RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECT — BOROONDARA
Architect Hawthorn
Hawthorn holds its character firmly. Victorian and Edwardian streetscapes, generous allotments, a suburb that sits close to the city without conceding anything to it. Residents here know what they have, and when they are ready to change their home, they approach it with that same clarity.
Zen Architects has worked across Hawthorn and the inner east for over 30 years. We design custom homes, thoughtful additions and whole-of-home transformations for clients who know exactly what they want, and understand that the right architect makes the difference between a good outcome and a great one.
HERITAGE IN HAWTHORN
Significant work, behind a preserved frontage.
Hawthorn's streetscapes do not reward intervention for its own sake. The homes worth changing tend to be worth changing from the inside out, where a Victorian or Edwardian frontage is preserved entirely and everything behind it is reconsidered around the way the family lives now.
That is the work we are known for. The brief, the structural moves, the relationship between original fabric and new addition, the way light is brought into rooms that were never designed for it, these are the questions every significant heritage renovation has to answer well, and they are the questions we have spent thirty years answering.
PROJECT SHOWN: Barry, Northcote — a Victorian cottage where the heritage frontage was preserved entirely and everything behind it reconsidered around contemporary family life. Mezzanine office, rooftop garden, refinished Baltic pine throughout. Houses Awards, 2024.
Custom New Homes
Designed from first principles for your site, your orientation and your brief. Nothing predetermined.
Whole-of-Home Transformations
For Hawthorn homes with the right bones that no longer fit how you live. We redesign them from the ground up.
Heritage Extensions and Additions
Hawthorn's period character rewards careful design. We extend and add to these homes with conviction.
A private conversation with one of our senior architects about your Hawthorn property and what it could become.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions worth answering.
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Yes. Hawthorn sits within the City of Boroondara, and we have extensive experience with its planning controls including heritage overlays, neighbourhood character overlays, and significant landscape overlays. We understand the council's expectations and work proactively through the planning process. On heritage-affected or character-sensitive sites, that local knowledge is not just useful, it is essential to achieving the outcome the project deserves.
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Yes, and we approach them as a design framework rather than a constraint. Much of Hawthorn sits within heritage and neighbourhood character controls, and some of our most considered work has come directly from the discipline of working within them. We bring our clients through the heritage permit process with a clear picture of what is achievable before documentation begins, and we do not promise outcomes we cannot deliver.
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The full range: Victorian and Edwardian homes requiring sensitive extension, mid-century properties ready for a complete reimagining, and cleared sites where a new custom home is the right outcome. Hawthorn's proximity to the city and the quality of its existing fabric means almost every property has significant potential.
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From initial consultation to occupancy, a full custom home or whole-of-home transformation typically spans 18 to 36 months depending on scope and planning approvals. Design and documentation usually takes six to twelve months. Planning approvals in Boroondara vary with the overlay and the complexity of the proposal. We give honest timelines at the outset of every engagement.
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Clients who are deeply connected to their suburb and ready to build the home they have been thinking about for a long time. Many are at a stage of life where the brief has finally crystallised and they want to do it properly. They are not looking for the fastest outcome. They want the right one, and they understand that it starts with choosing the right architect.
ALSO IN BOROONDARA