Sophie Lanigan is an architectural designer, researcher and editor.

Sophie Lanigan Projects is a research-based practice where findings are presented in a variety of medium depending on what is most appropriate to the outcomes. The studio is based on the unceded lands of the Gadigal, Bidjigal and Birrabirragal people.

The current research is focused the design of coastal urban seascapes and the opportunity they present to remediate coastal erosion, bio-diversity loss and re-engage city-dwellers with life beneath the waterline. In addition to exploring these ideas through design this research is being pursued through a PhD in Architecture at the University of Cambridge.

Sophie’s current editorial project, Mollusc, will launch in mid-2024. Previously, she was Editor-in-Chief of Union Magazine, an award-winning Australian print publication for architecture, design and art, and the Founding Editor of Sent, 2019-2021.

Sophie has developed high-quality editorial, research and design projects for; Melbourne Design Week 2024, Union Magazine, Sydney Design Week 2023, the Architectural Association London, Sir John Soane Museum London and Terracycle. Her work has been included in exhibitions for Tin Sheds Gallery, Woollahra Gallery, Sculpture by the Sea, the Montalto Sculpture Prize, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne Design Week Art Book Fair, Powerhouse: Late, the Australian Design Centre, and New Generations Rome.

Key Appointments

Communications Manager, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, 2023 - present
Editor in Chief, UNION Magazine, 2022 - 2024
Rothwell Chair Research and Editorial Assistant, U. of Sydney, 2021 - 2022
Research and Communications, Cave Urban, 2020 - 2022
Research Assistant to Associate Dean of Architecture, UTS, 2020 - 2022
Unit Master, Architecture Association Summer School, June-July 2021

Education

PhD in Architecture, University of Cambridge, 2022 - 2025
MA History and Critical Thinking, Architecture Association, London, 2018
Bachelor of Design in Architecture, University of Sydney, 2017

Commissions/Exhibitions/Festivals

Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, WA, 2024
Salone del Mobile Sydney, Tin Sheds Gallery, 2024
Rockpool Residency: Unseen Worlds, Woollahra Gallery, 2024
Architecture: Late, Speaker, Powerhouse Ultimo, 2023
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, 2023
Montalto Sculpture Prize, Mornington Peninsula, 2022
Powerhouse Late: Architecture, 2022
Semi-Permanent Festival, Sydney, 2022
The Australian Design Centre, 2022
Melbourne Design Week, 2022
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 2021-2022
New Generations Festival Rome, 2021
Sir John Soane Museum London, 2018
London Festival of Architecture, 2018
Sculpture by the Sea, 2017

Prizes and Scholarships

Levy Plumb Fund for the Humanities at Christ’s College, Cambridge, 2023
Christ’s College Cambridge Award, 2022
Supper Session x Poor Toms Grant, 2022
Ascham Leadership Scholarship, 2021
Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship, 2019
Clitheroe Emerging Sculptor Prize, 2017
Henry J Cowan Prize for Architectural Science, 2017

Leadership Roles

Co-Convener, City Seminars, University of Cambridge, 2022 - 2023
Institute of Architects EmAGN Committee Member, 2021
SEI Member for Built Environment, 2019
Soane Youth Panel, Sir John Soane Museum London, 2017 - 2018
Treasurer, Sydney University Designers’ Association, 2015 - 2016