Sarah Lebner

Light House Architecture and Science

Since joining Light House Architecture & Science (then known as Jigsaw Housing) as a graduate architect in 2013, Sarah’s career trajectory has been stellar. In the years since, she has achieved registration, won several awards, developed the company’s modular system, and risen to the position of the company’s lead architect. She is running a dynamic, effective, and happy design team, and despite her relative youth is respected as a generous and collaborative colleague by all Light House staff and many people from the broader industry.

As a student and graduate architect Sarah was a valued team member in the delivery of notable precinct shaping buildings such as The Avenue, one of the earlier rejuvination projects on Canberra’s gateway avenue, and ‘Dockside’, one of the first buildings to bring residential and mixed use activity to the reclaimed ‘Kingston Foreshore’ precinct.

Sarah was one of the founding members of ‘CanberraLab’; a group of young architects determined to activate the city through ‘ground up’ interventions.
As well as ‘Dear Marion’, a collaboration between CanberraLab and artist Kathryn Scott, brought Walter Burley Griffin back to Canberra in a series of installations throughout the city.

Sarah has shown innovation in leadership by, for example, implementing a mentoring and knowledge-sharing system, inviting other local architects to join us for informal, collaborative sessions. The format varies from of group discussions over lunch, to one-on-one meetings. This successful program has been praised by both the members of the Light House team and the visiting collaborators.