing typologies. The research will also explore design possibilities for the Australian context.
“This Fellowship is an exciting chance to learn from housing traditions in Italy that place family, adaptability, and care at their core. I look forward to exploring how these ideas might inform more flexible and supportive housing in Australia.,” Garner said.
Professor Vivian Mitsogianni, jury chair, and Dean of Architecture & Urban Design at RMIT, commended Garner’s selection.
“Lisa Garner has shown sustained commitment to initiating speculative and built projects that seek to broaden the available housing models in Australia” she said.
“The fellowship is well deserved and will enable Lisa to expand her research, to make connections internationally and to subsequently further advance her design explorations within the Australian context” Mitsogianni said.
Chair of the Alastair Swayn Foundation, Graham Humphries, welcomed the announcement and highlighted the significance of Garner’s research focus.
“Lisa Garner’s work demonstrates a thoughtful and engaged approach to contemporary housing challenges,” said Humphries. “Her research into multigenerational housing models has strong relevance for Australia’s future, and we are proud to support her as she undertakes this important investigation at the American Academy in Rome. The Foundation looks forward to seeing how her findings will influence future design thinking and policy.”
Upon the conclusion of her fellowship, Garner 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 Suzannah Waldron, Director of Serle x Waldron Architects; Mark Jacques, Director of openwork Landscape Architects and RMIT Professor of Architecture (Urbanism); and Professor Vivian Mitsogianni, Dean of RMIT’s School of Architecture & Urban Design with advisor Michael Jasper (Alastair Swayn Foundation), evaluated applications for the 2025/26 fellowship.
More information about previous Fellows