The Kings Cross intersection is an iconic place in Sydney, memorable for the bright red, looping coke sign at its apex.

An adaptive re-use of the Crest Hotel, the tower is modelled as a curvaceous hourglass form on a tiled podium, a pale green version of the Coca-Cola sign.
The building’s hourglass shape is formed by adding a shaped edge to the existing slabs, tapering up and down, to maintain surrounding views. The façade system consists of double height elements, emphasising the vertical while creating a woven field across the shapely form.

The building houses 132 apartments. Many of the apartments are dual level and L-shaped in section, allowing city and harbour views and sunlight to the majority of the interiors.  

A communal garden occupies the space between the podium and tower, adding life and landscape to the streets and  grand intersection. 

Photography: Brett Boardman, Anthony Browell and Tom Ferguson

Phoenix performance space, in association with John Wardle Architects (Phoenix gallery), currently under construction.

Design competition Stage 2. Residential, multi-unit housing, childcare, art gallery, community club, swimming pool, work live and retail space. 40 levels, 851 apartments.

Our competition entry for 210-220 George Street.

3+2 is a ‘double album’: two books in one sleeve. It features two bodies of photography looking at the work of one of Australia’s most respected and awarded architectural practices – Durbach Block Jaggers. The two photographers are neither known for, nor particularly interested in, the conventions of architectural photography. This makes their photographic voice, and this book, distinct from the architectural mainstream.

3+2 Durbach Block Jaggers book is available to purchase for $180 including packing and postage.

Enquire at mail@durbachblock.com to purchase.

Alternatively, online purchases from Uro Publications are available at the following link:

https://www.uropublications.com/products/3-2-durbach-block-jaggers

House Taurus, currently under construction.

Photography: Brett Boardman, Bellevarde and Sarah Kirkham

Bronze cast door handle made by Graham Chant in New Zealand. Available for purchase through Jean-Marie Liere at Archinterface.

Multi-residential building, under construction in 2018.

Our competition entry for the UNSW Gate 9 Arrival Project.

400 Barangaroo Road, Barangaroo (‘400’) forms part of the entry sequence to Barangaroo South, Sydney’s new waterfront mixed-use precinct - a hinge - between the city and the harbour.

This complex trapezoidal site inherited minor public functions of the development, such as car park entry and public toilets, a fixed basement structure and significant services risers within and adjacent to the building.

‘400’ and its neighbour, Barangaroo House by Collins and Turner, are linked, smaller scale buildings sited in the round between the existing development of King Street Wharf and the commercial towers of Barangaroo South. Their shared materials palette of timber, planting and concrete combine to enliven this new pedestrian precinct, adding a delicacy of scale in counterpoint to their massive neighbours.

The action of the building is brought to the surface, through the external wrap around stair, cutting through the façade and linking every floor to the ground plane. The stair is engineered to act as a required second fire egress, maximising the use of the floor plates within. Each entry is figured with unique outlooks, levels, signage seats and planters. Cold shelled at the time of completion, ‘400’ now houses a bookshop, café, bar, ferry office and gym.

The stair, a vertical, overgrown promenade ends in a rooftop bar and sheltered garden courtyard. A series of circular roof openings, carved out of the concrete ceiling, act as frames for rooftop planting, and as lenses to view the city above.

The façade is constructed of stacked, angled and offset timber columns, grading from dense at the base to lighter at the top.

In pure elevation the façade appears open, in obtuse views, the timber appears more solid and prominent. The timber boxes are made from accoya, a sustainable softwood that, through a process of non-toxic acetylation (loosely a kind of ‘pickling’), acquires properties of stability and longevity.

To the East the façade curves and cants back, a gentle, embracing gateway to the new Barangaroo South precinct.

Kambala School Vision Plan ongoing, Staff Green Room Renovation completed 2015.

AIA NSW judge's citation:

"As you walk through the Tamarama House your eye is continually drawn to remarkable details: of animated handrails, folded steel and carved concrete. However, it is the purposeful and sequential manipulation of volumes — from the compressed entry portico to the vast living space, layered cabana and intimate master bedroom — that leaves a lasting impression of delight. This is a timeless and extraordinary piece of architectural craftsmanship where the hand of the architect is ever present. The overlapping geometries of the form and dual garden arrangement of the plan masterfully respond to the particularities of the site. Central to this gesture is the sunken front garden facing the street. Sheltered from wild weather, it acts as both a place of repose and respite, and a balanced juxtaposition to the expanse of ocean adjacent. Views are carefully framed, reflected and enclosed throughout the house, capturing moments to dwell on sky or surf.
Whilst the budget was significant, this was managed with remarkable acumen, the elegant palette of materials conveying at once a sense of casualness and grandeur. Viewed from both the street and the ever—popular coastal walkway, the beautifully sculptural form of Tamarama House is offset by the layered textures of a highly integrated garden that anchors the house within its coastal setting."

