Unit 12a is an ongoing research-based architectural “unit”, dedicated to exploring spatial experience, materiality, and representation. The practice engages in projects across multiple scales and disciplines, driven by a process of curation and investigation.

This platform builds upon the act of tracing and reinterpreting architecture, presenting a carefully selected collection of images that offer insight into the origins of our work and the future directions of the practice. We honor the weight of a brick, the story in a tile, and the grain of wood—materials that are invested with memory, craft, and time, shaping places with quiet insistence and enduring presence.

The House in White The House in White, designed by Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara, was created for a couple passionate about children's reading and the arts, along with their three children. The defining feature of this residence is its pervasive use of white, which extends seamlessly across both the exterior and interior spaces.

Sou Fujimoto has described "white" as a kind of field that envelops human presence, where light, shadow, backdrop, and reflection interact to create an atmosphere that is luminous yet soft.

Structurally, the house follows the principles of a traditional Japanese dwelling, with a central column anchoring the plan. The framework of the main house aligns with the roof's slope, yet the entire structure is unified beneath a white ceiling, subtly obscuring its underlying form. Characterized by loft-like white bedrooms, expansive open spaces, dramatic columns, and soaring ceilings, the House in White embodies a serene and minimalist architectural expression.





Church of the Living God In the suburban streets of Hurstville, The Church of the Living God stands with a quiet sense of purpose. Designed by Angelo Candalepas, the building serves both as a place of worship and a residence, carefully balancing its public and private functions. “This is a building that whispers rather than shouts,” says Candalepas, emphasizing its understated approach to form and scale.

Positioned on Carrington Street, the church sits among apartment buildings and established trees. To avoid overwhelming its surroundings, the design stretches the structure horizontally rather than vertically. Large, well-placed windows break up the façade, introducing light while maintaining a sense of solidity. On the northern side, a colonnade of white concrete half-columns gives the building a sculptural quality, subtly marking it as a public space.

Inside, the clerestory is the focal point. Light filters down from above, creating depth and atmosphere. “A place where the spirit can rise,” says Candalepas. A landscaped courtyard to the south brings in air and light, making the interior feel open yet sheltered.

Built with durable materials—off-form concrete, timber, and sandstone-colored masonry—the church is designed to last. It is a restrained yet thoughtful response to its context, offering both sanctuary and home in a single, unified form.




House 905 House 905 by Harquitectes offers a sophisticated residential design which presents complex relationships between public and private areas as well as indoors and outdoors. The house is comprised of several concentric layers, consisting of a central living core which expands into an exposed veranda that opens into the surrounding enclosed garden, separating the site from the streetscape. As these masses expand in scale, they become less private in program. This organisation of public and private areas pulls the programs to the centre of the building, proving to be an antithesis of typical residential architecture. The circulation routes of the house are rather flexible, with the veranda living space also functioning as a walkway. The South corridor, in particular, being the narrowest, seems to act as a major connecting channel which would likely receive the most foot traffic.
The architects have posed a rather fluid interior and exterior relationship for House 905. There are sliding panels which act as a device to distinguish the inside and outside of the building, with fixed corners that define the house and allow for more private interior moments. A clear inside is the enclosed central living space, however the surrounding veranda, being so interchangeable, is almost an ambiguous intermediate space between this and the outside.




Wohnregal Apartments and Ateliers Morphologically, a stack of six warehouses in conversation with the contradiction between the seriality of prefabricated construction methods and organizational variability. FAR architects addressed the needs of the Berlin housing market, targeting the notion of what it is to “live” flexibly and having the ability to do so with a consciousness of affordability and pace.
Built using pre-cast concrete systems, Wohnregal re-appropriates the conventions of serial construction that were unaddressed prior: introducing flexibility and variety in lifestyles. Although the prefabricated structure entailed a strictly rectilinear form, the TT ceilings spanning facade to facade, free of interior shear walls, afforded internal flexibility, imparting discourse on the transitory character of urban life. A curtain wall of sliding glass doors envelops Wohnregal and, when opened, transforms the entire interior space into a set of stacked loggias, each with their distinct organization whilst revealing the consistent structural system. In contrast to the traditionally more concealed facades of the surrounding buildings, Wohnregal prioritizes breathability and transparency while challenging previous concepts of privacy. In its portrayal of a new way of life made possible by an overtly expressed structural resistance,