Father Chris had a vision that was shared by the Parish and Community Board to place the primary school for children next to the church.

Our client Pol Kouroushis President of the Board of Directors facilitated the vision. This school is now our pride and joy and the children love it.

The project has instigated an exciting masterplan for the entire school to include a new library and playing courts.

In this project, we designed a house for a family with two smart boys and a great (but zany) mum and dad.

This is a different proposition to anything else we have done like this and speaks for a home which will be occupied by four adults in the years to come, all with disparate desires and requirements out of life. The image is of a barrier; glistening in its resistance as would a shield but also welcoming as would a sheet of gold.

We wanted this sort of feeling at the street of the house, one of a sense of welcome as well as one of a sense of privacy and security; for this was the client’s brief even if it was a paradox; we needed to find this paradox.

 When we think of the influences that our practice has absorbed in this project, we cannot resist but think of the imperial temple ‘Katsura’ in Japan.

This temple is constantly being rebuilt and so the crafting that comes with its making will never be lost but it sits beautifully in its landscape. Upper levels sitting strangely proud of lower levels enabling a horizontality that is read against its own persistent and obedient design forms. And the roof offers a large resistance to the sky with eaves that are clearly there for sheltering both the building itself and the people inside.

This ancient way of thinking is imposed onto an Australian site to make buildings that result in a directness with the landscape.

Greg our client wanted the best units in the world and we designed a plan, which is simple and beautiful. We can’t vouch for them being the best units in the world but they’re as good as it gets in Pyrmont in our view.

He let us do a lot of things like inboard balconies and solid structure with sandstone shards like the rocks below the site. Very dramatic and beautiful shots can be taken from the site in an abstraction of the very geomorphology out of which the building rises.

 Con and Antonia, our clients on this wonderful little job struggled through a convoluted council process to come out the other end with a great family development.

Lamia is the place in Greece where Con’s parents came from and Antonia said when the scaffold was taken off the site and she first saw it complete, it put a smile on her face. Ari, Con’s brother built the building and we loved working on this project because there was a great deal of family love and respect for the design process in all aspects of the design.

This building was really easy to get through Council and really hard to get built.

Nick Manettas is a client whose attention to detail in design challenged every part of the process; giving his trust in our sense of materials and aesthetics.

The solid base forms represent the building’s weight touching the ground and the top forms are like a crystal light structure reflecting and refracting the light of the sky and the street. A five-storey foyer presents a shadow of space in a busy street.

 We did not want to develop a house; rather a temple; an example of how to make a brilliant terrace. Light comes in through every possible place. We love that the rear is a solid and not so open façade; it protects the oasis that is within from harsh light and visibility.

This house has four levels on a narrow site but every room is its own order of spaces. The client is as obsessive as us in the design process and he instigated critical design agendas such as the timber-slatted staircase, which is one of the most beautiful things we have done.

Christos, our son would come to the site and call it “the Messy House”.

It was a mess under construction because we demolished a large part of the boarding house that existed on the site when we bought it. Petra, our daughter likes to draw in the study and the kids like to make a mess in their bedrooms.

My dad helped build the house with little John Muscat and Mick Cartesano. A lot of love went into it by Andrew McCloskey who helped me with the drawings and was able to bear my antics

 I met Rene´, our client at a party at my sister’s house. I was not usually interested in discussions until he mentioned that he had just bought a house designed by Glenn Murcutt; suddenly I had a lot of interest. Glenn is a key influence in our work and I thought that this was the best opportunity to get an insight when I know that most of the houses Glenn has built are not open for inspection.

Rene´ wanted to extend the house and I was involved in the Moral Rights discussions at the National Gallery at the time so I knew that Glenn needed to be involved. We met Glenn with Rene´ and discussed the design a lot. At first we thought ot a flat roof and that was the initial design. But we all knew it could be better. One day we faxed Glenn two options in a curved roof (one in concrete and one in plywood based on our competition entry for College of Fine Arts Gallery UNSW). Glenn placed a large tick on the concrete version.

Rene´ is great and we love that he let us do this magical project.

The sun tracing on the façade is blocked in summer and in the west and enters in the winter mornings.

The structure is concrete beams poured and finished on site off steel firms. Raymond Touma and George Goshaine were tough clients and even tougher businessmen and so this building is testament to them for having built it in a difficult market on a difficult street.

 We added a glass box on top and Lucy Turnbull, the mayor of the City at the time wanted it all to be clear glass but we had it all in different colours. In the end, the new building sits on top of the old in a graceful way because it is of clear glass and we made it better by virtue of the Council’s interventions. Greg, our client and friend created the opportunity with a steel form and we made hatches for natural air to enter the building, which most people enjoy.

The proportions are directly related to the old building and new and old meet in a relation that is obvious but abstract. Greg is in the building on level 8 (for good luck) and we are in the building on level 9 (for even better luck because we need it).

Neil and Kathy wanted a house and they bought this one and asked us to extend it. A pool and a large garden sit above the ground plane and so your eye looks across the garden like you are in a low boat looking at water. It is a restful sensation. This entire house is about rest. We did this job for Rail Infrastructure Corporation. Another architect had completed the preliminary design but we completed the design and added our detailing.

Like all public projects there is much joy in seeing people use it every day in their travel to and from work. It is the threshold for so many and brings a certain interest in a public building where there may not have been. We would have liked to have the pink and aubergine colour scheme but alas.

Rosie and Peter are an ‘art’ client who desire extremes of their architect. My dear friend Neville Quarry recommended our firm and we are close friends with Peter and Rosie after years of working together on this and other projects.

Eileen Grey and Corbusier reminded us of what it was we had to do to mitigate gravity with built form against the sky.

 Cathy Freeman was the Principal of this school at the time and we created here a series of lightwells for the blind children to see and hear a colonnade.

How exciting it was on a visit year’s letter when a blind child hugged me and when asked why, he said that we were the people that had shown him light.

Sandra and Thomas have some beautiful art pieces. Sandra always said that we could make her famous if the house was good enough. The challenge was set and we hope we have not made her famous. But we did make them comfortable with spaces of privacy and repose and wonderful walls for their even more wonderful art; particularly the sculptures.

 I won this competition by drawing the first stages in my bedroom at my parent’s house. John Wilkin drove me to the printer in the city and then to the place where we lodged the scheme. John has been tirelessly and crazily working at my side ever since and now he is a director in our practice. This was 1994 when a large project like this was rare and even rarer the design of this level in a block of flats. Peter Dransfield was our client at Walker and I now see how hard it must have been for Peter to place his trust in a 26 year old with no experience but we got through it and it’s a good building given the leap of faith in the capacity of a fledgling firm.