Estab­lished

Found­ed in 1990, Cor­ben Archi­tects is one of Syd­ney’s most expe­ri­enced and respect­ed archi­tec­ture & inte­ri­or design prac­tices spe­cial­is­ing in res­i­den­tial projects. Over 30 years we have designed and built over 300 projects, each one under­ly­ing our rep­u­ta­tion for func­tion­al, ele­gant, high-qual­i­ty archi­tec­ture and out­stand­ing client service.

Spe­cialised

We spe­cialise in sophis­ti­cat­ed and dis­tinc­tive res­i­den­tial projects rang­ing from sub­stan­tial new hous­es to small­er scale alter­ations and addi­tions and bou­tique, mul­ti-unit apart­ment devel­op­ments. While the major­i­ty of our work is Syd­ney based, we have also designed retreats in the Snowy Moun­tains and lux­u­ry beach hous­es along the NSW coast.

Col­lab­o­ra­tive

Our approach is always to work close­ly with our clients, to ensure your ambi­tions are realised in a man­ner where every­one feels in con­trol. Our project man­age­ment skills ensure we deliv­er both great archi­tec­ture and effi­cient project exe­cu­tion. We nev­er for­get that your invest­ment in us is also an invest­ment in your future. 

Expe­ri­enced

Over the decades we have built up an inti­mate under­stand­ing of plan­ning con­trols and pro­ce­dures. In the process, we have nur­tured an excel­lent work­ing rela­tion­ship with Coun­cils to achieve a rep­u­ta­tion for suc­cess­ful­ly nego­ti­at­ing devel­op­ment approvals. 

Rec­om­mend­ed

We are proud to say all our work comes from client rec­om­men­da­tions and refer­rals. Real Estate agents also cite our name in their list­ings. They know it stands for time­less design and qual­i­ty archi­tec­ture that will enhance the poten­tial val­ue of a property.

Con­tem­po­rary and traditional

Our work encom­pass­es a range of archi­tec­tur­al styles from inno­v­a­tive con­tem­po­rary design to more tra­di­tion­al archi­tec­tur­al approach­es includ­ing detailed her­itage restora­tion work.

Func­tion­al and Innovative

We love to inno­vate, but our feet remain firm­ly on the ground. Our projects are renowned for thought­ful and func­tion­al plan­ning, time­less ele­gance, live­abil­i­ty and qual­i­ty crafts­man­ship. In short we cre­ate homes that look great, last the test of time and are a joy to live in.

Con­text and Fit

We care­ful­ly lis­ten to our clients to inter­pret their brief and ambi­tions. We also analyse the con­text and attrib­ut­es of the site to ensure we design build­ings that sit com­fort­ably with­in both their urban con­text and nat­ur­al surroundings.

Sus­tain­able

We are also com­mit­ted to design­ing projects that adopt sound sus­tain­able design prin­ci­ples that reduce ener­gy usage and min­imise their car­bon footprint.

Stream­lined

By pro­vid­ing both archi­tec­tur­al and inte­ri­or design ser­vices with­in the one prac­tice, using the same CAD sys­tem, we deliv­er more com­pre­hen­sive, coor­di­nat­ed doc­u­men­ta­tion and a more inte­grat­ed over­all design. We sim­pli­fy deci­sion mak­ing and time-man­age­ment by hav­ing a ​‘one-stop’ ser­vice which encom­pass­es all aspects of your project.

Qual­i­ty Outcomes

By com­mis­sion­ing us to cre­ate your inte­ri­ors, they are fin­ished and fur­nished in keep­ing with the over­all vision agreed for your project and ensur­ing a supe­ri­or out­come that is beau­ti­ful, prac­ti­cal and cohe­sive. One that com­ple­ments the archi­tec­ture and stands the test of time. Our design­ers also man­age pro­cure­ment and main­tain qual­i­ty con­trol, co-ordi­nat­ing order­ing and instal­la­tion of all furnishings.

