Behind the Build: Robert Davidov - Davidov Architects

Robert Davidov is the founder and director of Davidov Architects, a Melbourne-based architecture and interiors practice established in 2011. His studio focuses on residential work across metropolitan Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, from new homes and multi-residential developments to heritage alterations and additions, applying a pared-back, materially expressive approach.

Raised in Melbourne in a builder–developer family, Davidov’s early exposure to construction informed a career blending design rigor with practical responsibility. He studied Architecture and Construction Management at the University of Melbourne, completing a structured year of industry experience before graduating and registering as an architect.

Before founding his practice, he worked with Harmer Architecture—gaining exposure to technically demanding civic work including mausoleum projects—and with FMSA Architecture (now Foreground Architecture) on social and civic programs, experience that broadened his understanding of client needs and delivery at scale.

Davidov’s work is informed by architectural pilgrimages to seminal buildings in Europe, the United States, Japan, and North Africa. He is particularly interested in projects that explore light, proportion, and tactility—and aspires to design a contemporary place of worship.

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Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Welcome to Behind the build. I am your host Jonathan Jacobs
and today I have with me gentleman who I whose work I
came across while I was doing some research kind of globally
and I got really excited about it because when I was looking at
it, I was like, well, you know what, I feel like we could use a
lot of what he's designing over here in in Toronto and Canada,
based out of Melbourne in Australia.

(00:28):
We have connected a number of Times Now leading up to this
interview and I've been looking forward to doing this for quite
some time now. So today I have with me and I am
excited about this, I have Robert Davidoff, Davidov
Architects. Robert, thank you for joining.

(00:49):
Thank you so much, Jonathan. Thank you for that very lovely
introduction. Yeah, we have spoken a few Times
Now and yeah, with some scheduling issues, but I'm
really glad that we're we're here together now.
So just it's worth saying. So stating timing, for me right
now it's 8:30 at night and for you it is what 9?

(01:09):
10:30 in the morning the next day.
So Roberts living in the future.So Robert, we I mean, we spoke
in come to know each other in some capacity.
And what I have never asked you intentionally is a bunch of
stuff that I'll ask you now because I like for it to be
fresh. So if you don't mind, can you

(01:30):
give us some, some background detail into like, what your life
was like as a kid and what has led you down this path at an
early stage of life into becoming an architect?
Yeah. And you can, you can take it
back as far as you want. You know, earliest memories, 3-4
years old, six years. Old, that complicated for me.
I grew up and my dad was in construction.

(01:52):
He was a builder, so it was something we were very exposed
to. So we would on school holidays,
I'd be, I'd be with him, visiting the sites, getting
muddy, seeing how things came together.
And it wasn't that that was necessarily something that
really interested me, but I had that exposure.

(02:13):
But at the same time, I loved todraw and had all of that kind of
visual creativity, whether it was Lego or illustration of all
of those things. And I thought about a career in
graphic design or something likethat.
And I guess that evolved into aninterest in what I thought was

(02:37):
architecture, but simply just because that was the design side
of. Construction.
I asked you a question on this, that what was he building?
Was he building in like single family residential?
Not anything large scale. So it was either single
residential or small unit developments that kind of that

(02:59):
kind of scale. 112 maybe 3 stories but generally one or two
stories and from one house to like 7 townhouses.
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(03:22):
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(03:46):
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(04:08):
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Now let's get back to Rob. And was was he doing this on

(04:33):
spec or was he doing it for clients?
A bit of both, OK, A bit of both, yeah.
So the houses that I would generally visit with the ones
that he was doing on spec, whichwould be the unit sites
primarily, yeah. OK.
And where was this? Was this also in Melbourne or
was this? Somewhere all in Melbourne in a

(04:55):
band. Inner ring suburbs of Melbourne.
Yeah, I'm gonna come back to. That later on.
So, but and part of that was also because it was, you know, a
family business, mum and dad kind of running that a lot of
the business then comes home andis discussed at the kitchen
table. So that's more exposure.
There wasn't an office, it was at home.

(05:15):
And then there's, you know, it'snot just building, it's also
being the developer speculating,going to the inspections,
checking out the market and thenall of the risks that come with
that. So we were exposed to all of
that growing up. And I guess that also gives you
a lot of respect for money and respect for developing and the

(05:35):
risks involved, right? And the fact that a house is
someone's home, but it's also inmany ways their largest asset
and investment. So when people come and say, I
don't want to do their their forever home, their dream home,
at the back of my mind is alwaysthat's all well and good and
you're the kind, but I still want there to be some level of

(05:59):
responsibility to be very boringabout it to go well, this still
needs to be something that will pay its way and will look after
you in the long term too, which is not very with like the it's
the opposite of romantic. It's the opposite of what an
architect might be. The the architect quote UN quote
might be thinking about, but it really is also what the

(06:22):
architect the other rock, the lower case architect maybe
should be thinking about becausethese are resources and there's
a responsibility in how they areused in longevity and and how
they will be handed down to the next user.
Right. So were they talking with your
your mom was doing the bookkeeping and doing.
Financials. So, so you're sitting around the

(06:44):
table. What's your earliest
recollection of like hearing? Because when you're young, you
don't even really understand what money is.
So when they're talking about something costing thousands or
10s of thousands of dollars, were they ever putting it into
terms that you understood as a kid?
No, I don't. I would like you're talking and
I'm thinking, was there any? No, it's all just washing over

(07:07):
you. No, they weren't.
They weren't. They weren't involving my sister
in the conversation and saying that's like a car or that's like
that's like 10 strokes or something like that.
It's like, no, they weren't theywe weren't in, but we were just
at the table. We weren't in the conversation.
Fair enough. Rationalizing the numbers.

