Coming of age: Architects Kennedy Nolan celebrate 20 years in business

It’s been a big year for respected architects Patrick Kennedy and Rachel Nolan – so busy they haven’t had time to mark 20 years in business with a celebratory bash. Not yet, anyway.

And 2019 has also been satisfying for their firm, Kennedy Nolan, nabbing several important architecture and design awards. If you’ve ever walked across Melbourne Central’s arcade and bridge, you’ve seen Kennedy Nolan’s highly original, colourful, thoughtful work, which ranges from drop-dead gorgeous houses to dreamy beach retreats to commercial and institutional work.

The next challenge for the duo is designing one of the environmentally sustainable and affordable Nightingale apartment blocks in Brunswick’s Duckett Street.

Perhaps the Kennedy Nolan partnership has thrived because the pair started out as friends first and became workmates later. At university, they shared a house and, while studying architecture, they discovered they shared a similar vision. They were interested in colour, texture and connection to landscape, but they felt architecture at the time didn’t reflect the way people lived. When they got their first commission, they both resigned from their jobs.

“We were young enough and foolish enough to just dive in,” Kennedy says.

“We didn’t have much to lose,” Nolan adds.

Humble beginnings

And so Kennedy Nolan started with small, humble projects, initially for family and friends. They hand-drafted everything and relied on a fax and a landline, later sharing a mobile phone. “You give your heart and soul to every project when
you start,” Kennedy says.

The firm, a tight-knit group, has grown slowly over the years and now comprises 21 people.

“Very quickly we understood the huge reward that comes of having a good team,” Nolan says.

While the practice now works on institutional, commercial and educational projects, residential work remains a core component.

“We love doing houses; it’s a great way to investigate ideas,” Kennedy says. “Residential architecture in Melbourne, in particular, is dense with ideas and creativity.”

Their first project, the James Street house addition, which reflected their interest in colour and texture, won a Victorian Architecture award in 2001. Another key project, the George Street townhouses, put the firm in the public eye and won the 2004 Victorian architecture multi-residential award. “It gave us the confidence we could do something very different to what was around us,” Kennedy says.

The pair later won the 2016 National Architecture Award (new houses) for the Deepdene house, which represented an evolution of their values.

Landscape is an integral part of every project for the firm. “We never design anything without thinking about the garden, trees or plants,” Nolan says.

In the spotlight

This year, Kennedy Nolan has won a slew of awards including Victorian architecture awards for both the Sandy Point House (new houses) and the Caroline House (alterations and additions); and commendations for the Oak Tree House (alterations and additions), the Fitzroy Lane House (new houses) and the Kagan House (heritage). The Oak Tree House also won the residential award at the 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards and the Caroline House won the 2019 Dulux Colour Award for residential interior and Belle Interior Design Award for best kitchen.

Creative calling

Of course, one of the biggest challenges is to remain fresh in such a competitive field. To stay creative, you have to do interesting things and foster an engaging workplace, Kennedy believes.

“Managing change is the biggest challenge because you cannot stay the same,” he says.

Not surprisingly, they both love travel and art; music is an inspiration for Kennedy while Nolan is passionate about Indigenous culture and landscape.

Their Fitzroy studio, designed by architect Paul Couch, is a source of inspiration to a team who are friends as well as colleagues. It’s also used for tutoring students, meetings and musical events.

Looking forward

So what’s the secret to this productive working partnership?

“Holidays,” quips Nolan with a laugh. “What’s different about Pat and I is that we don’t live and breathe architecture; we have other interests, and I think those other interests make us better architects.”

The industry has changed over
the years, too – for the better, they believe. The gender balance has improved, and social media plays its part in putting the focus on design.

“We’ve never been able to understand what was popular before,” Nolan says. Though she says people should remember architecture is more complex than just the visual.

These days it’s all go for the pair, who are preparing to meet a client in LA, but Nolan wishes she could take more time to reflect on the past two decades. “The most gorgeous thing after 20 years is you can see a body of work that exists, and to see a body of work that’s really diverse is quite exciting,” she says.

Looking to the future, Kennedy says: “I feel like we’re just hitting our straps, and I’m really excited about the next 10 years.”