Bespoke

Our approach is to work close­ly with our client to under­stand exact­ly what you want for your home and your lifestyle. We then inves­ti­gate your desired lifestyle — the future sto­ry of your home — and use mood and con­cept boards to com­mu­ni­cate the char­ac­ter, lay­out and feel of our pro­posed interiors.

Detailed Solu­tions

Once colour schemes, mate­ri­als, fur­ni­ture and fur­nish­ings are agreed, we cre­ate detailed draw­ings for all key areas to show exact­ly how fur­ni­ture and fur­nish­ings, light­ing, join­ery, fix­tures and appli­ance selec­tions will look. Accom­pa­nied by a ful­ly itemised bud­get, the end result is a high­ly con­sid­ered design solu­tion that will enhance your every­day liv­ing for years to come.

Proven Team

Cor­ben Archi­tects has an excep­tion­al­ly tal­ent­ed team of over twen­ty archi­tects, inte­ri­or design­ers and admin­is­tra­tion staff. We oper­ate in a col­lab­o­ra­tive work envi­ron­ment, one that encour­ages cre­ative design solu­tions and the effi­cient exe­cu­tion of every project. We believe our suc­cess can be attrib­uted to the fact that our three direc­tors have worked togeth­er for over two decades and many of our staff have been with us for over ten years.

Tech­nol­o­gy

We use the lat­est Archi­cad CAD soft­ware to cre­ate detailed 3D mod­els of our designs. These pro­vide a ​‘vir­tu­al expe­ri­ence’ of your project. As your project evolves, these walk-throughs are devel­oped to incor­po­rate inte­ri­or and exter­nal fin­ish­es and spe­cif­ic detail.

Scope of Services

We pro­vide a full range of ser­vices includ­ing pre-pur­chase advice, devel­op­ment fea­si­bil­i­ty stud­ies, mas­ter plan­ning, con­cept sketch designs and prepa­ra­tion of Devel­op­ment Appli­ca­tions, detailed con­tract doc­u­men­ta­tion and full con­tract admin­is­tra­tion ser­vices through con­struc­tion. We also pre­pare detailed cost plan­ning bud­gets for every project and devel­op­ment fea­si­bil­i­ties for devel­op­er clients.

Con­sul­tants and Builders

We work close­ly with a large num­ber of expe­ri­enced plan­ning and engi­neer­ing con­sul­tants. We have also worked with the very best builders and sub-con­trac­tors capa­ble of build­ing high qual­i­ty projects. We work as a team to pro­vide a com­pre­hen­sive ser­vice that ensures a seam­less design and con­struc­tion process.

Cor­ben Archi­tects has a flex­i­ble approach to fees and work on either a ​‘fixed fee per stage’ or a ​‘time and dis­burse­ments’ basis, up to a ​‘not to exceed’ per­cent­age fee. This is based on the final cost of the project includ­ing all inter­nal fit out, exter­nal works and land­scap­ing plus GST.

Fees are com­pet­i­tive, trans­par­ent and com­men­su­rate with the exten­sive expe­ri­ence, high lev­el of design skills and client ser­vices pro­vid­ed by Cor­ben Architects.

Archi­tec­tur­al fees are gen­er­al­ly divid­ed into the fol­low­ing stages:

- Concept/​initial sketch design

- Full sketch design

- Design devel­op­ment to devel­op­ment application(DA) or com­ply­ing devel­op­ment appli­ca­tion (CDC)

- Con­tract doc­u­men­ta­tion to tender

- Ten­der­ing and con­tract nego­ti­a­tions with suppliers

- Con­tract admin­is­tra­tion dur­ing construction

We also pro­vide an in-house inte­ri­or design ser­vice which can be ful­ly inte­grat­ed into your archi­tec­tur­al project or used as a stand-alone service.

For the best advise on how to approach the fee struc­ture for your project, please get in con­tact as we will be more than hap­py to guide you through this process so you can make an informed decision.