TERROIR was established in 1999 by Founding Directors Gerard Reinmuth, Scott Balmforth and Richard Blythe as the result of conversations between these three former colleagues from University about the need for greater emphasis on research in practice in Australian architecture.  The practice has since grown to a talented team of 25 which includes both enthusiastic young designers and experienced architects.

 

A strong relationship between these three individuals fuelled an ambition to develop a practice underpinned by a culture of creativity through research. These core values have proved successful given the regard with which the practice is now held in a number of contexts.

 

On the one hand, TERROIR are “architect’s architects” given the support we are fortunate to receive from the professional bodies and the academy both here and overseas. Simultaneously, the practice is known as a responsible commercial entity which places program and budget parameters at the centre of every design research activity and thus can be trusted to deliver. This is borne out in the number of repeat clients emerging in the commercial arena.

 

Finally, the ethics of the practice have instilled in clients the confidence necessary to entrust to us the responsibility of working in places of high heritage or landscape values. For, TERROIR have become specialists in difficult projects in high profile locations. Since inception TERROIR has established a strong reputation at both a national and international level.

 

TERROIR has been noted as a key practice in the next generation of Australian architecture, with selection in Australia’s contribution to the 2004 and 2008 Venice Biennale of Architecture, selection for the 2005 Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, and major exhibitions in San Francisco and Berlin in 2006. In addition, the practice’s Peppermint Bay project won the Best New Tourism Development in Australia in 2004 and was recently commended in the 2007 Kenneth R Brown Award for exemplary architecture across the whole Pacific region.

 

TERROIR’s contribution to the practice of architecture has also been acknowledged by the selection in mid-2007 of Director Richard Blythe to be appointed as Professor in Architecture and Head of the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT University, Victoria, the inclusion of the practice on the Wallpaper Magazines Architects Directory of 2007 (101 of the worlds exciting new architects) and most recently the selection of the three Directors as the Creative Directors of the Australian Institute of Architects National Conference in Melbourne 2009.