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himmelzimmer is an architectural design practice in Melbourne dedicated to investigating
an architecture that evolves from a continuous dialogue of imaginative and practical thinking.

As a studio we need to be able to define what building/design we aspire to the most:
For us this is ‘a room in the sky’, a ‘himmelzimmer’.

From its open window we can see the endless sky encouraging us that our ideas should be
dream-like without boundaries. With its window closed we can focus on the work on our desk
in front of us, the technical delivery of our ideas.

All our designs evolve from the dialogue of these two perspectives which are both essential
in the delivery of well-executed buildings that inspire and transcend the ordinary.

Our work is at its most successful where our window to the world is in a constant state of
in-between, where it is simultaneously closed and open.

We started in 2003 as studio505.
Following studio505’s closure in 2016 we are continuing our work as himmelzimmer

himmelzimmer is an architectural design practice in Melbourne dedicated to investigating
an architecture that evolves from a continuous dialogue of imaginative and practical thinking.

As a studio we need to be able to define what building/design we aspire to the most:
For us this is ‘a room in the sky’, a ‘himmelzimmer’.

All our designs evolve from the dialogue of these two perspectives which are both essential
in the delivery of well-executed buildings that inspire and transcend the ordinary.

Our work is at its most successful where our window to the world is in a constant state of
in-between, where it is simultaneously closed and open.

We started in 2003 as studio505.
Following studio505’s closure in 2016 we are continuing our work as himmelzimmer

lotus

wujin, china

nanyang primary school

singapore

ng teng fong + jurong

singapore

the strand facade

melbourne, australia

155 queen st mall

brisbane, australia

Patterson Lakes Primary School

melbourne, australia

norwood secondary college

melbourne, australia

watsonia primary school

melbourne, australia

royal domain tower art façade

melbourne, australia

the arena

melbourne, australia

bouverie street

melbourne, australia

wintergarden

brisbane, australia

Queens Rd Public Artwork

melbourne, australia

pixel

melbourne, australia

boronia structures

melbourne, australia

interpol

singapore

the strand interior

melbourne, australia

clt residential prototypes

Melbourne, Australia

clt residential prototypes

Melbourne, Australia

architect

studio505

client + collaborator

Timber Development Association of Australia

engineer

AECOM (Nick Hewson) and TTW

quantity surveying

Environmental Engineer

Approached by the timber Development Association following a long engagement and interest in CLT and Engineered Timber design, they asked us to prepare a speculative, greenfields design for e Residential Apartment building in CLT. It was designed so that it could be considered in parallel to a traditional Concrete Framed building, in order to perform an extremely detailed analysis on the actual full cost spectrum of the Engineered Timber.

This data is extremely difficult to come across in the industry, particularly because, unlike Europe, the material is not a common or well understood option in construction. As such, studio505 developed a plan that would also offer some benefits available at no cost premium in a Timber building, such as complex facade interactions, and interesting internal planning, that provide the building a clear identity and character.

The project has completed its rigorous analysis, and it has been determined the CLT is cheaper by 5%, when taking account of construction time, preliminaries and labour markets available for the structural system. This benefit is outlined in the RICS and TDA document to be released shortly.