Photographers: Andrew Cowen, Erieta Attali, Tom Ferguson, John Gollings and Brett Boardman

Inspired by the interiors of Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation, the Balmain apartment celebrates the intimacy and immediacy of the everyday. Functions overlap in this tiny renovated space, 7m x 9m in plan and only 2.4m high. A dado line is introduced at 900mm above the floor, weighting the base of the room with dark and lustrous materials, form ply and dimpled rubber. Above the dado, the walls and ceilings are chalk white, coved to soften corners and junctions. This centres the eye at the dado line, increasing the perceived height of the room.

Reflections and secret views connect the spaces, creating complexity and depth. Drawn from the clients’ love of birds, brightly coloured moments flash into view, a bright blue desk, the red alcove, a yellow door edge, the coloured inside of a door handle.

Photographer: Anthony Browell

In association with BVN Architecture.

The soft centre of the Alumni Green, a garden in the city, will transform the image of UTS. 
The sense of this space as a sanctuary, and central gathering space will be consolidated by a cohesive and animated built edge. 
The image of the Science faculty onto the Green is a grove of trees, gently moulded and shaped, its underside a friendly shadow. 
The ‘tree-branching’ façade is fine grained and varied.

Photographers: Darren Bradley, Anthony Browell, Peter Bennetts and Julia Charles

The W3 Light is a wall mounted light that was custom designed for the UTS Thomas Street project. Currently available for purchase, please forward enquiries to mail@durbachblock.com

We recently worked on the international design competition for a new library at Green Square with Sue Barnsley Design.

In association with Peter Colquhoun.

The North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club (NBSLSC) is located on the prominent, iconic and national heritage site at the northern end of Bondi Beach. Replacing the existing, disconnected and introverted building, the proposal is for an open connected and extroverted building. The new building increases the accommodation of the existing club, while creating a light and apparently smaller building.

Photographers: Anthony Browell, Joshua Davies, John Gollings, Tim Granter, Stefan Heim, Jeannette Lloyd-Jones, Mark Syke, Eugene Tan and Natalie Walsh

Love Lace is a major international exhibition of 130 contemporary lace works, from 20 countries by 134 artists. The central armature of the exhibition is an archaic, carved mass. Broad curving walls of aged smooth concrete, act as a foil to the delicacy and intricacy of the open work structures of the lace. Their companion shadows are lit to stretch across the sweeping walls.

Photographer: Anthony Browell

The house hugs the sloping rear boundary, orienting to the northern sun and a new garden with established trees. It has is a simple L-shaped plan, both containing and extending into the stepping garden. An internal garden court is hidden in the depth of the plan, bridging between the floors and inverting the line of inside and outside. The brick facade is given a fabric like quality through its pattern, texture and treatment. The underside of this looping facade tilts and lifts, admitting light and views to the ground floor public rooms, through clerestory glazing.

Photographers: Peter Bennetts, Anthony Browell, Julia Charles, Neil Durbach and Camilla Block

With ever shrinking sites and expanding houses, the Infinity House regains the balance between these two essential elements, house and garden. The looping form of the house allows an endless surface where house and garden meet, generous and elastic. Generic and flexible, the'Infinity House' can be occupied in many ways - for single families, for families with older children, in laws or homeshare. The house explores the endless flexibility and beauty of brick as structure and enclosure, as arches and curving walls, as flooring and vaulted ceilings. 'Generous in terms of garden, this is the typical suburban dream house with a new architectural solution. Beautifully conceived and crafted, the simplicity of the approach is breathtaking and manages to achieve the essentials of brick without being heavy.' Jury, Think Brick Awards. 

A 4 storey commercial building located in Kings Cross, Sydney. The design includes a ground floor restaurant / bar, and a rooftop garden. The material choice and form are in response to the character of the suburb.

Photographers: Anthony Browell, Peter Bennetts,
Neil Durbach and Julia Charles

Each house is suitable for a small site. The two storey houses maximize garden space. Each house has an integrated covered outdoor space. Each house has moments of spatial complexity, within a simple envelope. The Bridge house arcs to exaggerate the main living room, intimate at the entry and outdoor room. Its gentle form echoes landscapes and minimizes overshadowing. The Sky house reaches for light through amplified roof lights, and to the street through an open, one storey entry verandah. The Clock House can be rotated from an open 'L' through to a narrow 'V', depending on the width of the site and the orientation. It effortlessly creates a large covered space and roof garden terrace simply through the shift in alignment between the two storeys. They are all suitable for urban, suburban and rural sites. All houses have been designed to be repeated on adjacent sites or used in a grouping. For more information regarding pricing and deliveries, see the Happy Haus website: www.happyhaus.com.au

A new cottage in the Watsons Bay heritage conservation area works within a prescribed envelope and design constraints. The language of weatherboard seaside cottages, street verandas and simple connections to gardens and light were explored. Essentially south facing, the light scoop and entry skylight provides sunlight, light and ventilation for all spaces.

Photographers: Anthony Browell, John Gollings and Brett Boardman