Ruth Newman Architect

Ruth Newman Architect Architects working together with our clients and suppliers - together we can create great things

Ruth Newman Architect is a multi-disciplinary architectural practice with expertise across Residential, Commercial, Retail and Hospitality design. Contact us to help you with your new Duplex, your renovation or your office fitout.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, father figures, and role models out there - today we celebrate you! 😀
06/09/2026

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, father figures, and role models out there - today we celebrate you! 😀

04/09/2026

The listing tells you the price. It doesn't tell you what you can build.

Zoning, easements, setbacks, bushfire, flood, slope. Two blocks at the same price can carry completely different limits.

It works the other way too. Some blocks will carry more than you assumed. A duplex, a
secondary dwelling, a subdivision later on.

An architect's check before you exchange tells you what the block will really do, while you can still walk away.

Found a block? Get it checked before you sign. New blog live, link to read it all below.
https://vist.ly/5h8nv

National Wattle Day! Today's marks the celebration of one of our most famous national flowers!Wattle actually holds a gr...
01/09/2026

National Wattle Day! Today's marks the celebration of one of our most famous national flowers!

Wattle actually holds a great history in architecture, but not the flora itself...

Wattle and daub is a traditional buidling technique that dates back in the UK for centuries, it was a particularly common method in medieval timber framed buildings. The timber lattice (Wattle) forms the structural framework for the Daub (a mixture of wet materials like clay, sand and straw) that is applied in stages to form a wall structure.

But anyway, back to our beautiful country's flora - What's your favourite native flower blooming at the moment?

Who said disabled access was difficult? Look at this fabulous design for a beach boardwalk! Naturally it would have adde...
21/08/2026

Who said disabled access was difficult?

Look at this fabulous design for a beach boardwalk!

Naturally it would have added cost to the build but well worth it - such a great addition to beachside architecture.

On this day, Australians all over the country come together and, for all that cancer takes, Daffodil Day gives hope. Daf...
20/08/2026

On this day, Australians all over the country come together and, for all that cancer takes, Daffodil Day gives hope.

Daffodil Day aims to raise money for the Cancer Council in order to support people impacted by cancer and support cancer research that will save lives.

For more information on how to get involved and donate, visit the Daffodil Day website
https://vist.ly/5ff26

It's International Cat Day! A simple moment for our resident (home) office cat Teddy! Word on the street is that he is l...
08/08/2026

It's International Cat Day!

A simple moment for our resident (home) office cat Teddy! Word on the street is that he is loving his mum's new WFH arrangements 😉🐈‍⬛

07/08/2026

The right call, made early, changes everything about a project.

People usually call when they think they know what they want. The brief feels settled, the budget's set. That's exactly when the decisions that shape the cost are getting locked in.

The front end is where it's decided. Before design. Before approvals. That's the work I do first, and it's the cheapest insurance in the whole project.

If you've got a project in your head, that's the moment to talk. New blog is live, link to read it is right here:
https://vist.ly/5dwij

The catch with this house: before we drew a single new room, the site was already non-complying.The original 1960s cotta...
28/07/2026

The catch with this house: before we drew a single new room, the site was already non-complying.

The original 1960s cottage was built to face its own back yard. Lovely for the era, wrong for a young family. No clear front door. It turned its back on the street. And the western sun poured straight into the living spaces all summer.

The owners wanted more space and a proper street entry. The problem was the existing footprint already sat outside the current setback rules. On paper that left two bad options: demolish and rebuild something compliant, or shrink the brief and hand back most of the space they came for.

We did neither.

We held the existing footprint exactly as it was, and found the extra space without extending the building's reach on the land. Floor space ratio complied. Landscape ratio complied. And because the footprint never moved, the neighbours' views and privacy stayed untouched.

That gave Council a variation it could approve. The setbacks didn't meet the standard, but the design met the purpose behind it. No overshadowing. No lost views. No lost privacy. No loss of garden.

A 1960s cottage facing the wrong way became a modern family home, with a real front door, protection from the western sun, and room to grow into. Same footprint it started on.

If you've got a home with potential but no clear direction, that's exactly where we start.

Full project story on the site. Link below.
https://vist.ly/5cpkp

Peaceful break between meetings - one project needing a DA for a retaining wall in their backyard, and another investig...
24/07/2026

Peaceful break between meetings - one project needing a DA for a retaining wall in their backyard, and another investigating options for a lift in the house they built 50 years ago - always a variety of people needing advice 🏡

Sydney Montessori School operates across fourteen separate land parcels. This project put new buildings on four of them ...
21/07/2026

Sydney Montessori School operates across fourteen separate land parcels. This project put new buildings on four of them at once.

The school was growing. High School was coming to the Gymea campus, and it needed the facilities to match: science labs, a commercial kitchen, flexible teaching spaces, offices, a 27-space carpark.

The easy answer is to treat each titled site as its own project. Cleaner to manage, simpler to document. It's also the wrong answer for a school, because a campus has to read and work as one continuous place, not a scatter of neighbouring lots.

So we designed the Science and Arts Buildings as a single piece of work across both sites. One campus. One architectural language. One strategy for how everything sat together.

That decision really got tested at Construction Certificate stage. The BCA reads fire separation off title boundaries, so two buildings owned by the same school get treated as if strangers own them. Standard rules would have forced a redesign of buildings the school had already approved.

We chased a performance solution instead. Working with the fire engineer and certifier to prove the fire safety outcomes were equal to or better than the standard path. It took longer, but protected the design and the whole expansion plan.

The buildings opened with full High School facilities across the campus, linked by raised crossings and improved footpaths. The productive landscape already living on the site, chook shed and fruit trees included, was relocated and protected rather than removed.

Two sites. Two buildings. One campus.

Full project story on the site. Link bwlo:
https://vist.ly/5bwtf

Address

Suite 1A, 1-5 Gymea Bay Road
Gymea, NSW
2227

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 5:30pm

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