Durbach Block

Winners of many awards, including the Wilkinson and Robin Boyd Residential Housing Awards (twice) and led by two South African ex-pats, Neil Durbach and Camilla Block … Durbach Block have a series of tight, luminescent projects to their name. A small office of eight, they are a practice that tackles residential projects, toilet blocks and major public spaces with equal vigour. Indeed, every horizontal surface of their office in Sydney’s CBD is littered with half-finished, half-painted models; that could be a house on a cliff, an art gallery in Perth, or studies of glowing toilet blocks. These bending and arcing balsa models, painted shades of green and blue, are representative of their search for the elegant solution; the model or sketch that captures the idea of the project perfectly. This restless search for directness and solidity gives the practice an output that is consistently inventive across all projects. Their buildings frame and represent the landscape in an inventive and unforeseen manner …