About

The working relationship between an Architect and Client is critical as it forms the basis of what lies ahead. Through a lot of hard work, fantastic achievements can be made. A lot of people don’t recognise what they have until a problem arises and at that stage, it’s a sinking feeling to find out what’s involved to get it right.

 

Quality does count and quality is cheap in comparison to the alternative.

 

As architects we embrace all its principles, we are registered and part of the Victorian Institute Of Architects, Association of Consulting Architects (ACA) together with various other associations. We have a long history of producing well-designed and articulated spaces. We uphold great dignity and pride in the profession of architecture.

 

We have been fortunate to have worked with a wide body of clients. Client’s who appreciate, care and get involved in the scheme of works. Design and construction can embody considerable challenges and our practice takes pride in our extensive track record of protecting our client’s interests and buffering them from these potential risks and challenges.

 

In designing any space it shouldn’t be treated as just another structure. It should have Care & Consideration for its environment, locality & inhabitant’s. This doesn’t necessarily mean expense, it just means thinking about all of the little bits & pieces and all of the DETAILS that builds up the big picture. We feel that it’s fair to say that a house is a direct reflection of those who are within it. Your House is not just an ‘Architects Design’ but instead a design that incorporates all of your thoughts & ideals which is pieced together by an Architect.  After each and every long journey, when you finally make it around that last corner, you should feel a sense of warmth and prosperity – Then you know your home.

 

Your house is a refuge, an emotional piece of architecture, not a cold piece of convenience. It is timeless, and will endure the whims of fashion and embrace the substance of emotion and offer a message to others.

 

Our founding ARCHITECT J. Dale Fisher sr. always considered the most significant and important piece of work he created was The Mount Dandenong Observatory for that reason it remains the imagery of the practice.

 

The building was created at a particular critical juncture in time as the architectural practice seeded its place in Melbourne in the early 1960’s. A milestone commission, the Mount Dandenong Sky High Observatory & Restaurant. The building is of a public nature located on a significant site overlooking Melbourne’s skyline. The building was later to be classified by the National Trust, a rare event for a living architect.

 

A simple design of overlapping circle would create what would later be referred to as organic design. The use of expressed steel, post and beam timber and refined glazing surrounded by stepped radiating carpark observation levels and landscaping concealed by earth landscaped berms. This place is extremely meaningful as attested to by the Rev K. Jones at his lifes celebration during the 2021 lockdown pandemic period …. “spaces such as these are characters in the narrative of people’s lives …. What is also moving is the fact that countless architects and others whom Dale mentored will forever carry part of Dale’s brilliance, encouragement, immensely high standards, and creativity with them. That all his capability go on to shape minds and hearts and imaginations for them to go on and do brilliant things”.

Why Use An Architect

One must be accredited in accordance with the rigorous standards and up-to-date insurances required by the ARBV to be an architect. This ensures that all architects are highly-trained and experienced building and design professionals that are able to provide professional services and expertise beyond any other discipline in the construction industry.

 

An architect’s role extends past preparing construction plans, it is the architects role to help you understand and define what you want and need in your project and then to define a path to achieve these ambitions within a budget that you can afford.

Working with an architect ensures that you are protected by an expert that can help guide you through the entire process of the design and construction of your project. As your architect, we are there to PROTECT your long term interests and ensure you derive the utmost value from your project both in terms of achieving the highest possible quality, as well as sourcing the most competitive pricing from contractors.

What Architects Do

Architects may be involved in every stage of planning, designing and constructing a project. Architects often work alongside other specialists such as engineers, builders and surveyors, to ensure a building project is completed safely and to a high standard.

Architects may be involved in:

  • Selecting sites and conducting feasibility studies

  • Designing and planning buildings and outdoor spaces

  • Maximising the project's environmental efficiency

  • Coordinating regulatory approvals (such as planning and building permits)

  • Managing the budget and the construction process

  • Coordinating specialists and consultants

  • Overseeing building maintenance.

What skills and expertise do architects typically have?

When producing plans, documentation, specifications and reports for a project an architect must typically have skills, and expertise and provide advice around the following items:

  • Material selection and construction methods

  • Regulatory requirements under building legislation, the National Construction Code (NCC) and Australian Standards

  • Planning controls, zones, overlays and special building requirements

  • Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating for buildings in bushfire prone areas

  • The Victorian Code for Tendering, to assist with a fair and equitable tender process

  • Application processes for planning and building permits

  • The preparation of building contracts

  • Undertaking project administration and monitoring the building progress on behalf of the client

  • Seeking and coordinating input from specialist consultants.

Who Can Call Themselves An Architect

Only those registered as an architect in Victoria. There are two classes of architects in Victoria:

  1. Architect (practising)

  2. Architect (non-practising)

To register as an architect in Victoria, an individual must have successfully completed the following:

  • A 5-year Master of Architect or equivalent qualification.

  • A minimum 2 years of practical experience.

