Phillip Nielsen RAIA Regional Design Service

Phillip is a registered architect and co-founder of Regional Design Service, an architecture and design practice based in the Murray River region on the border of Victoria and New South Wales. Phillip has over ten years’ experience working in architectural practices across Australia, including Hassell and KPDO.

Driven by a desire to promote design and strategic thinking beyond Australia’s major urban centres, Phillip and his partner Aaron Nicholls moved to the region in 2017 and set up shop in an empty storefront on the main street of Corowa. Phillip has become a familiar face in the community, to its individuals, community groups and local government alike.

Phillip’s service to the region is diverse and broad ranging: he assists local councils and community groups in project creation, strategic planning, instigating public design events and securing project funding. One significant example is the Rural Placemaking Project in Wangaratta, realized in collaboration with consulting studio Projectura. Twentyone rural townships were consulted through conversations with individual community members, uniting the individual towns into five rural district plans that captured their aspirations for the future. This resulted in the doubling of project funding allocated to the small townships in 2018–19.

The jury commends Phillip’s drive and initiative and is confident the Dulux Study Tour will propel his contributions to regional Australia’s built environment and its people.