For the first time in its history, the Parlour seasonal salon - which brings together women, equity and architecture - is coming to Adelaide. Hosted at Brickworks Design Studio, the inaugural Adelaide salon will feature guest speakers Alison McFadyen and Rachel Hurst.

Parlour was established as a platform for research, informed opinion and resources. As a space for discussion, it is open to all emerging or established practitioners of architecture - as well as those actively working with the built environment in other ways - but its particular mission is to expand spaces for women in contemporary Australian architectural practice.

Described as ‘convivial quarterly events for the Parlour community’, Parlour's 'Seasonal Salons' series helps to connect women at different stages of their careers. The aim is to establish an informal and welcoming environment for network-building across areas of expertise and interest. Held to mark each season, the event features two guest speakers with different backgrounds and shared experiences.

Rachel and Alison will set the scene at the Adelaide Parlour Autumn Salon with a short public conversation. Parlour members will then have an opportunity to socialise, swap stories and strategies, form new networks, revive older ones and simply enjoy the company of some of the great women of South Australian architecture and the built environment. Of course, in the interests of maintaining an informal atmosphere, there will also be wine.

The Adelaide Parlour Autumn Salon will be held on 16 May from 6.30pm at the Brickworks Adelaide Design Studio.

Guest speakers

Alison McFadyen

A senior architect at the multi-award-winning practice Phillips/Pilkington Architects, Alison has a broad range of experience in residential, commercial, retail, hospital, institutional, educational and master planning projects across all phases. As a key team member for the UniSA Learning Centre project, she coordinated architectural, interior and landscape design.

Alison is an active member of the Australian Institute of Architects, and was a juror for the 2017 State Architecture Awards for the Heritage and Small Projects categories as well as for the Sustainability category in 2016. In 2016, Alison won the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Young Achiever in Construction Award and was recently awarded a scholarship to study leadership through Women and Leadership Australia.

Rachel Hurst

A senior lecturer and Design Stream coordinator for architecture at the University of South Australia, Rachel teaches studio and practice-based research courses. Her background of architectural practice helped her research theories of the everyday, alliances between architecture and food, analogue skills, architectural curation, design journalism and pedagogy. This research was also part of her PhD project at RMIT in 2016.

Rachel has been published on the subject of Australian Modernism and is active in the Australian Institute of Architects.