Luigi Rosselli. Photo by Jeffrey Blewett.

For the Sydney-based practice Luigi Rosselli Architects, sustainability isn't just about designing energy-efficient buildings. Even though they're known for their elegant residential work, often with a focus on off-form concrete, the environmentalism in their work is just as important as how they run their practice. Described as carbon-neutral, the firm addresses everything from how their employees travel to and from work to the amount of paper waste the office produces in order to reduce its own carbon footprint. Today, we talk with founder Luigi Rosselli about their unique approach.

How many people in your practice?

Luigi Rosselli Architects is fifteen humans and one dog.

What motivated you to start your own firm?

It was the '80s, there was plenty of work around and I was asked to design a couple of small projects; the rest, as they say, is history.

How would you describe your signature style?

My architecture in not tyrannical, not dogmatic and not dictatorial

I have never aimed to have a ‘signature’ but was more concerned in providing ‘humanist’ architecture: buildings that are respectful and understanding of the people that live in them and to the environment they occupy. This may have resulted in buildings that are sensually shaped and have pleasant, tactile materials and palettes, that are easy to use and fluid in their plan. My architecture in not tyrannical, not dogmatic and not dictatorial.  

Your practice describes itself as carbon neutral—can you expand on this and talk a bit about what techniques you use to achieve this?

To achieve the practice’s carbon neutral status we employ a number of methods. Firstly, the energy we use is solar generated. To reduce our energy consumption for heating and cooling, the building has had passive cooling measures integrated into its design, from the terracotta tile brise soleil, which reflects the hot western sun in the afternoons to large openable windows for cross ventilation.

We also make every effort to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Unfortunately, architecture is not an industry that lends itself well to a paperless environment, however all in house printing is minimized and done on ‘recycled’ paper, paper isn’t to be put into recycling until it has been printed on both sides. All new paper stock is sourced from local suppliers and is made from fully recycled materials in a carbon neutral process.

Single use plastics and disposable coffee cups are banned from the office and employees are encouraged to take proper crockery and reusable containers to collect take-away lunches from the local cafes, many of whom are very receptive to this. All soft plastics that come into the office as packaging are also taken away for recycling. All compostable items such as coffee grounds, food leftovers etc. are placed into a composting worm farm, which produces fertilizer for use on our roof terrace garden and the street level planting.

We are always innovating and looking for proactive ways to reduce our carbon footprint 

Employees are encouraged to use public transport, our studio is conveniently located close to a major transport hub, or active transport – walking, cycling and even scooting – to travel to and from work and we have provided end of trip facilities to support these methods of travel. Where we are able, we carbon offset any air travel directly through the airline at the time of booking.

Finally, at the end of each year we review all our activities from how our employees travel to and from work through to the amount of waste we have unfortunately had to send to landfill and the amount of energy we have consumed over our ability to generate and offset our footprint with carbon credits.  We are always innovating and looking for proactive ways to reduce our carbon footprint so that we can eventually almost eliminate this stage of the process.

You use a lot of off-form concrete; How does that fit in with this ethos?

The above is how we deal with the carbon footprint of our own practice, as to our clients’ demands and preferences we use the power of our convictions and have spent a lot of energy convincing our clients to use rammed earth and recycled materials in their projects.  Where they request exposed concrete we try first to limit it to the slab, we avoid concrete walls, and explain to the client that rammed earth is a better alternative, is healthier and has a better texture than concrete. If you look at our projects the concrete is only there for the slabs and there are no concrete walls.  We have fired a few engineers because they used concrete walls in their structural designs.

What are some of the greatest challenges when it comes to designing?

I have loved being able, overtly or covertly, to convince our clients to embrace more sustainable buildings

The greatest challenge to designing for sustainability can be the wealth of our clients, seemingly, the greater the wealth the less interest there is in living sustainably. Throughout my career I have loved being able, overtly or covertly, to convince our clients to embrace more sustainable buildings: my greatest satisfaction was to start with a client that used the word sustainable to mean ‘financially profitable’ and finished the project boasting to all that their new home was the most kind to its environment. The projects and clients usually end up as good role models for other clients.

On the firm's instagram, you post some wonderful sketches for your designs. Did you grow up drawing a lot?

Yes, it was a natural activity and was encouraged by my parents, who sent me across to the other side of Milano (on a tram, on my own as a seven year old) to attend weekly painting workshops.  My university, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland also insisted a lot on the value of drawings as a method of design and a form of expression for the future users of buildings.