BE GradEx 2025
The School of Built Environment's annual showcase exhibits and celebrates the work of final year students from seven disciplines in the unique setting of Sydney's White Bay Power Station. Join us to view this remarkable work and to celebrate with our graduating students.
Open dates
Thursday 27 November 2025
6pm - 9:30pm
Exhibition public launch event (registration is required)
Friday 28 - Sunday 30 November 2025
10am - 5pm
Open for general public and schools
White Bay Power Station, Robert Street, Rozelle
Industry Panels
Join us at this year’s BE GradEx for a series of engaging panel discussions on the Future of the Built Environment. Hear from industry leaders as they explore innovative solutions to the challenges of tomorrow.
PANEL 1 | AI x Architectural Education: Towards digital literacy in Built Environment studios and courses
11:00am - 12:30pm, Saturday 29 November
Architecture, design, and built environment education are entering a transformative era — one defined by artificial intelligence. As AI reshapes the way we design, make, and think, the question is no longer if education must adapt, but how. Join us for a panel discussion exploring how UNSW Built Environment is effectively engaging with this challenge. The session will showcase best-practice examples of understanding, tracking, and implementing AI across our programs, featuring case studies that illustrate how AI is being embedded in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
Moderator: Dr Farnaz Fattahi, CPD Lead at Arch_Manu, UNSW
Panellists:
Associate Prof Catherine Evans, Associate Professor and Deputy of Head of School, Learning and Teaching, in the School of Built Environment at UNSW.
Dr Christopher Bamborough, Post Doctoral Research Fellow at UNSW
Daniel Yu, Deputy Discipline Director and Lecturer in Computational Design at UNSW
Benjamin Allen is a registered Architect and Lecturer in Architecture at UNSW
PANEL 2 | The Future of Adaptive Reuse: Carbon, Culture and Housing
1:30pm - 3:00pm, Saturday 29 November
Globally, buildings account for 30-35% of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of total annual energy consumption. Retrofitting reduces embodied carbon and improves energy efficiency. Existing buildings reflect history and culture through response to place, community, climate and technology thereby enriching shared narratives, identity and belonging. In Australia, office buildings account for 49% of all existing building stock and by some estimates 50% are uneconomic yet the provision of affordable, comfortable and energy efficient housing cannot keep up with demand. Adaptive reuse sits at the intersection of the most pressing urban challenges facing us today – climate change, identity politics and intergenerational equity.
Moderator: Dr Jonathan Fox, Senior Lecturer, Built Environment, UNSW Sydney
Panellists:
Annie Tennant, Director, Design and Place at NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Alan Croker, Director and Principal Architect, Design 5 - Architects
Ben Dircks, General Manager, FDC Construction & Fitout
PANEL 3 | Designing the Future: Industrial Designers and the Power of Good Design
3:30pm - 5:00pm, Saturday 29 November
All of these award-winning innovations began life as a capstone project in the UNSW Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours) program, where bold ideas were first nurtured into prototypes, and later into successful products celebrated by the Australian Good Design Awards.
From Hullbot’s autonomous marine-cleaning robot tackling biofouling and sustainability, to Forcite’s smart helmet redefining motorcycle safety, SOOZE’s modular device empowering keratoconus patients, and HALO’s inclusive kitchen system enhancing independence for people with disabilities. Each exemplifies how UNSW Industrial Design transforms student projects into real-world impact.
Hosted by Dr Brandon Gien, this session explores how design education, innovation, and entrepreneurship intersect to shape the future of the built environment, from sustainable technologies and assistive devices to intelligent products that improve life on Earth.
Moderator: Dr Brandon Gien, Chair, Good Design Australia, Adjunct Professor of Industrial Design, UNSW
Panellists:
Tom Loefler, Hullbot, 2025 Australian Good Design Award of the Year and Best in Class, Commercial & Industrial Products
Alfred Boyadgis, Forcite, 2022 Good Design Award Best in Class, Automotive and Transport Products
Liam Lo Cascio, HALO, 2024 Good Design Award Best in Class, Next Gen
Maoxin Yuan, SOOZE, 2025 Good Design Award Best in Class, Next Gen
Exhibition
In collaboration with Place Making NSW and sponsored by our UNSW Built Environment Industry Partners, this year's exhibition returns to the iconic White Bay Power Station – a striking industrial landmark and one of Australia's most distinctive cultural spaces.
The exhibition will capture the dedication, creativity and vision of over 500 students who will soon graduate from our programs. These are graduates who will go on to design, plan and build our cities across their future careers.
The showcase will be brought to life by our talented UNSW Built Environment students, under the leadership of Dr Kate Dunn. Each student completed a special course in exhibition design and curation, equipping them with the skills to deliver an event of this scale and ambition.
Built Environment disciplines that will be exhibited:
Architecture
Industrial Design
City Planning
Interior Architecture
Computational Design
Landscape Architecture
Construction Management and Property
The exhibition will be open across three days from 10am - 5pm and is open, and free, to all.
Exhibition partners
