Internationally renowned First Nations architect Kevin O'Brien, BArch, MPhil (Arch), will be the keynote speaker at the 2025 Australian Architecture Conference.

The event will be held in Sydney on Friday and Saturday.

This year's theme, Architecture in Action, will bring together influential local and international design leaders to explore the impact of architecture on our everyday lives.

Mr O'Brien is a leading architect whose work draws on cultural narratives and multidisciplinary collaboration to reimagine the role of architecture in shaping cities. His portfolio spans significant public and educational projects across Australia, and he is known for leading large, multidisciplinary teams with a commitment to pushing boundaries.

Mr O'Brien, who will be speaking on Friday at the Opera House, believes the job of an architect isn't constrained to a structure. He understands that architecture, urban design, master planning and interior interventions are inextricably connected to the land on which it is sited, and the necessity to explore and honour that connection.

A passionate advocate for Designing with Country, Mr O'Brien urges all architects to develop the tools to lead this approach—emphasising the importance of shared knowledge, collaborative practice, and cultural understanding in advancing the profession, because only by sharing the knowledge that we possess as individuals can we grow as a practice, as an industry, and as a society.

"The conference is to put an emphasis on architecture, the practice of it, the results of it, how it influences the city, how it influences other things, like urban design," he told National Indigenous Times.

"That's the overall theme, then the thing I'm specifically talking about is how the architecture I'm arriving at or producing or collaborating on has a very clear focus, because it has parts to it that starts with research, presents an idea, and then arrives at an identity for the work.

"In my case, that happens to draw upon my First Nations heritage as well as the heritage through colonial family, if you like, and multicultural family. So those things all come to bear on that project."

On the subject of architecture that is in harmony with the land on which it is constructed, Mr O'Brien said it is "fundamental".

"For First Nations people it's sort of fundamental, because it's the thing that carries the spirit of the place, and therefore carries our spirit, so that whatever we do on it, whether it's ceremony or building or cities or whatever it might be, that's to find some balance there that preserves that connection," he said.

Mr O'Brien's inspiration to pursue architecture came from both sides of his family.

"Both my grandfathers were tradesmen, one was a carpenter, one was a concreter, and so I grew up around building sites, particularly my grandfather's workshop… That's really what got me into architecture.

"It went from there. At University of Queensland, I graduated in '95 and have been practising ever since. This is my 30th year of practice."

In terms of what he hopes Conference attendees will gain from the experience, Mr O'Brien said: "They can really learn, and if you look at the other speakers - five speakers, two of us from Australia, three international - five very different ways of seeing and doing. And what I think the bigger picture is that people attending hopefully will pick up, is that it's as much about the five of us as it is about themselves in their practice, because the only way you get better or produce work that is useful is if you have a very clear sense of yourself and a clear sense of your ability to contribute to architecture in the city… I think just by way of example and demonstration, that holds a mirror up to people to see things differently, see themselves differently," he said.

Mr O'Brien identified the need for a more sustainable approach to architecture in Australia.

"Absolutely the most crucial thing at this point in time that has been for a couple of years now, is not about what architecture looks like, it's about what it's made out of, and how it performs, how is it contributing to greenhouse gases, drawing more energy… all of the questions around that and how we are starting to, think about not just making smarter and more efficient buildings, but having a very close look at what it means to adapt and reuse existing building stock and tune them up," he said.

"I think that aspect is not in any way where it should be at. We've done a number of competitions where we have been shortlisted and proposed the reuse of existing buildings. And they… inevitably went to a team that sought to not do that. And I find that really, particularly because these are some of them were universities and public institutions, I find that a little bit saddening, that the opportunity to reuse, start to reduce the damage to Country in Australia, not just damage here, but our role as global citizens should be to also reduce damage overseas, right? So, we've got to be doing smarter buildings. We need clients to be smarter and more committed, particularly those from public institutions and public bodies."

He also noted that while there is regulation around building energy efficiency, the current system "doesn't hit an equilibrium".

"We have a very strict code that in order to get your certification on not just a domestic dwelling but with any other class of building, you have to a minimum standard, which is called Part J in the National Construction Code, that's a requirement you can't sidestep.

"So, the thing that I think is probably more interesting is that does not - what's the requirements that bit of code, the Part J - doesn't actually hit a zero; It doesn't hit an equilibrium. So, it's still operating in a deficit. There are all these different things. You'll hear about Green Star... and all these other things, and they're getting closer to having hitting equilibrium, where what you take out, you put back in.

"Now there's a couple of initiatives… where it's actually about putting energy back into the system. So, that's what we're doing on the Atlassian building, in Sydney above Central Station. The purpose of that project, and its ambition, is to minimise carbon in the construction, and generate and store all of its available power, and then be off grid.

"And then through the multi-level gardens that we've got in the thing, the area of that planted space is almost three times what the area of the site was. It's good, it's fantastic. If we could get all buildings in the city, in Sydney, to do that, it'd be an incredible city, because we'd be putting energy back into the system, not drawing off it. That's where we want to get to with Atlassian… You need those demonstrations, so that people can understand where we're trying to get to."