Up until the 1960s, if a consumer needed a building designed, there was only one place to go — the architect.

Architects had been around since the time buildings were first designed, but there was a quiet revolution beginning. It started with builders who began to want homes designed to their own specification. They sought out people who could draw plans to suit what they wanted to build. They found drafters who were employed by architects or engineers, who could prepare documents in their spare time that were suitable for council approval. Most were cadet drafters undertaking a certificate course at a technical college. These builders found something they didn’t expect — young drafters generally had an extremely sound technical knowledge, practical design ideas and knew how to prepare plans of a high quality.

Around the same time an industry downturn meant architectural practices were laying off their drafting staff. Many of those drafters began marketing themselves as an alternative design option. It was during this time the Building Designers Association of Australia was established by a few South Australian designers, and the professional building designer was born.

During the next 20 years, house design underwent its own revolution. Led by one or two project builders, the Australian home began to better reflect the great Aussie lifestyle. Builders found building designers (known at that time in some states as the drafting service) were well skilled in designing the new style of home.

Some of the builders who had engaged building designers to design homes began to branch out into small commercial and industrial buildings. They continued to use their building designers who proved to be skilled in the design and documentation required.

It wasn’t until the 80s that this new breed of designers generally gained the confidence to feel like professionals. When they did, they were ready to take on a much broader range of projects.

By the early 90s Building Designers Associations had been formed in Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. These states and South Australia got together in 1993 to create a federated Building Designers Association of Australia. Later Tasmania and the Northern Territory came on board.

The modern building designers are well educated, broadly experienced and highly skilled in a whole range of building types and sizes. It has been said that in 2008, there is little difference between the type of project, range of service and quality of design produced by a professional building designer compared to an architect.

The changing face of building design

The homebuyer in Australia has developed extremely sophisticated tastes over the past 40 years. Houses developed interesting shapes, became more open and interactive and focused on indoor/outdoor relationships.

In the past 10 years, even the modest suburban home has become a status symbol. They often have more bathrooms than kids, parent ‘retreats’ and the oft maligned media rooms. This means the designer has to be constantly seeking innovative ways to fit the clients’ dreams into their budget and on to the shrinking block of land.

A similar change has occurred in commercial building design. These buildings have become more spectacular, more colourful and more complex. Even more noticeable has been the transformation of industrial buildings. Only a decade ago, we were still building tin sheds or concrete masonry boxes in industrial estates. In 2008 an aesthetically appealing industrial building is a ‘must have’ for any modern industrial complex.

Over the past 40 years, the builder has also taken off the nail bag and retreated into an air-conditioned office. Twenty years ago, most residential or small commercial building sites were managed by the builder who was always on the job. The builder understood the whole range of pieces that make up the construction process. Now the modern builder has a much better idea of financial management and a team of supervisors to each manage a number of building sites.

Put all this together and we find that design and documentation is a very different process now to what it was just 20 years ago. There is now significantly more detailing required, more information included and improved specification needed.

Education, training and up-skilling has kept pace

There is now a much greater range of education and training options for building designers. TAFE over the years has moved on from the old ‘technician’ certificates to offer complete courses, including the entry level Certificate IV in Residential Drafting, the Diploma in Building Design and the Advanced Diploma in Building Design and Project Management. In addition, one university offers the Bachelor of Building Design program.

The size of building design practice has also been increasing over the years. Once the province of single operator businesses, building design practices are now typically employing increasing numbers of staff. This has proved to be important in providing on the job training to students and new graduates.

The improved organisation of the profession through state and national associations has allowed for quality up-skilling and professional development programs across the country. This has allowed the professional building designer to keep up with the extraordinary rate of change in technology, materials, regulation and construction technique.

Better education and training has also fuelled the quality of design innovation and inspiration coming out of building design practices in Australia.

Rules and regulations

Building regulation has been changing at an ever increasing rate, at least, since Cyclone Tracy destroyed Darwin in 1974. It was the cyclone that exposed some of the structural inadequacies in the largely state based building legislation. The legislators began to look across state borders for commonality of purpose and for more robust requirements.

It took until 1990 to develop the Building Code of Australia (BCA), a code that still, to this day, contains far too many ‘state variations’. It was a big step towards national uniformity. The BCA is undergoing constant review and changes every year as new research, new innovations and new materials and processes become available. It also relies on state based legislation to adopt the code in each state.

Regulation of the profession is still a state-by-state proposition. Some states register or licence designers, others are totally unregulated. Most have an architects act which serves to protect the word architect, limiting its use to those with particular qualifications and to those registered with a board of architects, but don’t place restrictions on the practice of building design.

The most fragmented regulation building designers must negotiate is that imposed by town planning schemes. Planning laws that were clear and simple 40 years ago have grown to be monstrous documents that are often subjective in nature and most are not fully understood by anyone.

The materials evolution

Forty years ago, the philosophy was “a piece of four-by-two will hold up anything”. The term four-by-two referred to high quality hardwood. We have since found out that cutting down forests wasn’t all that good for our future.

Timber now is much more likely to be plantation pine or engineered product manufactured from sustainable forests. There is a huge variety of timber types with different strengths and durability ratings. What was once timber, in fact, may now be steel or even a plastic product.

It is not only timber that has undergone change. The range of roofing materials, masonry products, even concrete and more, have grown and diversified over the years. Much of the change has been driven by consumer expectation for newer and more modern aesthetics, durability or structural performance. There is a need for bigger spans as the trend has been towards bigger, more open spaces. There is also the problem of sustainability of the supply of material.

Professional building designers have been at the leading edge of developing and implementing sustainable design practices. Through the Building Designers Associations, the profession has worked with governments, both national and state, and with other parts of the industry to develop sustainable solutions and then to actively seek to train designers and encourage the take-up of sustainable design.

Building designers were serious about making a difference to the ecological impact of the built environment and were working towards a future with reduced greenhouse gas emissions long before it came into fashion, and will continue to lead the way.

Those able to compare the designs of today with those of 15 years ago would agree the profession certainly raised the bar in that time. Those who can remember even further back would agree we have come a long way in 40 years.

Russell Brandon is executive officer of the Building Designers Association of Australia and executive director of the Building Designers Association of Queensland and the Northern Territory. He previously operated his own building design business for over 20 years and is a lecturer in building design at Central Queensland University.

Architecture & Design Team

The-changing-face-of-building-design-1736096899.png

Let’s connect!