(07:27):
So how did you come to the concept that like you could, you
could turn some form of mathematics and art into a
career that would that would relate to what they were doing?
Like were they bringing home blueprints and were you looking
at that and did that strike something with you?
Like what did that look like foryou?
Oh, yeah. I, I, I was very familiar with

(07:50):
the plans, sometimes architectural, but a lot of the
times they'd be bringing back the, the, the page you'd get
from an, an open for inspection where they had that very crude
and that the estate agency mightput together and cause they
would be then getting out the pyro and going where we could
extend here or there or open that up if they were looking at

(08:12):
doing a renovation. So we were very familiar away
became very familiar or comfortable with looking at a
floor plan, being able to read that and then thinking about it,
something that can be manipulated, right, Like it's
not set in stone. It's like, oh, well, where could
where does the plan want to growor change or be opened up or

(08:33):
manipulated in whatever way Thatwas something that was
definitely exposed to. And then on some other and then
of course, on the other developments, there were
architectural drawings and not that anyone was looking for my
opinion. They certainly weren't weren't,
but you'd see them and you couldlook over them and get a
familiarity. So it wasn't like when I walked

(08:53):
into university, I'd never been on a construction site or seen a
set of documents. Right.
Yeah, Yeah, we're, we're new to you, of course.
Yeah, that makes sense. But did did you were you ever
look looking at like doing the space planning for your own
bedroom and like doing layouts of like where your bed would go
or anything like that or no? I didn't.
And that's probably also becausemy mom really liked, she kept a

(09:18):
pretty tight ship. And it wasn't like we were like,
look, look, we were moving around a lot too.
And a lot of the properties we were in were also rentals.
So it wasn't like we could personalize the room so much
either. But it's not like either my
sister or I ever really even asked could we paint a wall or
do this or that. That just wasn't that wasn't
that kind of environment. Yeah.

(09:39):
Fair enough. OK, if you wanted to explore
something, you could do it on paper.
Yeah, fair. Yeah, OK.
Yeah, there's less risk in that.Yeah, yeah.
And wasn't that kind of like if we want to put a few posters up
of a, of a band or whatever, sure, get the blue tack.
But it wasn't let's move furniture around and let's get A

(10:00):
and let's get the the paintings open.
No, that wasn't. Well, who was the band?
Who was the poster of the band that would go up?
Thought it was the 90s in Australia, so it was silver
chair and maybe some Nirvana. It was the night, you know,
Yeah. So I'm asking.
It was. It was the typical.
Over chair. Haven't heard that name in a
long time. Coming back and I'm still a big

(10:24):
fan of Jamiroquai. Was listening to a lot of
Jamiroquai and the 90s too. I listen to Jamiroquai all the
time. All the time.
Great, great, great. You know what, I think it was
like 30 years ago that his firstalbum came.
Out. Probably around then, yeah.
OK, so, so we moved past Jamiroquai and posters and

(10:46):
Silver chair and some rentals and you get into into high
school. And in high school, where you
were you starting to zone in on the fact that this was a
potential career you want to go at, and were you taking any
courses that would fulfill that need?
But there was no, there weren't any courses that were offered in
my school that were going to be anything into visual COM or

(11:10):
graphics. The only art course that the
school offered was which would be like fine art.
Right. Which was art history and art
was a 5050 split in the course and I did that as an elective
all the way through. But I when I was doing my final
year, I because art isn't given a, a good ranking in the scoring

(11:34):
for your matriculation. I, I ditched it in lieu of
university mathematics course, which would be a very well
received course. But after three days, I made the
switch back and said I've got a,I've got enough maths and
chemistry sticks on my on my books.
I'll do one subject. But you know, with art like

(11:56):
architecture, there isn't a solution.
So when you're doing the folio or whatever it is, yeah, those
whether whether it's more time you could spend on a canvas or
doing another canvas, there's noend to it, right.
So it's a subject that is not going to reward you in terms of
helping your your score to get into university and it's going

(12:21):
to at the same time absorb the most time.
But you love it. I took, I took, I took art all
the way through high school. It was took.
So you know what? You know what I mean?
And I think that's, and it's something that that's pretty
much a metaphor for Architectureis a profession too.

(12:43):
You could be doing a lot of other things to get the score
and this is not going to be the most efficient way to do it.
And it will take up the most amount of time because there's
no end. If you're doing someone's books,
once you've done them, you've done them.
You can check them and maybe double check them, but they're
done. There's an answer or law or
medicine. There is an answer.

(13:03):
There is like you've done your job.
Architecture. They're like you could do a
lighting plan and then you couldgo, yeah, I've done it, but I
could do it another five different ways, which is the
best you can debate. I don't know how much you can
debate the best way or the rightway to do everything in other
professions, but there is. So it's different.

(13:26):
It's not, yeah, there's scientific elements to
architecture, but it's not a science.
And that's the that's the difference.
Right. And did you were you, I guess
you, I mean you, you come to that now.
But then time you had the excitement of it.
So you took you took what you needed to to be able to get to
where you would have the grades to get into university.

(13:49):
And did you apply for architectural school off the bat
or did you you did? In in Australia you can.
So I think typically I think you've got 8 courses you can
apply for and then depending on your study score, you will get
an offer. OK.
And what I elected to do, Well, we, we missed one part of my

(14:14):
back story with architecture andthat was because my parents were
exposed to the construction industry and had been impacted
by a big recession that Australia had in the late 80s.
They recalled seeing architects that they'd worked with or known
driving taxis in during that recession.
So they really didn't want me tobe exposed to that if history

(14:38):
were to repeat. So that's if you want to be in
the construction industry or you're creatively be an
engineer, they'll they'll have work.
That will be the only thing my parents wanted for me was to
find a career that was recessionproof.
Stability. Stability and I really didn't
have interest in in engineering,but when I was at an open day at

(15:01):
Melbourne University, they had acourse, a double degree on
offer, which was architecture and construction management.
So I decided to do that double degree, yeah.
So that and that was my first choice and I was lucky to get
that. And that was.
It was it a four year or five year?
How long? Was.
So what that means is for the first I went in on with an

(15:24):
architecture, not masters I guess you kind of say.
So for the first three years I Iwas just doing the architecture
course. Then you needed to taking your
off and do work experience with a registered architect.
So I did. I did that.
Optum. Co-op term.

