Talk—Natural High, Hemp Masonry shapes up
Join Anna Maskiell (Public Realm Lab), Alastair Flynn (Woods Bagot) and Talina Edwards (Envirotecture), in conversation about breathable, beautiful, carbon-sequestering hempcrete — one of our most sustainable building materials — with Field editor, Peter Salhani.
When: 2pm Friday 31 July 2026
Where: CY Space, 35 Johnston St, Collingwood VIC 3066 (Collingwood Yards) (NOTE: this is not the Bookshop by Uro store)
Afternoon tea courtesy of Architectural Window Systems (AWS).
CPD: 1 formal point available (performance criteria 10, 28, 31 and 35 / AACA National Standard of Competency for Architects 2021
About the Speakers
Alastair Flynn is a Woods Bagot associate and architectural project leader on the University of Tasmania’s new Nipaluna/Hobart flagship building, leading the design and adaptive reuse of the heritage-listed former Forestry Tasmania headquarters. Featured in Issue #1 of Field – Architecture Gone Regional, The Forest repurposes a disparate collection of buildings as an inner-city hub learning hub and features hempcrete pods by Dungog master builder Shane Hannan, using hurd locally grown in Tasmania by X Hemp. At over 200 cubic metres of hempcrete, The Forest is the largest commercial use of hemp masonry in Australia to date, its new fire ratings paving the way for wider commercial use.
Anna Maskiell is a director and co-founder of Public Realm Lab in Victoria, working exclusively on projects of public purpose that enrich community life. A champion for the mainstreaming of biogenic building materials such as hemp, Anna will share insights from the highly awarded Mildura Powerhouse Place project – the first public buildings using hemp masonry in Australia, and at smaller scale, the Meeniyan Community Hub in South Gippsland, a tiny project with big heart that Anna wrote about for Issue #1 of Field – Architecture Gone Regional, which also uses hempcrete.
Talina Edwards is a director of Envirotecture – a carbon neutral practice with offices in Ballarat and Sydney. Having grown up in an earth-brick home built by her father and grandfather, her approach to sustainable architecture has a dual focus – to work with cutting edge building science, and to create buildings that are joyful to the senses. An advocate for the environment, Talina is a former co-ordinator of Australian Architects Declare, a certified Passive House designer and director of Passivhaus Design & Construct. She will share learnings, opportunities and challenges in designing with both hemp and straw across different projects and locations.