Alexandra Buchanan Architecture: Experiential architecture as a personal narrative

By Malin Norman | Photos: Alexandra Buchanan Architecture

Before Alexandra Buchanan set up her own studio, she worked on large-scale, highly complex mixed-use, multi-residential and healthcare projects in London and Scotland, where she ran big teams on diverse, technically demanding briefs. Starting Alexandra Buchanan Architecture in 2011 was not a rejection of that, but a desire to flex a different kind of muscle.

“With ABA, I wanted to be able to develop a vision at the broad strategic scale and then carry that same level of consideration all the way down to the smallest detail, on my own terms,” says Buchanan. “That process of refinement still drives the studio and the breadth of locations and typologies.”

With studios in Brisbane, Melbourne and Daylesford, she keeps the diversity and complexity alive. “We deliberately take on a select number of commissions, so that we can remain embedded at every stage of a project, rather than being spread too thin,” says the architect. “Many of our projects are complex, and even when they aren’t, our clients want us to be invested, to think strategically with them and help navigate changing circumstances.”

The approach starts with active listening, not just to what is said, but how. “A brief rarely tells you as much as watching a client move through a site, where they pause, what they gravitate towards,” says Buchanan. “Part of our job is creating the space for people to be able to articulate those things that perhaps they haven’t appreciated previously, and also to dream a little beyond what they assume is possible.”

Photo: Toby Scott

Binnum Homestead is a great example of ABA’s approach. It pairs a familiar heritage-homestead with an equally familiar but highly contemporary corrugated-metal addition with agricultural vernacular around a landscaped garden. Here, old and new are in conversation rather than competing. The addition was an exercise in reductionism, to allow the homestead to be the hero.

Another notable project is Ascot, an unusual brief to relocate the original 1912 Queenslander on site to free up the rear for a tennis court. Rather than treating the heritage fabric as a constraint, the elegance of the original Queenslander remains the organising idea, with the timberwork and construction language carried through, with clearly legible contemporary insertions.

Reflecting on the future of architecture, Buchanan concludes: “Staying curious and rigorous from project to project, resisting formula, and continuing to work across increasingly diverse climates, contexts and challenges will drive more varied, thoughtful and positive outcomes for architecture.”