(15:45):
And so then you come back and when everyone I've been, all of
my colleagues went and did theirtwo year, what's now called the
Masters in architecture. I came back and did a catch up
year in construction management.And then two more years where
the load was split 5050 between the construction management

(16:07):
subjects, which were structures and construction, a lot of
subjects on quantity surveying, project management, all of those
types of courses. And the other half were the
design studios. Seven years.
So it was six years at uni with that and then that work
experience here in the middle. So it's 7 was a long run.

(16:30):
Yeah, that's like, it's like getting a law degree or becoming
a doctor. Look, even if it would have been
straight, I think now it's just five years, OK.
And that and that that work yearis doesn't exist anymore.
So but that would still take five years, still a long, long
run. Yeah, but you're not and you're

(16:50):
not a registered architect, right?
Listening to Robert described the structure of his studies
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(17:10):
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(17:32):
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(18:16):
with their team. Now let's get back to Rob.
And it well, and then the other difference is not only if you're
saying that you know registered architect, but you also then
also you don't have the work experience if.
You're done. But I think that became more
problematic because I don't knowhow it is in Canada or in the
States, but a lot of the universities here are geared

(18:38):
towards a significant proportionof students, stuff from another
country. So for them to come on a study
visa is one thing, but then if it has to be a work visa, it
becomes problematic and very disruptive if they're coming and
going right. So that they were kind of
running it on 2 streams, but that is a little bit
discriminatory. So I think it just had to be

(19:00):
abandoned. OK, I'm, I'm not really across
all the politics of it, but that's the reality.
We had it and it was A and some people decided after that one
year work experience, they'd seen an office and I said, this
is not for me or this is for me,but I know I want to be small
practice or large practice or whatever it is.

(19:21):
So it's a very useful time. 1 you is a huge investment to make
that observation can be done in different ways, but it's still a
very useful program. And now we've had from probably
more years than not, except for the COVID years, we've had
students in working in our team are one or two days a week.

(19:45):
So we've had a series of students that have been with us
and that just reached out because it's not formal program,
but they wanted to get industry experience while they study.
Smart kids. Yeah.
Yeah. OK.
So, so tell me, like when you when you were going through
this, the courses actually even before that when you applied,

(20:07):
did you know anyone else applying or were you doing this
on your? Own I didn't really know there
was a there was someone that I knew from a youth movement who
from another school who I don't know if I saw him at an open
day, but I saw him on the first day of uni.
And I had another friend that I knew was applying to do the
construction management course. OK, but it's a big, I think it's

(20:31):
the biggest university in Melbourne.
So I knew a lot of other people going to the university, but not
necessarily a lot of people doing architecture.
Yeah, I feel like, I mean in in what would have been in a, in
some capacity to undergrad program, but you said you got a
master. So it wasn't.
It was. It wasn't.
No, it's it's a masters now. When we finished, I end up just

(20:51):
getting three different bachelors degrees.
So wasn't undergrad degree because what I, what I was, what
I was going to go with was like,really it's like engineers and
potentially the stream of what you're talking about in
architecture and construction management that are probably the
most grueling undergrads graduate degrees, meaning like

(21:12):
you might know other people there, but you might not get to
see them a whole lot. No.
And you, you look, you really only get to know the people that
are in your room, still in your studios.
So So what did you end up doing with your Co-op?
Did you go into commercial practice or public practice?
Or did you go to res practice? Well, what did that look like?

(21:33):
Or were there multiple practices?
No, I was only in one practice and I stayed there.
I pretty much did 48 weeks there.
I just kept going through because if you can't, after
you're 26 weeks is up, you can'tgo back to uni because it's
you're out of sync. So most people just do a full
year. I worked for Hammer Architecture

(21:56):
and they were a firm look. I liked some of the designs that
they were doing and it was a small team.
They were in a new office that they just designed the building
and they were working on education, small scale Rezi.
And not that I worked on any of the projects, but they were
doing a lot of mausoleums, but not mausoleums in kind of the

(22:19):
traditional classical style thatwere doing them in a very
contemporary way. And it carved a real niche for
themselves. Because there's quite a lot of
consideration with, with the more Williams, with the drainage
and the venting and all of the, with the prefabricated concrete

(22:40):
crypts, how that's all constructed and shattered.
So they had, they had that down and.
What an interesting like I should say morbid but like what
an interesting niche to carve out.
I wouldn't even think of architecture in a muscle for a
Muslim but makes complete sense.Because there's so much pressure

(23:02):
on, on cemetery land, even in places like Australia.
So I'm, I'm sure it's just worldwide.
Yeah. Especially in places with far
more urban, dense urban makeup. Muslims are just becoming more
and more important. And people like you see if you
go to any cemetery, a lot of the, the headstones are becoming

(23:23):
more contemporary. So people would want that to
resonate with their if part of their tradition or part of just
the economics of the cemetery they're in is moving towards
mausoleums. So a lot of these were built for
predominantly the Italian Catholic community.
And that's generally part of thetradition anyway, regardless of

(23:48):
land, like whether they could economically have a plot to have
equipped and whether that was a family crypto or the public
crypt. And they these were things that
the cemetery trustees would testthe market with and then come to
to the architect and say, let's let's make this work.

(24:09):
We need, you know, let's do 12 private family crypts and then
they can be sold off or we need to do 1000 and they might be
done in stages. But it was.
So they worked on several cemeteries.
Why not when I was there and they just kept, kept expanding.
They were, it was. And because there's a bit of
money involved, they can be really beautiful buildings with

(24:33):
beautiful materials that also have to last a long time with
minimal maintenance. So it's a really interesting
type of architecture to be involved with.
Is high impact, right? Like you're talking like for
generations of people that want to go and yeah, and see the late
relatives. So OK, so so you finish, you

(24:55):
finish there. What were what did you feel were
some of the main takeaways you had, if you can remember them
from that experience that led you in a direction when you
finished school? Do you or did you associate with
like some of the rez more than more than some of the other work
like you're referring to now or what did that look like for you?

