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FOR HOME OWNERS OR PASSIVHAUS ENTHUSIASTS

Our core areas of expertise are all stages of architectural consultancy, building design and interior design. This goes from first sketches and ideas right through to technical drawings, contract administration and completion. MDS can assist with:

  • Creating your new home
  • Award-winning single dwellings, Alterations & Additions, Interior Design
  • Passive House Consultancy & Passive Solar Design
  • Beach Houses, Holiday Homes, Eco-homes
  • Sustainability consultancy

With our in-house expertise in sustainable design, we know about the latest ‘green trends and techniques’ from Europe and Australia. We offer specialised:

  • Carbon Zero Architecture & Advice
  • Certified Passive House Designer & Consultancy
  • House Energy Ratings under NatHERS
  • Sustainable design assessments, incl. SDAPP, using the STEPS approach and our in-house expertise, etc

Contact us today to discuss your project.

FOR BUSINESSES & INVESTORS

Working in both Australia, and Internationally, the team at Melbourne Design Studios have completed:

  • Award-winning Headquarters
  • Carbon Zero Office fit outs & Interiors
  • Shops, Retail & Exhibition design
  • Multi-Residential developments, Apartments, Townhouses, Subdivisions
  • Feasibility studies (Pre-purchase and Post-purchase)
  • Commercial & Mixed-Use Developments, Aged Care, Resort Living & Hotels
  • Master Planning & Urban Design

… and additionally

  • Full Project Management Services
  • ESD Consultancy for design & compliance purposes, including SDAPP, BESS, NatHERS etc
  • 3D Imagery for Town Planning and/or Marketing

We can offer you our ‘one-stop-shop’ service package, including (but not limited to)  landscape design, corporate identity, development, PR and more.

We can tailor a package to suit your needs! Let us help you today.

FOR INSTITUTIONS

We would love to offer you our experience and expertise in

  • Community Projects
  • Passivhaus or Low-Energy Schools
  • Universities
  • Kindergartens
  • Museum & Exhibition Design
  • Language Learning Centers & Cultural Institutions

The MDS team have successfully completed many such projects, and we’d love to be involved in yours.  Beside the ‘feel’ of the spaces, that is so important for the end user, we put particular emphasis on social and environmental sustainability, often working with local materials like rammed earth (where appropriate), and/or creating healthy and inspiring spaces using the passivhaus approach.

Get in touch today to discuss your project and find out if we are a good match for you.

FOR ARCHITECTS & DESIGNERS, AND FOR PASSIVHAUS ENTHUSIASTS

At Melbourne Design Studios, we love an inter-disciplinary think-tank approach. We are passionate about design and we focus on excellence. Our specific services include, but are not limited to:

  • ESD Consultancy including SDAPP/STEPS, NatHERS Energy Ratings and advice, Passive House Consultancy etc
  • Carbon-Zero & Passive House Advocacy and Advice
  • Vectorworks Training & BIM Consultancy
  • Collaboration & Documentation support
  • Through our partners at “Hutt – Sustainable Building Supplies” we can quote and offer you specialist eco-materials at competitive prices for your sustainable project, e.g. Windows in different price ranges, from thermally broken aluminium to high performance Passivhaus windows, Wood-Fibre insulation: breathable, sustainable and efficient, CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) and more.

Please get in touch to discuss any queries or ideas you might think of.

Marc Bernstein-Hussmann, Director.

Marc is an Australian architect with a German background, and a strong expertise in contemporary and sustainable architecture, all things Passive House and Carbon-Zero Architecture. He loves his 3 kids, and enjoys coming to work on his pushbike.

Marc is a Member of the Australian Institute of Architects and the Australian & International Passivhaus Associations, and he sits on the Sustainable Architecture Committee at the RAIA. He also used to sit on the Board (Committee of Management) of Design Matters National Association (formerly the Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV)). He is well known for his holistic approach to and expertise in sustainable design. Marc has won a large number of awards for his work, and he has extensive international experience in commercial and residential architecture, as well as in shop design, interior design and exhibition design.

Marc’s Linkedin profile

Felicity Bernstein, Chief Creative Officer (CCO)
Head of Project Management & Interior Design

Felicity is the heart and soul of MDS, and when not in the office, she is usually busy doing craftwork and projects with her teenage children.

Felicity has vast experience in large scale residential and commercial projects. She has led teams on mixed use development projects of up to AUD$80million. She holds a German degree in Architecture (dipl.-ing. (fh) arch). Felicity’s speciality is to ensure design consistency, from the initial sketch up to the selection of the curtain fabric. She makes sure our interiors are well integrated within our architecture, and she is passionate about our work and quality.

Beside her role with MDS, Felicity is also CEO of Hütt. She was also a founder of designerSoft, a company that advises, trains and helps  architectural practices with their CAD management and BIM strategies in Vectorworks; our preferred CAD & BIM solution. designerSoft has since merged with and is now part of Melbourne Design Studios.

Felicity’s Linkedin profile

Marci Webster-Mannison, Head of MDS Queensland & NSW

Marci is our specialist in institutional, sustainable and cost-effective architecture. She runs around a lot, and has her base in Brisbane. She has three decades of architectural practice, spanning both the private and public sector, including planning, institutional, commercial, retail, and residential work in NSW, ACT, Queensland and Victoria.

She is the recipient of a Special Jury Award (RAIA) for state of the art, ecologically inspired architecture, and her projects have won over 25 design awards at a local, state, national and international level.

One of her best known projects is the design of the Thurgoona Campus of Charles Sturt University. It is a model of environmentally sensitive, yet cost-efficient design practice on a neighbourhood scale, with buildings articulated in rammed earth and recycled timber and conditioned by unique passive solar heating and cooling systems.

We are glad to have Marci on board, and she’s integral to the successful delivery of insititutional projects here at MDS.

Marci’s Linkedin profile

Awards

work

A selection of recent projects