The Best Homes Are Never Decided by One Person

6pm: For architects, designers and builders

Rob Mills, founder and Creative Director of Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors, has spent more than three decades building one of Australia’s most recognised residential practices, working across land, architecture and interiors under one roof. RMA describes its work as places to live “defined by intelligent architecture, healthy design, a tradition of craftsmanship and a deep connection with nature.” Recent projects include Fawkner Residence in South Yarra, a nine-residence development with Beulah whose sculptural form references Le Corbusier’s Notre-Dame du Haut chapel, and the clifftop Great Ocean Road Residence at Aireys Inlet. Howqua River Lodge, an off-grid family retreat in Victoria’s high country, was shortlisted at the 2025 Australian Institute of Architects Awards and Houses Awards.

Adam Kane founded his own Melbourne studio in 2015. The practice describes its work as “grounded in restraint, clarity, and a deep appreciation for materiality, detail, and proportion” - homes built to be “calm, enduring, and carefully resolved.” His own weekend house, Grey House in Daylesford,  a near-monochrome study in polished plaster and stainless steel,  became the studio’s most-awarded project, winning a 2024 Good Design Award and gold at the 2025 World Design Awards. 

Ana Sá is Principal and Global Residential Sector Leader at Woods Bagot. Writing in the Woods Bagot Journal, she argues that “high-end finishes and signature styles alone no longer define quality. True quality comes from authenticity, longevity, and meaningful connections with the community” - a philosophy tested on Emerald Place, a $160 million South Melbourne development that won planning approval in four months despite exceeding height controls, and on Hampton Hill, where community consultation led the design team to reinstate a local mural into the finished building.

7pm: For homeowners

Rob Mills and Adam Kane stay on for the second conversation, joined by four more people who each bring a different discipline to a build.

Robert Davidov founded his Toorak-based studio in 2011 around a single idea: that atmosphere, not spectacle, should be the outcome of good architecture. Davidov Architects describes its approach as atmosphere “formed through proportion, sequence and the shifting character of light,” with a deliberately restrained material palette “so the architecture holds its line and deepens with time.” The practice’s Caulfield North Residences, referencing Art Deco curved planters, won gold at the 2025 Better Future World Design Awards.

Stacey Van Harn became a Director at Hecker Guthrie in 2023, a decade after joining the Melbourne studio. Her Hecker Guthrie bio credits her with “a discerning eye for materials, detailing and the layering of intimate finishing touches,” built on nearly 18 years across residential, commercial and retail design. Hecker Guthrie has shaped Melbourne interiors for more than 20 years around what the studio calls its guiding mantra: “do it once, do it well, do it forever.”

Matthew Cantwell co-founded Secret Gardens with Rochelle Abood in 1994, growing it from a small landscaping practice into one of Sydney’s most awarded studios; Abood is now CEO and Cantwell Creative Director. Secret Gardens describes its work as “intelligent design solutions that celebrate our clients’ individuality,” a project list that has picked up three Alan Correy Awards and eight Gold Awards from the Landscape Design Institute, plus a 2024 VL50 listing as one of Australia’s top designers.

Nimrod Rotenberg has worked at his family’s construction company, Cobild, since 2005, after a University of Melbourne double degree in property, construction, planning and design, and now heads its luxury arm, Cobild Lux. “We’re big-picture construction specialists with an eye for detail,” the division says of itself. As Rotenberg puts it: “At Cobild Lux we don’t just build homes, we handcraft your family’s legacy with care, passion and pride.”

Why it's the worth the seat

That’s the value of putting seven people who rarely share a stage in the same room, twice, on the same night: a chance to hear how an architectural idea, a material choice, a garden and a build schedule actually get resolved together, before any of it is fixed.

Home Design Evening Melbourne details and tickets are available at archipro.com.au/home-design-event.