Interview: Melbourne & Hobart Architecture Studio Archier.

Today we present Archier – the talented, energetic and unstoppable force that is taking Australian architecture by storm. It’s hard not admire their passion, experimental approach and their love of creating and prototyping.

Archier was established in 2014 as a small, flexible design studio to engage in the making of objects and space by directors Josh FitzGerald, Chris Gilbert & Chris Haddad, and more recently joined by Jon Kaitler. Jumping right into the deep end, Archier have already made their mark as architects, winning multiple state and national awards for Sawmill House, and most recently, Five Yards house, while also producing a small lighting range.

Archier is now based in Melbourne and Hobart, with seven members in total bringing a diverse range of interests and skills to the table. Welcome Archier, we’re stoked to be getting an insight into your world!

Five Yards House. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Five Yards House. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Five Yards House. Photo by Adam Gibson.

+ Hello Archier, welcome to Yellowtrace and thank you for taking the time to e-chat. Could you please give us a quick introduction of the studio? When did you all first decide you wanted to become architects? And when did you decide it was time to start a business together?

After studying together at UTas and finishing our respective Masters courses in Melbourne, we temporarily parted ways for further study and travel, before cutting our teeth working for other Melbourne architectural practices. Throughout this time, we would often meet and discuss our respective office templates and the practice as a whole, and it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to the idea of collaboration. Each growing frustrated with the lengthy processes of the various architectural projects we had been assigned to, we dreamt of opening a shared studio space in which we could continue working on architectural projects, whilst also making smaller scale design pieces with rapid prototyping and manufacturing all under one roof.

Our lighting largely developed through personal need as Chris G and Josh were unhappy with lighting options for their own renovations, and the first built Archier project, ‘Sawmill House’. In the workshop space, Ideas could be drawn, discussed and prototyped in the same space on the same day.

Five Yards House. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Five Yards House. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Five Yards House. Photo by Adam Gibson.

+ What is your main priority when starting design projects? Is there something that is fundamental to your practice – your philosophy and your process?

There’s a few key things but fundamentally, we want to be building and making things. We believe that design is delivery. This means that understanding construction and being able to manage project costs is central to our practice. We also work pretty closely with our builders in order to do so and to try and find better ways to do things. This approach has led us to explore alternate construction systems like Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) which have significant material and programmatic advantages.

From a design sense, our projects have a strong connection to landscape, in all its varied forms. We use landscape and planting to domesticate and humanise spaces, bringing simple pleasures to otherwise everyday experiences. We’re also driven by sustainability so we try to maximise natural light and energy efficiency in our projects to ensure that our buildings don’t cost the earth to live in and maintain.

Highline Light. Photo by Haydn Cattach Photography.

+ How is your studio structured? i.e. How many of you work in the studio, what types of skills do you have in-house, is there anything you are outsourcing, and how many projects do you handle at any one time?

There’s seven of us at the moment, soon to be eight. Most of us are Architects, but our newest director Jon is a Landscape Architect. We all work across all of our projects together; which is a bit different to most other practices. Each person brings something unique to the studio and contributes to our collective intelligence, making the process more enjoyable and more productive.

Our continual interest in how things are made, how things can be improved means we are in constant conversations with other professionals (who each bring their own expertise and perspectives) to find and develop the best solutions. We are constantly conversing with our ESD consultant Peter Steele; David Koosltra (SIPs & CLT importer); Rakumba (our lighting manufacturers), BINQ Windows, and Agency of Sculpture (civic sculptur/artist) among others.

We have about 30 projects at the moment; about half of which are active in any given week. Most of our work is residential but we have also started working on a few commercial projects, allowing us to explore different scales.

Rakumba Highline Light. Photo by Haydn Cattach Photography.

Capital Light. Photo by Haydn Cattach Photography.

+ How do you organise and manage the competing demands of modern business and life? Do you have any tips or tricks you could share with us that help you in your day to day (i.e. software, online tools, shortcuts, task management, cheat sheets, advisors, anything!)

We want everyone to feel like they have agency within the business. Ideally that leads to happy staff that are motivated and satisfied with what they’re doing, while rejecting the high intensity environment that burns people out. Being aware of each person’s strengths and weaknesses and tailoring the expected output to that is essential – this also applies to the way we use our software, as we invest heavily into capitalising on the capabilities of Archicad, Xero & Flow.

