We design strategies, precincts, buildings and places that foster communities and minimise environmental impact, while understanding the commercial realities that make them possible.
Each of our projects is informed by empathy and context: the Country we work on, the surrounding community, our client’s objectives and the users’ experience.
1.0Fieldwork
Founded in 2013, with studios in Melbourne and Adelaide, we are a team of 50 architects, interior designers, urban planners, researchers and advisors working across housing, education, commercial, civic and later living sectors for government, councils, not-for-profits and private clients.
We practise architecture and placemaking as something agile yet enduring. We’re interested in the city, and in architecture’s role in making it more equitable and environmentally conscious. Our approach respects how architecture is shaped by social, political and economic forces, while acknowledging its capacity to influence them in return.
2.0Culture
Our team care as much about why a project exists as how it gets built. We’re a group of like-minded people, collectively working towards architecture, urbanism and design that leaves a real mark on people and the environment.
The studio is relaxed and friendly, but always professional. We encourage and facilitate professional development, and leave room to think out loud. Six opt-in committees give everyone a hand in shaping how the practice evolves.
We also care about small things that can make a week good: pets in the studio, Friday drinks, ArchiSoccer, fresh bread and proper coffee. At the end of the day, we want a studio that people simply enjoy turning up to.
We encourage our team’s professional development through dedicated programs and upskilling pathways.
We know the process for registration as an Architect can be a big and daunting step, so Fieldwork is committed to supporting our colleagues to advance their careers. We have a program where more experienced team members provide guidance and mentoring. We also financially support this effort by paying for the application process as well as the registration fee for their first year.
We start at a reasonable hour, work diligently, and leave at a reasonable hour. No one’s expected to stay late just to be seen. As is the nature of the job, some projects might need extra hours, but our hour-for-hour time-in-lieu commitment keeps the balance between work, life and family.
We provide flexible workplace arrangements and allow the team to work in the studio or remotely to best suit each person’s circumstances.
Fieldwork’s gender pay gap is well within the Australian Government standards of +/- 5 per cent.
3.0Commitments
Our practice is committed to social, cultural and environmental responsibility. We recognise that the built environment influences communities, ecosystems and future generations, and we aim to contribute positively through both our projects and how we operate as a studio.
Fieldwork became a certified B Corporation in mid-2024, joining over 9,000 organisations globally committed to an economy that benefits people, communities and the planet. The accreditation holds us accountable to the broader impact of how we operate, who we work with, and what we put into the world. Read more about our certification.
Fieldwork has been certified under ISO 9001 (Quality Management), 14001 (Environment Management) and 45001 (OH&S Management) since early 2024. Our certified Business Management System includes robust quality assurance procedures, a transparent reporting framework and a regular cycle of review, auditing and improvement to ensure our workplace is safe, inclusive, healthy and high performing.
Fieldwork has maintained a carbon-neutral status since 2022. We’re committed to reducing our carbon footprint by using renewable energy, reducing waste, and prioritising suppliers with positive social and environmental impacts. For any emissions that cannot be reduced, we invest in high-quality offsets managed through globally recognised verification programs.
2022 — Carbon Audit Report
2023 — Carbon Audit Report
2024 — Carbon Audit Report
2025 — Carbon Audit Report
ARBV (Architects Registration Board of Victoria) and APBSA (Architectural Practice Board of South Australia) regulate Victoria’s and South Australia’s architectural industry, respectively. Fieldwork has been registered with the ARBV since 2014 and with the APBSA since 2025. Of 41 design team members, 26 are registered Architects.
Passive House (PassivHaus) is a holistic construction certification standard allowing Certified Passive House professionals flexibility to determine the most suitable building geometry based on usage and location. Passive buildings are comprised of a set of design principles used to attain a quantifiable level of energy efficiency, using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to model the performance of a design for compliance with the set standards. Our colleagues Vlad Doudakliev and Sophie Zasempa are Certified Passive House Designers.
Founded by the Green Building Council of Australia in 2003, Green Star is an internationally recognised rating system setting the standard for healthy, resilient, positive buildings and places. Green Star-accredited personnel are able to guide projects through the Green Star certification process. Our colleagues Vlad Doudakliev and Shuian Sang are Green Star Accredited Professionals.
WELL is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing. The seven concepts that form the standard are air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. Our colleague Shuian Sang is a WELL-accredited professional.
A NatHERS assessment shows how a home will perform before building. Accredited assessors model the design and return a thermal rating out of 10 stars and a Whole of Home rating out of 100. Our colleague Sophie Zasempa is an accredited NatHERS assessor.
4.0Fieldstudies
Fieldstudies is Fieldwork’s dedicated research group exploring how design thinking can address urgent challenges in the built environment. With pressures to increase housing supply, boost productivity, decarbonise and create healthier spaces, our research focuses on the fields where architecture can have the greatest impact.
Understanding the imperative and the challenge to reduce the cost and improve the quality of housing, we research and design with Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) as processes to deliver faster, cheaper and better housing.
We challenge conventional specification practices by investigating and promoting materials that are regenerative, healthy, durable and beautiful. Through global and local analysis, close collaboration with suppliers and makers, and open knowledge-sharing, we’re actively driving a more sustainable shift in construction.
One of the most sustainable things we can do is retain, upgrade and adapt existing buildings to exceed contemporary performance standards. By doing so, we minimise energy usage, reduce waste to landfill, and reuse existing materials through circular construction methods. Through comprehensive performance assessments and cost-benefit analyses, we target building upgrades with a payback of under ten years.
5.0Country-Centred Design
Fieldwork is committed to embedding Country-centred thinking into our communication, planning and design. We recognise that the built environment exists within systems of knowledge and custodianship that long predate it, and we’re working to centre First Peoples’ voices in the decisions we make.
The purpose of Fieldwork’s Country-Centred Design committee is to build the team’s capacity for Country-centred design through active listening, education and ongoing engagement – whether that’s developing internal reference material, building relationships, or running workshops for the wider office. As an architecture practice, we have a skill set that can have an impact on helping to close the gap, and we recognise the opportunity we have to facilitate local procurement, support First Peoples’ run businesses, and insist upon Indigenous consultation. Our aim is to spread financial gain and foster meaningful relationships, centring First Peoples voices within the built environment. The committee meets fortnightly and is made up of a collection of passionate staff across all levels.
Fieldwork established the University of Melbourne Fieldwork Award in 2022 to support emerging First Peoples design practitioners. The award offers a $10,000 grant payment between two high-achieving First Peoples students each year undertaking a Bachelor of Design with a major in Architecture at the Melbourne School of Design.
Recipients can also access a three-to-six-month paid internship at Fieldwork, working alongside project teams, and a year-long mentorship programme with access to studio facilities and guidance.