News

Breathe Director of Architecture and Sustainability, Bonnie Herring, joined like minded sustainability leaders WOWOWA and SJB to see Brickworks launch their carbon offsetting program – achieving sustainability targets and building a better future for both business and the planet.  Bonnie said, "Breathe were early signatories to Architects Declare Australia, which is an acknowledgement that we’re all facing the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. So we’ve been really vocal advocates, appealing to the broader industry to go carbon neutral. It’s energising to see the expanded carbon neutral offer by Brickworks and I hope to see more industry leaders and suppliers coming to the forefront, and matching this challenge."

Designed by Breathe, Nightingale Ngawan and Nightingale Yambook will join the Wurru-wurru and Laak communities at 215 Albion Street, Brunswick. Each community features Teilhaus, one and two bedroom apartments and are designed around an expansive, regenerative, biodiverse and lush courtyard, providing a passive cooling effect and cross ventilation to the apartments above. For more information about upcoming information sessions, visit the Nightingale Housing website.

The shortlist for the 2021 Eat Drink Design Awards has been revealed and Ona Coffee Melbourne has been nominated for Best Cafe Design. One of Australia’s first hospitality projects to be completely carbon neutral in operations, Ona is exceptional in its sustainability outcomes. Reflective of Ona’s values of prioritising sustainability and approachability, this café is about creating an inviting, humble and personal space to enjoy, appreciate and learn about coffee.

Last week, ABC Radio National reported on the release of the IPCC report and how to adapt to the effects of climate change. Breathe Director of Houses Madeline Sewall and her wonderful client David Rugendyke joined the breakfast program to speak about rebuilding Dave’s home after the Cobargo bushfires of 2020, and how to build back better. Listen here.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate report is out and, well, it’s terrifying. Described as a ‘code red for humanity‘, it serves as yet another wake-up call to governments to take immediate action. While we continue to wait for them to do so, there are things we, as architects and building professionals, can do. One of the most important steps is to never specify gas in a project again, and instead switch to a mix of solar and 100% certified GreenPower. The more fossil fuels we burn, the worse this crisis is going to get.⁠ The report is confronting, but it details what can be done to tackle the crisis if we act now. Everyone can play a small part.

Breese Street by Milieu, a great collaboration between Breathe and DKO, has received an Honourable Mention in the Multi-Residential Building category at the 2021 INDE Awards. Breese Street was informed through careful study of the requirements of urban living, anchored in nurturing community and championing sustainability. The architecture fits the narrative of Brunswick’s industrial heritage of the past while leading to a sustainable future.

Designed by Breathe, Nightingale Wurru-wurru and Laak are two new communities coming soon for Brunswick. Sustainability is at the core of every design decision and in collaboration with Openwork, living greenery will play a key role across each community from ground to rooftop. Teilhaus, one and two bedroom apartments are now available via a ballot that is open now. Visit the Nightingale website to find out more and enter the ballot, or view our project page.

The climate crisis is the most challenging and urgent issue facing our time. At Breathe, we recognise that as architects we are uniquely placed to help lead the transition to a carbon free future. Breathe has been carbon neutral since 2017. In excellent news, The Australian Institute of Architects, the peak body for the architecture profession in Australia, has committed to their carbon neutral journey and has called on the Australian Government to establish a national plan towards zero carbon buildings by 2030. In addition, the Institute is urging all architecture practices to get on board and has setup a dedicated page with all the resources and information needed to join more than 200 architecture firms that have already begun their process towards becoming carbon neutral.

Breathe has won three medals at this year’s DRIVENxDESIGN Melbourne Design Awards. The awards celebrate and honour the role of design and the skills of designers. We are pleased to announce that Ona Coffee won Silver in the Hospitality Interiors category, Edgars Creek House won Gold in the Residential Architecture category, and The Melbourne Recovery Centre has also taken out Gold in the Proposed Architecture category. View our full list of awards.

As part of NAIDOC Week, the Breathe team spent an afternoon with Your Yorta, Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung man Shane Charles. Shane shared stories from his life and culture, what ‘Heal Country’ means, and ways we can all contribute to reconciliation. Thank you Shane for sharing your knowledge and orientating us on Country. More impressions on Instagram.

We are pleased to share that Camilla Burke has been promoted to Associate at Breathe. The talented Cami has led numerous multi-residential and hospitality projects with a particular knack for delivering community-focused projects that strive to connect their inhabitants. Her experience is broad, working on a range of project types and scales, including numerous community centres, hospitality venues, residential and social and affordable housing projects. Cami started working at Breathe in 2019 and quickly cemented herself as a natural leader, working with her team across all project phases from design concept to contract administration. Lucky for us, with Cami, comes Remi, a welcome, wire-haired dachshund addition to our canine team. Congratulations Cami!

