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About

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Find out more about Decibel Architecture.

dB(A) is located in A.O.F. House, 110 Johnston Street Fitzroy, Melbourne. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which we work and gather, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin. We recognise and celebrate their continued connection to the land, water, communities and stories of this beautiful place and pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

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Wujin Lotus Park

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The Lotus Building

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Work: in Progress

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Discover more about our process.

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Decibel Architecture delivers exceptional outcomes, on purpose. Our Architecture is imagined with, formed for and shaped by our clients' aspirations.

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Collaboration within and outside of the dB(A) practice is integral to delivering exceptional and thoroughly considered projects.

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Phoenix Valley

Learn more about Phoenix Valley

We investigate and explore the multiple lives of a building and its diverse users to ensure we are designing spaces that will easily adapt and evolve in the future.

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Ten years on from the inception of the Best in Show RHS Chelsea Australia Garden (by Phillip Johnson, Wes Fleming and the Trailfinders team), Decibel Architecture has revisited and reinterpreted the dialogue between architecture and landscape. Working (once again) with the talented teams at Phillip Johnson Landscapes and Lump Sculpture Studio, the original <a href="https://db-a.co/projects/the-waratah-studio/">Waratah Studio</a> has been reimagined in a permanent, Corten laser cut reality, enabling a filigree permanent installation of the original timber studio. Built within the stunning creation of the Australian landscape design by Phillip Johnson and his team, the new sculpture is an anchor to a brilliant and engaging garden that both recreates the original Chelsea installation, and profoundly enhances the natural Olinda environment with a stunning display of Australian endemic species and waterways.
At 20 times the scale of the first iteration, the cleverly designed landscape creates a meandering journey down and through the reclaimed golf course at Olinda, revealing at key moments – the Waratah sculpture as the centre piece of this exquisite public garden. Sitting amongst a dazzling array of Australian flora, the Chelsea Australia Garden is reborn in perpetuity.

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(Corten Steel)
Differing from the original sculpture, the studio’s petals are made from laser cut 3mm Corten© steel, allowing for a more lightweight, permanent, and elegant geometry. The delicate petals create dappled light and shadow, disappearing at certain points in the interior when viewed from certain angles. The material was chosen for its ability to patina into warm, rust-orange tones, complementing the surrounding native garden, and revealing the natural weathering of the site conditions.
(Structure)
The steel petals are supported on four inclined CHS tube legs which gently twist up from the ground to intersect with the internal frame. To fabricate the complex form, a jig was erected in the factory warehouse, allowing the form and structural connections of the steel members to be tested before being installed on site.
Each column in connected via horizonal arms that join using a bespoke splice connection, which provides necessary moment connections and rigidity for the structure. The assembly and transport conditions meant the supporting structure required on-site assembly, demanding deeply accurate fabrication to ensure the maximum load-bearing efficiency.
(Prefabrication)
Decibel once again looked to prefabrication technology to construct the Studio, choosing to laser cut the steel petals in varying shapes and intricate cut-out forms. As well as allowing for quick construction of this complex design, the process of laser cutting the geometry also reduced the margin of error and resulted in the most efficient material usage, thereby minimising waste. We designed repetition and modularity into the assembled cube faces, enabling them to be shipped to site in six preformed elements, and assembled on a bespoke Corten© cube that defines the carved-out interior of the original pavilion.
The petal faces were combined into a 5-faced cube on site, and then delicately lifted onto the ‘table’ of the supporting leg structures. Final assembly of the lower face of petals was then undertaken, locking the whole piece in place. Standing just under 9m tall, the sculpture is an extraordinary object playing with light and shade and connecting us both to the beauty and geometry of nature, and back to the award-winning garden that took the world by storm in 2013.

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The Waratah Studio - Chelsea Australia Garden Olinda

CV Windsor is an exciting project that has radically transformed the way people live and work in Melbourne. As briefed by the client, the development was designed as a creative hub and incubator of modern professionals giving them opportunity to live and work from home.
The cross pollination of ideas is expressed as shared residential lounges, libraries, meeting rooms and garden areas spread across the project. CV Windsor&#8217;s effortless luxury and elegant design, perfectly position it as one of Melbourne’s most vibrant locales.

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(Design Response)
CV Windsor was conceived to deliver a unique typology of living for the local area. The concept developed around the idea of a “townhouse in the sky”.
Within the project there are significant and generous communal spaces at the ground and roof levels – provided to establish and enable creative living interactions between residents and foster a sense of community.
At ground level are lounge areas, a spacious kitchen and dining areas. Located on Level 8 is a shared residential garden. This garden gives residents the opportunity to grow their own food, exercise, BBQ, or relax with friends.
(Environmental Sustainability)
Environmental sustainability featured as a high priority throughout this project. The dual aspects allows for the majority of apartments to have access to both northern and southern light as well as excellent cross-ventilation. Solar panels are used to collect energy for use in communal areas. Grey water and rainwater are harvested for reuse.
(The Developer)
The client aspired to provide an owner-occupy concept in this intensely competitive market, where dollar per square metre seems the only concern in strategic composition. Here they have succeeded not only in forming a building, but in the creation of a community.
(Rooftop Garden)
The rooftop garden allows the community to grow vertically into a shared space that promotes city views and shared experiences. Amenities include private dining spaces, communal cooking areas, a vegetable garden and stunning views.
Surrounded by lush gardens, this tree-top escape is now enjoyed by the residents year-round, and provides essential connection between dream, concept, and community.
(Art Facade)
The Punt Road facade was developed into an art piece by renowned Australian artist, <a href="https://www.magmagalleries.com/kim-westcott-cover/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kim Westcott</a>. Using her printmaking background to reimagine Australian landscapes and the flora and fauna they hold; Kim has created a facade that exudes experience and growth of a building connected to nature and community.
(Interior Design)
Creating a home in the bustling city suburb of Windsor required attention to detail and the affectual qualities and materials that define a space. CV Windsor&#8217;s interiors were designed not only with material quality in mind, but with careful spatial planning that created beautiful living environments, comfort, ownership and a sense of place.
Free flowing open-plan areas are complemented by secluded working and living zones to allow both joint experiences and individual comfort.
The development of working areas within the apartments delivered multiple modes of living that encourage the occupier to curate their individualised home experience.
(Creating A Community)
CV Windsor endeavours to connect people and improve the lives of the occupants that call 105 Punt Road home. By delivering apartments designed outside of the box, this multi-residential project makes a case to redefine the way modern high-density communities live.
Whether it is through sustainable design, healthy living environments, shared spaces for communities to connect or a unique place to call home, CV Windsor creates a place for people to live, work and play.

