{"id":628342,"date":"2026-09-18T08:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628342\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T08:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:06:14","slug":"building-with-light-chris-rak-on-greek-influence-craft-and-creating-homes-that-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628342\/","title":{"rendered":"Building with light: Chris Rak on Greek influence, craft and creating homes that last"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the September 29 launch of their debut monograph, Permanent Residence, sculptor and designer Chris Rak discusses how his partner Katherine Robson and he use light and design to transform legacy into homes that last<\/p>\n

Early in the conversation, Greek Australian Chris Rak, one half of Melbourne studio Robson Rak, pauses before answering a question about light. For a studio melding sculpture and architecture, light is a material shaped and controlled with the same intent as timber, stone or rammed earth.<\/p>\n

That philosophy sits at the heart of Robson Rak\u2019s Permanent Residence, a book launching September 29. Built around the studio\u2019s framework of eight guiding principles- first impressions, light, simplicity, nature, materials, sculpture, authenticity and balance.<\/p>\n

The book traverses two decades of work by Kathryn Robson, an architect, and Chris Rak, a sculptor, partners in both practice and life. These principles shape what follows, and the first is light, which frames the studio\u2019s broader approach to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really more than just a book about buildings,\u201d Rak says. \u201cIt\u2019s about how we think about home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Stone endures, its patina deepening with use and defining the building over time. A sharply angled oculus in the entry canopy carves out space and light, offering an early glimpse of the precision carried through the interior. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

Light as material<\/p>\n

For Rak, light isn\u2019t something you let in; \u201cit\u2019s something you build with.\u201d This idea becomes clear in several of the studio\u2019s best-known projects, including Merricks House, Toorak House and the Lizzy Art House, all featured in the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something inherently Renaissance-like in this approach,\u201d the studio\u2019s accompanying essay reads, \u201ca belief in the interconnectedness of the arts, in craftsmanship and human experience, and in the importance of proportion, materiality, beauty and permanence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowhere is that clearer than at the Lizzy Art House a dark, unremarkable Victorian terrace before Robson Rak\u2019s intervention, and now the cover image of the new book. Rather than opening the rear of the house to a view Rak describes bluntly as \u201ccrappy\u201d and \u201cdomestic,\u201d the studio ran eight metres of obscured Venetian glass brick through the plan instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe view outside was nothing special there\u2019s a fence there,\u201d Rak says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Designed as the owners\u2019 final permanent residence, this quirky building\u2019s last chapter plays with character and nuance, an interior brimming with colour, materials and fun. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used an obscure glass brick, and it completely transformed the home. The light streaming in isn\u2019t harsh. It\u2019s a consistent glow, and it\u2019s given life to the whole place. We don\u2019t need the view. We\u2019ve got the light, and the shadowing behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201ca single gesture\u201d, he says, that \u201cwoke the house up\u201d a home that had sat in a kind of architectural slumber since it was built in the 1800s, when domestic buildings were rarely the work of architects at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were mistakes made,\u201d Rak says. \u201cThis one gesture just woke it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

That instinct to transform a space through light rather than demolition is central to the studio\u2019s approach to heritage buildings more broadly. From there, old fabric is respected, even celebrated, but never disguised as something it isn\u2019t. That same respect for contrast leads into the studio\u2019s treatment of heritage, where, as the book adds, \u201cHistoric architecture is allowed to remain legible.\u201d At the same time, contemporary interventions confidently declare their own time. Old and new coexist without either pretending to be the other, and that contrast also carries into how Robson and Rak see space differently.<\/p>\n

\"\"Robson Rak\u2019s Permanent Residence launches on September 29 and is available in all good bookstores and online booksellers, bringing the book\u2019s focus on permanence, design, craft, and home to a clear close. Phnoto: Supplied<\/p>\n

Two ways of seeing<\/p>\n

Robson Rak\u2019s approach to light is also, Rak explains, a study in contrast shaped by two very different childhoods, which in turn shape how each reads a space.<\/p>\n

Kathryn Robson grew up on the coast of Western Australia, waking each day to the Indian Ocean. Rak grew up in the laneways of Port Melbourne. The difference, he says, still defines how each of them reads a space.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loves a southern light; people tend to reject it, but she capitalises on it. It\u2019s constant. Even in our own home, there\u2019s a huge skylight over the south-facing stairs, and it\u2019s always there. Soft. You don\u2019t get the harshness of northern light, or the way it shifts and changes through the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robson, he says, is drawn to the movement of the sun itself. Rak\u2019s instincts run differently toward the ground, the texture, the in-between spaces. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the shadows. The texture of cobblestone. The way light falls between the stones, in a laneway. You can be deep in a crevice, no view of the horizon at all, and a beam of light hits you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same sensibility extends to nature more broadly and also informs how the pair works together. Building on those differences, Robson, shaped by an upbringing surrounded by ocean and horizon insists on visual contact with the natural world in every project, drawing landscape directly into the interior.<\/p>\n

Rak\u2019s relationship to nature is more about framing: courtyards, glimpses, contained gestures reminiscent of the walled courtyards of Mediterranean towns. From ocean to city, their approaches diverge, but both seek connection. \u201cIt invades our space rather than us having to go and find it,\u201d he says of growing up in the city. \u201cWe recreate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Different lights feature in every room, like a gallery of emotions. Here, a Tord Boontje chandelier highlights the ornate Victoriana ceiling rose, echoed in the warm wool and silk rug and maroon leather joinery an overall feeling of \u201cahhh\u201d says Rak. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

