Cox Architecture, Sydney: Collaborative, Structurally-driven, Open.

 “We are going through a big transitional change at the moment,” says Cox Director Ramin Jahromi. The practice, which is one of the oldest in Australia, is evolving and opening up the leadership to more people. “There is a lot of opportunity at the moment to grow and change the studio,” Jahromi adds. 

The studio which employs around 110 architects, graphic designers, interior designers, visualisers and planners is located in a 1930s brick building that used to be Sydney’s blood bank and is full of original Art Deco features. It is a symbol of Cox – a practice which has focused on regeneration since the 1960s. 

Inside, the staff are spread across a single floorplate where collaboration spaces and a town hall-like area bring everyone together for meetings, presentations and Friday night drinks. 

The central space acts as a hub or a living room for the large studio. It is used by the universities and the local design institutes for talks and it even has a space for developing VR modelling, which had outgrown its original desk space. 

“We have strong links with the universities. They want to connect with the profession and we are using our space to allow that to happen,” Jahromi adds. 

Within the studio, staff are split into six design clusters with each run by a director or a senior associate. Of these six studios, four are architectural while one focuses on urban design and planning and another on interiors. “This creates smaller design studios within the larger studio. People and projects can move from one cluster to another but it is a good way to create a studio ethos within the bigger practice,” comments Jahromi. He adds: “We try to ensure that any project can be taken from beginning to end within that cluster, so every design cluster has a good senior person, a good planner, site architect, design architect, a student, a visualiser and people who are good at competitions.” In addition, the studio is at the forefront of design exploration with new technologies. There is a strong contingent of graduates and architects working in 3D form finding, digital fabrication and advanced computational design. The young group of graduates also teach at leading universities in Sydney and continue research and development. 

Cox Architecture Sydney studio forms part of a national practice consisting of six studios across Australia.