{{Short description|Australian-English architect}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox architect | name = Deborah Saunt | image = | image_size = <!-- if image is smaller than 250px --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name --> | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} (if dead) {{Birth date and age|df=yes|yyyy|mm|dd}} (known date) {{Birth year and age|yyyy|mm}} (known month) {{Birth year and age|yyyy}} (known year) For living people supply '''only''' the year unless the exact date is already WIDELY published, as per WP:DOB. --> | birth_place = New South Wales | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | nationality = | alma_mater = University of Cambridge | spouse = David Hills | partner = | children = | parents = | awards = | practice = DSDHA | significant_buildings = | significant_projects = | significant_design = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }}
'''Deborah Saunt''' is an Australian-born British architect, urban designer and academic. She co-founded the London-based architecture, urban design and spatial research studio DSDHA with David Hills.
== Early life and education == Saunt was born in New South Wales, Australia,<ref name=standard>{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/designs-on-london-how-architectural-couple-deborah-saunt-and-david-hills-plan-to-put-their-imprint-9867179.html|title=Designs on London: how architectural couple Deborah Saunt and David Hills plan to put their imprint on significant chunks of the capital|work=London Evening Standard|first=Robert|last=Bevan|date=18 November 2014|accessdate=12 October 2015}}</ref> and grew up in Kenya and England.<ref name=icon>{{cite web|url=http://www.iconeye.com/404/item/2577-deborah-saunt-%7c-icon-028-%7c-october-2005 |title=Deborah Saunt |date=October 2005 |work=Icon |accessdate=12 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190750/http://www.iconeye.com/404/item/2577-deborah-saunt-%7C-icon-028-%7C-october-2005 |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> She attended Heriot-Watt University/Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Cambridge.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/dec/02/regeneration.architecture|title= Concrete achievements |work=The Guardian|first=Jonathan|last=Glancey|date=3 December 2004|accessdate=12 October 2015}}</ref>
Saunt gained her PhD with the RMIT University Practice Research Programme, was awarded a Fellowship in the Built Environment from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2013/november/her-majesty-the-queen-officially-opens-the-queen-elizabeth-ii-diamond-jubilee-steps-at-the-royal-albert-hall/|title=Her Majesty The Queen officially opens the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Steps at the Royal Albert Hall |date=November 2013 |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref>
==Career== Saunt's first architectural work was with van Heyningen and Haward followed by a role in the early 1990s on the British Library in London under Colin St John Wilson and MJ Long. She later worked for MJ Long's practice, Long and Kentish, before starting to teach in 1997 at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. She has since held teaching appointments at the Royal College of Art, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, the University of Cambridge, {{citation needed|date=August 2020}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Jane |date=22 May 1999 |title=Is this house the answer to divorce? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/is-this-house-the-answer-to-divorce-live-together-1095385.html |work=The Independent}}</ref> and was appointed the [https://www.architecture.yale.edu/faculty/endowed-professorships Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design] at Yale School of Architecture. She also worked for Tony Fretton.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rappaport |first=Nina |date=3 April 2024 |title=Interview with Deborah Saunt |url=https://www.architecture.yale.edu/publications/134-constructs-fall-2020/4-interview-deborah-saunt |website=www.architecture.yale.edu}}</ref>
Saunt established DSDHA with David Hills. With DSDHA, Saunt has designed a flat-iron building for Bosideng on South Molton Street, a residential block for the Riverside development on the Greenwich Peninsula, an Olympic Village block in East Village, a studio-gallery for Edmund de Waal in West Norwood, and a jewellery studio for Alex Monroe in Bermondsey. In 2009, DSDHA’s St Anne’s SureStart Centre in Colchester was nominated for the EU Mies Van der Rohe Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.miesarch.com/work/2810 |title=St Anne's Community & Sure Start Centre |date=2009 |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref> Saunt and Hills designed a new building for Christ's College in Guildford, for which they were shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2010.<ref name="homes"/>
Saunt is a commissioner for the Independent Transport Commission,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theitc.org.uk/about-us/commissioners/ |title=Commission Members |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref> a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Historic England, a Board Member of the City Property Association,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.citypropertyassociation.com/about-us/|title=Our People |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref> and was a jury panel member for the international competition to re-imagine London's Grosvenor Square.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grosvenor.com/news-and-insight/all-articles/international-call-for-ideas-to-re-imagine-london-|title=International call for ideas to re-imagine London's Grosvenor Square|date=June 2018|accessdate=29 July 2020|archive-date=18 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918102100/https://grosvenor.com/news-and-insight/all-articles/international-call-for-ideas-to-re-imagine-london-|url-status=dead}}</ref> She has lectured at the Royal Academy of Art<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/event/freedom-and-creativity |title=Freedom and creativity symposium |date=November 2015 |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref> and regularly broadcasts on architecture and her belief in the broadest participation in city-making.
She has been included in Forbes 500 and in Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 of the most influential people in London.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the1000/the-progress-1000-londons-most-influential-people-2019-business-property-a4240886.html |title=The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2019 – Business: Property |date=October 2019 |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref>
Saunt "has always looked beyond the confines of the building" in high-profile spatial strategies, urban masterplans and public realm projects.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ribaj.com/culture/dsdha-founders-refuse-to-be-boxed-up-by-specialisms |title=Free Spirits |date=February 2015 |work=RIBA Journal |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref> She is active in the democratisation of architecture and the celebrating the role of women in the profession, setting up the Jane Drew Prize in Architecture<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/jane-drew-prize-launchedwith-wit-and-affection/776534.article |title=Jane Drew Prize Launches with Wit and Affection |date=January 1998 |work=Architects Journal |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref> and is a Founding Director of the London School of Architecture, where she is now a trustee.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.the-lsa.org/people/deborah-saunt-2/ |title=People |accessdate=29 July 2020}}</ref>
==Personal life== Saunt is married to her business partner, David Hills. They live in Clapham with their two children.<ref name=homes>{{cite web|url=http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/home-garden/architecture/londons-top-architects-deborah-saunt|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160316074933/http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/home-garden/architecture/londons-top-architects-deborah-saunt|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 March 2016|title=London's top architects: Deborah Saunt|date=1 October 2012|first=Philippa|last=Stockley|work=Homes & Property|accessdate=12 October 2015}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.dsdha.co.uk www.dsdha.co.uk]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunt, Deborah}} Category:Living people Category:Australian expatriates in England Category:Australian women architects Category:Architects from New South Wales Category:Architects from London Category:British women architects Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Category:People from Croydon Category:Australian emigrants to England Category:21st-century Australian architects Category:21st-century British architects Category:20th-century Australian architects Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:20th-century Australian women Category:21st-century Australian women