Meet the wonderful Erin McDonald and hear her take on A Life Outside. This mother, Mandandanji woman, Interior Designer and Associate Director at Blaklash shares her unique perspective – inextricably linked to memory – as well as her favourite spots.
Erin’s local – King’s Beach, Caloundra, where she expands her family’s connection to water and sand to the next generation.
I think of the only place I truly feel grounded, with sand between my toes, salt in the air, and a sense that nothing else matters in that moment. I grew up outdoors more than indoors – family holidays, long bike rides, backyard adventures, and endless days exploring shaped my understanding of freedom and connection. Being outside wasn’t an activity, it was simply how we lived. The beach has always played a significant role in my life. It is my happy place, water is my calm. There’s something about the rhythm of the tides and the openness of the horizon that resets everything. Now, I’m fortunate to live where was once our family holiday destination, raising my own family by the ocean. Watching the positive impact the beach has on my two-year-old daughter, the joy, the curiosity, the ease, is something truly special. It’s a way of life I deeply value and one I have no intention of leaving behind.
Lendlease project by Blaklash, and Erin working with her design team.
For me, design is not about imposing an idea onto a place, but about connecting to that place first. The land holds intelligence. The way wind moves, how water sits, how light filters, the textures underfoot, these sensory cues shape how a space should feel and function. My practice is grounded in connection: connection to place, to people, and to the unseen systems that sustain both. This approach has guided me since my early years of learning. I have always been drawn to designing through the senses that is already there – not just taking cues from the existing built environment that crowds our landscape. Creating spaces that feel grounded, calm, and deeply connected rather than purely aesthetic. Ultimately, my objective is to curate spaces that hold people responsibly, that coexist with Country, and that foster a sense of belonging, care, and continuity.
A Life Outside with Jess Kneebone
QUT Carumba Institute and Oodgeroo Unit.
My design process when designing spaces is to create environments that are guided by Country — by the natural formations, ecosystems, and rhythms that shape the landscapes around us, often in ways that go unnoticed. I look beyond the surface of a site to understand its deeper layers — its history, ecology, materiality, light, movement, and cultural context, and allow those elements to inform the spatial response.
Workplace design by Blaklash.
It is the teacher, the guide, and the framework through which I design. It has taught me restraint, that strength can be quiet, that materials should age with dignity, and that built form must sit in dialogue with the land rather than dominate it. It has also reinforced that placemaking is not about inserting something new, but about revealing what is already present – amplifying connection, continuity, and care.
A Noosa Gathering
‘Following Paperbarks’ public art facade commission for QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus, by Blaklash created in collaboration with Yagara Traditional Custodians Jody Rallah and Gaja Kerry Charlton.
Sustainability doesn’t mean anything to me. I carry a responsibility to care for Country, the land beneath my feet, the waters, the skies, the ecosystems that sustain us. This responsibility is not optional or trend-driven; it is cultural, relational, and continuous. It extends to my daughter and the generations that follow. Every design decision I make is shaped by that awareness – that what we build must protect, restore, and sustain what was here long before us, and ensure it remains long after us.
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What does A Life Outside mean to mother, Mandandanji woman, Interior Designer and Associate Director at Blaklash, Erin McDonald?
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