Architecture | Lovell Chen

Our architecture is informed by the past and attuned to the future

Sustaining architectural legacies

PHILIP SMITH CENTRE

Image © Rosie Hastie

ENDURING ARCHITECTURE

Lovell Chen’s deep commitment to heritage shapes every aspect of our comprehensive architectural services. Based on more than 40 years of experience, our design process is grounded in a relational understanding of people and place, nature and history. We begin with a forensic investigation of the existing conditions, responding to each with clarity and purpose. Complexity is our specialty: we are consistently trusted with projects that involve places of enormous cultural significance and sensitivity.

Lovell Chen engages with all aspects of architecture, from new design to adaptation, conservation, refurbishment, and strategic planning. We work across multiple sectors, including cultural, civic, residential, education, commercial, and infrastructure. In all cases, we deliver technically resolved architecture that provides enduring value to culture, the community and the environment.

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

Kai Chen

STATE LIBRARY VICTORIA

Image © Andrew Latreille

Interdisciplinary Design

By uniting design insight with building science and advanced technologies, we create environments that reconcile the emotional and practical needs of users and stakeholders, now and into the future. Collaboration is central to this process. From project inception we work closely with clients, consultants and builders, synthesising research, design thinking, strategy and technical expertise to create imaginative, well-resolved outcomes.

We approach projects holistically, interrogating all elements at multiple scales to ensure that they contribute meaningfully to the whole. Our methodology is rigorous and agile, evolving constantly to meet present and emerging challenges.

CIRCUS OZ

Image © Trevor Mein

BENDIGO SOLDIERS MEMORIAL INSTITUTE

Image © Trevor Mein

WADE INSTITUTE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Image © Lovell Chen

STATE LIBRARY VICTORIA

Image © Andrew Latreille

Embedded Sustainability

Lovell Chen is recognised as a pioneer in the application of sustainability and environmental initiatives to heritage places. Long-term thinking is embedded in every project – we design for resilience and explore all opportunities to minimise our environmental footprint.

Our extensive heritage expertise is combined with future-focused strategies developed during 40 years of practice. Supported by in-house certified Passivhaus designers, our integrated team of architects, conservation specialists and heritage consultants is highly skilled at optimising the performance and potential of existing built forms. We have a demonstrated capacity to develop effective design solutions through a light-touch approach, prioritising retention, repair and reuse over significant intervention.

Our services

ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES

We provide a complete range of architectural services for the contemporary built environment, and we combine this with an ability to understand, ‘read’ and work with the architecture of the past. Our award-winning design team are problem solvers – we find physical, economic and programmatic solutions to a wide range of challenges.

The team works closely with clients, consultants and builders right from the start, and strive for innovative solutions that produce imaginative, high-performance outcomes. Every element of a Lovell Chen building is interrogated to ensure that it contributes to the whole.

‘Design and construction is a continuous process’, says founding director and design architect Kai Chen. Embracing this mantra allows the architecture team to think differently, to find opportunities and to truly collaborate.

CONSERVATION

Lovell Chen offers specialist architectural services for the conservation of buildings and structures. Our work is underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of building fabric and how it performs.

As well as requiring in-depth knowledge of traditional and modern construction techniques, works to older buildings often means bringing them into compliance with building regulations, including in relation to environmental sustainability, disability access, seismic codes and fire safety. We look for imaginative ways to address these challenges and aspire to achieve a balance between client/user expectations, statutory obligations and long-term viability.

Recognising that time and cost are key factors in project delivery, our approach is always strategic — involving analysis of project costs, the prioritising of works and, when needed, providing for staged delivery.

Our conservation works service includes:

Detailed inspection and documentation of existing fabric, including at-height survey work
Preparation of option analyses where required, to determine priorities and staging
Working with specialists in materials analysis
Sourcing materials and identifying appropriate substitutes

BUILDING PRESENTATION

The work of our architecture, conservation and heritage teams comes together in the delivery of building presentation. From the detailed restoration of interior and exterior historic decorative treatments to the design of contemporary furniture and fittings for new places in heritage contexts, the integration of our design skills, experience and technical knowledge enables highly resolved outcomes.

Presentation is focused on the fabric treatment and contents of a building. It can involve refurbishment, restoration or reconstruction, or we may be called upon to develop new solutions or undertake adaptation — many projects involve aspects of all these activities.

Examples of our work include: the meticulous restoration of the interior of the Gothic Bank in Collins Street, Melbourne and the investigation of exterior finishes of the dome of the State Library of Victoria and development of appropriate solutions for its refurbishment.

STRATEGIC & MASTERPLANNING

Lovell Chen provides a range of strategic and masterplanning services with a particular focus on places with complex heritage issues.

Often initiated as part of redevelopment works or a major change in use, projects have included the development of plans for major infrastructure and institutional sites, for heritage property portfolios, and for individual structures and landscapes. Outcomes range from programmes for capital works and maintenance, to wholesale adaptation and reuse.

The process makes use of our integrated in-house team of architects, planners and heritage consultants, who provide a comprehensive service, delivering a designed outcome for a place, not just analysis. Our approach combines a thorough understanding of the core processes and documentation relevant to planning with the experience to think laterally about the possibilities.