Insights on the state of Australian residential design and today's built environment | Our Houses Recap 2025-26

As another year of Our Houses comes to a close, we look back on the 2025-26 program to reflect on the conversations had and how they inform the current state of Australian residential architecture and design.

Across a series of evenings at Tongue & Groove showrooms around the country, architects and homeowners gathered to recount their shared journeys in the development of some of Australia’s most interesting homes, and reflect on their presence within the wider context of today’s built environment.

The 2025-26 edition of the Architecture Media program featured conversations between Michael Roper (Architecture Architecture), Kieron Gait (Kieron Gait Architects), Dean Williams (Architect George), Zuzana Kovar & Nicholas Skepper (Zuzana and Nicholas), Chris Major and David Welsh (Welsh + Major), and Joseph Lovell and Stephanie Burton (Lovell Burton Architecture) alongside their clients.

The homes in focus varied in style, function, and philosophy, with unique client-architect visions shaped by needs, budgets and values, the site’s immediate surroundings and neighbourhood, as well as the location’s broader social, cultural and environmental factors.

Architect George’s House in Erskineville told the story of an artist’s home for one which, with a series of curtains and screens, morphed to support flexible occupancy and a diversity of inhabitants.

Architecture Architecture’s Sunday chronicled the skilled reimagining of a terrace in Melbourne’s Fitzroy, and the resultant rich and varied spatial experience that belied its compact plan.

Using their own homes—Greybox and Carlton Cottage—as a starting point, Welsh + Major and Lovell Burton Architecture shared a frank and often hilarious look at where their philosophies aligned, where they clashed, and the unique challenge of being your own client.

“Our Houses is a conversation series that offers insights into the ways that architects and clients work together,” says Alexa Kempton, editor of Houses magazine and moderator of the talks.

“The idea is to get a glimpse behind the scenes and hear first-hand experiences, from both the architect and their clients, about the design of some of the country’s best residential projects.

The Tongue & Groove showrooms are a beautiful setting for these warm conversations. Each of the showrooms has a playful, sculptural ceiling that reveals the craft and quality of the timber boards – and I think that’s a lovely fit with Our Houses, which looks beyond the picture-perfect photographs to understand the care and thought that goes into every facet of a residential project.

This year’s Our Houses events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have featured existing houses that have been revived and refreshed with a “better, not bigger” philosophy, transforming daily life for their owners.

It’s fascinating to hear both perspectives, and I am always reminded that the best projects are only possible thanks to a healthy dose of trust and mutual understanding between architect and client.”