We produce valuable, public-interfacing architecture by focusing on site, purpose, structure and space.

Their work is not only immensely intelligent and subtle, with a lack of hectoring urgency in its form, but it is a determined orchestration of space…

Leon van Schaik, Design City Melbourne, 1st ed. (Chichester: Wiley, 2006), 181.

Garner Davis exploit modernity in the detail. They use perforated metals, seamless glass, modest steel frames … Corners and edges are uncomplicated … it is clear, clean expression.

Norman Day, “Reading between the lines,” The Age (Melbourne), May 23, 2005.

Garner Davis is an architecture and interior design studio based in Melbourne, established by Jill Garner and Lindsay Davis in 1990.

We are highly awarded and acknowledged for delivering exceptional buildings and environments. These are places of design and construction excellence, providing space and service in a coherent, flexible and environmentally responsible way.

Our team members hold degrees in architecture, interior design, service design, structural engineering, art and writing. We solve problems by combining insights from these disciplines. In addition to precedent, site research and narrative, we prioritise simplicity, usefulness, modularity, adaptability, economy, buildability, project management and whole-life performance. Our compositional approach is informed by classical, twentieth-century and present-day rationalism. We think the pragmatic is poetic.

So too is setting. Buildings serve occupants, but are occupants themselves. They work best in symbiosis with their surrounds. When designing, we seek to enrich an existing organic and inorganic context by introducing a contemporary layer. Our buildings do not overwhelm, do not conform to fads, and do not unduly deteriorate. They are integrated, understated and durable.

We write reports, briefs and feasibility studies. We design, detail and document. We administer contracts for medical, education, civic, commercial, heritage and residential buildings. Many of our projects have involved extensive community and stakeholder interface. We consult, evaluate, advise, clarify, confirm and record. Our methodology is sensitive to people as well as place.

In terms of place, we understand that Australian architecture is underpinned by Traditional Custodianship and the concerns of Indigenous peoples. We believe this reality should be integrated into discussion, site analysis, ideation, design, administration, documentation and completion. Our studio stands on land traditionally owned by the Yalukit-willam of the Boonwurrung, whose language imbues geonyms from Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory.

With respect to the sensitivities of this land and those who occupy it, we aspire to deliver buildings with universal utility and low carbon footprints, as well as prudent maintenance plans. We incorporate equitable entry and circulation, intuitive wayfinding and usability, sensible material selection and composition, sustainable procurement and transport, and passive thermal control. We manage energy systems, waste and water efficiently.

Our full profile is available at request, including a register of awards, publications and references.