{"id":773771,"date":"2026-07-02T07:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773771\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:10:19","slug":"alexander-symes-architect-a-practice-shaped-by-curiosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773771\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Symes Architect: A practice shaped by curiosity"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Alexander Symes founded his practice twelve years ago, it marked the beginning of a new chapter in a much longer story \u2013 one shaped by curiosity, hands-on learning and a persistent questioning of how architecture might better serve both people and the environment. While Alex speaks with enthusiasm about what the next decade may hold, the trajectory of his practice to date offers a compelling narrative of evolution, experimentation and a deepening commitment to meaningful, sustainable design.<\/p>\n

Alexander Symes Architect (ASA) has built a strong reputation for delivering high-performing, environmentally responsive homes. Yet Alex is quick to point out that this reputation is only part of a broader ambition. While the practice is widely recognised for its \u201ceco-houses,\u201d he consistently expresses a desire to do more. His goal is not simply to design one-off architectural statements, but to explore how architecture can operate at multiple scales, producing \u201cscalable, economical\u201d homes that \u201cwork for society\u201d while still maintaining a sense of beauty, individuality and craft.<\/p>\n

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This balance between performance, pragmatism and poetry has been present since the practice\u2019s earliest projects. ASA\u2019s first house, the Austinmer Beach House<\/a> (2012), designed in collaboration with Furio Valich, was a bold and confident beginning. Perched dramatically on the headland above the Austinmer Beach Pools, the project announced a clear architectural voice \u2013 one that embraced site, climate and materiality with equal sensitivity. It set the tone for a body of work that would continue to engage deeply with place, while also testing new ideas about sustainability and construction.<\/p>\n

Alex\u2019s path into architecture has been anything but linear, and this non-traditional journey has clearly shaped his design philosophy. Before fully committing to practice, he deliberately stepped outside the conventional architectural trajectory. In 2007, he chose to \u201cget out of architecture\u201d to better understand how buildings are made. Spending some time working for builders, Alex immersed himself in the realities of construction, learning directly from skilled tradespeople and asking a lot of questions on site. This hands-on experience provided a practical foundation that continues to inform his design approach.<\/p>\n

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Following this period in construction, Alex extended his learning by securing a role with Arup\u2019s building physics and facade engineering teams, starting as a graduate engineer and staying for four years. This experience allowed him to engage with architecture from a technical perspective, collaborating with leading architects while gaining insights into performance, detailing and systems integration. Ultimately, the pull of architecture proved too strong, and he returned to full-time practice with a broadened skillset and a more holistic understanding of the built environment.<\/p>\n

This synthesis of design, construction knowledge and engineering insight is evident across ASA\u2019s work. Over time, the practice has developed a reputation for houses that are not only visually compelling but also rigorously resolved in terms of environmental performance. Central to this approach is Alex\u2019s nuanced position on Passive House standards. In a field often characterised by polarised views \u2013 staunch advocates of strict Passive House certification on one side, and proponents of more traditional passive solar design on the other \u2013 Alex adopts a refreshingly pragmatic stance.<\/p>\n

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While the ASA team includes certified Passive House designers, Alex does not see the methodology as a rigid framework that must be unerringly adhered to. Instead, the practice\u2019s approach could be described as one of synthesis, merging the precision and performance targets of Passive House with the adaptability and contextual responsiveness of passive solar principles. This hybrid methodology allows each project to respond appropriately to its site, climate and brief, without being constrained by dogma. An example is Cake House (2024) in Mollymook, an adaptation of an existing beach house where a well-grounded response to energy consumption and the environment combines with an expressive augmentation to the existing house and the client brief.<\/p>\n

Projects such as the Re-generation House (2023) further exemplify this thinking. Developed in collaboration with Second Edition and artist Jane Theau, the project explores not only energy performance but also broader ideas of environmental regeneration and material reuse. It reflects a growing interest within the practice in moving beyond sustainability as a baseline, toward architecture that actively contributes to ecological repair.<\/p>\n

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Similarly, the Upside Down Akubra House (2020) demonstrates ASA\u2019s ability to distil complex environmental strategies into simple, legible forms. Located in country New South Wales, this self-sufficient, off-grid home is defined by its striking roof form, which simultaneously provides shade and collects water. The project reduces its architectural language to a clear and direct expression of function, resulting in a building that is both striking and sustainable.<\/p>\n

Other projects continue to expand this dialogue between performance and experience. Pepper Tree Passive House (2022), a secondary dwelling in Unanderra in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, is designed to meet the rigorous Passive House standard, using up to 90 percent less energy than a typical home. While highly technical in its execution, the project remains grounded in everyday use, demonstrating that high-performance design can be seamlessly integrated into suburban contexts.<\/p>\n

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Coconut Crab (2024), an \u201cenvironmentally regenerative ceramic studio\u201d created in collaboration with ceramicist Araceli Robledo Adams, further illustrates the practice\u2019s interdisciplinary approach. The building\u2019s identity is shaped not only by environ-mental considerations but also by artistic expression: it takes its name from a tiled mural of a coconut crab created by Adams that adorns the facade. The coconut crab is a vulnerable marine species whose population is at risk from both over-fishing and climate change, and is thus a reminder of our duty to reduce consumption. Here, architecture becomes a platform for collaboration, craft and storytelling, extending beyond conventional residential typologies.<\/p>\n

More recently, Tree House (2026) in Forest Lodge represents a careful and considered approach to adaptation and reuse. Situated at the end of a single-storey terrace row in Sydney\u2019s inner-west, the project transforms an existing house by leveraging its unique position adjacent to a revegetated reserve. The design opens the house to the north, expanding its outlook into the surrounding trees and landscape. Materially, the project employs galvanised panelling and exposed, dressed timber rafters to create a mansard profile that will, over time, evolve into a planted arbour with a temporal dimension, where architecture is designed to change and grow with time.<\/p>\n

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Ultimately, ASA is defined by its willingness to question, adapt and evolve. Rather than adhering to a fixed ideology, the practice operates through a process of continual learning \u2013 drawing from construction, engineering and design to produce an architecture that is both grounded and forward-looking. As the practice moves into its next phase, Alex remains focused on expanding its impact, exploring new modes of housing, while continuing to create \u201cbeautiful, unique things\u201d for those who value thoughtful, well-crafted design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Alexander Symes founded his practice twelve years ago, it marked the beginning of a new chapter in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-773771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}