Blair Smith Architecture
One to Watch
A human-centred approach to design allows clients’ personalities to shine in this young architect’s work.
Valuing good relationships over architectural space or form, Blair Smith of Blair Smith Architecture has cultivated a design process that allows his clients’ personalities to have full expression.
What people don’t say can reveal a lot about them. Asked about his architectural interests, director Blair Smith of
Blair Smith Architecture doesn’t mention preferred qualities of architectural space or form. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of establishing good relationships with his clients and facilitating their involvement in the design process. He likens his role to the guardrails in the beginners’ lane of a bowling alley. “Sometimes it feels, in a good way, that I’m not in control of the process 100 percent and that’s when the client’s personality shines through,” he says. “Having a high level of engagement with the client is important if they are going to get a building that’s ‘for them.’”
When discussing his ambitions, rather than talking about his ideal type or scale of commission, he enthusiastically describes the “warm and fuzzy” atmosphere he wants to create in his future architecture studio. A formative experience while at university was a class visit to Kerry Hill Architects in Fremantle. On entering the heritage building they were greeted by family dogs, while the staff faced each other at a shared island desk. “It was homely and I felt comfortable there,” he recalls. Blair would like to provide the same vibe for his clients and collaborators. “I like the idea of people having coffee and biscuits or a glass of wine while we’re reviewing the design,” he says. “I want people to look forward to coming to the practice, having a conversation and being part of the creative process.”
Blair Smith Architecture has completed two residential projects so far, with more under construction and on the drawing board. The projects vary in scale and form, but are consistently clean and minimal in aesthetic and show a high degree of precision in the construction details, embodying a level of maturity that reflects Blair’s years of experience with Jackson Clements Burrows Architects (JCB). Blair started working there soon after arriving in Melbourne from Perth as a recent graduate and stayed for almost seven years. “JCB put a lot of trust in me and I think that’s because we had a good design understanding and mutual respect,” he says. “I still keep in contact with them. Anywhere between a third and half of my current projects are somehow associated with JCB recommendations or connections.”
With Blair acting as the “guardrails,” his design process is intentionally open-ended and allows for the particularities of different sites and client personalities to have full expression. His emphasis on building friendly relations with his clients and collaborators also reflects a fact of the architectural process – it takes time. Blair’s first private commission, the Batesford Residence for a young family near the Moorabool River, is only now about to be finished, some four-and-a-half years later. We meet on the construction site of Bob’s Bungalow in Strathmore, another slowly moving project, being owner-built by the clients while they live in the existing house at the front. “These people in particular are such old-school storytellers; they just love a yarn. I give myself the afternoon when I go and visit them,” he says. He believes the quirks of his design reflect their personalities. For Blair, the design process is about “just becoming friends with the clients.”
The Darling Apartment refurbishment project, for a retiring couple from Western Australia who wanted to divide their time between Perth and Melbourne, began with a brief to update the kitchen. Blair teased out the possibilities and potentials of rearranging the spaces more generally and in the end they all agreed it would be better to re-work the entire apartment. This included a small extension to the
“I want people to look forward to coming to the practice, having a conversation and being part of the creative process.”
penthouse’s interior, a move that considerably complicated the process and increased the number of stakeholders to negotiate with. The unexpected turn from a new kitchen to a whole new interior layout prompted the happy clients to name the project “the mouse that roared.”
Despite not yet having his own studio (a particularly far-fetched dream during the COVID-19 isolation period), Blair has succeeded in attracting clients who are keen to collaborate and they have all ended up friends. The clients for the Brunswick Lean-to sketched out a simple brief and told him they “looked forward to the whole journey” – music to his ears. Blair carefully avoided declaring a design manifesto for his fledgling practice. “Each project is teaching me something new and I haven’t yet developed a full-blown summary of what the practice is about. To be honest, I’m still trying to find that out,” he says. Even so, his focus on human relationships during the design process does comprise a manifesto of sorts. “I keep finding these lovely people,” he says. blairsmith.com.au