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We are pleased to announce the promotion of Madeline Sewall to the role of Director at Breathe. Madeline has been an Associate and Head of Houses since 2020 and has proven herself to be a natural leader, championing Breathe’s residential projects with passion, tenacity, empathy and humility. Maddie has a knack for building trusting and collaborative relationships with each client and collaborator she works with, establishing healthy project teams that have mutual respect and great comradery. Pictured here is Maddie on the set of Renovate or Rebuild, soon to be aired on Channel 9. A talented communicator, Maddie guests on the show to share her knowledge and insights into successful sustainable design. Congratulations Maddie!

Congratulations to the incredible team at NH Architecture, Russell & George, and Wurundjeri-willam artist Mandy Nicholson for being awarded the Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award for Sustainable Architecture at this year’s Victorian Institute of Architects Awards for their project Burwood Brickworks.

Burwood Brickworks is incredibly inspiring to us here at Breathe, being the world’s first Living Building Challenge-certified project (no mean feat!), achieving new standards in sustainability and being recognised as the world’s most sustainable shopping centre.⁠

⁠Huge shout-out to the design team, Frasers Property Australia for championing the project, Hacer for a great build, and importantly Stephen Choi for his tireless vision. We bow down. ⁠⁠Because of this project, all the project we create in the future will be better.⁠⁠

The Breathe team worked tirelessly to ensure exceptional sustainability outcomes for Ona Coffee Melbourne. Last week, the project received a commendation in the Sustainability category at this year's Victorian Architecture Awards!

The big move for Ona Coffee was to go completely carbon neutral in operations – no gas. ⁠⁠Built by the incredible team at Never Stop Group, sustainability features include being 100% electric, using induction cooktops and 20kW solar on the re-insulated roof with remaining energy requirements provided by 100% GreenPower. A rigorous carbon audit was undertaken to offset any greenhouse gas emissions. 5000 litre rain water tanks, organics waste streams, natural light and ample bike parking were incorporated into the design.

⁠⁠The design represents the ethical ethos of Ona’s mission: to work with farmers from around the world ensuring a fair trade strategy that sees farmers valued, treated with respect and future livelihoods protected.⁠⁠ Congratulations Ona!

Breathe’s wonderful group of Directors, Associates and Team Leads recently completed the ChangeUp leadership program with the incredible Mim Bartlett.

The program challenged the team to look within themselves with the time, the space and the environment to encourage reflection, to be vulnerable, to inspire connection and to focus on what’s important to the broader team in life and in work.

The team found ChangeUp to be a refreshing take on leadership training that celebrates individuality, emotional intelligence and humanity, recognising that leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. Mim helped our team identify the diversity of their strengths, so that we can play to them every day. At Breathe, we really value a truly connected team to continue to deliver projects with enduring and meaningful impact for our clients and the planet. Always learning, always evolving.

An incredibly diverse range of buildings, spaces, objects and people were submitted for the 2021 INDE.Awards and we are proud to announce Breathe has been shortlisted for two: Breese St by Milieu, a collaboration with DKO Architecture in ‘The Multi-Residential Building’ category, and Ona Coffee in ‘The Influencer’ category. Winners will be announced on August 5th.

Breathe Director of Sustainability, Bonnie Herring, has been named the inaugural sustainability judge at this year’s Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), Australia’s oldest independent architecture and interior design awards.  Bonnie says sustainability is “not something you attach to the building, it’s something that is embedded in its DNA”. She will be looking for exemplary projects that are focused on reducing operational carbon emissions as well as embodied emissions. “So projects that really consider a net-zero pathway in their designs” and are fossil fuel-free in operation. The full list of judges can be found here.

Calling all budding designers: Join Breathe for a live webinar hosted by ISCD Education about all things lighting design. Breathe Director of Architecture, Bonnie Herring, Head of Interiors Bettina Robinson, and Head of Houses Madeline Sewall will provide insights into core lighting design principles, biophilic lighting design, materiality, specification and adaptability as well as a Q&A session. Not to be missed!

Mark your calendars: Thursday 10 June, 6.30pm
‍Info and registration here

The Breathe Houses team has setup shop in Olinda. At Breathe, we love creating homes inspired by the people who will live in them and by nature. During 2020’s lockdown, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to create a second location for the Breathe team to pause and reflect on what ‘home’ really means for people and how our natural environment can inspire and be incorporated in every aspect of design, to create places that captivate and for people to thrive in. So far, each Olinda day has been more beautiful than the next. See here how to get in touch with us or visit us in Olinda.

We are proud to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which our Olinda office stands. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture.

We’re proud to officially announce the completion of our latest community project: The Cobargo Santa Project, a new home for the family of brave RFS firefighter Dave and his wife Barbara who lost everything in the catastrophic fires of 2019/2020.

