By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
BERWICK-BASED building design company ‘Design Unity’ is a multi award winning firm that has been selected for more honours this year.
It is easy to understand why the firm continually wins awards after speaking with business owner and director Warren Jenkins.
“It’s not necessarily about the awards but about the client satisfaction,” he said.
“The real reward is seeing a family or occupants live in the home and the awards are secondary to that.”
The team at Design Unity have recently been shortlisted for a Building Design Award from the Building Designers Association of Victoria for their ‘Arcadian’ project.
The project, a home for a growing family of four on an acre block in Warragul, faced some tricky design elements with the triangular shaped block and sharp angles.
“This semi-rural property had to have a design for a wedge-shaped allotment,” Mr Jenkins said.
“We designed it to suit the environment with the house wedged in the southern corner and fanning out towards the northern axis.”
The project also utilised Australian materials to maximise the effectiveness of the structure.
“We used recycled brick, sustainable Australian timber, polished concrete internally to give good thermal mass and used same brick internally to trap the heat from the outside,” Mr Jenkins said.
“There is also a simple open-plan kitchen in a central hub that connects all parts of the house together.”
The home really speaks to true and sturdy Australian design with the use of raw materials and a sensible solution to a difficult block of land.
Design Unity has won over 20 awards for their work, but My Jenkins doesn’t let the awards go to his head.
“It’s a good way to network and also compare with peers and also get feedback with what you are doing, but the client satisfaction is the real reward.”