(25:17):
I think I always wants more drawn to the small skyline, to
the roads in the next job I got.When I graduated, I was a little
bit more exposed to larger projects, some civic work,
education work, which was all good, was all good work with
good clients, but probably further away from the end user

(25:40):
as well. And I kind of, I think I do like
those relationships and those conversations that you get only
with private residential work and that level of detail.
But I, I don't know if that really started from that
exposure. It was probably much earlier
with the exposure I had from my family is working on yours,

(26:03):
who's right for us? But I did work on Prezi work at
Harmer and other, you know, random things, but a lot of it
as the student you were doing markups and checking things off.
I was just, I was a lot of markups and that's really boring
and a little bit scary. It was all CAD.
So it's just lines. You could delete a whole bunch

(26:23):
of lines and then they're gone. And a lot of it, you know, you
just start and it's like just change it and you're just
blindly hoping that you're understanding the instruction
correctly. But you, you start and you just
kind of they put you at the deepend or wherever they're putting
you and you kind of hope that you're doing it right, slowly,

(26:44):
slowly. The swimming lessons paid off.
Yeah, but it's it's grueling, but it probably does emphasize
for the students getting in and getting getting your feet wet.
Yeah, as soon as you can help us.
Because the work and the profession of architecture is
very different to the study of architecture.

(27:06):
You don't learn those skills in university.
You're only going to learn them at your first job.
Right. Or at, at in the industry.
OK, Yeah. So tell me, so where did that
first paying job look like you finished school?
How did you, how did you go about applying?
Did you, were you looking up different practices that you

(27:26):
wanted to look at, you wanted togo work at, or did you simply
just kind of blanket the resume to a whole bunch of different
firms? I didn't.
I didn't. I didn't have any of that
opportunity because when I finally start finished studying
after seven years, I said I'm taking a gap year and I did.
I did my Grand Tour and that ended up.

(27:49):
So that was me going from here and I traveled around the USA
for five weeks and then flew to Helsinki and then from there
worked my way around Europe for the next 6 months and then ended
up in Venice volunteering at theAustralian pavilion at the

(28:12):
Venice Biennale in 2008. And the plan from there was to
go to London where I'd. I'd applied for UK working visa
as an Australian and I've made contact with new London-based
architectural firms. But by September 2008, the
global financial crisis had hit and I was too late.

(28:35):
So all of those leads told me that I couldn't even come in for
an interview because I just laidoff 20 architects or whatever it
was. So I ended up continuing my
travels and I came back to Australia in I think late
November that year. 2008. Of 2008 and I thought, what am I

(29:00):
going to do? Because the industry here had
also been hit by the same financial crisis.
So when I finished my studies, Ihad received an award that was
sponsored by a company. So because I did the
construction and architecture double degree, there's a, there
was a firm in Melbourne that didarchitecture and construction
management and they sponsored anaward for a student did the

(29:24):
double degree who had the highest aggregate grades.
So I was the recipient of the award, but I was overseas on my
gap year. My parents, thank you.
My parents would save the to my parents received the award on my
behalf and the directors said tothem to that I should get in
contact when I got back. And that's what I did.

(29:45):
And they had because I had an experience with a lot of
government work. By that stage, 3 months later,
some of the stimulus programs had begun and they had just been
awarded a contract to do some social housing.
So they like after the call theysaid you can come in on January
5th and I worked with them for three years while I and they

(30:08):
helped. All the work I did with them was
enough to get me to register, get my registration done right
and and that was that was the good three years.
OK. Anyway, and you were working on
projects with teams at this point?
Small teams, it was a lot. It was a much larger firm than

(30:28):
Harma and because they had been quite successful to lock in
quite a lot of this new government work, the team grew
from something like 35 to over 60 in the next year and but then
it started to shrink again as that work then dried up.
But I was primarily working on these in social housing

(30:50):
projects. Some of them are small, small
units in the suburbs. One of them was the inversion of
two mansion houses in a city, Melbourne, into 9 self-contained
apartments for women's housing, specifically for women.

(31:11):
And that was a great project because the women that were
being initially housed were those that were already in this
property that really wasn't serving their needs well.
So we got to meet with them and then toward the end of the
project, we, we, we sort of few of them as they moved back in.
And it was a great improvement to their quality of life too.

(31:32):
I would imagine that you that there were some hugs that were
shared in that moment, in that time that really helped
formulate the kind of the direction of, of the power of
what you do. It's also really sensitive
though, because these were womenwho have been through a lot and
when we were coming through initially, you can imagine the,

(31:55):
the anxiety and the apprehensionof, you know, people coming
through their homes is like, really, what are our, we might
say we're we're here to help them and we're just doing our
project and you're gonna get a new home.
But maybe we weren't maybe they were going to be taken to a new
home and not allowed to return. So as much as we could tell them

(32:16):
that, you know, what we thought was true was true.
And that's what ended up happening.
They got to come back and that was that was pretty incredible.
And I looked, I also got to workon a small project associated
with the University of Melbournemine.
I'm Amader and that was a project that I got more of a
leading role and that really helped with my registration

(32:40):
experience, right. But that was that was pretty
much it because as I said, the, the firm started to shrink again
and I found myself without that much to do.
And I was really looking at doing with, with one of the
directors a lot of feasibility studies that were really
unsolicited, just trying to create a job, which is fun in

(33:06):
short bursts, but it can become kind of draining because you
kind of you want to feel like you're working on something
real. But just doing these very high
level studies, it's not you don't want to, doesn't sustain.
You feel like you're under serving your your needs.