  • A registration pathway to demonstrate competency across all areas under the National Standard of Competency for Architects.

Designing and constructing a building is a significant project – and there are many stages in the process. Understanding the design process will help you talk to your architect about the project and know what to expect at each stage.

The particular stages and responsibilities of your project will depend on the nature of the architect's engagement. These details must be included in the client-architect agreement. The below stages and descriptions are indicative of typical projects but may not be applicable to your project.

Phases of Architectural Services

1. Pre-design

The architect may help you prepare a project brief. The architect will provide advice about what is and is not possible on your site, any regulation and planning issues and your budget, along with a project schedule.

At the end of this stage, you should broadly understand what is possible with your site and budget, and the architect should understand your requirements and objectives for the project.

2. Concept/sketch design

The architect will prepare preliminary drawings based on your initial brief. The architect may revise the drawings based on your feedback if they agreed to provide multiple drafts in the client–architect agreement. These drawings may be sketches or more formal drawings.

The architect may engage specialist consultants to better assess the restrictions and opportunities of your site.

The architect will provide further advice about your budget at this time.

At the end of this stage, you should be able to select a concept design for further development.

3. Design development

Once you have chosen a concept design, the architect will refine it. At this point, more specialist consultants may join the project team, and you will review your budget again.

At the end of this stage, you should have a preferred design for your project.

4. Town planning application

Depending on the site and scope of the project, you may need to apply for planning permission from a land management authority, typically your local council. Planning permission generally considers how the proposed building interacts with the neighbourhood character and impacts the local area and neighbouring properties.

The land management authority may advertise your application so people living near the site have an opportunity to voice any objections they may have to your proposed project. You may need to provide more information, make changes to your design, or apply for multiple permits for works (for example, demolition or subdivision). This process can be time-consuming, and your application may not be successful.

5. Construction documentation

The architect will finalise your design and create additional drawings and documentation needed to apply for a building permit. They will check the drawings and documentation against relevant building regulations and the endorsed town planning drawings as required. During this stage, the architect will typically help you to find a builder to undertake the project.

At the end of this stage, you should be able to issue architectural drawings of the project to prospective builders for pricing/tender.

6. Tendering and contractor selection

The architect will respond to the queries and requests for information from the builders who wish to tender for the project. The architect will then assist you to select a builder and negotiate any post-tender variations – this could include costs savings, revised time frames, or changes to contract conditions.

At the end of this stage, you should be able to appoint a builder to construct your project.

7. Building contract administration

If the architect is engaged to administer the building contract, the role of the architect changes at this point. From here, the architect focuses on making sure you and the builder both meet your responsibilities as outlined in the building contract (between you and the builder).

The architect may assist you appointing a building surveyor. The builder or the architect applies to the building surveyor for the building permit.

At the end of this stage, you should have an occupancy permit or notice of final inspection issued by a building surveyor.

8. Practical completion

Once the building surveyor has issued an occupancy permit, the architect will assess the building. They will determine if the works are complete and whether there any defects or incomplete works.

If the architect determines that the works are complete and any defects are minor, they will certify that it is complete in accordance with the plans and specifications, although the builder will still need to fix any minor defects. If the architect determines that there are major issues, the builder must fix them prior to the building being certified complete.

The architect’s certification of practical completion triggers the start of the defect liability period.

9. Defect liability period (post-occupancy)

During the defect liability period, the builder must fix any identified problems that they are responsible for, according to the contract. The length of this period can vary, depending on what is agreed in the contract. The period extends if the builder doesn’t fix the identified problems in time.

At the end of this stage, the builder should have fixed any incomplete or defective works.

This phase typically ends with completion of the defect liability period.

10. Final certificate

Once the defect liability period has finished, the architect issues a final certificate and the builder’s warranty begins – you are covered for six years for structural defects and two years for non-structural defects.

How Are Architects Regulated

The ARBV is responsible for maintaining an up-to-date register of all architects working in Victoria. To work as an architect in Victoria you must be registered in the Architect (practising) class and fulfil the following obligations:

  • Successfully complete a registration pathway and be certified by the ARBV

  • Pay the annual registration fee

  • Ensure appropriate professional indemnity insurance is in place and provide proof to the ARBV

  • Comply with professional obligations, including those provided by the Architects Act 1991 and the Architects Regulations 2015 (including the Victorian Architects Code of Professional Conduct)

  • Complete annual CPD

  • Be a fit and proper person.

ARBV

If someone is not registered with the ARBV, they are not an architect. They cannot describe themselves as an 'architect' or cause people to believe they are an architect. They also may not say they offer 'architectural services', 'architectural design services' and 'architectural design'

Vale J. Dale Fisher F.R.A.I.A. (1931-2021)

Born in Richmond on 28 August 1931, James Dale Fisher commenced architectural studies at the Royal Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT) and then completed the evening course at the Melbourne University Architectural Atelier.  Awarded honours in six subjects, he received his Diploma of Architecture in 1955.   While still a student, he joined the highly-regarded office of Seabrook Hunt & Dale in Little Collins Street and remained there after graduation, rising to the position of senior architectural assistant by 1956.  During that time, he became registered as an architect in Victoria, and an associate of the RAIA.

