Brown Falconer Principal Wade Kampes said key factors to consider when designing and building a development are functionality and useability, along with making the most of a space.

“Apartments are often small footprints, so making sure that there is space for all of the functions is important,” Wade said.

“We like to focus on the experience – because it is the experience which makes the difference between just being a space, and being a home .”

Brown Falconer is a multidisciplinary design firm that has existed in Adelaide for 77 years.

Recently expanding to Perth and relocating its Adelaide office into the CBD, the firm is taking on new challenges, and being rewarded for it too.

“Traditionally we’re across aged care and education, those more traditional sectors,” Wade said.

“In recent years we’re more into commercial development, inner-city high-rise developments, mixed-use low-rise apartments in the suburbs, and retail projects.

“We have to be spread because at any given time some of the sectors will be up and some will be down.”

Brown Falconer is reaping the rewards of its expansion, recently being awarded at the Urban Development Institute of Australia (SA) Awards.

Through its work with Commercial & General, Brown Falconer won Best Medium Density Housing with Ocea Apartments and received a Commendation for Design Excellence for Ngutungka, West Lakes Civic Centre within the same development.

Wade said for the Ocea Apartments in West Lakes, their focus was getting the best yield of the space.

“Our aim was to provide the best value, while also getting the client as many good quality apartments as we could on the site,” Wade said.

“Natural light, usability of spaces, the finishes, the size, the layout – these are what differentiate successful apartments from others.

“It also comes down to the functionality of things like bathrooms and small spaces. Getting the towel rail in the right spot is actually quite important in these because it needs to be super functional.”

Wade said good access to the main street was ensured too, with the apartments sitting on a significant retail restaurant component on the ground floor.

Brown Falconer was able to fit 42 apartments onto the site by including car stackers.

“You need a certain number of cars per apartment, so we maximised efficiency and used car stackers in the basement,” Wade said.

“Also, this project stood out in demonstrating that you can do reasonable-sized apartment developments away from the CBD.

“I think there’s a shift towards that – it’s somewhere Adelaide is heading towards.”

Ngutungka, the West Lakes Civic Centre.

In designing Ngutungka the placement of the building and maximising its use were key factors.

“The library on the ground floor and functioning as the community hub is what I think enables that building to take the next level,” Wade said.

“When you look at it in the context of the overall masterplan, it’s in the centre. The building is almost on an island where it’s got roads on two sides, it’s next to the oval and people will be passing through.”

Wade said as the building has four fronts and they managed to make it accessible in every direction allowing it to become a community space.

“Another big success point for that building is the tenancy uses above,” he said.

“Once again, we maximised the performance of those and there’s a good mix of tenancies in the building.”

Wade said winning at the UDIA awards has come from an intentional shift toward producing award-winning projects, and Brown Falconer aims to continue down this path.

“For the future, I think our focus is expanding our capacity in the commercial workplace in the city,” Wade said.

“We want to expand with more high-rise projects within the city itself, as well as government infrastructure projects.

“We’re always dedicated to our established clients, but see opportunities for them and us in new project types and mutual growth.”