about
Energy, efficiency and sustainability are three key words that are synonymous with Ande Bunbury Architects. Although environmental principles are now seen as fundamental to many architectural practices, Ande Bunbury and her small team have had it as their ‘mantra’ from the practice’s inception almost 25 years ago.
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Winner of various state and national awards, residential projects by ABA feature a sensitive use of materials and proportions to create spaces of timeless elegance.
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Working across Victoria, ABA clients can be young families wishing to extend their homes through to empty nesters looking to scale down from their large family properties in the suburbs, from housing co-ops to people looking for new models of living. And although each design is customised to suit the way the owners live, there’s a subtle Japanese aesthetic that can be seen in a number of instances – be this in the selection of materials such as timber or the way spaces are crafted to an exacting level.
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 is the head of advocacy and a national Director of Architects Declare Australia, has worked at Sustainability Victoria, was a founding member of Yarra Climate Action Now, a member of the Australia Institute of Architects 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.​
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.
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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.