Video Gallery

Designer Notes, Manna Gum - David Brown

Architect David Brown and his team faced a huge task when total fire bans were declaired around Adelaide and in other parts of South Australia. David and his team spent a considerable amount of time with local fabricators working out how to get through the bushfire-rating issue. 

Designer Notes, Hawthorn Courtyard House - Mat Elkan

Mat Elkan saw the site’s glass panels - weighing a massive 250 kilos each - being lifted in, he had what you might call ‘a moment’. Mat talks about how the four year undertaking was very collaborative with the client. 

Designer Notes, Culburra Beach House - Colin Irwin

Architect Colin Irwin had the opportunity to design a house in beautiful Culburra. Sustainability was important to the clients, stressing they did not want the house to have air conditioning. "We have the ability to open up the house as much as we want and, on those odd occasions when there's no breeze at all, we have ceiling fans in every room."

Designer Notes, Timberland - Sally Wilson

For architect, Sally Wilson, and her husband, renovating their home was a labour of love. Their goal? To give an untouched 100-year-old building – known as Timberland – a new lease of life and make it the home of their dreams.

Designer Notes, Ramp House - Architects Corner

Will Corner from Architects Corner speaks about a unique design where the home has been curved and a ramp was implemented. 

Designer Notes, Carlton Warehouse - Kennedy Nolan Architects

Victoria Reeves of Kennedy Nolan Architects tried to achieve a scale that you wouldn't normally see in a domestic building - to bring a simplicity and abstractness to the project. She achieved just that. The result is a beautiful oasis of light, views and green spaces that perfectly reflects the client’s wishes and Victoria's design.

Designer Notes, Thornbury Artist's Studio - Chan Architecture

Anthony Chan of Chan Architecture relays why the Elevate™ system was chosen. Windows needed to be double-glazed because the studio is south-facing and Anthony didn’t want to lose all the heat and the profiles needed to be slim. 

Designer Notes, Living Choice - Craig Eyles, CED Building Design

Craig Eyles discusses how with large stacking sliding doors you need a large screen to pair with it, when you get up to 6 storeys, you have the high winds that can pull and bend a screen out of shape. AWS went away and redesigned a door to get the screens to slide internally and not compromise the performance of the door. 

Designer Notes, Emmanuel College - HHH Architects

Hamilton Hayes Henderson Architects have been college architects for Emmanuel College for 20 years next year. This time, part of the brief was to have this building to redefine the brand of the school. 

'Pop out' windows were incorporated into the design to allow for students to have a connection with the outdoors and a little nook where they can sit and have some time out. Giving them the opportunity to interact with the architecture and window design.  

Designer Notes, Wayfarer Apartments - Damian Rumball

Damian Rumball, Project Manager at GEOCON, talks about the tallest residential building in the Canberra region. The vision for Wayfarer was to incorporate all the things we love to live with – sunlight, ventilation and connection to the outdoors. With this in mind, an intricate dance of glass and aluminium was required. 

Designer Notes, Budgong House - Ben Vitale

Architect Ben Vitale worked hard to make this project something special, living on the site and completing literally hundreds of sketches before resolving the design for this tranquil, rural home. Lots of consideration was given to the way the home is positioned on the site and the role of windows and doors in maintain thermal comfort.

Designer Notes, Macarthur Clinical School - Architectus

Resurrected from its previous location in a stuffy hospital basement, Western Sydney University’s Clinical School now stands proudly at the gateway of the university precinct. 

Designer Notes, Flowerdale House - SDA

There are challenges with almost any building project, but this amazing home, just outside of Newcastle, was a veritable obstacle course. Built on a massive slope and submerged into a cliff face on three sides, it could only be made possible with great design, clever materials choices, and sheer determination!

Designer Notes, KV House - Turner Studio

Originally designed just over 15 years ago for a couple with one child, they soon outgrew the space and, given the difficulty of the site, needed some out-of-the-box thinking to accommodate the family’s expansion.

Designer Notes, Mandurah House - Hames Sharley

This home in Mandurah, south of Perth, is all about place. The design of the home maximises glass to embrace the sweeping views around it. It's detailed, deeply personal and with a direct connection to the waterway running by it.

Designer Notes, Myrtleford Indoor Sports Stadium - K20 Architecture

The town of Myrtleford in Victoria is proving its community spirit in the most material of ways, with a stunning new indoor sports stadium. 

Designer Notes, Hawthorn House - Key Greenway, GHP

When Kel Greenway of GHP had his daughter and son in law as a client, they were in safe hands. An elegant and simple home that is bringing ongoing day to day enjoyment to its young, growing family, exceeding expectations in blending light and lifestyle into a functional family home.

