2024 Gallery

SSdH is an exciting new practice bringing energy and resolve to the future of architecture in this country. Immediately noticeable in their work is a respect for built fabric, no matter how “ordinary” the existing condition. Established in 2020 by Todd de Hoog, Harrison Smart and Jean-Marie Spencer, the practice proposes that the architect’s role must encompass recognition and promotion of undervalued building stock, for the sake of bigger-picture environmental and economic responsibility. Their architecture is made with close attention to details of context, and a sprightly yet mindful restraint. The jury was impressed by the impact made to livability and longevity through small yet inescapable architectural insertions in Stewart.

More broadly, SSdH’s work shows cultural depth and significant maturity in sensibility, spatial organisation and structural-constructional integration. Both in the whole and in details, a questioning of purpose and interrelationships between as many architectural elements as possible can be seen, and the projects are brimming with ideas in response.

It is refreshing to be presented with ideas-driven bathrooms that are not solely about luxury material and fixture selections, and commercial projects that are concerned with public life. From the scale of the urban to consciousness of what might be touched, the practice shows architectural control and has produced real “improvements.”