About BKK Architects
We create places for humans and communities to thrive.
BKK is a Melbourne-based practice established in 2000.
We deliver projects that are public, infrastructural, residential, cultural, and educational. They range in size from major infrastructure to individual homes.
Our work includes:
- Precinct masterplans and urban design
- Infrastructure including railway stations, bridges and roads
- Interior fitouts of existing buildings
- Exhibition and performance spaces
- Highly technological fitouts
- Residential and multi-residential projects
- Teaching and learning spaces
For us, architecture isn’t about designing objects.
It’s about the spaces in between, and it’s about people.
It’s about places for humans and communities to thrive. Places to live and work effectively. Places to learn, play, socialise, and be your culture. Places that are stimulating, invigorating, healthy and safe. Places that look after the environment.
Great design doesn’t have to make some bold statement or strive to be unique or provocative.
And it doesn’t have to cost more. We believe that great design means tailoring a project to a site, budget, timeline and proposed usage, and the identity of the client. Great design opens up a world of functionality, it’s enjoyable, and it lasts.
Our Sustainability Action Plan is a roadmap to fulfilling our Australian Architects Declare pledges.
Sustainability is urgent.
The built environment is a major contributor to carbon emissions and we, as designers, have urgent responsibilities to make buildings and communities sustainable. Better still, regenerative.
The BKK Architects Environment Management System is now certified to the standard of ISO 14001.
We are certified carbon neutral under the NoCo2 program and we are signatories to Australian Architects Declare. Our office runs on 100% green energy and we purchase carbon credits to offset our business’s carbon footprint. Passive design is a given in all our new projects.
Our Sustainability Action Plan is a roadmap to fulfilling our Australian Architects Declare pledges, and we’re well on our way. In developing it, we’ve researched certified suppliers, consultants and materials and grown our knowledge substantially.
Our research continues.
“The jury was impressed by 17 Union Street for…supporting the idea of community and precinct as a form of social sustainability. It champions longevity and the importance of thinking about sustainability in regards to long-term building use rather than short-term compliance…an excellent example to which developers can realistically aspire.”
– Jury citation, 2022 Sustainability Advancement Award, Australian Interior Design Awards
17 Union Street Apartments, Brunswick
ACMI Renewal, Melbourne, VIC
Your project isn’t a blank canvas for our architectural ideas.
It’s the combination of a clear brief that we negotiate with you, plus a complex set of requirements.
We bring no preconceived ideas. You are the expert on what you want to do in and with your project.
Our job is to listen to what you want – all of your stakeholders – and solve the puzzle that is addressing their requirements on time and on budget.
The outcome is the product of this process.
“BKK were excellent to work with. They understood and extended the brief well and collaborated successfully with our other co-design partners.”
– Chris Harris, Former Director of Exhibitions and Touring, ACMI
Doing our bit for Reconciliation
We are very proud to have launched our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), joining thousands of corporate, government and not-for-profit organisations now formally endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.
Our RAP work continues, and we’re proud to have come together with Reconciliation Australia to start the Architecture and Design Reconciliation Industry Network Group. In it, we’re working with other practices towards implementing our RAP’s, and we’re pooling knowledge, insights and relationships that will inform Reconciliation.
What we’re learning on our RAP journey relates to working with Indigenous consultants and advisors on projects anywhere in the world
“All openness and no ego. Words and actions purely in service to making the work better. This was my experience with the BKK team…There is an elevated cohesion in work that is born of a relationship like this and you feel it in a visceral way when you experience the ACMI Renewal.”
– Joel Krieger, former Chief Creative Officer, Second Story (Publicis Sapient)
We prefer to collaborate.
We consider ourselves members of a community of architects, rather than a field of competitors, and we like to collaborate with a large pool of colleagues.
In fact, we actively seek out projects that bring opportunities to team up. Over 50 per cent of our projects have been collaborations. This benefits clients because a team with diverse experience and contributions produces better outcomes. It means we tailor a team to suit the demands and specifics of a project.
As well, we like to work with other experts such as exhibition designers, landscape architects, visual artists, and digital/user experience designers.
Our senior people are always there.
Complex or difficult projects take constant design application from people who are adept at working with builders, who understand the work of consultants of many disciplines, and who are responsible for client relationships.
Therefore, all our projects are led by a principal, senior associate or associate. We allocate their time generously and flexibly during consultation activities and onsite during construction.
The role of principals and other senior staff is running the highest-value parts of the project: design advocacy, design, client relationships and stakeholder engagement. They are your day-to-day contact at BKK.
City of Melbourne
ACMI
Monash University
Laing O’Rourke
RMIT University
Department of Social Housing
The University of Melbourne
Neometro
Victorian School Building Authority
Decmil Southern
BMD Constructions
Major Road Projects Victoria
City of Port Phillip
City of Greater Dandenong
VicTrack
Level Crossing Removal Authority
FourSq
Whitehorse City Council
Assemble Communities
Conrad Gargett
SMEC
Brimbank City Council
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Kerstin Thompson Architects
Peter Elliott Architecture
Clare Cousins Architects
Aspect Studios
Callum Morton
Sibling Architecture
Louise Paramor
Hassell
Warren and Mahoney
McGregor Coxall
Global South
T.C.L
Buro North
Greenshoot Consulting
Kyriacou Architects
Michael McKenna
Jordan Rowe
Sandpit
Grumpy Sailor
Monash Art Projects
Second Story
Fieldwork Projects
Greenaway Architects