Initiated by Breathe, this pro-bono project brought together a long list of generous donors who helped build a comfortable, efficient, carbon-neutral home for the Santa of Cobargo.

Read more about the backstory here and the details about this project here. Dave and Barbara’s story was also covered in a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Breathe Associate and Head of Houses, Madeline Sewall, has been named one of 15 emerging architects shortlisted for the Australian Institute of Architect's Dulux Study Tour prize. Well deserved, Maddie!

It’s been a great week of peer recognition for Breathe with three projects shortlisted for 2021 awards. Breese Street has been shortlisted for the Houses Award in the Apartment/Unit and Sustainability categories, as well as shortlisted for the Victorian Architecture Awards in the category Sustainability. ONA Coffee has also been recognised for its exceptional sustainability outcomes, being shortlisted for the same category in the Victorian Architecture Awards. View all of Breathe’s awards here.

Breathe’s Tamara Veltre is proud to be a judge at this year’s Circle Awards. The Circle Awards bring together the diverse businesses, organisations, projects and people adopting circular practices to create a world where nothing goes to waste. The annual programme champions circular
 practices across all aspects of day-to-day life. They’re not just looking for those who are doing everything perfectly. (That would make for a very short list!) The focus is on recognising creative solutions that capture the interest of consumers and inspire change.⁠⁠ Entries open April 15. Find out more here.

Arkadia continues its awards streak receiving two highly commended awards at the March Frame Awards, one for Best Use of Material and one for Co-Living Complex. Arkadia is made from nearly half a million recycled bricks and comprises 152 homes rooted in community and sustainability.⁠⁠ Congratulations to our collaborators DKO Architecture and Oculus.

Breathe, DKO Architecture and Oculus won the Medium Business award for Arkadia at last night's Banksia Sustainability Awards. In its 32nd year, the Banksia Awards illustrate how the efforts and passion of so many individuals that have been a part of the Banksia Foundation can make a difference in moving our society towards a more sustainable future. Arkadia is about community and sustainability, it’s about memory and place. It’s about creating a beacon to a low carbon future and setting a new benchmark for Australian sustainable buildings and cities.

View our full list of awards.

Highly Commended at The Interior Design Excellence Awards 2021 in the Residential New category, Edgars Creek House is all about a connection to nature. The materiality of the house responds to its bushland context. A rammed earth wall shields the south of the house, and talks to the sandstone cliffs of the creek below. The pavilions of the home sit among the Ironbark trees and are clad in raw Ironbark themselves.

Arkadia has been recognised as a finalist at this year’s Banksia Sustainability Awards. The longest-running sustainability awards in the world, the Banksia Awards seek out and recognise innovation and leadership through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These global goals aim to unite the world businesses, governments and citizens to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and protect the planet.⁠⁠

At its core, Arkadia was designed to be environmentally and socially sustainable, while capturing the memory of its past. Revealing the history of the site are nearly half a million recycled bricks paying homage to the clay quarries and brick factories that stood there in centuries past. The entire project is 100% electric allowing for an entirely renewable, carbon free energy source.⁠⁠ Award winners will be announced in March 2021.

View our full list of awards.

Legend, visionary, designer, sustainability advocate and anti-waste crusader Joost Bakker has reimagined the home as an ecosystem that provides shelter, energy and nourishment for its inhabitants by creating Future Food System at Federation Square in Melbourne. ⁠⁠Future Food System is a two-bedroom home made from sustainable materials. It's self sustaining, 100% zero waste and productive, demonstrating the potential of our homes to provide shelter, produce food, generate energy and to show a new way to live.⁠

Jeremy McLeod joins Joost to discuss the materials used to build Future Food System. Watch the discussion here.

Breathe are joining forces with Four Pillars Gin to deliver a new world class facility directly adjacent to their current home in Healesville that will incorporate new hospitality, production, bottling, a spectacular events space and a special sensory surprise!⁠⁠

Importantly, this project will see Four Pillars continue their commitment to sustainability and community with the implementation of new sustainability initiatives and the creation of countless local jobs.⁠⁠ Due for completion at the end of this year, the new development will place Four Pillars, the winner of International Gin Producer of the Year in 2019 and 2020, on the global distillery destination map, with a first-class, unique facility just an hour’s drive from Melbourne’s CBD.

Breathe are committed to a reconciled, just and equitable Australia. We recognise the role we play in turning our intentions into clear actions and are pleased to have finalised our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). We are in the early stages of our journey and have established a working committee to help create a workplace culture that understands, values and respects the true history of this country and the cultures and contributions of First Nations peoples, to develop respectful relationships and create meaningful opportunities with First Nations peoples.

View the Reconciliation Action Plan (PDF)