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Two architects. Two provocations. One room.

Written by

17 May 2026

 • 

3 min read

Great Ocean Road House | Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors
Great Ocean Road House | Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors
There's a tension running through residential architecture right now that most of the industry is politely stepping around. On one side, the growing expectation that homes should perform. Thermally, environmentally, structurally. At a level the market has never demanded before. On the other, the reality that the tools, processes and commercial models most practices rely on haven't kept pace with that expectation.
Josh FitzGerald of Archier and Rob Mills of Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors
Josh FitzGerald of Archier and Rob Mills of Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors

At Home Design Evening on Friday 22 May, ArchiPro is putting two Australian practitioners in front of a New Zealand audience of architects, designers and builders to address that tension directly.

Rob Mills of Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors has spent over 30 years designing high-end residential projects across Australia and New Zealand, with studios in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.

His provocation is one the luxury market has been reluctant to confront. That sustainability and high-end living are treated as opposing forces when they shouldn't be. Mills argues that the resistance comes from a perception problem: sustainable homes mean discomfort, compromise and constraint. He built the counter-argument for his own family.

Howqua River Lodge is a completely off-grid retreat in the Victorian Alps. No mains power. No mains water. No concession on comfort or craft. His position is that healthy design, choosing materials that are genuinely good to live with, buildings that perform without relying on the grid, is where the market is heading. The firms that figure this out first won't just be doing the right thing. They'll be the ones winning the work.

Howqua River Lodge | Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors

Josh FitzGerald comes at the problem from the other end. He and his co-directors founded Archier over a decade ago. The certified carbon-neutral practice is known for material honesty and thermal performance. But after years of watching design intent get lost between the drawing and the site, they began to question the systems around delivery.

They had worked with prefabrication before. The buildings were impressive, but the process often added complexity rather than removing it. So in 2022, they launched Candour. A fabrication studio built around a simple premise. If no existing system could improve both the product and the process, they would create one themselves. Candour’s CAD plugins connect directly to its Melbourne manufacturing facility via the architects BIM software package. This gives architects real-time pricing and buildability information as they draft.

For FitzGerald, automation does not threaten the design process. It gives it room to breathe. His question to the room is direct. “If the quality of a home depends on its envelope, why are architects still handing that layer off to someone else?”

Ora House | Archier

Tom Webster (Grand Designs) hosts the conversation. The session starts at 6pm and is exclusively for architects, designers and builders.

Register here to be in the room.

Home Design Evening, Shed 10, 89 Quay Street, Queens Wharf, Auckland. Friday 22 May 2026. Doors open 5pm. Register here.