It was also in 1956 that he won the Robert & Ada Haddon Travelling Scholarship, a coveted biennial prize of £450 that was then one of the valuable of its kind in the world.  Winning the competition with a scheme for a shopping centre at Nunawading, he duly set sail for work and study abroad.   Settling in the UK, he spent six months working in the London office of Riches & Blythin.   He was duly joined by his fiancée and fellow MTC architecture student Marjorie Drew who had been at Hassell McConnell Architects & Bates Smart & McCutcheon; the couple married in Wimbledon in early 1957.   They subsequently travelled and worked in Europe, Canada and the USA.  He spent eighteen months in the office of Edmond George Good junior and Marjorie worked at Lawrie & Green Architects in Pennsylvania before moving on to California, where the couple completed their final studies. In Los Angeles they live in the Hollywood Hills, Dale worked at the practice of Arnold A. Aveis whilst Marjorie worked for Pereira & Luckman as a designer of specialised commercial kitchens, including those for the iconic Theme Building at Los Angeles Airport. While both had green cards to stay and live in America, they were committed to return to Australia, and did so in 1960.

Back in Melbourne, they set up private practice from the front room of their rented bungalow in Camberwell.  Their first significant project was a new service station and enlarged car showroom on the Nepean Highway at Elsternwick for Reg Hunt, an old client from the Seabrook, Hunt & Dale days.   They went on to design the Albert Park Squash Centre (1961), the Tidal River Apartments at Wilsons Promontory (1962), followed by several churches for the Seventh Day Adventists in Melbourne and Geelong and many unbuilt schemes for bowling centres, country motels and restaurant complexes.  Their early work in the residential sphere included stylish modernist dwellings from Brighton and Beaumaris to Balwyn and Ivanhoe, and further afield to Portsea, Apollo Bay and beyond.

In 1964, the practice relocated to Queens Road, Melbourne, soon receiving a milestone commission for the Mount Dandenong Sky High Observatory & Restaurant (1965-70).  A simple design with a plan of overlapping circles and expression of timber structure, glazing and stonework, Dale considered it his most significant project and it would eventually be classified by the National Trust.  Another memorably foray into hospitality design was the new Hawthorn Tea Gardens (1970-71), later renamed Leonda-on-the-Yarra, a multi-purpose function centre starkly expressed as a brick volume with parabolic arches and cantilevered steel-framed entry canopy.  Other memorable projects to emanate from the Queens Road office included the Sandringham Hotel on Beach Road (1967) and the Sebel showrooms on St Kilda Road (1968), the latter with prominent white steel columns, cantilevered three-storey canopy and symmetrical glazed façade.

In 1970, the practice relocated to a pair of remodelled maisonettes in Wallace Avenue, Toorak, where it continues to this day under Dale and Marjorie’s son, Dale junior.   During that time, the practice undertook an enviable range of work nationwide that included office towers, hotels, motels, function centres, shopping centres, ski lodges, churches, restaurants, industrial and commercial depots, laboratories, land subdivisions, parks and gardens as well as residential work.  Dale made a memorable foray into Melbourne’s CBD with his bold design for Mutual Acceptance House at 30 Collins Street (1973-75), with its sawtooth façade of bronze mirrored glazing offering differing views internally and externally.  From the late 1970s, a key client was the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), for whom the firm designed new offices headquarters at Werribee (1980) and the Northern Regional Depot in Mill Park (1984).  Both buildings were elegantly expressed with monumental rock walls, mirrored glazing and reflective ponds, in carefully landscaped settings.    During the 1980s and ‘90s, Dale designed over a thousand shops across Australia for such leading retailers as Sportsgirl, Lacoste, Sportscraft and Bradmans, characterised by fastidious joinery and material selection, and deference for the customer experience.

At its peak, the practice employed twenty architects.  Dale upheld discipline in his office, with staff expected to deliver quality and consistency, evidenced by the fastidious nature of drawings and specifications. He was firm but fair, maintaining that the client must always be protected through the entire process.  He was highly regimented, and contractors knew who the man in the bow tie was, and what he represented.  Throughout his long life, he maintained great dignity and pride in the profession of architecture. Widely respected and a mentor to many, he pursued what he perceived as perfection in design, quality in material selection, and buildings that would stand the test of time.  A perfectionist at heart, he always offered suggestions.  In later years he spoke of the dynamic and breathtaking buildings he came to him in dreams, always inspired perhaps for more that he had to offer: an architect literally living the dream.

J Dale Fisher passed away on the 7 August 2021 in the house on the Yarra River at Toorak that he and Marjorie had designed over five decades before.  He is survived by his wife of 65 years, three daughters (one an architect) as well as an architect son who continues to run the practice. 

Architecture was his life and passion.