PUBLIC LECTURE AND Q&A: ENDURING CULTURAL MATTER PRESENTED BY STEPHANIE PAHNIS

PUBLIC LECTURE AND Q&A: ENDURING CULTURAL MATTER PRESENTED BY STEPHANIE PAHNIS
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Architectural materials are never neutral – they embody complex stories of history, labour and place.
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On Thursday the 19th of March join architect, artist and educator Stephanie Pahnis for Enduring Cultural Matter, a presentation developed during a two-month residency at the American Academy in Rome as an ASF-RMIT Affiliated Fellowship recipient.
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The research examines material reuse as a critical cultural practice: one that enables historical continuity while offering a generative model for design. Drawing on the learnings from the ancient practice of spolia, the reuse of architectural fragments from existing or ‘spoiled’ structures, Pahnis demonstrates how material reuse can translate memory, meaning, and historical continuity into new architectural forms.
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Tracing material origins from the travertine quarries of Tivoli to the basaltic plains of Western Victoria, the research considers materials as deeply ecologically embedded, understood as living entities connected to Country and kin. Rather than erasing inherited contexts, Enduring Cultural Matter explores the potential of working with their complexities, exploring how buildings might be reinterpreted, rewritten, and reconfigured.
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Introductions by Professor Vivian Mitsogianni, Dean of Architecture and Urban Design RMIT University, and Dr Neil Hobbs, Director, Alastair Swayn Foundation..
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Date: Thursday 19th March 2026
Time: 5:30pm doors open and 5:45pm lecture start. The lecture will conclude at 7:30pm.
LOCATION: RMIT Design Hub Building 100, Level 3, Ground Level Lecture Theatre, 445 Swanston Street, Melbourne
POSTER: https://bit.ly/4b9nrla
REGISTER HERE: https://www.rmit.edu.au/events/2026/march/enduring-cultural-matter