Residential
Private Dwellings
Homes designed around the particulars of a client's life — not a housing typology. From modest additions to architect-led new builds.
Every building is an argument for how life should be lived.
Drafthouse is a Sydney-based architectural practice working across residential, commercial, and cultural commissions. Founded in 2011 by Miriam Croft and James Vane, the studio holds that architecture is not decoration — it is structure, light, and time made visible.
How we work
Every project begins with a sustained reading of place — orientation, shadow patterns, existing material culture — before a single line is drawn.
We specify what will age well and show its age truthfully. Concrete, raw steel, reclaimed timber — the palette should earn its place over decades.
Volume is not wasted space. A well-proportioned hall, an unexpected threshold, a roof that lifts — these are the moves that transform occupation into experience.
Good buildings improve under long attention. We design for the resident who notices something new after five years, not the guest who is impressed in five minutes.
Services
2023 2022 2024 2023 They stayed on site longer than any other architect we spoke to. They understood the ridge line before they opened their laptops.
Eleanor Mast — Client — Thornbury House The Saltash brief was complex — acoustic, planning, heritage overlay. Drafthouse navigated all three without compromising the spatial quality.
Daniel Poh — Director — Saltash Studio The pavilion reads as entirely of its place. Visitors ask whether it has always been there. That is exactly what we wanted.
Rowan Childs — Director of Arts — Bathurst Regional Council The Aranda Annex won our national shortlist in 2024. More importantly, it changed how the family lives on the site.
Architecture AU Awards — Residential Commendation 2024We take a small number of commissions each year. Tell us what you are building.
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