About Karmatecture
Since 1998 we've been designing buildings that make life a bit better for the people using them. Most of that work is now homes — new homes, renovations, additions to period homes — along with a steady run of small and large scale commercial and industrial work.
The practice is based in Sydney's Inner West, though the work has never stayed inside it. Greg has designed projects across most Sydney councils, through regional NSW, interstate, and internationally.
What he's become known for over that time is being able to happily surprise his clients with innovative outcomes, and being able to work with a range of issues such as tricky sites, heritage considerations, and council requirements that take some untangling.
Greg Prentice - Designer at Karmatecture
Greg's interest in design started on building sites with his father, which is a useful place to begin if you're going to spend your career drawing things other people have to build. He bought and renovated his first home in his early 20s and has had a hands-on approach to building since.
It has turned into a 28-year career as a building designer. He started the practice while he was still studying for an Architectural Drafting Diploma at SIT and double degree in Architecture at UTS, and has also worked with and for architectural practices along the way.
He works closely with engineers, planners, surveyors and other consultants, on the basis that a good building is rarely the work of one person on their own.
At the moment there are three projects under construction in Dulwich Hill and St Peters, two of which are heritage projects.
Qualifications and membership
Greg holds a double degree in Architecture from UTS (B.A.Arch., B.Arch.) and has practised as a building designer since 1998. He's an active member of the Building Designers Association of Australia (BDAA), carries current professional indemnity insurance, and keeps up his Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
The practice works in cutting-edge BIM software, which means you can see and understand the design in three dimensions before anything gets built, and your builder receives documentation detailed enough to work from.
Beyond the drawing board
Design runs through most of Greg's life outside work as well, from vehicle restoration, classic hi-fi, horology, art, furniture design and gemmology — an eclectic range of tastes and interests.
It's the same instinct in every case: an interest in how things are made, why they were made that way and how come they feel just right. That tends to show up in the work as patience with detail and a preference for getting things resolved properly rather than quickly.
Greg Prentice B.A.Arch., B.Arch.