Plus Minus Design was established in 2007.
The focus of the practice is building design. We are not interested in specialising in particular building types, rather we’ve found that thinking through ideas at one scale can productively inform work at another. Projects to date have varied from garage lofts through to high-rise, tower developments and this range of scale and type reflects our breadth of design interest and experience.
Urban design, landscape design and interior design are subjects that are happy distractions. While we have skills in these areas, we understand the limits of our expertise and gladly propose and welcome collaborations with other design and construction professionals when appropriate.
We decided to call the practice Plus Minus Design for a whole bunch of reasons. Wikipedia, at times, defines plus-minus as “the precision of an approximation” and we like the sound of that. We like thinking about approximation and tolerance in building. Some times things need to be precise or luxurious, other times it is not so important. Our first priority and objective for each project is to find an appropriate response.
Phillip lectures frequently and has taught architectural design, history and interior design at the University of New South Wales, the University of Technology in Sydney and Western Sydney University. He is an Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University.
Phillip is a registered architect in NSW (NSW ARB 10101) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects.
20 Arthur Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Sydney, Australia
A home, studio and four gardens.
Our house was big enough, but didn’t take advantage of the orientation or the garden. We did the obvious things. We opened up to the garden and built a garage with a studio above. The rear yard is heavily landscaped to provide a view and visual separation between home and studio.
We have a pond in another courtyard which helps keep the house cool, as does the insulation and mass of a roof garden. The front yard is our fourth garden.
The ground floor has a cosy room at the front and an open room at the back. We move furniture back and forth in response to weather and occasion.
The upper level remained unchanged, except for a bath in a bay window off the front bedroom. The bath and bedrooms have views of the roof garden.
Structural Engineer, SDA Structures
Landscape advice, Sue Barnsley
Built by Lex Dow, Elke Prill & Carl Burt
