We believe the future of design is regenerative.
Our design approach is to reimagine, reset, repair and regenerate. We advocate for housing to be net zero by 2025, and all other projects by 2030.
Sustainability is at the heart of our practice. We promote environmentally responsible architecture through making buildings, research and teaching.
We’re committed to sustainable design that addresses the challenges of a changing climate, making projects of all sizes from retrofit to new buildings. This includes private homes (favouring retrofit over demolition), multi residential, small commercial and public projects.
We embrace the creative challenge to reimagine and decarbonise the way we live. We create low energy and low carbon projects with innovation and courage, bringing a passion for natural and bio-based materials, and exploring the potential for incorporating regenerative design.
Our creative expression reflects our values of care and repair, and we take a highly collaborative approach with our clients, consultants and contractors.
New design values
We believe the age of making concrete, steel, aluminium and glass buildings, based only on aesthetic and conceptual choices, is over.
With the making and operation of buildings accounting for almost 40% of global emissions - it is time for a new set of design values to radically transform the way we make buildings. We already have the knowledge, skills and tools we need to make positive change and drastically reduce the emissions from buildings, while making them healthier, better places to spend our lives.
Buildings can become active, regenerative parts of their site’s ecosystem, and make positive contributions to the world around them - buildings can give more than they take. We advocate for a non-extractive design approach and to create design projects that foster a circular economy by using the following design principles:
Reduce demolition + re-use existing building fabric wherever possible
Prioritise recycled + upcycled materials
Use natural, bio-based + non toxic materials
Design for passive thermal comfort, daylighting + ventilation
Balance building performance + durability, embracing maintenance as a necessity
Reduce operational carbon (100% electric + renewable energy)
Reduce embodied carbon (holistic design, specification + life cycle impacts)
Design for Country - a considered response to ecology, culture + endemic landscapes
Uncover opportunities for care + repair - considering energy, water, food + landscaping
Strive for regenerative design (net positive) - where buildings become part of the ecosystem and give back more than they take, allowing people and nature to thrive
We provide highly considered and site specific responses to every design brief, balancing these principles with the needs of the client and budget, and uncovering climate-conscious design opportunities.
We deliver projects that are beautifully crafted and ecologically sensitive, and take responsibility for their impacts for generations to come.
About us
We are passionate about the potential for good design to address the biggest challenges of our time - climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. As designers we are in a unique position to make meaningful, lasting change.
Studio Ecology is led by award winning architect Lucy Humphrey based in Sydney, Australia. With over 15 years industry experience, Lucy’s commitment to sustainability and designing for climate brings a focus on environmentally responsible design. Her work is informed by a strategic design approach, material investigations, design research, and professional climate activism. Lucy also explores these themes through her art practice, Lucy Humphrey Studio.
As an active contributor to ARCHITECTS DECLARE and ACAN, Lucy teaches in Masters of Architecture university design studios, is a certified Passive House Designer and Class 2 Registered Building Practitioner.
Her work has been recognised with multiple industry awards, with projects exhibited in Australia and internationally, including the Venice International Biennale of Architecture, Biennale of the Canary Islands, Sydney Festival, Sydney Art Month, Art & About and Sculpture by the Sea.
Lucy is passionate about improving the way we design to address climate change. Her focus on design for climate was galvanised through her participation in the 2017 Arctic Circle Residency, followed by a Byera Hadley Scholarship on resilient architecture, uncovering new strategies to address the climate emergency. She is passionate about reimagining design practice for a new age, applying innovation in material research, environmentally sustainable design strategies, and a reconnection with nature, with a deep respect for the materials and resources we consume. She fosters a highly collaborative design approach with staff, clients and consultant teams and promotes an integrated design approach, with a strong attention to detail and design quality.
The studio strives to create enduring buildings which resonate with their place, landscape and community, bringing a sculptural attitude to crafting space, light and texture. We are passionate about providing unique architectural responses to every brief, reflecting the personality of each client, and a holistic design approach that considers the relationships between building, site and context.
For clients who cannot afford full services for an architect or have experienced loss due to extreme weather events, we are part of Architects Assist and happy to discuss how we can help on a project by project basis. Everyone deserves access to good design and we are always open to new ways of working.
Awards &
exhibitions
2023 NSW Architecture Awards, Small Projects (shortlist)
2023 Arte Laguna Venice exhibition (Land Art finalist), Venice Arsenale, Italy
2021 Mostyn Foundation award, Sculpture by the Sea Cottesloe
2021 BUILD Architecture Awards, Best Architectural Artwork Installation
2019 Succah by the Sea Pavilion, Sculpture by the Sea Bondi
2018 Winner Perspective 40 Under 40 Award - Architecture Category
2017 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship
2017 Arctic Circle Artist Residency, Summer Solstice Expedition
2017 People’s Choice & Kid’s Choice Prize, Sculpture by the Sea Cottesloe
2016 Australian Urban Design Awards, Small Projects (shortlist)
2016 NSW Emerging Creative Laureate Award (finalist)
2016 Lost at E Minor Young Creative Australians Awards (finalist)
2015 People’s Choice Prize for Horizon II, Sculpture by the Sea Aarhus, Denmark
2013 Allens People’s Choice & Kid’s Choice Prize, Sculpture by the Sea Bondi
2013 Helen Lempriere Scholarship
2013 SOYA Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards
2013 City of Sydney Cultural Grant
2012 Australian Pavilion, Venice International Biennale of Architecture
2012 University of Sydney Young Alumni Award for Achievement
2010 UWA Pavilion - Solar Cocoon (finalist)
2009 AGNSW Society Site Specific Prize, Sculpture by the Sea Bondi
2008 2G International Venice Lagoon Park Competition (finalist)
2007 Bluescope Steel Glenn Murcutt Student Prize
2007 RAIA NSW Chapter Prize
2006 RAIA Partridge Prize
2006 NSW Architect’s Registration Board Prize
