Our Story
Bower Architecture & Interiors is a joyful, progressive Melbourne-based studio committed to creating quality, sustainable architecture and meaningful interior design.
It all started when we, Chema Bould and Anna Dutton, discussed the dream of opening our own studio over dinner and a few glasses of wine back in 2005, six months later, this was a reality.
Why Bower? As nature lovers ourselves, we were inspired by the bowerbird’s ability to create beautiful yet sustainable structures to inhabit, using simple objects found in the environment around them.
For us, architecture brings together our passion for creative spaces, interior design, the environment, science, and most of all, people.
Now a team of eight, Bower Architecture & Interiors shares a common goal of helping others discover richer more fulfilling lives. Our ability to create quality, sustainable architecture and meaningful interior design is our way of fulfilling this purpose.
We are both proud survivors and graduates of breast cancer and as such understand how precious everyday moments, and the environments we spend them in, truly are. Bower proudly supports Breast Cancer Network Australia and Breast Cancer Trials, and we are both sincerely grateful for the knowledge, support, recognition and advancement in treatment of breast cancer that these organisations champion and develop.
Bower Architecture has carefully refined its collection of signature elements and spatial techniques to create houses with completeness and specificity about them.
Marcus Baumgart, Houses
Our design ethos
People and their stories
We begin with deep listening; we strive to understand what makes you different or unique, and from this we are able to nurture the creation of spaces tailored to you.
The people we work with are people we want to spend time with and many end up becoming lifelong friends!
Pictured: Our design ethos
Journeys and moments
We like to think of journeys on both a macro and micro level. The macro journeys are those that make up your whole life experience, including your unique history and what home means to you. Micro journeys are the little things that make up your day and your wellbeing in these moments. Ultimately, we believe that great design will help you cherish the simple moments in life.
We believe there’s nothing more authentic than who you are when you are at home (or at your beach house or country getaway). We learn about the special moments throughout each day to ensure the design will elevate and support these moments.
Pictured: Our design ethos
Connection to place and space
We create architecture deeply connected to place. We take the time to understand the size, shape, orientation of your block. We also consider how and where light will be dispersed throughout different times of the day, and what the surrounding environment looks like to ensure we maximise every opportunity. Our architecture sits comfortably in its context: we are about revealing a home that feels meant to be, not creating architectural ‘spaceships’ without connection to their place.
Pictured: Our design ethos
Continuity and flow
As Architects and Interior Designers we will consider how both these aspects come together for your project This is essential to create a seamless flow of spaces and environments, from indoors to out. We are also keenly interested in landscape and the outdoor rooms or spaces that are essential to part of the designed environment.
Smooth and easy functionality, tailored to your needs, is essential to be a loved and timeless home. It is music to our ears when we hear that our clients use every space in their house daily and that it functions so seamlessly.
Pictured: Our design ethos
Sustainability and timelessness
Many clients are drawn to us because our architecture feels timeless and our approach to sustainability. We deliberately avoid fads and fashions that will date and sustainability is integral to all of our projects and we discuss it from the very beginning with our clients.
For us, a building that is used and loved for over 50 years is a sustainable outcome. From this foundation, we plan our buildings to make the most of natural light, natural ventilation and passive heating and cooling. Maximising durability and using local, sustainably and ethically sourced materials and products whenever possible is a given.
Most of our projects feature solar power and batteries and if you are keen to go further we can assist you with other choices. All of these steps aim to significantly reduce or even eliminate the long term lifespan energy costs to our clients and the environment. There are other systems and features that can supercharge your sustainable home even further should you desire.
Bower Architecture has been proudly carbon neutral since 2019 and in November 2021 we became Certified Carbon Neutral with Climate Active. You can read more about our certification on the Climate Active website here
We proudly support Greenfleet as our carbon offset provider and you can read more about their work here. As a member of the Climate Active Network, we encourage every business to become carbon neutral and pave the way for a cleaner planet for future generations.
Pictured: Our design ethos
Craft
The details are important and so are the beautiful robust materials we use. Considering scale, proportion, and how elements go together are a passion of ours. We feel there is nothing more luxurious than something well crafted, considered and elegant, with a sense or permanence.
Pictured: Meet the Bower Team
Bower is a joyful, progressive, calm, nurturing, fun and loving place to be and delivering excellence is our common goal. The Bower team is made up of a remarkable group of people. We all thrive in a collaborative, supportive team environment and share key values that include honesty, kindness, positivity, diligence, respect for all, and sustainability.
Chema Bould
Chema Bould is a founder and co-director of Bower Architecture & Interiors. She is the Director of Design and CEO of Bower.
People are everything to Chema and she loves getting to know our clients and their sites and keeping both in sharp focus while designing. She takes pride in being a deep listener and strives to understand our clients’ uniqueness and from this nurture them with her design skills. Chema relishes the problem-solving challenges posed by every project.
Chema understands that the best results come from successful collaboration and she maintains an openness to new ideas and design inspiration from a broad range of sources. Her thoroughness, attention to detail and high standards provide a continual point of reference for other team members and all projects within the office.
Anna Dutton
Anna Dutton is a founder and co-director of Bower Architecture & Interiors. She is director of Project Realisation and Business Development Manager.
