Kristin Green
Kristin Green is an architect and the founding and creative director of Australian-based architectural firm Kristin Green Associates architecture (KGA architecture, KGA official website). Established in Melbourne in 2009, KGA architecture has gained critical attention and several awards for projects completed in inner Melbourne as well as in country Victoria and the Asia Pacific.
Notable projects include: the Spring Street Grocer[1] — a coffee bar, gelateria and fine food grocer with a cheese room and event space in Melbourne’s CBD; La Plage du Pacifique[2] — an as-yet unfinished resort in Vanuatu; and Three Springs Residence and Art Gallery[3] — architecture as 'gesamkunstwerk' combining a residence and private art gallery sitting amidst a KGA-designed landscape. Later commissions by the client have resulted in KGA designing and building an Art-Storage Bunker/Carport and a Wine Cellar in separate locations on their 85-acre property in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges.
In each case, KGA leads with – and has been recognised for – a highly creative, multi-layered approach that entails sensitive, locally focused and sustainable methods of development derived from the particularities of site, materiality, topography, geography, spatiality and human talent – aiming towards net zero while also connecting people to place and story.
Early life and education
On finishing high school in Melbourne, Australia, where she was born, Green worked as a builders’ labourer, house painter and landscaping assistant across Australia and later in the US. These hands-on experiences inspired her to study architecture, both personally – seeking examples of historical and contemporary architecture across the USA, Europe and Australia – and academically. In 2004 she graduated with honours from RMIT University Architecture, a course renowned for its focus on innovative design practice, project-based research and critical debate. Green continues these practises through KGA as well through the studios and 'crits' she runs with architecture and design students at both RMIT University and the University of Melbourne.
Green’s contributions to architectural practice across Australia and the Pacific are extended via professional and non-academic engagements such as:
- Professional member (Architect), Australian Institute of Architects (AIA)
- Juror, 2014 AIA Interior Architecture Awards[4]
- Invited speaker, 2015 National Architecture Conference: RISK, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 14-16 May 2015[5]
- Invited speaker, 2017 Practice Matters: Women in Practice Lecture Series, Newcastle University School of Architecture & Built Environment
Career
After graduating in 2004, Green worked for Melbourne architecture firms Hassell, BKK Architects, Peter Mills, Nic Boschler and at landscape architecture practice Taylor Cullity Lethlean, where she was on the project team of the multi-award-winning Craigieburn Bypass project.[6]
Since setting up her own practice in 2009, KGA architecture has completed a variety of projects, winning awards and gaining critical attention from other architecture. In 2014, her project La Plage du Pacifique was included in MORPHOS – Sustainable Empires[7], an exhibition held at Venice's Palazzo Albrizzi during the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale: Fundamentals, directed by Rem Koolhaas.
In 2015, La Plage du Pacifique was pictured on the cover of a book, Practical Poetics in Architecture, by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's Innovation Professor of Architecture, Leon Van Schaik.[8]
Notable works
Awards
| Year | Organising Body | Award Category | Project Name | Project Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Australian Institute of Architects | Commercial Architecture Award: Commendation | Spring Street Grocer | Melbourne |
| 2013 | Architecture Media | Eat Drink Design Award – Best Retail Design: Winner [13] | Spring Street Grocer | Melbourne |
| 2015 | Australian Tapestry Workshop | Tapestry Design Prize for Architects (TDPA): Joint First Prize (with John Wardle Architects)[14] | Long Term Parking | South Melbourne |
| 2023 | Australian Institute of Architects – Victorian Chapter | Interior Architecture Regional Prize: Winner | Three Springs Residence and Art Gallery | Dandenong Ranges, Victoria |
| 2023 | Australian Institute of Architects – Victorian Chapter | COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture Regional Award: Winner | Three Springs Residence and Art Gallery | Dandenong Ranges, Victoria |
| 2023 | Australian Institute of Architects – National | National Award for Interior Architecture: Shortlisted | Three Springs Residence and Art Gallery | Dandenong Ranges, Victoria |
| 2023 | World Architecture Festival 2023 | Inside World Festival of Interiors: Shortlisted | Three Springs Residence and Art Gallery | Dandenong Ranges, Victoria |
| 2023 | Australian Institute of Architects – Victorian Chapter | Regional Prize – Small Project Architecture: Winner | Three Springs Art-Storage Bunker | Dandenong Ranges, Victoria |
| 2023 | World Architecture Festival 2023 | Shortlisted | Three Springs Residence and Art Gallery | Dandenong Ranges, Victoria |
References
- ↑ "Spring Street Grocer by KGA Architects". knstrct. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
- ↑ "La Plage du Pacifique". Architecture, Au. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
- ↑ "A stunning home gallery seven years in the making". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2026.
- ↑ "2014 Victorian Architecture Award Winners Announced". 23 June 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ↑ "Australian Institute of Architects National Conference Speakers, 2015". Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ↑ "Craigieburn Bypass Project Credits". Architecture Australia. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
- ↑ "Sustainable Empires". Retrieved 16 August 2026.
- ↑ van Schaik, Leon (17 April 2015). Practical Poetics in Architecture. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 978-1118828892.
- ↑ van Schaik, Leon. "La Plage du Pacifique". Architecture AU. Architecture Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
- ↑ Harrison, Stuart. "Spring Street Grocer". ArchitectureAU. Architecture Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
- ↑ "Three Springs Residential Gallery – KGA Architecture". Australian Institute of Architects. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- ↑ "Three Springs Art-Storage Bunker – KGA Architecture". Retrieved 17 August 2016.
- ↑ "2013 Eat Drink Design Awards". ArchitectureAu. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- ↑ "John Wardle Architects, Kristin Green and Michelle Hamer take top honours at inaugural Tapestry Design Prize for Architects". Architecture & Design. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2026.