About Shared Space Architecture
The Company
Shared Space Architecture aims to fill gaps which exist in professional architecture practice. We do this through our process of Encouragement follows Practice follows Awareness.
Since its beginnings, Shared Space has involved itself with efficient buildings and the experience we carry with us ultimately helps those on the journey and our clients. We believe there is no one solution for every project and that every project has the potential to succeed in delivering both architectural outcomes and efficiency.
Our expertise always derives its foundation from architectural experience and process and although this expertise goes beyond the architectural process (ESD, shop drawing and business technology) we maintain our roots. This is one of our strengths, particularly when working with architects.
We're passionate about helping people. We're passionate about providing good advice. We're passionate about enjoying the process.
Fundamentally engagement with an idea happens only after an awareness of something which you can improve. This awareness is what drives us to work with others and improve the relationship between good design practice and energy efficiency in the built environment.
By collaborating with other architectural firms, builders, other consultants and our own clients we provide a shortcut to the awareness we have gained from our professional experience and allow each to make an informed decision with this shortcut.
By encouraging other architectural firms, builders, other consultants and clients to adopt practices in their projects we close the circle. However, the decision ultimately lies in the hands of the client and we strive to provide the right information so that that this encouragement is viable.
Folio
What we offer
Our clients come to us mostly through our work with energy efficiency and understanding of alternative construction systems available in Australia. We've built a body of work to showcase the smallest projects up to some medium sized community projects. Feel free to get in touch or book a chat to see how we can help you.
Architectural Design
We have extensive combined experience in the residential sector. Our experience also includes schools, churches and other community buildings.
Our services range from Concept Sketch to Contract Administration and you are able to pick and choose from most of these. Ideally however, for design consistency working with us throughout all stages is preferred.
The Green Dot
We have an underlying interest in sustainable design and have worked with mutiple tools to ensure buildings meet standards of energy, economic, environmental and social efficiency.
For us it is not about labelling a building. There are some things you need to do to pass building requirements and others you do just to make sure you are doing the right thing.
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Construction and Workshop Detailing
We office share in Melbourne with Global Consulting Engineers and work with them and software designed to communicate and finesse structural solutions to help you realise your project before construction commences.
With detailed workshop drawings and construction advice, you can be more certain that there are going to be less issues on site. This service is particularly helpful with Passive House consulting to mitigate poor planning of airtightness.
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Peer Review
Providing peer review for small and sole practices allows us to collaborate together and potentially seek additional advice on project specific queries.
Sole practitioners and small companies often find the collaboration aspect of the design process difficult to undertake. If you are in this situation and would like to talk through your solutions, feel free to get in touch.
Have a chat with us!
Below are a series of appointments with topics you can book with us to allow a conversation about the various aspects of the work Shared Space offers to its community. Topics range from those for homeowners to business owners or graduates wanting to register as an architect.
Get Support from Us!
Below are a series of appointments with topics you can book for us to help you work with tools which we use to provide advice to our clients. The support is one-on-one and up to three people can attend any one session.
Blog
Passive House Accelerator Podcast
Cohost Matthew Cutler-Welsh interviews Melbourne-based Alex Slater, architect at Shared Space Architecture, Passive House Designer, and NatHERS Assessor. Alex shares how he's combined building science and art in his professional work modeling and designing...
Our Carbon Neutrality
For the financial year 2019-20 Shared Space Architecture has made a contribution to Greenfleet in the act of offsetting our carbon emissions which we as Australians contribute to the environment. We do this voluntarily and do this because there are projects out there...
Stimulus to Surplus
So you’ve decided to renovate your home... With the assistance of homeowner stimulus packages and a current uncertainty around the climate for home buyers in the Melbourne area on top of restrictions imposed by COVID-19 and an increased amount of time at home to...
Stepping Outside the Comfort Zone
In March 2020 I made a decision to do without a heater this Winter after cycling in Tasmania and surviving some cold nights in only a tent. Had I known about losing one job in April, an increased time spent at home from August and a lack of warm clothes, I probably...
Welcome to our Website
Welcome to our virtual space. Amidst COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne we still managed to push this out to you to reach us and build connections. It's Alex here, writing from Melbourne and encouraging you to keep up your purpose, continue to create and foster...
The Value of Shop Drawing
Shop drawing is not just about co-ordination with trades. It is also about retaining architectural intent throughout the whole design and construction process. In earlier days, architects were the primary contractor and were in charge on site. They took the design...
How much does an Architect Cost?
For the full service that an architect provides you should allow around 10% to 15% of the construction cost, depending on the size and complexity of the building. This figure allows for design, obtaining approvals from authorities, documentation for tender and...
Passivhaus: An Energy Tool?
The Passivhaus Planning Package (or PHPP) is an Excel workbook designed to balance energy. It discovers the losses and gains and weighs them against each other. The tool is only as conservative as the Passivhaus Standard and the tool user and it can be used as a good...
The Value of Contract Administration
It is certain many people want to save a dollar here or there. The question is whether or not you are better placed at putting a dollar towards an Architect to take your project through to completion or not. Let us take a look at the design process; it generally looks...
About Nightingale Nightschool
One of our team, Alex was fortunate enough to partake in the Nightingale Night School Studio at Melbourne University in 2016. This was the first year it was run by Breathe Architecture. Nightingale Night School aims to educate students in the Nightingale Housing...
Recording Time
We often charge for our services on an hourly rate (and we genuinely like Excel). The one thing which helps us to quantify the hours spent on a project is a robust in-house timesheet software. Here are some tips when recording your hours. Classify hours into different...