We’ve put a lot more emphasis on being focused and efficient through the day with a strict 6pm ‘pens down’ rule, and the only way to do that is to be clear about what is and what isn’t important.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

+ What do you feel is the most challenging part of being an architect today? And if you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

We’re pretty lucky in Australia compared to some other countries. There is work around and people are interested in new ideas and pushing design. There’s enough privilege that those who choose to engage an architect aren’t wedded to a particular style or fashion of the day.

There’s an open mindedness that we feel very lucky to be a part of.

If we could change one thing, there would be a closer collaboration with the building industry which is what we are trying to do with our practice.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

+ What are some of your methods to staying motivated, focused and expressive? And your top 3 main sources of inspiration and references you are drawn to regularly – i.e. books, magazines, websites/ blogs etc?

Having everyone see the sites that we’re working on or meeting the makers that we collaborate with in their workshops brings those projects to life and brings a whole other understanding that can’t be reached from behind a computer. There are some days spent entirely at Rakumba to see the lighting manufacturing processes first hand which feeds back into the next designs. We’re also collaborating with a great Tasmanian ceramicist Lindsey Wherett, and our recent visit was not only fascinating, but integral to being able to contribute to the design conversation.

When we are at the studio, we are podcast addicts – but they’re not directly about architecture and design. Think along the lines of Planet Money, 99% Invisible, RadioLab and Startup etc. which foster a culture of curiosity and learning rather than a dogmatic approach. Rather than feed more design centred media into our lives (we already spend enough time immersed in this!) they offer insights into conceptual thought processes which can then be applied to our business approach and/or our design approach.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

Sawmill House. Photo by Benjamin Hosking.

+ Who or what are some of your influences? What other architects, peers and creatives in general do you admire?

It really depends what it is we’re working on, but you can’t go wrong with Olson Kundig Architects and Matias Aires.

+ What advice would you give to other emerging architects who want to follow your path? What was one of your biggest lessons learned since starting your practices?

Make stuff. There is knowledge embedded in making that can only be learned through the act of doing. Having a recipe doesn’t mean you can cook. It’s the same with design. Having site experience or construction experience is invaluable. Our first project, Sawmill House was designed and built alongside the client and was also where the first lighting and furniture designs were prototyped by Chris G. Being able to design, make, and modify in-situ is really satisfying.

Any hand craft that requires a learned skill to make something teaches you about material performance and construction tolerances. Having an appreciation for materials and construction helps you design better and through experience learn that everything takes longer than you expect!

Embracing failure is also an essential part of the process. It sounds simple, but it can be really hard to do.

Old Bob’s on site. Photo by Miranda Louey.

Sawmill House on site. Photo by Miranda Louey.

+ What has been your favourite project/ commission so far?

All of our projects have amazing clients and sites, all unique and interesting inter own way. We loved spending last weekend helping to clad the shed at ‘Old Bob’s’. It’s a project near Ballarat that’s in construction at the moment. It’s a country site on a rolling hillside looking down the valley towards Buninyong. The exact location of the house was chosen after the clients spoke with the farmer who sold them the land explained, “You should put the house where the cows sleep, because it’ll be out of the wind”. On the advice of the farmer and the cows, the house is nestled into the hillside and is amazingly sheltered! The cows know.

+ What’s next – can you share wit us your vision, some of your goals (and some of your current projects)?

Our love of spaces is naturally married to a love of objects and fittings. We are proud to have grown our lighting collection recently, launching the Capital alongside our first light, the Highline. We are hoping to expand the range further with some exterior options, which we are currently discussing with our Melbourne manufacturers, Rakumba.

We also just went to see a K2 Hundegger in the flesh a few weeks ago; (think 5x axis joinery machine), so we’re pretty keen to use that on a project soon. We’re also looking for a new studio space to fit us all in so we might get to do something with the K2 sooner rather than later.

Work in action. Photo by Miranda Louey.

Let’s Get Real:

+ What’s the best mistake you have ever made?

Thinking this was going to be easy.

+ Your most treasured belonging?

Our ArchiCAD dongle.

+ What’s one thing other people may not know about you?

One of our directors Jon is not an Architect.

+ It’s not very cool, but I really like…

Jon & Josh: Spreadsheets.

+ In ten years I’d like to be…

Jon: Spanish.

Archier. Photo by Miranda Louey.

[Images courtesy of Archier.]