About BKK Architects
Let’s shape better places together.
We’re a Melbourne-based practice established in 2000.
At our core, we deeply respect and value diverse perspectives. We will strive to define a broad vision for your project, listening attentively and respectfully to the needs and aspirations of all your stakeholders, fostering authentic connections and enduring relationships.
Our work includes:
- Precinct masterplans and urban design
- Infrastructure including railway stations, bridges and roads
- Interior design and refurbishments
- Exhibition and performance spaces
- High tech environments
- Social and affordable housing
- Residential and multi-residential projects
- Teaching and learning spaces
- Adaptive re-use
The Round, Nunawading VIC
Big picture thinking.
We work across a range of project scales, from large infrastructure projects to individual homes for private clients. We are as interested in the spaces between buildings as those within. Through this holistic macro-to-micro lens, our commercial acumen, and an analytical and strategic approach, we navigate complex and challenging environments, finding pathways to success.
Agility and collaboration.
We are flexible and nimble. Collaborating with other practices and specialist practitioners is an intentional strategy that adds complementary experience and capacity to our core team. This approach enables us to tackle a broad range of project typologies and scales. Co-design is integral to our design process, facilitating the inclusion of different voices and insights to be heard. By navigating distinct views and re-calibrating each in response to the other, we unlock more value and understanding.
Our Sustainability Action Plan is a roadmap to fulfilling our Australian Architects Declare pledges.
From Sustainability to Regenerative Design.
The practice of building is often one of destruction and consumption, and as a major contributor to carbon emissions, ‘business as usual’ is no longer an acceptable pathway to achieving a regenerative future.
We started by acting on this as an organisation from within: we have an Environmental Management System certified under ISO 14001, have been carbon neutral since 2021, our office runs on 100% green energy, we’re a signatory and active participant in Australian Architects Declare and launched our Sustainability Action Plan in 2023.
We’re also tackling this head on in projects through in-house research into sustainable and responsible material selections, circular economy principles, carbon reduction strategies and making sure we work with consultants who want to help us deliver the best sustainable outcomes.
Social sustainability is as important to us as environmental sustainability, we will always continue to ask ourselves how can we create sustainable, resilient, and thriving communities in all of our projects; how can even the smallest of projects have a wider impact that the confines of its boundaries? We also realise that for projects to be truly sustainable they need to engage with Country; we should leave a place in a better position than when we began.
Every BKK project presents an opportunity to build on past learning and push for better, advocate harder and lean into what we don’t know to support what we do.
“As a result of the highly collaborative approach these spaces offer a completely different student experience in comparison to our existing rooms. The student was always front and centre in the design process so as to ensure we built the best learning spaces.”
– Ian MacLeod, Campus Principal, Middle School
Mt Waverley Secondary College STEAM, Mt Waverley VIC
ACMI, Melbourne VIC
Humility.
We are the most interested practice. We listen attentively and respectfully to the needs and aspirations of all stakeholders. By prioritising empathy and understanding, we cultivate spaces that reflect the true essence of those who inhabit them, fostering authentic connections and enduring relationships.
Playfulness and innovation.
With a curious spirit, we embrace new construction technologies, delve into research, and pioneer innovative procurement approaches. Our design process, which constructively challenges assumptions, celebrates creativity and experimentation, sparking joy in the every day and reflecting the genuine positivity that underpins our work.
Connecting to Country
Our commitment to reconciliation forms a foundation of our practice. We acknowledge our privilege and responsibility as designers working on unceded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands. Through our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan, we are deepening our journey toward meaningful engagement with First Nations peoples, cultures, and Country.
Our approach to working on Country is guided by principles of deep listening, reciprocity, and self-determination. We recognise that genuine reconciliation requires moving beyond symbolism toward embedding First Nations perspectives into our design processes. This means creating space for Traditional Owners to lead cultural expression and maintain continued connection to Country.
Our Connecting to Country Framework reflects our cyclical, evolving practice—beginning with knowledge gathering, identifying opportunities, creating connections, embedding cultural knowledge, and continuous reflection. We believe our role extends beyond the built environment to include a duty of care to the Land and a social obligation to serve the interests of all peoples.
Through co-design, cultural awareness, and advocacy, we strive to contribute to an Australia where First Nations peoples have greater self-determination and voice in shaping our built environment—celebrating their enduring cultural heritage and ancestral connections to Country.
– Chris Harris, Former Director of Exhibitions and Touring, ACMI
“The jury was impressed by 17 Union Street for…supporting the idea of community and precinct as a form of social sustainability. It champions longevity and the importance of thinking about sustainability in regards to long-term building use rather than short-term compliance…an excellent example to which developers can realistically aspire.”
– Jury citation, 2022 Sustainability Advancement Award, Australian Interior Design Awards
Leadership and advocacy.
We are more than architects and more than architecture. We embed cultural considerations into every facet of our work. We genuinely care about the outcome, our media presence and government partnerships reflect our interest in the social impact of design. We strive to elevate standards and advocate for progressive, high-quality outcomes for all.
“All openness and no ego. Words and actions purely in service to making the work better. This was my experience with the BKK team…There is an elevated cohesion in work that is born of a relationship like this and you feel it in a visceral way when you experience the ACMI Renewal.”
– Joel Krieger, former Chief Creative Officer, Second Story (Publicis Sapient)
City of Melbourne
ACMI
Monash University
Laing O’Rourke
RMIT University
Department of Social Housing
The University of Melbourne
Neometro
Victorian School Building Authority
We Build
BMD Constructions
Major Road Projects Victoria
City of Port Phillip
City of Greater Dandenong
VicTrack
Level Crossing Removal Authority
Medley Group
Whitehorse City Council
Assemble Communities
City of Kingston
SMEC
Brimbank City Council
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
InPlace
Victoria University
Kerstin Thompson Architects
Peter Elliott Architecture
Clare Cousins Architects
Aspect Studios
Callum Morton
Sibling Architecture
Louise Paramor
Hassell
Warren and Mahoney
McGregor Coxall
McP Studio
T.C.L
Winsor Kerr
Greenshoot Consulting
Kyriacou Architects
Michael McKenna
Jordan Rowe
Sandpit
Schuler Shook
Monash Art Projects
Second Story
Fieldwork Projects
Greenaway Architects
Indigenuity Lab
Arup