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
Take a small site in the inner Sydney suburb of Paddington – a suburb known for its conservative and strictly controlled approach to development. Using only a modest budget, create a home that’s functional but which increases the value of the property, with additional bedrooms and off-street parking. A garden too please. Oh, and don’t upset the neighbours!
Working with such a long list of constraints, we developed a plan that was both elegant and efficient, with every square centimetre working hard, inside and out. We delivered everything the clients wanted, including generous living spaces connecting to a landscaped garden, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and off-street parking.
The sawtooth roof – inspired by a nearby warehouse – provides generous ceiling heights (without overshadowing neighbours) and lets abundant light into the plan’s centre while providing ventilation to both levels.
Flexibility of space is key. The ground floor is essentially one large space, with the private courtyard garden extending the open-plan lower living and dining areas and transforming into off-street parking for up to 2 cars when required. A bathroom and staircase are cleverly hidden behind a joinery wall that includes the kitchen. A small rear garden completes the ground floor.
Upstairs, 4 rooms – including a generous bathroom – and a wide hall each have a distinct character created by natural light, plan orientation and colour choices. The upstairs rooms are deliberately flexible and can be used interchangeably as bedrooms, office space or separate living areas, depending on seasons, needs or changing circumstances.
Careful management of the modest budget allowed us to create a functional and efficient home at a low square meter rate compared to other architect-designed homes in inner-city Sydney. Detailing was direct, with the thoughtful arrangement of standard components rather than high-end craftsmanship. Vibrant colour design animates and amplifies spatial character and eliminates the need for luxury materials or costly applied finishes. Judicious choices made it possible to still include elements like marble benchtops, terrazzo bathrooms, commercial external doors and private gardens.
In an example of close collaboration across disciplines, colour and vegetation are stitched into the space to become inseparable from the architecture. An internal colour datum matching external garden wall heights connects the interior to front and rear yards, which extends the sense of openness throughout the ground level, inside and out. The landscape design forms the basis for a colour chart that informs walls and ceilings, while elements of the garden and its colours borrow from the surrounding neighbourhood to visually extend the home beyond the site boundaries.
Despite being completely different from neighbouring terrace houses, the home fits satisfyingly into the strictly controlled heritage suburb.
Not only did Council approve what may have been considered a controversial response to heritage, but neighbours frequently praised the home during construction, with one noting on completion “you’ve renovated the whole street!”
Colour design, Sonia van de Haar, Lymesmith
Landscape design, Sue Barnsley and Nicholas Goundar, Sue Barnsley Design
Engineer, Alex Montgomery and Layla Kia, Cantilever
Traffic Consultant, Oleg Sannikov and Vladimir Pantiukhin, TEF Consulting
Civil and Hydraulic Engineer, Paul Arraj, Ace Civil and Hydraulic Engineers
Heritage and Planning, Weir Phillips Heritage and Planning
