You’ve bought the block, or you’ve decided the old house has had its day, and now the real questions start. Who designs it? How long does it take? What’s it going to cost? Searching for architects Sydney has to offer turns up plenty of names, but not much that tells you how to choose between them.
We’re PopovBass, and we’ve been designing homes in this city since 1983. You can have a look at our projects at https://popovbass.com.au/ while you read. What follows is the kind of advice we give new clients in the first meeting, minus the coffee: what an architect does, what a nominated architect is, how a job unfolds and what to look out for.
The short version of who we are
Alex Popov started the practice in 1983 after studying in Denmark and working for Henning Larsen and Jorn Utzon. Brian Bass is a director with him today. We’re a medium-sized team, and we like it that way, because the people you sit down with at the start are the same ones working on your project.
Most of what we design is houses and multi-residential buildings. The work has been recognised by the Australian Institute of Architects with awards including the Wilkinson Award and the Robin Boyd Award, and by the Master Builders Association of NSW. Alex became a Life Fellow of the Institute in 2021, which was a proud moment for the whole office.
What an architect does when nobody’s watching
Drawing plans is the part people see. Most of the value comes earlier, in the questions an architect asks before anything gets drawn.
How does your household really live? Is the kitchen the centre of the house or just a place to make toast? Do you want the living room open to the garden or tucked away from the street? Then the site: which way it faces, where the sun lands in winter, what the neighbours can see into, how the ground slopes, how close the water is.
Good design comes out of those answers. After that, the architect handles the council side, brings in engineers and surveyors, writes the drawings and specifications a builder needs to price accurately and, if you want, looks after the project through construction. That last part is more important than it sounds. Plenty of good designs lose their edge on site because nobody was around to explain why a detail mattered.
Nominated architect: what it means and why you should ask
If you’ve been reading architecture websites, you’ve probably seen the phrase “nominated architect” and wondered whether it matters.
It does, and it’s easy to understand. In NSW the word “architect” is protected, so only people registered with the NSW Architects Registration Board can use it. When a company or partnership offers architectural services, it has to have a nominated architect, who is a registered architect responsible for the architectural services that business provides. The idea is simple: a qualified, registered person is accountable for the work.
Here’s how to use that as a client. Ask the practice who their nominated architect is. Look the name up on the public register, which takes about two minutes. Then ask who will run your project from day to day, as that may be someone else on the team. A good practice will answer both questions without fuss.
Why building in Sydney is harder than it looks
Anyone who has owned property here knows the list. Steep blocks. Narrow blocks. Waterfront blocks where the salt air chews through the wrong materials. Heritage areas, flood zones and height limits. And councils that all read similar rules in slightly different ways.
That’s why local experience counts when you’re comparing architects Sydney homeowners recommend. We’ve worked across the Eastern Suburbs, the Northern Beaches and greater Sydney for a long time, so we’ve got a feel for what gets approved and where projects tend to get stuck.
Bellevue Hill House VI is a good case. The site is coastal, so the conditions pushed us towards brick, exposed concrete and metal cladding, a restrained palette that copes with the weather. Balmoral House II sits on a stepped site in the Balmoral slopes, and the design is built around the link between inside and outside, using light, materials and landscape. Gordons Bay House is detailed in formed concrete and framed around a view over the bay. Same kind of conditions, three quite different answers.
What happens once you say yes
Every practice runs things a bit differently, but most projects follow a similar path.
The first step is a conversation about what you want, your budget and your timing, plus a look at the site. Next comes concept design, which is where we put early ideas on paper. You’ll see plans and sketches, and sometimes 3D views. This is the cheapest time to change your mind, because moving a wall on a drawing costs nothing.
Once the concept feels right, we develop it: room sizes, window positions, stairs, materials, how the house meets the garden. Then comes council. Most new homes and large alterations in NSW need approval through a development application, although some projects can go through the complying development pathway. Residential work also needs a BASIX certificate covering energy and water efficiency. We prepare the paperwork and answer any questions that come back, which can take some time.
After approval we produce the construction drawings and specifications. A builder prices and builds from these, so the more complete they are, the fewer surprises you’ll get later. We can help you tender the job or negotiate with a builder, and we’ll go through the quotes with you so you’re comparing the same things. During construction we visit the site and keep an eye on the details, and at the end we walk through the finished house with you.
Beyond the big family home
Architects get linked with large private homes, but the range is wider. It includes renovations, extensions, waterfront houses, townhouses, apartment buildings and commercial work. Each has its own puzzles. Apartments have to deal with privacy, shared walls, daylight for every unit and how the building looks from the street. A single house has more freedom but has to suit the land and the people who live there.
Balmoral Apartments is a three-storey block of floating concrete planes tied to the ground by a ceramic-tiled geometric wall. Griffiths Teas Apartments turned a heritage warehouse into homes and won the AIA NSW Architecture Award for Multiple Housing in 2018. Further north, Sunshine Beach House picked up a commendation and the Sunshine Coast House of the Year at the 2019 AIA Queensland awards, a reminder that good design travels.
We also get to revisit our own work now and then. We designed and built Bellevue Hill House V back in 1997 and later renovated it for the 21st century. Knowing how the original went together made that job a lot easier.
Why light matters more than finishes
Ask people what they love about their home and it’s rarely a tap or a tile. They talk about how bright it is, how the rooms flow, how good it feels to open the doors and step outside.
We spend a lot of time on that. We map how the sun moves through the house across a day and through the seasons, and we use courtyards, high windows, voids and open stairs to bring light deep into the building. We connect indoor rooms to decks, pools and gardens so the house feels bigger than the plans suggest.
Griffith House, which won the 2014 Wilkinson Award, is an extreme example. The site was flat, rural and flood-affected, with nothing obvious to design around. We went for a long courtyard house facing north and south, mostly closed to the east and west, on the highest ground available. The awards jury said the feeling inside was one of calm, and that’s what the clients wanted.
Choosing between architects
Start with the nominated architect check. Then look closely at the portfolio. Does it include projects like yours, on sites like yours? A practice that does brilliant waterfront houses might not be the right fit for a heritage terrace, and the reverse is true too.
Awards are worth noting. They don’t guarantee a good working relationship, but they show that other architects rate the work. After that, get practical. Who’ll be your main contact? How often will you meet? What happens when you want to change something halfway through? How does the practice deal with budget?
Be a little wary of anyone who agrees to everything without mentioning cost. A good architect will tell you early if the brief and the budget don’t line up, even when it’s not what you were hoping to hear. And trust your gut in the first meeting. You may be working together for a year or longer, so you want someone who listens and explains things properly.
Common mistakes
Calling an architect too late is the big one. If you’ve already picked a builder or settled on a rough design, there’s much less an architect can do. Underestimating approval time is next, since councils can take months and that needs to be in your plan from day one. Third is changing the brief late, because small tweaks are fine but major changes after documentation gets expensive. And finally, choosing on fees alone. A cheap quote with thin drawings often costs more once the builder starts finding gaps.
Is an architect worth the money?
For a simple job, a draftsperson or a design-and-build company can be the right call. But if your block is tricky, you want something properly custom or you’re putting serious money into a home you plan to live in for years, an architect earns the fee.
A well-designed house handles sun and breeze better, uses a tight block sensibly and fits the way you live. It also tends to hold its value, because good design doesn’t date the way trends do.
Talk to us
If you’re putting together a shortlist of architects Sydney clients trust for luxury homes, waterfront residences or multi-residential projects, we’d be happy to talk. You don’t need a finished brief, just a site or an idea. An early conversation often saves a lot of time and money down the track.