Working without words<\/p>\n

Two decades in, the working relationship between Robson and Rak has settled into something that needs almost no explanation between them \u2014 a shorthand built, Rak suggests, from the ways they each grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unspoken now,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I have to say, both our very different upbringings are quite relevant\u2026 She grew up on the ocean, in Western Australia. I grew up in the laneways of Port Melbourne. So, very two different things.<\/p>\n

That contrast doesn\u2019t play out as division of labour so much as constant overlap. In practice, neither of them works in isolation, and neither waits for the other\u2019s stage of a project to finish before stepping in. The result is a working process that blurs boundaries rather than defining them, and that overlap is reflected in how they speak about each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cKathryn and I are totally always into each other\u2019s space,\u201d Rak says. \u201cI\u2019m there at the beginning when she\u2019s spatially planning. She\u2019s there in my face. We\u2019re constantly in each other\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"This 1800s home comes alive with art, colour and light \u2014 its spaces shaped by sculpted detail and gravitating around a two-storey veil of Venetian glass blocks that transforms the interior in one dynamic gesture. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

Ancient references<\/p>\n

Ask Rak about the temple-like quality that runs through much of Robson Rak\u2019s work a stillness, a human-scaled restraint that recalls Greek classical architecture rather than anything overtly monumental \u2014 and he doesn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Parthenon is a major influence on me. The way they controlled perspective, the level of craft it\u2019s mind-boggling that they had such control back then. That\u2019s the ultimate example to reach for. We\u2019re constantly, subconsciously, thinking about that,\u201d he says. From that reference point, the studio\u2019s focus shifts from ancient form to the lived reality of home.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rak says the external materiality sets the tone and character\u2014the interplay between brick and stone hints at the layered detail within. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

Homes, not monuments<\/p>\n

Rak rejects the idea that the studio\u2019s houses are designed to impress rather than to be lived in. From that starting point, when asked what of those who cannot afford that level of craft, or whose homes are instead a palimpsest of lived-in life, he doesn\u2019t soften the answer, but he does draw a clear line around what the work is actually for<\/p>\n

\u201cOur designs do not monumentalise the house, I reject that assertion,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with the occupants. Even when we get briefs for massive mansions, we do our best to break them down into zones, so it doesn\u2019t feel monumental so it still feels intimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s clear-eyed about who gets to build that way. Craftsmanship of this calibre requires a budget, and a budget requires clients who build for themselves, not for resale. It\u2019s a line the studio won\u2019t cross. \u201cI don\u2019t want to work for a developer,\u201d Rak says. \u201cI only work for the end user \u2014 the person who actually lives in that home. Developers have approached us over the years, and we\u2019ve never designed for profit. Even the so-called passionate developers are still driven by the bottom line. Our briefs never are.\u201d<\/p>\n

But an interesting house, he insists, isn\u2019t the exclusive property of the wealthy. \u201cIt\u2019s the occupants that make a house interesting: their art collection, their furniture, the way they occupy and move through a space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur own home is very modest. We made it interesting with artwork, with furniture, with our life.\u201d From there, the real barrier, he adds, isn\u2019t taste; it\u2019s the simple, escalating cost of building anything at all. \u201cIt\u2019s eye-watering, even for people with money. Labour is so expensive now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Overlaid with a new layer of craft, the stair draws the eye in and up to a large circular void that bathes the walls in light. This contemporary interpretation of a traditional ceiling mould feels celestial, like a frozen moment in space. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

A complete practice<\/p>\n

Bespoke design runs through nearly everything Robson Rak makes: lighting, furniture, joinery, and flooring, much of it born of necessity in the studio\u2019s early years, when Rak built lights and furniture himself to furnish projects on a tight budget.<\/p>\n

That hands-on instinct has since become doctrine. The studio designs furniture-scale pieces into a project from the very first plans, then collaborates with makers to bring them to life a process Rak likens to old-fashioned patronage: commissioning work for a specific person, place and moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are practices out there that won\u2019t touch their own interiors \u2014 they hand it to a separate interior designer,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s anathema to how we think \u2026 okay, here\u2019s the architecture, now let\u2019s go to an interior designer? That\u2019s anathema. I just don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fusion he traces directly to their respective training. \u201cShe\u2019s strictly an architect. I came from a maker background, then went on to study interior design. So obviously that creates this complete fusion,\u201d he says. He still keeps a small sculpture studio of his own, a quiet return to where his creative life began, and that continuity leads naturally into what comes next for the studio.<\/p>\n

\"\"In Lizzie Art House, an eclectic collection of sumptuous artworks sets the tone. Colour became the interior language \u2014 form and materials responding to pieces, large and small, that drip with personality. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

The horizon<\/p>\n

Rak is unsentimental about the future: more of the same, he says, only bigger. Looking ahead, he\u2019d welcome an international project \u2014 perhaps, he says, \u201csomething in Greece.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, the ambition remains the one that shaped the book itself: houses conceived as complete works, where architecture, interiors, art, craft and landscape are never separated, and where permanence \u2014 not fashion \u2014 is the measure of success.<\/p>\n

The ambition remains the one that shaped the book itself: houses conceived as complete works, where architecture, interiors, art, craft and landscape are never separated, and where permanence not fashion \u2014 is the measure of success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to get lost in the craft, and you can\u2019t get lost in the craft without the budget,\u201d Rak says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to work for a developer I want the passionate person to allow us to give them something special, and to allow our craft to shine as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Robson Rak\u2019s Permanent Residence launches on September 29 and is available in all good bookstores and online booksellers, bringing the book\u2019s focus on permanence, design, craft, and home to a clear close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the September 29 launch of their debut monograph, Permanent Residence, sculptor and designer Chris Rak discusses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-628342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}