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CV Windsor

The LUME Melbourne is Australia’s first permanent digital art gallery. A gallery in which the visitor is fully immersed in a multi-sensory experience. The LUME Australia has created highly curated content across a series of art-orientated themes for both the public and private functions. It is housed across two of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre&#8217;s (MCEC) massive halls and provides a series of educational, retail and operational spaces around the principal Main Gallery.
(Collaboration)
Our client, Grande Experiences came to dB(A) with a strong concept based on its years of creating and hosting travelling immersive shows. Decibel Architecture worked closely with the client’s technical team, a specialist consultant team and the building contractor to deliver the project in a highly coordinated way within a fast-tracked programme. Due to its contextual and operational requirements, the project was subject to a level of architectural and legislative challenges unusual for exhibition design projects. We were able to apply our architectural expertise, not only in design, but in delivery, stake-holder management, consultant team coordination and communication to successfully complete The LUME Melbourne.
(The Journey)
A matte black gateway projects dramatically into the MCEC’s entry concourse, disrupting its extruded continuity and clearly marking the gallery’s entry-point. The patrons’ journey begins as they pass through one of the three wall-papered tunnels into the intimately lit Introduction and Interpretation space. The visitor’s sense of space is disorientated and compressed as they pass through a light locking corridor before it is expanded when emerging into the vastness of the Main Gallery.
(Design and Experience)
The architectural environment is designed to allow every surface, including the floor, to become the canvas upon which the gallery’s animated content is projected. Large-scale objects in space subtly divide the space into experiential zones inviting different perspectives of the immersive programme. A long mezzanine with a frameless glazed balustrade provides an elevated advantage point down onto the gallery space.
(Delivery)
The fast-track delivery model employed for the project allowed the works to be delivered within the client’s programme. A first stage of documentation allowed the structural and acoustic work to commence on site whilst the architectural and building services scope were being documented and certified. Through careful programming, the Main Gallery space was able to be handed over to The LUME’s technical team to install and commission its audio-visual infrastructure, whilst the auxiliary spaces were built and fitted out.
The delivery of major built elements such as an 80m long, 11m high acoustic wall between The LUME’s tenancy and its neighbouring hall were possible due to the successful management of a large array of project stakeholders. Finally, the committed working relationship between client, architect and builder ensured clear lines of communication and understanding of responsibilities and led the exceptional built and experiential outcomes.

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The LUME

Sunshine Coast’s most iconic hotel, hospitality and residential project transforms Caloundra. 
This project is different. Totally unexpected. Absolutely exceptional.
The Sunshine Coast is set to be transformed following the launch of the world-class hotel and residential project: Paloma Paloma.
Paloma Paloma is a totally unexpected $250 million precinct development setting new benchmarks across the hotel, hospitality and residential resort style living that will redefine the Sunshine Coast.
(Inspiration)
Paloma Paloma is the very best residential and lifestyle offering on the market— the pinnacle of brilliant international design, exceptionally curated experiences, and the best in Australian hospitality.
The architecture is inspired by the rocky headlands of Caloundra, the rockpool marbled tidal ledges and the weathered curvature of sand and sea-worn stones and dunes.
(Transformative)
Paloma Paloma has delivered its first gift to Caloundra in the form of the remarkable transformation of the site and buildings into a major art installation.
The precinct will be home to a series of playful community events, celebrations, arthouse shows and unexpected experiences over the coming months.
“Alongside the development team and delivery experts, we have brought a fresh and generous perspective to the Caloundra identity, creating a brilliant and intriguing energy, and shaping this place’s future as a new benchmark of excellence.”
(Exceptional Design)
Consisting of a selection of individually crafted sky homes with personal balcony pools, and brilliant two-, three- and four-bedroom dwellings that are all the best room in the house, Paloma Paloma features uncompromised amenity, resort style living and exceptionally refreshing planning that connects people to nature.
“Working within the permitted envelope we have carefully reimagined the design, connecting the site to the street and delivering a totally unexpected lifestyle, hotel, residential and hospitality experience.”
(Montage)
Paloma Paloma is woven from unexpected delights. From the outdoor bathing gardens through to the brilliant sky home kitchens, Paloma Paloma is built from careful attention to moments that bring joy every day.
Presenting a collection of curated materials, unique fixtures and fittings crafted for the Paloma lifestyle: a collage of raw and robust white concrete paired with the finest of linens and layers, cool solids, warm textures, and designer fabrics.
Find out more at <a href="https://palomapaloma.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.palomapaloma.com.au</a>.

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Paloma Paloma

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