(33:27):
Also, you know, like are you even paying your way?
Like are they just making, are they just trying to keep you
occupied? Yes, right, Cause that's not,
that's not keeping the lights on, right.
So, so I, I have two questions because in advance of this you
had talked about how you had traveled in that gap year.
So were there elements of those travels that you feel really

(33:49):
stuck with you and and have attributed in some capacity to
the the design style that you have now?
And were there specific pieces of architecture that you got to
experience that you've drawn upon now through some additional
research that you've applied to some projects that you've gone

(34:11):
into and created at this point? Yeah, definitely.
On that trip, I would have seen literally hundreds of buildings,
like everyday, Like I was staying in hostels with other
backpackers and like, what are you doing that?
I'll go to the beach to do some shopping, check out a
restaurant. I had a list of five buildings

(34:31):
that I wanted to hit. OK.
And sometimes you would be, you know, taking, you know, 3 modes
of transport to get to a building, 3 hours there, you
might be at the building for half an hour or so and then back
and that's your day. But that's the pilgrimage.
That's the job. But visiting like seeing some of
the The Maze and Frank Lloyd Wright projects in Chicago like

(34:54):
Unity Temple and the compressionand the expansion that stays
with you when that really when he really hits you with that.
Like, I'm not a Frank Lloyd Wright fan per se, but you know,
if you're in Chicago, you're going to go to Oak Park and
you're going to visit, but I really want to see Unity Temple
and that was incredible. And I loved maze in university,

(35:15):
so to say. I haven't been to Farnsworth
House, but I saw some of these projects for those inspired by
him in Chicago. But I also got to visit the
Barcelona Pavilion and just the detailing there is something
that and, and, and even the the materials, but the execution of

(35:35):
that vision is remarkable. Listening to Robert describes
spaces that feel carved from theearth, where proportioned
material and light come together, makes me think about
the same philosophy applied outdoors.
That's what a Quantum Pools doesso beautifully.
Their pools are built using biodesign technology from Italy.

(35:57):
Sculpted, not poured, But they can be, with forms that follow
the natural rate of the land. Instead of looking like an
addition, they feel like they'vealways been part of the site.
Each one is custom contoured to the terrain with seamless
integration into surrounding stone planting and slope.
The result is something that doesn't just sit in the

(36:18):
landscape, it belongs to it. It's soft, natural, and
enduring. It's the same principle that
runs through the best architecture.
When design and nature move in the same direction, the line
between what's built and what's found disappears.
A Quanto Pools is designed in harmony with the land and

(36:39):
inspired by Italy's biodesign tradition.
He wanna learn more? e-mail me
[e-mail] I'm happy to connect you
with their team. Now let's get back to Rob.
But two other things that reallystay with me are two nights I

(36:59):
got 2 spend at La Tourette, the cold monastery in France.
And I did, and I stayed there and had an incredible time just
because you don't know if it's still the same today, but when
you would stay there, they wouldprovide all of your meals and
you had free run through the monasteries.
So during the day, you would go into the ambulatory and into the

(37:22):
Chapel and into the sacristy andsee all of the different spaces,
but through different times of the day as well.
And really see how Core was controlling the light and just
being immersed in all of that concrete and the acoustics of it
all. And walking around the building.
It been there for a couple of days really gives you time to

(37:43):
appreciate a piece of architecture that big.
And a few days before I was there, I visited royal shop and
that was probably wasn't my first taste of club because I'd
all no, I think they they may have been the 1st 2 core
buildings I've been to. And but then I was able to visit
the Ville Savoy in Plaza Paris like a week later.

(38:07):
The call was a big until then. I guess until you visit a
building, you only know an architecture through photos or
video. Back then it wasn't that much
video. Now it's, you could just go on
YouTube and someone's, you know,walking their iPhone through a
building. But back then it was just a
couple of shots that we'd all seen, probably in black and
white. So this was incredible.

(38:27):
And the other one was the same tutor at uni who told me to see
or to stay in Latourette. Maybe knew more about me than I
knew about myself at the time. Or maybe it was just a fluke.
But he also said and go to valves the pages on the thermal
thermal bath house in involved Switzerland.

(38:51):
So it was not in my budget. But I said screw it.
And I booked in for one night into stay at the hotel.
And that was incredible. And it was also important to
stay in the hotel because it meant you could go into the the
bathhouse before it was open to the public and really appreciate

(39:11):
it as a much more tranquil placethan it becomes later in the
day. Right.
And it was still under the original management.
It's been sold since. I'm not sure if it's been
maintained in the same way, but it was again like things you can
observe from the work of means in the Barcelona Pavilion.
The precision, not just in the execution, but the precision of

(39:33):
the proportions and the way things fit together at valves is
look at something you aspire to and can be inspired by.
But it was the first time I noticed a building that was
that, that considered that much perfect a product.
Just the proportions of the stairwell, the stair, the stairs

(39:54):
that take you down into the mainpool and the depth and the the
height of the perfect step then influences the the the length of
the staircase, which then becomes the depth of the pool.
All of these proportions start feeding into it.
So it's almost like the buildingis designed, the proportions of
the building is designed by the the going of a step.

(40:18):
And to think I'm going to designa whole building around the
going of a step is pretty incredible.
But but the building is always about going down into these
pools. So it's something you're doing a
lot, but it's something to thinkabout like because there is the
the large processional staircasethat takes you down from the

(40:40):
change areas from a high level down into the main level of the
bathhouse. It's always about these steps in
this movement. And it's a very cushion way of
thinking about things because he's always about displaying and
interact really involving you with them, with your movement
through space. But I don't think even he was

(41:00):
thinking about, look, a lot of his buildings are whitewashed,
but something that's all of these stones, which are also
stacked in a way where you really never see a is there
different stones? But the way they even turned
corners, the whole thing is remarkable.
Yeah. And that.
And so I had to maintain these buildings now for, I guess, 17

(41:21):
years. But it doesn't leave you.
Is it time for another pilgrimage?
Look, I've been, but there was several years when I was working
in that after graduating and then when I was setting up the
company where I didn't travel for a long time.
But I think about nine years agoI started again and pretty much

(41:42):
every year from there I've triedto take a good trip, not every
year, but there's been trips to explore in that time.
Morocco and Mexico and Peru and backed to a couple of Louis Kahn
buildings. So went to Fort Worth to say the
Kimball and San Diego are willing to see the Salk

(42:05):
Institute. And earlier this year I went to
Milan for the design wake for the first time, which was
amazing. And then and also back and I've
been to Japan twice in the last 10 years too.
So I've tried to keep up these smaller pilgrimages.

(42:26):
And also I think 3 years ago I went to back to Egypt.
So some of the places that I went to, I've been back to in
building, but cities like New York and Paris and London, I
haven't been too since that Grand Tour, which is now 17
years ago. So it's a couple of years ago

(42:48):
now. So they're calling.
But I, I normally take my, my big trip over our Christmas
here. That's when we have our industry
shut down. In the middle of winter.
I don't really want to go to anyof those cities in the middle of
winter because not just because it's freezing and there's no
daylight, but a lot of things are shot.

