Award-winning architect Alex Symes and his mission to advance sustainable architecture

Sydney-based architect Alexander Symes credits his award-winning designs to a “process’ that focuses on quantifiable environmental outcomes while ensuring they're done in a really design-considered way.

Symes, who has almost two decades of professional experience, says the awards his practice, ASA, won in 2024 are “an outcome of the process of showing why we're reducing the embodied energy, how we're reducing the operational energy, and why these particular projects are unique in terms of stewardship or models of using resources more efficiently”.

ASA’s two award-winning projects of 2024, Coconut Crab and Fun Haus – both built according to Passive House principles – are outstanding examples of the practice’s belief that architecture must lead the way in changing how resources are utilised to contribute to a sustainable future.

Coconut Crab in Sydney’s Inner West, for instance, is a little pottery studio that ASA designed for Araceli Adams, a potter who wanted to create a space in the garden of her family home for her to work in as well as host workshops where she could tell stories about underwater biodiversity, educating guests about marine life and conservation, and becoming better stewards.. The giant coconut crab on the facade of the studio was specifically chosen to highlight the impact of climate change on the species’ natural habitat.

“So it's about having those stories and connecting people to this amazing world that we live in and taking them out of their everyday life, or how we might actually change our behaviours to have a better impact and be better global citizens. So that project's really special to me,” says Symes.

Above: Coconut Crab / Supplied

Fun Haus is a really unique project, explains Symes, because it's about “putting a multi-family house on a really small inner city block”. Situated on a 117-square-metre site in Darlington, Sydney, the project features a three-bedroom terrace at the front, a shared work-from-home office at the back, and a studio on the top, housing a total of six people on the compact site. “So that concept of how do you get people living on 19 square metres – if you apply that philosophy over our urban environment, we can get much better urban environments in terms of goods and service provisions and cafes, and people having walking oriented communities,” he observes.

“I think it looks really lovely as well and reuses the old house that was originally there in really creative ways,” he adds.

Being creative with resources and other learnings

Very early in his career, Symes bought an old derelict house that he worked on for the next few years, finding objects and using his weekends to fix it up. His focus back then, he recalls, was on being “really efficient and creative with resources”.

But there have been a lot of learnings since then over time, he says. While working for Arup, for example, he learned that the big way to get environmental changes done was by understanding the economics, considering the needs of the client, and showing them there's a good return on investment long-term in design.

Underlining the importance of creating healthy internal environments, Symes says, “If you go and build out of whatever the material is, or you design something that's not actually providing a safe internal environment, then there's no point in doing it.”

Symes is also experimenting with bio-based materials such as cork, hemp and bamboo.

Sustainable design in Australia

“Holistically, we all know we're being too slow and not going fast enough,” Symes says. “Like our houses are too big, our emissions per capita are too high, and in terms of what really needs to happen, it needs to be regulation oriented.”

To stop the impact of global temperature on biodiversity and people's livelihoods, he suggests that architects should design for much higher temperatures and extreme weather events. “That's the skillset now that we can give our clients so that the impacts of climate change are mitigated as much as possible.”

Trends in architectural design

“I don't like to do trends; it's more ethos or philosophy based and following a strict process,” says Symes.

In terms of emerging practices, one of the materials that Symes’ team has been focusing on for a couple of years is hemp, and how to incorporate it into their builds. Since it costs more than traditional construction, he says one needs a really strong client-focused objective to consider it.

Symes is also exploring the idea of using hemp in flooring, walling and coatings in builds, especially when adapting existing buildings, because it’s a healthy product and a really breathable material. Bamboo is another material that interests him, given the innovations around structural graded bamboo. “We need to think about how we can have renewable construction systems that have a lesser impact on biodiversity.”

Designing solutions for Australia’s housing crisis

“I don't think there's one silver bullet to fix it,” says Symes, observing that the solution lies not just in design but also regulations.

As a big supporter of transit oriented development because of its social transportation and energy benefits, he hopes it will stop the suburban sprawl and supply more appropriate housing. “I actually think the current New South Wales planning scheme is heading in the right direction. However, I wish it was done 20 years ago.”

Symes also underlines the need to use space and materials in a smarter way. Reiterating his point about big houses, he says dwelling size needs rethinking and regulations need to be introduced to allow for easier subdivisions. While some of the recent building regulations make subdivisions more difficult for valid reasons such as fire compliance, Symes believes the government should step in to enable easier subdivision of large houses to provide more housing, which would be one of a myriad of different solutions for the housing crisis.

In terms of design solutions from other countries, he says UK’s co-housing model with smaller individual lots and shared communal facilities is worth emulating in Australia, so is the Netherlands’ Energiesprong program that funds the upgrade of existing buildings to current energy efficiency standards as well as the Canadian government’s initiative to incentivise new builds following Passive House standards.

Symes is appreciative of the NSW Government Architect's pattern book initiative that has the potential to deliver scalable solutions for housing. “It needs to have good design quality and something that's simple for approvals and has efficient communication between design and construction. If they get from the concept into reality, it could help to alleviate some of those housing crisis issues.”

Go to the original podcast interview  with Alex Symes.

Main image: Sydney-based architect Alexander Symes / Supplied