The things that Anna loves most about working at Bower are the close relationships formed with clients and the project teams. Her key strengths include her warmth, her ability to form strong relationships and manage large teams and projects, and her architectural, interior design and construction detailing.
Anna has over 20 years experience on projects both large and small, ranging from residential and commercial to justice and education projects. She has a special interest in justice projects and brings over 15 years of court facility design experience to the team. Anna has been Project Director and a Peer Review Consulting Architect for numerous court projects including most recently, the Peer Review Architect for new Bendigo Law Court project with John Wardle Architects. Anna loves being connected with her peers and has been involved in the AIA Awards program as a juror and is a member of the AIA’s Medium Practice Forum.
Beyond Bower Anna enjoys skiing, running, hiking, painting, jigsaw puzzles, yoga, snorkelling and time at the beach, all with her husband Alexandre. She is a long term and devoted member of the Body Electric Dancers.
Associate Senior Project Architect
Nicola Fuller is an Associate of Bower Architecture & Interiors and Senior Project Architect.
Nicola’s strengths include her legendary organisation and clear communication skills, coordination with clients, consultants and council, and managing project teams. She is adept at all stages of projects from brief development and feasibility studies to concept design, detailed design, construction documentation and contract administration during construction.
Nicola graduated in 2012 and registered as an Architect in 2016. She has over 10 years of industry experience and has worked on a range of jobs from conception to completion; from single dwellings and award-winning multi-residential apartment buildings to mixed-use buildings in Melbourne and Sydney.
Throughout her studies and early work life Nicola caught the travel bug and made a point to explore locations around the world to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for various cultural, architectural and ecological environments.
When not at Bower she loves spending time with her husband James and daughter Harriet.
Associate Senior Project Architect
Jessica King is an Associate of Bower Architecture & Interiors and Senior Project Architect.
Jess has worked with Bower since she was a student and has excellent design, coordination and documentation skills. She graduated with a Masters of Architecture from the University of Melbourne in 2014 and she registered as an Architect in 2018.
Jess is committed to Bower’s rigorous design process and her strong communication skills allow her to work closely and effectively with clients, stakeholders, consultants and builders.
Jess is currently working on several single residential projects at Bower Architecture and has gained extensive experience working on residential renovations including an award-winning interior renovation of a terrace house in Parkville. She also worked closely on a public project for the City of Ballarat, several commercial fitouts for the Australian Catholic University and as part of the project teams for Caulfield Grammar School and Giant Steps School.
Jess aims to regularly contribute to the architectural profession via her involvement in the AIA as a juror for the Victorian Chapter Awards and is a mentor for architectural students in the SONA Constructive Mentoring Program.
Architect
Charlotte Fitzgibbon is a Project Architect at Bower Architecture & Interiors.
She registered as an Architect in 2019 and has more than five years Postgraduate experience in design, documentation and project delivery for small, medium and large-scale residential and commercial projects.
Charlotte loves Bower’s sustainable and quality architecture, including heritage alterations and extensions, and new buildings all around regional Victoria. She also loves building strong client relationships and designing each project to be unique to the project site and client brief.
Charlotte’s interests include art, design, fashion, photography and travel. She loved completing some of her studies abroad in Prato, Italy and looks forward to returning there one day soon!
Graduate of Architecture
Aza Narana Pillay is a Graduate of Architecture at Bower Architecture & Interiors.
He graduated from Deakin University in 2016 and has since acquired five years of Postgraduate experience and three years experience while studying. Aza is passionate about the design and construction details of each project. He also really enjoys the team spirit at Bower and loves that everyone has a voice during different stages of a project.
Aza currently works closely with clients on beach house projects, where he brings his tropical flair from his island of origin, Mauritius – where he lived until he was 19. Aza believes that architecture has the power to shape a brighter future for society by creating harmonious spaces for its users.
Beyond Bower, Aza is socially active within the Mauritian community in Melbourne, through the non-profit organisation Mauritian Cultural Organisation Melbourne (MCOM). Aza, an international student arriving in Australia in 2008, has been actively involved as part of the team of volunteers who helped international students with groceries and support during the Melbourne 2020 lockdown.
Aza loves what he does and his sources of inspiration include nature, geometry, art and gin. Aza also loves to play badminton and spending time with his beautiful wife Vanesschka and son Aesen.
Graduate of Architecture
Nick Malcher is a Graduate of Architecture at Bower Architecture & Interiors.
Nick has been with the Bower team since he was a student of the double Bachelors of Construction Management and Architecture. While studying, Nick was awarded the Richard Gibson Award for best design project for final year of the Bachelor of Architecture, as well as the Petal Thorpe Scholarship – awarded to a high performing student with involvement in extracurricular activities, and the ARBV Professional Practice Award.
Nick brings to Bower previous industry experience in both Landscape Architecture and Construction Management. For Nick, Architecture combines his passions for design, construction and problem solving.
Nick has been involved in the delivery of Bright House from initiation to handover, and projects currently in construction include Laurel Grove, Kalorama, Jindivick and Blairgowrie.
Outside of architecture Nick enjoys gardening, playing football down on the Bellarine, learning about geeky tech stuff and hanging out with his partner Rosie and their fur-babies (three cats and one dog!).
Bower gratefully acknowledges the contributions of our past long term collaborators Jade Vidal (co-founder), Alana Gelbart, Ben Shields and Rose Heeley.
