About

Auhaus is an architecture studio in Melbourne, founded in 2011 by Kate Fitzpatrick and Benjamin Stibbard. We design private houses on coastal, rural and urban sites, and we are there from the first conversation through to handover.

Every project starts with the site, and with what the site will not allow. A house on an exposed dune is a different proposition to one in an established street and requires an entirely different design strategy. What they have in common is how they are made. They are built to take on the weather outside, and they turn inward to rooms that hold their warmth and slow you down.

We work only on houses. That focus is deliberate. A house is a small building carrying an unusual number of decisions, and the distance between a good one and a very good one is almost always in the resolution, in a junction or a threshold or the way a door meets your hand. Some of what those details ask for does not exist yet, so we make it. Joinery hardware, lighting and fittings are drawn in the studio and fabricated locally. It began as a way to properly finish our own projects and has become part of the practice in its own right.
The studio is small on purpose. Kate and Ben work on every phase, from the first broad pen strokes through to the last site meeting, so the people you begin with are the people who finish.

Kate and Ben are both Registered Architects with the ARBV, and Auhaus Architecture is a member of the Australian Institute of Architects.

People

BENJAMIN STIBBARD - DIRECTOR

Masters of Architecture, Bachelor of Design  -  RMIT

Registered Architect

KATE FITZPATRICK - DIRECTOR

Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) / Bachelor of Property & Construction  -   University of Melbourne

Registered Architect

BARBIE VONGPHONE - ARCHITECT

Masters of Architecture - Deakin University

Registered Architect

Barbie leads the documentation and project delivery of the studio with over a decade of experience in high-end residential projects.

JEFF TANJAYA - GRADUATE ARCHITECT

Masters of Architecture - Monash University

Jeff is an experienced graduate architect and is our resident 3D whizz.