Troppo Architects - History

History

In the late 1970s, Phil Harris and Adrian Welke were two young Adelaide-raised Bachelor of Architecture students. In 1978, their final year of undergraduate study, they collaborated on the publication of "Influences in Regional Architecture", Australia's first history of architecture outside the urban arena.

Troppo Architects was founded in 1980 by Harris and Welke, whose early careers had taken them to Darwin. The practice commenced with the aid of an NT Government history grant to research (and eventually define and publicise) the History of Tropical Housing in Australia’s Top End. The practice had a slow start, but gained momentum when they were successful in a Low Cost House Competition organised by the City of Darwin, and they were engaged to built a prototype of their design. The prototype was economical to build, climatically comfortable to live in, easy to extend, and also uses little energy. In its first decade, the practice refined and extended its skill in addressing the architectural requirements of the "Top End", gaining a wide range of work, including with remote aboriginal communities. Their approach has been applied to projects in: the Kimberley, Perth, Esperance, and inland WA; Adelaide, coastal, rural and far-northern SA; Melbourne and Victoria; Alice Springs and the Centre; Townsville, and north and far north Queensland; and most recently, inland and north-coast NSW.

In 1987, the practice was selected by the Gagudju Community, administrators of the Kakadu National Park, to design some park facilities. Joining together with Glenn Murcutt, the collaboration was (to quote Murcutt) "highly productive". The work lead to international critical acclaim, and a number of important commissions. The practice spread out across Australia: Phil Harris opened an office in Adelaide in 1999, and Adrian Welke opened an office Perth, leaving the original office in the hands of Dan Connolly.

Since 2010, Troppo has been run by five partners spread out across Australia: Greg MacNamara (Darwin), Geoff Clark (Townsville), Phil Harris (Adelaide), Adrian Welke (Perth) and Dan Connolly (Byron Bay). They work with a team of around twenty people and regularly collaborate with well-known architects such as Danny Wong, Glenn Murcutt, Phil Tait & Shane Thompson.