WORKING WITH
AN ARCHITECT
Owen Architecture’s ephemeral, tent-like
addition to a Brisbane hillside house has
created a space ideal for entertaining.
The clients share their experience of
working with an architect.
Words by Michelle Bailey
Photography by Toby Scott
Michelle Bailey: Why did you choose
to engage Owen Architecture?Katrina Kelly: It was a little bit of falling
in love with some of Owen Architecture’s
earlier projects – I had done some Instagram
research! It was the details that drew to the
practice. I could tell the difference between
homes where an architect was involved and
homes where they weren’t. I understood
that an architect could give us what we
really wanted.MB: How did you find the pace of
the architectural process?Dom Kelly: The timing was driven a little
bit by us. We weren’t in a rush – not
until we knew we were pregnant, just
as we started building! The slow and
steady design process gave us time to
save. It always felt like we were moving
toward something. I’ve spent my life
in construction so I knew that rushing
into building wouldn’t achieve the bestoutcome. I appreciated that we needed
to spend time on the ideas. We didn’t
want to rush because we felt if we put
too much pressure on the timing, the
outcome would be compromized.MB: How did you participate in the
design process?DK: We loved it when we got a new set
of updated plans from Paul [Owen] and
Steve [Hunt]. We’d spend the weekend
with a beer, pouring over the plans. They
would give us ideas A, B and C and ask us
to choose which one we preferred. It might
have been half of B and a bit of C. That
made the process fun.When we found something we thought
wouldn’t work, we tried hard not to say,
“We should do this.” Instead we’d say,
“We don’t think this will work, can you
come up with another idea?” And each
time, the architects would come up with
something better. We understood we were
not architects – we are an accountant and
an engineer – so we left that to them.OUR HOUSES