the architect

Born in Italy, moved to Australia with his family in the 1960s, studied architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney.

In 1984 Renato lived in Sardinia investigating many architectural sites around the Mediterranean islands.  He later worked for Pier Luigi Nervi and Paolo Portoghesi in Roma and Harry Seidler and Romaldo Giurgola in Sydney.

Renato started a sole practice in 1990 after a commission for a house in South Coogee. The house, with a magnificent site by the sea, inspired Renato to take the opportunity to forge a personal path within the plurality of the modern architectural milieu.

This personal path chosen has manifested itself not only in his design values, but also in the practice of his architecture; an intuitive way of working in which projects are allowed to develop in their own good time through continual revision and modification, working through the endless design and landscaping possibilities of architecture.

Renato's architecture draws inspiration from past masters and civilizations, attempting to represent the present with a desire to leave enduring buildings for the future.

Renato is a member of the Australian Institute of Architects and has been a registered architect in NSW since 1997.

practice background

Renato D’Ettorre Architects is a small firm of architects capable of undertaking residential high-end projects with past projects valued up to $15 million.  We achieve this by having a core team and sourcing team members when projects call for extras at the documentation stages. 

Renato is the Creative Director and is responsible for all conceptual designs, with a rigorous review at each stage of the project.

Both Renato and Belinda are involved in every project from inception to completion and handover.  We are engaged in the entire architectural process to ensure that every project is rigorously designed and built.  Many of our past projects have received multiple awards from the Australian Institute of Architects, the Australia Interior Design Institute, and many other industry awards.

In 2011, Solis on Hamilton Island receive the AIA “National Architecture Award for Residential Architecture”, the most significant residential architecture award in Australia, along with the “Robin Dods Award for Residential Architecture” from the Queensland Chapter of the AIA.

GB House, Sydney was the recipient of the coveted AIA “Wilkinson Award”; in 2019, the most significant residential architecture prize awarded in the state of NSW.

In 2021, the international publication, Platform included GB House in the “Best International Houses” Design Festival exhibition in Venice, Italy in conjunction with the 17th International Architecture Biennale.

40Up was an international travelling exhibition of ‘Australian Architecture's Next Generation’. It started touring in 1999.

philosophy

As a practice, we draw inspiration and references from areas as wide as possible. Ignoring our five-thousand-year-old history, in our opinion, is responsible for generating abstract and superficial buildings.

We believe each project presents an opportunity to search for the possibilities of architecture and the challenge of bestowing specificity.  Avoiding tendencies for preconceived solutions which in turn is formulaic in design approach and which prevents rigorous research, exploration and uncovering historical significance inherent in every site.  Once the site’s attributes are understood the design direction becomes clear; only then can the architecture have the potential to achieve a meaningful presence and a sense of something permanent. 

Architecture’s permanence is not only manifested in the construction and material durability but also in social and cultural durability.  Acknowledging and respecting traditional precedents by avoiding mimicry.  We seek to create an authentic design that transcends time by connecting to the past and reaching into the future through the exploration of new treatments and techniques.   Our architecture is ultimately about creating timeless and sustainable living which appears neither antiquated nor forcefully bound to a modernistic style. 

Our fundamental objective is to generate emotions; humanist qualities to move the senses whilst moving through the form, exciting spaces but also the unexpected.  For us, architecture must have a sense of place and beauty in its immediate context.

At the core of every project is the search for clarity, necessity, and order through means of selections and orientation able to significantly bring together relationships between the external and internal, materials and spaces, the public and private.

We believe in the power of architecture in which we can take shelter, purify the mind, find peace, and emerge enlightened and strengthened by the experience.

the team

Belinda Brown
Interior Designer

Belinda joined Renato D’Ettorre Architects in 2007. She forms an integral part of the practice.

Tom Monahan
Senior Project Architect

Jade Bolton
Interior Designer