When Phillip Nielsen co-founded a design practice in Corowa on the banks of the Murray River, there had been no architect in the small town since 1972. “[That’s] 45 years of there not being a local architect who the community knew from the football club or saw on the street,” Neilsen says. “Knowledge of what an architect does was completely lost.
“That led to people not knowing how we work … for them. You watch Grand Designs, and all architects do is cost the client money.”
In a town of just over 5,000, Neilsen’s Regional Design Service is also hoping to educate the community about the power of architecture in a rural context.