(43:10):
Well, I mean, New York, NY's pretty.
New York is pretty bopping during the holiday season, but.
It's the after the holiday season that I worry about.
You be quiet for a few days. Yeah, Yeah.
All right. Well, look, we just covered a
whole lot of things, but we havenot even spoken about yet is
your practice. So let's talk about, let's talk
about your, let's talk about that.

(43:31):
So in what year do you create and officially register Davidov?
Architects, I think it was registered August 2011.
And what was the level of anxiety upon registration, high
or low? Not really.
There was no anxiety. Look, I went, my bosses were

(43:51):
were good. They they, they saw the
situation as well. And I said, I want to go part
time and that, that that's, that's fine.
So we went, we went part time. We, I went to, I went part time
and within by October, November,a few other things came up and I

(44:14):
said, you know what I'm going totake, I'm going to take the risk
and I'll go full time because itwas already getting hard
managing phone calls and different emails.
So I thought I'll, I've got a few things on.
If I can just get one more job before Christmas, I'll I'll
make, I'll, I'll back myself, but it's only going to really

(44:34):
work if I do that. So I really didn't go part time
for very long and had to just goall in.
So within three months, I think I've already said goodbye and
then said let's, let's see how this goes.
And that was it was, but it was very slow.
I was working from home for the first year and a half, two
years. And then one of our first

(44:55):
clients was looking for a showroom and I said, where would
you be looking? And he said all the areas that I
would be like, I would be happy to have assurance.
I said, if you find a place that's 50 square meters too big,
let me know. I'll take it.
And like not long after that, hesaid, I've got a place and I
want you to design it and you can take the front root.

(45:16):
And we were there and that was for G Lux, a stone and tile
company. And we would, we did their space
and we were in the front room for four years.
That was really our first home and then we moved to where we
are now. I took the lease here in late
2017 and we were when we moved in in early 2018.

(45:38):
So, So what are the progression of the practice look like from a
staffing standpoint? You started out on your own and
did you need to be able to justify bringing in some
support? And what was the first support?
What did it look like? Was it someone in operations?
Like what? I just, I wasn't looking for any
support. I, I was just finding my way,

(46:01):
not not very efficient, working a lot of hours on a lot of small
jobs that it was OK. And then a student reached out
from Monash and said, do you have any student placements?
And it was, and we'd received other, you know, I'd received
other CV's and things, but this one looked well put together.
So I thought, OK, this person's got a bit of an aesthetic, they

(46:24):
got a bit of a clue. So prefix came in one or two
days, I think probably one day aweek and maybe sometimes over
mini breaks she might have done extra.
So she was in and started to help me out.
I'm not trying to wrap machine was really able to help with a
lot of town planning applications.
So it was good for her too. And she was with us for three

(46:45):
years until she graduated and then moved to Sydney.
But in that time, so probably after four years, her recruiter
reached out who I didn't even know and said I think I've got
someone for you. And I saw this portfolio and
said, oh, this looks really good.
And I met Wayne and he was really our first member of staff

(47:06):
and he was with us for five years.
So it took a long time. So I was really working as a
self addition of four, four years.
It's a long time to be working alone, yeah.
But it allowed me the opportunity to build up the what
I thought the practice might be about to, to build up our

(47:27):
aesthetic and our approach. It's not.
It was definitely not set in stone, but we were on our way.
Right. And I only had to compromise
with the clients, not with the team.
Yeah, the and the integrity. And when you don't and when
you're still finding your way, at least it gave me that, I
guess, that freedom to do it that way or not look as, you

(47:51):
know, unprepared or unsure what the next step was in front of
someone else. I I was able to just sit down
and and work out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.
So it was, it was a, it went very, very quickly, but it's
four years. But look, it was an indulgence

(48:13):
that I took to really test and try and you would like and
that's where you might do a staircase scientific ways until
you work out which way is the way you want to do it and how.
And I think that was important for me before bringing someone
in where they want to know whichway it's going to be done.
Otherwise would be very because it could have been, it still

(48:35):
was, but it would have been evenmore frustrating for someone
coming in not knowing that how we do something right.
So at least that four years because I didn't if I had more
experience and I'd come to doingmy own practice with a lot more
understanding, it might have been a much more efficient
process. That was 29 when I started the

(48:56):
practice and I'd studied for seven years.
So I hadn't been in industry forvery long.
It was really the three years did postgraduation at FSA,
right? They gave me any bearing, but
they weren't. I was a graduate architect
there. I wasn't exposed to client
agreements at all. I wasn't exposed to so many

(49:16):
aspects of practice. So those four years were really
made working out how to do it and how I'm going to do it for a
lot of things. Crucial to your understanding of
how to make the business run. And I didn't look if I guess if
you're going into practice on day one with a partner, maybe

(49:37):
you've got complementary skills,but you also both probably, or
it might be more of you, but you're all equals at that stage
too. So you're just, but if I was
going to bring anyone else in, they were going to be looking to
me for answers. So at least I guess after those
first four years, I had more answers or more of a clue.

(49:59):
So it would, but it was, it was very slow, not anything I would,
I don't know. I don't think it's the right way
necessarily. It's just how I it wasn't by
design. Yeah, none of it was really by
design. To go into practice at that age
was more that was the time to doit.
So it was more was far more organic.

