The Rexroth Mannasmann Collective acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and build.
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
The Rexroth Mannasmann Collective was established in Melbourne in 2003.
This architectural and urban design practice works from a studio in Northcote, on the banks of the Merri Creek. The three directors, Brenton, Giles and Kirsty, met at university and have collaborated since.
Their designs focus on:
- habitation and how spaces can be used.
- creation of spaces that provide joy through discovery and encourage interaction.
- design of flexible spaces that will accommodate growth and change and provide for multiple uses
- engagement with sustainable issues in a way that generates delight through material choices and formal strategies
- manipulation of the ordinary as a means of questioning the familiar
- celebration of existing buildings and surroundings to amplify an awareness of context.
Their work ranges from built residential and institutional works through to imagined fragments of Australian and European cities. Numerous projects have been honoured with awards and have beenpublished in Australia and internationally. The Collective’s work can be rich and decorative (see the Paris Opera,Collingwood and Cate’s Kitchen), quieter, more modest (refer Myrtle St and Union St) or contextual (as per HBYC and Terip Terip).
Usually it is a combination of all 3.
People
Brenton Weisert has worked in Architectural and Urban Design practices in Melbourne, Adelaide and Rotterdam. He has been involved in a range of projects: housing in several formats, wineries and mausolea, churches, schools and large scale urban renewal.
He has taught architecture at Melbourne University for 10 years across design and construction subjects. He is interested the relationship between building and landscape, and how the boundary between the two is formed.
Kirsty Fletcher is a Darwin born, Melbourne-based architect and cardboard sculptor. Kirsty has 10+ years’ experience tutoring architectural design at the University of Melbourne and is past director of the Architeam co-operative.
Her work explores the innovative use of everyday materials, noisy decoration as a part of quiet texture and clever custom storage. Kirsty enjoys vacillating between collaborating to make permanent big things and the sole-authorship of ephemeral objects you can hold in your hand.
Giles Lawson is interested in history and economics and their influence on the practice of architecture. Materiality and techniques of assembly are among his favourite things.
Approach
Each of our projects is a collaboration between two Rexroth directors, our clients, and the consultant team. We often employ a ‘devil’s advocate’ attitude to tease out the projects inherent possibilities.
Early explorations are often hand drawn and multiple options are presented, allowing the clients to shape the approach.
Our third director is involved in the initial phase where there is emphasis on generating alternative points of view, and throughout the project as required to review and provide feedback on design decisions.
Kirsty, Brenton and Giles bring the following strengths to projects:
- The partners work directly on the projects, allowing direct communication with clients and consultants.
- The practice is structured around collaboration and a process that aims to develop work through the benefit of multiple perspectives, experiences and disciplines.
- We have no house style – each project is unique, and our clients voice is integral to our work.
- We regularly work with the same builders and consultants.
- The practice has worked on projects of a variety of different scales.
- We look for opportunities to incorporate landscape into our projects.
- We have 20+ years of tertiary teaching between us. We are practiced at explanation of ideas that generate and inform our designs.
- We have hands-on construction experience, which contributes to the practicality and buildability of our designs.
who is Rexroth Mannasmann
The Rexroth Mannasmann Collective began as a group of 12 or so newly graduated architects and landscape architects in the year 2000. The group formed out of an interest in entering competitions and a search for an alternative to our day jobs.
Given the impracticality of a moniker that combined an assembly of surnames, we sought the anonymity of a fictitious architectural figurehead and polemicist conceived as part rock star and part Ern Malley character. The yellow pages furnished us with a name that had the big band sound for which we yearned, and the group coalesced into a company of four (now three), becoming the oxymoronic Rexroth Mannasmann Collective PL.
The larger Collective entered a plethora of competitions, with Europan urban design entries in Milton Keynes, Copenhagen, Kotka, Opatija and Bergen.
They have curated exhibitions and are responsible for The Suburban Detail competition series and The Golden Toilet Award.
awards and publications
PUBLICATIONS:
2020 Mackay, Sharon and Snape, Diana. Living Outside. Melbourne: Thames & Hudson, 2020
2019 ‘Thinking Ahead’, Green, issue 70
2016 ‘Kleines Schwarzes’, Wohn! Design (Germany), March / April issue
2015 ‘A Matter of Truss’, Domain, The Age, Nov 6 – 7
2015 ‘Profile’, Architect Victoria, Summer issue
2014 ‘Everything Old… New Again’, The Melbourne Magazine, The Homes Issue
2014 ‘Texture & light’, Sanctuary, issue 27
2013 ‘Light and shade’, Monument, issue 115, p 94-95
2013 Harrison, Stuart. New Suburban. Melbourne: Thames & Hudson, 2013
2012 Tweedale, Anna, Momentum. An architectural ecology: Speculations on emergent practices. Melbourne: The Minegunyah Press
2012 ‘Present to the Past’, Sanctuary, issue 21
2012 ‘Myrtle Street House’, Houses, issue 89
2012 ‘Armoured Edwardian’, Steel Profile, issue 113
2012 ‘After dark’, Vogue Living Before + After (special edition)
2012 ‘Create A Date: barstool’, Monument magazine, issue 111
2010 ‘Raising Respect for the Roof’,Green Magazine 20/9/2010
2010 ‘Modest makeover’, Sanctuary, issue 11
2009 ‘Preston Perimeter’, Architecture Australia, vol. 98, issue 4
2009 ‘Rembrandts: 9 Installations’, Architecture Australia, vol. 98, issue 2
2008 ‘Kinetic Wet Function Pod’, Sweet Home Magazine (Korea)
2007 ‘Oxford Street’, Architecture Review, issue 101
2007 ‘Fun with Featurism’, Rachel Antony, The Age, January 17th
2007 ‘Peninsula Panache’, Houses, issue 58
2004 ‘Sun Trap’, Houses, issue 46
AWARDS:
2015 Institute of Architects awards. Commendation in Residential Alterations and Additions category: Faraday Street Apartment.
2014 City of Yarra Sustainability awards: Jackson Street Alterations and Additions
2013 Institute of Architects awards. Shortlisted project in Interior category: Paris Opera, Collingwood
2011 Institute of Architects awards. Shortlisted project in Residential Alterations and Additions category: Paris Opera, Collingwood
2007 Institute of Architects awards. Shortlisted project in Interior category: The Lamington
2007 Europan 9. Shortlisted competition entry ‘Hedge Condition’ – Milton Keynes, England
2007 AA Prize for unbuilt work, honourable mention: Architectural Baroque
2005 Architeam Awards, Winner Small Category: Sherbrooke Gazebo
2005 Architeam Awards, Winner Cerebration Category: The Suburban Detail of the Month Competition
