The esteemed 10 recognises influential voices in the architecture and design community in 2025. Criterion is based on approach, notable achievements and completed and anticipated projects.
This piece originally appeared in est magazine issue 55: ‘Faces of Design’.
Wardle Partner
John Wardle
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country / Melbourne, Australia
My design work is best summed up as:
I’ve paraphrased a portion of the jury citation from my Gold Medal in 2020 that resonated with me. In part, it says my work is: A celebration of detail-driven, highly resolved architecture that respects craft and production processes. These processes are often experimented with, and the outcomes are invariably the result of a studio-based collaborative practice.
What aspect of your work are people most curious about?
The resolution of invented details is often a talking point. Many suggest a specific narrative that can contain elements of humour or reference a historical moment or personal memory of our mine, clients or the community.
What has recently challenged the way you think about design?
A focus on circularity in architecture has challenged us to consider the lifespan of a building. There are two ways to think about this – build for eternity and all that entails or design with a view to the eventual disassembly of the structure. Global pressures on the environment are ever-present, and we’re working towards an acutely propositional architecture that can be balanced with other factors.
An immense opportunity for us as architects is our focus on learning more indigenous knowledge and its specificity to place. We need to afford ourselves the patience to do so.
What person, building, product or art piece has had a lasting impact on your work?
To narrow it down is extremely difficult. As it has provided a starting point for several of our projects, one that jumps to mind is D. H. Lawrence’s note ‘Upside Down at the Bottom of the World’. Written forlornly at the end of each of his letters home in Australia, writing ‘Kangaroo’ became our appreciation of our position upside down in the world.
The three words I would most like people to attribute to my work are:
Curiosity, experimentation, relationships.
What is the one piece of advice you would share with an emerging designer?
Always be inquisitive and empathetic and discover territories and skillsets that can be yours. So, define yourself as someone with acute knowledge and be willing to share it generously.
Where do you go to appreciate exceptional design?
Travel wildly, broadly, to discover territories within our vast continent and places and cultures further afield. Conversely, by delving into the industry and the places where things are made, we can understand the creative aspects of craft that can better attune us as designers to the cultural imperatives in new forms of making.
Something you want to see more of in 2025? And less of?
More time to do and less anxiety about what distracts from the enjoyment of doing.