(50:21):
So as the, as the practice evolved and you started to
acquire more of the projects that you were looking to want to
acquire, how did you establish because what in some way, I feel
like the one of the motifs that you've got.
With you and you can correct. Me on this if you feel I am
incorrect, is you have a really nice contemporary and in some

(50:45):
instances that modern style of complete minimalism in many ways
where you know, like the finish,the the the wash on a wall is
going to have the character of texture with the way the lights
going to move across that wall. It's not just a standard
drywall. You know, you're going to have a

(51:06):
plaster or you're going to have a micro cement is what I see in
a lot of it. And so there's a lot of that
feeling of you can get that warmth.
Was was that always something you wanted to create?
And am I correct in saying this?Like is that do you feel like
that that is become somewhat of the aesthetic or am I am I off?
It's definitely something we we push for when the budget allows

(51:30):
because it really just gives youa lot of depth because we don't.
It is very pared back design. So without looking too, it's
always about being clean, but not clinical.
So it's how do you add the texture?
How do you add the warmth? How do you add the data without
adding the detail? But the texture also for me

(51:52):
gives it, it's not, you might read it as warmth, but I'm
reading it as a inorganic earthiness, which I, which are
I? I talk about that more
deliberately because I like the idea of our architecture being
far more. Even though it looks wants to be

(52:12):
very crisp, there's a ruggednessto it.
There was a primal almost to it,almost like bridging those two
things because I wanted to have this brutality because I don't
want it to look high tech, like I don't want you to think about
technology. Yes, when you're looking at

(52:34):
these spaces and when you see a wall which has that kind of
cement or texture, it's kind of the opposite of a, a high
finished surface. Yes, because I don't want, I
don't want to look like there isa, a computer in the room or a
like or a machine behind the wall.

(52:55):
I want to feel like you're in a stone cave.
There was almost like the house was carved out of the out of the
ground. I'm much I'm much more
comfortable with the idea of it just being you're in a cave than
in a computer. Well, and what was what's really
interesting is, and people don'tnecessarily know this listening
to it, but we had recorded a challenge before for a

(53:17):
newsletter that I that I create.You can actually see that walk
through about this challenge on the YouTube channel for Behind
the Build. And what I found interesting in
this discussion now is that you've referenced stairs and how
they are bringing you down into into pools.

(53:40):
And yet here you are in that project and the stairs have now
led you down from the individualareas of this home.
And I now see the similarity to warn you might have drawn upon
some inspiration. Definitely, because we think
about that in those proportions and how the stair ends and where
does the wall make the end of the stair.
We talk about all that all the time and those proportions, but

(54:05):
not with the, not with the rigour of.
I mean, look, I'm trying to liken it to that.
OK. Thank you.
Thank you. When you're working on complex
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(55:33):
If you want to learn more, e-mail me
[e-mail] I'll tell you what it's like
Mark with them outside of this, and then I'll connect you with
their team. But now let's get back to the
conclusion with Rob. So, so as, as, as the practice
has evolved, the the types of projects that you take on now

(55:55):
are what it's single family residential.
Have you done any multifamily? Have you done any low rise
Multiplex? What has it looked like?
Where look predominantly single rezi, but there's still a lot of
different types OK, within that.So there's this, now there's a

(56:17):
building group of rural homes that we've designed on the
Mornington Peninsula, which is an hour to an hour and a half
away from Melbourne where there's a lot of coastline and a
lot of farm land or vineyard. So we designed houses along

(56:37):
there and it's beautiful country.
And so that's one kind of topology of house.
And I've predominantly being newin Melbourne, there's been the
new builds which are also in a far more dense urban
environment, but still suburban.And then there's the homes we've
designed which are an adaption or an addition to a heritage

(57:03):
building, whether it's in 1840s homestead or an 1860s wine
merchants in in a Melbourne or aconversion to a 1900 what was 14
bed sits to support nurses near a local hospital which became a
single level apartment in the 80s.

(57:24):
Which we can convert it into a new three bedroom, 3 bathroom
apt 300 square meters and put a new huge balcony into this 100
year old 5 course of brick thickwall that was in the heritage
building. So there's lots of different
scales. Sometimes the project is much
more interior, sometimes it's much more architecture.

(57:45):
We've also worked with differentinterior designers on a lot of
our resident projects too. And then there's a portion of
the work which might be duplexesor we're finishing now 8 family
size townhouses not far from here.
And we look, we've done small apartment buildings, three
stories and that type of two stories, large luxury apartments

(58:09):
and and mid range, it's all residential.
And we and we take the same kindof ideas through all of those
projects. OK, it's a, it's a broad range
of projects. Even within.
So it's still, if you say that 80% of the work is still single
residential, there might sound like not a lot, but there's

(58:30):
still a lot of different types when you think about it.
So you can say you don't want topigeon hole yourself into single
reserve, but there's still at least three chord types of
single resin. We do the rural, the urban and
then the heritage. Alton Additions, yeah.
I was actually wondering something and because you made a

(58:52):
comment now we're talking about this.
You talked about the concept of trying to create a lot of like
that earth tone and the feel it within the homes that allow for
it right and no computers. How do you integrate your
appliances into that? Are you like?
Because that becomes an element that can either stand out or

(59:14):
blend in. On several projects now, we're
even putting the ovens behind a pocket door.
OK. Integrated fridges also help
with regard to thermostats, intercoms, switchboards, all of
those things. We'll put them where we can,

(59:34):
behind, behind a cabinet door orin a threshold somewhere that
you're not. It's not going to interfere with
you and your mentality, but put what we're putting them all
behind doors like thermostats wehave an issue with because they
need to read the temperature of the room.
Yeah, for. Sure, but but sometimes we'll

(59:54):
even look at putting in a smaller dedicated thermostat.
Temperature reader to just feed into the thermostat where you
might program and and and set your temperature.
The sensors. Just the sensor.
But yeah, we're. I'm trying to be even more
involved in making the technology as discreet as

(01:00:17):
possible. Not a feature.
Yeah. And that is even feeding into
the way we think about illuminating the space too,
because that's still a piece of technology.
We've always had strong preference for hardwiring in
table and floor lamps because everyone you know has or likes

(01:00:37):
floor lamps. But to walk into a room and and
have to turn lights on to then turn on the floor and then go
back and maybe you'll switch offthe room lights but you probably
won't always made me think that those 4 lamps are just never
going to be really used and it'sa much nicer way of
illuminating. So we've been allowing for them

(01:01:00):
to be hardwired in so you when you walk into the room, you can
just switch the lamps on, Yep, and dim them.
And now in a lot of the key rooms, we're looking at other
ways of creating even more general but highly dimmed light
just to create these other kind of sensations of just enough

