Cox Architecture Information

For over 40 years, the Cox practice has maintained a passion for the idea of buildings 'completing' environments. The process of studying closely what already exists in context, and of exploring ways to enrich and invigorate, leads to diverse solutions rather than to a particular style or idiom. However, some aspects of architecture are perpetual, and our work is distinguishable by certain emphases. One aspect is that buildings depend upon structure and skin to define space. Possibly more than any other Australian practice, we have an interest in the potentials of surface and structural expression. Beginning with an appreciation of the Australian industrial and rural vernacular with its inventive and often dramatic structural rigour, we have reveled in the advancements in technologies and materials to generate innovative, spatially dynamic buildings. Equally, our interest in the vernacular has imbued our work with inherent environmental sustainability long before it became a necessity. Thus, response to the environment informs both the performance of our architecture and its expression. Advances in environmental technologies and strategies offer wide-ranging opportunities for new forms of architecture to evolve, and our practices all see collaboration with engineers and other allied professions as being fundamental to the way we work. Architecture is also a social art. Modernism and its reactionary movements, such as post-modernism and deconstructivism, placed undue emphasis upon the visual in architecture rather than the experiential. This characteristic has been exacerbated by the rise of magazine culture and now internet culture. We are more interested in how buildings and places are inhabited and experienced, and in enabling them to be enjoyed in multiple ways. Observing post-occupancy how environments are used significantly informs subsequent projects. The notion of buildings 'completing' existing places entails examining intensively the surrounding context, sometimes in terms of whole cities and always the immediate setting. Opportunities for enhancing urban connectivity, or for integrating with or reacting to existing architectures, are foremost considerations. In purely landscape environments, the generators may be landforms or vegetation and their shapes, textures and colours. We have found these approaches to be equally relevant to all scales and types of projects, from 'horizontal' such as community and cultural projects to vertical such as high rise office and apartment buildings. Yet we are conscious of radical shifts in the typologies occurring in many spheres. These include in workplaces, in housing and in scientific, research and health facilities. Actual and perceived safety is becoming a critical issue as we also strive to create vibrant, socially interactive places to live, work in and gather. The challenges ahead for architecture and urban design are more complex than ever before. New environmental imperatives are emerging constantly, as are information technologies that expedite non-personal communication at a time when the need for human interface seems increasingly vital. We strive to find unified solutions to multiple issues, necessitating close collaboration with our clients and consultants to create places which are both relevant and inspiring.