Rana Mohamed & Julia Bell | Launceston Summer 2024 Artwork

Parlour POD

Parlour POD presents convivial conversations from Parlour: gender, equity, architecture. Episodes are drawn from much-loved Seasonal Salons, recorded live across Australia. Wide-ranging and diverse stories of lives in and around architecture and the built environment are told with humour and humility. Personal and particular, intimate and engaging, each episode canvasses the complexities of careers, obstacles faced and opportunities found.

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Parlour POD

Rana Mohamed & Julia Bell | Launceston Summer 2024

August 19, 2025 • Parlour

Our conversationalists for this episode are Rana Mohamed and Julia Bell. New to Tasmania at the time of this conversation in early 2024, Dr Rana Mohamed is an architect and interior designer from Egypt with a PhD in sustainability.

Julia Bell is Director of Urban Design at Urbis. Julia started out as a town planner working for a local council in Victoria but she “desperately wanted design in my life”, so went on to study urban design in the UK.

Rana and Julia discuss the benefits of studying abroad, the importance of educating clients about sustainability and embodied carbon, and how to exert influence and change people’s minds. Their conversation moves from integrated design processes, to research and automated tools to enhance sustainability.

They also discuss the importance of mentors and allies, how to stay motivated while doing a PhD, and how to learn from critique rather than be rattled by it. Other strong themes include life balance, flexibility and overcoming cultural and gender biases in their careers.

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