Durack Architects

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Durack Architects

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A Bronte based architecture & interior design practice committed to enriching lives through carefull Registered in NSW and QLD

Specialists in complying development and DA approvals for single and multi residential projects.

26/10/2026

We often judge architecture through photographs, but that is not how we experience a home.

You feel the weight of a door, the grain of timber, the temperature of stone and the shape of a handle used every day.

These close range decisions rarely dominate a photograph, yet they have a lasting effect on how a house feels.

Choosing materials should involve more than asking how they will look.

A house should still feel good with your eyes closed.

More floor area does not automatically make a room feel more generous.

Width, length, ceiling height, openings, furniture and adjoining spaces all affect how its proportions are experienced.

A large room can feel awkward or exposed. A modest room can feel balanced, calm and spacious.

Before making a room bigger, it is worth asking a better question.

What relationship between its dimensions will make it feel right?

19/10/2026

A good home is rarely defined by one big idea.

More often, it comes down to a series of smaller decisions.

Where you can retreat without feeling disconnected.

How privacy builds as you move through the house.

Where light enters.

What your hand touches every day.

What you see as you turn a corner.

And sometimes, the space you deliberately choose not to build.

These are nine ideas I keep returning to when designing homes.

Because making a house feel better to live in is usually less about adding more, and more about getting these relationships right.

Save this one for when you start planning your own home.

16/10/2026

How do you bring a contemporary addition to a Federation home without losing the character that makes it special?

For this corner site in Randwick, we wanted to create a clear distinction between old and new while ensuring both worked together as a cohesive home.

A restrained material palette connects the two, while adjustable screening provides privacy from the street without sacrificing light or openness. The screens also give the facade a changing appearance throughout the day.

We also took an unconventional approach to planning, combining complying development with a traditional DA to achieve the best design outcome while reducing approval time, cost and risk.

The result is a home that respects its past while embracing contemporary family life.
Surface Gallery artedomus Brickworks Building Products Lysaght

15/10/2026

Arriving home should be more than opening the front door.
The transition can begin at the gate, along a garden path, beneath a covered threshold or with a change in direction before you enter.
These small moments create distance from the street and allow the house to become progressively more private.
An entrance does not need to be grand. It needs to help you leave the outside world behind.

14/10/2026

A closer look at some of the finishes in one of our recently completed projects.

We’ve kept the material palette warm and natural, with plenty of texture and a little colour.
From polished concrete with a partial grind to retain its natural character, to crown cut blackbutt veneer, blush marble and Japanese ceramic tiles.

Here’s what we used:
• Bowral Blue bricks
• Polished concrete floor with a partial grind for a more natural finish.
• Breccia Blush marble from Surface Gallery.
• Select grade crown cut blackbutt veneer from Ventech.
• Natural White walls. Because there really is only one white.
• Rosaio terrazzo and Chifu wall tiles from Artedomus.
• Sugie Blush wall tiles and Savina terrazzo floor tiles from Artedomus.

02/10/2026

A calm house rarely needs a different idea in every room.

Repeating window proportions, ceiling lines, joinery details and materials creates a rhythm that makes the whole house feel connected.

Once that order is established, one deliberate exception carries far more weight.

Where should your house repeat itself, and where should it break the pattern?

30/09/2026

Comment SITE and I’ll send you the details.

You don’t need to have your renovation figured out before speaking to an architect.
In fact, working out what the project should be is a big part of our job.

Before the first line is drawn, we can help you understand what makes sense for your site, what you can get approved, what your budget might realistically achieve, what is worth keeping, and whether renovating is even the right approach.

You don’t need a finished brief. You need a good place to start.

Our ‘What can I build on my site’ service is designed to do exactly that.
Comment SITE and I’ll send you the details.

24/09/2026

Do we get trade discounts, and if so, who gets them?
We get asked this one quite a bit, and our answer is simple.

Many of our furniture, lighting and interiors suppliers generously offer us trade pricing.
We pass those discounts on to our clients in full.

You are already paying us a professional fee to act as your architect and interior designer. Keeping the supplier discount as well would feel like charging twice for the same relationship.

So if there is a trade discount available, you receive the benefit.

And while we are talking discounts, Cult Sydney is having a warehouse sale from today through Sunday, with discounts of up to 80%.

They have some excellent designer furniture and lighting, so it could be worth a look.

23/09/2026

Comment HOME to understand what you should be thinking about before you start designing.

Why put a void through the middle of a house?
At Bronte ‘Tasma’ House, it was really about light.

The street frontage faces south, so getting good natural light deep into the plan without introducing too much western sun was always going to be difficult.

The stair became the opportunity.

By opening the space vertically and bringing light in from the street side, we could pull softer light into the centre of the house while still maintaining privacy.

It also changed the experience of moving through the home, creating visual connections between levels and a stronger relationship with the street outside.

Sometimes the most important design moves are not about adding another room or making something bigger.
They are about getting light, space and movement to work harder.

21/09/2026

Comment HOME to understand what you should be thinking about before you start designing.

Some of the most important decisions in a house are the ones nobody will ever point out.
A void positioned to pull light deeper into the plan.
A sightline that lets you see the garden from the moment you walk in.
A doorway shifted slightly so furniture actually works.
A datum carried consistently so different parts of the house feel connected.

None of these things are particularly dramatic on their own.
But together, they change how a home feels.

Architecture is full of decisions like this.
Circulation.
Proportion.
Furniture placement.
Natural movement.
The relationship between one space and the next.

We can spend hours resolving details that a client may never consciously notice.
And that is usually the point.
Because good design should not constantly announce itself.

It should simply make the house easier, calmer and more enjoyable to live in.
The hardest design work often disappears completely.

That is exactly how it should be.

POST 12

Comment HOME to understand what you should be thinking about before you start designing.

We tend to think of a house as something we shape.
But once we move in, the house starts shaping us.
The position of the kitchen affects whether people gather there.
The connection to the garden affects how often you use it.
The relationship between bedrooms and living spaces can influence how connected or separate family life feels.
Even something as simple as where you sit at the end of the day is partly determined by the plan.

Architecture is not passive.
It quietly encourages certain behaviours and discourages others.
That is why one of the most important questions at the beginning of a project is not:
What kind of house do we want to build?
It is:
What kind of life should this house support?

Do you want more time together?
More privacy?
More connection to the outdoors?
A house that makes entertaining easier?
A calmer start to the day?

Once those priorities are clear, the design decisions become much more meaningful.
Because ultimately, a home is not just a collection of rooms.
It is the setting for the way you want to live.

Address

Shop 1/118 Macpherson Street Bronte
Sydney, NSW
2024

Telephone

+61402425369

Website

http://www.durackarchitects.com/

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