(01:01:22):
light, almost like candlelight inner space, which could then be
punctured by task light. So, I mean, Lutron had sponsored
my podcast previously earlier inthe year and I've traveled with
them and seen their their lighting systems.
There's a system they have that's called the Catra system.
Are you familiar with it? No, but I think I might know
what it might be. I I will tell you that based on

(01:01:46):
what you're saying, the cat, thecat for system is like it's a
solution. I can, I can tell you more about
it afterwards, but it is exceptional.
You condemn to essentially pointand I feel like Lutron get mad
at me but if I get this wrong but I it's like .1% so that
there is and there without any flicker and 16,000,000 hues of

(01:02:07):
colour among many other things. But nonetheless, to your point,
there's there are options withinlighting and the lighting makes
the biggest impact right? It either enhances or completely
crushes the space. Like we talked about natural
light a lot, but for a lot of people, they might only be at
home during the day a couple of times a week, but they're

(01:02:29):
experiencing their homes, you know, all through the winter and
then during the during the evenings with artificial light.
Yeah. So how do we make sure they're
not just blasting every turning every light on?
So it's about motion sensors andreally being had, not mean with

(01:02:50):
the light, but strategic and thelighting it with the daytime
illumination with the sunlight is one thing.
And how we design to illuminate the space at night is a
completely other thing. We are not trying to recreate
the same effect, different tasks.
It's different attitude and mood.
It's a, it's a, it's a complete different mentality.

(01:03:14):
And we are, sometimes we can be even more kind of artistic with
it, I suppose. And I guess we can be much more
deliberate when with private homes where we know where the
furniture will be and help and we can have those conversations.
But when we are doing things speculatively, we don't know

(01:03:36):
necessarily how we have a very good idea about how space should
be used, but not necessarily howit will be used.
So we might have to be a little bit more generous there, but
it's always on our mind. Yeah.
And even in those projects will still put in the provisions for
hard wired lamps because it's just something we believe in.
Do you have an ideal project in mind that you have not yet had

(01:04:01):
that you're waiting for? Yeah, OK.
I want to do a a place of worship that would be that's
type of alist. Yeah, whether it's a church or
synagogue or mosque, I would just love to do a beautiful
place of worship. House of worship would be would
be incredible because it's a different typology, but you can

(01:04:24):
really start to tie into the symbolism how the space works at
different times of the day or night when different festivals
or ceremonies might be taking place.
Yeah, we've designed Judaica Jewish items for for Passover
and for Jewish New Year. So I'm really interested in how

(01:04:45):
you can infuse the symbolism andthe meaning being very paid back
in the contemporary way. So that's the place of worship
is is really like the biggest expression of that opportunity.
So yeah, that would be that would be.
Something that no one currently is seeing because this is not a
visual form of media is Robert Smile as he's talking about the

(01:05:11):
concept of being able to potentially one day win a
project that would be a place ofworship.
And so if you're out there and you're debating whether or not
you are going to hire someone locally or abroad for your place
of worship. You could have it.
You e-mail Robert and engage in a conversation with him about

(01:05:34):
that. Who knows, maybe this hits the
right person. Thank you.
Yeah. Well, yeah, I'll.
I'll pray on it. How about that?
Are there you go, Robert? What do you, what do you like to
do outside of all of this? What do you like to do for
yourself? I mean, we've spoken about
travel. Are there other things you like
to do for yourself to be able totake your mind off it and
decompress? But when I've got a spare time,

(01:06:00):
my girlfriend and I will will jump in the car and we'll we'll
drive somewhere around outside of Melbourne.
It's so many beautiful places. We can go on a small hike or go
and get some some lunch or some wine tasting somewhere or a
weekend away. It's great to get either into
nature or to visit a small town,see the history.

(01:06:22):
Just get get to get on the road and drive.
Yeah. And just like that.
Yeah. And last long drive.
It's nice, yeah. And get and get and get some
music going, maybe some Jamiroquai, because there's
definitely usually some grammatical elements.
There's a side of me that was about to start saying all over,
really doing is traveling, man. If we can do this with that

(01:06:48):
track. That.
You can open the interview with that track.
I, you know, actually one of themost exciting things that
happened when we started this whole podcast was creating theme
music and drawing on inspirationfrom a few different bands to
have a friend of mine that that creates music create the theme
song for the, for the party. Robert, it has been an absolute

(01:07:11):
pleasure. Thank you for taking time and
your day for doing this. I've I've so enjoyed it from
talking about what it was like as a child and I was supposed to
reference something and it's funny this entire time been
thinking I said to you, Oh yeah,I'm gonna reference that later
in the in the podcast. Do you remember when that was?
No, I didn't. We were talking about you

(01:07:31):
sitting around the table with your family.
There were something that we discussed earlier and I know
that I'll go back and listen to this recording and say that's
what it was. I have to throw that back in
somehow. I don't remember.
I don't remember exactly what itwas.
I don't remember. It was a I feel like it was
something about. I don't know if it was about the
poster putting the poster on thewall.

(01:07:55):
Well, think about this afterwards and I'll regret not
being able to. Reference like a like a like
paint painting the walls. We're moving the furniture
around. No, I don't know.
I don't know. It was something along those
lines, something from around that time when we were
discussing. It's OK, I'll let go of it.
Look. I, I look, I've enjoyed getting

(01:08:16):
to know you over the last bunch of months and the calls that
we've had, but really and truly appreciate your ability to be
able to express the experiences that you've had over your life
and how they've kind of culminated into what has been a
pretty outstanding professional career so far.
I really look forward to showcasing your work.
If you're listening to this and you've reached this point of

(01:08:39):
the, of the discussion between Robert and I, please go to our
Instagram page. You'll see his work feature
there. Go to go to Roberts Instagram
page. Give it a follow.
It's worth seeing. His work is exceptional.
I've shared his work with a ton of architects here in Toronto.
It's beautiful and he's, as you've heard, a really, really

(01:08:59):
nice and humble man. So the last plug I'm going to do
again is to make sure that if you are going to be designing a
place of worship, you reach out to Robert.
Robert, thank you so much, man. Truly, thank you so much,
Jonathan. Truly.
I'll see you later. Thank you.

(01:09:20):
Thanks.