We ask David, Director of Other Architects and RMIT alum, six questions about being a business owner.
1. What did you study at RMIT and what attracted you to that program?
I moved to Melbourne in 2006 to study at RMIT because its architecture program was reputed to be the best and most challenging in Australia.
2. What is your business all about?
Other Architects is an unconventional architectural practice that provides a core service of applied thinking. Essentially, we work with clients to understand their needs and then clearly communicate potential alternatives to enable action.
We design buildings, landscapes and interiors, but we are also adept at thinking strategically, which allows us to work on a wide range of projects: large public buildings and master plans; commercial and multi-residential buildings; bespoke homes; emergency housing; exhibitions and research… and more!
3. Where do you see your business in 10 years’ time?
We are a small business which is currently in an exciting phase of growth and consolidation. In 10 years’ time we will likely be more established, with a larger group of contributors, but we will still be pursuing a range of different public and private projects around Australia.
4. How has studying at RMIT prepared you to run your business?
RMIT empowers its graduates to be brave, outwardly oriented, experimental and entrepreneurial. After studying at RMIT there was no chance that I was going to aspire to a conventional career!
5. What advice would you have offered yourself when you first started your business?
When my co-director Grace Mortlock and I started Other Architects in 2016, we were in the midst of our ecological crisis but the construction industry had yet to adjust to this new normal. I would have advised my younger self to follow the courage of my convictions and confidently promote ideas of reuse, repair and design for disassembly as we do now.
6. Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
We find that the real world, with all its imperfections, is always richer and more interesting than a brand new building. The conventional business model for architecture promotes little care for what already exists because we are generally incentivised to tear down what’s already there and create something new. As a result, architects generally only look to other new architecture for inspiration. But because Other Architects has an expanded remit that goes beyond making new buildings, we tend to look very closely at what already exists and usually do whatever we can to keep it.
Alumni bio
David Neustein
Director - david@otherarchitects.com
David Neustein graduated from RMIT with a Master of Architecture. Since graduating, David worked for leading architects in Melbourne and Sydney before establishing his own practice, Other Architects. He is also the resident architecture critic for The Monthly magazine.
