Sophie Lanigan is an architectural designer, researcher and editor.

Her research-led practice is focused on the design of coastal urban seascapes with oysters as an architectural response to coastal erosion, bio-diversity loss and water quality. It is being explored primarily through a thesis she is preparing as a PhD in Architecture candidate at the University of Cambridge, UK. The research also reveals itself through design and art projects which aim to share the research beyond the academy.

Most recently, A Bed of Oysters, was realised in collaboration with Max Volfneuk as part of Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2023. This site specific sculpture saw 500 oyster-shaped sculptures draped around ‘The Boot’ rock near the Bondi Icebergs club – by night the oysters were lit, making a visual link between their habit at the edge of the city and the twinkling lights of the Bondi Beach community.

Sophie is Editor-in-Chief of Union Magazine, an Australian print publication for architecture, design and art focused on the critical, conceptual and experimental. She was the Founding Editor of Sent, 2019-2021, inviting 100 creative thinkers to reflect on design through the medium of a postcard – the project was exhibited widely and co-published with Post- as a limited edition of 500.

She has developed high-quality editorial, research and design projects for; Sydney Design Week, Union Magazine, the Architectural Association London, Sir John Soane Museum London and Terracycle. Her work has been included in Sculpture by the Sea, the Montalto Sculpture Prize, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne Design Week Art Book Fair, Powerhouse: Late, the Australian Design Centre, New Generations Rome and the London Festival of Architecture.