about
Formed at the turn of the century, Ande Bunbury Architects specialise in energy efficient and sustainable residential design. Winner of various state and national sustainability awards, residential projects by ABA go beyond looking just at sustainability as an energy efficiency measure and recognise that the current climate crisis needs buildings that are future proofed for change, encourage the occupants to use sustainable transport and develop resilience and connection with community. Good architecture should provide for the needs of the occupants of the area (human and not), the local community and the environment.
Our office is located in Brunswick and we do projects throughout Victoria. We especially like jobs nearby so site visits can be done via bike as there is nothing better than resolving construction issues with a builder when we can say "hold on, we'll be there in 15 minutes". Of course the builders like this too.
We work with you to realise your ideas, from feasibility through to post-construction. We are your eyes and ears on site and make sure that the build is completed to the highest standards.
Ande became an architect because she loves the balance between the creative/aesthetic and the scientific and has a strong desire to give back to society. After all, shelter is a basic human right.
Ande advocates for larger scale change and is involved in the bigger picture on a personal as well as professional level. She has worked at Sustainability Victoria, was a founding member of Yarra Climate Action Now, a member of the AIA Sustainable Architecture Forum, and has served on local council committees for sustainability. She has made many submissions to improve the Planning Scheme and sustainability in the built environment.
Currently a community representative on the Merri-bek Council Affordable Housing reference group, Ande is passionately involved in investigating alternative ways to house Melbourne’s increasing population. From tiny houses to multi-generational living, to semi separate dwellings for unrelated share housing. She is passionate about improved housing options and believes that the current housing crisis cannot be solved without radical change to the Planning scheme, economic models, and public expectations about what constitutes home.
Ande is very active in her spare time and loves being outdoors - skiing, hiking, camping, sailing, also gardening and cooking. She makes a mean sourdough rye bread
our office
Located in a renovated house in Brunswick, our office showcases a number of the passive solar design principles we talk about.
We are serious about minimizing our own environmental footprint and our office has rooftop solar and runs on 100% renewable energy. It is insulated, has good thermal mass, shading and natural daylight. Light fittings are LED and we use energy efficient radiant heating and passive cooling via cross ventilation & ceiling fans.
carbon neutral
Our office has been carbon neutral since 2020. You can read our latest Greenhouse Gas Assessment by Pangolin Associates here. We found their recommendations interesting as ways we could reduce our environmental footprint further included switching to accountants who were carbon neutral (44.8% of emissions), using less cold & hot water and upgrading our fridge.
Since that report was done the office car has been replaced by a BYD electric car - affectionately known as the 'green frog'
testimonials
Ande Bunbury Architects was fantastic to work with. They listened and designed (and project managed) a beautiful, functional and calm upstairs for us, taking advantage of the light and maximising space. And the build went really well, despite being Melbourne 2021! Highly recommended, and we would use Ande Bunbury Architects again for sure.
Penny, Preston
Great ideas. Great communicator. Aware of environmental impact.
Love your work Ande.
Tam, Northcote
We came to Ande Bunbury Architects with a clear idea of what we needed but only a vague idea of what that might look like.
The result is something we love – a bespoke, elegant and creative solution to house our collections of art and books that maximises the high ceilings in our small apartment and integrates seamlessly with the industrial features of a 100 year old warehouse loft. Ande's design has created ‘rooms’ without compromising the apartment's grand sense of scale and adds cohesion to the apartment as a whole.
Ande was great to work with – she struck a perfect balance between responding to our ideas and guiding our thinking. Where we landed was a design that met our brief entirely but which was more than we’d imagined it could be.
Rod, Collingwood
Love everything you did for us – concept 3D layout, detailed design, permits, sourcing of materials and subcontractors, etc All while aiming at highest energy rating within our budget. Above and beyond what I expected. No doubt if will look amazing when completed later in the year.
Ivan, Reservoir
ABA have really thought about how a holiday house is used and what is required. Small details such as thinking of where to put food boxes and eskies in the kitchen make a massive impact on the ease of staying in the house and make it highly functional in such a small space.