Decus
Director & Founder Alexandra Donohoe Church
The esteemed 10 recognises 10 Australians for their excellence in residential architecture and design in 2026. Each recipient has their own legacy-building approach to homes that enrich and sustain the lives within them, centre those who create them, and magnify design’s indelible impact on the landscape and community.
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My design work is best summed up in the phrase:
Alexandra Donohoe Church: We strive to create spaces that are expressive, resonate deeply with clients and are somewhat unex- pected. Our work has evolved from fulfilling the brief in a straightforward way to one that challenges clients to be open to a different way of living from what they are familiar or comfortable with. The creation of narrative is fundamental to this exchange.
What aspect of your work are people most curious about?
Alexandra Donohoe Church: Truthfully, what things cost. Everyone wants to understand the financial side of projects: construction costs, fees and consultants. And also, how we arrive at a balance of details, colours and finishes that feel unique yet not ‘screamy’. Process junkies are always disappointed to learn it’s largely intuitive.
What has recently challenged the way you think about design?
Alexandra Donohoe Church: The suffocating sameness of mass production. Everything’s available, everything’s consumable, nothing is special. I yearn for a return to craftsmanship, not as a nostalgic gesture, but as resistance. When you experience something made by hand, with intention, it lands differently; it rewires your brain a little.
Decus director and founder Alexandra Donohoe Church
What person, building, product, or art piece has had a lasting impact on your work?
Alexandra Donohoe Church: Pierre Yovanovitch. He has this shaman-like ability to produce work that is consistently timeless yet surprising and challenging at the same time. I look at the work he produced when I was still a university student, and it fails to feel out of date.
The three words I would most like people to attribute to my work are:
Alexandra Donohoe Church: Intuitive, thoughtful and rigorous.
What is the one piece of advice you would share with an emerging designer?
Alexandra Donohoe Church: If you have a strong impulse, act on it. Refuse to stay quiet or small; no one will read your mind.
Where do you go to appreciate exceptional design?
Alexandra Donohoe Church: France. The French have design and art baked into their DNA and culture. It’s an essential part of their experience of the world, not an optional extra. They don’t separate beauty from function. It’s just baked in.
What’s one thing you’d like to see more of in design? Less?
Alexandra Donohoe Church: More time! And also, collectable design; small batch, low volume, highly crafted. More personal, less mass market. Less throwing every trendy ingredient into the metaphorical pot and stirring to see what happens.
This piece originally appeared in our special print edition of est magazine, issue 60: ‘Design Instinct’.
