Argyle Well is a highly awarded adaptive re-use project that worked with an original 1840s terrace house, responding with a concrete pavilion that houses the original colonial-era well. | Photography by Anson Smart
For Sydney-based studio Welsh + Major, founded by David Welsh and Chris Major in 2004, there is an unapologetic approach to craft and context, which has evolved into what they self-describe as a ‘modern-ish’ ethos.
The work begins with exploration—unlocking a site’s latent potential, refining movement and light, and reaching for the unexpected moments that make a home remarkable. Context is responded to rather than reacted to. New ideas are layered over old with care. And it makes for homes that are flexible and innately human. With a generosity of light, air and material across scales, this is an architecture practice that continues to shine.
What underpins Welsh + Major’s design philosophy, particularly when it comes to residential work?
David Welsh: We often describe our approach to design as “modern-ish”. We see our approach as decidedly contemporary, while staying connected to the histories and learnings of a place and the people who inhabit that space. So, if we are working with someone to design their home, we want them to have the best of everything, considered through an environmentally responsible lens, and with genuine connections to well-crafted building techniques, sound material choices, and an understanding of the places where we design people’s homes.
Chris Major: Our work is always about exploring—finding creative ways not just to solve design problems, but to reach for something special and perhaps unexpected that will make the design sing. Exploring ways to respond to a site, a building, a context or an idea. Exploring ways to make a home flexible and timeless to keep it working for our clients over time. Exploring how to improve a building’s environmental response and connection with landscape. Exploring what will make a design unique and meaningful for our clients.
Argyle Well by Welsh + Major | Photography by Anson Smart
Argyle Well by Welsh + Major | Photography by Anson Smart
Argyle Well by Welsh + Major | Photography by Anson Smart
How do you see the role of the architect in shaping the way we live?
Chris Major: Architecture done well can unlock all sorts of opportunities in everyday life. It might be unlocking the hidden potential in a site or a building, something that is not obvious but that transforms it to a place that people want to be. It might be the way a view is captured, a movement pattern, or creating spaces that people can come together in new ways. Or it can be simply about the sense of joy that can be found in a beautiful place.
David Welsh: Architecture underpins so much about how we live. While not everyone lives in an architecturally designed home, the places we work, shop, travel through and entertain ourselves in have all been thought about by an architect. As architects, we have a unique opportunity, and a responsibility, to ensure that the spaces and places we design are as good as they can be—and actually makes people’s lives better in some way.
Creating a strong indoor-outdoor connection, Twinset is arranged around a central courtyard, where horizontal and vertical elements give a strong architectural language. | Photography by Tom Ferguson
How does context influence your approach?
Chris Major: Context is always an important factor in our work—we don’t believe that architecture can exist in a bubble. We always consider the way our projects can interact with a city, a neighbourhood, a street, or the landscape and have a positive impact. This might be as simple as the way you enter a building or the way a building can enliven the spaces around it, or on a larger project it can be creating a new layer of context that improves the way people experience a place.
David Welsh: We often talk about responding, rather than reacting to place—to context. So if reacting is an automatic, impulsive action, we choose a more considered approach, by responding, which we see as a deliberate, thoughtful, and conscious choice of design decisions, influenced by history, climate, orientation and place.
When working with existing houses, how do you navigate the balance between respecting heritage and creating something new?
Chris Major: We consider heritage as a series of layers over time—it is not a static thing that freezes a building or a place in a certain time period. This approach allows us to appreciate the character of each period of a home, capturing the things that our clients love about their existing home and then adding and subtracting to create the new contemporary layers that reflect the time we are in now.
Adapting existing buildings also makes sense from a sustainability perspective. Many older homes are solidly built so keeping and adapting significant parts of the existing structures rather than demolishing and rebuilding from scratch saves on material usage and reduces waste.
David Welsh: Circling back to the idea of designing with a “modern-ish” approach.
What role does materiality play?
David Welsh: Understanding what we use to create spaces is essential to creating places with meaning and generosity. How a space makes you feel is influenced by the way it is lit, its proportion, how it sounds and even how it smells. How a building is made, and understanding the materials we use is so important in creating successful, inspired spaces for people to live. So often we see buildings where someone has simply applied the latest greatest material product—disconnected from its origins, and without understanding its provenance. We should be—in fact we need to be—so much better than that.
Greybox brings all of Welsh + Major’s design thinking to life; described as a seaside home that turns a verandah homestead inside out, and crosses it with a motel, a tractor and a cloistered abbey. | Photography by Katherine Lu
Greybox by Welsh + Major | Photography by Katherine Lu
“We consider heritage as a series of layers over time—it is not a static thing that freezes a building or a place in a certain time period.”
– Chris Major
How do you think residential architecture can support more sustainable and flexible ways of living?
Chris Major: The definition of what a house is—what a house can be, is quite fluid—more so today than ever before. Now many of us work from home. Some homes are for a single person—some are for families big and small. The needs of a home evolve as we grow, as we age. Flexibility leads to sustainability—if a home can adapt and shift to meet our needs over time, it’s going to be a more sustainable approach than building more or different houses when we feel our needs changing. We are also interested in the idea of multi-generational homes, which is one way we might contribute to solving the housing crisis we now face.
One thing we need to consider is that our homes often outlive us—so if we consider ourselves as custodians of our houses, rather than owners or renters—we might look at the way we build a little differently, and in a manner that might be more sustainable than building simply for ourselves.
Your practice moves between large-scale public projects and intimate private homes, what do you carry from one scale to the other?
David Welsh: What we carry across scales and building types could be described simply as humanity. No matter what kind of building you are in, you’re making a connection with it. We want that to be a positive connection, and so ideas about light, air, texture, materiality, sound, smell and scale—influence how we feel. Different building types offer us different opportunities, and sure it’s different in a public building compared to a home, but the fundamental tenets of being in a great space—of being human in a space carry across a range of building types.
Pyrmont Community Centre | Photography by Rory Gardiner
R House by Welsh + Major | Photography by Clinton Weaver
R House by Welsh + Major | Photography by Clinton Weaver
Where do you see the role of architects in advocating for important social issues such as climate action?
Chris Major: We are optimistic about how architects can bring about positive change around social and environmental issues. Around 40 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. It stands to reason that as built environment professionals who are involved in the planning, design and implementation of that sector, we have a responsibility to ensure that if we have to build, we need to design those buildings to be as environmentally responsible as possible.
Architects also have a huge role to play in addressing the housing crisis and improving the way our cities work—making sure that we are improving the built environment for the next generation and not leaving them with more problems to solve. For example, well-designed housing can create better living environments, create positive social spaces, reduce our reliance on finite resources and improve wellbeing through better connections with the natural environment.
(L-R) Chris Major and David Welsh established their architecture studio in 2004, and work across various scales, often responding to heritage in unique ways.
Seagrass House is set within a bushfire prone area, this house burrows into the landscape, protecting its occupants with a sturdy brick exterior. | Photography by Clinton Weaver