Designer Notes, Melbourne Hotel - Lou Cotter

When the owners of the old Melbourne Hotel in Perth’s CBD decided to give the beautiful heritage building a new lease on life, they were keen to synergise the historical with the modern to create something utterly beautiful and unique. With the help of architect, Lou Cotter, and the experts at AWS, they have achieved just that.

Designer Notes, Blairgowrie Beach House - Chris Blaber

Chris Blaber is the owner builder of this project, a modern take on a beach house. With a stringent energy report, Chris was faced with the challenge of not building his windows to their specification. But after speaking to us - design was not compromised and we ticked the boxes of the energy and fire ratings. 

Designer Notes, UTAS - Brian Locke

Architect Brian Locke gives us a look at a fantastic refurbishment of the heritage listed University of Tasmania, which was originally designed in the early 20th Century. ThermalHEART aluminium windows and doors were utilised due to Tasmania's extreme climate- hot in summer and cold in winter. 

Designer Notes, South Metropolitan TAFE - Armstrong Parkin Architects

Not long ago, you could be forgiven for being unaware of the TAFE campus in Murdoc WA. It was, after all, a fairly non-descript facility, resolutely overshadowed by its near neighbour, Murdoc University. Enter the architects at Armstrong Parkin who have transformed South Metropolitan TAFE into a show-stopping building that has the whole precinct talking.

Designer Notes, Bluff Farm - Richard Cole

On a strong landscape setting, Architect Richard Cole had to design a house which would be responsive to counter the landscape with quite a strong architectural gesture. With a lot to work through, Richard wanted to focus on aluminium to design the house to face a strong climate. Through this at the end of the day they managed to achieve what they set out to do. 

Designer Notes, McMasters Beach House - BWG

The owners wanted a house to fit 3 generations and a couple businesses. See how Matt Thitchener designed the home to meet environmental and lifestyle needs.

Designer Notes, Conobolas House - Simon Williams

Owner/Builder Simon Williams walks us through his beautiful Canobolas House in Orange NSW.

Designer Notes, Paddison House - Michael Paddison

To attract as much warm sunshine into the home as possible, owner/builder, Michael Paddison, oriented most of the house to the north and made windows a key focus of his design.

Designer Notes, Sips Residence - Kieron Gait Architects

Architect Kieron Gait, Kieron Gait Architects; talks about this simple, modest extension in Red Hill, Brisbane, redefining the way building materials are utilised within a home. The construction utilises a modular structural insulated panel system (SIPS) to reduce construction time and allow economy of site labour.

Designer Notes, Dawes Residence - Tony Trobe

The Dawes Residence is located in the city of Canberra, which is typically known for its hot summers and cold winters. Architect Tony Trobe worked on a strict brief to maximise views of the client's surrounds as well as ensure there were connections between the indoors and outdoors without compromising the thermal efficiency of the home. 

Designer Notes, Bundaroo Street House - Tziallas Omeara Architecture Studio

Architect Tina Tziallas from Tziallas O' Meara Architecture studio talks about Bundaroo Street House. Tina describes how this dynamic project gave the design team many challenges. Each time one was resolved it left the design felling so much better for it.  The project became an interesting exercise in how to maximise the performance of the house to ensure exceptional energy efficiency. Thermally broken windows and doors from the Vantage® ThermalHEART™ range are used throughout, allowing Tina to achieve the design resolution she desired for her clients without compromising on the efficiency and comfort of the living space created. 

Designer Notes, Batman House - Mike Cleaver

Building Designer Mike Cleaver is an absolute advocate of AWS. Mike loves the ability to mix and match AWS suites in a custom built project like this. 

Designer Notes, Flannery Centre - Architect Paul Godsell

Built under the Green Star program, architect Paul Godsell was appointed with the significant task of designing a sustainable, practical and memorable architectural work. Built with a refuced 'ecological footprint', the result is a building with a remarkably low energy demand for heating, cooling and lighting. 

Designer Notes, Manly Residence - Mark Broadley

Given two seperate clients with seperate requirements, architect Mark Broadley accomodated to both needs while remaining balanced and fitting in with the overall look. Mark incorporated as many environmentally sustainable inclusions as possible including cross ventialation to help build on the elegance of the project. 

Designer Notes, Boyntons Winery - Janelle Boynton

Architect Janelle Boynton speaks about creating Boyntons Winery using Elevate Aluminium Systems to solve design and functionality problems her build was facing. 

Designer Notes, Austinmer Beach House - Alexander Symes

Located in one of the Illawarra's premier beachside suburbs and sitting on the headland of Austinmer Beach is this amazing, curved, elongated home perched on concrete columns. The requirements for the design of this home were strict, the owners needed a home that was appropriate to raise a young family, yet could also be transformed instantaneously into a place suitable for entertaining.