Kai Chen's creative career began when he graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) degree to find himself, as he puts it, "unemployed and unemployable". To rectify the situation, he soon founded his own practice, Robinson Chen, which over the next ten years conceived and built a series of meticulously-wrought residential projects, gaining international notice. "It was our laboratory," he says.

Chen has worked with Peter Lovell since 1991, when he joined the practice as principal designer, becoming director in 2005. He is responsible for the design direction and management of all architectural projects in the office.

He now works across a broad scale of projects, including major institutional buildings, urban space planning, master planning and multi-unit residential. Chen's approach is both thoughtful and instinctive, seeking to temper contemporary demands with respect for the significance of place. Projects have included many of Melbourne's major landmarks — for instance, the new COURT OF APPEAL at the Supreme Court of Victoria — as well as its secrets, such as MINGARY at St Michael's Uniting Church, a quiet haven in the heart of the city.

Chen has made invaluable contributions to a number of major heritage projects
where the extension and adaptation of significant existing buildings has involved sensitive resolution of complex functional briefs and the integration of modern servicing and programme requirements. Chen sees "getting inside the skin of the original architect" as central to his role here. His interventions are designed to be reversible, a fundamental aspect of his respect for past practitioners and the grain of his surroundings.

"There will be times when I'm playing second fiddle to a building, and times
when I'll stand up next to it," he says. "Whatever it needs to make it viable —
to make it come alive."

Examples of such projects include .....

• GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
• COURT OF APPEAL, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA
• Refurbishment of Courts and Chief Justices' Chamber, Melbourne
• RMIT BUILDING 13, Melbourne
• PORT MELBOURNE LIBRARY
• IMMIGRATION MUSEUM, MELBOURNE
• SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, The University of Melbourne
• ST KILDA PIER KIOSK reconstruction
• 'MINGARY', ST MICHAEL'S CHURCH, Collins Street, Melbourne
• BEAUREPAIRE CENTRE, The Univerity of Melbourne

Chen's professional activities include long-standing participation as a member on various AIA Award juries. He has contributed to the education of numerous young architects through tutoring and teaching at all three major universites in Victoria, and his work has been published widely in Australia and overseas. In 1991, he was one of 11 architects selected to represent the country at the Venice Architectural Biennale.

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